jameswagner.com

Sara Benincasa plays Sarah Palin

2008-09-03T17:31:49Z

For years we've been horrified by what's been coming out of the Republican camp, but now we can take a laugh break.

I found the first of these four videos through the New York magazine blog site while searching Google for results on Levi Johnston/"sex on skates" after reading Maureen Dowd's "Too Much Life?" [print edition title], in the NYTimes this morning. I usually skip her rants, but today I found it somewhat compelling, not least because jumping out of the page was the phrase:

wild soap opera storylines erupting from the Palin family and the Alaskan wilderness [my italics]

The videos are by Sara Benincasa. The one I saw was incredibly cute (and I mean that in the best way), but most important it was a truly hysterical parody, and not the least bit mean. Yes, I know the real story isn't this family, but rather McCain's misjudgment and his cynicism.

Now excuse me while I go off to look at the other three videos.

[image from youtube]

NURTUREart benefit - save the date - October 27

2008-09-02T22:55:37Z

I know it's almost two months away, but if your calendar fills up like my calendar does, and if you already know how worthy this operation is, you'll appreciate knowing now that the 2008 NURTUREart benefit is scheduled for October 27th. It's also an terrific opportunity to bring home some terrific art, so put it in your calendars: As Barry says on Bloggy, "You know any group that honored James and me at the last one has excellent taste".

Oh, and the bash will be in Manhattan, at James Cohan Gallery on West 26th Street. More details as we get closer to the date.

in America, anyone can become president

2008-09-02T16:33:56Z

an early image of the "Me Worry?" kid, possibly from the 1920s according to Wikipedia

Going back at least as far as The Yellow Kid, we've always had our Alfred E. Neumans, but we never used to make them emperors.

The upshot of telling a citizenry over and over again for two hundred years that anyone can become president is today's reality that anyone can become president - unless of course they're smart or work hard to deserve the honor and responsibility.

Mournful thoughts about the current occupant of the White House and the two cyphers whom the corporations are about to nominate to succeed him are the occasion for my reflection on this baleful subject.

We now know that Bush clearly wasn't an accident, and McCain and Palin scare me perhaps more - if that's even possible.

[image from wikipedia]

nobody needs the RNC: do it yourself in Minnesota

2008-09-01T17:05:44Z

The Minnesota September 1st "March on the RNC and Stop the War" began in St. Paul at 11am local time today (CDT is one hour earlier than New York). Marchers planned to start with a rally at the state capitol, go to the Xcel Center in a "permitted" march and return to the capital, but things are already getting interesting as I write this. For more information see marchonrnc.org.

For continuous updates, go to this page on the Twin Cities Indymedia site or check out the MnIndyLIVE twitter feed.

Should you need more context for this, see my earlier posts from August 28 and August 30, and this Salon.com piece by Glenn Greenwald published just 24 hours ago. It's excerpted here:

So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protesters who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do. And as extraordinary as that conduct is, more extraordinary is the fact that they have received virtually no attention from the national media and little outcry from anyone. And it's not difficult to see why. As the recent "overhaul" of the 30-year-old FISA law illustrated -- preceded by the endless expansion of surveillance state powers, justified first by the War on Drugs and then the War on Terror -- we've essentially decided that we want our Government to spy on us without limits. There is literally no police power that the state can exercise that will cause much protest from the political and media class and, therefore, from the citizenry.

Beyond that, there is a widespread sense that the targets of these raids deserve what they get, even if nothing they've done is remotely illegal. We love to proclaim how much we cherish our "freedoms" in the abstract, but we despise those who actually exercise them. The Constitution, right in the very First Amendment, protects free speech and free assembly precisely because those liberties are central to a healthy republic -- but we've decided that anyone who would actually express truly dissident views or do anything other than sit meekly and quietly in their homes are dirty trouble-makers up to no good, and it's therefore probably for the best if our Government keeps them in check, spies on them, even gets a little rough with them.

It seems we're now leaving it up to the kids to defend liberties we all used to pretend were ours. I hope that somehow both they and the genuine patriotism which inspires them survives. At the moment they aren't being given much support, or even the recognition which a real media would owe them, the rest of us, and the entire world.

[image from marchonrnc]

the real meaning of Labor Day [a reminder]

2008-09-01T14:57:59Z

National Guardsmen firing into demonstrators during the 1894 Chicago Pullman strike* [contemporary Harpers Weekly drawing]

[six years ago today I did an entry titled "the real meaning of Labor Day". I posted it again last year, and I think it's time to do it again. My brief text was augmented with quotes from the site of Jim Lehrer's PBS show, NewsHour, on a page which had appeared the week before September 11, 2001. Last year I added the image which appears above]

It's not the barbeque, and it's certainly not the traffic. It was born as an attempt to appease the working people of America. [Remember the Pullman strike in history class?] Unfortunately it seems to have worked too well.

The observance of Labor Day began over 100 years ago. Conceived by America's labor unions as a testament to their cause, the legislation sanctioning the holiday was shepherded through Congress amid labor unrest and signed by President Grover Cleveland as a reluctant election-year compromise.

Soon after, when the entire nation became thoroughly frightened by the bugbear of socialism and communism, the movement was de-radicalized. The real Left was gradually marginalized and almost totally eliminated from American culture and society. The workers' movement itself became middle class, before it acquired the material benefits and political power which that adjustment should have delivered. And there it languishes.

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it."

Almost a century since Gompers spoke those words, though, Labor Day is seen as the last long weekend of summer rather than a day for political organizing. In 1995, less than 15 percent of American workers belonged to unions, down from a high in the 1950's of nearly 50 percent, though nearly all have benefited from the victories of the Labor movement.

Happy Labor Day, but don't forget.

*
I haven't been able to find a really good compact summary of the strike anywhere on line, although there is this setting of the broader context in a discussion from Howard Zinn. I would definitely welcome any other suggestions. I can however offer information on some of the numbers involved in the physical conflict itself, quoted here from the Kansas Heritage Group:

The total forces of the strikebreakers both government and private were [against 100,000 strikers]: 1,936 federal troops, 4,000 national guardsmen, about 5,000 extra deputy marshals, 250 extra deputy sheriffs, and the 3,000 policemen in Chicago for a total of 14,186 strikebreakers. In addition to these figures there were also twelve people shot and killed, and 71 people who were arrested and sentenced on the federal indictment.

No picnic.

[image from Wikimedia Commons]

convention city police: wild dogs onto fresh meat

2008-08-31T00:57:30Z

right there in River City

A throng of media members and interested observers crowd together in a yard next to a house on Iglehart Ave. that was raided by police Saturday afternoon.[Minneapolis Star Tribune caption]

UPDATE: Before going off to a restless sleep, I will note that up to this moment (it's Sunday, 2:30 am EDT) I can find absolutely nothing about these raids on any of the popular alternative political blogs. As usual, they're all totally distracted by the agenda laid out for them by the criminal establishment they are supposed to at least critique and creatively resist. I mean, come on, Sarah Palin? Right now she's just a zero operating as a smoke screen.

I thought New York in 2004 was pretty horrible, but I can't keep up with and can't begin to cover here all the developing stories about the police state tactics employed this year in both Denver and the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

It's not just the nausea induced by these increasingly appalling reports. They already exceed even the expectations of my cynical imagination, and now I'm sure there will be much more, since there is nothing in place to stop the successful progress of our special brand of American authoritarianism. What's happening at the sites of the two political sales conventions is part of a system designed to secure not us, but the reactionary corporate state which has succeeded in turning relatively-free citizens into medicated subjects meaningful to it only as consumers.

If you can still take it, I suggest searching online for news using the key words "police" "arrests" or "Convention". You're going to be shocked.

Ah hah! Barry is sitting just across from me as I'm writing this and he's invited me to look at two posts he's just completed. He's put it all together better and more quickly than I could imagine any one writer could. Look at Bloggy's "It's all ultimately one big (political) party" and "Crackdowns on protestors and press in Denver and Twin Cities".

The second post begins:

[at the homes of activists in the Twin Cities] They are knocking down doors and coming in with semi-automatic weapons to arrest people and confiscate belongings, including computers, journals, and political pamphlets. They have also arrested National Lawyer Guild lawyers trying to find out more information.

This is me again now: I thought a moment about finishing my last post two days ago with the hope that no one tries to burn down the Capitol building in Washington. Now I'm thinking it absolutely wouldn't be necessary this time.

[image by David Joles from StarTribune, where there are more photos and a story]

Beijing and Harare have nothing on Denver and St. Paul

2008-08-28T06:22:16Z

nothing to see here, folks - keep moving*

Move over, China and Zimbabwe: Make room for America. Okay, so I exaggerate a bit; let's just say instead that the gap is definitely narrowing between us and those nasty foreign governments whose practices we decry, when it comes to what can be done to prop up an unrepresentative regime.

Four weeks ago we were told that in Denver demonstrators who wished to address those attending the Democratic Convention (that is the unpaid, unprofessional, unworthy lobbyists, the unwashed multitudes) were/are not permitted to get within a quarter mile of the gates to the arena. A high-wire-fenced free speech pen was set aside somewhere in the boondocks where attendees would not be able to hear or see the people who want to approach their supposed representatives and the media which fawns on those official politicos. Not surprisingly, no one showed up. And then I have to read Markos of Daily Kos report from inside, with the chosen:

I listened in briefly to a cop and some convention goers having a nice chat as we tried to get a cab to the hotel. He was saying how uneventful the convention had been, how well-behaved protesters had been, and how everything appeared to be going nice and smooth. Knock on wood, I suppose. I don't know how the TV blowhards have been portraying that stuff, but from my vantage point, it's been quite civil and -- dare I say it? -- even tame.

I try not to scream.

In Minnesota, one week before the Republicans meet in St. Paul, the local constabulary shows looks like they're trying to outdo the NYPD Brownshirts. They're taking on the aspect of a Secret Police: Artist/videographer/journalists of the Glass Bead Collective, who were responsible for releasing the video of the New York cop body slamming a cyclist, were detained and searched yesterday morning by Minneapolis police. Their equipment was confiscated. No reasons were given.

They're in St. Paul as members of the independent press documenting the Republican National Convention. Three police and sheriff cars stopped and photographed them at 2 in the morning as they were returning to their rooms. They were videographed by the police and questioned individually about their travel plans and what they intended to report on. They were forced to line up against a police vehicle and they were first searched and then their personal belongings, including notes, phones, computers and personal objects, were confiscated, even though they were released without charges.

The obvious assignment for these thugs with badges was to get information on the identity and plans of anyone planning unregulated speech during the Democratic Party Convention and to intimidate anyone who might be thinking about exercising rights these officers should be protecting. Do not fail to watch this powerful video; if we survive this regime, it will become an important document of these times.

Today we learn that a billboard company has abruptly canceled a contract [signed August 8, revoked last week] which a recognized New York artist had for her "Soldier Billboard Project" to be mounted on billboards in St. Paul next week while the Republicans were in the city. The large-scale photographs of Suzanne Opton are powerful portraits of American soldiers between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An executive of the advertising company involved (owned by CBS) provided this statement, apparently trying to explain his corporation's censorship:

"The reason we have advised you that we cannot post these as billboards is that out-of-context (neither in a museum setting or website) the images, as stand-alone highway or city billboards, appear to be deceased soldiers. The presentation in this manner could be perceived as being disrespectful to the men and women in our armed forces."

It's now clear they've got us where they want us, wherever we live. All they have to do is say that what we do is what terrorists do, and that seems to be enough for our frightened or doped fellow citizens. The new fascism: Don't expect a formal announcement.

*
Agence France-Presse caption:

Members of the Denver Police Department patrol Auraria Parkway outside the Pepsi Center as activists protest prior to the Democratic National Convention on August 23, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. A tight security net enveloped Denver as the city braced Sunday for the arrival of tens of thousands of supporters and protestors for the Democratic Party's political extravaganza.

[image by Doug Pensinger from AFP]

August home dinners

2008-08-26T19:46:01Z

Thanks to the Union Square greenmarket and good fishmongers, we enjoyed some very good meals at home this weekend, once again in excellent weather, windows open to the garden.

Only now as I'm composing this entry do I realize that two of these suppers seem quite closely related. I experienced them as totally distinct when planning and sitting down to them, but I'm still surprised that the outward similarities (from happenstance, and from the modest bounty of our larder) didn't occur to me at the time.

Friday, August 22

yellow heirloom tomato, basil, oil, Boucheron, Ciabatta ring

grilled tuna steaks paved with crushed fennel, chilies, drizzled with lemon, oil
halved and grilled San Marzano plum tomatoes, finished with oil and lemon thyme
sauteed Pimientos de Padrón sprinkled with salt

baby yellow watermelon

Rioja Reserve Riscal, served slightly chilled

Sunday, August 24

red heirloom tomatoes, basil, oil, Boucheron, Panelle

Arctic char fillet pan-grilled on bed of salt, dribbled with excellent Spanish oil
boiled small red new potatoes, oil and parsley
grilled miniature sweet yellow, red, orange bell peppers sprinkled with salt

Kulfi Pistachio Cardamon ice cream

Argentine Torrontes Torino

[first image from nygirleatsworld; second from reimerseeds]

David Byrne bike racks only temporary

2008-08-26T16:12:44Z

hanging out with the man in Chelsea, but only for a bit

We still don't have our Second Avenue subway or public toilets, despite promises going back decades, or almost a century in the case of the subway, but it didn't take long to see the colorful and varied site-specific shapes of David Byrne's bike racks pop up around the city. Hooray for David - and for all bikes and bikers! Now, if we hope to save the streets for people, we just have to figure out how to secure these wonderful machines from thieves.

I saw this particular grouping last Friday on West 25th Street, in the midst of the Chelsea gallery neighborhood. I like the friendly or family mix of cute bikes.

Wait, wait! I wrote those two paragraphs before I had looked for a link to use with this post and only just now did I see in the NYTimes story that the racks will only be installed for 364 days. That's bunk!

The nine racks will be removed about 11 months from now; they were made of durable materials but are intended as temporary public art, not a permanent installation. (A temporary art project cannot remain on public land indefinitely without approval by the city's Public Design Commission.) Mr. Byrne arranged to have the racks fabricated and hopes to have the chance to sell them, eventually, as works of art.

Once again it seems that in New York money "trumps" (choice of word is deliberate) both art and the public good.

Aakash Nihalani on West 25th Street

2008-08-23T05:21:49Z

I spotted this simple, beautiful tape piece by Aakash Nihalani on the way back from a special lunch with Barry and visits to a few galleries on this very fine August afternoon.

For more on Nihalani, see Hrag Vartanian's piece in the ArtCal Zine.

Greenpoint industrial yard

2008-08-21T23:43:03Z

untitled (Greenpoint boxes) 2008

David Rakoff says take a walk, a proper walk

2008-08-20T15:32:12Z

whose streets? [1980: Chris Parker* walks in Jarmusch's "Permanent Vacation"]

The back page of the "Week in Review" section of Sunday's NYTimes was devoted to three writers offering advice on "how to get New Yorkers moving faster". The first two were quite serious, all about arranging cars, buses, trains and taxicabs, but they were fundamentally pretty "pedestrian" and had little of interest for anyone who already knows all the solutions (like me). However the third invited guest, the wonderful author and performer David Rakoff, offered something completely different in a piece about real pedestrians, below the delicious title,"Walk this Way".

He begins with a reference to the period of hard economic times the City is about to re-enter:

. . New York City is about to get interesting again. Those who regret having moved here too late, having witnessed only her metastasized proliferation of glass-walled condos and cupcake purveyors, can take heart at the prospect of shuttered libraries, underfinanced schools and grimy hospitals. Those bygone days of "Midnight Cowboy" grit might soon be upon us once more. Why, if you squint just a little bit, you can almost see Verdi Square changing back into "needle park."

In spite of the infectious New York cynicism, Rakoff has actually written a very funny column about the rules of engagement in the art of walking the streets of New York, one of life's supreme pleasures, we both seem to agree. He also offers some exceedingly practical advice, much of it useful even to New Yorkers (you know who you are). This is one of them:

CHOOSE A LANE: Yes, there are lanes. If you see something you like in a shop window, check your blind spot and, when it's safe to do so, shift over. (Happily, soon the stores will have closed, their windows boarded over, or smashed and empty from the latest blackout looting, rendering this rule as anachronistic as the requirement that men remove their hats in an elevator when a lady enters.)

I can survive any kind of New York, so long as I know there will be David Rakoff with me.

*
playing the perambulatory Allie, whose unhurried and unfocused persona has these defining lines early in the film:

Some people, you know, they, they can distract themselves with ambitions and motivation to work, you know, but not me. . . . . They think people like myself are crazy, you know. Everyone does because of the way I live, you know.

[image from reverseshot]

a win for free speech in New York - only five years late

2008-08-19T18:53:33Z

the NYPD at the front, fighting the First Amendment

We'll call it a win, even if the forces of reaction prevailed on the street, as they always have in this city. But silencing and intimidating an entire citizenry wasn't the only outrage: In addition to the April 7, 2003, NYPD assault on our civil rights itself, the City's years of delays in negotiating the civil settlement announced today helped to lock down protest everywhere in New York (abominably, during the 2004 GOP Convention), served to educate "law-enforcement" agencies fighting the fraudulent "war on terror" in other cities across the country, and cost taxpayers here plenty.

Go to this page on the site of the Center for Constitutional Rights for the complete press release, parts of which are excerpted here:

A group of 52 local activists today announced a $2 million settlement in their lawsuit against the City of New York. The activists were illegally arrested on April 7, 2003 while protesting against the Iraq war in front of a military contractor's offices in midtown [the Carlyle Group, known for its ties to the Bush family and its extensive portfolio of holdings in the military-defense sector]. The settlement in Kunstler et al v. New York City follows the dismissal in 2003 of all criminal charges brought against these individuals and four costly years of delays by the City in negotiating an end to the civil lawsuit.

. . . .

Attorneys and plaintiffs noted, however, that the City's decision to drag the case out is part of a long and disturbing pattern by which it attempts to "wear down" plaintiffs to avoid political damage, even at huge expense of tax dollars and City resources.

. . . .

The police tactics used that day became the model used by the NYPD during the 2004 Republican National Convention held in New York.

At that event, thousands of activists were illegally arrested, jailed and mistreated. Lawsuits related to the police conduct at the RNC are still winding their way through the courts. NYPD officials are now consulting with police departments in Denver and Minneapolis on their plans for the 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions.

[image of riot police at March, 2005, downtown Brooklyn anti-war protest from dailyheights.com]

rising sun on LOISAIDA

2008-08-19T17:03:55Z

untitled (rising sun) 2008

Somewhere on the Lower East Side this sun rises all day and all night.

Holly Coulis at 31 Grand

2008-08-19T01:20:12Z

Holly Coulis Boy and Eagle 2008 oil on linen 28" x 28"

I love this painting. I can't say why, but I'm sure there's more to it than that it portrays a beautiful youth - not that I have anything against that, at least for a starter. Holly Coulis's painting was just one work within an excellent-but-recently-closed group show, "Admirer", at 31 Grand, curated by the artist Maureen Cavanaugh.