Whispering Words Of Wisdom

I didn't know about fracking until I came to Oneonta. This isn't in New York City, however it soon may affect us. I didn't realize how bad it was and that it could happen in the town that  I go to school in. It's disturbing to me that big businesses come into rural and low-income areas to exploit the resources and taint the lives of the citizens. 

Gasland really opened my eyes and made me pay attention to environmental issues as well as the problem of big businesses. I've learned through my 3 semesters here that 5 corporations practically rule the nation and kind of the world. That is some scary shit. 

Gasland also reminded me of the movie Erin Brockovich where Julia Roberts plays Brockovich a woman who helps small town residents fight against Pacific Gas and Electric a company that contaminated the ground water and caused people to get sick because they were using Chromium. Here's the trailer if you've never heard of it or have seen it, it's actually a really good movie. 

What's more disturbing to me than the fact that fracking may become an issue for me as a student in Oneonta, is that a University of North Texas is allowing FRACKING ON THE CAMPUS. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Some people, mainly from the fracking business and lawyers for the big businesses say that if it is done right, fracking can be very useful and safe. I do not believe this to be true. When you watch people's water catch on fire and hear stories of people developing cancer because of methane found in their drinking water, you can't even fathom a safe way for this process. 

"Although Denton officials created an ordinance mandating that fracking sites be at least 1,200 feet from homes, sites with gas wells already in place are exempt from the new rule. Some are less than 200 feet away from homes." 200 feet away from someone's living space is a giant well that has a high risk of contaminating their homes and making them sick. Businesses come in with this great pitch, offering lots of money for land to frack. And by "lots of money", I don't actually mean that much but they know that it would be a lot to a person who was living in a rural area. They feel they have no choice but to take the money! 

"'Now we have a frack site across the street from our dorms and the drill extends underneath half of the campus,' Hinojosa says. 'Our campus looks pathetic with a fracking site situated 100 feet away from the university’s three wind turbines and platinum LEED certified football stadium, surrounded by signs saying, ‘We mean green!’" Hinojosa and her friends have canvassed neighborhoods, held protests and attended city council meetings to push for stricter ordinances. 

And the fact that fake grassroots organizations sent by those who represent the companies would come and talk about how safe fracking is. "When the students and larger numbers of the public began attending city council meetings, industry started to bring in their own representatives. Hinojosa says, "Fake grassroots organizations would send vans full of people with prepared speeches that claimed fracking to be safe and clean. No matter how hard we worked on our speeches, our voices seemed mute compared to the fracking industry."

That is nuts! The fact that these people who are trying to fight for a safer community are being attacked by the industry and it's fake grassroot organizations!

Because of all the fracking that is going up here in Upstate New York, I am genuinely concerned that the tap water that I grew up with and love so much will become contaminated. My family drinks that water and bathes in that water. I drink and bathe in that water. It would be utter and complete pandemonium in the City if the water were to become unsafe. It's time now for people to alert our government, especially the statesmen of NY that fracking is NOT okay and is extremely dangerous to those exposed. 

The easiest and most simple way to get involved is to sign petitions. Make those in power AWARE that we're not going to allow this to happen in our state, or anywhere! Here are three petitions to get you started and interested in the issue. 

Ban Fracking in Erie County, NY

President Obama; NY wants fracking banned

Gov Cuomo: Keep fracking out of NY

I like to compare Occupy Wall Street to the peace rallies in the 60s and 70s against the Vietnam war. I wish that I was alive during that time period so I could have gone to the protests. However, I was alive for the Occupy Movement and I am kicking myself to this day for not having gone down there. For not doing anything except giving social media support to the Movement. 

I love that there was a sense of community, I can't imagine what it must have been like to camp out in that park and talk to people who are sharing the struggle and supporting one another through it. I think that it was awesome that they got a drum circle going and when we talked about how people used that as a criticism of the movement, I was upset. The fact that these people who are standing and protesting in solidarity are bonding by playing music or games does NOT detract from the substance of the movement.

I came across some upsetting news when I was searching recent articles pertaining to Occupy Wall Street - a UC Davis campus police officer pepper sprayed peaceful protesting students (video here), and in October 2013, he was AWARDED 38,000 in worker's comp for the stress that he went through. He was awarded money for assaulting college students with pepper spray! I'm actually outraged. He was suspended and ultimately left the force. The incident report was 190 pages long and summed up that the officer, Pike has used bad judgement and excessive force. "Pike himself filed a worker's compensation claim with UC Davis over the incident, saying he suffered unspecified psychiatric and nervous system damage, though the document did not explain how he claimed to have been harmed, records show" AND HE'S STILL GETTING THE DAMN MONEY! How awful! 

In lighter news, Occupy celebrated it's second anniversary quietly this past October. There was a protest near the New York Stock Exchange and a march by the United Nations. Even though Occupy has lost some of it's momentum (there were only about 100 activists that attended the rallies compared to the thousands in it's heyday), the protestors were calling for a new objective: calling for a small tax on Wall Street financial transactions. This is also known as the "Robin Hood Tax", this legislation would impose a levy of .05 percent on all Wall Street transactions/trades. "The money collected would be earmarked for different funds and non-profit organizations and in turn distributed to schools, hospitals and local governments, according to Occupy organizers and proponents of the legislation."

These are good places to pump our money, however there is a fear that because of this tax, exchanges will decrease and companies will be forced to relocate and take their money with them. 

I like that the Occupy movement is still alive and there are people who care enough to continue the fight for fiscal equality and the fight against big businesses. 

Julian Assange was able to seek asylum in the Ecuadorian Assembly in London, however he is basically under house arrest. Once he leaves the embassy he is subject to arrest and can be extradited to Sweden or even the United States where he faces charges over the release of diplomatic cables, widely known as Wikileaks. 

I thought it was most interesting what we discussed in class, the fact that he will probably be tried for treason yet he is an Australian citizen. Treason is defined as "crime of betraying one's own country". The United State is not Assange's country therefore I don't believe he should be tried for treason. I don't think he should be tried at all! I don't think what he did threatened our national security and if it did - we didn't know about it. There might have been backlashes from the leaks but at least citizens are more informed! 

I found it odd that Assange wanted to run for the Australian senate under the WikiLeaks party. He apparently lost the first election but there was a recount because some ballots went missing. He actually failed to get a seat in the Australian senate and even though he lost, changes within parties and the house have been made: "Not all is lost for the Wikileaks Party, as it more than doubled the vote of the Pirate Party to become Australia's most popular party with an agenda based around issues of internet transparency. It also, however, won fewer votes than the Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party and the Australian Sex Party, making it a fringe player even on the fringes of Australia's left."

But he may get a chance at a seat in Western Australia - it looks like the electoral commission declared a new result that looks likely to be appealed in the high court. There was an issue of missing ballots (1375) and the high court could order a reelection. Assange may have another chance. The WikiLeaks party had over 40,000 primary votes and a reelection might help him secure more because now he is being talked about and people can find out more about him as a candidate.

"The imperative is for Julian Assange to reach our Senate and to renew democracy, to break down the narrow corridor of political discourse that are we mired within." This gives me hope - I'm not a huge fan of who Assange displays himself to be, but I do think that he did a great thing by exposing governments and people on a global scale. If he was in government himself, I wonder if he would still have the same ideals about exposure? or would he succumb to being in the government? 

I remember hearing and learning about WIkiLeaks my senior year in high school in my World Issues class. And the best way I understood it was if I compared it to the movie Mean Girls. In Mean Girls, there's a book called the Burn Book and inside are pictures of every girl in school with mean captions about them.

I compare WikiLeaks to the Burn Book because some of the cables that were leaked were conversations between other nations and they were talking shit about the United States or other countries. And here it was, for the entire globe to see - hatred behind closed doors. 

When I did more research about WL and what it meant for our country and other countries, I realized, that maybe it was a little more serious than the Burn Book and thought that the entire world was going to explode into an all out "girl fight". But nothing really happened. Everyone was in uproar but there were no wars started. People were embarrassed and needed public relations help but alliances still stood. 

It's sad to see that big businesses such as PayPal, Bank of America, VISA,  and Western Union have created a banking blockade so that WL can no longer receive donations. I thought that WikiLeaks would be protected under the First Amendment even though it's not actual speech. 

It's also interesting to note that Chelsea Manning has asked for a presidential pardon for her 35 year prison sentence. "Manning said her decision to leak to Julian Assange's anti-secrecy group was 'made out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in … It was never my intent to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help people.'"

What will Obama do? What can he do? If he pardons her, his approval rating will plummet and there will probably be mass uproar. But if he doesn't, then someone who was trying to do the right thing will be punished for 35 years. Does it look good for him to defend a whistleblower or condemn a whistleblower?

"'We rely upon whistleblowers, even in those instances that might cause embarrassment, to keep our government accountable to its people. Private Manning is a military whistleblower. He disclosed documents that were vital for a healthy public debate about our conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, our detention policies at Guantánamo, and our diplomatic activities around the world.'"  - David Coombs (Manning's lawyer)

I looked up whistleblowing protection laws and there is something called the WhistleBlower Protection Act of 1989 but it was meant for those who worked for the government and could then report agency misconduct. Whistleblowers can file a complaint that they believe reasonably evidences a violation of a law, abuse of authority but most importantly "a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety. But does the military really count as working FOR the government? I know that the military is a government entity, but they have their own rules and sometimes seem to be exempt from following certain rules. There's a lot of shady people in the government and the military making me feel like Manning will never get a proper trial or fair sentence. I know that she has already been tried and is starting her time in prison but it seems unfair for her to not have any protection. Just because she's a military whistleblower, does she not fall under the protection of the act? Did the military try her? Was it considered an act of treason? Because in my eyes, she did us all a favor - she allowed us to see ourselves and other countries for who they really are. 

"In the pardon request, Manning writes: 'I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. I will gladly pay that price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal.'" 

I was so intrigued by what Von Stengel had to say about Warhol and Lichtenstein and Banksy. I wasn't entirely familiar with the others or even his work but I found all of it so enjoyable.

I didn't know about Warhol's background and I guess the image of the Campbell's soup can makes more sense now. I didn't see it as praise for Campbell's/consumerism/mass production - I actually saw it as a critique - as in "why are we reduced to a soup can?" kind of thing. 

And when he showed the image of the many Coke bottles with some not all the way full I thought it was comment on the fact that the new technology/machinery will fuck up products that they're meant to send out and produce at increasing rates. I believed that Warhol was trying to say that we cannot rely on machinery and that mass production will lead to all of us being the same. 

Lichtenstein's work touched a nerve inside of me - I've seen his work, among some of the artists' pieces on tumblr and never knew they were his. Some of them make me feel sad but in a really nice way - I almost started crying when he showed this woman because I could literally feel her emotion. The way he left you hanging and allowing you to guess what was happening on the other end was interested me the most. 

For the life of me I cannot remember that one artist who was feminist? She created top to bottom installations that were meant to empower women and emasculate men. I wish I knew who she was so I could look up her work and even try and see an exhibit. 

Moreover, i liked that he showed us some of his work - his surveillance piece? LOVED IT! I'm not art critic and I wouldn't know good pieces from bad pieces, but the fact that he made it look like you had stumbled upon someone's dwelling as if they had just left was quite brilliant. The fact that he trusted random strangers with his possessions like his computer shows that some people believe in humanity more than others. It was interesting to note that he wanted to make people feel uncomfortable as soon as they walked into either room - in the first room you walked in to a room full of possessions giving you the impression that people had recently been there and then in the second room you were being watched. Such a brilliant twist! How long are you going to stand there and watch other people? Do you feel uncomfortable for watching other people? Do you feel uncomfortable knowing that someone was probably watching you? 

I also liked that each dwelling was different - one was a family in which he made look like was staying there for awhile and then the other room looked as if it was just someone on a business trip or wasn't staying as long. Those details were just a nice touch. It was a comment about our police state - the constant notion that we are being watched.

Banksy! One of my favorite artists - creating simple art that anyone can see (for FREEEEE!!!) while being provocative is what I think makes Banksy so popular. In fact, my cover photo on Facebook is one of his pieces - this one actually. I like that he makes me think. One of my favorite pieces is the one with Dorothy and Toto being stopped and searched by an army official (or someone in uniform). I wish that VS had gone more into depth about what each piece could potentially mean - especially this one. I immediately thought "We're not in Kansas anymore"; our personal freedom has been taken. We're in a police state and nobody is safe - even innocent Dorothy. 

Banksy actually came to NYC last week I believe and is doing one piece per day for the month of October. I've seen some of the pieces on his instagram - definitely worth a look. One of the pieces is his graffiti writing of "Occupy" and then the words "The Musical" written underneath taking a "stab" at the Occupy Movement that was an attack on the Wall Streeters and Big Banks. I thought that it was clever to take something that screams New York City and turn it into something that NYC is known for (the theater district) Unfortunately, this piece was not on Wall Street or in the theater district but in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Unfortunately and much to my dismay, New Yorkers aren't fond of the idea of Banksy being in NYC. In fact, some of his pieces have already been covered up by white paint! Are you fucking kidding me?  Also, a NYC based graffiti crew thought it would be cool to replace Banksy's "Graffiti Is A Crime" sign with their own - "A New York-based graffiti crew replaced a sign that was a part of Banksy's "The street is in play" with one baring their logo and soon after, in a self-fulfilling prophecy, the work was painted over entirely. Other works have succumbed to similar fates" and now the piece is completely white washed, trying to get rid of the traces of Banksy on NYC's walls. (article here)

That is so frustrating - I would rather be provoked to think about something while turning a corner than see "I HEART MY BOYFRIEND" on the walls of NYC. I grew up here, I even think that the "I HEART MY BOYFRIEND" grafffiti is art, but why not let someone who is talented and provocative into our city? Why are our arms not open embracing Banksy? 

Dear New York City, 

Lighten the fuck up - I would be HONORED to have a Banksy orginal on my wall. Fuck off and stop covering them up! 

Thanks,

A Proud New Yorker

Welcome home, Banksy! 

(Me taking a stab at those who were angered at the fact that Banksy did not seek permission to create art on their walls.) 

To which I refer them to this picture, again.