Elephant Art

If you find yourself in the market for something truly special, consider elephant art.  I’m in love with Aleena’s Garden Dance, and have been saving pennies, but I wouldn’t hold even the thought of a grudge if someone snapped it up. It all goes to help the artists, and to enable other artists to be rescued.

Garden Dance, © Aleena (May).

Garden Dance, © Aleena (May).

Aleena was born on May 6, 2004. Her father is Phra-may and her mother is Poomphaung, another Novica-featured elephant artist. Aleena’s nickname is May and she weighs 3,329 pounds. The young pachyderm is very friendly. She is practicing to play in the elephant orchestra, however she is already a skilled painter. To read more about Aleena, click the link and scroll down.

Music Lover, by Nammoey.

Music Lover, © Nammoey.

Born in 2009, Nammoey is a young female who survived elephant traffickers thanks to the forest officers who work to enforce the Wildlife Preservation and Protection Law. They found her near the Salween River in Sobmoey, Mae Hong Son, and placed her in the care of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center-TECC. To read more about Nammoey, click the link and scroll down.

Autumn Flower, by Bai-Tong.

Autumn Flower, © Bai-Tong.

Bai-tong enjoys painting so much that she sometimes takes a firm grip on the paintbrush and refuses to return it to the trainer. She is much loved by the TECC staff and every tourist who has seen her. To read more about Bai-Tong, click the link and scroll down.

REZILIENCE

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The REZILIENCE Indigenous Arts Experience will be an immersive, all-ages experience that focuses on modern Indigenous art processes. Artists include nationally and locally recognized entertainers, muralists, multimedia artists, poets and a contemporary Indigenous art market.

It is a grassroots effort tied into the airwaves of social media, and all generations of the entire community are welcome. Tickets can be bought for the on-campus events or just the music concert. This movement trends new generational events that compliment social gatherings like Pow Wows but are becoming their own thing in Indian Country.

The event takes place on April 30 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center near downtown Albuquerque.

Executive Director Warren Montoya said, “We aim to be inclusive, not exclusive, it is not a space for the most elite, but we are not aiming to provide all the answers either. We are building a community platform from which we can all have an opportunity to speak on the resilience of our peoples.”

“This event is a movement based in creativity. It is our creative practices that have facilitated cultural longevity, community building, knowledge growth and healing for generations. REZILIENCE will be the new model of unity for indigenous cultures worldwide.”

Full Story Here.

Earth Day

Makȟá. Earth. Makočé. Land. Kinship. Family. The interdependence and connectedness of all things. That there was a need to name a day Earth Day makes me hauntingly sad. Every day, life goes on, and people walk over thicknesses of concrete, asphalt, spend days inside more concrete, lock themselves in steel when they are outside. It can be easy to forget how much you are a part of the earth. It can be easy to want more, always more. More to make your life easier, convenient, what you think is better. Poverty can grind people down so much they see nothing but blackness and pain. And in it all, we are both the driving force and blind eyes that allow those who are powerful to destroy the earth which gives us life. To destroy all life which is not that of humans, and if some humans get caught up in that destruction, so what? This is a day of terrible sadness, all the more so because it’s just one of “those days” to most people. It doesn’t mean anything, just as the earth doesn’t mean anything.

Duane Yazzie, photo by Robert Esposito.

Duane Yazzie, photo by Robert Esposito.

“The life of the earth is waning,” warns Duane Yazzie, president of the Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation.

Yes, it is. One piece at a time.

NBA: No All-Star Game for North Carolina

From left: NBA commissioner Adam Silver with Charlotte Hornets owner and retired NBA great Michael Jordan when they announced last year that the 2017 All-Star Game would be held in Charlotte.

From left: NBA commissioner Adam Silver with Charlotte Hornets owner and retired NBA great Michael Jordan when they announced last year that the 2017 All-Star Game would be held in Charlotte.

After having said last week that no decision had been made on pulling next year’s NBA All-Star Game from North Carolina, the league’s commissioner now says the game definitely will be moved if the state’s recently enacted anti-LGBT law isn’t changed.

“We’ve been, I think, crystal clear a change in the law is necessary for us to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event,” commissioner Adam Silver said today at the Associated Press Sports Editors’ commissioner meetings in New York City, The Charlotte Observer reports.

Full Story Here.

Cool Stuff Friday: Explosions and Weed

Cai Guo-Qiang’s Explosive Gunpowder Performance.

Cai Guo-Qiang igniting gunpowder drawing White Tone, in Brookhaven, New York, 2016. Photo: Wen-You Cai

Cai Guo-Qiang igniting gunpowder drawing White Tone, in Brookhaven, New York, 2016.
Photo: Wen-You Cai

Cai Guo-Qiang White Tone (2016). Photo: Photo: Wen-You Cai

Cai Guo-Qiang White Tone (2016).
Photo: Photo: Wen-You Cai

 

 

Museum Opens First Major Spliff Exhibition on National ‘Weed Day’.

A Lemon Kush cannabis plant. Photo: Flickr user eggrole, courtesy Oakland Museum of California.

A Lemon Kush cannabis plant.
Photo: Flickr user eggrole, courtesy Oakland Museum of California.

Both museums and graphic designers are jumping on the 4/20 bandwagon, taking a close look at marijuana on National Marijuana Day.

The Oakland Museum of California has opened the exhibition “Altered State: Marijuana in California,” which it claims is the first museum show to concentrate on the controversial plant. The show’s contents range from fine art to protest posters and multimedia displays exploring the scientific, recreational, medicinal, and even religious aspects of pot.

“The roles of museums in today’s world are shifting,” says museum director Lori Fogarty. “We are dedicated to being a place where people can come learn about complex topics and, more importantly, add their voices and stories to the dialogue.”

“Altered State: Marijuana in California” is on view at the Oakland Museum of California April 16–September 25, 2016.

Trump: Let Trans People Use Bathrooms That Match Their Identity

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Donald Trump says North Carolina made a mistake passing its anti-transgender bathroom law.

The Republican front-runner for president said the state self-inflicted “economic punishment” when it passed House Bill 2, which not only banned local governments from including sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-discrimination ordinances, but also required transgender people to use the public bathrooms and locker rooms that don’t match their identity.

When asked about the law during a town hall on the Today show, Trump said there was nothing wrong with the way things were working before HB 2 was passed. “Leave it the way it is,” he repeatedly said is the best policy.

Okay, Trump sounding reasonable? I’ll admit, that threw me. But the normal stupid got right back on track:

Going even further, Trump said he’d let Caitlyn Jenner use whichever bathroom she wanted when visiting one of his properties.

Apparently, Trump has all his bathrooms labeled on all his properties. *Insert eyeroll here*

Full Story Here.

Jesus Dartboard, Oh No!

Rutgers

An alleged “art display” at Rutgers University featuring a figure of Jesus Christ on a dartboard, with darts inserted where He was wounded on the Cross, is being held up as a contradiction of the school’s professed commitment to diversity.

Natalie Caruso, who describes herself as a former Rutgers student, posted a photo to a Facebook group for the Class of 2016 showing the display, which she claimed is currently hanging in the Art Library on College Ave.

…

The post quickly gained traction on social media, inspiring numerous Campus Reform readers to share their own (uniformly disapproving) reactions.

“As a Catholic this is not tolerable and very disgusting,” one reader opined, adding, “I thought Rutgers was about embracing diversity?”

“I am a potential Rutgers student but I am largely considering not even APPLYING … because of what I’ve seen on social media,” said another. “Christians on campus must be ashamed of the school they go to after seeing this.”

Full Story Here.

Tennessee: Not Giving Up

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Tennessee’s Anti-LGBT Bathroom Bill Is Dead. For Now.

Tennessee Rep. Susan Lynn has pulled her sponsored “Bathroom Bill,” which would require all public schools, including universities, to require students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender at birth. The controversial bill is strikingly similar to the much-protested North Carolina HB2, and to Georgia’s recently repealed HB 757.

Rep. Lynn said her decision wasn’t impacted by corporations, businesses, and LGBT advocacy groups protesting the measure, but instead because the discriminatory practices of the bill might lose Tennessee $1.2 billion of Title IX funding, a source of funding that forbids any discrimination based on sex.

….

During her April 18 press conference, Rep. Lynn said she had only intended to ensure protection: “We just did want to protect children at the state level.” But at that time, two transgender students—Jennifer Guents and Henry Seaton—were headed to Gov. Haslam’s office with more than 67,000 signatures opposing the legislation.

Although she’s pulled the bill from consideration, Rep. Lynn hinted at plans to revive the legislation in the future.

No, Rep. Lynn, your legislation had nothing to do with protecting children, and am I ever sick to death of the sanctimonious “for the children” excuse. If nothing else, have the honesty (we all know you have no integrity) to tell the truth: it’s all about your bigotry and your personal ick factor. Of course, you’re going to try and revive your bigotry law later on, nothing is more important that appeasing the bigot crowd, right? I have a better idea, Rep. Lynn – why don’t you visit the 21st century for a while?