Tag Archives: the american pageant

‘who will survive in america?’

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A Disclaimer: I started writing this piece a little more than a year ago. Over the next month, I’ll be publishing this essay in progress in parts. You, fair internets, are part of my creative process. There’s a much longer project I’m embarking on, and this essay in progress figures prominently. Thanks for reading.  -S.

March 2011

1.
Dead birds.

Thousands of them. Real and imagined, suddenly appear from nowhere. At least to me. My iPod shuffled to a haunting tome in Nina’s brittle contra-alto, ‘Why you wanna fly, blackbird? You ain’t ever gonna fly.’ I clicked a link of short essay of images from the Gulf:

The timing of these two moments did not suggest coincidence. Later, I observed a quiet invasion on the A Train to Manhattan. To my left, a five year old boy’s attention fixed on a small screen. To my right, a forty five year old man methodically slid his index and thumb across a device. Their faces were aglow in part by the blue white light and the satisfaction at destroying something. I didn’t get it. Soon, I discovered the game everywhere.

By the end of 2010, Angry Birds had been downloaded 50 million times. At a 99cents per download, Rovio Corporation, the small Finnish company who created the mobile app with just $100,000 yielded a return of $8 million. I don’t think I’ve ever considered birds angry. What would birds have to be angry about anyway?

I played it once. It’s a simple slingshot game. Three little birds pummel digital wooden and stone structures to retrieve eggs stolen by evil pigs. And if I’m to be honest, there’s something quite gratifying about aiming a thing at a target and hitting it. It’s rote and it’s calming. Anxiety runs pretty is high these days. I’m not sure that I’m good at anything. I can do many things well, but what have I exactly? I’m still struggling with that answer. Yet, this Angry Birds app is the truth. I can advance to higher levels and achieve precision with just two fingers and lord over my opponent. A wooden wall, a house of cards constructed by evil pigs. The metaphor isn’t concealed here. David versus Goliath. People versus the Corporation. Could my bird pummel a brick wall? Will I ever fly again?

I found the observation of this academic curious:

Rovio made a smart choice in making the birds angry, said Jesse Schell, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who studies game design and entertainment technology. “You can smash them into things and it’s O.K.,” he said. “Imagine if they were cute little birds. It might be kind of funny on some level, but most people would probably be a little repulsed.”

Just imagine…

Continue reading →

like spinning plates.

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We’ve been watching its progression for many months now.

The progress of the rise of the new towers is, undeniable. The city’s skyline forever altered by the devastating events of that day, but now, something new emerges. Almost overnight, the new 1 World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower, pierces the space where the twins towers once occupied.

Bear with me. I know I’m stating the obvious, but I had grown accustomed to the absence of the twin towers. A coping mechanism, really, but now, at any point in the city, there’s this new tower, piercing the skyline. I’m surprised by how much it rattles me. I didn’t loose anyone to the attacks. But I’m a New Yorker now. I know things change here often, the definition of a New York Minute, but still…

*
Minoru Yamasaki was a pre-eminent Japanese American architect that designed two significant developments in the mid and late twentieth century. Pruitt-Igoe Houses in St. Louis and the World Trade Center. Recently, I, with a couple of my urban planning nerd friends, went to a screening for a documentary unpacking the legacy of the largest public housing development in the United States, built in 1954 then leveled by demolition in 1972. Pruitt-Igoe was celebrated as an achievement in public housing, a collection of 33 buildings, but within its short lifespan, it became a haven for crime and extreme poverty, an albatross to the St. Louis Housing Authority, whose shortsighted underwriting contributed to the accelerated decline of those buildings.

The first phase of demolition was televised in 1972.

1972 would also be the year that the doors of the Twin Towers, Yamasaki’s latest creation, would open. As we watched the film, I wondered about the architect. Yamasaki died more than two decades ago. He would never know of the two bombings of his greatest masterpiece, and how the second bombing obliterated it from skyline.

The cycle of a building life. Create. Build. Destroy.

*
She’s almost topped off now, this new freedom tower. A prefabricated spire of 1,776 feet to mount her head. Heavy is this crown for this new building. It took a good ten years, multiple arguments over its design, negotiations with property owners, city officials, the families, so many hands and she emerges, dwarfing all other surrounding buildings. She is history. She will be an office complex. She is steel and glass. She is symbol.

I don’t work in lower Manhattan anymore. But each trip in recent months, I look up, cooly observe the progress. Now, as the tower nears completion, she insinuates her presence in my reality. It feels funny.

Did anyone ever witness a phoenix rise from ashes?

What I’m Reading. What I’m Thinking.

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It was not natural. And she was the first…
A poet can read. A poet can write.
A poet is African in Africa, or Irish in Ireland, or French on the left bank of Paris, or white in Wisconsin. A poet writes in her own language. A poet writers of her own people, her own history, her own vision, her own room, her own house where she sits at her own table quietly placing one word after another word until she builds a line and a movement and an image and a meaning that somersaults all of these into the singing, the absolutely individual voice of the poet: at liberty. A poet is somebody free. A poet is someone at home.
How should there be Black poets in America?

-June Jordan, The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America

This the epigraph to Adrienne Rich’s essay, ‘History Stops for No One’ in her collection, What Is Found There.  I picked this book up again 3 weeks ago to reread days before she died. I can’t stop reading it. You should read it too.

More later.

#BLACKOUT.

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I’ve read several opinions on SOPA/PIPA for weeks. I may be off in my read of it, but below is my letter to Senator Schumer urging his withdrawal of support of this bill. I’m sharing it here. Read the bill. Section 103 is SCARY. I’m not kidding.

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Dear Senator Schumer:

It has come to my attention that you support SOPA/PIPA that is currently under consideration in Congress. Your support of this bill is distressing and as a long time supporter of your service, and I’m now faced with a difficult decision if you choose to continue your support of this bill.

This bill is poorly written. It is unclear where piracy/copyright protection for the entertainment industry and preservation of free speech begins and ends.

The definition alone of a ‘internet site dedicated to the theft of US Property’ is so wildly unwieldy that EVERY INTERNET SITE CREATED IN THE US would be subject to scrutiny of the Attorney General depending on the claim by any entity that said site has committed ‘theft’ of content, which in this case equals ‘loss revenue’ for said entity. Should a site post a review or comment about a product that is unflattering to said product, the entity has the right to request the AG order Google to remove references index references to the site in a simple search, and the host provider would be mandated to block access to the site to any viewers who seek the domain. The offending entity has little to no resources to object this claim and the US government can assume ownership of the domain? This is my close read of Section 103 of the bill as it is currently written.

While many may believe that this is tied only to piracy (blocking sites that allow for streaming of motion pictures or major record label music), I don’t see how this bill protects the very foundation of our democracy, the ability for the press to communicate with readers, trusted and respected bloggers to communicate with their readers. I read US papers and international papers online. The bill would allow the US government to unilaterally block any foreign website. Should the BBC report on American events, the AG has the discretion to block my access to it? Really? It also seems to imply that a simple email communication between an individual and me could get flagged as copyright infringement and could mean that my email becomes property of US government and all my communication would be blocked. Am I mistaken in this interpretation?

I have a blog and occasionally write for other sites. If I’m reading Section 103 correctly, it also implies that any reference I may make could be in violation of copyright protection. I’m also a volunteer editor of an online literary journal. The content we publish is original work from writers and visual artists. We understand the sensitivity of this issue of piracy. However, should our original content reflect views that are deemed unsavory to an entity, corporation or the federal/state/local governments could simply block access to that content. We are a small entity; we rely solely on our connection to an online community of readers. There are many sites that are similar to ours in creating content. The bill could shut us down and hundreds down like us with the broad and undefined powers given to the attorney general under the guise to simply ‘protect US Property’.

The definitions are so nebulous, it allows for gross abuses in enforcement that leave me to conclude that in its implementation it would reach further than just shutting down sites of pirated entertainment media. It would be censorship of information and silencing between communities sharing communication, information for social and political action. It leads me to conclude that this is a direct assault on our first amendment rights.

Any reasonable person who reads this bill as it is currently written understands that this bill provides a trapdoor to ending free speech. I urge you to withdraw support from SOPA/PIPA. I’m sure that you and many members of congress could spend a little more time to precisely define terms to protect content creators and uphold copyright laws without making every citizen of the United States a criminal. You vote for this bill, you will lose my vote in the next election cycle.

Sincerely,

Syreeta McFadden
Brooklyn, NY

‘Let’s meet the moment. Let’s get to work.’

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Here’s the thing: Nobody hires in August.

I know this fact quite intimately. I had begun my job search in the summer of 2008, before my job was ‘eliminated’ at the end of 2008. I was working in the real estate world then, and contrary to popular narratives, signs of distress were everywhere in 2007. In August 2008, a colleague enlightened me to this universal corporate meme.

So when the new numbers were released from the department of labor that showed zero job growth for the month of August and the unemployment rate held at 9.4, I didn’t flinch.

My expectations were already low.

I’m no politician, just an average, slightly over educated black woman who worked in the very industry that seems to be the lynchpin of the Obama’s job plan and well, a fake psychic.

Here’s me in February 2009:

So this brings me to my current thinking about infrastructure. Infrastructure is more than the physical universe of roads, bridges, schools, power grids, levees, dams, reservoirs, trains, subways. Think of them as veins and vessels within the body. The body cannot live without the mind. Teachers, firefighters, police officers, servicemen and women flow through that universe. So do you and I. And all of us need to be a bit more educated about how we all are connected in this life. How do we individually complement the stimulus package that was just signed? Infrastructure, beyond the jobs and economic stability it can create, includes you, me and a dose of intellectual curiosity.

America is a young nation with old systems in play. All that American ingenuity we’ve been taught about has laid fallow for too long.

Here’s Obama in 2011:

The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for long-term unemployed. (Applause.) It will provide — it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business. (Applause.) It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and if they hire, there will be customers for their products and services. You should pass this jobs plan right away. (Applause.)

Indeed. This thought process is rooted in simple economics: cash begets demand, demand begets supply, begets higher GDP. This is stimulus for main street. Create an environment so that consumers spend and employers hire. Investment in infrastructure is known by most policy wonks as the speediest metric to mark job growth. It is not unlike the recession of 2000/2001, when everyone looked toward investment in construction starts for housing, to compensate for the epic failure and job losses from internet companies folding. And that housing boom (and inevitable bust) carried the country out of recession of the early aughts. I suppose the logic remains the same here for the American Jobs Act; incentivize the private market (small businesses) to hire more 14 million Americans out of work, put cash in the pockets of those underemployed and overworked Americans so that we spend more and grow the economy.

Construction jobs are like cells dividing, besides the trades that get hired, folks who do work with their hands, it also creates a bureaucracy, a host of support staff to manage the endeavor. It’s not a bad idea…

Which is really to say that while this is effective method to stimulate job growth, it is a terribly old idea. If we’re to presume that everyone in the job market is looking to specialize in masonry, electrical, engineering trades, then he’s definitely on to something. It certainly would require a re-education or refining of capabilities. The ‘jobs’ that this bill will likely create would require a highly specialized labor force, one that seeks transform an erstwhile trader/bookseller that’s been serving up your latte at your local coffee shop for the past six months to rewire a school to support a 4G network.

When we talk of job creation what exactly are we talking about? Continue reading →

dancebreak.

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I don’t know about you, but lately, everything is coming up ’80s for me. 1980s. Bad economy, the ghost of Ronald Reagan, bad banks, doc siders, penny loafers, jelly shoes, skinny jeans, jeggings, acid wash jeggings, jelly bracelets (silly bands), flannel. That stupid article in Psychology Today calling me and mine ugly got me watching a pivotal scene from 1985 classic, The Color Purple. I needed to hear Celie’s declaration of independence, ‘I’m poor, black, I may even be ugly, but dear god, I’m here. I’m here!.’

Cornel West broke up with Obama y’all. On some silly bitch trifle over inauguration tickets and somesuch. He’s spewing some bitterness that makes me wince (translation = deeply uncomfortable) on some old black nationalist anti-semetic line that I hadn’t heard since the last century. I get that you’re sad that he doesn’t call anymore, boo but you ain’t gotta pit folks on some us versus them. Not when it’s the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides. And in an odd turn of events, I found myself trolling YouTube for Basia’s 1989 jam. It’s kinda a break up song, right?

But honestly, if we’re talking 1980s to 1990, this was the penultimate break up songs of all break up songs:

I’m also told that the Rapture is scheduled for this Saturday. And like any self respecting, skeptical and musical loving nerd, I queued up Blondie *and* KRS-One’s cover:

I’m just glad we got a soundtrack for this stuff. But really, I love everyone’s hair and the soft focus lenses, and the reverse grip of heartache. This is how I will want to remember the world before it all ends.

against appropriation.

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One would categorize this situation as a thorny issue:

Though he describes himself as a good friend of hers, the fashion and art photographer David LaChapelle has decided to settle his differences with the pop star Rihanna in a place where friends don’t usually end up: court. Mr. LaChapelle, known for his candy-colored, sexually over-the-top images, claims in a suit filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan that Rihanna helped herself to too many of the images in the recently released video for her sexually over-the-top song “S & M.”

The suit, which asks for at least $1 million in damages, argues that the video is “directly derived from and substantially similar to” photographs he has created and published that show, among other things, a dominatrix walking a chained man on a leash, a woman in latex headgear and another woman (Lady Gaga, to be precise) wearing only screaming headlines. In all, the suit claims, eight of Mr. LaChapelle’s images were used to create scenes in the video, which the suit calls a “willful, wanton and deliberate” infringement of his copyright protections.

It reminded me of Junot Diaz’s comments to a packed audience at the Union Square Barnes and Noble upon the release of his Pulitzer Prize winning novel back in 2007, where a young writer asked about Diaz’s influence or inspiration. Diaz instructed the writer to ‘steal that shit.’ We all laughed hard at that. Diaz seemed to be speaking specifically about mimicing style as a tool for one’s own creative process. Many reviewers compared Diaz to the late David Foster Wallace (well more like Patrick Choimoseau’s Texaco than Infinite Jest, but that’s just splitting literati hairs. Maybe…) And that comparison was assigned to Diaz because of his copious usage of footnotes (like Wallace, but also like Choimoseau, but also like Borges) as part of the novel’s narrative structure. Yet, we have to explore the knotty relationship between appropriation without attribution. Think back to the recently settled case of Shepard Fairey versus the Associate Press, where an image inspired art (and informed a movement) without proper attribution.

Looking at LaChapelle’s images and stills from the ‘S&M‘ video, the similarities are undeniable. Rihanna, who has worked with LaChapelle before, begs the obvious question: why did she not simply work with the director again? Rihanna’s collaborator, director Melina Matsoukas, acknowledges that she is influenced of the work other artists, yet neglects to mention them by name. This is the pair’s second offense. Certainly, we artists look to other artists and mediums from which to draw inspiration, inform and develop our own work, but at what point does it become all out thievery?

On the other side of copying issue lies Kanye West and Hype Williams. As others have charged that the pair has committed the offense of copying another artist, the filmaker Gaspar Noé, I’m not sure that’s entirely fair. Noé is obviously influenced by the Jean-Luc Godard, who has had decades long influences on some of our most celebrated filmmakers, photographers, artist that include giants like Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Mike Nichols, established newbies Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, (I’d argue the Joel and Ethan Cohen too) and this guy.  Obviously, me too (photography and writing). And I don’t love the West/Williams video, but I immediately recognize the nod to Godard (go back and look at Runaway, too, Godard’s influence is all up in that). Godard was more than likely influenced as we all are by the Lumiere Brothers. Why is it all out copying for West and Williams and not for Noé? Theft is a curious charge to me.

For LaChapelle, I feel RiRi and Matsoukas can’t argue influence when many of the images are nearly identical staging of the photographs. As for McGinley, the influence is evident for ‘Only Girl in The World‘, the staging is suspiciously familiar.  How’s that saying go: There’s nothing new under the sun. Right?

Right…

I’m not sure what the answer is. As a photographer and writer, I certainly draw influences from multiple mediums. My ridiculous paparrazo project is influenced by Fellini, Godard, hip hop, Nan Goldin, Basquiat, and my contemporaries. My soundtrack in my head when I shoot is Uproot Andy’s El Botellon’s remix (Seriously).  I’m certainly influenced by an artist’s aesthetic judgments, but ultimately, I need to determine my own vision for what I wish to show/say. West/Williams video may pay homage to a film director, utilizing a style that everyone and their mother has mimicked for decades, but I can’t say that it’s artistic theft. Derivative and trite is one thing, but copying is a whole ‘nother thesis ;)

semantics. mcshemantics.

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As I read accounts on the standoff between public union supporters and the governor of my home state, I kinda winced at a word: prosperity. In a write-up about the billionaire Koch Brothers, the NYT cites a letter sent by Charles Koch, appealing to conservative business leaders to engage in future political activism:

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” said the letter, which invited other conservatives to a retreat in January in Rancho Mirage, Calif. “It is up to us to combat what is now the greatest assault on American freedom and prosperity in our lifetimes.”

Prosperity. Defined as ‘a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.’ Here, culturally, we now have divergent views of what that even means in its total application. A billionaire writes to other million mcbillionaires beseeching them to engage in political activism against the greatest assault on American freedom and prosperity. What is that exactly? The passage of the health care reform act and subsequent extension of the Bush era tax breaks were key indicators of the end of American freedom and prosperity. The Dow is trading above 12,000 is an indicator, no? Walker has made certain tax concessions for business interests to operate within Wisconsin, concessions that have contributed to the budget shortfall the Dairy State now faces.

At this point in the conflict, we know that Scott Walker’s stance to shore up the state budget deficit does not require ceding the right for public unions to collectively bargain. It’s simply a political power move in a weak economy.

I’ve been thinking about work and quality of life for some time. Beyond my own struggles, but collectively, beyond the concept of the narrative of the American Dream. Balloon Juice’s E.D. Kain hits some major notes for me here:

“Do we want a ‘right to work’ for whatever big business dictates, or a ‘right to work with dignity’? Because that’s what’s being stripped from the American worker more than anything else. With every new round of layoffs and outsourcing, the dignity of the American worker is diminished.”

We’ve read stories about how American wages have stalled over the years, benefits reduced, and total number of hours the average American works (‘in 2005 annual hours worked in the US were 15% higher than the European Union (EU15) average’). We know that we’ve overleveraged our own resources to keep pace with tokens of American dream of prosperity (see: the housing market, credit card debt per household, etc). to maintain that myth of prosperity for the middle class/working class. We take our work seriously. Even when there’s high unemployment. We believe that it’ll lead us to the good life, the prosperous life. Can unionization guarantee that?

And I have complicated feelings about unions. I’ve been a member of a public union and I’ve worked for a corporation. Some unions (see: construction) have been known to be selective in bringing in new members (see: black men). Still, I don’t believe that public unions should be stripped of their right to collectively bargain. If business leaders can create organizations to advocate for their interests (see: Citizens United v. Federal Electoral Commission), why on earth would we not permit workers (public and private) to do the same? I’m seriously searching for an answer on some false equivalency tip (see: liberals, Jon Stewart). I’m loathed to find one. Continue reading →

on, wisconsin!

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America’s new Bellwether State, remains in a detente:

Senate Democrats remained in hiding in Illinois, preventing the chamber from taking up a budget bill that includes provisions they view as an attack on public sector unions. And Assembly Democrats began a marathon session of debate on the bill, promising to offer more than 100 amendments in an apparent stalling tactic.

This fight is spreading to other states with Republican governors. Indiana State Democrats walked out of session yesterday because of a similar bill up for consideration in that state. If you haven’t seen this segment from the Rachel Maddow Show on history of the labor movement in Wisconsin, and its effect on what we come to commonly expect as rights for workers, you should do so now.

The next [labor] movement is now underway.

 

speaking of real talk…

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Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

While it seems like ages ago (as we’re all transfixed on natural disasters and the revolutions in the Middle East) I haven’t stopped thinking about the State of the Union Address:

What’s more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny… The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living.

The tone of the speech was mature, thoughtful, absent of detailed description of policy initiatives, but a clear lecture of Real Talk. In many ways, I felt like this conversation is about two years late. Sure, better late than never…

And not to sound too arrogant or self promoting, but some of the themes Obama covered reminded me of a blog post I wrote nearly two years ago. Some background: I used to work in one industry and now I am doggedly trying to secure sound employment in another. This is a personal choice, privileged in some ways yet, dare I say, brutally difficult.

I also feel it’s premature to declare the recession over. Yes, the Dow is trading at 12,000, a high we last saw in June 2008, but job growth/creation has not matched that enthusiasm. 9.4% unemployment still holds, and if we count the ‘underemployed’, those with a smattering of temporary, part time and freelance jobs, more than likely uninsured, that rate doubles. If you’re a woman or man of color, god help you. The private sector may be hiring, but it remains unclear what those jobs are. There are some of us in this economy grinding to find work in our respective fields with nil to marginal success. Some of those jobs were eliminated and if we’re to be honest here, those jobs aren’t going to come back. Some of us will have to retrain, learn new skills to be competitive with a generation of new jobs that are hyper-specific to trade and skill. Continue reading →