Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Politics The Aunt
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Zeituni Onyango can stay in the country that has her nephew as its president.
A US judge has ruled that a Kenyan aunt of President Barack Obama can legally stay in the US until next year.The half-sister of Mr Obama's father, Zeituni Onyango - who had lost a bid for asylum in 2004 - will then have to make a new application for asylum.
That hearing will decide whether Ms Onyango can stay in the US permanently.
Breaking News Man Down
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 7:00 PM
A man has died while protesting the G20 summit in London, the Guardian reports.
Economy Twice Sad
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 6:16 PM
TPM has this sad story:
Obama really must let go of Summers. Everything about this man is wrong, wrong, wrong.A former quantitative analyst at Harvard Management Company, the university's once-vaunted endowment manager, tells the Harvard Crimson she was fired for voicing concern to then-university president Larry Summers' chief of staff about the money manager's risky use of derivatives the traders didn't understand.
The episode dates back to 2002, when analyst Iris Mack, whose website identifies her as the second African American woman to earn a Harvard PhD. in applied math (and someone who likes primary colors) joined the much-venerated Harvard Management Company, which invests the university's then $18 billion endowment, to find what she termed a "frightening" state of affairs.
So Mack took inventory of the abuses... and detailed them in an email to Marne Levine, Summers' chief of staff and a Treasury staffer on the Obama Transition Team. (Summers was the only person to whom Meyers reported, and according to a recent Forbes story he personally ordered the university's biggest derivatives trade, a purchase of interest rate swaps that cost the university billions this year.)
As for Mack's book for little people?
In addition, Dr. Mack’s book, Mama says, "Money Doesn´t Grow on Trees!” is designed to help students achieve math proficiency and financial literacy via the use of hip multicultural characters. Dr. Mack ventured into children’s publishing because she wanted to create a vehicle that would show kids the fun side of math and the role it plays in everyday life.
It's impossible to be happy about a math/financial book with "hip multicultural characters."
Music / Housekeeping This Week in the Music Section
Posted by Eric Grandy on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Posted by Music Intern Chris Govella
Eric Grandy likes Mirah's first solo full-length since 2004, (a)spera, but wonders why he doesn't like it more:
Eight years is a long time, and (a)spera (the name is a Latin pun, meaning both "adversity" and "hope") is unmistakably more mature than Mirah's earliest albums, or even 2004's C'mon Miracle. From years of collaboration, she has assembled an impressive ensemble of players and producers, including longtime collaborators Lori Goldston and Elverum as well as Tucker Martine and kora harpist Kane Mathis. The album's multi-instrumental arrangements, though perhaps less distinctive than her earlier, lower-fi recordings, remain gorgeous, fuller than on previous "solo" records but never crowding out Mirah's voice—and that voice, stunning from the start, is as sure and supple as ever.
[...]
I want to love (a)spera the way I love those older albums, but it just doesn't hold up—against either those albums or my nostalgia.
Dave Segal praises veteran country-blues guitarman J.J. Cale's 50 years of recording:
Like very few musicians in history, Cale has become a genre unto himself. Some artists strive to reinvent themselves with every new work. Cale is totally comfortable doing his own thing, with minor variations, year after year.
Fucking in the Streets tries to not be won over by U.S.E. and fails:
By three songs in, I was bouncing on my heels a bit (the rest of the ebullient crowd was way ahead of me, hands up in the air, bodies twisting and pogoing, singing along); by the time they played "It Is On!" halfway through the set, I was (once again) hooked.
Data Breaker covers Greg Broussard a.k.a. Egyptian Lover's electro sound, which is due to warm up Seattle's cold snap this week:
Kraftwerk's beat programming, alternately sumptuous and plinky synth textures, and grandiose symphonic arrangements exerted a huge influence on American electro, and Egyptian Lover's work is no exception. But EL injected a slick sensuality into electro's cold-wired chassis with husky-voiced and understatedly over-the-top come-ons. And he wasn't above deploying that archetypal Egyptian melody (you know the one) into a track (see "Egypt Egypt").
My Philosophy. reviews new albums from two young talents of the Puget Sound, Logics and Avatar Young Blaze:
Logics reminds me of Jim Jones when he first popped up—less in style or voice than in positioning and image; like the swag-splashing DipSet capo, when Els gets it right and conjures some real charisma on record beyond a material swag, he'll make some undeniable shit.
It's a Hit reviews new singles from K'naan and Kelly Clarkson:
It gets no better than its lead track, "T.I.A.," which stands for "This Is Africa," something its booming drum track evokes precisely, even though the central sample is from "Simmer Down," Bob Marley's first hit with the Wailers, and the track itself sounds like it could have come from any number of (American) producers' labs.
Underage reviews indie rock rebels Mecca Normal on their 25th anniversary:
Though not as brash as some of their peers in that DIY music community, the group combined personal politics, the vibrating grind of Smith's throaty vocals, and the incredible prowess of Lester's guitar playing to develop a deeply intimate yet hard-hitting sound that ultimately made them one of the more memorable bands of the time.
The Score highlights Steve Coleman, one of the founders of the M-Base movement:
I'm enchanted by Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Coleman transforms Dixieland "hot jazz" polyphony into clear strands that simultaneously accommodate solos, pocket soliloquies, and elegantly composed long-limbed melodies. Central to this group's compelling sound is vocalist Jen Shyu, who has a militantly equal—not dominant—place in the sound.
Plus: Album Reviews of Black Dice's Repo, Gui Boratto's Take My Breath Away, and Peter Bjorn and John's Living Thing:
[Black Dice are] grotesque yet utterly compelling. They sound like the goddamned 21st century. It took a while, but someone is finally making My Bloody Valentine sound like pre—Rubber Soul Beatles.
Also: Party Crasher, Poster of the Week, a New Column! that will test your lyrical trivia, and a look at this week's noteworthy Up and Coming shows and parties.
Politics Actually, This Is Kind of Scary
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 5:18 PM
This morning, I wrote about Stephen Colbert's attack on Glenn Beck. Now I'm learning more about Beck, and Slog tipper Dan just wrote in to us:
The conservatives are planning something on April 15th. Egged on by the hysterical Glen Beck of Fox News, a right wing nut family member of mine seems to have lost it, and he clued me in on the significance of the date. I did some searching and found a call to action from Newt Gingrich, for TEA (Taxed Enough Already) protests in front of the nation's city halls.But there is more to this story, according to this raw wingnut data:
"I am part of we surround them. I will be somewhere, doing something on April 15th"
My boss tells me I foresee problems very well. My cynicism and paranoia leads me to wonder if some these anti-tax protestors are going to exercise their constitutional rights to carry their guns as they exercise their constitutional right to peaceably assemble in front of all the city halls in the country. In other words, a brutal power play, specifically meant to prove the superiority guns and god, while terrifying urban liberals with equal enthusiasm.
Beck and Fox are saying his show is not meant to stir up rebellion, despite some comments that were difficult to construe as non-sectarian like "Remember: We surround them."
Now, I'm not as worried as Dan; I'm not thinking it's revolution or anything so blatant as that. It seems to be a bunch of old white people who can't tolerate Obama being president:
But I think we should be keeping an eye on Beck and his group, just in case. It seems like the sort of thing that will inspire a bunch of fringe lunatics into doing something stupid. This man is really something awful. Thanks to Dan for the tip.
Teh Internets Google Answers Your Email so You Don't Have To
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Gmail has introduced a new feature, Gmail Autopilot. Here's what they say: "As more and more everyday communication takes place over email, lots of people have complained about how hard it is to read and respond to every message. This is because they actually read and respond to all their messages." Autopilot will scan your message, and, based on your past messages, automatically formulate a short reply. Here are a couple of the sample emails Autopilot can send on your behalf:
This is an even better idea than Gmail Paper, which Google rolled out a couple years ago on this date.
City / Olympia Times Are Tough All Over
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 5:01 PM
The press releases keep pouring in about the all-cuts budgets being proposed in the state house and senate, which slash everything from health care to education to environmental programs to human services. The latest program on the list is Adult Day Health Care, which provides case management, preventive health care, social activities and rehabilitation to 1,900 elderly and low-income people suffering from Alzheimer's, traumatic brain injuries, and other serious medical conditions. The program allows folks who would otherwise have to live in nursing homes to stay in their homes and live relatively independent lives. Like cutting health care to low-income people (who then have to go to the emergency room, at orders of magnitude more expense, for routine medical problems), this cut really doesn't make financial sense. Nursing homes, the option of next resort for these severely disabled and elderly individuals, cost nine to ten times as much as the Adult Day Health program. The house budget would eliminate the program entirely; the senate budget would cut its funding in half and eliminate all transportation assistance for the program's clients.
Closer to home, the Seattle Human Services Coalition circulating a petition on Facebook demanding preemptively that the Seattle City Council maintain funding for all existing human services during the upcoming round of budget cuts. That may be optimistic; the city is currently facing a 2009 budget shortfall of at least $35 million.
Politics / Economy "Capitalism Isn't Working"
Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:55 PM
There's a great photo gallery over at The Guardian showing images from today's G-20 protests in London. Among them: a crowd marching in front of a banner that reads "Capitalism Isn't Working," plus the rest of the image snippet at right—a scene of pain, pleading and pure citizen vs. citizen outrage.
Enviro Q&A On the New Food and Yard Waste Rules
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Tilth has a great guide to Seattle's new food and yard waste pickup system, which allows homeowners and apartment dwellers with compost Dumpsters (talk to your building manager!) to put just about any food item (including meat and dairy, yay!) in the yard waste. A sample:
Q: I compost food at home and will opt out of collection. What does the city want me to do with my meat and dairy scraps now?A: If you produce a lot of meat and dairy scraps, consider subscribing to the collection. If you produce less, talk with a friendly neighbor about using some space in their cart, or continue to throw them in your garbage.
Q: How do I demonstrate that I compost food at home to opt out of this service?
A: Call the Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) customer service line, (206) 684-3000, and tell them that you compost food at home. You must be willing to have an inspector come and verify that you have a system set up if SPU decides to check up on you.
Q: Is it prohibited to put food in the garbage?
A: Unlike Seattle’s prohibition on recycling in the trash, there is not currently a ban on food in the garbage. However, Seattleites sent 45,000 tons of food waste to the landfill last year. With the new system, much of it can be diverted to Cedar Grove Composting to be turned into valuable compost to improve our soil.
Politics Should Lawmakers Piss Into Cups, Too?
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:25 PM
CNN:
If Craig Blair gets his way, anyone filing for unemployment or food stamps must show that they are drug-free. He's a state lawmaker in West Virginia who has introduced a bill to require random drug testing for benefits and lays out his case on a Web site called notwithmytaxdollars.com."The message that we're trying to send is, first of all, we need to respect taxpayers and how their monies are spent," the Republican said. "And drug addiction is in epidemic proportions, and not only in West Virginia but throughout the United States."
I mean, if we want to "respect taxpayers and how their monies are spent," payroll for public servants must be at the top of the list. So you also want to piss into a cup, right, Mr. Blair?
Thanks to Michael for the tip.
Celeb Wednesday Afternoon Stand-Up
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:22 PM
It's almost impossible to pick a Louis CK clip, because the man is a life-changing genius. But let's go with this one:
Sidenote: I've been searching forever for that old bit where he talks about how shitty overdraft fees are. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Something about having zero dollars and only being able to afford something that costs "you-give-me-five-dollars"? Or something? God, trying to remember that joke has been driving me crazy for like 9 years.
Happy Wednesday!
Update: Found! "If it's free, I can't fucking afford it." Ahhhhhh.
Enviro Earth Hour
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:11 PM
C to the Andice writes:
ECB I'm surprised! There was NOTHING on Slog regarding Earth Hour. At least not last week to build up tension and awareness for the day. Nothing Saturday (3/28) to inform people that it was that evening. No one reporting any gatherings they may have attended, lights they switched off, pride they may have in the fact that this global event has united millions of people.Of all the Sloggers I thought you'd have something to say about it.
Do you?
I really wanna hear about other people's experiences. We had about 10 friends over and ate a beautiful dinner by candlelight. We would've actually enjoyed nature by going outside if it hadn't
rained all day... of course once the food was ready the rain had stopped.Anyways... if you participated please tell us your story. If you didn't get me someone who did, dammit. I want information!
Thanks, yo!
c to the andice
Guilty as charged—I completely spaced Earth Hour (and I'm kind of ambivalent about it anyway, truth be told). If anyone participated and would like to share their experiences, leave 'em in the comments.
Photos of Las Vegas before and during Earth Hour from The Big Picture, via TerraPass.
Drugs Kerlikowske Interviews for New Job
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:08 PM
This afternoon, in a small ornate room in Washington, D.C., Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske began the confirmation process to become Obama's new drug czar. A few of his statements are below. But as I read them, it strikes me that being drug czar is the most miserable job in America. The job expectation is, in a nutshell, to create a "Drug Free America." Americans, nay, all humans, love drugs and will risk peril and prison to get them. We cannot even build a drug-free prison, let alone secure a drug-free nation. As our police chief we merely expected Kerlikowske to reduce the crime rate—not completely eradicate all crime. When we apply the same standards to drugs—reduce the rate of drug abuse—Kerlikowske's hands are bound, tightly. Reducing drug abuse would require diverting tens of billions of dollars each year from the sending scads of people into the prison-industrial complex and instead into treatment—which would entail decriminalizing drugs. Kerli can't do that. He'd be head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the federal drug policy is clear—drugs are very illegal—and part of his job is to keep them that way. So in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kerliwske's first task—if he realizes the futility of his job—is to walk the fine line between acknowledging our past failures and then demonstrating that, if he does something different, it will be mostly of the same stuff we've been doing. The most good he can do, paradoxically, is as little as possible. But, as I've said before, I think that's his plan.
In my current role as the Chief of Police in Seattle, where I have led for nearly nine years, I have brought innovative solutions to the problems of drugs and crime, and their effect on society. A key element in my approach while in Seattle has involved enlisting the support of the entire community to reduce crime. While this approach is commonly referred to as, "community policing", I prefer it be recognized as "policing". The transparency and collaborative approach of this concept has ultimately led to the lowest drug use and serious crime rates in Seattle since 1967. My goal is to use similar principles in the development, articulation, and implementation of an effective, comprehensive, and coordinated national drug control strategy. [...]Upon confirmation, I will immediately coordinate with my colleagues in the federal government, as well as our counterparts at the state and local level, to ensure that the national drug control strategy is:
• Balanced and comprehensive, based upon the best possible understanding of the drug threat, and incorporates a science-based approach to public policy;
• Vigorously implemented through development of a national drug budget that contains proven, effective programs; and
• Rigorously assessed and adapted to changing circumstances,
His interest in "innovative solutions" and "a science-based approach to public policy" shows willingness to allow changes to drug laws beyond the bindings of handcuffs. But, as I've mentioned, I think he's likely to let other poeple do the heavy lifting on changing policy. (You can read the entire testimony here.) But when pressured by senators, he reverted to hackneyed tough-on-crime rhetoric.
Kiro's Carol Han liveblogged the hearing:
He answered a series of questions and emphasized several points: that a comprehensive national drug policy cannot solely be focussed on arrests; nor can it be only focussed on prevention. He says his experience in Seattle has shown that both approaches are part of the solution.He also talked about possible changes to the Office of National Drug Control Policy — for example, making sure the office is more aggressive about going after drug threats. He said there are thoughts that the federal government was slow in reacting to the methamphetamine threat. He said if confirmed, he doesn't want to see that happen under his watch.
Homo Goldy Praises Email Cribbed from Internet
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 4:05 PM
A couple of days ago, David Goldstein over at Horse's Ass (AKA Goldy) sung the praises of state Rep. Geoff Simpson (D-47) for his "thorough and courteous" reply to a woman named Barbara from Sammamish, who mass-emailed state legislators with a Bible-verse-strewn screed against gay marriage. In the email (which I found far more sarcastic than Goldy did) Simpson cited numerous Bible verses relating to marriage, the death penalty, shellfish eating, and animal sacrifice to make the somewhat obvious point that Christians don't follow most Biblical laws to the letter, so why are they so obsessed with gay marriage? The letter concluded, "I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging." Goldy wrote: "Personally, I think Geoff replied with all the respect the initial email deserved, and I’m particularly impressed considering he doesn’t even represent a safe Democratic district. Bravo."
Although I certainly don't disagree with Simpson's sentiment, the entire letter Goldy praised him for "writing" was lifted verbatim from various sources around the Internet. That doesn't make the sentiments less true or truly felt, but it does make Simpson's letter—cobbled together, as it was, from other people's work— rather less "impressive" than Goldy's initial post made it sound.
Contacted by email, Goldy said, "I didn't know at the time" that the letter was cribbed, "but various folks told me afterward. I guess I'm just not diligent enough about reading the viral emails sent my way."
The letter, with annotations, is below the jump.
News Something About This Photo...
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:58 PM
...makes me really proud to be an American right now.
More pics of Obama and HM Elizabeth II at TPM.
Film This Week in the Film Section: Adventureland
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:57 PM
It's not what you think, says Paul Constant:
The first surprising thing about Adventureland is that it's not really funny at all. The idea of a bunch of aimless, horny twentysomethings working at a crappy amusement park in the 1980s seems tailor-made for an Apatovian sex romp. But the second surprising thing about Adventureland is that, even though it's the story of a disillusioned college-age schlub named James (Jesse Eisenberg, cute and earnest) trying to lose his virginity, it turns out to be a genuinely moving, bittersweet film about characters who actually seem like real people instead of comedy clichés.
Read the whole thing HERE.
??!! Lindy West's Encyclopedia of Humanity
Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:54 PM
This week's feature is Lindy West on the different kinds of people that there are. Included in this list: People Who Still Have Jobs, People Who Claim to Be Afraid of Clowns, People Who Don't Know How to Drink, People Who Are Only Interesting When They're Drunk, People Who Sit at Their Day Jobs All Day Anonymously Posting the Meanest Things They Can Think of in the Comments Sections on Blogs, People Who Are Bill Paxton, and Babies.
Here's one:
People Who Don't Watch TV
Symbolically not doing something for the sake of not doing it is almost never evidence of sophistication. It is evidence of not knowing what you're fucking talking about. Are we really still having this conversation? Television is a part of the cultural landscape at this point—a lot of it is good. A lot of it is bad, some of which is also good. You know, LIKE ALL THINGS MADE BY HUMANS? Obviously it is also a good idea to go outside once in a while. But the presence of a television in your home does not make that decision for you. You make it. Feel free to still go outside at any time.
The rest of the list—comprising all of humankind—is here.
(Photos by Mike Wilkes and Kelly O.)
Chow / Books How to Make Fish Tacos: The Funny Book!
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:39 PM
I know this is a little too soon after Mr. Schmader's comprehensive study of fish tacos, but there's always room for more fish taco information. (And I like saying "fish tacos.")
After I pointed out this lady, who made several good Twilight-based comics, I read a little further into her comics blog and found a comics-style recipe for fish tacos (excerpted above). I followed the recipe, and it was delicious.
And I think part of the reason I was so eager to follow the recipe is because it was in comic book form. It looked easy enough, all the information was there, and the steps were illustrated. I was so pleased with how it turned out that I have to wonder why nobody's made an anthology of comic book recipes. A comic book cookbook would probably appeal to a whole lot of people who don't normally buy cookbooks, and it might also appeal to people who don't read comics, too. Someone needs to make this happen.
Life I Would Like to Retract My Previous Support For Sound Transit
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Because those fuckers just cost me $40.
Today, in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, you're getting the sales-tax increase most of you said you wanted.A sales-tax hike of 0.5 percent, or a nickel per $10 purchase, took effect today to fund a Sound Transit expansion.
Starting today, in King County, the sales tax is 9.5 percent, for most purchases, and 10 percent in a restaurant or bar.
This is what I get for thinking the used car salesman I talked to over the weekend was hard-selling me when he told me to buy a car before taxes went up.
Money / Teh Internets This Week in Information
Posted by Grant Brissey on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 3:17 PM
The Wikipedia entry for Microsoft's Encarta:
Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation from 1993 until 2009. As of 2008, the complete English version, Encarta Premium consisted of more than 62,000 articles,[1] numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactivities, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and was available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD-ROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles could also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.[2]Microsoft publishes similar encyclopedias under the Encarta trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese. Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch version has content from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia.
In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions.[3]
Much like newspapers' classified advertising fell victim to craigslist, Encarta has fallen victim to wikipedia. For some reason, this makes me a little sad.
Also, Encarta's entry for wikipedia is sort of worthless.
Via Forbes.com
Homo The "Unwanted Person"
Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 2:45 PM
You write one essay about a secretive bathhouse and for years afterward the staffers in the newsroom responsible for going through police reports think of you every time they come across a police report related to the place. Recently, I found a police report dated March 9 sitting on my desk...
On the listed date and time officers responded to Club Z to remove an unwanted person. This person, [redacted]/M/4-30-74, had been in Club for 9 hours according to [something deleted here] manager. [The manager] wanted him to leave, and [redacted] refused. [Redacted] was wearing only a towel and refused to put his clothing on. [Redacted] and his clothing were removed from Club Z to the sidewalk outside. [Redacted] refused to put his clothing on, insisting it wasn't his. [Redacted] was disoriented and his conversation was rambling. And there was a language barrier. AMR was called and [redacted] was transported to HMC for a non voluntary mental evaluation. It was obvious [redacted] wasn't able to care for himself in the freezing temps outside.
Poor guy.
Arts Cut Staff and Fresh Blood at EMP
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 2:44 PM
As a new director prepares to take the helm of the Experience Music Project (Sci-Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Technicolor blob, etc.), the Paul Allen-founded museum announces it will “proactively” jettison 16 of its 159 employees, says spokeswoman Maggie Skinner. EMP foresees declining individual donations and government grants, even though, she notes, the number of visitors are up from this time last year. She says the layoffs, which spread across every department, will cause no discernible changes.
But the new director, Christina Orr-Cahall, who will start before July 1, brings baggage to the building. In an excellent piece in this week’s paper, Jen Graves exhumes some bones in the wardrobe:
A press release detailed "Noted Museum Leader" Orr-Cahall's efforts in the last 19 years at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she more than doubled the size of the permanent collection, quintupled the endowment, built two new wings, and won a National Medal for Museum and Library Service. What it did not mention (and what the Seattle Times failed to report) is that Orr-Cahall is famous—or infamous—in the art world for quite another reason.It happened overnight, on June 12, 1989, when her name hit the news as the Washington, D.C., museum director who shut down a traveling Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition rather than tangle with the religious right. The outcry made world news. Giant Mapplethorpe images—the most explicit of the more than 100 photos of flowers, celebrities, and homoeroticism in the show—were projected on the sides of the museum's walls at night, and the exhibition itself went to another venue in the city anyway. Artists who had been scheduled to show at the Corcoran dropped out in protest. Membership fell. The museum lost a $1.5 million gift, and its chief curator resigned. After six months of turmoil, Orr-Cahall finally resigned.
According to Graves’s report, EMP’s interim director took home a staggering $339,192 annual salary. Will Orr-Cahall’s salary be bigger, despite the slender revenue forecast? “I am not able to comment on that,” says Skinner.
Read all of Jen Graves's article over here.
Homo Psst? Conservatives? Wanna Shut Down the Gay Rights Movement?
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 2:43 PM
You can! And it's easy! Just give us what we want.
An advocacy group that was a major player in Connecticut’s gay marriage debate has decided to close its doors at the end of 2009.Leaders at "Love Makes a Family" say the 10-year-old group wants to conclude its work on a victorious note in the wake of last fall’s state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
Social conservatives complain that the gay rights movement—the demos, the demands, the coverage, the campaigns—makes it so darn hard for them to "protect" their children from an awareness of the existence of homosexuality, which they want to do because... um... I guess because hearing about homosexuality can make someone homosexual. (If only we heard more about heterosexuality then no one would be gay.) But most of what we read about teh gays in the papers or see on our TVs—most of what their children are exposed to—wouldn't be written or broadcast if there weren't a debate about gay rights. No debate = nothing much to cover. Since gays and lesbians aren't going to go away—since we're going to keep demanding our rights until we've got 'em—the only way to end the debate is to give us what we want. All of it. Everything.
So, social conservatives, give us what we want. You'll get to hear a lot less about us, we'll get to enjoy our full civil rights—everybody wins! Including your gay children!
Books Joel Connelly Has Stepped In My Shit
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 2:37 PM
At too many events, listeners are treated as potted plants — potted plants with nodding heads. Moderators are often drawn from ranks of semi-celebrity writers, Clinton Administration alumni, and networking types who have settled in the Emerald City and supposedly burnish its sophistication...Uncritical questioning gives off no sparks. Too often, the visiting author/speaker is often allowed to mail in a packaged performance.
First of all, it's pretty obvious that Connelly only goes to a few gigantic readings a year. I'd say 95% of the readings in Seattle are set up in such a way that half the reading is devoted to unmoderated audience questions. I'd agree with him that the other two types of readings he mentions are usually wastes of time. At Benaroya Hall last year, David Guterson could very well have been the dumbest interrogator I've ever seen. He completely squandered every opportunity to explore John Updike's brilliance. And the readings where audience members write their questions on cards often give the impression of being too heavily edited and groomed into a cult of affirmation.
But it's even more obvious that Connelly doesn't attend actual open-question readings. Trusting the audience to ask brilliant, non-fawning questions is a losing game. I've said this before, but almost every reading I attend features several variations on two kinds of questions: The "Where do you get your ideas from?" guy, who can't even fathom how to write a book (this guy even asks his question of non-fiction authors), and the lady who stands up and gives a long and aimless lecture about how she understands the book and the book is brilliant and incidentally so is she and so what does the author think of her brilliance?
I don't know what kind of rabble-rousing democratic brain-fight Connelly's imagining, but his idea is not as revolutionary as he (or the commenter who wrote this comment:
I don't know what has stoked the fire in your belly Joel, but all I can say is, "Burn baby burn!")This city desperately needs a mirror held up to it.
Thanks for hoisting the looking glass.
believes it is. Audience questions would not have saved the Scott McClellan reading I attended at Town Hall from being a love-fest for a Bush crony who deserved to be pilloried. In fact, the questioner asked every single question the audience supplied, and they were all fawning. It's kind of cute that Connelly believes that readings would turn into a hell-bent session where the people give the author what-for, but Jesus Christ, what planet is he living on?
Music "Their songs are the thousand year old trees, the owls that see everything, the Black Lodge."
Posted by Eric Grandy on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Jeff Kirby on Olympia black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room.
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WTF? by Dan Savage
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Your Wife Died Alone... by Dan Savage
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Meanwhile in Vancouver by Dan Savage
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Is Your Teen Out of Control... And Smoking Hot? by Dan Savage
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PETA vs. Thanksgiving by Dan Savage
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Health at Every Size by Dan Savage
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The Cost (and Fear) of Dying by Anthony Hecht
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The Democrats Have 60 Votes in the Senate for Health Care Reform by Jonathan Golob
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Boy-Nerds Offended by Cootie-Ridden "Girl" Movie by Paul Constant
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SL Letter of the Day: Hot For Twinks by Dan Savage
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