Anchorage Daily News responds to controversy stirred up by April/May 2006 Humanity News edition
On Sunday, May 7, 2006 the Anchorage Daily News published three articles about the April/May edition of Alaska Humanity News. Our stories on the way Alaskan arts organizations refuse to make judgments on the basis of moral or spiritual criteria was upsetting to those organizations, and the Daily News—the principal media outlet that reviews and promotes them—took this opportunity to explore (and, to some extent, to defend) the ideas of the arts status quo.
You can find the three articles they published here:
Art and morality: Article’s authors discuss high art and low spirituality
Artists, presenters bristle at idea of ‘objective standards,’ by Dawnell Smith
Nobody owns the franchise for truth and good taste, by Mark Baechtel
If you’d like to continue the discussion, click on one of the two buttons at the top of this page to enter our forums.
Alaskan grassroots ORGANiZiNG
An interview with Out North’s Gene Dugan and Jay Brause
by Kevin Cassity
(An abbreviated version is presented in the print edition of Alaska Humanity News.)
Shifts in political power, economies, social organization, and human consciousness often come not from political leadership, but from grassroots actions born from the ideas and convictions of individuals and initially small groups of individuals. From such ordinary beginnings outside the “corridors of power” come leaders like Nelson Mandela and Wangari Maathai, organizations like Amnesty international and Doctors Without Borders.
In this column, we’d like to take a closer look some Alaskan grassroots organizations and their attempts to create positive social change. Our intention is to better understand grassroots organizing and to help with the cross-fertilization of creative ideas and community resources.
In our first installment, we’ve interviewed Out North (ON) founder/director Gene Dugan and co-director Jay Brause. This interview comes on the heels of news that Gene and Jay will be leaving Out North, thus ushering in a new chapter in Out North’s development.
In this interview, Gene and Jay reflect on ON’s history and talk about the future of ON. Due to space limitations we’ve printed only a portion of the interview. Those who would like to read a more complete version of the hour and a half interview can find it online at http://www.humanitynews.net
First, a bit of history, from Out North publication, “An Out North Primer” :
Out North took flight from the imagination of Gene Dugan and other artist-activists who wanted to challenge and change Alaska through creation of contemporary art for under-served audience. in 1985, Out North Arts & Humanities was incorporated to promote that vision. it spent its first four years as a community-based project touring plays that examined gay and lesbian experience. in 1989, after a local professional theatre company closed its doors, Out North (ON) bought that theatre’s subscriber list and expanded its audience. in 1990, Jay Brause joined ON and began work to secure a permanent home for ON’s growing programs and audience. in 1991, ON moved to Grandview Gardens Cultural Center (a former neighborhood library) in a low-to-moderate income area of east Anchorage and began a writing program in an area youth detention facility. in 1993, ON expanded again by presenting new works by national and international artists in visual, performing and media discip and Jay Brause announced their plans to leave ON at the end of the year.
Since its founding in 1985, ON has weathered eight attacks on its public funding, winning in six of those fights and growing through it all. in 1992 it became the center of controversy while presenting Pomo Afro Homos, a gay African-American ensemble based in San Francisco. After the Anchorage Municipal Transit authorities refused to allow ON to place ads for the show on city buses, ON took the Municipality to court and won the right to place the ads. The mayor then vetoed a $19,000 Arts Commission’s grant to ON, but the Municipal Assembly unanimously overrode the mayor’s veto. From this struggle, ON received a national free speech award presented in New York at MoMA, and experienced an increase in national and local support. in 1997, after four more unsuccessful attempts to reduce or eliminate ON’s local public funding, a late night (and unobserved) move by Assembly opponents ushered in the most difficult funding battle in ON’s history. A $22,000 arts grant for ON was ON has received a number of awards for service and excellence, including a national award from the Rockefeller, Warhol, Nathan Cummings, Robert Sterling Clark, and Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundations for “Upholding the principle of freedom of expression in American life” (1993); Alaska Governor’s Award for the Arts (1996); Alaska Association for Volunteer Administration and BP (Golden Heart Award for volunteer program 1997); Best Live Theatre (Anchorage Daily News 1997); Best Arts Organization (Anchorage PRESS 1998); Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage (Human Rights Award 2002); Standing Together Against Rape (Award for Community Service to Victims of Sexual Assault 2003); Planned Parenthood of Alaska (Award for Choice in Education 2005); Anchorage School District (Best Practices nominee, School Business Partnerships 2005) and Anchorage Mayor’s Arts Award (Youth Arts Education 2006).
AHN: Can you say a little more about how you got started, and your intentions, with an eye towards giving people an idea of how a grassroots organization might begin?
Gene: ON started as a desire to do one or two events a year that dealt with gay community issues in a theatrical way. it was Anchorage based, and then we got invitations to do productions around the state. Some data was collected in the spring of 85 ... in a statewide survey (of the gay and lesbian community) ... For that particular community at that time they did not see their lives positively portrayed in the popular media or anywhere and so there was a huge need from this community of people to see their lives on the stage, so one of the responses of Out North, Out North, was to serve this population.
AHN - Are there any experiences that stand out as most difficult or most rewarding in the time you’ve run ON.
Gene: I’ve been trying to think about a “most.” I haven’t come up with a “most” on either end of the spectrum ... (one experience that comes to mind is) watching the rehearsal of a play that we had commissioned… being performed on a balcony at a B & B overlooking the Asiatic after the play had been first done in New York and then at ON, where it was rewritten for touring, and redesigned, and then it went to Croatia where the play was actually set. We got to be there and be part of that.
Jay: And I think for me it was the juxtaposition of two forms of creating community that occurred on the same day. One was the funeral of my father, and we had a guest artist here that had a performance that night, and I had to excuse myself from the private gathering after that funeral service to attend to the artist and the audience we had here for a show called “interviewing the Audience” that was with Spaulding Gray. it was a brilliant night of connection between audience members who got to hear through skillful and humorous interviewing technique, their lives on stage before them. A hundred people in that room who totally enjoyed and were perplexed by their neighbors. And Spaulding made a comment, he had been here several days with his wife and his kids, skiing and such, and he said, “This place is an oasis,” meaning Out North. This is such a conservative state, and I didn’t realize how bad it was here, but then you’ve got this place.” And people r nd their heart and their soul has been powerful, and it happens time and time and time again here, so I’m perplexed by this question, what great moment, what meaningful moment do you want to hear.
Gene: They all seem small and insignificant, but to the people who experience it they’re life changing at times.
Jay: And that’s the privilege of doing this work. And we always connect the art to the audience with post show discussions, with workshops in the community, with the writing exercises that occur with artists or the would be artists. it’s not a simple matter of thinking that it’s about an attainment. it never has been.... it’s as simple as, and I know it will be offensive to some of your readers, but think of being a young gay person who for the first time sees two men kiss on the stage. this is a live real event, and that was in San Francisco for me in 1977. As a heterosexual person you grow up with that all the time, your mother your fathers model to you, it’s shown to you, it’s displayed as good, wholesome, God said, ‘Let there be,’ but for someone who’s gay or lesbian you get all the other messages, it’s wrong, it’s devious, it’s deceitful, it’s evil, it’s spiritually invalid by people who teach in spiritual traditions and religious Catherine Stadem, in an Anchorage Daily News review, said, “ Out North has raised the consciousness of the community on the subject of homosexuality, supported local playwriting, brought in cutting-edge performers from Outside and, after 20 years, has evolved into a place where making good art regardless of sexual orientation is the focus.” She’s one of the grand dames of criticism in theatre here in the state and for her to write that last year was really touching for us. Not that we’ll ever negate the importance of working for GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual) issues, it’s incredibly important, but she’s also recognizing we do more than that, and I think that’s pretty good.
AHN: Where has your resistance in the community come from?
Spiritual ayatollahs, with ayatollah not being pejorative against a religion but rather to represent a class of people who believe they have God’s answers for the lives of people ... also fundamentalist preachers. The resistance comes from a culture that can devalue a whole people. it’s right next door to us.... Visiting artists are a little shocked to find us between two fundamentalist churches and not in a liberal neighborhood, one with cafe’s and art stores… rather than in an arts district.
AHN: Has there been any progress for you (in regards to) living with (religious/community) attitudes and actions that feel violent?
Gene: Not with the current legislature.
Jay: Not with the government of this country. We’ve understood decades before other people what the threat was to the democratic fiber of this country by the religious extremists of this country. We’re the canaries in the mine.... We have cultural and militant terrorists within our own borders who would go to war for who they believe to be Jesus Christ. it’s frightening. Do we reconcile with that element of our country? No, there’s no reconciliation. There is a civil war going on. Fortunately it’s a war of words and politics and money and power and influence.... Like Jews in Weimar Republic, we’re living in a bubble of growing tolerance, but I wonder if, like Jews in holocaust Europe, if we became too great a power, if we became too much accepted, if there might not be a reaction. I know that sounds very dark and very fearful, but the human history of one society after another has been the history of a reactive society taking away the gains of a minority. AHN: How have you changed personally over the time you’ve run ON?
Gene: Good question. I don’t know.
AHN: Has (this experience) been transformative?
Gene: Not transformative, but definitely changing from the focus of what I thought ON would be and would become to what it actually is. I thought it was going to be just an all-volunteer (organization) without a home that did one or two productions a year. After doing some gay issue plays, we looked at doing some things that dealt with topics in Latin America, political topics. And then sands kind of shifted and we got pushed one way and floated another way, and we got involved in a lot of issue oriented crossovers with art in the community, to the point that we decided to start bringing in professional artists from Outside who were doing work that was not being seen in Alaska, work that we felt was important, in order to start getting local artists to create their own work rather than replicating (works) that they could “take off the shelf.” it was a shift for me in seeing where the organization would go and also where art and culture in the community (would go).
AHN: How did that shift happen?
Gene: As much through my whim as through the support of the community.
Jay: I would say also from the deficit that you sometimes ran into. Where was the need? it’s not always asset based, but sometimes, “is there a hole?”
Gene: Right. Yeah, before the great AIDS plays, “As is, and “The Normal Heart,” we had a script that we tried to cast to bring some light to the AIDS issue and we couldn’t cast it locally. People were too afraid. that was a turning point where we said, okay, if we don’t have some people in town who are brave enough to do some of this, we need to bring people in....
Jay: What’s critical is that we were in and of the community making that invitation. It wasn’t as if it was something impressed upon the community from Outside. I grew up here from the time I was five years old and am well aware of preserving our own position. Sometimes it gets parochial, quite frankly, but many times it’s right because it’s trying to avoid colonialization. We are kind of third world in a way in our location geographically and in fact do have third world parts of our culture and economy. So I think that’s always a sensitive judgment call. So it’s not always being proactive; sometimes it’s being reactive that lets you make your best choices.
Gene: There was not only a lack of work for this gay and lesbian population to see themselves on stage, partly because they wouldn’t do it themselves. There wasn’t the bravery in the community to step out and say this is what I want to do.
Jay: And why was there (no bravery). There was no law that protected us in housing and employment, in our relationships…
Gene: ... there were people losing their jobs at that time…
Jay: ... and you still can (lose your job). In the military, as you know, you can’t serve this country right now, not that I think we should, but I mean it’s not an option for an openly gay or lesbian person in this country. I mean still, in 2006. in 1975 and 1976 we’d gone through the whole charter process in Anchorage in which we’d included sexual orientation as a protected class, I was part of that effort, and it got vetoed by then Mayor George Sullivan and they couldn’t sustain an override. I was looking at joining the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission that was newly formed, but I didn’t do that and years later when this opportunity came around to work for ON, in 1990, I began to realize, this is exactly what I wanted to do on the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission--rubbing elbows, spending time with people of different cultures, race, ethnicity, people of different class, people who had a different experience in this life than myself. ON became that place. ted from your nationality, your ethnicity, from within that language group to someone who’s gay and wants to see themself on the stage. Making the work happen where people create a bridge in their heart and mind is difficult work. We tend to separate, even those in the peace community-- they separate on different lines, politics, religious or spiritual attributes, whether you’re vegan or not, how pure are you in your food. We have these ways we divide. Our work is to find ways to get us in the same room. It’s never easy.
Gene: And at times we’re surprised at the positive reactions we get to our efforts. We were approached by VFA Arts in D.C. when they lost their affiliates in Alaska and they asked us to be the affiliate for arts and disability in the State, part of its international network, and we said, “Well, that’s not really what we do.” And they said, “Well, yes it is. You’re working with kids with learning disabilities, with youth programs, with performances, you’ve got a lift in the building that shows you’ve already taken that into consideration, you’ve got performers on stage who’ve got disabilities, you’ve got filmmakers with disabilities, you’ve got gay filmmakers with disabilities in your program, you’re covering it.” That was a proud moment. They really had to talk us into it, to take on this, on top of everything else that we do, but yes, it’s been rewarding.
AHN: Being as (running Out North) is difficult work, how do you sustain the energy to do it?
Jay: Well, we’re leaving (laughs). We’ve been burned out how many times? Fifteen dozen times? Jesus said 70 times seven for forgiving your neighbor. I think it’s basically that for us when it comes to swinging back from being burned out.
Gene: We’ve had several drafts of angry letters of resignation over the years…
Jay: ... to submit to our board.
Gene: But this time it wasn’t an angry resignation
Jay: It wasn’t. It was about making positive changes for ourselves.... I would really want to share with your reader that… if you really are a leader, it’s difficult. If you’re within a gang it’s easier. And a gang can be all running down George Bush over a pint, a gang can be all doing your yoga exercises with your zen master, a gang can be gang banging, but when you stand to leadership, when you in fact say here I am--and there’s not necessarily someone behind you--it’s easy to get burnt, and where do you find replenishment? My father was in the religious biz. He was a progressive minister. I claim no faith now, but I have a wellspring of worth taught from years as a child of knowing that I had intrinsic worth. And that’s why I was able to deal the (cultural) message that taught me that as a gay person I didn’t have value. What was greater was that message that I was valuable. I think if you’ve got that at the core you can always spring Gene: ... gay people telling us we were doing horrible things for the community because of it ...
Jay: ... rocking the boat, you know, “It’s dangerous for all of us if you flip the canoe, all these kinds of images,” and we went over to our local restaurant here, Sweet Pink Pepper, and we were sitting down, crying in our rice and feeling miserable for ourselves, and somebody caught our eye, a guy we didn’t know. He was at the ordering station and we were sitting down, and he caught our eye, and he wandered over to us, and (said), “I know you don’t know me, and it’s not important, I just want to thank you for the work that you’re doing. I know it must be tough.” I’m connected to the tears that I felt, the tears at such a deep and meaningful thanks for the risks that we took, the economic damage that we incurred, even (our) life safety, we felt, (was) at risk at times.
Gene: You could have given us a million dollars, and it wouldn’t have meant as much.
Jay: And unfortunately for our opposition in this state, he refueled us. That simple act, and it’s something I’d want everyone to understand who reads this interview. It doesn’t have to be that you give up your life for the cause, it can be just that simple act of thanking someone who took up their life for that cause, for you. Just buy them a cup of coffee sometime and say thank you. Especially when it’s unexpected .... If it’s Ethan Berkowitz who went on the line for you or some spiritual leader in the community who you think has it right. Have you ever thanked them? In that “shit happens, good things happen” sort of a way, for us on the receiving end, it’s an immensely important gift.
Gene: Another incident like that was when we were in front of the assembly to get their vote for purchasing this building and it was the same time as a funeral in the arts community, attended by our friends in the arts community, that filled the Atwood Hall--that’s how big it was--and we knew that the arts community wasn’t going to be there and we thought “Oh, well.” The surprise was that our neighbors, people from this neighborhood came, and they spoke out saying that they wanted this facility in their neighborhood. They talked about how good it was to have an arts group in their neighborhood. and parents talked about what great things we’ve done for their kids, and people ... came out because that meant something to them.... That was extremely gratifying.....
Jay: When Dan Sullivan, who was opposed to us getting the building, asked “Well, how many are here tonight--because he didn’t want to deal with all the testimony-- to testify in behalf of Out North, and three quarters, five sixths, of the house hands went up, and he said, ‘Oh it looks like about 150 people or so.” That’s incredible for an assembly issue, to have that kind of showing ... that’s grassroots ... and it comes from people deciding for themselves that (the support has been) earned.
AHN: How has the Anchorage community changed in the time ON has been here?
Jay: There was a story today about a new group, City Lights Theatre, out in Palmer that started to ... do this play that got ... censored by the Valley Performing Arts Board, the theatre out in Wasilla last year, and (so) a new company formed.... And I smiled… when I read that review because I said, “ I feel that a child has been born that’s of these loins,” from ON. Whether they recognize the parentage or not, I know in some way our being here and staying here has been an effect to that company’s existence .... People out there of moderate or liberal disposition, who want to see something more challenging than just another musical are saying, “My life has a void. I want something that speaks to me.” And they’ve asked for this company to be that. And an audience showed up, and they’re feeling pretty good, and they should be because they just had that experience. But i’ll tell you what. Twenty years ago it wouldn’t have happened .... We wereGene: Yeah, we’re constantly being told, “Why don’t you do this show, because (whispers) we can’t do it.” Vagina monologues was one of those. So we did it. It was this big wicked thrill in Anchorage. We sold out. We extended. And then there were other productions happening in Anchorage. It kind of opened the door. We’ve done that several times in our history.
Jay: Posters were being torn down for that production. This was just like five or six years ago. Postal carriers who weren’t delivering the mailing carton that we sent out on a route, and I can name you the street, out in Eagle River. You know, things like that were going on for the Vagina Monologues. You know, it wasn’t a lesbian work or something. What we got from that though, was that both Planned Parenthood of Alaska an Standing Together Against Rape both recognized that as having really contributed to the dialogue about women’s lives in this community, and honored us with awards in 2003 and 2005. And we were so taken by that. My mother was born before women had the right to vote in this country, and it always struck me that here was this person who was a second class citizen, and in her lifetime had that change occur, and how much more work there is still to be done to value all people....
AHN: Are there any other organizations in Anchorage that have stepped out in ways have helped you and heartened you in your work?
Gene: There are many organizations that have an affinity for what we do… sometimes we’re able to work together, and sometimes we’ve got to do our own thing too.
Jay: I think one area where we provided leadership, and the fruits of that labor are being seen, is with kids who are marginalized, economically, racially, and with disability, and also incarceration. We started in 1991 working with a direct in-reach program with McLaughlin Youth Center, way before other groups were doing that, and didn’t get a dime from it. It’s just that we felt really strongly about it because Gene and I had both experienced growing up, friends who got off on the wrong track, who damaged their lives and their relationships to people, who became what is called “criminal.” But we believe steadfastly that you can never give up on anyone. So we started that work, and we watched our peers start doing it too--not copycat, they have their own way and reason for doing it--but I know that they’ve seen that you can do that work and it makes sense, and they’ve stepped into the role as well. Sometimes it’s competitive. They get funds now that we u With regards to other groups that have been helpful to us in terms of their own work, Cyranos, certainly, has put on more difficult work as part of the repertoire of doing contemporary American theatre. They come at it from an artistic practice, not one that ties necessarily to having a social impact. We’re deliberate about that. For them it’s more like an effect. But we are soul-mates in a way as companies. The University has taken on, occasionally, some work that is ... much riskier than I think they might have done without our example, and before this sounds like tooting our own horn, which I don’t want (to do), each company takes risk that is appropriate for their audience. Each group takes risk that advances their own edge as they feel they can.
For us, some of the other places we draw some solace.... The Design Forum has brought up some really great idea people that are food for the mind. Bunnell Street Gallery down in Homer is an incredible organization.
Gene: Beyond our Anchorage borders, what’s been really important for us in our growth as an organization and our ability to serve the Anchorage community is that we’ve become very well connected nationally and internationally (via) The National Performance Network, the National Association of Media Arts and Culture, Network of Cultural Centers of Color, Youth Media Network, and through some very specific venues throughout the country and overseas.
Jay: So it’s not always here. It’s also the world community that we take our cue from.
AHN: What would you like to see in terms of the future of ON?
Jay: Affordable housing for cultural workers. We have an arts and culture district that doesn’t yet encompass that, and it needs to. The new Mountain View arts and culture district really needs to get on the ball and make sure that this company is part of envisioning how artists will be part of that community. In order to create a creative community you have to have more than the condition of a space in which to create work. You also have to have a livelihood, and artists by and large choose a life that’s certainly more difficult than many, where there’s no salary schedule or benefits. And for us as community to turn a blind eye to it’s creative forces isn’t a wise practice. ON has been working for years now and I’m hoping that my successor will be successful in getting, a village if you will, a housing community together, where people of creative conscience can live together and start creating that space. That’s really critical. It’s something I’mAHN: How have you been working towards that?
Jay: In 97 the board changed the articles of incorporation to include affordable housing, and that was approved through the iRS, so that’s a really important thing… that means a lot legally. Then we did that demonstration project of moving a home that was going to be destroyed because of a renewal project in Mountain View and we relocated it, new foundation, fixed it up, and sold it to a First Time Home Buyer, and did it successfully. I was the contract manager for it. That was the same year we were under attack for all this stuff going on and I was so busy keeping the ball in the air it was impossible to move that forward. We started working with some national consultants. We got some national funding to do some studies. We identified a space to do a project. And now we’re at a point where we’ve done the feasibility studies, all that type of stuff, we’re ready to move forward with financing .... That’s the next step. To me it was bittersweet toAHN: What’s the criteria for that type of housing? Does an artist have to show work?
Jay: Yep, and they have to show intention--and (in this intention we are) different than many of our colleagues and friends-- to give back to the community. It’s not just about getting. You have to be purposeful about what your intention is--in what you will give as far as arts education to youth in the area, as far as what you might do for installation or your performance work in the community. We’re looking at making a quid quo pro of sorts on some level of how you would be part of that community. To what degree do you need to make a livelihood from your art? There’s all sorts of standards on that, and we’d probably choose a pretty minimal one. A threshold usually taken is that at least 10% of your household income is derived from your work and your art. And then that you have some sort of portfolio that shows your training and your abilities, and it’s adjudicated by a panel of peers. There’s going to be a screening committee that does a financial reviewGene: There are a lot of artists who are hermits, but this is not the kind of project for a hermit artist.
Jay: This is why we’d like this to happen in a place like Mountain View, which is supposed to be about building community, and artists can very much be part of that. We know this. We’ve already had artist, visiting artists, stay long term in houses that we’ve had in Mountain View. They start playing basketball in the neighborhood, the whole thing, (artists) who knew who was scoring what drugs and who sells what on the street and who knows who’s in what gang, (artists) who knew the life blood of the community. Those are the artists we want to work with. They’re not people who come to walk on the stage and then go to a wine and cheese party afterward. That’s not what we want. And that’s what a lot of people think artists are about.
AHN: It seems that in this transition to a new directorship of ON, you’re offering a lot of hard work, risk, vulnerability, and probably not a lot of financial reward--a difficult job. Do you see people stepping up, taking an interest in filling those shoes? What is your sense of how the passing of the baton might happen or if it might happen at all?
Gene: I think we’ve been connected enough nationally and internationally that ... we don’t really have any fear that there will be nobody who will step up to the plate.
Jay: Because he’s the artistic side and I’m the business side (of ON), it’s more complex for me because there’s real stresses and strains for organizations in these type of transitions. A huge one is, “How do you honor the founder’s vision and at the same time not have it cast in concrete.” We’re creative people, so our successors necessarily will be creative forces as well. They’re going to want to imprint this company, and I would not want to see anyone hired for this company who thinks their job is simply to follow what Lennon set out, you know, here’s the people’s vision of the utopian state and you will follow the orders. No. One of the reasons we knew we had to leave the state is that it will be tough to watch those changes if we were close. This is the time for the child to step out on his or her own, and for us not to see the foibles, for us not to see the missteps, for us not to say, “Ohmygod what did they just do.” We recently We’re wondering if we might not engage the (Anchorage) community and say, ‘Here’s what we think we should do. What do you think?” We’re still putting the pieces together on it, but we’re hoping we can do it in late April. Leadership of this organization, staff and board and key artists are now very busy on trying to see if we can put together with this consultant friend of ours a two day “empanelment” of our community to talk about the “what next.” This is the first time we’re talking about it publicly. This is a recent idea. it’s just one week old. We’re still running it through board at this time, but we have the consultant willing to come. We know the organization is going to have to have a big bump up in what are called “unrestricted funds.” A lot of money that comes into an organization like ours is restricted by a grant or a donor, or it’s for a specific purpose, and you can actually wind up not having the money to pay a salary, or the light bill, and if we’re going to leave to our successors the tool they need more than any other, it’s cash flow. We’re going to have to ask our community, “Do you value this organization enough to help us put that money in the bank?” We’ve got to ask that question, and we don’t know what the answer will be. Because without sufficient cash flow, our salaries now are not competitive for a national call for our replacements. That’s not a criticism of the organization, it’s a fact of life. (Director salaries) have got to be bumped up by atGene: We pay light, heat, gas, water, trash removal like anyone else. It’s not a luxury.
Jay: And then there’s a third element that’s so critical. Gene has been constrained time and time again from being able to bring in an artist whose work would really excite artists and students and audience here because we simply didn’t have the money. If we really want to bring something here that we know would excite the imagination of an audience there has to be more money. There’s a huge shift that has occurred in the working environment of the non-profit community in this country. It’s been a very calculated casualty of the Republican philosophy of this country, which is in dominance right now, which is “local communities must support what is locally enjoyed.” Well, local communities don’t have those resources either, so the arts and quite a few other areas--what we call ‘the life of the mind’--have been underfunded in this country. Certainly we’re in one of those fields. We’re at the bottom of the heap as far as wage scale and stuff We need to be advertising for our replacements by June. That can be out of the bag. The board will put out the announcements for positions in June. We’ll still be here, we’ll still be working, we’ll still going to be trying to raise money, do all these these things for the transition of the organization.
AHN: Can you say more about the role of the board?
Gene: They hire and fire us. but that’s more for another issue.
Jay: We feel very strongly there needs to be a retooling of the business models available for entrepreneurship in the non-profit community. “Risk and return” it’s called in the business world, and we don’t have return for risk in the non-profit field. We have been as entrepreneurial as any of our friends who started up businesses, and at the end of 20 years of work we walk away with, the word is “bupkis” (nothing). We have no equity. and as a social justice issue it is profoundly affecting the non-profit community....
Gene: Somebody asked “You’re going to cash in your retirement?” “What retirement?”
Jay: We didn’t get health insurance till two and half years ago and that’s quite typical for smaller non-profits.... It’s a tough area to work in and yet the entrepreneurial risk and reward system doesn’t exist. That’s why we want to make sure there’s more money in the bank, so our successors are treated better. I’m not mad at the board on this.... It’s a systemic problem. Here we are trying to change the world and we do nothing to help ourselves. It’s a problem.
10 - AHN: Can you say anything more about your future plans?
Gene: If we told you we’d have to kill you.
Jay: One thing we can let people know is we’re holding onto our house. Regardless of where we go we’re holding on to our house. We haven’t left alaska even if we leave it. who knows. We may even keep our voter registration here.
AHN: Anything else you’d like to say?
Gene: Community development is what our organization is all about. Art is how it happens.
Jay: I think among a lot of your readers there’s this real innate respect for native cultures. The idea that the more we can give back to the land, the more in sync we are with what our natural rhythms are as a people and a species. And I’d like to interject for people who have that type of observation on life that “Where is art in these systems but front and center of the fire?”--the storytelling, the dance, the drum, all those things are artifacts of art, language itself, and yet we displace it rather than be with it. If you want to understand something of what we call “primitive culture” and (see) where they’ve got it right, they never separated art from life. People felt badly for me having gone from the peace and justice, environmental, civil rights work that I cut my eye teeth on, and I went into the arts and they said, “How could you do that? How could you go into something so unimportant?”
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Photos of Bolivia
Looking for photos of the mines in Bolivia? Click here.
Unheard Voices in the August, 2005 issue of Alaska Humanity News looks at the life of Walter Rodriguez, a miner in Potosi, Bolivia. (See Archives for the article.)
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Conscious Business Alliance forming now!
The Conscious Business Alliance is a group of businesses and customers who promote humane ways of selling and buying. Our goal is to support each other in creating a business climate where doing good is just as important as earning money. We seek to be honest, caring, and thoughtful about all the ways in which doing our business has an effect.
What is mechanical does not have to be prior in human relationships. Businesses do not exist only to make a profit and to provide a service that is appealing to customers. They also create fulfilling livelihoods, products and services. Meaning, quality, and care should always come first. This goal of the Conscious Business Alliance is to support this way of doing business.
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The Summer issue of Alaska Humanity News will look at the operating principles of major Alaskan businesses. In accordance with our new operating principle, invoked as a result of the insipid response to our issue on arts in Alaska (April/May 2006), we are designing a program that expresses our views about this.
Our new principle is that in every edition of our paper we will create or support a positive, tangible, program or event that is a response to the flawed news that we uncover. The ‘positive, tangible’ program for the issue on business is the Conscious Business Alliance. Return here, or pick up the summer paper, for news of this crucial, absent institution.
Survey finds local arts organizations lack objective standards for morality
By Crystal Hutchens
Research by Jennifer Johnson
Alaskan arts organizations do not have standards to judge what is beneficial for viewers, according to a recent survey undertaken by Alaska Humanity News. Most do not have any standards at all to judge what is of transcendent or universal significance in artwork; although a minority of groups claimed to have personal or implicit values for judging what was meaningful, none had explicit standards of this kind.
Leaders of Alaskan arts organizations demonstrated a great deal of concern for being of service to Alaskans, and deepening awareness seems important to all who responded. But even when improving the welfare of citizens is a written objective of the organizations, as is the case with the Alaska Council on the Arts, such ideas are often not taken seriously. According to Charlotte Fox, director of the organization, “That’s our enabling legislation, which was written in 1966, forty years ago. ‘Welfare’ may have had a different meaning then. The enabling legislation is quite quaint, because they talk about how people have more leisure time, and therefore we need to have a state agency that provides arts and cultural events. Welfare and moral quality do not have a direct a connection as far as our work goes.”
Ira Perlman, director of the Alaska Humanities Forum, is clear that moral and spiritual values do play a role in their programs and in the grants that they make, but only implicitly, through the personal views of the members of the panel that makes those decisions. The standards are not explicit or objective.
Many of those who responded to our survey felt it was not their duty to judge artists by any standards in particular. Out North, for one, suggested that ur questions should be directed to the artists themselves. But we were digging deeper for a response from the people who do choose what art to display.
We addressed our survey to many more art organizations and venues than we received responses from. Some did not respond at all and some, like the Rasmussen Foundation, which gives out grants and fellowships to working artists, said our questions did not apply to them, despite the fact that there is a lengthy application process to be considered for a grant. The International Gallery of Arts responded to our survey by sending the answers to questions another newspaper had asked them in the past. It included their mission statement, but failed to directly address our specific questions.
Those who make the decisions about what art is made available to the public are in control of what comes through to the consumer or the participant in any art form. This survey is an attempt to make sense of how those decisions are being made.
The following is a selection of responses from organizations that responded to the survey. The complete interviews, along with a summary of the mission statements of each organization, appear on our website.
1. On what basis do you decide what works to promote, exhibit, or perform? How do you determine what ideas are worthy of expression?
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (ACPA)
Interview with Codie Costello, Director of Development
The ACPA is not a producing organization. The facility is owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, and managed by the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. The seven resident companies and other clients that use the facility determine their own programming based on their mission and goals
Snow City Café
Interview with Laile M. Fairbairn
We choose artists that reflect a variety of media, and who seem to have a cohesive theme or style. The cohesiveness of the show is important to us because we want our customers, who are at the cafe primarily to eat the food rather than view art work, to understand that one artist is showing his or her work and not a hodgepodge
Cyrano’s
We choose a season that is eclectic, and for artistic reasons. There must be a passion factor involved.
Out North
Out North provides opportunities for contemporary creative visual, literary, performing and media artists to exhibit original work. As we support both professional and community-based artists, we embrace a wide range of work and expression that very often reflects a progressive value system, at its heart.
Radio Free Palmer (http://www.radiofreepalmer.org. Not yet broadcasting)
Interviews with David Cheezem, Mike Chmielewski, and Jim Sykes
Webcasts of public meetings to invite people to cooperate and solve common problems. Interview programs and debates that focus on current issues are also envisioned. The station is envisioned as an open and grassroots oriented station. Issues that affect the community broadly will likely receive top priority.
Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA)
Interview with Charlotte Fox, Executive Director
We don’t make decisions based on what is worthy of expression. Rather they are based on artistic excellence and creativity, and all the criteria that you can find on our website.
Alaska Humanities Forum
Interview with Ira Perman, President.
Like every organization in a democracy, our decisions are made by committee. It is difficult to do. No one person makes those decisions. And they are generally made in response to requests.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
Interview with Sherri Burkhart Reddick, Executive Director
For us there is a long history of repertoire. We have a whole history. These works have stood the test of time. What is the piece that we haven’t done in a while? And things relate through time and in history. It’s our sixtieth anniversary.
2. Is the effect of the cultural work on the inner life of the viewer an important variable in your decision-making? If so, in what way? (For example, the effect on sensitivity, imagination, or understanding.)
ACPA
Refers to the answer of question 1
Snow City Café
Not answered
Cyrano’s
Theater is a two way street and does not exist without the audience. We always hope that what we choose is not only entertaining but enlightening but also sparks the mind and heart and imagination. In addition, theater has the power to evoke understanding or at least to consider another point of view, along with the universals that connects us all.
Out North
We work with our community, artists and ideas as if this were a holy space without the dogma. We’ve found our audience wants us not to make their art easy, but challenging and rich in the possibilities of understanding a common human condition across what would seemingly separate us.
Radio Free Palmer
(RFP combined answers 2-5 into one multi-layered statement)
What role does a radio station have in defining these terms? I would say that the role has to be pretty minimal. We are a conduit for the artistic community. As such, we should try and represent as broad as possible range of content, allowing the community to define that range. One thing we cannot be in the business of is defining good art. Even if we could define it, I don’t think it would be good for the community to restrict all expressions to ‘good art.’
People don’t like to admit it, but every piece of ‘good art’ is built on a foundation of ‘bad art’ that preceded it. Good artists need bad artists to work off of--even if we were qualified to
decide what was ultimately beautiful, doing so would do more damage than good.
ASCA
I would say, No. That’s not an issue, for us as a public agency. How people are going to respond to a work of art is not part of our mandate or mission.
Alaska Humanities Forum
We look for this quality [of understanding] in general in our grants. For example, in research grants, where someone is trying to uncover a piece of history, this is a process of helping to understand how we got to where we are. Especially in a state like Alaska, aside from natives a lot of us come from someplace else, and we are detached to some degree from our history. We try to encourage everyone, in one way or another, to ask those important questions–of who we are, and what are our values.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
It is interesting in symphony orchestra: we are selective and yet it is a personal experience. I see people leave the concert hall and they are like ‘wow,’ ‘wow’. We had a concert after 9-11 and never was it more apparent. We saw people coming together. We selected certain pieces that we had collected. We felt people needed to come together and they needed to be reminded of beauty.
3. Does culture have a moral quality? Do cultural venues have a moral responsibility for the consequences of their productions? Do you seek out works that have a strong vision of what is good, true, or beautiful?
ACPA
As mentioned above, ACPA is not a producing organization. Alaska Center for the Performing Arts is a venue that seeks to provide a safe and pleasant environment for all patrons, enabling access to programming of their choosing. Each client manages their own marketing and communications in relation to their productions.
Cyrano’s
The works that we produce can have that outcome, but what we look for is vision and substance, and that might ask questions rather than simply provide answers.
Out North
Insomuch as art, philosophy and science deal with matters of the mind and body, and how we relate to one another and our world, yes. It doesn’t require that all we do be good, true or beautiful. Art, like nature itself, is gloriously and ingloriously all that it is.
ASCA
I guess if we talk about the moral as being something that could be pornographic I would say yes. I’m sure that art does have a moral quality, but whether that is a concern of ours, or something that we ponder in our work, I would say no. We don’t address this. None of our criteria is based on any kind of a moral quality, so I would say no.
Alaska Humanities Forum
Culture itself does have moral qualities....One of our goals is to reinforce and remind people of those qualities. It applies morals and values, good and evil. They’re all embedded in culture. It’s a code. The Ten Commandments is clearly a cultural foundation of Western culture....As I’ve watched it play out around this table, morality is an intrinsic part of our discussions. Our members have this deeply embodied in their instincts
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
Of course – it is the culture. I don’t know how you can separate it! We create our culture. I don’t see how you CAN separate them. Obviously, we set out to enhance the quality of life that can be what is good, true or beautiful. Sometimes you have to play what is not – like a performance we had on the AIDS crisis, or a piece from the movie Platoon
4. What is the role of spirituality in the cultural works you endorse? Does culture affect the ability to grasp noble ideas and to lead a noble life? What is the source of these qualities? In your artistic works do you look for a spiritual dimension?
ACPA
not answered
Snow City Café
not answered
Cyrano’s
I would say the answer to your question is yes. In most plays there is a transformation of some sort. This was the original purpose of theater and of course, story telling in general. Sometimes we do hope to inspire with the plays we do.
Out North
Inspiration is one of the true forces of art and culture. Because we look for work that can either challenge or inspire, we feel we offer the world as it may be and as it could be. We promote an examined life where one considers not only one’s own well-being but also the well-being of others.
ASCA
Some grants and programs have a great deal of spirituality and some have very little, but again that’s something that is determined by the audience or the viewer, and not by us. We look at a work or a piece or a painting or a score, and we don’t make that kind of judgment in our criteria.
Alaska Humanities Forum
It’s intrinsic in the word ‘culture’ that spirituality is there to some degree. Perhaps certain works are less likely to bring this out than others. I know that in the performing arts world there is a magical quality that can sing out to you, and that makes your soul soar.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
I don’t think you can answer spirituality in a sentence or two. We do not necessarily approach our decision on its spiritual impact. W have some work that is expressive of spirituality, and some that is expressive of sadness. It isn’t necessary to make those choices in terms of spirituality. But, it is not from our perspective the number one choice. We are sharing not only spiritual impact but emotional impact.
5. Will you promote a work that is violent, obscene, or degrading? What role does the ugly, the vulgar, the base, the corrupt, the deceitful, the dishonest, the false, the vile, and the wicked play in cultural venues? Do these destructive qualities have a role in the works you support?
ACPA
not answered
Snow City Café
We do not show work that we think the general public would find disturbing while eating their pancakes. We had a painting of Jesus bleeding from his nipples and an anatomically correct male Ken doll on a pedestal that we thought, in hindsight, weren’t appropriate for our audience.
Cyrano’s
A theater reflects the people involved and our taste in plays. Sometimes the words/values you suggest are part of piece because triumph over these concepts (good winning over evil) is what creates the conflict. There has to be conflict in a good piece of theater. I think your question is not well put.
Out North
Yes, without ugliness we cannot know beauty. Additionally, too often majority culture defines what ‘ugly’ and ‘beauty’ is, and sometimes very wrongly for a minority culture. Important art necessarily deals with this paradox in definition and practice.
ASCA
I hope not. But, again, that is in the mind of the viewer. No. We wouldn’t say we’re not going to fund that because it is violent, or because it is not violent. That’s not part of our criteria. I think of Shakespeare. There’s a whole history of violence and deceit in theater, that is all part of a reflection of people’s lives. In theater you will see a piece that has violence or that is degrading, but the whole point of the piece is to come to some kind of resolution that that is not a good thing.
Alaska Humanities Forum
Absolutely these qualities exist in works of art, although it may be driving at the opposite of these things. It’s not all beautiful. There may be a value in catching someone’s attention by bringing something shocking. To cause them to question. You might get a better understanding of what beauty can be. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: was he ugly? Was he beautiful? Posing the question is
important.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
Sometimes the only way to demonstrate beauty is through the beautiful overcoming the ugly. In the repertoire of music through orchestra we understand the performers intent, and there are decisions to be made with the placement of the repertoire to be heard. There are characters, opera and different stories with a heroic ending. The beauty of humanity will overcome.
6. Is there anything else you’d like to say about the state of the arts in Alaska, or in your own endeavors?
ACPA
not answered
Snow City Café
I bought a bumper sticker from Killer Designs—“The artless are in charge of funding the arts.” I totally believe that. Showing art at the cafe is our way of supporting the arts.
Cyrano’s
The state of the Arts needs more media coverage so people are aware of the thriving arts offerings there are. Alaska is fortunate to have such a rich variety of arts and artists.
Your questions seem to want simplistic answers. It reminds me of a survey that is wanting certain answers and slants the questions. And although what your getting at I may or may not agree with, it forces me to an ACLU position of first amendment rights of free expression of art and artists.
Out North
Out North respects the life of the mind, therefore choices regarding content and intent are rightfully the artists’. We have a choice to view or not view artists’ work. These twin freedoms—of expression and choice—are as sacred to us as the Bible may be to you.
Radio Free Palmer
From the response to the relatively simple act of making available podcasts of meetings, interviews and talks--I submit that Alaskans seem to thirst for information about activities that affect them.
Observing the increased activities of organizations such as the Palmer Arts Council and their current well-received production of {proof} suggests that at least here in the Mat-Su Arts are enjoying a lively surge of creativity.
ASCA
I pride ourselves – the State of Alaska – and I admire the individuals and organizations that persist in bringing arts to their communities in little, tiny spots. Despite money and geography, they say, “We’ve got to bring the arts to our communities.”
Alaska Humanities Forum
It’s a constant effort. We’re trying to make Alaska a better place – that’s a two second summary of what we’re trying to do.
It’s a challenging field to be in. In this crazy day and age, in which people are just trying to make it day to day, paycheck to paycheck, people don’t have a lot of time. It’s hard to think of the big questions. But you’ve got to live your life by some code. Your life has to have meaning.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
I am always wanting to encourage people to participate. I hear people who received concert tickets and then they were hooked. I always encourage people to hear the music. I can’t see life without music and not just music but arts and cultures too.
mission statements
ICGA
The mission of the International Gallery of Contemporary Art (IGCA) is to present new works in visual and interdisciplinary arts, to provide the community with a place where provocative ideas, diverse art forms, artists and audiences can come together, to offer a point of view that encourages vision, risk-taking and discovery, and to be an art space where experimentation and risk are still
possible.
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. is an organization founded to operate, promote and maintain a four-theatre complex which serves as a social and cultural meeting place for all Alaskan residents, the visiting public and performing arts presenters and producers. In addition, it promotes the artistic endeavors of all Center users and presents special events which complement other activities and enrich our community.
Snow City Café
Our cafe has a mission statement about the food, atmosphere, etc., but I assume you want our mission statement regarding artwork. We don’t have one—essentially, we strive to provide our customers and staff with an interesting and varied show every month. I’ve never tried to articulate our art mission before so I’m not sure how it will stand the test of time.
Cyranos
To provide a full season of professional-quality live performances of
classic, contemporary and original plays. We cultivate and nurture
Alaskan Theater Artists. We strive to bring the very best theatre
possible to Alaskan audiences at affordable ticket prices.
Outnorth
We have a mission, but we prefer to answer this question with our “guiding principles”. It helps give someone a deeper insight into our organization. Here it is:
Out North’s its all about: creating and connecting art, community and change. We work: to discover and share cultural explorers whose ideas challenge and inspire our lives; to build lasting and momentary space where all generations gather and learn; and to raise up, through the arts and humanities, people marginalized in our times. We value: creativity | supporting creation and circulation of contemporary ideas and work in the arts. expression | exploring our life and times fearlessly through the arts and humanities. community | building a community of learners who welcome gay and lesbian people. change | serving as catalysts for progressive culture and policies in our region. stewardship | respecting our mission, work and values in all we do.
Radio Free Palmer
Radio Free Palmer is a non-profit formed to establish, develop and operate a radio station in the Palmer area to facilitate building
an informed, involved, diverse and reflective community and to
provide broad citizen access and participation in radio.
Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA)
The Alaska State Council on the Arts exists to enhance cultural development in the state by ensuring that art of the highest quality is accessible to all Alaskans.
Alaska Humanities Forum
The mission of the Alaska Humanities Forum is to use the wisdom and methods of the humanities to enrich the civic, intellectual and cultural life of all Alaskans. The Alaska Humanities Forum engages Alaskans in humanities-based projects and innovative programs which are either funded by the Forum or run directly by the Forum.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
No mission statement given
Editorial
America has no soul
How strange it is that some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, and even compassionate Alaskans are willing to devote themselves to what is insensitive and ugly. The very people who have the greatest creative influence on society - artists and directors of cultural organizations - often devote themselves to the cause of freedom of expression, even when this means promoting pieces that are harmful. How is it that these people, who devote their lives to creativity, have become so utterly disconnected from moral or spiritual realities? That is the enigma which we were struck by in conducting interviews for the front page article in this issue of Alaska Humanity News.
Our sensitivity to the power of art is inadequate. The important issues have not been part of the conversation and are being forcible removed from it. As the director of the Alaska State Council on the Arts claimed in an interview for this issue, the idea that art should serve the public welfare, which is still a part of their mission statement, is now considered to be quaint.
It is impossible to be neutral. In failing to take a stand for what is good or true, the floodgates are opened to their opposites. Of course, artists almost always maintain that the violent or materialistic things they describe serve only to point to what is good. But even when this is the intent, there is only so much profanity a person can take before their spirit is injured.
Art can shatter as easily as it can create. Profane or obscene material shatters sensitivity to beauty. Our inner life hangs in the balance: once corrupted, love is impossible.
It may seem that local arts venues are not responsible for such dire potential consequences. But these are the gatekeepers of culture. By opening the floodgates, there is no way to control what is overrun downstream.
In a future issue of Humanity News we will take a look at popular culture, and the sorry truth is that this is a pornographic culture. America has no soul. But what is the soul? Understanding that is, in fact, the goal of great art, of art that would be worthy of our potential.
The great arts wake people up to their higher nature. They call us to what is best and truest. They lift us up, make us whole, and strengthen us to fight degradation. They are a response to the failure of culture, and to the emptiness of institutions.
It’s not easy being raised in our own culture, as we all are. Innocence, purity, and simplicity is bred out of us, and with this goes the facility for joy. Goodness cannot coexist with depravity.
It is quite possible to walk into Cyrano’s theatre, our wonderful local playhouse, and see a play that demolishes common sense about what is good, for example by exploring the legitimacy of having sexual feelings for an infant. This is considered daring because the playwright, Edward Albee, had the right credentials.
Our respectable cultural venues often have absolutely no sense of the difference between right and wrong, because there is no longer any way to establish a hierarchy and judge these qualities. That is why one of our long-term goals is to create a framework for judging art and holding accountable artists and those who support art for the ramifications of what they are doing. But our hope is to actually create a culture of care - by standing up for the good, true, beautiful, and sacred, and making artistic creativity of this kind a part of daily life.
Unheard voices
By Geoff Bederson
The wild story of a hardened criminal fighting Alaska’s crooked cops, and how change is possible
This is the abbreviated version of the interview with Danny Hill, which was printed in the April/May edition. The full interview will be uploaded to this site soon.
I had hired Danny because he seemed to be the gentlest of all the carpenters that applied for the job. It turned out that he is also a wonderfully skilled carpenter, able to judge angles and curves without even using tools.
I knew something strange was going on when the entire group of tradesmen that Danny had surrounded himself with turned out to be ex-prisoners. Later I found out that Danny had been quite a different a person than he is now, and the more I learned about the story of his transformation the more I was captivated and inspired.
Reading your unpublished book, I felt that the stories of high-speed chases and thefts from crooked policemen were strangely exciting.
Danny Hill: The book was intended to be nothing more than the truth about a five month period when I had escaped from prison. I escaped to seek my revenge on the crooked cops that had locked me up, and it became a very lucrative thing to do.
It was nothing but revenge at first, but when I robbed the first one I came out with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, fully automatic weapons, and explosives and rocket launchers. There were guns that had been reported destroyed by the Anchorage Police Department. There was four kilos of cocaine and two kilos of heroin, and all of these things were in my possession. They all came out of this one crooked cop’s home. Originally it was nothing more than revenge, but then, it was very profitable.
According to Anchorage’s Most Wanted and also America’s Most Wanted, and according to the police, I was public enemy number one in this state. Not because of any kind of violence, but because the crimes I committed were well thought out and timed. They weren’t just random acts, so the police considered that it was organized crime.
Talking about all that was the original intention of the book. But now I’d like to talk about the change between who I used to be, and who I’m trying very hard to become. The book was going to end when I was arrested five months later, and it was a pretty big bust. But a lot of things have happened since then. Now it’s going to be about what happened after that period, where I gave my life to God and I turned my life around, and I decided to become someone else.
Why did you go to jail the first time?
I was growing weed and they couldn’t catch me. I was making $120,000 every ninety days, and the cops wanted their cut. They couldn’t get their cut, so to get me out of the way they fabricated the first thing that they put me in jail for. And after that I was full of hatred.
I had money problems. That’s what led me to making big money growing marijuana. But I later found out that what was missing in my life was a sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging, and a sense of importance. And that importance I felt from being in the drug scene, and controlling everyone else. That was a powerful position to be in.
Once in prison I was driven by hatred. I was put in prison for something I didn’t do, and they knew that I didn’t do it. Now, I’m not claiming to be an innocent man. I was guilty of other things that they couldn’t pin on me. I committed a lot of crimes. I’m just innocent of what they charged me with.
I was known as the Rabbit because I would escape three times per week to smuggle tobacco. I would walk three miles. They couldn’t prove it. I was supporting three families. They knew I was doing it, but they couldn’t catch me.
I was in and out of prison for eleven years. For eleven years I was always on some type of supervision.
Why did you get started on the wild crime spree you describe in your book?
I started to do it for money. It was like cornering the market, because who else wanted to do it? Who else wanted to steal this incredible bounty from those crooked cops?
We bought tickets to Belize. Everything was planned. Four times we left the airport in high-speed chases. Four times we lost everything that we had. Several times the place we were staying in or had just left got raided. It was an exciting but horrible experience, one that I don’t ever want to go through again. But I’ve never felt that much excitement in my life.
Some of the scams we were pulling would have been viewed as impossible to pull. Once you reach the point where you have nothing to lose, tomorrow is promised to no man. The people running with me probably weren’t going to see tomorrow anyway, and we all just accepted that. Once you accept the fact that you have nothing to lose, then everything is to gain. And instead of being afraid of what you are doing, you just get excited about it.
It turned into a five month-long crime spree that I’m not proud of, but it’s part of my life. And I don’t deny it.
It seems that most of your criminal activity was directed at corrupt police officers.
It was. But I don’t want to make myself out to be a saint. I was definitely a threat to society. I was a very angry individual. I felt like I had nothing to lose, because I was on the run. I knew that my life was not worth a hill of beans, because the police officers were out there on the streets, bribing drug addicts, bribing prostitutes, to find me. And I knew that when they found me they were going to kill me.
The way everything played out they didn’t have an opportunity to do that. But I believe they’ll follow through with it eventually.
Reading your book it seemed that though you were committing crimes, at the same time you were fighting injustice. To what extent do you think you were actually doing good?
In my mind I was aiding justice. But, honestly, I don’t think I had any intention of doing good. I didn’t have good in my heart. I had a lot of love in my heart, for certain people. I had a lot of hatred in my heart for unjust people. I never held it against it against homeless people for doing what they had to do to survive. I did hold it against people who had an option, and who were in a position of power, when they chose to be unjust, immoral, corrupt. That’s what I truly hated.
Most criminals are willing to admit what they are, who they are. They’ll tell you, I’m a dope fiend. I am what I am, and so what? But no crooked cop is going to admit what he is doing on the side. Nor would a politician. It’s only behind closed doors, or in dark alleys, that they’re going to show their true colors.
Behind bars you sit in the hole, where you have no connection with humans, and you get a lot of time to think. You’re not allowed to have a radio or a book. You have nothing to do but look at the ceiling and stare. The injustice that I suffered just kept going through my head. I felt like a victim. And that turned into anger, and that turned into hatred and rage, and that drove me to a point where I just didn’t care anymore.
In my heart I wasn’t doing it for good. I was giving them what they deserved. I didn’t care if I lived or died. I didn’t care if I helped or killed. I didn’t care at all about anything. To the point where I was willing to escape from prison and go get my revenge. And that’s what I did.
How did you begin to turn your life around?
During the eleven year period I was in and out of jail I had no thoughts of changing. I didn’t see any way to change, to turn it around. My only thought was getting out and continuing right where I left off. But I didn’t want to be in prison the rest of my life.
I knew that they were going to put me out of jail in January, in a parking lot in Palmer, with everything I owned in a cardboard box. I had no friends, I had no family, I had no money. Right before my release, child support wiped out my last dime. I didn’t have the money to buy a pack of cigarettes, or a hamburger. I didn’t even have a winter coat, and it was January.
I was a carpenter and I had no tools. A carpenter with no tools is like a car with no tires - it’s just useless. I knew that the only way I was going to be able to keep from committing another crime was to get some help. I turned to the Salvation Army.
I turned my life around completely. The only thing that actually helped me was giving my life to God, and getting into church. And I’ve noticed that now that I’ve gotten away from that problems are starting. A lot of times that’s when the Rabbit comes back. That’s who I was known as. I get in some little argument, and before you know it I’m in a rage - the Rabbit is coming right back out.
Still, most of the people that look at me think of me as some kind of success, because I’m not out there on the streets doing what I was doing. And a lot of them have told me that they look up to me because of that. I’m not out there selling drugs, I’m not out there robbing and stealing and smashing and being that violent threat to society, anymore.
It took you many years to change. What can we do about someone who is still extremely angry, someone who is dead-set on actually causing harm?
They’re going to go right back to prison. So let them screw up.
There is no help in prison. If you get into some of these programs - a halfway house, for instance - you have a chance of getting back on your feet. But a lot of people, such as me, could never see a halfway house. I had escapes on my record. For someone in my situation, you do every day of your time, and then finally you get kicked out in the parking lot at seven o’clock in the morning, when your time’s done.
There is no education program in prison. There’s no benefit in going to prison. I see it as the biggest harm that there could be, because I’ve seen guys go into prison that shouldn’t be there, people who have become somebody else by the time they get out. The education they had in prison has taken control.
Your normal thinking mind gets put aside. You’re in a whole different world. You’re facing the dregs of society. And in order for you to survive you have to conform to that lifestyle. It’s like shellshock. You get out of a war and come into a peaceful society with a killer mentality.
It’s a revolving door here. Once you go into the prison system here, you can pretty much count on going back. Because this state makes money out of incarcerating the prisoners. I’d rather not elaborate on that. But that will be another chapter in the book.
How corrupt do you think the system is?
I dealt a lot with crooked cops, crooked judges, crooked lawyers. I dealt with crooked politicians. I saw these people on a daily basis. But when I told people about this, they said, that’s impossible. We have a system that’s based on checks and balances. We have people that are in charge of making sure that there’s no corruption. But when you get the bank robber to protect the vault, don’t be surprised when the vault comes up empty. Don’t be surprised when you’re in the middle of a corrupt society.
I would say thirty percent of APD, possibly more, is corrupt. I know a police officer who was forced to leave the force because he wouldn’t take a bribe. They threatened his family. They threatened to kill him. Other police officers did this. And he’s not a police officer anymore.
I believe that the police department is a very important thing. Society needs the police, but society is not willing to accept reality. They don’t want to believe in crooked cops. They don’t want to believe there’s corruption in government.
There are two million prisoners in the U.S - the highest rate of any country in the world. What can we do about that?
The biggest thing that people can do is open their eyes. The truth has been out, but people don’t want to face it. People are brought up to believe that there’s no corruption. In Mexico people are not brought up that way. They are brought up with their eyes open, and they know about the corruption. In America, people are brought up to believe that they don’t have to worry about these things. We have people who take care of problems like this, so you can live with blinders on. People don’t want to accept the truth, because the truth is not appealing. And people are quite lazy. They turn their back. They don’t do their part to face these problems. They just leave it to someone else. It’s not a pretty picture, so they don’t want to look at.
One of your passions is to help people, especially people who are in trouble.
Because I’ve been in their shoes, and I know how it feels, and I know how hard it is. People that have never been in that situation don’t understand. Every chance I get, I try to help the people I’ve done time with, or the people that are truly trying to change. And I’ve met several fine people in prison.
My greatest passion is getting people to turn their lives around. That’s a gift that’s been given to me. I turned my life over to God, and I made the decision to be a decent person, a pillar of the community, and someone who could be respected. After that I made that decision I wanted to help other people become all they could become also. People with bad reputations, people with drug problems, people with prison records, people who were institutionalized and didn’t know how to get back on their feet. Because I was faced with the same situation. It was a very scary situation: knowing that I was getting out, and knowing that no one is going to help.
My main interest was in helping people that were in the position that I was in. I wanted to help, but every time I attempted to help any of them it really cost me. It really hurt me. With the exception of one, Darryl Waters, they all went back to the old way of life, turning against everything that I stood for. Several times my car has been stolen. Several times I’ve been taken advantage of. And several times I’ve been put in the middle of things that I should not be in the middle of.
What can you say to someone that is reading this and is asking themselves what they can do to help prisoners?
The first thing I had to do was to make the decision not to do these things anymore. Once you know someone that’s made that decision, then you do what my buddy Mitch did. You help, in whatever way you can. Support them, whether it’s financial, verbal, or spiritual help.
How are you going to believe in yourself unless someone believes in you? Someone that’s coming out of prison has been told that they’re worthless, and so they believe it. They’ve been told they’re coming back to prison.
You don’t have to open your house to them. But buy them a hamburger. That’s a first step. Pick them up. Drive them to the shelter, if that’s where they have to stay. Do anything you can to give that person a sense of belonging, a sense of importance and hope. When you come out of prison hope is something you don’t have much of. Because all you can see is what you’ve got in that box, standing in the parking lot.
If you don’t know anyone in that position, I would suggest giving to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army Adults Rehabilitation Program was a big help to me. They help people overseas, and the people right here in our hometown that need help. And there was also Catholic Social Services. You can give anything: money, donations, volunteer time.
You are in trouble again.
Yes, and I’d like to talk about that in the next installment. But I can say that it’s so crazy, all I could do was put it down in a book. I had to write the book third person, because I’m worried about how it’s going to come back on me and my family. But it will all be there, and now that I am on the run again, I feel that I have to name names in order to protect myself.
Culture definitions
Help keep track of Alaskan culture?
We invite you to join us in this long-term commitment to improve culture, both popular culture and the art world promoted by the cultural elite: artists, directors and producers (which we examine in this issue). On our website, humanitynews.net, you will find a discussion forum with background information about major cultural venues in Anchorage and Alaska, including the full interviews conducted for this issue. We hope that this can be a space to respond to - and to hold accountable - what occurs in these places in the future. Help us keep track of what lifts, and what lowers! --editors, Alaska Humanity News
Judging Art
Definitions
Judging Art
The value of art is in something beyond itself - something that we can know and aspire to. It is quite possible that works of art can injure or shatter a person’s spirit (and this is especially obvious is the world we inhabit today). That is why it is essential that we create a framework that could make sense of our culture. One of our goals in this issue of Alaska Humanity News is to make a first attempt at doing so.
Much art does utilize conflict, but almost all artists defend the use of violence by suggesting that the intent is in pointing to something higher. This is believable only if this is accomplished in an open and active manner, focusing and elaborating on the good rather than on the harmful.
One of the reasons any kind of hierarchy of cultural value is abhorred by thoughtful people is that defenders of this idea are so often bigoted and ideological. We don’t want to be this way, either.
High level
Expresses these transcendent
qualities: the beauty, truth, good, love, and the sacred.
Nourishes these personal qualities: Purity, depth, inwardness, awareness, holiness, integrity, honesty, faith, compassion, commitment, care, autonomy.
Effect: Works of art of this kind recognize your whole self, and call you to your higher nature. They also oppose superficiality, degradation, and manipulation.
Mediocre level
The magnification of the profane, superficial, and material. Life is entertainment, and art is distraction from what is transcendent and eternal. It is ignorant, profane, and ideological.
Personal qualities: Greed, narcissism, self-interest, hard-heartedness, isolation, and sanctimony.
Effect: Loss of the capacity to perceive realities outside of oneself: Insensitivity.
Low level
Appeals to these realities: the ugly, the false, evil, and hatred.
Magnifies these personal qualities: bigotry, destructiveness, and sadism.
Effect: Destruction of the capacity to see what is good: Degradation and nihilism.
Definitions
We can’t expect our references about transcendent realities to make sense unless we explain the words we are using. It is for this reason that the editors of Alaska Humanity News have made a first attempt at defining we mean and are aspiring to. (Writers are differentiated by varying fonts).
Culture is the collective expression within a society of the True, the Good, the Beautiful and the Noble. It is individuals, groups, and communities collaborating at many levels in an endeavor to manifest, make known, demonstrate, celebrate and exalt their understanding of these permanent things.
Culture is what cultivates the character in a population that spontaneously produces the society we inhabit. The highest vision of culture is one that wakes people up to their higher nature, and provides tools and opportunities to express this in tangible ways in everyday life.
Beauty is the pure expression of Transcendent Reality. A thing is beautiful only insofar as it is able to clearly manifest the essence of that reality. To behold Beauty is to catch a glimpse of the Good, the True, and the Noble.
External beauty is an object that attracts, but it can attract only because a transcendent value is imputed to it (usually unconsciously). Inner beauty is correspondence of a subject to what is good, true, and sacred.
Perception of beauty is graduated, ranging from superficial to deep. Deeper perception of beauty - appreciation of the inner, as well as the outer qualities - comprehends more of the subject.
The Sacred is that which confers meaning and purpose. It is the foundation on which value rests. It is the Transcendent Essence of things. It is the source of intuitions of Ultimate Reality and Meaning.
Sacred: Purpose, significance, meaning - wonder, reverence, holiness - the deepest and most direct connection to reality.
Perception of the sacred occurs through a subtle sense that humans have but which must be protected and cultivated, and this is the function of culture. It requires an integrated self: one’s whole life being in the service of the most beautiful that we can conceive. These personal qualities include humility and commitment, and result in purity - the purity that is required to sense the sacred.
The good is beauty, love, truth, and the sacred, and action to promote these. It is also peace, justice, prosperity, and joy, which are all results of the former.
The good is also action or service to bring these qualities into reality. It protects them from harm, from desecration, and from apathy. It involves a personal commitment, based in the truth of one’s identity, to use all of one’s resources to bring that visionary world into reality.
The Good and the True are of the same essence. They exist together. Where one is, so is the other. The Good is everything that expresses the Divine Nature. Insofar as a thing expresses Ultimate Reality it is Good, and the degree of Goodness is directly proportional to the clarity or intensity of the expression.
The True is like the Good. Truth is an articulation or expression of Ultimate Reality. Truth is a manifestation of the Divine Nature. Magnitude of Truth does not change its Ultimate Essence. All Truth has its origins in Transcendent Reality.
Truth is all of the dimensions of reality, including those which our senses are sometimes too dull to perceive. Understanding is the capacity for perceiving the full range of truth. To see deeply requires recognition of what limits perception: self-centeredness, ideology, and dogma. And it requires the personal qualities of perseverance, honesty, and love.
Everything is susceptible to being comprehended, including what is false or destructive. But it is the transcendent realities - beauty, love, the good, and the sacred, as well as truth - which reveal what these actually are.
The Noble is the expression of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in human life, community and society. Life is Noble insofar as it manifests these qualities.
Love
Love is possible when self-seeking ceases, when we are able to see into other’s hearts, and recognize what is most important and most beautiful there - all capacities that are not normally easy to develop, and which require a culture of care that would help develop them.
Love binds together our individual fates, setting them into service of the dimensions of reality.
Transcendence is the quality of Ultimate Reality that is beyond the ephemeral thoughts of the mind or the fleeting feelings of the soul and the changing resolve of the will. It is a permanent quality of Ultimate Reality.
Degradation
“The essence of all vulgarity lies in want of sensation. Simple and innocent vulgarity is merely an untrained and undeveloped bluntness of body and mind; but in true inbred vulgarity, there is a dreadful callousness, which, in extremity, becomes capable of every sort of bestial habit and crime, without fear, without pleasure, without horror, and without pity. It is in the blunt hand and the dead heart, in the diseased habit, in the hardened conscience, that men become vulgar; they are for ever vulgar, precisely in proportion as they are incapable of sympathy, -of quick understanding.” John Ruskin
The deep Anchorage talent pool – Dive in!
By Crystal Hutchens
The underappreciated and untapped musical talent in Alaska, and Anchorage especially, is astounding. We’ve already had a couple of acts go national. Take Jewel, for example, who doesn’t even have a presence here and regularly cancels Alaskan show dates. She markets herself as ‘from Alaska’ for the sheer mystique that surrounds our incredible state. But imagine if you had a chance to see her perform in a tiny café or bar right in your own neighborhood, where she was close enough to touch and talk to. Imagine further that the price of such an intimate concert was as cheap as under five dollars or even free. Literally hundreds of performing songwriters and bands of at least her caliber are performing in our hometown all the time. And in recent years, more and more venues are taking advantage of such a commodity by booking them to play in their restaurants, cafes and clubs. Tapping into the amazing Anchorage music scene is as simple as checking your local newspaper club calendar listings or doing a little internet surfing and of course, getting your body out of the house!
People who support local music are often avid, but they don’t tend to come out in droves in our town. One of the greatest things about the art of music creation is that the final product is communal. The listener can enjoy the music as much as the creator can. Think of your favorite song or band and how much they affect you on an emotional level. It’s an interactive art form that, at its best, punctuates your life experience. In the office, in your car, on your TV and at the movie theater, a few minutes of melodic chords and some catchy lyrics strung together are used to great effect on your spirit, heart-strings and mind. And everyday in Anchorage, amazing creators of this fine art go relatively unnoticed.
36 Crazyfists, who honed their skills here at the Anchorage music scene, signed a record deal with major/indie label RoadRunner Records shortly after moving to Portland, Oregon. They come back to perform at least once a year and always hire local bands to be their opening act. Lead singer of the band, Brock Lindow, cites local Anchorage band, T.S. Scream as one of his major influences. T.S. Scream are often thought of as grandfathers in the Anchorage music scene because they have been performing here so long and have inspired so many other people to start bands and perform. While the years have seen many a band come and go, the Screamers have persevered through time to keep doing what they love to do. The two lead songwriters, Steve Mashburn and Scott Ferris, have been performing as T.S. Scream since 1989. Despite weathering several break-ups and roster changes, they just keep coming back stronger. As a band, they check their egos at the door and support local music and talent. They are also role models for not giving up on your dreams. You can learn more and sample their music at http://www.myspace.com/tsscream.
Another great local band that just keeps on trucking is Wupt, who you can often find on the same roster as T.S. Scream. In some ways the local music scene is very interconnected because among the older bands ideas and venues are shared and they generally try to support each other. Wupt is one of the most supportive bands out there, always offering up information to fellow musicians on media support they’ve received and by being in the audience to support fellow bands. This group of married guys call themselves Wupt in reference to being under the thumb of their respective wives. Their songs as well as between-song banter are laden with humor on married life as well as many other topics. If you can poke fun at it, they will, and all on the backdrop of well executed and original music in the realm of Bauhaus meets the funky fresh prince of Belair (before Will Smith was a movie star). I’m often hard-pressed to describe their sound but you can learn more and listen to Wupt at http://www.myspace.com/Wupt.
Another popular type of local music is the singer/songwriter category. Among the many performing songwriters in town, there are a handful of exceptional talents; among the best stands Emily Dalsfoist (who made a name for herself under her maiden name of Tornfelt), and in the last year she has assembled a neat little outfit of musicians who go by the moniker Syran. The band includes her longtime drummer friend, Ford Tennis (from a former band of hers) and her brother, Tyler Tornfelt on stand-up bass. Syran could lazily be labeled folk-rock, but they have a unique style, which is hinged upon Dalsfoist’s signature songwriting technique. The music itself is intricate, with pausing and unusual timings, and the lyrics, as well as their placement, are powerful, precise and not at all standard formula. Check out their song samples and more information at http://www.myspace.com/syran.
You may have noticed that all the bands covered here have Myspace sites to promote themselves. Myspace is a great way to find out about local musicians. The few I’ve mentioned here are but a scratch on the musical surface. All the bands here are also connected to other Anchorage bands on Myspace. If you don’t already have your own page, it’s easy to sign up and then you can communicate with bands as well as be alerted when they are performing. If you’re looking for a good place to start, check out my Myspace site, which I have linked to tons of great local talent. The most important thing you can do to support local music in Alaska is get out there and go to shows. And once you get started, you’ll be amazed at what you find! Happy surfing. http://Www.myspace.com/crystalhutchens.
The deep Anchorage talent pool – Dive in!
By Crystal Hutchens
The underappreciated and untapped musical talent in Alaska, and Anchorage especially, is astounding. We’ve already had a couple of acts go national. Take Jewel, for example, who doesn’t even have a presence here and regularly cancels Alaskan show dates. She markets herself as ‘from Alaska’ for the sheer mystique that surrounds our incredible state. But imagine if you had a chance to see her perform in a tiny café or bar right in your own neighborhood, where she was close enough to touch and talk to. Imagine further that the price of such an intimate concert was as cheap as under five dollars or even free. Literally hundreds of performing songwriters and bands of at least her caliber are performing in our hometown all the time. And in recent years, more and more venues are taking advantage of such a commodity by booking them to play in their restaurants, cafes and clubs. Tapping into the amazing Anchorage music scene is as simple as checking your local newspaper club calendar listings or doing a little internet surfing and of course, getting your body out of the house!
People who support local music are often avid, but they don’t tend to come out in droves in our town. One of the greatest things about the art of music creation is that the final product is communal. The listener can enjoy the music as much as the creator can. Think of your favorite song or band and how much they affect you on an emotional level. It’s an interactive art form that, at its best, punctuates your life experience. In the office, in your car, on your TV and at the movie theater, a few minutes of melodic chords and some catchy lyrics strung together are used to great effect on your spirit, heart-strings and mind. And everyday in Anchorage, amazing creators of this fine art go relatively unnoticed.
36 Crazyfists, who honed their skills here at the Anchorage music scene, signed a record deal with major/indie label RoadRunner Records shortly after moving to Portland, Oregon. They come back to perform at least once a year and always hire local bands to be their opening act. Lead singer of the band, Brock Lindow, cites local Anchorage band, T.S. Scream as one of his major influences. T.S. Scream are often thought of as grandfathers in the Anchorage music scene because they have been performing here so long and have inspired so many other people to start bands and perform. While the years have seen many a band come and go, the Screamers have persevered through time to keep doing what they love to do. The two lead songwriters, Steve Mashburn and Scott Ferris, have been performing as T.S. Scream since 1989. Despite weathering several break-ups and roster changes, they just keep coming back stronger. As a band, they check their egos at the door and support local music and talent. They are also role models for not giving up on your dreams. You can learn more and sample their music at http://www.myspace.com/tsscream.
Another great local band that just keeps on trucking is Wupt, who you can often find on the same roster as T.S. Scream. In some ways the local music scene is very interconnected because among the older bands ideas and venues are shared and they generally try to support each other. Wupt is one of the most supportive bands out there, always offering up information to fellow musicians on media support they’ve received and by being in the audience to support fellow bands. This group of married guys call themselves Wupt in reference to being under the thumb of their respective wives. Their songs as well as between-song banter are laden with humor on married life as well as many other topics. If you can poke fun at it, they will, and all on the backdrop of well executed and original music in the realm of Bauhaus meets the funky fresh prince of Belair (before Will Smith was a movie star). I’m often hard-pressed to describe their sound but you can learn more and listen to Wupt at http://www.myspace.com/Wupt.
Another popular type of local music is the singer/songwriter category. Among the many performing songwriters in town, there are a handful of exceptional talents; among the best stands Emily Dalsfoist (who made a name for herself under her maiden name of Tornfelt), and in the last year she has assembled a neat little outfit of musicians who go by the moniker Syran. The band includes her longtime drummer friend, Ford Tennis (from a former band of hers) and her brother, Tyler Tornfelt on stand-up bass. Syran could lazily be labeled folk-rock, but they have a unique style, which is hinged upon Dalsfoist’s signature songwriting technique. The music itself is intricate, with pausing and unusual timings, and the lyrics, as well as their placement, are powerful, precise and not at all standard formula. Check out their song samples and more information at http://www.myspace.com/syran.
You may have noticed that all the bands covered here have Myspace sites to promote themselves. Myspace is a great way to find out about local musicians. The few I’ve mentioned here are but a scratch on the musical surface. All the bands here are also connected to other Anchorage bands on Myspace. If you don’t already have your own page, it’s easy to sign up and then you can communicate with bands as well as be alerted when they are performing. If you’re looking for a good place to start, check out my Myspace site, which I have linked to tons of great local talent. The most important thing you can do to support local music in Alaska is get out there and go to shows. And once you get started, you’ll be amazed at what you find! Happy surfing. http://Www.myspace.com/crystalhutchens.
News of the real
We are inundated with news, but it is skewed. This page is a summary of mainstream articles from the past couple of months that are striking in ways that they missed the message.
What if the actual news were right before our eyes, but we didn’t see it? Our goal is to unearth inner news: news of the shattered and the broken, news of the beautiful and the good.
There are many ways to re-capture culture. Simply by becoming fully aware of the reality of news is one way that reality is transformed. See the Discussion forum at humanitynews.net to continue and elaborate—add your own stories—and reclaim news from its bland and conventional condition (the full stories are posted there as well).
Culture
Culture ‘facts’
“Among industrialized countries we have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, abortion, infant mortality, divorce, single-parent families, murder and rape, drug consumption, imprisonment, air pollution, and toxic-waste production.” Michael Shuman, Going Local
Pornography in public space aggressively defended. ‘
County Officials Apologize After Library Porn Incident’
Feb 17, WTOP Radio, Rockville, Md.
Montgomery County officials are apologizing Friday, after two local Homeland Security Department employees tried to prevent people from searching for pornography on the Internet in a public library last week.
Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan tells WTOP the officers clearly broke county policy when they told one Little Falls Library visitor his choice of Internet site violated sexual harassment laws.
“These security officers clearly overstepped their bounds,” Duncan says. “They are not there to look at what people are doing in our libraries and other facilities. They are there to protect those facilities.”
This type of incident will not happen again, Duncan says. “It’s a matter of training and we’ll make sure we get the right training and make sure people understand what their roles and responsibilities are,” he says.
Duncan says he wants people to feel their privacy will be respected in county libraries. “We want people to come to our libraries and feel safe and secure and get the information they need,” he says.
The security officers involved in the case have been re-assigned.
Anchorage Daily News defends pornography through impartiality
Acclaimed romance novelist blushes at her own prose
Jackie Goforth: Author writes under the pen name “Jackie Ivie."’
By S.J. Komarnitsky, January 2, 2006
WASILLA—When Jackie Ivie writes the steamy sex scenes for her romance novels, she is clearly trying to titillate her readers.
But her alter ego, Jackie Goforth, blushes at the prose that makes her an award-winning romance novelist. “The real me isn’t like this at all,” she said.
“Some of the stuff I write is not postal acceptable,” the 47-year-old acknowledged.
Of her awards, she points out that a second place for “most sensual book” lost out to a tale of an incubus invading women’s dreams and fulfilling their fantasies. She also pokes fun at another award for “most historically accurate novel.”
And as far as writing those steamy scenes where the men’s bare chests ripple with sinew and the women swoon with pleasure, the mother of four and grandmother of three said she tries to pretend she’s not there.
“I did it with my eyes closed and a paper bag over my head,” she said, mimicking typing on a computer with her head turned to the side. “All right, all right, I can’t believe I’m writing this.”
Hip culture critic justifies the sexualization of culture for the very young
Teenage sex fiction: ‘Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things ‘
By Naomi Wolf, New York Times, March 12, 2006
These books look cute. They come in matched paperback sets with catchy titles, and stay for weeks on the children’s books best-seller list. They carry no rating or recommended age range on the cover, but their intended audience - teenage girls - can’t be in doubt. They represent a new kind of young adult fiction, and feature a different kind of heroine. In these novels, which have dominated the field of popular girls’ fiction in recent years, Carol Gilligan’s question about whether girls can have “a different voice” has been answered - in a scary way.
Unfortunately for girls, these novels reproduce the dilemma they experience all the time: they are expected to compete with pornography, but can still be labeled sluts.
But teenagers, or their parents, do buy the bad-girls books - the “Clique,” “Gossip Girl” and “A-List” series have all sold more than a million copies. And while the tacky sex scenes in them are annoying, they aren’t really the problem. The problem is a value system in which meanness rules, parents check out, conformity is everything and stressed-out adult values are presumed to be meaningful to teenagers.
We need a new cultural movement
A New Civil Rights Movement, by Bob Herbert
New York Times, December 26, 2005
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know that some of the most serious problems facing blacks in the United States - from poverty to incarceration rates to death at an early age - are linked in varying degrees to behavioral issues and the corrosion of black family life, especially the absence of fathers.
Nearly a third of black men in their 20’s have criminal records, and 8 percent of all black men between the ages of 25 and 29 are behind bars.
I believe that nothing short of a new movement, comparable in scope and dedication to that of the civil rights era, is required to bring about the changes in values and behavior needed to halt the self-destruction that is consuming so many black lives. The crucial question is whether the leadership exists to mount such an effort.
A good first step would be a summit meeting of wise and dedicated men and women willing to think about creative new ways to approach such problems as crime and violence, out-of-wedlock births, drug and alcohol abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior, misogyny, and so on.
Social justice
It’s better to be a cow
‘World’s poorest pay for WTO compromise’ Larry Osei-Kwaku, Johannesburg, December 19, 2005
“It is better to be a cow in Japan, subsidised for $7 per day, than to be a human being living in Africa,” according to the leader of South Africa’s largest labour federation, in a statement, calling Sunday’s last-minute WTO agreement in Hong Kong an ‘abysmal failure’.
“Last year was the first year on record, according to an annual study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, that a full-time worker at minimum wage could not afford a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country at average market rates.”
“Only human beings are deprived of free access to the basic necessities of survival. We have created a system of ownership which puts the human species below all others as far as access to food and water is concerned. Mountains of food may be rotting in warehouses, and crops of grain burnt to maintain the market value, but if humans have no money they can have neither food nor water.”
Satish Kumar, Resurgence, March/April, 2006
The evening news missed this story last night. Why?
“Twenty thousand children died yesterday of hunger-related causes, twenty thousand will die today, and twenty thousand tomorrow.”
Child abuse not caused by poverty
(Deep response: Culture of care)
‘Children in Torment,’ By Bob Herbert, March 9, 2006
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 1,500 children died from abuse or neglect in 2003, the latest year for which reasonably reliable statistics are available. That’s four children every day, and that estimate is probably low.
Authorities in Michigan reported the heartbreaking case of a 7-year-old, Ricky Holland, who begged his school nurse not to send him home to his adoptive parents. “Let me stay in school,” he pleaded. He was later beaten to death with a hammer, prosecutors said, and his bloody body was dragged away in a garbage bag. His parents were charged with his death.
The deaths, as horrible as they are, don’t begin to convey the enormity of the problem. In 2003, authorities were alerted to nearly three million cases of youngsters who were alleged to have been abused or neglected, and confirmed a million of them. The number of cases that never come to light is, of course, anybody’s guess.
We know some things about child abuse and neglect. We know that there is a profound connection between child abuse and substance abuse, for example. We know that abuse and neglect are more likely to occur in households where money is in short supply, especially if the caregivers are unemployed. A crisis in the home heightens the chances that a child will be abused. And adults who were abused as children are more likely than others to be abusers themselves.
Health
“About three of every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol related car accident at some point in their lives.”
Being fat is the direct expression of sloth, mediocrity, and meaninglessness. It is the physical indicator of a loss of vitality, inspiration, and joy.
Fat kills far more Americans than terrorists
By Nicholas Kristof, NYT, January 29, 2006.
Fat kills far more Americans than terrorists. Indeed, The New England Journal of Medicine reported last year that because of rising obesity, life expectancy in the U.S. might soon stop rising and could drop.
Obesity is linked to 112,000 deaths a year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and leads to an extra $75 billion in direct medical costs. Type 2 diabetes has increased tenfold among children in just the last 20 years.
One-third of today’s 5-year-olds in America