one spice girl away from secession and over-population

The day after the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama, all I truly feel is that the divide between the positions of the two candidates and the parties and people they now represent is cataclysmic. Any illusion of partisan-free progress is dead, and had it not already been dead a month ago, McCain's VP nomination would have killed it. His selection is a gallop towards division, and the country now faces an election divisive at the civil war level. These are not mild disagreements, but divergent cosmologies; these are fundamentally opposed views of the natural world, the responsibilities of government, and the rights of all humans. There is no maybe, there is no grey, there is only I deserve to exist and be bailed out by the government and you do not. So let's return for one minute to Obama's speech at the DNC, where his diplomatic demeanor insisted on providing examples where the approach might be different, but common ground is still possible. He eloquently reminded us of the semantic battle around reproductive rights. Everyone I know is for life, and all support reproductive freedoms for women. What we hope to reduce in this world is not knowledge or access, but unwanted pregnancies and the difficult procedure of abortion. No one wants to have to make that choice, but the choice must be there nonetheless. The fewer who have to make it due to better education and better access to birth control, the better for all of us. So this week I hope you'll take action with Planned Parenthood to not only continue the fight for women's rights across the country, but to also help defeat dangerous state initiatives by protecting teens in California, privacy in Colorado, and rights to access in South Dakota. And while you're at the PP site, be sure to let the woman in the race know that she's not the woman for you.

SCI, TRC, and everything else that matters

In a continued discussion about who has rights to the city, particularly the street, this week I draw your attention to an event organized by the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN ) to combat an initiative that has further criminalized the homeless population in downtown LA. This email was received from LACAN and the event is scheduled for this Thursday:

The second "anniversary" of the Safer Cities Initiative (SCI) in downtown Los Angeles is coming September 25th. Join downtown residents in calling for the end of SCI and demanding housing and respect for all human rights in our communities!

*Thursday, September 25, 2008*
*10:00 AM - 2:00 PM*
*Skid Row Community 10:00 AM at San Julian Park OR 9:30 AM at LA CAN

As many of you know, SCI was touted as a public safety initiative that would include increased housing and services for homeless residents of downtown. Instead it has consisted entirely of punitive efforts that have damaged our community and residents for the long-term. For example:

v In the first year of SCI, LAPD issued about 12,000 citations, primarily for "walk/don't walk" violations. This is 48 to 69 times the rate of citations given City-wide. Citations given to homeless and other low-income people inevitably lead to warrants and arrest.
v About 750 arrests have been made PER MONTH, in a community that's home to only about 13,000 people. The majority of arrests are drug related and, due to efforts by the District Attorney to escalate charges, most people will be ineligible for Food Stamps and subsidized housing upon their release.
v Law enforcement has not focused on serious crimes. Among the first 1,350 arrests by the SCI task force, only 22 were for serious, violent crimes.
v The cost of the extra police officers alone is $6 million per year, not to mention court and incarceration costs. $6 million per year could provide housing subsidies and services for 350 homeless people. Jail costs $63 per day, housing and services cost $45 per day.

It is unacceptable that the City of Los Angeles has implemented this failed policy for two years already - and it simply cannot continue. Many downtown residents and organizations have opposed this policy since its inception. However, it is time for the entire City of Los Angeles to speak out and demand an end to SCI before it enters its third year.

For additional information please contact Pete White at 213-228-0024

Also, I have many friends who are either displaced or without power - or both - in the wake of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The Red Cross is seeking replenishment to its currently over-tapped Disaster Relief Fund. Money in this fund goes to support shelters, counseling, and emergency supplies for disaster victims. You can donate by going to their website; calling 800-REDCROSS; or mailing in a contribution to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

Finally, this entry is an effort on my part to not talk about the upcoming election. No matter what cause of the week I was considering earlier today, they all seemed somehow affected by who will take over in the white house come January. The environment, the economy, social services, reproductive rights - all will change, for the better or for the much worse, depending on the votes cast in 44 days. So for now I'll just remind you to register, read, and be ready to act. And consider what Anne Lamott said in her piece in Salon this week - let's not let our energy be sucked into the vortex of the evil possibilities that have been put before us, but let's continue to promote the virtues of the positive and the possibilities of positions we believe are equitable, just, and forward-thinking.

post-parking 3.1b

Here is an image from our park(ing) spot yesterday. What a wonderful sunny day to hang out on the street with cool people and distribute information about the state of public space in America. Of course, actions speak louder than words, and in the end I think many of us are more concerned than ever that public space is only vaguely public in this neoliberal city. Though we successfully negotiated with the parking patrol (who turned out to be a very nice woman who made a phone call to her supervisor on our behalf) we were not so lucky with the woman who owns the knitting shop down the street. Because we didn't have an official permit (isn't that part of the point?) and she had called in a formal complaint, the policeman had to insist we disassemble. Who knew that parking spaces and sidewalks really are not public space. Prior to that, though, we had a fun full day of truck driving, measuring, gluing, griding, eating, and laughing. Big apologies to the band and all their musical friends who were willing to play for our event that died an early death due to the crankiness of a crazy knitter. But big thanks for the semi-private performance post-parking. Let's do it again soon everyone.

3.2 the power of sharing

Two weeks ago I found myself at the opening of the new Los Angeles headquarters for the Obama campaign. They had expected a couple hundred supporters to show up and see the office, but nearly 1000 people came so they moved the activities into the parking lot and street. I snuck upstairs and there were already 30 or 40 people crammed into the office, trying to buy buttons and bumper stickers, shirts, yard signs. It was chaotic and exciting and I found myself at one point on the other side of the counter, assembling signs and handing out forms and before I knew it, I was a volunteer by default. This was the day after McCain's announcement of a running mate. I was already an Obama fan before that announcement, thanks to my very thorough and persuasive Obama support group here in WeHo as well as my natural alignment with his platform. After that announcement, though, the race took on a whole new meaning for me and for every woman - no, every person - who believes in equal rights of all sorts, in the importance of things like good education for everyone, and in the core tenets of the American constitution. By this point, everyone knows the appalling statistics, including an anti-choice position so strong that it trumps health, the law, and basic human morality; an anti-education position so strong that no knowledge is preferred over real knowledge which means all our children, not just hers, would suffer the consequences of not knowing the consequences. It is too important to not act, even if the actions are small.

When I left the Obama headquarters I had in my bag a stack of small stickers made from the now famous Shepard Fairey HOPE poster. What I love about Fairey's design is that it is equal parts art and politics and has generated a viral string of creative expressions spawning energy in the grassroots support of the election - not so unlike Rock the Vote linked young musical groups with voter registration. (This LA weekly article does a good job telling the Fairey/Obama/Sergant story.) My goal last week was to hand out those phone-sized stickers, get people to put them on their phones (we all know how many backs of cell phones we see every day!) and talk to everyone I could about the election, voting, and the facts of the platform. Remember that commercial - you'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on and so on and so on. For those of you who know someone who is undecided or more shocking yet, not registered to vote, this is the week for the small steps to happen, for those who don't know the candidate's positions on the things they might find to be most important, to go to a website and get as informed as possible, then they can tell two friends, and so on and so on. So, yes, regardless of who you might be for in this campaign (though if you're willing to listen, I can certainly tell you what I think!) the cause of this week is to get everyone registered, get everyone talking, and make your own support VISIBLE.

These are the newly committed phones of my two new friends from Terroni, John and Trusty (photo credits to Whitney and her iphone, also bearing Obama sticker). John is my new favorite bartender, playwright, and actor. His one man show about surfing as a metaphor for love that is also a benefit for cancer might just be coming up as a cause of the week. Trusty is a gang member turned good. Not an ex-gang member, as he was clear to remind us, but a gang member working from the inside to help kids choose school over drugs and violence. He was in our neighborhood serving as a consultant for a new film called Capture. Be on the look out for his name in the credits.

Finally, happy one year anniversary to Islands of LA, founded by my friend and new art school student, Ari. Way to be an activist in your own right, whether you want to be one or not.

3.1 Park(ing) day LA

Park(ing) Day LA 2007 happened just after I arrived last year. It was one of those remarkable events that made me realize I am literally surrounded by people who are interested in some of the same things I am and who devote time and energy to creative ways to generate awareness, discussion, and action. Over 180 of these mini-parks in parking spaces were created last year in 47 cities worldwide. Park(ing) Day 2008 is this coming Friday - September 19th - and anyone, anywhere can put quarters in a meter and claim that space as their own. This year a team of PhD students, spouses, friends, and our new favorite musicians have staked out a spot on 3rd street where we will show each person who drives by or walks in the size space that is theirs to claim.


Here is our description of our project, 'the drive-by walk in':

The road is America's largest public space. There are 3,981,512 miles of public road in the US, roughly 69 feet (.0132 miles) for each person in the country. Yet, we rarely treat the road as a public space, occupying it more as a collective of spatially isolated mobile individuals than an interactive citizenry. In celebration of Park(ing) Day 2008, the 'drive-by, walk-in' hopes to capitalize on this untapped social infrastructure, linking the public space of the road with the public space of the sidewalk, encouraging greater exploitation of the multi-scalar, multi-speed, ubiquitous yet under-utilized communal space that surrounds us.
In 2005, the Rebar group, a creative collective out of San Francisco, started Park(ing) Day by transforming a single metered parking spot into a park-for-a-day in an effort to make a public comment on the lack of quality open space in American cities. Now a global one day event, the goal still is to reprogram the urban surface by reclaiming streets for people to rest, relax and play and to:

* Promote a critical dialogue regarding the need for urban open space and the way in which streets are currently used.
* Energize civic life by questioning basic assumptions about urban space while offering provocative and meaningful alternatives.
* Connect artists, designers, and activists with ways to permanently reclaim the street for people.
On September 19th, numerous Park(ing) Day LA spots will be located throughout the city. Join us for 'the drive-by walk-in' in the 8000 block of West 3rd street from 2 to 8 pm to stake your claim on public space. Music by My Hawaii and Bird and Moon begins at 6:00. An after party at the A+D Museum will follow.

http://www.parkingdayla.com/index.html

3.0 - public space and why we need it

Some causes will certainly be more serious than others, and some more long-term. I have two this week. One is fun and playful with potential urban repercussions, the other is a cause that partially defines us as a society. Both are about capitalizing on 'publicness', which is defined by urban scholars as not just the right but the necessity for diversity and the forum within which that diversity can come together in all its glorious messiness; the idea of that forum is our public sphere and the physical manifestation is our public space. Our expression of equity and democracy is ideally grounded there. In the last thirty years, the over-sanitization, privatization, and militarization of those physical spaces has made them more and more exclusionary rather than more and more diverse. Who can do what, what they can do, and where they can do it has become more and more restricted. Typically these are 'public' places like malls and corporate squares, but more and more this also includes sidewalks and parks that exclude marginalized populations through restrictive laws or the use of so-called 'protest zones' which actually deny the constitutional right to assemble and speak when and where it is most effective. The first cause encourages us to look at all of our public spaces - particularly the sidewalk and road - and consider how it is we each use our own 69.25 feet. The second is to remind us how important the public sphere is through making our voice heard in the democratic process.

my favorite place to buy art

Some of you are familiar with Community Works 945, the umbrella name for the art, street soccer, and gardening program located at the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. These programs have affected the lives of hundreds of homeless participants by providing opportunities for creative expression, skill-building, regrouping, opening doors, making relationships, and uncovering new passions. I had the great fortune of collaborating with UM staff and volunteers, UNCC faculty, and UNCC students to build the ARTPARK last spring next to the UM train station, a public space that incorporates all three components of Community Works while also providing lockers for storage, benches for relaxation, and quiet corners for time alone. I had been to the Art Works auction before, but spending time at UM daily showed me how much talent is there waiting to be seen and how much pride is taken in the work the UM artists create.

Last year I bought Vanessa/Batgirl at the auction, and regardless of my current distance from Charlotte, I feel she is one thing that ties me back to the city and to the great vision of the Community Works programs. So, for those of you within driving distance, here is this year's information on not just the auction, but a pre-auction exhibit that allows a peek at what will be available on the 13th. If you can't make it in person, you can always donate to Art Works 945 (check out the website at http://urbanministrycenter.org/) and help sponsor the long walk between unearthing creative passion and getting it out for the rest of the world to see.

Below is the official announcement. Please support the artists and the program by attending the auction, purchasing work, or making a donation. Or, shift your consciousness and the consciousness of others - find a group or an individual in your own corner of the world who could benefit from being seen for their talents and potentials rather than their difficulties, and make it happen.

Annual Art Works 945 Auction: 5-7pm Sept. 13^th

Art Works 945 of the Urban Ministry Center is proud to announce its annual auction, a unique event where the homeless are able to be seen for the talents and humanity that they posses and not for what they lack. Art Works 945 was recently included in a nation directory of self –taught and outsider art centers. The programmatic value of the Art Works 945 aside, the auction features authentic, inspiring artwork of real value at great prices. Please come and support the homeless with your attendance, and if you see something you like, please purchase it. Photographs, paintings, carvings, and ceramics at all price ranges are for sale. Proceeds are split between the artist and the cost of supplies for the program.

Gallery Three Pre-Sale We are also proud to announce that Wachovia is hosting a current exhibit at Gallery Three [401 S. Tryon Street, Suite 145 Charlotte, NC 28202] until Sept.10. The show features highlights of 2008 from Art Works 945. Link here for a quick peak at the show. Paintings are available for outright purchase before the auction from Gallery Three.

http://www.communityworks945.org/Artworks945/blog/2008/08/arte-homeless-who-you-think-they-are.html