/* fivel rothberg */

New York Times Special Edition, audio vignette

This is a three-minute audio vignette about the New York Times Special Edition. On the morning of the action, I followed a Brooklyn couple, Michelle and Maikel, as they spread the good news of the war’s end to perplexed New Yorkers.

Here is a slideshow of photos from the distribution day of the New York Times ‘Special Edition’.  This past Wednesday, new media organizing met old media propaganda, Situationist style.   Email and text messages sent by an ad-hoc crew of Lefties got hundreds or thousands of volunteers to help hand out the faux New York Times.

I began by tagging along with a middle-aged couple, both proud dumpster-diving artists and subversives.  I recorded our brief adventure with my still camera and audio recorder.  Here are the photos:

On the same day as Latina Enough, I shot some close-ups of some lovely decaying material in the Village.

Ariana Martinez and Molly Stinchfield - along with Ana Szyld - put together an exhibit of photos and audio documentaries that examine what it means to be Latina, or of mixed-latina and non-latina heritage.  It was only up for one day, unfortunately.  It took place inside a moving truck, parked on the corner of 12th Street and Hudson in Greenwich Village, NYC.

To the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles,

The very fact that the states in the U.S. continue to execute anyone, even if they are “guilty,” is deplorable. The justice system’s propensity to convict and sentence indigent people, black men in particular, is a practice that must end now. Every citizen deserves a fair trial, no matter what his or her race or economic status.

Yet, this injustice is not new. It has historical ties going back to the institution of slavery, the post-Bellum oppression of black communities and the thousands of lynchings of the early 20th century. This makes the execution of a black man in Georgia even more disparaging.

I beg you, the men and women of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to take the higher moral ground and reconsider the case of Troy Davis.

Think of the consequences of executing an innocent man. It would be tragic and prove that justice is not blind.

Think of the implications of executing a ‘guilty’ man. Execution is not a proven deterrent of crime. To the contrary, it demonstrates that the so-called correctional system is punitive and does nothing to ‘correct’ or help those who are warehoused in prisons across this nation.

Sincerely,

Fivel Rothberg

Take action at http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

I worked on an animation a few weeks ago about “white spaces.” They are the frequencies between broadcast signals that will open up once broadcast TV goes from analogue to digital. The People’s Production House is advocating for public use of the space. Otherwise it’ll probably be sold of to the same schmucks who control OUR airwaves already. Public services also want a piece of the action.

The animation was made in about two days because it needed to be ready for a NYC City Council hearing about the above issue.

this past august noam celebrated his 10th birthday in style at FDR skatepark. the weather was perfect and everyone had a blast. the only hangup was that noam’s name was misspelled on the cake :- (

Last night i went to the opening night of “Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960’s to Now” at Exit Art. first i was simply impressed as the size of the gallery. then i went in to enjoy a large selection of political posters and some other graphics.

it was great to see works that i recognized and admire, like a large print from the Beehive Collective. they are good friends with an old roommate, morgan, who is himself a great political puppetista and propagandist. years ago he did a show about mr. block, of IWW fame, it was the first that i had heard of mr. block. part of me cried out “morgan’s work should be in this show!” okay so there are a ton of political printmakers. i suppose it was a recognition that morgan’s work is part of a strong heritage, a tradition that the Exit Art curators emphasized.

my only ‘complaint’ is that i wanted more.  maybe next time around, a similar exhibit could show the historical roots of political graphics further back than the 1960’s.

finally, there was one poster in particular that was among the Otra Campaña works. it is a poster with Mafalda as a militant Zapatista. i had seen that same poster in the Wooden Shoe and thought about buying it for Ana. but i didn’t. and then a few weeks later when i went back to the store, they had run out. grrr. wish i could find a copy somewhere. been thinking of getting a Mafalda tattoo. maybe that graphic would work well.

Exit Art is also teaming up with 16 Beaver to put on a screening series. It looks like a very impressive line-up of hard to find films.

I’ll write more later, but here are some photos of Keith + Mendi Obadike’s visit to the IMA program yesterday. I was pretty much geeking out the entire time. They presented for about an hour or so and then checked out the IMAterial show that’s happening in the Black Box. There, they offered critiques to several folks in our program including Sarah Nelson Wright, Suyin Looui, Francisca Caporali, Laura Chipley, Pilar Ortiz and Angela Ferraiolo. Not only were the Obadikes very generous with their time but it looked like they were having as much fun as we were.

I was also excited that my son, Noam, got to meet them.  He had a lot of fun playing around with Angela’s interactive flash / video piece - which can be seen below.