Turkey Day

American's have come to celebrate thanksgiving as a time for thanks and giving
instead of what it originally stood for, the destruction of a civilization
that had survived for centuries in harmony. Well there are pros and cons to this
holiday I guess. Yes, it can be argued, "survival of the fittest", or hey look at the
amazing country that resulted from all those battles with the Native Americans. But then why is our present day government, who chooses to hide all the ugly little stains it has earned a long it rule, choose to keep immigrants out of it's borders? If you ask me there shouldn't even exist the word "immigrant", I mean it's not like Americans actually own this country. Just because they killed and enslaved people to get here doesn't make things right. The fact that different races such as African American, Latino's, etc, will make up most of the American population in a couple of years makes me smile. I see it as Karma, you take of their country, okay, cool, then we'll come and take over yours. Oh and I'm not saying we shouldn't have thanksgiving at all, I'm just saying remember the holiday as what really happened. Some crooks and murders lead by a guy who wasn't supposed to find anything stumbled onto some nice little patch of land on which he decided to claim for his own. He brought with him the precious gifts of disease and death, then proceeded to destroy the nature and people without pity. May I remind you that history books have actually made the Native American seem like a mindless savage, even though they were far more advanced than Europeans. There is evidence that the Native Americans had communication with one another, had medicinal technology beyond that of Europe, and never had wars on the scale of those going on in the "civilized" world.


Thank you mass media, pseudo politicians, and simple minded folks who
uphold beliefs based on faith that there fantasy
world doesn't need to be explained. We couldn't of dumbed down my generation
without your generous contributions.

The Beauty of Slow

We're often told by our peers how we're a lazy generation of kids that do nothing but lay around and soak up the sun like some withering plant in it's little cramped pot. So grunting and with little trails of steam pouring out of our heads we trudge towards our tasking, inhaling with drudgery filled lungs.

Well I don't see anything wrong in taking your time, in living up every moment that you can. I see all these so called "adults" scrambling around worse than bee's at a hive. I mean at least BEES, insects with brains smaller than our pinkie's, have the capability of stopping to smell the flowers every day.


What has humanity created for itself? It seems to me like every day that we make bigger buildings, more intricate roads, and more dastardly ideas of what seperates us from the general natural world. Who ever gave us the right to consider ourselves better than other living things?

We go about our lives, squishing the bugs that get in our way. I think if anything
we're the lowest life forms out there. We have all this power, to make the world better not just for our children and for ourselves, but for every organism. It seems like we've made it common to believe that if you don't have a voice, it doesn't matter what the world decides to do to you.


I cringe at the idea of speeding up my life so it can fit into yours. But I also understand that it must occur for this is what my society demands from me in order to be a valuable member in it's ever growing sticky little web. The thing is, if everyone keeps trying to catch up to that moving car that is slowly picking up the miles it travels in an hour, well, someone's bound to trip and fall towards pain and suffering.


I just hope it isn't me.

So, please take time out of your day to see how when you stare up at the clouds it seems like the world stopped moving. Or take the time to raise up your arms as a cool breeze wraps itself around you. Trust me, the feeling of knowing your alive instead of hearing about it on some television screen is oh so gratifying, euphoria galore if you ask me.

The Love Movement :)<3

MISSION:

The Love Movement was established with one concept in mind, to make a difference. A collaborative effort of public art and gallery work by a group of designers, artists, and teachers from different backgrounds, TLM's mission is simple, to create art that critiques and pokes fun at society and pop culture while also drawing awareness to the current state of the world. Often using discarded materials, TLM creates something new by destroying something old, by creating beauty from that which society leaves discarded to decay. The Love Movement has been known to make a difference in our society. Through their art sales, TLM provided a fresh water well in the African country of Benin; and payed for the school supplies, transportation, and fees for the children in Colby, Benin and Bali, Indonesia.


I had known about this website for a while now, glancing at there amazing
messages portrayed through mediums. A lot of people talk about change, a lot
speak of how they could cause it, but very few ever know what it means to BE change.
So if you're waiting on your friends to come pick you up or if your just having
trouble finding something to do, then go on http://www.tlmphilly.com/index.html
and look through their artist influenced merch( merchandise for those of us that
aren't up to date) and buy something you like. It'll make ya happy to know
you aren't just being selfish, you're also helping someone out half way around the
world!

I promise, it won't let ya down, they have some pretty "cool" stuff

Fox News and Their so called "reporting"

While this is really amusing. It’s scary and wrong that people are treating this as news or journalism.
The American people deserve better than this. The media should be a tool for the people to have access to information, question authority, and gain knowledge.
Fox should be ashamed of themselves and so should the American public at what has happened to the media in this country.
Notice in the end he says NYC is “under control” and indeed it is.

It's about the feeling they're trying to convey....

Herbert Baglione was recently interviewed in his native São Paulo, Brazil from The Run UP series by Fifty24SF Gallery and Upper Playground. The video is just shy of eight minutes, but this short packs a huge punch in that time, as Baglione talks about his past, his perception of the world, the deeper meaning behind his aesthetic, and why he sees chaos as inherently void.
“When you start to realize the immensity of things and their value, like the relationship between the sand and water, the sea, the ocean itself, you see that everything that you do, your work, are such small things,” the painter muses. “There isn’t a reason why there should be this tension between egos…this thing that exists in the graffiti world.”
Baglione continues, “I have two aims when I work: to prevent conflict on one hand but also seeking to create new ones.”

Rise Above

I was looking through my favorite website
today like i always try to do and I stumbled upon
some witty graffiti done by an artist who goes by the
alias "ABOVE"

The first video is on the stock market and the second is about John McCain:


WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN from ABOVE on Vimeo.






TRICK OR TREATING AT THE McCAIN'S from ABOVE on Vimeo.



Personally I find them as out of the box methods of speaking out
which don't tell viewers "This means I'm mad", but
allows them to critically think. And anyone who can accomplish
that in today's world, I highly admire.

Should I ignore you?

I was just having a conversation with my younger brother because neither
of us were really in the mood to do our homework and we kind of
got carried away


he asked me:


" If I must be aware of my surroundings and contemplate
different perspectives and at the same time I should
surround myself with higher intellectuals, how
do I deal with the majority I cross paths with?"

I didn't know how to reply,

should we ignore the people who we believe to be
of no help to the evolving of our ideas?

or must we always be open to anyone's views?

But by anyone I mean that girl in your class you
know only watches Paris Hilton series on MTV and
describes everything as "cool"

I mean, should these kind of people deserve a minute
of our attention?

The World Is in Your Hands

After class today I went up to my friend Virginia
and asked her what she planned to do later in life


It's kinda of sad to say, but we both don't have a
clue

We know what we want, she wanted a coffee shop, I
want an art studio

The thing is how do we get there?

I mean there both professions that are not supported
by our vast economy, I know for a fact that in
my adventure to accomplish what I love there
will be times where I probably will have little to eat,
a cramped place to sleep, and no hope what so ever.

But I'm perfectly fine with that, in fact, I think I'm looking
forward to living instead of talking about living.
I want those experiences, I want to face the world with my fist
held high in the air


We both came to the conclusion, my friend and I, that as long
as we can have enough money to do what we love, we'll be happy.


Maybe that will force us to take 2 years of community college
because we don't have the money to go to where we want to study,
we'll probably work our asses off, but to achieve what we have been
dreaming about, any sacrifice seems so minuscule I'm willing to take one the world.


I still remember the day I realized that I wanted to go to
Pratt Institute of art and design, it felt like a weight had been
lifted off of my chest, I knew what i wanted, there wasn't a drop
of doubt in my mind. The feeling of not knowing how to get there,
that to enjoy a decent life one must conform to the practical
like doctors, lawyers, and politicians... it's just irrational

Why should I do something because of my monetary gain?
Who decided what i should learn and what a shouldn't?

I'm going to go out and be who I want to be, an artist
with my own gallery down in Arch Street in Philadelphia's
Chinatown


How much are you willing to give to get to where you want to be?

Are you willing to change you aspirations if it means
earning more money, and does that define you as a sell out?

well...

What do you call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, magnanimity, forgiveness? Different results of the one master impulse: the necessity of securing one's self-approval.

Selling Out The Revolution

Raffaella Delle Donne is an amazing writer and activist that contributed the Faith47 feature to our current special African Art (November 2008) issue. Raffaella currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa and recently wrote about her experience of being charged with defacing public property for spraying “free art” on the bridges of “the Mother City.” It’s pretty crazy stuff. Raffaella explains:
“A couple of years ago, in protest against the barrage of proposed by-laws that boasted a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to all our social ills by banning everything from graffiti to the homeless, a friend and I were charged with defacing public property for spraying ‘free art’ on the bridges of the Mother City.
“Because we were middle-class whities and upstanding members of the community, our little escapade got lots of media attention (isn’t graffiti code language for gangsters?) and fuelled the debate around the shortsightedness of Draconian laws that threatened to turn two already marginalized groups into criminals: the youth and the poor.”
The entire piece is enthralling, and provides a much-needed look at foreign government’s policies on graffiti and street art. If the up cropping of zero tolerance laws frustrates you, you’re not the only one. “Our protest wasn’t just about graffiti, we were demanding to know why our leaders aren’t providing viable, long-term solutions to uplift the communities that need it most.”
Read Raffaella’s Selling(Out) the Revolution on her blog at mouth-of-word.blogspot.com
Image from Raffaella’s blog courtesy Adbusters.


When would you consider someone's protests as taken too far?
Why would you not support another person's fight to get there
point across? If more of us out there actually took the time
to listen to people, don't you think that a smaller amount of them
would be forced to take there fights to extremes that involve violence?
Or do you believe that anger, and causing conflict are the only methods
of actually bringing attention from an other wise vegetative state audience
that is our society?

Reality of a Figment of our Imagination?

The question of nature over nurture constantly arises
in my psychology class

The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature", i.e. nativism, or philosophical empiricism, innatism) versus personal experiences ("nurture") in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.

others believe that the very question is out dated because in life we
have found that a bit of both is needed


what I have always wondered is, can the belief in a higher
power be considered as a pert of nurture, something that is
learned due to the way society thinks? Or is it naturally wired
into your brains, thus making the idea of "god" nothing more
than the result hormones and neurons influencing our minds,
which we lazily leave on autopilot most of the time?

New America

do you believe it's sensible for America to search for
a new form of currency to solve it's monetary problems?