The art of the quarantine

The theme at the Storefront for Art and Architecture was “Quarantine”. You can see how that worked: a crowd and isolation-tent-looking blobs outside, and a narrow (of course crowded) space inside. And the show? Well, in theory, interesting – for anyone who actually managed to read the art – I guess “projects” would be a better word -  on the walls. Another day, maybe?

Outside

Inside

Not all of my writing is virtual…

Not all of my writing is virtual...

Some of my (incomplete) work is now in book form, spanning the “Bush to Bush” era that shaped the United States that Barack Obama now leads. A look back, from the hopes of the end of the cold war, the promises of the Clinton years, to the three catastrophies (9/11, the invasion of Iraq and Katrina) that define the fourty-third president’s legacy and set the scene for the most unlikely candidate to emerge as the savior of the American dream.

Find out more here

and yes, by all means, buy the book!

Still missing in the Obama cabinet…

… or so do over a of hundred of thousand of us think: a Secretary of the Arts.

It’s never happened in the United States, but it would be a welcome change, and the recognition that arts and culture are a vital necessity to the harmonious development of a nation and the pursuit of happiness.

Barack Obama has spoken eloquently, during the campaign, of arts education as an integral and indispensable part of the growth of all human beings. It’s time to take that thinking a step further and recognize that supporting the arts and creation is not a luxury, but an integral and indispensable part making a more perfect union.
If you agree, here’s a petition. Sign it, spread it… and be creative!

MLK Day, the day before Inauguration…

…is the time to celebrate and create a new collective vision of the United States.

It will be happening in a lot of different ways all around the country, with many volunteers contributing various efforts and talents. In these difficult times, art is one of the essential ways we can get together and move forward. Here are the details of one event, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, that will be a gathering of creative forces for change.

The invitation:

Freedom’s Ring – Dreams for a New Era

As part of the Special Martin Luther King Day / Inaugural Eve Artist’s Ball at Theater for the New City, Arts for Art is presenting a special conduction, led by Warren Smith and Joe McPhee.

Confirmed members of the Conduction ensemble include:

Alto Sax: Rob Brown Patrick Brennan Avram Fefer Henry Warner Saco Yasuma Flute: Diana Wayburn Tenor Sax: Adrian Cunningham Darryl Foster Seth Meicht Ras Moshe Bass Clarinet: Gunter Hampel Bari Sax: Dave Sewelson Vocals: Mossa Bildner Ellen Christi Jean Carla Rodea Trumpet: Lewis Barnes Jesse Selengut Trombone: Steve Swell Violin Rosi Hertlein Jason Kao Hwang Guitar: Cristian Amigo Bradley Farberman Clifton Hyde Juan Quinonez Cello: Daniel Levin Bass Michael Bisio Hilliard Greene Zak Sherzad Dance: Patricia Nicholson: Dance Conduction Ruomi Lee Hampel Jason Jordan Members of Wendy Osserman Dance Co. Drums: Whit Dickey Andrew Drury Gunter Gruner. Poetry: Eve Packer Steve Dalachinsky Poets from A Gathering of the Tribes Visual Art: Amir Bey There will be more artists coming…

Full schedule:

5 till 7: Dance / Art / Spoken Word, organized by Lower East Side Girls’ Club and LES Power of Peace Anti-Violence Youth Coalition.

7 till 9: Theater / Dance / Music performances, organized by TNC

9 till 10: Vision/RUCMA large ensemble with dance/ spoken word, conduction by Warren Smith and Joe McPhee, organized by Arts for Art

10 till 12: Vision/RUCMA individual or small group musicians, dancers and poets – personal statements of vision, organized by Arts for Art

10 till 1:30: the Artist’s Inaugural Ball, organized by the Action Arts League – Come in Costume to Express Your Dream!

From 5PM on: There will be art installations and impromptu happenings, organized by the Action Arts League – Please Come and Take Part!

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January 19, 2009 is the eve of President Barack Obama’s Inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Let us join together to express our Vision for the Future. With an artful Inaugural Ball, we will ring in a new era and establish a direct conversation with the Obama Administration on how art and culture can help strengthen the country.

This is part of a national network of events which are an official part of the Inauguration.  The event encourages participants to create music, art or costumes that reflect a “Vision” for a better America. It will include performances and activities early with a dance party breaking out later.

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Practical information:

The event will take place at Theater for the New City, 155 1st Avenue between 9th and 10th streets. The admission for the latter portion of the evening is an affordable $5 or $10. There will also be an inexpensive bar.

Since I last wrote…

…Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States and the explosion of joy in downtown Manhattan felt like a liberation, the end of a long war.

The party was over, for the president-elect, as early as November, 6, when he received his first PDB – “presidential daily brief”, the state of the world as described by intelligence services. (Later, Al Qaeda’s perplexity, faced with a black man named Barack Hussein Obama succeeding George Bush, became perfectly clear).

Soon enough, Barack Obama was holding regular press conferences, announcing his cabinet and the priorities. Rahm Emanuel was the first major figure to be designated, soon followed by Obama and Clinton loyalists, and of course Hillary herself at the State Department.The economy quickly became the top priority, with record job losses and the debate about a bailout for Detroit’s “Big 3″.

In line with the new approach of the campaign, the transition team put itself on-line. “Chicago” and the less than stellar tradition of Illinois politics came back with a vengeance, though, with the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused by the FBI of a “pay to play” scheme involving the appointment of Barack Obama’s successor in the Senate (but not involving the president-elect or his team, the prosecutor quickly pointed out).

And yes, there was a new song - and speaking of songs, one of the reasons this blog was once again lost in the shuffle is that, besides preparing a book (in French, and no, I have no intention to translate-blog it!) and trying to keep up the French-language “Americana” blog, I volunteer for a cause I believe in: the creation of an Innovative Arts Center in downtown Manhattan. Yes, we need it – creation and imagination is more crucial than ever in tough times – and yes, we can! And yes, there is a Gala Fundraiser this Monday, at the Orensanz Center. Good cause, good art, good party…

The Twitter terror

I thought the only thing one had to fear from Twitter were the compulsive texters, those who can not pass up on sharing a single movement or a single thought with the rest of us.

It turns out I should have been much, much more worried, according to a draft Army intelligence report published by the Association of concerned scientists, quoted by “Wired” (here). Twitter could be used to “coordinate terror attacks”. Like any major technology could, possibly? Never mind…

The part that caught my eye is of course the paragraph in which an astute intelligence specialist notes that “Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audience”.

I fit more than one of these categories, I’ll let your imagination wander… But so do the “others” thrown in for good measure at the end of the list. Could these “others” be the congressmen and senators who are now officially allowed to tweet away at their base? 39 of them already seized that opportunity – check here if your member of Congress or your Senator is a Twitter-er.

And there’s more political twittering coming soon, if this blogger (Allison Fine, of “A. Fine Blog”) has her way – and she definitely has a point – and if the network becomes the instant alert for problems at the polls on election day.

John McCain ahead in three countries… none of them the US

Today’s polls show John McCain trailing Barak Obama by ten points (NBC/Wall Street Journal, as well as Gallup)…. but  all is not lost.

John McCain is ahead by eight points in Georgia.

No, not the Atlanta Georgia – the Tbilissi Georgia, the one he was ready to fight for this summer. He could get elected in the Philippines as well. Or, just barely, in Lao.

And the rest of the world, as represented by this poll? It’s voting for Barack Obama who enjoys a popularity not seen since the Clinton era. He has George Bush to thank for that.

My new favorite word: “femafication”

Why the lack of American leadership in the current financial crisis?  Could it be that the “Femafication of government under President Bush” has something to do with it, wonders Paul Krugman in today’s column praising Gordon Brown’s action.

There is no Nobel prize for neologisms, as far as I know, but there ought to be one… and Paul Krugman could definitely be a candidate. Heck-of-a-word!

The worst week

So this was the worst week for Wall Street. It was also the worst week on the campaign trail.

As the Dow plunged on Monday, John McCain and Sarah Palin unveiled what would become the theme of their week: a series of attacks wrapped in one overarching question, “Who is Barack Obama?”

Barack Obama is the man who kept moving up in the polls, in spite of attack ads, of McCain supporters calling him “Barack Hussein Obama”, and of an effort to link him to a “terrorist”.

The debate, Wednesday night, was devoid of any trace of that theme. Six million questions had been submitted. Yet, that second debate mostly reprised the first encounter, albeit in front of a bigger audience.  John McCain haphazardly announced a new plan to buy off 300 billion dollars worth of bad mortgage but, essentially, no news was made. Barack Obama “won” the night merely by appearing steady and articulate.

The next day, John McCain gave more details about his mortgage plan; he was greeted with criticism from the left (Obama’s claim that it would mostly help the financial firms responsible for the mess) and the right (another massive bailout that would push the country towards “socialist” policies).

The campaign took off again on two separate tracks: McCain/Palin questioning “who is Barack Obama” and insisting that he is “too risky”; Obama/Biden questioning McCain’s “erratic” performance and his ability to reverse the economy’s down trend.

At the end of the week, it became apparent that McCain’s effort to link Barack Obama to Bill Ayers was not producing any noticeable results in the polls. It was producing plenty of anger, though, and John McCain could not ignore it any longer when it spilled into questions posed directly in his “town hall” meetings. He tried to tone down his supporter’s rage, with variable degrees of success.

Friday, as the week was about to close with some of the worst economic data ever, George Bush addressed the nation. No news, no point, no effect. The other news, on Friday, was the evening release of the report on the “troopergate” affair. Sarah Palin, according to the bipartisan investigation’s conclusions, abused her power and violated Alaska ethics laws. It seems that in this instance she ran the government as a family business (Todd Palin helping) to solve a family issue (the on-going feud with the governor’s sister ex husband).

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READ THIS WEEK (a little extra from the French viewpoints)

In other news, this was the week the Nobel for literature was attributed – not to an American, everyone had been right in predicting that, but to a French writer who is also a resident of New Mexico. An article in “Le Monde” explores how JMG Le Clézion is “misunderstood” in the United States, creating discomfort for the way he’s perceived both as a nomad and an “exotic-ist”. here. I was lamenting, in passing, the lack of translations of contemporary novels on the American market; once again, “Le Monde” gives the sad details – 3% only of all novels published in the United States are foreign literature. Complete article here.

And since there was so much news about “domestic terrorist” this week, I can not resist this little piece in “Libération”, about the visit Carla Bruni-Sarkozy paid to Marina Petrella. Once a member of the Brigade Rosse, a radical violent group in the seventies, Marina Petrella had lived peacefully in France, granted the asylum president Mitterrand offered all those who would lay down their arms. Italy’s current government wanted Marina Petrella extradited so that she could serve a life sentence for murder. She went on a hunger strike. The First Lady of France was bearing a message from her husband: the extradition request has been denied. The story: here.

In other “domestic terrorist news”, Jean-Marc Rouillan (of “Action Directe”, a French revolutionary armed movement) was sent back to jail after he failed to publicly “regret” the 1986 assassination of George Besse, the former CEO of Renault, when talking to the French weekly “L’Express”. The facts, here. That gives Mathieu Lindon an opportunity for a nice little riff on the general hypocrisy of the “regrets” protocole. Full text here.

Just like that: the words about the debate

TheTwitterPicture

“Just” a pretty picture of the words most used by people commenting the Nashville debate on Twitter. It’s “like” we twitter “just like” we chat.