Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Lumen Prize

The Lumen Prize Exhibition, the global award and tour for digitally created art, opens its call for entries 1 April 2014 and closes 30 June 2014.

There are seven prizes to be won:

The Lumen Prize Winner - £3000
The Lumen Prize Silver - £1000
The Lumen Prize Bronze - £750
The Founder's Prize - £250
People's Choice Award - £250
The Lumen Animate Award - £250 (special award for animation, in Partnership with Animate Projects)
The Creative Coding Award - £250 (special award for Creative Coding & Programming, in partnership with Artists & Algorists)

The 25 exhibition works, including the 7 prize winners, will be part of a global exhibition tour that will visit Athens, Cardiff, Amsterdam, NYC and London.

Photo-montage, photo-manipulation, iPad art, iPhoneography, creative coding, interactive installation, glitch art, HTML/CSS art, web based art, animation, moving image, digital collage, app art, digital sculpture, 3D rendering… show us what you've got.

1 entry fee costs US$40 and allows the submission of 2 works. A percentage of each entry fee goes to our partner charity Peace Direct
Go to www.lumenprize.com to register.

Monday, June 02, 2014

Spark and Stubble

What: Spark and Stubble: A show of recent paintings by Tom Hill
When: Opening Reception: Friday, June 6, 2014, from 6:00-9:00 pm
(Exhibits runs through June 28, 2014)
Where: Hillyer Art Space
9 Hillyer Court NW Washington, DC 20008
202.938.0680

Tom Hill on his work:
For me, making art has always been a balance between expression and communication. As a proud gay man in long-term recovery from addiction, I have spent considerable time learning about and educating others on the connections between addiction, sexuality, and oppression. I have done this in simultaneous roles as activist, community organizer, and artist. In recent years, I have used my art to examine my life as it has been lifted from a foundation of marginalization, self-contempt, and shame. This process of healing and liberation has led towards a raised consciousness regarding the harmful and often traumatic effects that sexism and homophobia have had on my life, as well as the lives of others. It is in this spirit that I make work that directly addresses these as life and death issues. The work has yielded tremendous rewards, despite the costs and consequences of revealing truths that ultimately create discomfort in those who have secured a great investment in lies. A compelling insistence on honesty and authenticity ultimately erodes forces that are designed to control and deaden our bodies, our lives, and our souls.

These paintings are infused with a long personal history of an evolving feminist and queer sensibility and contain references and influences from a diverse variety of cultural sources. These influences include dada and surrealism, pop art, propaganda and political art, pulp fiction illustration, roadway signage, psychedelic and punk rock graphics, muscle car detailing, and vintage physique magazines. Over time, I have developed a visual vocabulary, formal skills, and working methods that are closely aligned with my chosen subject matter. My love of bold and lurid colors is infused with the restless throb of a masculine sex drive. For me, these colors evoke carnival amusement rides, seaside motels, and the recklessness of a drug-induced young manhood. I layer surfaces with candy and metalflake glazes, iridescent overlays, and crystalline veneers. These form skins of sugary sweetness that barely conceal the meat and gristle underneath, embedded with the coarse grit of testosterone, the unmistakable tang of male sweat, and the potent urgency of semen. These images are lifted and altered from advertising and gay erotica, combined with words and symbols to suggest poetic yearnings, amorous quests, and off-color urges. Magnetically drawn to the spark and stubble of sullen youth and rough men, my interest remains tied to developing and defining a queer masculinity that is sturdy, tough, and unwavering, while exuding a spirit of tenderness, grace, and utter fabulousness

Sunday, June 01, 2014

Pike Place Market Drawings

I was a full scholarship student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle between 1977-1981. While I was there, I used to sell all my art school assignments (once they were graded) at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

These sketches are a few out of dozens and dozens from my art journal and simply by age, have now become somewhat historical pieces about Seattle's wonderful market. I also used to draw these sort of drawings on the columns of the market (usually out of boredom).

I left Seattle in 1981, and while I was gone the Pike Place Market was refurbished and cleaned up. When I returned for a visit in 1992, I went to the market for a stroll. To my surprise, my drawings on the columns had been preserved and they had "painted" around them when the columns got their refurbishing coat of paint. I don't know if they are still there, but the ones below I did in my journal.

"Wino and Girl, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Wino and Girl, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Jewelry Craftsman, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979
"Jewelry Craftsman, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979
"Market People," Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979
"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market Items, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.
"Market Items, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Scam Alert!

Beware of this scammer trying to rip off artists:
From: James Adam
Hello,
I am making enquiry if you sell and ship internationally, 
specifically to our location here in the Bahamas.
In addition, I will appreciate if you can get back to me with your price list.
I had a look on your website already and you have a very 
good collection on there.
Looking forward to your quick response.
James Adam.

Stone Lithos from Art School

These were all done in a printmaking class at the University of Washington School of Art in 1980. The assignment was portraiture; they are all stone lithographs.

"Bogey." Stone Litho. 1980. 5x5 inches. Edition of Five.

"Marylin Monroe." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5

"Ernesto Guevara de La Serna Lynch." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5
"Marylin Monroe." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5

Friday, May 30, 2014

Cross MacKenzie Moves

Georgetown's Cross MacKenzie Gallery has moved to1675 Wisconsin Avenue NW and they're having a Grand Opening of their new space on June 6th from 6-8pm.
"We look forward to presenting our monthly exhibitions of exceptional emerging and established, local and nationally known artists, in this new space where the architecture creates a new context for the art we present. Architect William Teass designed a working space with every amenity from moving walls to an outdoor sculpture garden. Cross MacKenzie Gallery invites the community to join us for the inaugural exhibition."
 Their program for the 2014- 2015 Season:

July - August        Mary Armstrong & Angie To - Paintings
September -          Lyn Horton Drawings & Maren Kloppman clay sculpture
October -               Carole Bolsey Paintings, Sheryl Zacharia & StacySnyder ceramics
November -           GAS "Generic Art Solutions", photography interpreting art history
December -           Contemporary French Artists, with the Embassy of France
January   -             Hyun Kyung Yoon - Ceramics after Ai Wei Wei
March -                  Patrick Bermingham, "Bridges", Engineered and non-functional
June -                    Walter McConnell and Ferrin Contemporary's Jingdezhen potters

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Small is Beautiful


Andy Warhol

I remember this litho - it was done when I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art as part of printmaking class as a portrait assignment.

Andy Warhol - Lithograph by F. Lennox Campello. Edition of 5. 4x5 inches, circa 1980
"Andy Warhol." Lithograph. Edition of 5. 4x5 inches, circa 1980

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Dear Ebay: I told you so!

“Sir,” said the Ebay Support person on the phone, “We’re Ebay, and we’re pretty sure that no one can hack into our system.”

A few months ago, she was responding to my alarmed phone call, as I was pretty sure that someone was hacking into Ebay’s software and system to manipulate the online auction giant and further “hide” already hidden fake auctions designed as a smart phishing effort via Ebay’s apparent ironclad software.

As you may have read recently, a few days ago Ebay requested that all of its users change their passwords. This was as a result of a data breach in which “hackers figured out eBay employee credentials, which helped them gain access to the eBay database.”

Ebays admits now that “email addresses, phone numbers and other details were hacked.” 

But I have evidence from the recent past that hackers also potentially may have manipulated the Ebay auction software to use the auction site as a phishing vehicle.

This is how it all started, and here submitted for your consideration:

On January 27, 2014, I was sitting in Glen Echo while my son was in his music class. I was bored and surfing the net and logged onto Ebay. To my surprise I noticed almost a dozen messages in my Ebay inbox. I write “to my surprise,” because whenever I get an Ebay-generated message (either from Ebay or from an Ebay user sending the email from their Ebay account) I have a rule that automatically forwards it to my personal email account.

That’s exhibit (a) – There were multiple messages from Ebay users to my account, all dealing with the same 3-4 Ebay auctions and messages that were never forwarded to me. If I hadn’t logged onto my Ebay account, I would not have seen them... until it was too late! By the way, all auctions were about to end - they were seven day auctions and all were in day 5 or 6.

All the messages referred to the same assorted “auctions” that had been posted as if coming from my account. I have the word "auctions" in quotes because none of the auctions were mine, and also because all of them were cleverly designed to phish people out of their money. I quickly responded to all the emails warning the users that the auctions were a scam and had nothing to do with me.

The fake auctions had been created without my knowledge and had also somehow circumvented the Ebay notification system that sent an email to my account each time that a real auction lot is created under my account.

That’s exhibit (b) – Someone was able to create an Ebay listing under my account and at the same time prevented the Ebay software from notifying me that a new lot had been created.

The fake listings offered tech goods at ridiculous prices, such as Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15.4" GeForce, or a new Samsung 65" 3D Smart TV.

The hacker had cleverly inserted his email address (4iph55@gmail.com) into the image of the item being offered, highlighted it in yellow, and requested that interested bidders contact him directly prior to bidding. The incoming emails that were in my Ebay inbox (but not being forwarded to my regular email) were from interested bidders wanting to know why they needed to contact the person offering the lots. From reading the threads it was easy to see why…

The phishing scam artist was asking interested parties to wire him money directly, instead of bidding through the Ebay system. When users balked at this, and instead bid the “normal” way via the Ebay lot, he was then able to generate a fake Ebay email from checkout@ebayprotection.com to every single bidder, announcing to the victim that they had won the auction and requesting payment. He also offered next day UPS shipping at no additional cost.

Pretty cool uh? Dude is able to ship a 65" flat screen TV via next day UPS at no additional cost!

I immediately reported the fake auctions to Ebay, and they immediately cancelled them. Subsequently, throughout all this process, I was reporting all of these issues to Ebay via email, and receiving canned email responses from them. I then tried several times to report the issue via telephone, but each time I was assured by the Ebay telephone operator that there was no way that what I was describing could actually have taken place. They told me to change my password (Nevermind that I use really hard passwords: 16-20 mixed characters, and change them several times a year), but refused the logic of the events, or could not explain the technical reasons why these lots had all been posted without generating emails to me, or how the emails to my Ebay account had not been forwarded to me, and even more important --- and the key evidence of hacking into Ebay’s software: why these listings were not visible as my listings in MyEbay!

Exhibit (c) – The hacker was able to create listings using my account and yet they were not listed in MyEbay as my listings.

Working with some of the Ebay users who were nearly scammed, I was also able to piece together the identity of the scammer.

Name: Victor Stan Cornel
Email: 4iph55@gmail.com
Address : Al Solidarnisci Nr. 118/2 00-140 Warsaw Poland.
Bank Name : Millenium Bank
Bank Address : ul.Stanislawa Zaryna 2A 02-593 Warszawa Poland.
IBAN : PL 16 1160 2201 0000 0002 4729 3383
SWIFT : BIGBPLW

I passed all this information to Ebay, who ignored it… at least as far as I know, since I never received a response from them. I also contacted Millenium Bank in Poland and advised them of the issue. They promptly replied to me and passed that they were sending my email to the “right unit of our bank” and advised me to “report it to law enforcement bodies.” And thus I reported the whole event to Interpol, since this phishing mutant apparently lives (or at least has a bank account in Poland). I also tried a dozen ways to report to Google that a phishing scheme was being run from a Gmail account; not sure if I was successful.

Every single thing that I’ve written here has been exhaustively reported to Ebay. When the first telephone operator dismissed me, I called back, got a different operator and reported it all over again from scratch. When that also failed, I did it a third time.

After that I gave up.

And then a few days ago I read about the Ebay system breach. It apparently happened a while back, but Ebay just confirmed it.

Do you think these that two issues are related?

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

And this is why...

In the past I've harped as to the danger of grouping the Hispanic or Latino vote into one block, as if all people from the twenty-plus nations south of the border and in the Caribbean are all alike and all think alike.

Spanish is a perfect example... Below is an image of something being sold in a local Supermarket which caters to Central American shoppers... The item being offered is "chocho" - which I have no idea what this is, but I do know, that this is also the Puerto Rican slang for, ahem... a woman's private parts and easily a word forbidden on Spanish language radio on the island.

I Googled the word in Google Images, just for fun, and got a boatload of porn.

But here's a Central/South American "chocho"... cough, cough...


Sunday, May 25, 2014

DC Judge rules in favor of DC gallery

From DC's Charles Krause Reporting:
After two years of threats, refusing to meet with me or even tell me the nature of the complaints they had received, the Solo Piazza Condominium Board  where I live filed suit on March 16 to shut down the gallery I opened in December 2011.

The issue before the Court was whether an art gallery was an "accessory office use" permitted by the condominium's by-laws, which I was bound by when I purchased my apartment seven years ago. In letters to my attorney, Benny Kass, and to me before the suit was filed, the board changed its story a number of times about why it  was so opposed to allowing me to operate the gallery---especially after it learned that I had obtained a permit from the DC government giving me the right to do so.

Nonetheless, the board clearly expected to win the suit, allocating only $500 for legal fees in the building's 2014 budget (because the bylaws say that if the board has to go to court to enforce the bylaws and wins, the co-owner who loses has to pay both his own legal fees and the condominium's legal fees as well).

Pushing its luck even further, the board filed a motion for summary judgment shortly after it filed its complaint, arguing that since an art gallery  is obviously not an "office," the judge should execute summarily; obviously, they were thinking the judge would make short work of my gallery, not their credibility.

As it turned out, however, the only thing that was obvious about the board's complaint and its motion for summary judgment was that neither they nor their attorney had bothered to do the most basic legal research to determine how the word "office" is defined.  

What my attorneys at Kass, Mitek & Kass discovered, much to their surprise and very much to their credit, was that the word "office" had never been litigated before-- in which case the DC courts rely on Webster's Unabridged Dictionary to define legally undefined words for them.

And sure enough, Webster's defines "office" as "a place where a particular kind of business or  service for others is transacted."

So, dear friends and art aficionados, the judge denied the board's motion for a summary judgment and, instead, ruled in my favor. It's official: my home is now an office and my office is now a place where I can show and sell art that might not otherwise have a home if DC Superior Judge Michael O'Keefe hadn't found that the condo board where I have my home, my gallery and my office hasn't a clue what the bylaws mean nor the wit to look in a dictionary before they file a mean-spirited and expensive lawsuit contending that an art gallery isn't an office and therefore isn't a permitted "accessory office use" of my home office which, by the way, is located in a section of Washington that's an officially designated arts zone.

Is this the end? Probably not. But it's a good beginning.
Read the review of their current exhibit by Mark Jenkins in the WaPo here.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Lilith

"The Lilith." Watercolor on Paper. 7x5 inches matted and framed to 10x8 inches.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Congrats!

To DMV artist Tim Tate, winner of the 2014 Brilliance Award. Details here.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Opportunity for Artomatic 2012 Artists

Artists who participated in Artomatic 2012 are invited to exhibit in Artomatic Takes Flight opening July 25 in The Gallery Walk at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 

They'll send an email soon with details about the call for entries, online artist registration at noon on May 31, art drop off on the evening of July 18 and the morning of July 21 at the airport, and the reception on July 25.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

2015 Maryland Individual Artist Awards


The 2015 Maryland Individual Artist Award guidelines and application are now available. Applicants must be full-time Maryland residents. The funding categories for 2015 include: 
  • Non-Classical Music: Composition
  • Non-Classical Music: Solo Performance
  • Playwriting  
  • Visual Arts: Crafts 
  • Visual Arts: Photography   

All applications must be submitted online. Applicants can click here  to access the guidelines and application. The deadline for 2015 applications is 4:30 PM on Thursday, July 24, 2014.

The Maryland State Arts Council and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will offer three webinars for prospective Individual Artist Award applicants that will:
  
  • Address applicant eligibility, discipline categories, and work sample formats;
  • Provide instructions on how to complete the online application; and
  • Provide information on the submission of digital images for visual artists
Advance registration is required.
To register, please follow the link listed next to your desired webinar date.  

WEBINAR 1: June 19, 2014
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  
WEBINAR 2: June 21, 2014 
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 
WEBINAR 3: June 25, 2014 
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 
  
An instructional video to assist artists with the application process and work sample preparation guide is also available online here
Questions about Fellowships or webinar registration?
Please contact Kimberly Steinle-Super at kimberly@midatlanticarts.org 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

(e)merge art fair deadline approaching!

(e)merge art fair NOW ACCEPTING GALLERY, 
ARTIST APPLICATIONS ONLINE

The fourth edition of the (e)merge art fair will take place October 2-5, 2014, in Washington, DC, at the Rubell Family’s Capitol Skyline Hotel.

The DC region is home to one of the nation’s wealthiest, youngest, most highly educated populations. (e)merge provides inside access to a rapidly expanding cultural market with immense economic power.

EXHIBITOR PROSPECTUS (CLICK HERE)

ONLINE APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED

GALLERY PLATFORM APPLICATION (CLICK HERE)
The Gallery Platform application deadline is May 30 and notifications will be sent out in June.

Additional information on the EXHIBITOR SERVICES page: CLICK HERE

For additional questions/information:
info@emergeartfair.com


Monday, May 19, 2014

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Don't sign your next contract without reading this‏...

Contracts are everywhere. Whether you are a struggling artist, world renowned photographer or a gallery owner, you will be inundated with contracts from art dealers, agents, exhibitors, publishers, ad agencies, museums as well as non-art industry members like landlords and contractors. If contracts are supposed to make sure that both parties fulfill their obligations, then why are there so many …

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Send off Luncheon

The Prince George's African American Museum & Cultural Center at North Brentwood in conjunction with the Museums Connect Program, will host a Luncheon on June 7 from 11:30am to 2pm at the College Park Marriott and Conference Center.

The Luncheon is to honor the teen emissaries from the Museum's Culture Keepers program at the Suitland School for the Visual and Performing Arts who journeyed to Sao Paulo Brazil as part of the Department of State's Museums Connect program.  They will share their trip, the experiences they had and the historical research and art projects they produced with their counterparts in the Afro Museo in Sao Paulo. 

Guests will also enjoy the live Steel Drum music played by young students from Pan Jamboree and the wares of talented Arts District vendors for sale.

Luncheon Tickets will be available on line beginning Monday April 28th on the Museum website at PGAAMCC.ORG.

Luncheon Tickets are $45.00 - They encourage Table sponsors of $450 for groups of 10.  Because so many wish to support the wonderful work of these highly talented students, and they can only accommodate 220 guests, they encourage early ticket purchase.

Local artists are invited to display art work for sale during the luncheon. The cost per table for art displays are $100.

For more information contact: Ms. Tracey Jones, Director of Media and Public Programs at ttjones@pgaamcc.org

Friday, May 16, 2014

ART FAIRS: AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE IN THE ART WORLD?

Want to go to a panel discussion and reception held by the Fine Arts Committee of the New York State Bar Association Entertainment Arts & Sports Law Section?

Tuesday May, 27th from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Followed by a Wine and Cheese Reception 

Are brick and mortar art galleries the loss leaders in an art world, potentially spiraling beyond viable limits? More than ninety art fairs now define the rhythm of globalized art business. This development has profoundly altered the relationships amongst artists, gallerists, and collectors. 
The panel will explore and critique the impacts and challenges – legal, ethical and business – of the rise of art fairs. This is part of an initiative to create dialogue amongst lawyers, artists and emerging and established art professionals working in the primary or secondary markets.

Cost for the event is $15 including reception.
Registration is
 here

Panelists:
Gallerist Elizabeth Dee will report on the chances and risks that the art fairs impose, in light of the ambitious expansion that her gallery has recently embraced and her perspective as co-founder of Independent, New York.

Attorney Richard M. Lehun of Stropheus Art Law will examine the plethora of ethical and business issues that art fair participants confront.

Attorney Nicholas M. O'Donnell, a litigation partner at Sullivan & Worcester LLP, will present on the legal issues that art fairs carry with them.

Gallerist Edward Winkleman will offer an overview of the research he is conducting on art fairs in preparation for his upcoming book "Selling Contemporary Art: How to Navigate the Evolving Market" (Allworth Press).

The panel will be moderated by attorney, educator, mediator, and arbitrator Judith B. Prowda, Faculty at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and author of Visual Arts and the Law: A Handbook for Professionals (Lund Humphries 2013).

Heard on Univision

Every once in a while there's a commercial in Univision, where the voice over (in Spanish of course) has a "fake" accent - that is, the voice over is in Spanish as it would be spoken by a stereotypical American person who has learned Spanish.

But it is not a "real" accent, but a fake accent.

It's rather odd.

Language USA

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Help Fund Elise's Wedding

So... I've romanced the stone and pulled the first litho proof of this new set of 10 signed and numbered Frida Kahlo portraits. It is matted in a white, pH-balanced acid free museum mat and then framed under glass in an austere black wood frame to a 16x12 inches size. 

Want it? 

Then help fund my daughter Elise Campello's wedding and send her an offer via email and the highest offer by May 25th gets it! As the first proof, this piece is thus unique.

Email her here.

Frida Kahlo - Artist Proof - 2014 by F. Lennox Campello

Frida Kahlo - Artist Proof - 2014 by F. Lennox Campello

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Nazi Art Hoarder Dies: So Who Gets the Art?

Cornelius Gurlitt, the infamous son of a Nazi art dealer, died on Tuesday at the age of 81. Gurlitt shocked the world when German police found 1,280 works from venerated artists like Picasso, Chagall and Matisse, in his Munich apartment, many of which were believed to be stolen Holocaust-era Nazi loot. The German government had been holding the works, researching their provenance in an attempt to return them to their rightful owners but Gurlitt been fighting to have these works returned to his possession. Unless proven otherwise, the works remain Gurlitt’s property. With very little progress made in discovering the provenance of these works, legal pressures had been building to return the works to Gurlitt.
Read the fascinating article here.

Monday, May 12, 2014

My suggestions for the new US Women's History Museum

This may be a surprise to some, but I don’t think that having a new US History Women’s Museum is a good idea.


Nothing against women; if you read this blog consistently, then you know that I am generally against any and all museums that segregate people by race (there are several race-centric museums in the US), ethnicity (such as the planned National Museum of the American Latino in DC), gender (such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC), or any other label, instead of leading efforts to incorporate those same people into the major museums.


And yes, I do get the point that many of those “other major museums” are essentially mostly focused on mostly men from or of European ancestry.


My original opening argument and position usually falls on deaf ears, and DC’s only Frida Kahlo painting remains in the NMWA instead of the National Gallery of Art, where it belongs. 


Nonetheless, it is my position and I’ve become used to people reacting to it by attacking me, rather than my ideas. That is, unfortunately, collateral spillage from the toxic political dialogue between the vast right wing conspiracy and the even vaster left wing nuthouse: If you disagree with someone’s political ideas/position, then you attack the person, rather than debate the ideas/position.


The new US History Women’s Museum will be built, regardless of what I think, and as such, here are some early suggestions, cough, cough…


First and foremost, mostly progressive, liberal women are allowed to be honored and included in the museum, regardless of any “firsts” or historical contributions that any overtly Republican or Conservative woman has ever made to American history. We’re not sure of Betsy Ross’ political leanings or most of those Revolutionary War women, so they’re OK, as long as the DAR is not too enthused about any particular one of them.


Contemporary women are another issue and the one where all the headlines will be made.


As such, in spite of the remarks that she made about Barack Obama, Geraldine Ferraro must be included and honored as the first woman VP candidate from a major party; but Crom save the poor curator who suggests even mentioning Sarah Palin! Second doesn’t count anyway... right?

However, because of Ms. Ferraro's Obamistic remarks, the whole female VP part of US women's history may have to be skipped all together... cough, cough...


Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman to serve in Congress, and she’ll probably need to be included, even though she was a Republican. But since that was in 1917, those were the “good” Republicans back then, so she’ll be OK. 


All the other such female political “firsts” will of course need to be there – after all they led the way: Hattie Wyatt Caraway (first elected female Senator), Nellie Tayloe Ross (first female elected governor of a state),  Esther Morris (first female judge in the US)… and so on.


Mrs. Clinton hasn’t accomplished any firsts… yet… and may have to wait and see if she gets elected in the next elections to deserve inclusion in the museum… unless Senator Elizabeth Warren decides to run also and somehow beats Mrs. Clinton and then wins the Presidential election and will thus become not only the first female President, but also the first Native American President… cough, cough…


The museum will then, in order to be progressive, have to include also female firsts according to race and ethnicity.


And in the race category, no one deserves to be there more in these segregated categories than the vibrant Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress – and in 1972 not only the first woman, but the first African American (period) whose name was nominated for President. 

She was also my Congresswoman when I lived in Brooklyn and my Congressional sponsor for the US Naval Academy. She nominated me in 1977 (and I was accepted and offered an appointment!) for the class of 1981 – I declined the appointment and instead went on to the University of Washington. When Chisholm found out, she called me and yelled at me for half an hour on the phone and damned near changed my mind. She is one of my personal heroes! If Shirley is not highlighted in this museum, I will be pissed!


The first Latina elected to Congress will be hugely problematic to include, as she is the fiery, brilliant (and very right wing) Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; a fellow peeps Cuban-American and another personal hero of mine. I suspect that she will barely get a mention. Five gets you ten that California’s very cute Loretta Sanchez gets more attention (even though California’s Lucille Roybal was elected first, and no, I am not objectifying congresswomen…).


Susana Martinez, also a Republican, will be also an issue… she’s the first Latina elected to be a governor of a US state… What’s with these Republicans electing all these minority women first? That's no way to win a war... Cough, cough...


And what will the museum do about Condoleezza Rice? After all, according to Rutgers University Professor Francois Cornilliat (who is apparently not a fan of free speech), she’s “not a role model”, and 50 or so opinionated Rutgers students think that she is a “war criminal” … Sorry Condie… cough, cough.


Sally Ride, the first American woman in space should be there… is that the best astronaut name ever? 


Mae Jamison, first African American woman in space and Ellen Ochoa, first Latina in space, will also be there… other possibilities are first Jewish woman in space, first Asian-American, etc.


Nanny Pelosi, as the first female Speaker of the House is a shoo-in and rightly deserves to be there, will be there, and it better be a damned good spot!


Although all the high schools and streets are named after Cesar Chavez, once you do a little research, one realizes that Dolores Huerta actually carried a lot of the load, did a lot of the organizing and seldom got the credit that Chavez did; reserve a spot for Huerta.


Military US women who paved the way for today’s sailors, soldiers and airwomen should also be honored and a special scientific spot as well should be reserved for Admiral Grace Hopper.


And they better have a friggin’ good spot for the incredible Civil War exploits of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, the Cuban woman otherwise known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford during the war.  Think of how many angles the museum can cover with that selection!


Will female entertainers be part of the museum? That will be entertaining to see… 

I'm pretty sure that today's Hollywood does not allow any Conservative woman to become a leading star, so we should be pretty safe from debate with anyone from the 60s onward.


If entertainers are included, don’t forget Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino  in Brooklyn) as she can cover the Hispanic angle as her father was from Spain, but not the Latina angle, as her father was… ahem, from Spain, and as some people know, Spain is actually in Europe and not Latin America… cough, cough.


Female athletes will be easy: Sports Illustrated has already assembled a list of the top 100 female athletes ever – just pick the Americans out of the list.


If only everything was that easy!


Good luck to the US History Women’s Museum; I know that your intentions are good, but you should have fought better to have American women contributions to American history better represented in the American History Museum, rather than segregating women in their own museum.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival this weekend

This festival is one of the best ranked outdoor fine arts festivals in the nation...

It is this weekend around the Woodmont triangle in Bethesda... All free and plenty of parking.

Details at www.bethesda.org

Friday, May 09, 2014