fucking a

Read this. (It's an article about Suzan-Lori Parks.)

cadre Visual Artists' Grant

Application deadline is now December 1!!

We have extended the deadline for applications for the first cadre art grant to December 1, 2006. Why the extended deadline? Well, we recently upgraded our E-mail Marketer so now more than twice as many of you are receiving the cadre art grant news directly from us.

To date we have collected more than $2500 for the first round of grants!!!!! Winners will be announced in January 2007.

You new subscribers are probably asking "What is the cadre art grant, and why am I getting this E-mail?"

So here it is:

We've all been there: asked to be in a show but can't afford the fabrication or shipping; are in a show but there's no money for a catalog or other permanent documentation so our work goes up, comes down, and disappears in a month—art production costs money!

So we got to thinking: what if we solicited $10 donations to give bi-annual grants to artists? After all, only 100 $10 donations would result in a $1000 grant—that's less than a dollar per month (but you can give as much as you like)!

We believe this grant will ultimately be sustained through the kinds of small donations that most of us can afford to make year after year.Our goal is to make positive, sustainable change in the art world using different models of support.

We accept any and all donations year round and deposit them into a dedicated account. All money that is donated will be given as grants to artists, up to $9999 per grant.

---

FAQs

1. What methods of payment do you accept?

We accept:

• money orders/cashiers' checks
• personal checks (Please make all checks payable to Carla Williams or Deirdre Visser. See question#3 for details.)
• cash
• PayPal (click donation button below)

Donations can be sent to:

cadre
p.o. box 720066
san francisco, ca 94172-0066

2. Can I be automatically set up to make a monthly donation?

Yes! Click here to sign up for an automatic $10 per month payment plan.

3. Are donations tax deductible?

Not at this time. The reason checks are to be made out to one of us is that we have opted not to seek 501(c)(3) non-profit status at this time. It's time-consuming and involved, and for now, we wanted to keep it as simple as possible and to operate like a clearing house for donations—money in, money out. The only deductions being taken are fees for Paypal donations.

4. What kinds of art does the grant support?

This is a visual arts grant—works in all media are eligible. While we don't support traditional performing arts projects, we do support performance artists. You can always E-mail us if you have any questions.

5. Is this grant just for California/US artists?

No—anyone who donates can apply.

6. What is cadre?

cadre is simply CArla and DeirDRE's ongoing collaborative project which encompasses everything from curatorial collaboration to art projects to the cadre art grant. We needed a name that incorporated us both, obviously, and liked the definition of cadre and thought it appropriate for what we'd like to achieve vis à vis the art world. And Deirla just made no sense.

7. Is this a pyramid scheme?

This one surprises us—though this question or a variant comes up often enough we have to address it. No, this isn't a pyramid scheme; we outline very clearly on the site how we solicit money and how we give it away, and we certainly aren't promising or even suggesting a payday for everyone who donates.

Suggested Donation Amount: $10.00 USD

For more detailed information about the grant, click here.

---

We'd like to sincerely thank everyone who has donated and those who have already submitted their applications—we look forward to reading/viewing them!

If you have any additional questions about this grant, please check the website at the link below first and E-mail us with any additional questions.

Please use the link below to forward this E-mail far and wide to friends, colleagues, students, etc.!

Warm regards,

(Carla Williams and Deirdre Visser)

---

email: cadreartgrant@yahoo.com

web: http://www.carlagirl.net/cadre/cadreartgrant.html

see this film, before Tuesday

I can't urge you enough. When I think of the way Cynthia McKinney has been vilified in the mainstream media I start to get violent up in here.

And if you're black and you don't see it, god help you. I'm serious. I'm about to make some copies (shhh) and send to folks I think are going to be too lazy to rent it themselves.

http://www.americanblackout.com/

seriously? did they include mfas in those stats?

College Grads Earn More, But Racial Disparities Persist By Diverse staff Oct 26, 2006, 03:28

Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree earned almost twice as much as those with just a high school diploma, but income disparities across racial and gender lines persist, according to U.S. Census Bureau data being released today.

The data tables in “Educational Attainment in the United States: 2005” indicate bachelor-degree holders earned an average $51,554 in 2004, compared to $28,645 earned by high school graduates and the $19,169 earned by those without a high school diploma.

Across all educational backgrounds, Black and Hispanic workers tended to earn less than their White and Asian counterparts, according to the data. Black high school graduates earned $23,498 compared to $25,823 earned by Hispanics, $28,289 earned by Asians and $30,197 earned by Whites.

Even having a bachelor’s degree did not equalize earnings across races. Blacks with bachelor’s degrees earned $42,342 while Whites earned $53,411, Asians earned $47,912 and Hispanics earned $45,166. Blacks with doctoral degrees earned $82,615 compared to $94,426 earned by non-Hispanic Whites.

More women than men reported holding at least an associate’s degree, but women did not outpace men in earnings. On average, women with bachelor’s degrees earn 61 percent of what men with the same educational attainment earn.

Not surprised by the data, Dr. William Spriggs, chair of the Economics Department at Howard University, says African-Americans tend to earn 25 percent less than other groups when education is controlled. Women continue to face occupational discrimination, being segregated in positions that pay less than other positions requiring the same level of education, such as teaching and nursing, he adds.

Spriggs says the income disparities can’t be explained away with achievement gaps, the theory that Blacks would earn less in the marketplace because they’re not as skilled as demonstrated by lower test scores. Previous analyses indicate the annual earnings of Blacks are less than that of Whites with the same test scores, Spriggs says.

“I think you’re looking at discrimination in pay,” he adds. “A college grad would have to know more than a high school graduate. How is it that White men with just a high school diploma earn more than a Hispanic woman with a college degree?”

White men with a high school diploma earn, on average, $36,324 while women have to have a bachelor’s degree to reach parity in pay. Even with a degree, Hispanic women made, $34,949, less than White men with only a high school education, while White women earned $39,161 and Black women earned $38,626.

Dr. Roderick Harrison, director of Databank at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and an associate professor of sociology at Howard, says factors contributing to racial pay disparities include regional differences in pay, types of degrees earned as well as discrimination.

“The key thing is this, if you’re a Black male or a Black female, getting additional education will considerably improve your life. Education is worth it since you open yourself up to higher paying jobs and higher lifetime earnings,” Harrison says. “If you’re comparing yourself to your White classmates, you do have difficulty converting the same educational level into comparable earnings. That is an area where we have not seen changes.”

The Census data tables also show that Hispanics had the lowest proportion of adults with a high school diploma or higher at 59 percent, compared to 90 percent of Whites holding a diploma or degree. Some 88 percent of Asians have earned a diploma or degree while 81 percent of Blacks have.

Utah, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire and Alaska have the highest proportion of adults with a diploma or degree at 92 percent. The District of Columbia had the highest proportion of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree at 47 percent, followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey.

The data came from an annual survey of 100,000 households nationwide conducted each spring on social and economic issues.

© Copyright 2006 by DiverseEducation.com

wow

-70 percent of Americans have not visited a bookstore in five years

-over half of Americans will NOT read a SINGLE book after high school

when worlds collide, deux

(I love it when celebrity gossip intersects with art)

October 27, 2006 -- JAY-Z might not be going for a big ring, but where Beyoncé the well- known girlfriend is concerned, he is definitely going for big bread. Considering this gorgeous creature already has a dozen of everything, she just got gifted with a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting. Being no artist is as hot as a dead artist, this little dabbling cost non-husband Jay-Z a couple of mil. A solitaire would have been cheaper.

Why, you say? Well...

LAUNCH: I read somewhere that you have a desire to be an art teacher and that you love painting...

BEYONCE: Painting is something that's very private to me. It's something that I would never show anyone. I mean, I would never say never, but I just do it for myself as therapy. I had no idea what I was doing, and I still don't know if I know what I'm doing. It looks pretty good, some of them. But it's fun and it's relaxing, and I feel free; I love colors and I love painting. I have a poem on my album where I say that I believe that harmonies are colors and every time I paint it sharpens my harmony, and I really believe that: They come together.

LAUNCH: So what do you do with your paintings?

BEYONCE: They're in storage. They're private. I think that if I start showing them to people then I'll really start trying to make them really good, and it'll take the whole joy out of it. I have said that if I wasn't singing that I would want to be an art teacher or something--not literally an art teacher, but I would love to do something creative with kids, like a dance class, or a drama class, just something artistic with kids.

LAUNCH: So there's a connection between your painting and the desire to teach kids?

BEYONCE: One of the things that kept me out of trouble, aside from my parents, was I was always a creative child and my parents encouraged it and I was always doing something creative. Whether it was writing songs or writing poems or making clothes or dancing, putting on shows, whatever, it was something creative. I just think that's so wonderful for kids. It gives you so much confidence and you just feel so good about yourself and you can accomplish so much. And creativity can't be judged. So it's just great for self-esteem for kids and I love teaching, and I think that I'm a natural-born leader and teaching is so fun for me, so I would like to teach something creative so kids have a place to escape.

for the california readers/voters: NO on 90!!!!

Someone posted this to a listserv that I'm on, and it is a good summing up 
of what's wrong with Proposition 90. VOTE NO ON 90.

I want to add that Prop 90 has special and terrible relevance for the 
queer community and for San Francisco. Sponsored by right-wing 
libertarian billionaire Howie Rich of New York,  Prop 90 says that any 
time any government regulation costs anyone any profit, that business 
or person can sue the city or state. (It's supposedly applicable only 
to new legislation, but attorneys I've checked with say it could easily 
be used against regs already on the books.)

So if having to hire in a nondiscriminatory fashion costs a business 
money (because, for instance, the biz could import workers from some 
poverty-stricken area instead), goodbye fair treatment for queers, 
people of color, women, etc. Forget any new advances in protection for 
lesbians and gays,  transfolk, queer families, etc.  Insurance coverage 
for PWAs? Sayonara. (In fact, since the city and the state both have 
minimum-wage laws, those could disappear, too. No joke.)

Prop 90 also means the end of any environmental enforcement, which is 
particularly scary for women--Megan Siler's film Toxic Bust details the 
connection between chemicals and breast cancer.

For San Franciscans, Prop 90 will means not only the death of Prop H 
(more realistic relocation payments for no-fault evictions) but, even 
worse, PROP 90 KILLS  RENT CONTROL If your landlord can argue in court 
that he could make $2300 a month for your $1350 unit if it weren't for 
rent control--well, multiply that by 10,000 landlords all suing for the 
difference in profit, and guess whether the city will pay up the 
difference or waive the rent control law.

Homeowners across the state will suffer, too. For instance, the hidden 
provision means that if  environmental law prevents your next door 
neighbor turning his lot into a toxic dump, he can sue for the loss of 
profit.--and the city or state must pay or waive. Ditto the developer 
prevented by zoning laws/height restrictions from building a 10-story 
condo tower and blocking all your sun; he'll sue for the lost value of 
those seven stories . . .  and the tower will get built.

Prop 90 will not only kill us economically, it will kill us physically: 
 Workplace safety regs, out the door. DBI strictures on landlords, out 
the door.  And through that open door will gallop untested prescription 
drugs, unlabeled Frankenfood, even a nuclear power plant. (This last 
idea has been floated more than once for  the Bayview district. . . )
Be afraid, be very afraid, and not just cuz it's Halloween.

To see a horrific example of what will happen if Prop 90 passes, look 
at Oregon, which voted in the very similar Prop 37, also (surprise!) 
funded by Howie Rich. The Oregon courts are clogged with $5 billion in 
lawsuits, and SO FAR OREGON HAS WAIVED EVERY LAW OR REGULATION THAT HAS 
BEEN CHALLENGED.

Spread the word!

For more info:
http://www.noprop90.com/
Pull-down menu under "Get the Facts" is especially helpful in showing
Prop 90's harmful impact on public safety, social justice, business, 
labor, homeowners, agriculture, etc.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/09/even_the_califo.html
How Prop 90 will hurt taxpayers

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3743#more
Excellent article explaining the unusually broad coalition opposing 90

http://www.betterca.com/node/2004
"Prop 90 does more damage than eminent domain could ever do"--a short
but good examination of the "yes' arguments point by  point.

http://tinyurl.com/y8vyl2
The best investigative article the Chron has done in a long time traces 
how New Yorker Howie Rich uses fake "advocacy groups" to funnel money
in to affect California law.
"A network of tax-exempt advocacy groups -- all with ties to a New York 
real estate investor [Howie Rich] -- is funneling millions of dollars 
to the campaign for a California property rights measure in a way that 
cloaks the identity and number of financial supporters. The intricate 
financial web is the source of nearly all the money used to promote 
Proposition 90." (It's worth enlarging and checking out the amazing 
chart included.--M.)

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/22/
monster_stomping_the_states.php
Kristina Wilfore explains what Howie Rich's real agenda is.

help a sister(-in-law) out

[Hey all--Angela is my sister-in-law, and she's running a marathon for 
peace in December only she has to secure all of her pledges by the end of this week!
If you can help her out, that would be wonderful.]

Friends and Family,

As you may have already heard, on Dec 3, I will be in
Sacramento running a marathon.  The run is called the
Run for World Peace and I am doing it with a group of
Buddhists from the Saraha Buddhist Center here in San
Francisco.  I'm writing to ask you to support me in
the run!!!!  You can do this by:

1. Going to www.meditationinnortherncalifornia.org and
donate to me (click on Run for World Peace and look
under "marathoners"--no picture--just look for my name, Angela Keough)

2. E-mail me at avkeough at yahoo dot com to make a pledge

To make it more interesting, I am also holding a
raffle.  Prizes include: Gift Certificates to Lost
Weekend Video Store and 26/Guerrero Market [San Francisco], and a
dozen homemade cookies.  Tickets 5 bucks.
Please donate or pledge by October 27.

Thanks, and PEACE!,

Angela

Special Event

A Black Arts Drama Showcase

Friday & Saturday, Ocober 27 & –28, 2006, 8pm
Sunday, October 29, 2006, 5pm


Five one-act plays by Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins, Marvin X, and Sonia Sanchez.

Dirty Hearts by Sonia Sanchez, Who is You? (A Question and Answer Drama) by Amiri
Baraka, How Do You Do and It Has No Choice by Ed Bullins, and Salaam, Huey Newton,
Salaam written by Marvin X and Ed Bullins.

Admission: $20. To reserve a seat, email info@aljira.org or call 973 622-1600 and
pre-purchase your tickets.

Presented by New Ark Arts; Roxbury Crossroads Theater Productions; and Aljira, a
Center for Contemporary Art.


Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art
591 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102
p. 973 622-1600    f. 973 622-6526
info@aljira.org   www.aljira.org

Gallery Hours
Wednesday–Friday, 12–6 pm
Saturday, 11 am–4 pm

Funding for Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art
has been made possible, in part, by the National
Endowment for the Arts, New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State,
A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Johnson & Johnson;
Prudential Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and individual contributions.
Special thanks to Newark Downtown District and Lowenstein Sandler PC.

Aljira’s exhibitions, educational and public programs are supported by a leadership
grant from JPMorgan Chase.


© Aljira, Inc. 2006. 

can this just be my motto?

Photo of the Week by the glorious Zoe Strauss

If you're in Philly or thereabouts, check out:

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS SLIDESHOWS

Saturday, Oct 28th.


----
The slideshows are the same format, with mostly the same songs, but new work
is interspersed throughout the slide shows.  Seriously, don't miss it.
------


Showings at 7pm and 8:30pm at 1010 S. Front St. in South Philadelphia.  The
exhibition is free and open to the public, however, due to limited space,
you must rsvp to reserve a seat.  When RSVPing, please specify which showing
you would like to attend, the 7pm or 8:30pm showing.

I'll also be showing the trailer for the upcoming documentary on me [Zoe],
"If You Break the Skin."

Selected pieces of Ms. Strauss's art will be available for sale  at 5
dollars each and refreshments will be served.

i love her

A Better Halloween

Posted by: "damali ayo" damali@damaliayo.com

Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:41 pm (PST)

Hello and Welcome Autumn! (in some parts of the world that is...).

A few months ago I promised some exciting changes in the way I make
art. This was inspired by a personal restlessness and your feedback.
Many of you expressed frustration that you could not see my work, as
it was housed in a gallery in one city far from you. I agreed. So
this Summer I dropped my art gallery and have devoted myself to
creating art that provides more accessibility, impact, and ways for
you to participate/

see the work. Expect a series of participatory
art/performance projects from me to you. I call this genre of work
"now art" because the works are immediate, accessible, participatory,
low-cost, and deal with current issues that we face as a
community/society. When you participate you are creating a moment-
something that happens in the "now" and hopefully generates a cascade
of thought and change for the future.

The works are things you can do in your life, your community, your
school, your neighborhood. I will send you concepts, instructions and
sometimes even a full kit to enact each work. Of course I will also
be participating in the piece. Each piece will be synchronized around
a specific time, day, or over a series of events. One caveat- this
shift in my approach means your collaboration is what makes it work.
I've been approached by many people to collaborate, yet nothing ever
felt quite right. This does. Let's make art together, I think we're
really going to have some fun.

Halloween gives an opportunity for our first Collaborative "Now Art" Event:
Remember it only works if you work it.

We know that Halloween has always been a great opportunity for
creative art projects, but it is also a wonderful opportunity for
creative activism. When else do you have a captive audience of
neighbors or children? Since combining art and activism is what I do
best, here are some fun ideas to help you have a more educational,
dialogue-generating Halloween.

Project One: Sweet Reality
I can't be the only one who is disturbed by children appearing at my
door demanding free candy. Here's a little project for those of you
who want to offer the kids something other than teeth-rotting fun. It
has the added bonus of inserting black history learning in October,
way before black history month. How confusing!

Attach a black-history flash card to a piece or bag of candy for the
kiddies. Or if you're really feeling hard-core, don't attach any
candy at all. Simply offer this brain-candy for the kids. If you use
a variety of cards, the kids will be able to compare and trade and
learn from each other. You can download 12 free cards I made for
this project on my web site at: http://damaliayo.com/pages/nowart.htm
available in a .pdf format booklet.

The cards include some of my favorite people from history and people
that I'm surprised that even adults don't know: Garrett A. Morgan,
Matthew Henson, Shirley Chisolm, James Beckwourth, Dick Gregory,
Angela Davis, Vivien Thomas, Major Taylor, Anna Deveare Smith, Mae
Jemison, the Sea Island Settlers, Sha Rock, Euphemia Lofton Haynes,.
There's also a template at the end of the collection for kids to make
their own.

note: this photo is a mini-version of the real thing, thus it may be
hard to read.
go to the website and print out the full-size version for the full experience.

Project Two: Living History
Turn the flash cards into costumes!!
Utah Phillips comments that when you ask a child who are their
heroes, they'll likely name a make-believe person. so instead of kids
being super-heroes, let's see if we can encourage some of our kids to
be real-heroes for this Halloween. Note: don't think these concepts
are too heavy for kids. Part of the concept of these costume ideas is
that the world we live in is not creating a safe place for our kids.
These contemporary costumes draw crystal clear attention to that. And
if you're chaperoning, don't forget that you can dress up too!

"So, little one, what are you going to be this year for Halloween?"
"I'm so glad you asked. This year I'm going to be....

Angela Davis (what girl would not want to don that cool afro?)
Garrett A. Morgan (complete with working traffic light)
Matthew Henson (the parka is a big hit in colder climates)
etc.
other fun (and random) picks:
Barak Obama
Kofi Annin
Cindy Sheehan
Al Gore (complete with chart on global warming)
Bob Woodward (for the budding journalists)

OR for a focus on education or politics consider a costume as:

a failing school
a child who has been kicked out of school
the "child left behind"
the shrinking education budget
a closed school
A soldier protesting the Iraq war
A soldier missing a limb from fighting in Iraq
Your state representative [fill in name] who supports raising the
education budget and lowering military spending

Finally, take a photo of your child in costume (of course!) and send
it to the president, your local representative, or make it your
winter holiday card. And send me one too!

You can also purchase a range of different black history cards on
line or at your local bookstore.
Here's a few you can check-out for Halloween or any day of the year.
(note they aren't all photo-info on one card, so investigate before
you buy.)

These are by far the best, most efficient and most affordable:
Knowledge Cards by Pomegranate Press
African American Women Knowledge Cards
African American History Knowledge Cards
The Civil Rights Movement Knowledge Cards
Great African Americans Knowledge Cards
African American Wisdom Knowledge Cards
African American Art Knowledge Cards
http://pomegranate.stores.yahoo.net/knowledgecards2.html

Also recommended:
Brain Quest Black History
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/workman_publishing/brain_quest_black_history.cfm
From Selma to the State Department, Sojourner Truth to Kofi Annan and
a language called Xhosa - how well do you know black history? What
singer was known as "the Empress of the Blues?" Why the Missouri
Compromise? Challenge yourself, challenge your friends, challenge
your parents. Black History Brain Quest celebrates 5,000 years of
heroism, culture, struggle and achievement. 850 questions/answers
challenging your knowledge of African-American Heritage. Ages 9 & up.

Have a unique and artful Halloween!!!

Update:
No bites from the Colbert report, but THANK YOU to all of you who
wrote in. I guess he just wants to do my schtick on his own.

Preview of upcoming now art:
The National Day of Panhandling for Reparations is shaping up through
new "reparations wear" (http://www.cafepress.com/r_a_n/1937683) , as
well as mini-panhandling workshops with students at the colleges I
visit around the country. Keep an eye on these emails for details and
announcements.

damali

this ain't cute

As if anyone needs another reason to disdain hipsters, who as far as I can tell are essentially yuppies whose clothes don't match (my neighborhood is flooded with them): ghetto fabulous? More like non-ghetto foolishness.

Saturday, October 21, 2006, 2 - 4pm

What: An exclusive look at NeoPopular Demand - recent works by Fahamu Pecou.

Where: The Michael Martin Gallery
101 Townsend Street, Suite 207, San Francisco (on Townsend @ 2nd St., one block from SBC Park)

Why: An Atlanta resident, Pecou is rapidly growing as one of the country's premier painters participating in the new wave of pop-art. In his words "My recent body of paintings in this series, NEOPOP, explores the phenomenon of contemporary propaganda, the cultural context and significance of media and marketing and how they are both disconnected and relevant to fine art. This project was a response to the grassroots and often times, aggressive marketing campaigns that surround artists in the music industry."

This exclusive look is hosted by the MoAD Vanguard and the Michael Martin gallery staff, who will be available to answer questions. Light refreshments will be served.

This event is FREE to all Vanguard and non-Vanguard members.

shown: "All this without a basketball", 51 x 66 inches, acylic on canvas

spotted this in Essence

This month, Suzan-Lori Parks, the talent behind 2002's Pulitzer Prize-sinning Topdog/Underdog, is staging 365 Days/365 Plays, a series she created by writing a one-act play every day for a year. The works range from a vingette featuring a woman running across the stage and licking a man's check (aptly titled Lickety-Split) to others dealing with the war in Iraq. Beginning November 13, the series will be staged at 800 theaters across the country and is free to the public. "This project is not about the cash box," says Parks. "It's about connecting communities."

Though the national website, 365days365plays.com, won't go live for a few weeks, there are sites for the New York, Chicago, Colorado, Seattle, LA, and San Francisco performances, and the book will be published in November (please buy it from your local bookseller!). You can also E-mail 365plays@gmail.com for more info.

more asa (finally)

Saturday's panel was "Visualizing the Diaspora in a Transnational American Studies Context: Resistance, Representation, and Relationships in Visual Imagery across the African Diaspora."

CHAIR and COMMENT:

Fath Davis Ruffins, National Museum of American History

PAPERS:

Cheryl LaRoche, University of Maryland, College Park
Envisioning Escape from Slavery: Landscapes of Resistance in the African Diaspora

Isabell Cserno, University of Maryland, College Park
Nationhood and Diaspora: Visual Representations and Race in Advertisements in Germany and the US

Bridget Cooks, Santa Clara University
Re-imagining the Stereotype across the Diaspora: Contemporary Self-Portraits by Black Artists

Juergen Heinrichs (I just made the connection--he sends out the CAAR listserv), Seton Hall University
Towards a Black German Art Practice: Diasporic Translation in the Works of Marc Brandenburg

Loved it. The presentations were all quite good--I had never heard of Marc Brandenburg so I was happy to be introduced to his work, and I was thrilled to overhear that, even with her recently acquired (2004) terminal degree, Cheryl LaRoche is an independent scholar. Bridget showed my work as part of her presentation, which is always fun yet a little weird to be sitting there while your butt is projected at 6 feet. Isabell I had met years ago when I went to give a talk at Maryland, so it was lovely to get to hear her work this time around. I don't recall a single French theorist, though I could be wrong.

But the star of this show was Fath Davis Ruffins. She wasn't originally supposed to be the discussant but had to fill in at the last minute. Let me just say again how impressed I am by a good discussant--even though you're supposed to get a copy of everyone's paper beforehand, you don't always get final versions because, of course, presenters are often writing up until the night before. Now, I liked her just by looking at her--you know how there's some folks who just seem approachable and warm--that was her. Well, she hit the ground running--I've never seen a discussant give such concise and dead-on critiques to the contributors (usually they don't actually give critiques at all). Her responses were thoughtful and informed, her knowledge expansive. I grabbed my program thinking, if she teaches somewhere, maybe I do want a PhD. I could just imagine working with her--she'd keep you on your toes, wouldn't let you bullshit, and would come through with knowledge when you needed it.

One of the things she said in relation to Marc Brandenburg resonated then and even more last night during Passing Strange about black expatriates who go to Europe, that perhaps they're not so much escaping the oppression of the dominant white culture but that they might also be escaping African-American culture, in part to realize an individual identity separate from a group. I had not thought of this before, and though I don't get the attraction of Europe at all I found this to be a useful way of thinking about Europe's value to black Americans.

And I also got to meet a really lovely young man, Hanif O'Neil, a graduate student in visual criticism at CCA. His area of interest is Abercrombie & Fitch. I can't wait to see what he has to say. Maybe I can bring him to the crit next week.

stunning nonsense

Someone told me today of a current graduate student's work that is so cracked I'm just stunned: the student, a wealthy white woman, is planning to photograph a black man (whom she is paying, presumably, to model) lying on her dining room table with fried chicken on his body that she is sitting and eating.

I couldn't make this stuff up, folks. This is reportedly the enactment of a fantasy of hers. The crit is next week and I'm trying to figure out how to infiltrate it and bring along some black male friends. Let her elicit feedback from us.

This brings me back to a post I started to write last month and didn't finish because the text I wanted to quote hadn't been previously published elsewhere and I didn't want to keep picking on this particular photographer whose current work I despise, but this is part and parcel of the same cluelessness, it seems, so I'm going ahead and posting it now:

Recently, in two separate instances, I've noticed white people complaining that they just can't be as exploitative as they'd like or as they used to be. This one from Rolling Stone from an interview with the singer John Mayer:

Here is one of John Mayer's jokes: "Everyone thinks Brad Pitt has it great because he married Angelina Jolie. I think he has it terrible, because when Angelina Jolie is giving you a blow job, what do you tip your head back and think of to help you finish? You have nothing left -- just Jesus on a polar bear in the middle of the snow, saying, 'You greedy motherfucker, I've got nothing for you.'"

And another: "I'm not worried about how small my penis is -- I'm worried about how dark it is. I have a Dominican penis. My penis hit six home runs last year; my penis wears shoes without socks." Performing in June at the Comedy Cellar in New York, Mayer did a David Chappelle-esque routine that imagined white people being allowed to use the n word -- a blogger reported, out of context, that Mayer had used the offending word, and a brief media furor ensued.

So it's not surprising when Mayer says, "Everyone begs me not to do stand-up. Everyone connected to my well-being and on my payroll says stand-up is terrible. When I say, 'I'm doing stand-up tonight,' they hear, 'I'm going to start heroin.'" On some level, Mayer agrees -- but he's also sick of being forced to apologize for his unguarded comments. He leans close to my digital recorder and says, "Everybody right now in the world of entertainment is a pussy. A pussy," he says, drawing out the last word. "They're all so sensitive. What the fuck happened?"

And this one from a photographer whose offending work, now titled "The Panhandler Project," (with an estimated value per print of $1500 - 1,750) I blogged about in April, when I first saw it:

After years of neglect, American academic art culture embraced the less fortunate and sought, in its usual illusory fashion, to protect those who it believes are unable to do so for themselves. It was, and still is, an empty embrace with no real concrete protect, only linguitsic and representational rules intended to feign respect. Rather than making any actual change, there is only a correct way to speak and make pictures of women, non-Caucasians, those of diminished mental capacity, the homeless. Academics, artists included, seem particularly amenable to this rigid social code and capitulate to it without examining what such rules actually perpetuate....It has become routine to denounce images made of the homeless as exploitive, based on a predictable and unexamined political correctness.

This ethical and aesthetic dilemma provides the subtext of my recently completed Panhandler Project, a series of photographs and video documentation of 5 male panhandlers from Chicago, all of whom are homeless and African American, who I asked to model for me nude. My process was to randomly meet the men on the street, and through discussion, determine if they were willing to participate in the project. The compensation for spending the day with me was $100, lunch and dinner, new clothing, and a hotel room for the night. The hotel room was the location of the shoot. After the shoot, the model was interviewed and we discussed his reactions to the experience. The man then signed a model release, and was left to spend the night in the hotel. In the morning, I picked him up, paid him in cash, took him to breakfast, and dropped him off wherever he wanted to go. Video documentation took place through the entire photo shoot and into the evening until I left the hotel.

A sexually charged atmosphere permeates each shoot and The Panhandler Project is intended to engage the viewer in questioning notions of exploitation.

I'll stop there, though there's more. Oh, how condescending she is to her critics, among whom I definitely count myself. Where to even begin--I like how she didn't pay her subjects until after she'd elicited their presumably honest feedback and signatures. Tell me, if you were a black man on the street, and a white woman approached you to photograph you without your clothes on but wasn't going to pay you until the next day, wouldn't you tell her anything you thought she wanted to hear until the money was in hand? Was she kidding herself about why these men agreed to work with her? If she really wanted to open things up, why didn't she take her clothes off and let these men photograph her? I can't even--I don't even know what to say about it all. I know what my girl Adrienne would say, which is why I love her.

photo above by Carrie Mae Weems

brilliance

...I think, on principle, I like anyone over 40 still doing their artistic thing. Of course, I'm biased, but I think Art begins at 40. Americans are so terrified of being old that they don't wanna claim that reality. The young, exciting upstart with no scars reminds us of a time when we never had to think about our donut intake or death. She reminds us of a time when we didn't have to think about consequences. As a country, we crave Art which infantilizes us because we've never been equipped psychologically to deal with the darkness....

--Stew, 45

This evening my sweetie and I went to see Passing Strange, the new play by Stew at the Berkeley Rep. I first heard Stew when Kate gave me a Negro Problem CD years ago, and he immediately became one of the many beautiful things in my life because of my beautiful friend. How could I not love a straight man who writes this song:


Ken, from Joys and Concerns (1999)

My name's Ken
And I like men
But the people at Mattel
The home that I call hell
are somewhat bothered by my queer proclivities
It's safe to say that they are really pissed at me

They always stick me
with Barbie
But I want them to know
I prefer GI Joe
But any able bodied man-doll will surely do
Just someone to love, since I am not set up to screw

Black Barbie
You know she used to talk to me
But now she'd rather be
in plastic therapy
sitting on a plastic couch speaking freely
The only problem is she has no history

Some day soon
I'll be in your child's room
And I'll be forced to kiss
Barbie's plastic tits
And I will hate myself, but what's more I'll hate you
For not allowing me to love as I wish to

See, I'm your corporate toy
Cursed to bring you joy
And through divorce or death
I'll just hold my breath
And play along, your daugter's not to blame at all
For bringing these burdens to bear upon a doll

So, fa-la-la-la la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

(Thanks to John who transcribed the lyrics)

I used to see him now and again around Silverlake when I lived there, and I was always quite starstruck but this ungainly, unlikely black man from the Valley who made the sweetest, smartest music, and I've continued to follow his music over the years. But I've very deliberately stopped listening much to music in the past few years, for reasons too complicated and unknown even to myself, except that I think my experience of music is too nakedly emotional for me right now, so when I listen to it now it's a very overwhelming experience, especially when it is music that moves me so particularly both for its power and for my private associations with it.

Passing Strange is an incredible theater/concert piece about a young black artist searching for and finding meaning and identity in the world, which makes it sound rather pretentious but it's hilarious and smart and moving and I would urge anyone in or near the Bay Area to go see this play during its premiere (tonight was the first show) here through December 3 (it goes to New York after this). I'ma call my friend Kymberly to go back and see it with me.

	Mural Preview
This Friday October 20, 5-8pm

This Friday October 20, 5-8pm New Location is 461 9th Street btwn Broadway & Washington

Where & When 461 9th St. Oakland, California 94607 Between Broadway & Washington Friday, Oct. 20 5:00PM-8:00PM

This is the second of two murals, commissioned by the Alameda County Art Commission, by Keba Konte that will be installed in the new Juvenile Justice Center Facility in San Leandro, California. The intention of Rethink is to create works of art that disenfranchised youth will be able to respect, as well as be challenged and inspired by. Come and see the new mural before it gets mounted up and locked down.

Konte Photoworks International 1620 Shattuck Ave Berkeley, California 94709 1.877.865.2055 ib@kebakonte.com http://www.kebakonte.com	Konte Photoworks International specializes in murals and mixed-media fine arts.

why not?

(I received this from a friend this afternoon, and really, not much else is working...)

A cosmic trigger event is occurringon the 17th of October 2006
=========================

This is the beginning, one of many trigger events to come between now and
2013. An ultraviolet (UV) pulse beam radiating from higher dimensions
inuniverse-2 will cross paths with the Earth on this day. Earth will
remain approximately within this UV beam for 17 hours of your time.

This beam resonates with the heart chakra, it is radiant flourescent in
nature, blue/magenta in colour. Although it resonates in this frequency
band, it is above the colour frequency spectrum of your universe-1 which
you, Earth articulate in. However, due to the nature of your soul and
soul groups operating from Universe-2 frequency bands, it will have an
effect.

The effect is every thought and emotion will be amplified intensely one
million-fold. Yes, we will repeat, all will be amplified one millions
time and more.

Every thought, every emotion, every intent, every will, no matter if it
is good, bad, ill, positive, negative, will be amplified one million
times in strength.

What does this mean ?

Since all matter manifest is due to your thoughts, i.e. what you focus
on, this beam will accelerate these thoughts and solidify them at an
accelerated rate making them manifest a million times faster than they
normally would.

For those that do not comprehend -Your thoughts, what you focus on,
create your reality. This UV beam thus can be a dangerous tool. For if
you are focused on thoughts which are negative to your liking they will
manifest into your reality almost instantly.Then again this UV beam can
be a gift if you choose it to be.

Mission-1017 requires approximately one million people to focus on
positive, benign, good-willed thoughts for themselves and the Earth and
Humanity on this day. Your thoughts can be of any nature of your
choosing, but remember whatever you focus on will be made manifest in a
relatively faster than anticipated time frame. To some the occurrences
may almost be bordering on the miracle.

All we ask is positive thoughts of love, prosperity, healing, wealth,
kindness, gratitude befocused on.

This UV beam comes into full affect for 17 hrs on the 17th of October
2006. No matter what time zone you are in, the hours are approximately
10:17 am on the 17th of October to 1:17 am on the 18th October. The peak
time will be 17:10 (5:10 pm) on the 17th October. You do not need to be
in a meditative state through out this time, though would be beneficial.
The main key time no matter what time zone you are in will be the peak
time of 17:10 (5:10 pm).

Perhaps at this time if you can find a peaceful spot or location to
focus. The optimum is out in the vicinity of grounded nature, likened to
that of a large tree or next to the ocean waves. Focus on whatever it is
you desire. What is required for the benefit of all Earth and Humanity is
positive thoughts of loving nature.

We call this UV beam trigger event "818" gateway. Please forward this
message to as many people as you know who will use this cosmic trigger
event to focus positive, good-willed thoughts. We require approximately
1-million people across the globe to actively participate in this event.
Please use whatever communication mediums you have at your disposal.
Reach out to as many people as possible. We require 1-million plus people
at the least to trigger a shift for humanity from separation and
fragmentation to one of unification and oneness. This is your opportunity
to take back what is rightfully yours; i.e. Peace and Prosperity for all
Earth and Mankind.

This is a gift, a life line from your universe, so to speak, an answer to
your prayers. What you do with it and whether or not you choose to
participate is your choice.

Mission1017
Raphiem/Blue

* from: http://sethd8.wordpress.com / *

*Excerpted from: The Light Circle Ezine a Newsletter
Egroup®(c)2006
All rights reserved. You may make copies of this message and distribute
in any media as long as you change nothing, credit the author, and
include this copyright notice and To subscribe:
TheLightCircleEzine-subscribe@yahoogroups.com While imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery, it is disturbing for any lightworker to go to
another's website or receive a newsletter and see their text has been cut
and pasted without credit. Please create harmony by giving authors credit
for their work.

the non-photogenic need not apply

Saw this on a listserv that I'm on:

Black Enterprise is looking to profile young, African American women business partners who are photogenic, 35 years and under, and generate $1 million or more in annual revenues. The business must be located in the Midwest or on the West coast.

art folks in the mainstream

Sarah Lewis gave an interesting-sounding presentation ("Picking Up a Dropped Stitch: Re-conceptualizing African Textiles and Photography") last week at the American Studies Association conference in Oakland, but I went to a different session so I missed it. I kind of love Lucky magazine for frequently featuring art workers--they've had other folks in there who I know or know of-- even if they're mostly all New Yorkers.

not exactly live-blogging, but since i don't own a laptop...

The American Studies Association annual conference is in Oakland this weekend (it started yesterday). Since I'm an ASA member and live in San Francisco, I anticipated it being so near and figured I'd go this year; plus, I really like conferences because I get to learn about people's research to which I would not otherwise have access. But actually going--this time around as a professional secretary who is very on-the-fence about maintaining any involvement in the arts and academia--has been another matter. I've been dreading it, but I felt obligated to go because

1. I haven't completely made up my mind about getting out
2. I have been invited to be a keynote speaker at a symposium in March and the person who invited me was chairing a panel so I thought it would be professional to go, support his panel, and introduce myself
3. A good friend is on a panel tomorrow and she's talking about my work (very unfortunately at the same time that The Sartorialist, my new obsession, is speaking in SF tomorrow)

So yesterday morning I have an anxiety attack before heading over to Oakland. For anyone who's ever had one of these, they're very unpleasant and scary, but since I have had one, at least I knew it wasn't a heart attack, and facing another day of reading blogs at work, I figured I'd better go. Luckily, the anxiety attack prevented me from going to the gym and thus gave me lots of time before I had to head over, because I discovered the dress I was wearing had a torn hem and had to go home and change at the last minute.

The well-attended roundtable discussion topic was "Moving Images: Transnational Circuits of Race and Photography." Maurice Wallace was the chair; the presenters were

Ruby Tapia, The Ohio State University (who opened her paper with two Roland Barthes quotes and promptly lost me)
Laura Wexler, Yale University (who cited Barthes and Jacques Lacan, thus losing me)
Shawn Michelle Smith, St. Louis University (who cited no French theorists that I recall and was thus my favorite presenter)
Elizabeth Abel, University of California, Berkeley (no French theorists; runner-up)
Leigh Raiford, University of California, Berkeley (ooh, almost, then I believe she went with Barthes at the end)

Now, the constant citation of French male theorists is, like the folks who walk up (or down) the escalator, a huge pet peeve of mine, as though it's impossible to discuss any ideas without using French men as a touchstone. This is a primary reason why I am not in academia and in a very direct way is why I want out of this field completely. I don't belong and don't want to. Even though I think, to a one, those presenters are very smart (except I couldn't honestly say that of Ruby Tapia, who I really did have to tune out completely when she started using the word punctum and thus I can't comment on what she said). Maurice Wallace rather brilliantly tied it all together in his discussion at the end, which always impresses me from the discussant, but the one thing he noted which resonated most with me, for obvious reasons, was the absence of the black female body. The only presenter to speak about an image of a black female was Raiford, who talked about Chester Higgins' photo "Tamale Girl, Ghana" (titled "Miss Precious" on Higgins' site), and its use as the signature image of MoAD. What Wallace and Raiford pointed out was the way in which the image has been very closely cropped and used as a photomural comprised of thousands of other images, thus diminishing her specificity of identity and gender and, as Wallace noted, making her represent, literally, everyone. Much food for thought.

So today's panel (I planned one each day; after all I work 9-5), at noon was "Performing Both and Between--Theorizing Bodies on the Hyphen;" Kimberly Wallace-Sanders--in whose book Skin Deep, Spirit Strong I have an essay but have never met--was the discussant. These were the papers:

Maxine Craig, California State University, East Bay
Walking Like a Queen: Learning to be Miss Bronze

Elizabeth Wheeler, University of Oregon
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Disability Studies and the Visibility of Whiteness

Francesca Royster, DePaul University
"Feeling Like a Woman, Looking Like a Man, Sounding Like a No-No:" Grace Jones's Eccentric Sexuality"

Of course, I selected this panel because of Wallace-Sanders and Grace Jones, but these were each really excellent papers, and not a French theorist in sight (okay, Royster did quote Judith Butler, who's also impossible to read). Disappointingly, this panel was not well attended--it took place at noon; and the room was maybe a quarter full. I had to wonder why--was it the subject matter (2 of the 3 papers were about black women), the timing (folks were--nod to Khia-- hongray), the lack of superstars (though this isn't the kind of thing I keep up with I know there was another black-themed panel at the same time with Sarah Lewis, a curator at MoMA who's in the new Lucky magazine [does that make one "hot" in academia?] whom I overheard one woman leaving at the beginning to go hear)? Whatever it was, I was very happy to be there and to hear their research and to know that someone is continuing the discussion about black women, even if it's not the hip thing to do.