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Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category

Shoot Out the Lights

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, Video, tagged , , on April 28, 2011| 1 Comment »

I’m sitting here wondering if the birthers will finally go away now that President Obama has given them what they claimed they sought.  I know I shouldn’t wonder such things because it’s obvious that this was never about a birth certificate, never about where the man was born.  If it was as simple as that, the question was answered long ago.  No, this is about intolerance, about a group of people being willing to accept any contrivance of a story that delegitimizes the man that they cannot accept as president because  of his differences from them.  Differences like his ideology and his intellect, where he definitely differs from them.  Differences like the Muslim roots of his name.  Like the color of his skin. 

Though this has been a dark blot of shame on our country, I am sure it will not end even now.  The hatred of these people knows no reason and will find a new lie to rally around.  New conspiracies raised by the winking shepherds of this willing flock.  And the media will sit by, unquestioning as it allows the lie to build.

Ah, it’s frustrating to see such unchecked hatred and idiocy. 

Here’s a song, Shoot Out the Lights, from Richard Thompson.  It was the title song from a highly acclaimed 1982 album from him and his then wife, Linda, that acted as a document of the end of their marriage.  I’ve always liked the imagery the title brings to mind, of someone shooting out the lights to mark the finality of something ending.  Let’s shoot out the lights on this birther business.

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So Long It’s Been Good to Know You

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on April 17, 2011| 2 Comments »

I was going to talk a little about one of Woody Guthrie’s songs about an incident that occurred in the formative years of the labor movement, the Ludlow Massacre of 1914. 

It’s a haunting song about a haunting event which happend in Colorado where striking miners who had formed a tent village were set upon by the National Guard on the orders of the Colorado governor.  They snuck in and soaked the outer tents with kerosene and set them ablaze then opened fire on the miners and their families as they fled.  20 were killed, including 11 children.  Just another of many incidents in our history that is practically unknown to the average man in the street, the person who doesn’t realize that the importance of protecting the working class against the avarice of those who would exploit them is rooted in such tragedies.  People who don’t realize the historical importance of the labor movement in this country and how it relates to the present standard of living.

There’s a lot more to be said, of course.  But it’s Sunday and the world deserves a rest.  You can find Guthrie’s Ludlow Massacre on YouTube, along with many of his classic documentations of working America.  I thought I would play a little less dark song by the great American troubador/poet/pot-stirrer instead.  Here’s So Long It’s Been Good to Know You. 

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The Maine Mural Aftermath

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , on April 8, 2011| 3 Comments »

A last word or two on the Maine mural controversy that I wrote of in  a couple of posts here.  I came across an interesting project from guerilla artists who went to the Maine state capital building and projected a large image of the mural on it,  re-installing the mural in effect.  Like the mural itself, it was symbolic, which is the purpose of art.  The anonymous statement for their project was simply put  but effective:

We put this video up to remind our peers that you have a voice, as soon as you choose to use it. If your government takes a symbol away and tries to hide history, you can make the truth resonate a thousand times stronger with your own 2 hands.

This is a lesson the labor unions taught us all, though some have chosen to forget it. We will remind you.

The maker of the art is unimportant. What matters is that you see it, and you have the freedom to speak about it.

I was also contacted by an AP reporter, Glenn Adams, who had somehow stumbled across this blog while researching an article on the widespread response across the nation to the mural controversy.  We talked for a while about why I had responded to the removal of the mural  and the symbolism to the whole thing.  He told me he planned on using a quote from  my blogpost as a sort of summing up.  The article came out yesterday afternoon and mentions the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Diego Rivera mural as well as an incident concerning Ralph Fasanella, who I have also mentioned here in the past.  One of Fasanella’s paintings had to do with a famous strike at one of the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts in the early part of the 20th century and had hung for years in a hearing room of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Labor and Education.  It was removed in 1994 after the Republican’s took control of congress.  So this is certainly not the first time nor will it be the last time that politicians try to alter the symbology of our history.

Here’s the video of the Maine mural being projected:

 

 

 

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Hubris

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged on April 7, 2011| 1 Comment »

When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities. 

—David Hume

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Confidence is a big element in what I do and probably in the careers of most folks, regardless of their field.  Nobody buys from a salesman who doesn’t express supreme confidence in his product, nobody attends the sermons of a minister who isn’t cure that his beliefs are absolute and nobody wants their financial adviser to tell them that he’s not sure if they will make money with his investments.  Likewise, nobody is drawn to paintings that are unsure of what they are trying to express.  I think that people feel enough uncertainty in their own lives that they find work that contains a surety of vision an appealing thing, something that speaks to what confidence they do maintain.

I know I am drawn to confidence and try to maintain a certain level of confidence in my work.  I am usually sure that a piece has a level of surety before it leaves my hands and goes out into the world, away from protective space of the studio.  But I generally go through several crises of confidence throughout the year , unsure that I am expressing fully what I desire or uncertain that a new path I may be following is the right one for that time.  This has been going on with me forever and it’s gotten to the point that I am expecting these times of self doubt and when I am working, especially on new work that hasn’t made its way to the public yet, and don’t feel this doubt, I begin to be suspicious of whatever I may be working on at the moment.  I’m always most suspicious of new work that excites me the most, uncertain if my reaction is real and related to the work or if it is merely a reaction to something new and different in the work, something that may be fleeting in its appeal.

It’s times like these that I wonder about those folks in other fields who seemingly never express self doubt, who maintain a shell of absolute belief.  Is it real or is it merely hubris, an arrogance born of a certainty that clouds the vision and the judgement?  When I think of all the problems in the world, this cocksure confidence, this absolute belief in ones own view of whatever is driving the issue, be it religion, politics, economics or race, is surely in the forefront of factors of causation.  I think of the Florida minister who burns the Quaran because he is so steadfastly sure that his religious vision is the one and only tolerable view.  Or politicians from either side who feel that there is no room for compromise, that their vision is the only way forward.   That their vision allows them to do whatever they might do to achieve it and that anyone who questions their viewpoint is against them and must be destroyed or removed in some manner. 

Their confidence turns to arrogance and these  people begin to  see only in black and white.  They can’t see the subtle shades of gray that are present in everything, can’t recognize the  absurdities, as Hume points out above, they have fostered.  There is only right or wrong, black or white. And even though we are a people who live for the most part  in a world of grays, they persist.  I don’t really understand it but I am just a person who lives daily with self doubts and eyes such absolute self-confidence suspiciously.  Unfortunately, these zealots of self belief will always be front and center in this world.  They rise, again and again.  And they fall, again and again, because their visions tended to be flawed or not inclusive of all the factors that they need to keep up the momentum of their efforts.  After all,  this is a world of shades of gray and not simply black and white.  There is seldom one right answer to any question.

Okay, enough thinking aloud for now.  I have my own work to question…

 

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Maine Mural Controversy : Update

Posted in Current Events on April 5, 2011| 1 Comment »

History of Labor in the State of Maine- Judy Taylor Studio

A week or two back I wrote here  about the mural depicting the history of labor in the state Of Maine that hung in the Department of Labor building of that state.  At that point, Gov. Paul LePage (R) was threatening to remove the mural on the grounds that some anonymous business people had complained that it was too pro-labor and too anti-business, despite the fact that it hung in the Labor Department.  Since that time, Gov. LePage kept his word and had the mural removed over the following weekend.

The story does not end there. 

Since that time, the fury over this act has really snowballed.  It has sparked protests in Maine  where there were 350 protesters, many calling for LePage’s recall, at the state capital yesterday ( compare this to a Tea Party protest on the National Mall that drew about 100 protesters) .  LePage has drawn the ire of a wide  swath of people including fellow GOPs in Maine and elsewhere.  And to top it off, the Federal government is demanding that LePage either reinstall it or pay back the cost of the mural to the federal fund that paid for the mural when it was originally installed.  You see, the mural was installed from funds from the Department of Labor, paid into the state’s unemployment fund for this express purpose.  Since LePage removed it, the mural is no longer serving its intended purpose and the cost ( about 63% of its fair market value  of $60,000 at the time of installation)  must be repaid to the state’s unemployment fund.

I am heartened that the people of Maine took this act of political bullying and censorship seriously and that it has drawn national attention.  It’s a classic example, and symbol,  of the hubris  being displayed around this country by political leaders who mistakenly interpreted the results of recent elections as some sort of vindication for their personal agendas.  I think they may have thought that general public was asleep or just didn’t care enough to respond.  Glad to see we’re waking up a bit.

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The SL-1 Incident, 1961

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged on April 3, 2011| 8 Comments »

During the ongoing nuclear event taking place in Japan, I have numerous proponents of nuclear power here in the States make claims on television defending the safety record of the industry here by stating that there have been no deaths caused by nuclear reactors here.  But they state it with a caveat: there have been no deaths at commercial nuclear power plants.  There have been other incidents at military and research reactors that have resulted in the deaths of workers at these facilities.

There is, for example, the SL-1 reactor in a remote part of Idaho.  SL-1 stood for Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number 1 and was a very small experimental reactor operated by the US Army.  On January 3, 1961 , there were three workers present as the plant was being powered down for maintenance.  The control rod was pulled from the core too quickly and there was an instantaneous ( 4 milliseconds) heat ing and steam explosion, killing all three workers, athough one survived the intial blast and died soon after from head injuries.  The descriptions of their deaths are pretty gruesome.  All were buried in lead-lined caskets and special vaults.  That is, the body parts of the workers that weren’t buried in the Idaho desert as radioactive waste.

The plant was ultimately buried in  the same Idaho desert and the SL-1 design was discontinued, replaced by designs that benefitted from the lessons learned from this tragedy.  The incident is seldom mentioned in any discussions of nuclear safety and remains pretty small on the radar screens of most folks.  While it should not be held up as the primary evidence against nuclear power as a major source of energy  it does illustrate the immense power and risk involved in nuclear energy. 

So when you hear those words about the safety of nuclear power  and how there have never been any deaths, listen for those words that take the SL-1 out of the equation for their claims: in a commercial power plant.  They know the real truth.

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“Then Who Do We Shoot?”

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , on March 26, 2011| 2 Comments »

“Then who do we shoot?”

These five words uttered by Muley the sharecropper being thrown from his family farm by bankers near the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath echo in my head.  He is frustrated by the seemingly crooked game of cards his world has become and wants to know who has been dealing him these losing hands from the deck of life that is so stacked against him.  And all he gets is anonymity and buck-passing.  He is flailing at boogeymen.

I had John Ford’s classic film of John Steinbeck’s novel on in the studio as I worked yesterday, a ritual I perform at least once a year.  I never cease to be amazed at the topicality of the film in almost any hard time and am moved by scene after scene in the film, even after all these years.  It has long been one of my favorites and has shaded my view of the world since I was a child.

I remember distinctly the first time I saw the film.  It was a very snowy day during our Christmas break.  I couldn’t have been more than 10 years old and my brother and I sat down to watch Ed Murphy’s Hollywood Matinee, a daily showing of a film from the Syracuse TV channel that we were able to pick up with our antenna that laid on the roof of the the old farmhouse in which we lived.  Ed Murphy was a boozy white-haired local TV/radio personality who introduced the movies, which were usually cut haphazardly to fit in extra commercials.  Murphy also presided over the Dialing For Dollars portion of the show where he would pull a telephone listing ( a Syracuse phonebook cut into pieces) and call a lucky listener for a cash prize.  I can’t remember exactly how the rules worked but I remember a lot about watching that particular movie.

I remember thinking how Tom Joad was not a particularly good man, especially as a hero.  He had just been released from prison and talked about killing a man with a shovel in a fight.  He had a quick and angry temper but a tenderness when dealing with Ma Joad and his family.  I also remember seeing in the faces of the bank men and the bosses at the farms and orchards that same mean-spirited bully attitude I  could see in the faces of bullies at school.  actually, there was a great familarity in the whole movie.  I could see traces of my family and many people I knew in the Joads.  People pushed and prodded and never quite able to gain their footing, never in control of their situation.  We weren’t Okies but these people were everywhere–average people who struggled on small farms or worked long hours in factories.

This observed familiarity with these characters has only grown over the years.  I recognize more and more people in the faces of those downtrodden Joads and see many scenes in the film that are  analagous to situations in our times.  It’s a movie that I feel is a must-see for everyone.

Here’s a nice review of the film from the New York Times (short ad at the beginning-sorry!) that includes a couple of clips including Muley with the bankman and Tom’s farewell to Ma, which may be my favorite scene in amy film.

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Even the Art of Labor Is Under Attack

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , on March 24, 2011| 4 Comments »

History of Labor in the State of Maine- Judy Taylor Studio

This is a mural that adorns the Department of Labor in the state of Maine. Measuring 8′ high by 36′ long, it was created by Maine artist Judy Taylor in  2007/2008 to commemorate significant moments in Maine’s labor history, including the adoption of child labor laws, better working conditions for all workers and the increasing signifigance of women in the labor force.  It also memorializesMaine native  Frances Perkins, who was the Secretary of Labor under FDR, the first female to hold any cabinet post.  It glorifies the plight of the worker in an appropriate setting, the Department of Labor, and is a striking and significant piece of public art.

Maybe it’s just me but this seems like a no-brainer but recently this mural has come under attack.  Maine Governor Paul LePage (R)  has ordered that is be taken down as he has had complaints from business factions that it is unfairly biased against business owners.  As proof, they released an anonymous fax signed “A Secret Admirer” who claimed that he felt he was in North Korea viewing public political propaganda and this was nothing more than an effort to further the Union movement. 

The governor also plans to change the name of several meeting rooms in the building named after people in the Maine labor movement.

From looking at the mural and its short descriptions of each panel ( to do so, click on the image above and it will take you the artist’s site), I saw only moments of history that elevated the average worker and protected the vulnerable from exploitation.  How anyone could see child labor laws as being biased against business and not a positive step forward for our society is beyond me.  And this is in the Department of LABOR.   But there is a movement afoot to squash the labor movement, mainly trade unions,  in this country which many think people will not affect them and their lives.  After all, how many people are union members today?  But there is more at stake with this attack than the rights of the unions.

It is both a beginning erosion of the rights we have garnered through the efforts of labor unions and others in the past and a political maneuver to destroy the only organized group that represents the worker in any political sense.  Unions are the only organized political donors who somewhat check the unbridled money injected by business concerns into the political arena.  And even the money spent by unions pales in comparison to that spent by businesses and their lobbyists.  But it is still opposition and must be destroyed and this move by Gov. LePage is symptomatic of this effort.  Demonize and destroy.

I might have a kinder eye toward the efforts of LePage and his ilk if they gave me a reason but all I can see is that our manufacturing base has been stripped away and moved to places around the world where these companies can operate like they were mill or mine owners in the 19th century.  I have even heard recent rumblings that child labor laws are considered unconstitutional in some circles.  These political leaders seem bent on doing whatever they can to take us back to a pre-union world and this small effort to take away an innocuous mural in a government building (the Dept. of LABOR!) is yet another step. 

We must continue to speak out against this sort of action.

Sorry for straying into the political world but they baited me when they crossed into the art world.

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Auction Thank You

Posted in Current Events, tagged on March 22, 2011| 1 Comment »

#2- Seems Like a New Sun - Winning Bid $850

 I want to extend many thanks to all of you out there who participated in the Auction to Aid Japan that ended yesterday.  There was a frantic finish and both final winning bids came in at the last minute as the clock hovered at 12:00.  One piece was sold here in my hometown, for which I’m grateful to our local newsapaper for their coverage of this auction without which this bidder may not have known about the auction.  The other is soon to be off to Slovakia, of all places.  The winning bidder is originally from Corning and has obtained several pieces of my work over the years.  Nice to know that my paintings are world travelers.

Again, every bid was greatly appreciated.  If our effort can make even a small difference somewhere in the vast effort that will be required in restoring Japan, it will have been valuable and worth doing.  Like many of you out there, I often feel very small and unable to affect change

#1 Full Silence-- Winning Bid $775

in the face of such monumental challenges such as those presented  by the disasters in Japan.  But it is heartening when I see people respond to efforts to help and I see that change is often greatly affected on this small level.  And for that, I am grateful to all of you.

Thank you.

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Auction Closes at Noon EST/ Latest Update

Posted in Current Events, tagged on March 21, 2011| 21 Comments »

The Auction to Aid Japan ends today, Monday, at 12 noon EST. Bidding is closed.

#2- Seems Like a New Sun - Current High Bid $850

 

#1 Full Silence-- Current High Bid $775

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