Observations from a Mesa

11/20 Yesterday I spent my afternoon writing long piece on the aftermath of Al Franken’s mistake for which he has apologized but I have decided not to publish it. It is time to move on but still I am troubled by something Carl Bernstein, on Real Time with Bill Maher, called our inability to contextualize. As I take it he means that we are having trouble differentiating between a man who made a mistake and a serial molester which is why Franken’s name is lumped in with likes of Moore, Weinstein, Weiner, Louis C.K., et al. My concerns don’t end there. There are calls for a national conversation for which Charles Blow called “a man problem.” In order for there to be any kind discussion we have to go beyond simplifying and say that it is a societal problem and that needs to be addressed by all of us including women. We are all part of the problem as we are all part of the solution. Women are being listened to and being heard and that is good thing but my fear is that the pendu...

11/16/17 You know what? Forget terrorists, Russia, mass shooters, Kim Jung-Il, ISIS, al Qaeda or any other group you wish to include that wishes to do the US harm, the ones threatening our way of life or perhaps the security of our country are Republicans.  Their huge giveaway to American oligarchs promises to add at least $1.5 trillion to the country’s debt. In order to get away with this they are calling it middle class tax cut but the middle class when all the facts and figures are considered a majority of us will end up paying more. Why? The GOP is proposing cutting the ACA mandate that all Americans have insurance. Also, every indication points to them wanting to make deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Can Social Security be next and if so the whole safety net could be in tatters. When the Obama proposed the ACA Republicans cried that there would be death panels, something long ago debunked, but the GOP has become a death panel, endangering the very things that a...

11/15 An acquaintance and I were talking about the latest revelations and allegation of sexual harassment and realized that while we had a word for men abusing or hating women we didn’t know of a word for women abusing, harassing or hating men. Later yesterday I did some checking online and discovered there is a word. The opposite of misogyny is misandry. In its original meaning and form the word simply the hatred of other men, but today misandry means, according to dictionary.com , “hatred of males.”

11/13 What some people get wrong about sexual harassment is this; we are all victims. Why? Because with each new revelation it gets harder to trust each other. Men whether they have done anything wrong or not get painted with the same broad generalization by some women.  Lets not forget that some women also harass men in the workplace. It may be not as common or reported as frequently as men harassing women but it does happen even if it is not considered sexual harassment it is based on gender. I know because I have personally experienced it. Let’s all take a deep breath realize there are bad people out there and they need to be dealt with but not everyone is bad.

11/8 After the mass shooting at a church in Texas a friend asked why there is so much hate and I do want to address the subject but first I have couple of thoughts. It is obvious now that the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas was not so much an act of hate but one in which mental illness played an outsized role. We can’t even say the family of the shooter ignored his illness as evidence now points to the fact they were trying to make sure he was taking his medications to combat the illness.  Also, two major factors contributed to what in Sutherland Springs. The Air Force failed to register the shooter as an abuser which would have barred him from getting any guns. The second factor is the proliferation of and the ease of buying guns in our country. Now back to the question of hate. We all have to acknowledge that hate is part of the human condition and that everyone single one of us is capable of hate. Some say that they hate vegetables, (my favorites to hate a...

10/30 I was astonished today to see that the controversy surrounding Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket” has not abated. As I was going through Facebook postings it popped up, (I haven’t been able to find it since). At first I thought it was new article on ArtNet but then I checked and it was an article from July 28 but the postings were from a just few hours ago.  In the postings the same arguments were made being when Schutz’s entry into the Whitney Biennial after the first outcry. My response to most of the allegations again the artist follow: That Dana Schutz painted the picture to promote herself. Wrong. Schutz had already gained a reputation in the art world for her work and is well respected. She had already placed her name among the best of contemporary artists. That she wished to profit from the painting. Wrong. According to the artist the painting was not for sale and never will be. That ICA, Boston rewarded her for painting “Open Casket” which some claim is ...