It’s easy for an old man to look back and see the obvious, how wasted youth and health and safety are on the young who spurn such things, to be dismayed by the risk you took, but as a youth you do sense that life renders you powerless by dragging you back to it, breath upon breath breath in an endless capitulation to biological routine, and that the human will to control is as much about asserting power over your own body as exercising it on others.
—Breath, Tim Winton
1.
If you’ve been reading my missives for any length of time you know by now how intolerant I am of Republicans, racists, bigots, Nazis, and generally repugnant and ignorance-with-intent people. There’s an interesting article in Extra Newsfeed I came across this week (even though it’s from 2017) that addresses the idea that tolerance is not a moral precept. The writer simply states Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty. Tolerance is a social norm because it allows different people to live side-by-side without being at each other’s throats. It means that we accept that people may be different from us, in their customs, in their behavior, in their dress, in their sex lives, and that if this doesn’t directly affect our lives, it is none of our business. But the model of a peace treaty differs from the model of a moral precept in one simple way: the protection of a peace treaty only extends to those willing to abide by its terms. It is an agreement to live in peace, not an agreement to be peaceful no matter the conduct of others. A peace treaty is not a suicide pact. He goes on to say Since separation is often just as unacceptable as surrender— one side essentially needing to flee and give up everything they have in the world, from their homes and their jobs to their social ties — it is rarely a meaningful solution. It does not conform to the requirements of real peace. (This is why “white separatism” is, in practice, just a rebranding of white supremacy; white separatists never seem to suggest that they should be the ones who should leave their homes and lives behind.)
2.
And in the light of intolerance of Republicans, Heather Cox Richardson reported that yesterday the Republican-dominated Florida legislature passed a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many people even know they’re pregnant. The measure is popular with the Republican base, whose support DeSantis will need for a presidential bid, should he decide to make one. But abortion restrictions are hugely unpopular across the country, giving Democrats a big leg up in every election that has come since the Supreme Court last summer overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. DeSantis signed into law a bill banning abortion after 15 weeks last April, before the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision that overturned Roe. In that case, he held a midday press conference and made a speech. But Dobbs has created a powerful backlash. This time around, for this even stricter measure, DeSantis signed the bill late tonight and released a picture of the signing after 11:00 p.m., when few people would see it. He appears to be trying to appeal to the base while also keeping his actions quiet enough to slide them under the radar screens of non-MAGA voters.
JUST. VOTE. BLUE.
3.
Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, both young Black Democratic men, were reinstated to their seats in the Tennessee House this week. In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Pearson said Unchecked gun violence, environmental racism and denial of basic health and human services should enrage us all and compel us to action. I wasn’t elected to be pushed to the back of the room and silenced. We who were elected to represent all Tennesseans — Black, white, brown, immigrant, female, male, poor, young, transgender and queer — are routinely silenced when we try to speak on their behalf. Last week, the world was allowed to see it in broad daylight.
In a rally that congregated, appropriately, at the Lorraine Motel (where white supremacist James Earl Ray assassinated Reverend Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968) before the reinstatements, Pearson said "This is the democracy that changes the status quo. But we’ve got news—the status quo needs changing and the status quo needs you, so today we march and we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep pushing, because we believe that this is what democracy looks like.”
4.
Connie nor I had heard of Kwame Brathwaite until an obit notice on the morning news earlier this week (And Connie has a Masters in Photo History). He led an amazing life as a photographer and chronicler spanning six decades documenting the intersection of music, fashion, activism, and art on a global scale. He was born Gilbert Ronald Brathwaite in 1938 but adopted the name Kwame in the early 60s as a tribute to the first leader of post-colonial Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. According to his bio, Brathwaite wrote about and photographed such landmark events as the “The Motown Revue” at the Apollo (1963); “WattStax ’72” (1972); The Jackson 5’s first trip to Africa (1974); and the “Festival in Zaire” (1974) which accompanied the famous Foreman-Ali fight, “The Rumble in the Jungle."
Check out the depth of his work here.
5.
I have three new pieces now at the Boxheart Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA. Nicole and Josh, the owners, have been great to work with and I’m thrilled to have some work appearing outside my own studio. It’s piling up here, folks. Anyway, at least to have one gallery that represents my work is a positive thing.
6.
Many years back, mid to late 70s, a friend told me he had access to a 35mm camera for $100. He said a case had ‘fallen off a truck’ and I thought to myself, I hope none were damaged. Jeezuz, was I a naive rube just off the farm, or what? $100 was the maximum I could scrape together in those days so I said sure. It was a Minolta SRT-102 and it served me well up until I switched to digital. I also had (have) a Pentax 6x7 that was pretty bitchin’ as well. Anyway, here’s an image I took on a trip to New Mexico and Arizona in 1986 (still living in LFK) while in a phase of using Kodachrome and Ektachrome film transparencies. I transferred many of my slides 15 years ago or so to digital.
7.
And then the horn fairy stopped by…
And now…
Maturity is indeed a disappointment. But so are Republicans, and most of them are not mature.
Thanks for intro to Kwame Brathwaite and other good stuff. Glad to hear more of your art is getting out there!