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TomDispatch: Ann Jones on Social Democracy in Norway
I subscribe to TomDispatch …
… an email service that describes itself on the "About" page of its website as follows:
Tom Engelhardt launched Tomdispatch in November 2001 as an e-mail publication offering commentary and collected articles from the world press. In December 2002, it gained its name, became a project of The Nation Institute, and went online as "a regular antidote to the mainstream media." The site now features Tom Engelhardt's regular commentaries and the original work of authors ranging from Rebecca Solnit, Bill McKibben, and Mike Davis to Chalmers Johnson, Michael Klare, Adam Hochschild, Robert Lipsyte, and Elizabeth de la Vega. Nick Turse, who also writes for the site, is associate editor and research director.
Tomdispatch is intended to introduce readers to voices and perspectives from elsewhere (even when the elsewhere is here). Its mission is to connect some of the global dots regularly left unconnected by the mainstream media and to offer a clearer sense of how this imperial globe of ours actually works.
The Tom Dispatch offerings (which arrive in the form of email "Tomgrams") are quite interesting and generally thought-provoking. The one I received today …
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176096/tomgram%3A_ann_jones%2C_social_democracy_for_dummies/#more
… motivated me to comment.
This is an interesting Tomgram discussion, primarily regarding the differences between how the U.S. and the Nordic countries (primarily focused on Norway) handle many aspects of modern life, most notably their national economic & social systems.
The author of the piece, Ann Jones, is an admirer of the largely socialist economic systems in place in the Scandinavian countries. Many of the concepts she promotes are an anathema to my libertarian sensibilities — and I think she blithely ignores the fact that what works for small, largely homogeneous, countries like Norway (5.1 million people, roughly equal to North Carolina, in an area larger than Texas) would be orders of magnitude more difficult to implement in the U.S., which covers nearly four times the area of Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark & Iceland) and 13 times the combined population of those five countries.
Besides being a libertarian in my political views, I am also essentially anti-social and an iconoclast — I would not do well in the Norway Jones describes. Consider these excerpts from the Jones discussion of how society developed there in the 1970s:
"There, feminists and sociologists pushed hard against the biggest obstacle still standing in the path of full democracy: the nuclear family. … the Norwegian state began to deconstruct that undemocratic ideal by taking upon itself the traditional unpaid household duties of women. Caring for the children, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled became the basic responsibilities of the universal welfare state, freeing women in the workforce to enjoy both their jobs and their families."
"In Norway, mother and father in turn take paid parental leave from work to see a newborn through its first year or more. At age one, however, children start attending a neighborhood barnehage (kindergarten) for schooling spent largely outdoors."
Both of those concepts ("deconstruction" of the nuclear family and starting school at the age of 1) are contrary to my personal views of how to best raise children. I don't even like the current trend in the U.S. of sending kids to pre-kindergarten classes.
I also can't help wondering how much of what the Scandinavian countries have accomplished with their social-economic systems has been possible only because they have been able to maintain a significantly insular existence thanks to their relatively isolated geographic location, the fortuity of the North Sea oil reserves (which are the primary reason Norway has a significantly positive export-import balance) and because, since the end of World War II, they have been able to essentially rely on other countries (primarily the U.S.) to insure their national security.
Have to admit that I also found the Tomgram tagline for the Jones article ("Social Democracy for Dummies") condescending and offensive.
Despite my disagreements with the Ann Jones article, I highly recommend TomDispatch for anyone interested in current national and international affairs. You can subscribe to the email service on the webpage linked above.
Posted in Libertarianism, TomDispatch	| Tagged Ann Jones, Deconstruction of the nuclear family, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Nick Turse, North Carolina, Norway, Scandanavia, Scandinavia, Social Democracy, Sweden, Texas, Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch	| Leave a reply
More Zero Intelligence on the School Front
Youngest son Sean pointed out to me tonight an incident from the Killeen Independent School District, in which an 8th grade student was suspended for leaving his classroom to help another student, who was having a severe asthma attack.
The incident is described in the article linked in the following email, which I wrote to the superintendent of the school district, Mr. John Craft. For anyone else who would care to write to him as well, his email address is:
John.Craft@killeenisd.org
I wrote to him as follows:
Dear Mr. Craft,
I learned this evening about the incident at the Gateway Middle School involving student Anthony Ruelas, who has apparently been suspended for two days for leaving his classroom to aid another student who was having an asthma attack. I learned of the incident from this Yahoo report:
https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/student-suspended-after-saving-classmates-life-182113379.html
This article includes a comment attributed to you: "The Killeen ISD maintains the safety of our students, staff and campuses as a priority and applauds the efforts of students who act in good faith to assist others in times of need."
If that is actually what you said about the incident, I can't help wondering exactly what the school and district think was inappropriate about what this boy did and why he isn't being "applauded" for "acting in good faith to assist others in times of need".
Rather than being suspended, he should be rewarded for his clear-thinking and prompt response to an emergency that his teacher was apparently incapable of handling in an appropriate manner.
I am a college and law school graduate and taught in law school. My wife was also a high school teacher and we raised four children, so I have a good idea of why an appropriate level of discipline is necessary to the successful education of students, particularly at the middle school level. On the other hand, I know a bad administrative decision when I see one … and I see one here.
Whoever made the decision to suspend this boy … and everyone in the school district administration who supports that decision … gets on "F" on this one.
James T. Reilly
Novato, CA
— FLA 76 —
Posted in Education	| Tagged Anthony Ruelas, John Craft, Killeen Independent School District	| Leave a reply
New California Criminal Laws for 2016
Posted on January 6, 2016 by runtam
The California state legislature enacted 807 new laws during the 2015 legislative session. Several of them addressed criminal law issues which might be of interest, particularly to attorneys who practice criminal law.
NEW CRIMINAL LAWS
Photographing and video recording cops in public
Video recording of police officers by private citizens has become somewhat of a contentious issue for some cops. Officers have been known to order citizens to stop … or to have seized the recording device … or even to arrest the recording individual for interfering with the performance of police duties.
This year, the California legislature brought clarity to this situation, making it clear that such recording in a public place is not, in and of itself, a violation of the law.
To accomplish this, the legislature amended two Penal Code sections, 69 and 148. The former makes it a crime to deter or prevent an officer from performing his duties and the latter makes it a crime willfully resist, delay, or obstruct a peace officer in the performance of his duties.
Section 69 was amended to add subdivision (b), which provides:
"The fact that a person takes a photograph or makes an audio or video recording of an executive officer, while the officer is in a public place or the person taking the photograph or making the recording is in a place he or she has the right to be, does not constitute, in and of itself, a violation of subdivision (a)."
Section 148 was amended to add subdivision (g), which provides:
"The fact that a person takes a photograph or makes an audio or video recording of a public officer or peace officer, while the officer is in a public place or the person taking the photograph or making the recording is in a place he or she has the right to be, does not constitute, in and of itself, a violation of subdivision (a), nor does it constitute reasonable suspicion to detain the person or probable cause to arrest the person."
Biking to the music with ear buds
California law previously prohibited wearing any headset that covered both ears while driving a vehicle or riding on a bicycle. This year, the law — Vehicle Code section 27400 — was amended to, essentially, ban ear buds while driving or riding a bicycle.
With certain exceptions (such as persons operating authorized emergency vehicles and individuals wearing hearing aids), the law now provides:
"A person operating a motor vehicle or bicycle may not wear a headset covering, earplugs in, or earphones covering, resting on, or inserted in, both ears."
BB Guns in public
When I was a kid growing up on Long Island, I often carried my BB rifle or .22 caliber pellet gun around the neighborhood, plinking away with them. These days, of course, carrying around a realistic-looking BB gun can get you killed.
In any effort to reduce the likelihood of such a tragic event happening in California, several provisions of law relating to BB, pellet, paintball and airsoft guns were changed this year.
Penal Code section 20165 previously excluded all BB guns from the existing prohibition on "imitation firearms". Under the new law, BB, pellet, paintball and airsoft guns are considered "imitation firearms" and therefore illegal unless they meet specified requirements, the full details of which are available here:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB199
Among the exceptions are the color requirements designed to make these recreational guns readily identifiable as non-lethal. New Penal Code section 16700, subdivision (b)(5), provides that these guns are not considered "imitation firearms" when they consist of:
"A device where the entire exterior surface of the device is white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, or bright purple, either singly or as the predominant color in combination with other colors in any pattern, or where the entire device is constructed of transparent or translucent materials which permits unmistakable observation of the device's complete contents."
Gun violence restraining orders
Numerous and substantial changes were made to the laws regarding gun violence restraining orders. The full details of the changes, which were enacted by Assembly Bill 1014, are here:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1014
Major provisions of the bill authorize courts to:
Issue a temporary emergency gun violence restraining order if the court finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that the subject of the petition poses an immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm and that the order is necessary to prevent personal injury to himself, herself, or another.
Issue an ex parte gun violence restraining order prohibiting the subject of the petition from having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, a firearm or ammunition when it is shown that there is a substantial likelihood that the subject of the petition poses a significant danger of harm to himself, herself, or another in the near future by having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm and that the order is necessary to prevent personal injury to himself, herself, or another.
Issue a gun violence restraining order prohibiting the subject of the petition from having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, a firearm or ammunition for a period of one year when there is clear and convincing evidence that the subject of the petition, or a person subject to an ex parte gun violence restraining order, as applicable, poses a significant danger of personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm and that the order is necessary to prevent personal injury to himself, herself, or another.
The new law authorizes the renewal of the order for additional one-year periods and permits the restrained person to request one hearing to terminate the order during the effective period of the initial order or each renewal period.
The new law requires courts, upon issuance of gun violence restraining orders, to order the restrained person to surrender to the local law enforcement agency all firearms and ammunition in his or her custody or control, or which he or she possesses or owns and requires the local law enforcement agency to retain custody of the firearm or firearms and ammunition for the duration of a gun violence restraining order.
To help protect individuals against false claims in applications for gun violence restraining orders, the new law makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to file a petition for an ex parte gun violence restraining order or a gun violence restraining order issued after notice and a hearing, knowing the information in the petition to be false or with the intent to harass the person who is the subject of the requested order.
Finally, the new law also provides that a person who owns or possesses a firearm or ammunition with the knowledge that he or she is prohibited from doing so by a gun violence restraining order is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be prohibited from having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, a firearm or ammunition for a 5-year period, commencing upon the expiration of the existing gun violence restraining order.
CCW on school grounds
The rules governing the carrying of licensed concealed weapons on or near school grounds (Penal Code sections 626.9 & 30310) were changed this year.
The changes allow the holder of a valid license to now carry a concealed firearm to carry a firearm in an area that is within 1,000 feet of, but not on the grounds of, a public or private school providing instruction in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12.
On the other hand, the changes deleted the exemptions that previously allowed a person holding a valid license to carry a concealed firearm to bring or possess a firearm on the campus of a university or college and that previously allowed a person to carry ammunition or reloaded ammunition onto school grounds if the person is licensed to carry a concealed firearm.
The new law did create an additional authorization for a person to carry ammunition or reloaded ammunition onto school grounds if it is in a motor vehicle at all times and is within a locked container or within the locked trunk of the vehicle.
Transporting dope
The definition of "transporting" controlled substances within the meaning of Health & Safety Code sections 11360, 11379.5 and 11391 was changed to mean "to transport for sale".
The changes to these code sections, which relate to the transportation of marijuana, pcp and psychedelic mushrooms, mean that a person who is transporting those substances for personal use, rather than for sale, can be charged only with possession of, rather than the more serious charge of transporting, the proscribed substances.
Custodial battery (alternative felony-misdemeanor)
Section 243.15 was added to the California Penal Code, providing that:
"Every person confined in, sentenced to, or serving a sentence in, a city or county jail, industrial farm, or industrial road camp in this state, who commits a battery upon the person of any individual who is not himself or herself a person confined or sentenced therein, is guilty of a public offense and is subject to punishment by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or in a county jail for not more than one year."
Not that such a battery ever was a good idea, now the consequences of committing one are potentially even more severe.
Credit for time served against fines
The value of each day spent in jail and for which a defendant is entitled to credit against any imposed fine, was increased from $30 per day to $125 per day. (Penal Code section 1205)
Dismissal of traffic tickets
Want to get out of a traffic ticket? Well, the legislature added a new way this year. In the past, any citation or misdemeanor traffic offenses committed by a person sentenced to state prison could no longer be prosecuted.
Now, that restriction also applies to anyone sentenced to a county jail pursuant to Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (h), which provides for so-called "realignment" county jail sentences.
So, if you have a citation or misdemeanor traffic offense pending and you get sentenced to county jail under section 1170, subdivision (h), as an alternative to being sent to prison, will be relieved of prosecution for those traffic offenses.
Felony traffic offenses are not affected by the change in the law and can still be prosecuted, even for individuals sentenced to prison or county jail under the realignment statute.
NEW LAWS RELATING TO THE PROSECUTION
AND DEFENSE OF CRIMINAL CASES
Penal Code sections 1016.2 & 1016.3 were added this year, addressing how both prosecutors and defense counsel deal with the immigration consequences of guilty pleas in criminal cases.
The new laws require that defense counsel provide to their clients accurate and affirmative advice about the immigration consequences of any proposed disposition of the client's case and that prosecutors, "in the interests of justice … shall consider the avoidance of adverse immigration consequences in the plea negotiation process as one factor in an effort to reach a just resolution".
Thus, the lawyers on both sides of criminal cases involving individuals who may be subject to immigration consequences as a result of their prosecution must take those potential consequences into consideration as part of the plea bargaining process.
Presumably, this will also mean that courts will be inquiring of defendants entering guilty pleas whether or not their lawyers have advised them of the potential immigration consequences. One more thing for defense counsel to keep in mind.
Prosecutorial misconduct (withholding evidence)
And one more thing for prosecutors to keep in mind (though the ethical ones always have and will not be effected in any way by this change):
Section 1424.5 was added to the Penal Code … because of the significance of this provision, here it is in full:
Penal Code section 1424.5
"(a) (1) Upon receiving information that a prosecuting attorney may have deliberately and intentionally withheld relevant or material exculpatory evidence or information in violation of law, a court may make a finding, supported by clear and convincing evidence, that a violation occurred. If the court finds such a violation, the court shall inform the State Bar of California of that violation if the prosecuting attorney acted in bad faith and the impact of the withholding contributed to a guilty verdict, guilty or nolo contendere plea, or, if identified before conclusion of trial, seriously limited the ability of a defendant to present a defense.
"(2) A court may hold a hearing to consider whether a violation occurred pursuant to paragraph (1).
"(b) (1) If a court finds, pursuant to subdivision (a), that a violation occurred in bad faith, the court may disqualify an individual prosecuting attorney from a case.
"(2) Upon a determination by a court to disqualify an individual prosecuting attorney pursuant to paragraph (1), the defendant or his or her counsel may file and serve a notice of a motion pursuant to Section 1424 to disqualify the prosecuting attorney's office if there is sufficient evidence that other employees of the prosecuting attorney's office knowingly and in bad faith participated in or sanctioned the intentional withholding of the relevant or material exculpatory evidence or information and that withholding is part of a pattern and practice of violations.
"(c) This section does not limit the authority or discretion of, or any requirement placed upon, the court or other individuals to make reports to the State Bar of California regarding the same conduct, or otherwise limit other available legal authority, requirements, remedies, or actions."
In a related provision, subdivision (a)(5) was added to Business & Professions Code section 6068.7, providing:
"(5) A violation described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1424.5 of the Penal Code by a prosecuting attorney, if the court finds that the prosecuting attorney acted in bad faith and the impact of the violation contributed to a guilty verdict, guilty or nolo contendere plea, or, if identified before conclusion of trial, seriously limited the ability of a defendant to present a defense."
These provisions add serious consequences to the withholding by prosecutors of relevant or material exculpatory evidence or information in any criminal case.
Posted in California Law, Drug Laws, Free Legal Advice, Immigration Issues	| Tagged Airsoft Guns, Assembly Bill 1014, BB Guns, BB Guns in Public, Business & Professions Code section 6068.7, California Law, CCW on School Grounds, Credit for Time Served, Custodial Battery, Exculpatory Evidence, Gun Control, Gun Violence Restraining Orders, Handguns, Health & Safety Code sction 11379.5, Health & Safety Code section 11360, Health & Safety Code section 11391, Immigration Consequences, Marijuana, Paintball Guns, PCP, Pellet Guns, Penal Code section 1016.2, Penal Code section 1016.3, Penal Code section 1170, Penal Code section 1205, Penal Code section 1424, Penal Code section 148, Penal Code section 16700, Penal Code section 20165, Penal Code section 243.15, Penal Code section 30310, Penal Code section 626.9, Penal Code section 69, Photography & Video Recording Cops, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Psychedelic Mushrooms, Right to Bear Arms, State Bar of California, Transportation of Drugs, Vehicle Code section 27400, Withholding Evidence	| Leave a reply


text:
The Body Electric Gallery Guide – ASL
THE LAND IS SPEAKING | ARE YOU LISTENING, 2022
Painted directly on the wall, THE LAND IS SPEAKING | ARE YOU LISTENING is a newly commissioned work that depicts a landscape through graphic text. The vibrant palette is inspired by both Southwestern skies as well as the lush landscapes of the Northeast. Gibson's original text prompts us to consider how the Earth communicates with us and subtly expresses frustration with those who abuse, neglect, and exploit the Land.
BEADED BIRD SCULPTURES, 2021
These sculptures reference turn-of-the-century "whimsies," small beaded textile objects made by Haudenosaunee peoples among others, reflecting Victorian motifs, which the artist first encountered as a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act assistant at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Not easily fitting within artistic categories or cultural identities, whimsies became most commonly known as tchotchkes sold in the Niagara Falls region, a kitsch commodity straddling two worlds without being embraced fully by either. "That's what drew me to them," says Jeffrey Gibson. "I kind of felt myself reflected in them to some degree."
Included artworks: Firebelly, 2021; Black Beauty, 2021; My Joy My Joy My Joy, 2021
UNTITLED WALLPAPER, 2022
In contrast to the traditional "white cube" gallery space, Gibson's newly commissioned wallpaper extends the rich color and patterning present in his paintings and sculptures into the surrounding environment. Creating an immersive experience, the wallpaper shifts the context of how Gibson's works are seen and experienced from the purely visual to a full-body engagement.
SWEET BITTER LOVE SERIES, 2020
Sweet Bitter Love is a series of paintings made in response to a group of 19th century portraits by Elbridge Ayer Burbank. Unsettled by the lack of individuality or care given to the Indigenous subjects, Gibson re-envisioned these paintings as "found marks," pouring, staining, and overpainting directly on top of them. For Gibson, Burbank's portraits say less about the sitter and more about the painter. They do not show evidence of the widespread land seizure, imprisonment, and cultural erasure that characterized the time in which they were made. Gibson's interventions reflect on Indigenous histories and open critical discourse about how Indigenous people are represented in cultural institutions. A nod to the eponymous song by Roberta Flack, "Sweet Bitter Love", the series echoes Flack's sentiment of being in love despite the additional hardship that love brings—though for Gibson, the painful love is for Indigenous histories rather than an individual.
Included artworks: Chief Black Coyote, 2021; Boneta, Comanche, 2021; Pahl Lee, 2021; White Swan, 2021
UNTITLED FIGURES, 2022
During his time at the Field Museum, Gibson encountered small toy dolls from the Plains tribe region, depicting a spectrum of genders inconsistent with the Western binary. Inspired in part by these particular dolls, as well as the aesthetic and instructive role dolls play in numerous cultures, Gibson creates towering beaded figures covered with thousands of stacked bone pipes. During the hundreds of hours it requires to make just one of these immense sculptures, Gibson is careful to not predetermine their gender expression, cultural tradition, or historical role. The resulting figures assume the role of both nobody and everybody, and function as "proposals for future hybridity."
Included artworks: Untitled Figure 1, 2022; Untitled Figure 2, 2022
SHE NEVER DANCES ALONE, 2020
Inspired by the jingle dress dancers who gathered to defend Standing Rock Reservation from the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016, She Never Dances Alone reintroduces dance as a powerful tool of resistance and protection. Commissioned by Times Square Arts for their Midnight Moment Series 2019-2020, Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho performer Sarah Ortegon saliently dances to "Sisters" by A Tribe Called Red across seventy massive monitors in New York City's Times Square for three minutes each night over the course of eight months. Shown at SITE Santa Fe as a nine-channel video installation, Ortegon's powerful movements connect her to a dynamic legacy of dance and dancers, reminding us that she never dances alone.
RED MOON, DESERT SKY, RED SUNSET, 2021
Made from nylon shawl fringe commonly found on a dancer's regalia, this series repositions fringe as a primary sculptural material, rather than simply an adornment. "There is a human quality to the fringe in movement," says Gibson, referring to the nuanced ways the material responds to its surroundings. In arranging the fringe to evoke bold, solid, monolithic forms, these sculptures contribute a dynamic and caring human touch to our vision of modernity and the future.
Included artworks: Red Moon, 2021; Red Sunset, 2021; Desert Sky, 2021
TIME CAPSULE (PINK HOLE), 1998-2012
In 2012 Gibson began cutting his paintings off the stretcher bars and washing them at the laundromat. Questioning and confronting ideas of success, failure, hope, and aspiration, this cathartic ritual transformed his paintings into textiles. Inspired by the idea of time capsules, he began folding and encasing the laundered paintings in rawhide packages, displaying the mysterious, wrapped art objects on the wall. "If somebody were to acquire that piece," says Gibson, "they can open it and see the full painting if they want. It's for them. It's their painting. They can perform it."
Pink coloring peeks through the painted black hide of Time Capsule (Pink Hole), hinting at the content underneath and reflecting a color palette repeated in Gibson's 2022 video, A Warm Darkness.
A WARM DARKNESS, 2022
A Warm Darkness, 2022 was envisioned and directed by Jeffrey Gibson, performed by Mx. Oops, and scored by sound artist Raven Chacon. Filmed throughout his ziggurat-inspired sculpture, Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House 2020, this work playfully embraces darkness and the intimacy of solitude. Mx. Oops, clad in hot pink, dances to Chacon's drone beats in a solitary rave inside the sculpture. As the sun sets, a group of youths shrouds the structure in black cloth, and it disappears into the night. Embraced by a comforting and secure darkness, Mx. Oops continues dancing inside, privately and for themselves. Inspired by science fiction and Indigenous world views, the film examines the intimacy of a party for one and the role of the audience.
TO FEEL MYSELF BELOVED ON THE EARTH, 2020
Drawing its title from an excerpt of Raymond Carver's poem, "Late Fragment," Gibson poetically marks a tumultuous moment in world history and focuses on the joy of simply continuing to survive amid challenging times. Made in 2020, Gibson's video unpacks feelings of anxiety, fear, and national reckoning, as well as the grounding effect of working in nature experienced by the artist and many of his contemporaries. Obliquely referencing widespread and ongoing activism advocating for Black, Transgender, Queer, Women's, and Indigenous rights, the numerous unique individuals presented in the film are united by their brilliant red garments.
TO NAME AN OTHER, 2019-2022
Gibson's largest performance to date, To Name An Other explores Indigenous practices of naming based on the actions or qualities of a person through fifty short texts authored by the artist. Sparked by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony during the confirmation hearing of the now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the first of these texts came to Gibson intuitively: SHE SPEAKS UP TO TAKE THEM DOWN. Addressing the complex intersections of gender, race, and class, each series of words operates as a "name" to be embodied by participants. Performed by volunteers, Gibson first holds an empowerment workshop where participants practice using their voice to speak these powerful phrases publicly, loudly, and with purpose. During the performance, each participant dons a custom garment and drum emblazoned with their "name" and presents it to the audience.
Originally commissioned by and performed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, To Name An Other has also been performed and exhibited at the New Museum in New York City, New York, as well as the Esker Foundation in Alberta, Canada. For SITE Santa Fe's iteration, Gibson was able to work with the largest group of Indigenous participants thus far.
SENTINEL, 2020
After extensively exploring the mediums of beadwork and fringe, Sentinel marks a turn in Gibson's practice when mediums that would normally take a supporting role are scaled up to become the center and subject of the piece. Launching as an exploration of material, Sentinel began as a humorous outlier that would eventually inform pieces like Red Moon, Desert Sky, and Red Sunset, 2021. An enormous, ghostly character with dramatic fringe shapes hanging from huge eyes, Sentinel's disarming gaze has a way of following viewers throughout the space. Intended as a protecting and vigilant presence, Sentinel joins a series of Gibson's artworks united by dramatic eyes, dating back over fifteen years.
QUILT BLOCK PAINTINGS, 2021
Blossoming from the artist's personal history of making and collecting quilts, these paintings build on quilting's ability to marry otherwise disparate influences to tell a story about comparisons, histories, and gaps. In juxtaposing sixteen sections of text, image, patterning, and several distinct periods and styles of beadwork, these multifaceted artworks explore the ebb and flow of connection, dislocation, and reconnection.
Included artworks: They Play Endlessly, 2021; Over the Rainbow, 2021
STAND YOUR GROUND, 2019
Operating simultaneously as banners, clothing, and sculpture, STAND YOUR GROUND is a diptych made during a period of heightened activism surrounding environmental justice for Indigenous communities, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Black Lives Matter, among others. Exploring the balance between vibrant individualism and robust community, these paired artworks mirror each other while remaining unique, just as members of a group might signal shared values through dress.
ALL I EVER WANTED ALL I EVER NEEDED, 2019
Fabricated out of found canvas punching bag, glass beads, plastic beads, artificial sinew, steel studs, acrylic paint, and steel chain, Jeffrey Gibson's Punching Bag series (2013—present) appropriates iconic Everlast punching bags as sculptural supports. Gibson transforms the bags with bead work, weaving, fringe, and other material interventions, forming abstract geometric compositions on their surfaces, interspersed with bits of text. It has been said that with the bags, Gibson "turns objectified targets for abuse into entities for admiration, conceptual symbols of beauty and complexity."
Works included in the exhibition
Black Beauty, 2021
Boneta, Comanche, 2021
Chief Black Coyote, 2021
Desert Sky, 2021
Firebelly, 2021
Untitled Figure 1, 2021
My Joy My Joy My Joy, 2021
Over the Rainbow, 2021
Pahl Lee, 2021
Red Moon, 2021
Red Sunset, 2021
STAND YOUR GROUND (diptych), 2019
THEY PLAY ENDLESSLY, 2021
Time Capsule (Pink Hole), 2011
To Name An Other, 2019- 2022
White Swan, 2021
A Warm Darkness, 2022; STAND YOUR GROUND, 2019: Courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio
Firebelly, 2021; Pahl Lee, 2021; THEY PLAY ENDLESSLY, 2021: Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta: Photo by John Lusis
THE LAND IS SPEAKING | ARE YOU LISTENING, 2022; Untitled Figure 1, 2021;
To Name An Other, 2022: Courtesy of Shayla Blatchford and SITE Santa Fe
She Never Dances Alone, 2020: Photo by Sancia Nash
To Feel Myself Beloved on the Earth, 2020: Courtesy of the Palm Springs Art Museum and Jeffrey Gibson Studio
Red Sunset, 2021; Desert Sky, 2021; Red Moon, 2021: Photo by Julia Featheringill
Sentinel, 2020: Photo by Max Yawney
Time Capsule (Pink Hole), 2011: Photo by Brian Barlow
<– Return to exhibition
This exhibition was organized by SITE Santa Fe and curated by Brandee Caoba.
Special thanks to Jeffrey Gibson Studio; SITE Santa Fe's Exhibitions Manager, Max Holmes; and the talented preparator team for bringing the exhibition to life in the galleries.
Thank you to SITE Santa Fe's Education, Public Programs and Exhibitions Departments for organizing the New Mexico iteration of To Name An Other, and special appreciation for each of the performance participants.
Significant gratitude to Jeffrey Gibson, Brandee Caoba, and Rica Maestas for their contributions to this gallery guide, and to Liliana Herrera for the beautiful English-to-Spanish translation.
The Body Electric is made possible through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation.
Additional support provided by: SITE Santa Fe Board of Directors; SITE Santa Fe Annual Exhibition Fund, Jeffrey Gibson Studio, Evelyne Aikman & Adam Forste, Sharon Bartel Clements & Dennis Clements, Kavi Gupta, Barbara Goldfarb, Stephen Friedman, Jodi Carson Memorial Fund, Sikkema Jenkins, Jeanne and Michael Klein, Jon Levin, Elizabeth & Arnie Lizan, John MacMahon, James Manning & Dana Pope Manning, Sundeep Mullangi, Josh Ogle, OZ Art, NWA, Jim Phillips, Rauschenberg Foundation, Roberts Projects, Debbie Rechler, Jill & Nick Woodman.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
. /root/autoprovision-functions.sh

getPendriveSize()
{
    # this is needed for the mmc card in some (all?) Huawei 3G dongle.
    # details: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/10716#comment:4
    if [ -e /dev/sda ]; then
        # force re-read of the partition table
        head /dev/sda >/dev/null
    fi

    if (grep -q sda /proc/partitions) then
        cat /sys/block/sda/size
    else
        echo 0
    fi
}

hasBigEnoughPendrive()
{
    local size=$(getPendriveSize)
    if [ $size -ge 600000 ]; then
        log "Found a pendrive of size: $(($size / 2 / 1024)) MB"
        return 0
    else
        return 1
    fi
}

setupPendrivePartitions()
{
    # erase partition table
    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M count=1

    # sda1 is 'swap'
    # sda2 is 'root'
    # sda3 is 'data'
    fdisk /dev/sda <<EOF
o
n
p
1

+64M
n
p
2

+512M
n
p
3

t
1
82
w
q
EOF
    log "Finished partitioning /dev/sda using fdisk"

    sleep 2

    until [ -e /dev/sda1 ]
    do
        echo "Waiting for partitions to show up in /dev"
        sleep 1
    done

    mkswap -L swap -U $swapUUID /dev/sda1
    mkfs.ext4 -L root -U $rootUUID /dev/sda2
    mkfs.ext4 -L data -U $dataUUID /dev/sda3

    log "Finished setting up filesystems"
}

setupExtroot()
{
    mkdir -p /mnt/extroot/
    mount -U $rootUUID /mnt/extroot

    overlay_root=/mnt/extroot/upper

    # at this point we could copy the entire root (a previous version of this script did that), or just the overlay from the flash,
    # but it seems to work fine if we just create an empty overlay that is only replacing the rc.local from the firmware.

    # let's write a new rc.local on the extroot that will shadow the one which is in the rom (to run stage2 instead of stage1)
    mkdir -p ${overlay_root}/etc/
    cat >${overlay_root}/etc/rc.local <<EOF
/root/autoprovision-stage2.sh
exit 0
EOF

    # TODO FIXME when this is enabled then Chaos Calmer doesn't turn on the network and thus the device remains unreachable
    # make sure that we shadow the /var -> /tmp symlink with the extroot, so that /var is permanent
#    mkdir -p ${overlay_root}/var
    # KLUDGE: /var/state is assumed to be transient, so link it to tmp, see https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/12228
#    cd ${overlay_root}/var
#    ln -s /tmp state
#    cd -

    log "Finished setting up extroot"
}

autoprovisionStage1()
{
    signalAutoprovisionWorking

    signalAutoprovisionWaitingForUser
    signalWaitingForPendrive

    until hasBigEnoughPendrive
    do
        echo "Waiting for a pendrive to be inserted"
        sleep 3
    done

    signalAutoprovisionWorking # to make it flash in sync with the USB led
    signalFormatting

    sleep 1

    setupPendrivePartitions
    sleep 1
    setupExtroot

    sync
    stopSignallingAnything
    reboot
}

autoprovisionStage1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Marvin Gaye – "What's Going On" (1971)
War is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
This will be the last 2 or 3 lines for 2017, which was the year when the people of the United States of America lost their cotton-pickin' minds for once and for all.
I recently saw this bumper sticker on a car parked at the community center where I go to work out when it's too damn cold to be outside. (It only costs $50 a year for a senior membership, which entitles me to unlimited use of the strength-training and cardio machines at any of the 19 community centers in my county.)
Technically speaking, you can't say war is not the answer until you specify what the question is. But let's not quibble.
War is not the only thing that isn't the answer, of course:
On May 15, 1969, "Obie" Benson – who was one of the Four Tops – witnessed a violent clash between anti-war demonstrators and police in Berkeley's People's Park.
Benson discussed the ugly scene with his friend Al Cleveland, a Motown songwriter, who wrote the original version of "What's Going On."
The other Four Tops didn't want to record the song, so Benson gave it to Marvin Gaye, who rewrote the melody and the lyrics. Gaye thought the song would be a good fit for the Originals – "a group that has been described as "Motown's best-kept secret" – but Benson convinced Gaye to record it himself.
Motown's head honcho, Berry Gordy, thought the idea of Gaye recording a protest song was "ridiculous." After Gaye recorded it, Gordy didn't want to release it – he told Gaye it was the worst thing he had ever heard.
Of course, Berry Gordy didn't want to release Gaye's recording of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as a single. Go figure.
"What's Going On" sounded like no other record. Perhaps that was because many of the musicians who performed on it were high as a kite during their time in the studio.
James Jamerson
Unlike his fellow musicians, legendary Motown bass guitarist James Jamerson apparently preferred booze to weed. His drink of choice was reportedly Metaxa, a blend of brandy and wine that is made in Greece. The story goes that Jamerson drank so much Metaxa the night he was supposed to record the bass part for "What's Going On" that he couldn't sit up straight – instead he lay on the floor while playing.
Detroit Lions stars Lem Barney and Mel Farr were among those who take part in the simulated conversation at the beginning of the song.
Here's "What's Going On":
Labels: 2017, Marvin Gaye, What's Going On
John Lennon – "Gimme Some Truth" (1971)
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth
Leonard Downie, Jr., at the Washington Post for 44 years. He was the paper's Executive Editor when he retired in 2008.
Downie was so concerned about avoiding bias or the appearance of bias in the Post's political reporting that he refrained from voting while he was a Post editor.
Leonard Downie, Jr.
After he announced his retirement, a Post reader asked him if he planned to start voting. This was his response:
I'll have to think about that since I didn't just stop voting [when I was the Executive Editor], I stopped having even private opinions about politicians or issues so that I would have a completely open mind in supervising our coverage. It may be hard to change.
That may sound a little extreme, but you have to admire Downie's integrity.
I wonder if there is anyone in the media today who follows Len Downie's example.
Frankly, I'd be happy if everyone just followed George Orwell's example.
In his new book, Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom, author Thomas Ricks said something about George Orwell that distinguishes him from most current-day journalists:
Instead of shaping facts to fit his opinions, [Orwell] was willing to let facts change his opinions.
Let's face it. You can't say the same about most newspapers and television networks today.
Instead of weighing all the facts and coming to the appropriate conclusions based on those facts, "agenda journalists" start with a predetermined point of view and downplay any evidence that calls the validity of that point of view into question.
"The general modus operandi is simple," according to one critic. "[J]ump to premature conclusions, accept orchestrated events as [coinciding with reality] and interpretation as fact, ignore confuting or problematic data, and suppress or damp down countervailing intel when the truth eventually emerges."
The recently enacted "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" will reduce federal income taxes for the vast majority of taxpayers. In fact, the left-leaning Tax Policy Center has estimated that only 5% of Americans will pay more in taxes in 2018 than they would have if the new law had not been passed.
But a number of polls show that most Americans believe that their taxes will go up – not down – as a result of the new legislation.
For example, a New York Times survey found that only 32% of respondents believed they would get a tax cut in 2018.
How are we to explain this discrepancy between what reality actually is and what Americans believe reality to be?
Could it be the result of the consistently negative reporting about the tax legislation in most of the mainstream media?
Earlier this year, Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy reported that 60% of the news coverage of President Clinton's first 100 days in office were negative, while 40% were positive.
The numbers were almost identical for Clinton's successor, President Bush – 57% negative, 43% positive.
The press was much nicer to President Obama – only 41% of the stories about his first 100 days in office were negative, while 59% were positive.
President Trump got slammed in 80% of the news stories about his first 100 days. Only 20% were positive.
But CNN, NBC, and CBS were negative more than 90% of the time.
Even the Wall Street Journal – which some people believe is a right-wing paper – was negative 70% of the time.
Only Fox News had balanced coverage. It was negative 52% of the time and positive 48% of the time.
Some of you will say that those numbers simply reflect reality – that Trump richly deserves every negative story that's been published about him.
But consider this: according to the Center for Public Integrity, journalists contributed almost 25 times more money to Hillary Clinton's campaign than Donald Trump's campaign.
Journalists as a group clearly feel tremendous fear and loathing for President Trump. Most of the ones I know don't apologize for feeling that way – they think he's earned every bit of that fear and loathing.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, most American newspapers were partisan publications.
Party newspapers didn't apologize for what we call "fake news" today. "The power of the press," in the words of one antebellum journalist, "consists not in its logic or eloquence, but in its ability to manufacture facts, or to give coloring to facts that have occurred."
Political parties directly or indirectly subsidized newspapers. In some instances, the relationships between party and publisher were unknown to readers.
Professor James Baughman
As the revered University of Wisconsin journalism professor James Baughman told the Center for Journalism Ethics in 2011, "by the 1950s most newspapers, large and small, as well as the broadcast networks, tried to present the news objectively. . . . [O]ur national news culture, whether print or broadcast, preferred the middle ground."
But that changed in the 1970s and 1980s. According to Baughman,
Reporters were encouraged to add analysis into their stories. Such analytical reporting more often than not, I think, had a liberal centrist slant. Not hard liberal. Not Rachel Maddow liberal. Maybe "neo-liberal."
Look at the The New York Times in 1960 vs. 2010. The reportage is more interpretive. This is not a problem for me, but it is an issue for my more conservative friends (and I have them). The more analytical journalism could be off-putting for those on the fringes, left and especially on the right. One reader's analysis is another reader's opinion. Sixty percent of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2009 believed reporting was politically biased.
There is a related problem that editors note and I encountered when I gave public service talks as director of the journalism school . . . a lot of people can't distinguish the editorial page from the rest of the paper. Some assume the worst, that the editorial views of the newspaper inform the rest of the paper.
All too often, that assumption is justified.
Most of us are far from being experts when it comes to tax reform, immigration policy, and the other political issues of the day. We rely on newspapers and network news programs to present the facts relevant to those issues so we can make an informed decision concerning which side is right and which side is wrong.
At least that's the way it used to work. Nowadays, it's more likely that we turn to a news source that tells us what we want to hear.
Occasionally, I'll come across a story in the Washington Post or another news source that's on a topic that I actually know quite a bit about. Almost without exception, those stories are a disappointment. At best, they are naive or simplistic. At worst, they are poorly-disguised advocacy pieces that reflect the author's biases.
That makes me wonder whether the articles on topics that I don't know anything about are equally flawed.
In many cases, you don't have to know anything about the subject of a newspaper story to know that its conclusions aren't worthy of being taken seriously.
For example, the author of the article may base his or her conclusions on anecdotal evidence that is inherently unreliable. You have to wonder whether that author is too lazy to dig deeper into the facts, or is simply unaware that his or her arguments are illogical, inconsistent, or otherwise flawed.
A good example of this kind of "reporting" is a recent story about a large Utah family that ran on the Washington Post's front page. That article clearly implied that the new tax reform legislation would hurt that family, even though it is almost certain that the new law will help them.
The Post article pays lip service to objectivity by acknowledging that "[i]ndependent analysts say most families should get a tax cut" as a result of the new law, but undercuts that statement with quotes from the husband and wife who are the subject of the article.
"We just don't want to have less money than we had before," says the wife. In fact, her family won't have less money – unless there is something very atypical about them. And if her family is that atypical, why is the Post focusing on them rather than on families that are more representative of all American families?
"It doesn't feel like it's for the middle class," the husband says. "It doesn't feel genuine to me," the wife chimes in. Why should what the legislation "feels like" to one apparently ill-informed couple matter?
"It seems like it might be worse for us," the husband says. What are we to make of this statement? We are reading this article in hopes of learning something about the effects the new tax law will have on Americans generally – and on our family in particular. Instead, we're told that one man has concluded that it "seems like" the new law "might" make his family's situation worse. SO WHAT???
Imagine if that Post reporter was assigned to write a story about a new cancer treatment. Would he feature one cancer patient who said "It doesn't feel like this treatment is for me," or "It seems like I might be worse off" by undergoing that treatment? Hopefully not.
I'm guessing that it's news coverage like this story – which should embarrass the powers-that-be at the Post – that is responsible for the divergence between the very large number of Americans who will benefit from the new tax-reform law, and the relatively small number who believe they will benefit from that law.
I think every Post story about the new tax bill has stated – usually in the headline, subhead, or initial paragraph – that it will primarily help the wealthy.
The implication is that this is a bad thing – few of us see ourselves as wealthy, after all.
The new tax law cuts tax rates across the board – almost all taxpayers will benefit. But the wealthy will benefit more than the poor or middle-class for one simple reason: THE WEALTHY PAY A LOT MORE IN TAXES.
The top-earning 1% of Americans paid roughly 46% of all individual federal income taxes in 2014. (They earned only 17% of all the income earned by individuals that year.)
Roughly 45% of Americans pay NO federal income tax. (That percentage will go up as a result of the new tax law.) By definition, people who pay zero income tax will not be directly benefitted by a reduction in federal income tax rates.
Saying that the tax-reform bill primarily benefits the wealthy is about as meaningful as saying that a law-enforcement initiative against car-theft rings primarily benefit the wealthy.
But given that the wealthy own more cars, and more expensive cars, any police efforts aimed at car thieves do benefit the wealthy more.
But would the Washington Post lead off a story about such a law-enforcement effort with a statement that it will primarily benefit the wealthy? Of course not.
I don't agree with the Washington Post when it comes to the tax-reform law. I happen to think that the new tax legislation is a good thing for the country as a whole.
But maybe the Post is right. I'm willing to admit that's a possibility.
What I'm not willing to admit is that the Post ever truly had an open mind on the subject. I would say that nine of out ten stories about the new tax law that have appeared in the Post over the past several weeks represent agenda journalism – not impartial, George Orwell-style reporting.
I'm not a conspiracy-theory kind of guy, and I'm usually very skeptical of those who make broad generalizations – including those who assert that the mainstream media has a liberal agenda.
But after reading what the Post has had to say about the new tax law, I have no choice but to conclude that the newspaper has its thumb on the scale. Rather than keeping an open mind and considering all the relevant facts before coming to a conclusion about that law, the Post let its political point of view drive its "reporting."
John Lennon wrote a lot of terrible songs, but "Gimme Some Truth" is not one of them. In fact, it may be the best song ever released by Lennon as a solo artist.
"Gimme Some Truth" has some things in common with rap songs – Lennon speaks the lyrics more than he sings them, and he hangs a lot of words on a very simple musical framework. There's a lot of repetition – "Gimme Some Truth" would be very short if the repetition was eliminated. (Of course, that's the case with a lot of Beatles songs.)
Here's "Gimme Some Truth":
Labels: George Orwell, Gimme Some Truth, John Lennon, Leonard Downie Jr., President Trump, Washington Post
Glen Rock Carolers – "Hosanna in the Highest" (1829)
Lo! 'tis a youthful chorus sings
Hosanna to the King of Kings
Every Christmas Eve, a group of 50 male carolers gather at the only stop light in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, to continue a tradition that began in 1848.
From midnight until sunrise, the carolers walk the streets of Glen Rock, serenading the townspeople with Christmas carols. They sing in three-part harmony, accompanied by trumpets and trombones.
The carolers wear a uniform consisting of a greatcoat with gray hat, gray gloves, and a striped woolen scarf:
In 1837, an Englishman named William Heathcote built a woolen mill in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, a small town just a few miles north of the Mason-Dixon line. Business was good, and several of Heathcote's brothers and nephews came from England to join him. The family began to operate a rope works in addition to the woolen mill.
On Christmas Eve in 1848, William's brother Mark and three nephews decided to walk through the town and sing Christmas carols to their fellow Glen Rockers. They were accompanied by William's bassoon-playing brother James.
Here's a statue of the original carolers:
The four hymns that the original carolers sang that night are still sung. By 1900, the number of songs had grown to nine. "Silent Night" was added in the 1930s, and other carols were added in 1986, 2003, and 2013.
If you want to be a member of the Glen Rock Carolers, I hope you're patient.
There's not a lot of turnover in the ranks of the singers. In fact, the newest of the 50 members of the group was admitted to membership in 2008.
Contrary to the words from our featured song that are quoted above, the Glen Rock Carolers are not a "youthful chorus."
The three most senior Glen Rock Carolers have been members for 47 years. Three other have been singing in the group for 40 years or longer.
The active Glen Rock Caroler has been a member for 26-plus years.
There are a number of families who are represented by more than one caroler – for example, there are three Englers (all of whom have been members for at least 36 years) and four Krebs.
The Glen Rock Carolers in 1908
But the Krohs are in a class by themselves. P. Kenneth, Jack, and Robert Kroh are life (retired) members, each with at least 52 years of membership. Robert Jr., Todd, and Brent are active members, with 39, 36, and 15 years (respectively) of caroling under their belt.
In 1999, one of the carolers travelled to England and visited the farm that William Heathcote owned before migrating to Glen Rock.
One thing led to another, and the Glen Rock Carolers were invited to sing at a holiday festival in Sheffield in 2002. The group returned to England in 2012.
The carolers commemorated each of those trips by adding a new carol to their repertoire.
"Hosanna in the Highest" is one of the four carols that the Glen Rock Carolers have sung every Christmas since 1848.
The text of the carol comes from an 1829 English hymn book, but the source of the tune is unknown.
Here is a video of the Glen Rock Carolers singing "Hosanna in the Highest" in 2015:
You can click here to go to the Glen Rock Carolers' website and order their CD.
Labels: Christmas, Glen Rock Carolers, Hosanna in the Highest
Kanye West (ft. Jamie Foxx) – "Gold Digger' (2004)
Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger
But she ain't messin' with no broke n*ggas
If you listen to a lot of news/talk radio, you've probably heard the commercials for TermProvider, Inc. – also known as "Big Lou Insurance" – which claims to be one of the largest term life insurance brokers in the country.
Big Lou's message is quite different from the typical life insurance advertisement. His target is the middle-aged guy who's put on more than a few pounds and is taking meds for elevated cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. At some point, he's traded in his first wife for a newer model, who is afraid that he's going to drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke any day. So she's been nagging him to pony up for a big-ass life insurance policy that will allow her to continue to live in the manner to which she's become accustomed if he suddenly keels over.
Here's one of Big Lou's charmingly honest radio spots:
Do you have three ex-wives, and your current trophy wife wants a life insurance policy three times the size of the policies you had to purchase for your previous mistakes? If so, you need to call Big Lou. . . . Big Lou is intimately familiar with your problems, and if you're 50 or 60 years old and in reasonably good health, a one million dollar policy should only cost about a hundred to two hundred dollars per month. Big Lou may have a solution for your previous policies as well. You may even save enough to lighten the load on your new one million dollar policy. Remember, call Big Lou. He's like you . . . except he's only on number two.
(You can click here to hear that radio spot.)
Here's a Big Lou ad that's aimed at trophy wives:
Ladies, is his waistline expanding? . . . If so, you need to call Big Lou. Big Lou can fit him into a term life policy even if he is a bit porky, has type II diabetes, or has high blood pressure. . . . Big Lou can show you affordable rates for one million in coverage – instantly making your man a bit more attractive, if you know what I mean.
(Sounds like the honeymoon is over, pal.)
A word of advice to all you trophy wives whose hubbies buy insurance from Big Lou: be patient!
I understand that it's no fun when Mr. Expanding Waistline has one drink too many and gets all frisky. It will be tempting to take matters into your own hands rather than biding your time. But the spouse is always suspect number one when there's a murder.
Better to keep feeding him big steaks and baked potatoes with plenty of butter and sour cream, and saying "You stay on the couch and watch your football game, honey – I'll bring you another beer." Pretty soon, nature will take its course.
Even if you're a few years past your prime when that heart attack occurs, you'll still be able to attract a virile young boy toy with the help of that million-dollar insurance payout.
Kanye West's "Gold Digger" (which features Jamie Foxx) is a match for Big Lou's radio commercials when it comes to cynicism.
West originally intended the song for the female rapper Shawnna, and the lyrics were written from a female's point of view:
I'm not sayin' I'm a gold digger
But I ain't messin' with no broke n*ggas
But Shawnna decided not to record the song, so West rewrote the lyrics to make them more suitable for a male singer.
"Gold Digger" was a huge hit. It sold a million digital downloads in only seven weeks, and quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard "Hot 100" in 2004.
Here's the Hype Williams-directed music video for "Gold Digger" (which features the "clean" version of the song):
Click below to buy the explicit version of the song from Amazon:
Labels: Big Lou, Gold Digger, Jamie Foxx, Kanye West, trophy wife
Orwells – "Who Needs You" (2013)
You better save the country
You better pass the flask
You better join the army
I just finished reading Thomas Ricks's book, Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom, which is an dual biography of two great Englishmen who had very disparate backgrounds and who never met each other.
Churchill was the wartime leader of the United Kingdom – a world-famous figure – while Orwell was an obscure writer who died shortly after 1984 (his most famous work by far) was published. But both men fiercely defended the rights of the individual, which were severely threatened during World War II by the forces of fascism and communism.
Both Churchill and Orwell were childhood heroes of mine, so the Ricks book was right up my alley.
I read Orwell's two most famous books, Animal Farm and 1984, when I was a teenager. But I also read his minor novels – like A Clergyman's Daughter and Keep the Aspidistra Flying – as well as much of his nonfiction. (Ricks thinks those early novels stink, but I disagree.)
Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell's memoir about his poverty-stricken years as a young man struggling to make enough money to eke out a living in those two great capitals, made quite an impression on me. I'll never forget Orwell's account of how he applied black shoe polish to the parts of his feet that showed through the holes in his socks when he was a waiter in Paris. (He couldn't afford to buy new socks.)
After I had finished the Ricks book, I recorded its title, the name of its author, and how many pages long it was in a notebook.
I've been keeping track of all the books I read for over 40 years. Based on a quick flip through the notebooks where I've recorded the titles of those books, it looks like I've read over 2500 books in the past 40 years.
The books I read in the first
seven months of 1979
One reason I've done that is so I don't inadvertently read a book I've already read. But my primary motivation has been vanity. (I'm using "vanity" here in the sense that it is used in Ecclesiastes – which is that human accomplishments are ultimately of no significance.)
My list of books read is of little significance now, and it will be of no significance after I'm dead. (Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.)
I read almost as much now as I did 20 or 40 years ago, but I may have allowed myself to get into something of a reading rut.
I read some nonfiction – mostly history and biography. But I mostly read crime novels.
I don't apologize for that. I think that crime novels by writers such as George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Malcolm Mackay, Leif G. W. Persson, Henning Mankell, and Karin Fossum (to name just a few) are just as deserving of serious consideration as any more "literary" novels.
But I want to broaden my horizons a bit. For one thing, I need to read some of the classics – Dostoyevsky, Melville, Henry James, Proust – that I've been telling myself for years that I would read some day when I had more time.
(I won't be reading it in French)
I'm 65 and retired now. Time's a-wastin' – I don't have forever. Watch out, À la recherche du temps perdu – ready or not, here I come!
The five members of the Orwells grew up together in a Chicago suburb, and they signed their first record deal when they were still in high school.
I assume that the band is named for George Orwell, but I've been unable to confirm that.
Today's featured song, "Who Needs You," was first released on the EP of the same name in 2013. It was also included on the band's second studio album, 2014's Disgraceland.
The Orwells did "Who Needs You" live on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2014. At the end of their rather bizarre performance, Letterman called for a reprise of the song. But the band was unable to play – its lead guitarist had broken all of the strings on his guitar. Paul Shaffer and the Letterman house band picked up where the Orwells left off and played the last part of the song while the show's closing credits rolled.
Here's a video of the Orwells and the Letterman house band performing:
Here's the studio version of "Who Needs You":
Posted by Gary at 10:19 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Late Show with David Letterman, Orwells, Who Needs You
Echo and the Bunnymen – "Read It in Books" (1980)
I've seen it in your eyes
And I've read it in books
I spent a lot of time reading when I was a kid.
One reason I read so much was that I had nothing else to do – especially in the summer. My family couldn't afford to go on vacations, and summer camps were unheard of in my hometown.
We had only two TV stations back then. I enjoyed watching game shows in the morning, but not the soap operas that aired in the early afternoons.
So I read library books . . . lots of library books.
Our local library allowed you to check out only six books at a time. When I was 12 or 13, I routinely checked out six books, read them in one day, and checked out six more the next day when I returned the first six.
I read a lot of nonfiction –especially history and biography. I loved the We Were There series of books – We Were There with Lewis and Clark, We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, We Were There at Pearl Harbor, and so on. There were a total of 36 We Were There books published between 1955 and 1963, and I think I read most of them.
I also read everything I could find about baseball and car racing. (I still remember the international auto racing colors – green for the UK, blue for France, red for Italy, and so on.)
But I read a lot of fiction as well. The "Freddy the Pig" books by Walter Brooks were a particular favorite of mine – but you need to be an adult to truly appreciate their sophisticated humor.
I was also a big fan of the "Danny Dunn" series, which depended heavily on science – Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine, Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint, and so on.
I didn't read many of the classic works of children's literature – for example, C. S. Lewis's Narnia series, or Charlotte's Web, or Roald Dahl's books – because no one told me about them. (I rectified this by reading a number of them to my kids before bedtime when they were young.)
When I got a little older, I graduated from the children's library to the adult library.
I checked out a lot of books that were way above my level of comprehension. Perhaps I believed that I would absorb their contents through osmosis. Or maybe I was just trying to impress the librarians and my teachers.
The Joplin (MO) Public Library
For example, I remember taking home Gargantua and Pantagruel by the 16th-century French writer, François Rabelais – a satire full of extravagant wordplay and risqué humor that was way over my head. (It may still be over my head.)
I also checked out Winston Churchill's six-volume history of World War II, as well as his four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Churchill was one of my heroes, but I don't know how far I got with either of those multivolume works – not very, I suspect.
You'd think that someone who reads as much as I do would buy a lot of books. But I don't.
I can't help but feel that it's a waste of money to purchase a contemporary novel that I'll read once and never read again. Much better to pick it up at the library and read it for free.
Yes, I'm cheap – but in a very peculiar way. It's not the amount of money involved in buying books, it's the fact that the library is a no-cost and very convenient alternative. (There are a couple of library branches closer to my house than the nearest bookstore, and I can go online to search for books and reserve them – in a few days, I get an e-mail informing me that my choices have been delivered to the branch of my choice, where I can pick them up at my convenience.)
There are exceptions to my rule of going to the library rather than buying books. For example, there are certain reference books that I like to have at my fingertips – like the Total Baseball encyclopedia, and The Rolling Stone Album Guide.
I also enjoy owning certain books that have a personal meaning for me, but I look at those volumes more as collectibles than reading material.
For example, I found a copy of the Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell at a local used bookstore many years ago. The four volumes of that work came in a box, which was enclosed in plastic wrap. I never even tore that plastic off, much less opened any of those volumes:
But Orwell has long been one of my favorite writers, and I've enjoyed having that big box full of Orwell on my bookshelf for all these years.
I wrote that last paragraph just a couple of days ago. So you can imagine my surprise earlier today when I came across the following sentence in the "Acknowledgements" section of Thomas Ricks's new dual biography of Orwell and Winston Churchill, which is titled Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom:
I want to thank [Washington bookstore owner] Andy Moursand for giving me, back in about 1982, the four-volume set of Orwell's collected essays.
Orwell's second wife, Sonia, was one of the co-editors of that collection. Orwell married Sonia in October 1949, just three months before he died at the age of 46.
Orwell was so ill that he couldn't get out of bed the day of his wedding. He donned a mauve velvet smoking jacket over his pajamas and got married while sitting up in bed.
"Read It in Books" was written by Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope when they were members of the Crucial Three, a band that they formed on McCulloch's 18th birthday and that broke up a few weeks later.
McCulloch later formed Echo and the Bunnymen, while Cope formed Teardrop Explodes. Both of those bands recorded "Read It in Books." (The Teardrop Explodes version is titled simply "Books.")
The Echo and the Bunnymen version was the B-side of their first single, "The Pictures on the Wall." Both songs were released on the group's debut album, Crocodiles, in 1980. I must have bought that album about the same time I bought that four-volume Orwell collection.
Here's "Read It in Books":
Labels: Echo and the Bunnymen, George Orwell, Read It in Books
Creedence Clearwater Revival – "Green River" (1969...
The Band – "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (...
Beatles – "Ticket to Ride" (1965)
Cream – "Badge" (1969)
Hombres – "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" (1967...
Tom Cochrane – "Life Is a Highway" (1991)
Spencer Davis Group – "I'm a Man" (1967)
Kanye West (ft. Jamie Foxx) – "Gold Digger' (2004)...
Glen Rock Carolers – "Hosanna in the Highest" (182...


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Film Review - Rounders
Rounders is one of those dark films I end up loving, just from its realism. Set in New York, the film follows Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), a law student who has given up the poker profession to preserve his relationship with a woman.
The serpent in this paradise is in the form of Mike's old friend, Lester "The Worm" Murphy, who is getting out of prison and needs to start working up a bankroll to pay off a loan shark debt.
Rounders introduces us to the real game of poker. This is an eye-opener to us who haven't live in that world. Phrases like "If you don't spot the sucker in 30 minutes, you are the sucker" draws in the audience.
There are a few things that don't work in this fall-from-grace story. The girlfriend is a two-dimensional bitch. There is no depth to their relationship. McDermott has a more intimate bond with his professor than with the woman he's sleeping with. Second, "The Worm" just isn't the type you'd want to keep getting in the hole for. There's nothing sympathetic in the character.
What's fun is the education one gets in poker. What's appalling is the idea that just maybe it's better for this man to quit law school and try his luck in Las Vegas. It's a dark movie. A feel-good happy ending would have gone against the grain.
Michael Rispoli
Melina Kanakaredes
Lenny Clarke
Tom Aldredge
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Directed by John Dahl