Killer cats, man. They’re out to get you. Don’t turn your back. Don’t let your guard down. You’ll LIVE TO REGRET IT! Thirteen pics of the foulest, most black-hearted fiends EVER after the jump. (via Bored Panda)
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Check out some GIFs from last night’s episode of Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce! “What a triflin’ son of a gun?!” New episodes of Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce every Wednesday night on Fuse!
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Filmmaker Albert Maysles died yesterday at the age of 88. He and his brother David are probably most famous for the 1973 documentary, Grey Gardens. (It is being re-released by Criterion Films.) They were played by Arye Gross and Louis Ferreira in the 2009 feature film, along side stars Jessica Lange as Big Edie and Drew Barrymore who is SO good as Little Edie. She does an amazing job, huh? (You too, Jinx.) Watch.
Grey Gardens is on TCM this Sunday night.
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Check out the latest videos from our WOWPresents Network! Bobbie Binz, Kiki Vlog, Xander Jeanneret, Skarlet Starlet, and SO MANY MORE all have new videos! Watch all these and more right now on the WOW Report!
Here are the latest videos from our fabulous partners! Make sure you subscribe to their channels for new videos!
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I really don’t know how I can be any more emphatic about it: This mashup fearturing a colorful group of cybergoths raving out to the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song is the happiest thing you will see all day and I urge you to drop everything and watch it now.
From Dangerous Minds:
A few years ago, a bunch (a gaggle? a band? a flashmob?) of cybergoth kids met beneath a bridge underpass for an impromptu daytime dance party. They went viral. Little did they know, in an alternate future universe, they were really waving their glow sticks to the whimsical theme song of Thomas the Tank Engine, that accursed kiddie show which parents despise almost as much as Barney.
It. Is. EVERYTHING.
For extra credit: Check out Thomas the Tank Engine + DMX “X Gon Give It to Ya” below
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Jodie Harsh answers the queens questions! This weeks topics include jet lag, packing a wig for traveling, pimples, social media, and getting along with other drag queens with Duo Raw, Rhuma Hazzet, Carnie Asada, and Silver Summers. New episodes of #DragQueenProblems on Fridays! Click over to watch!
Previous Episodes:
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Check out the amaaaaazing frozen hairdos from this year’s International Hair Freezing contest held at Takhini Hot Springs in the Yukon. To enter, all you have to do is visit the hot springs, freeze up your hair in the 20 BELOW temperatures, and post a picture of it to the business’ Facebook wall, for a $150 cash prize.
Yukon residents Miléna Georgeault and Maxime Gouyou Beauchamps, and Fanny Caritte, a friend from France, appear in this year’s winning photo with their frozen hair standing every which way.
Georgeault’s hair took approximately half an hour to style, she told CBC News. “We put a lot of work into our hair,” Georgeault said.
Takhini Hot Pools manager Andrew Umbrich said that people can pull off their hairstyles by laying strands on the side of the pool so it can freeze. Participants can then move and shape it more easily. Typical freezing time? Just under a minute.
Frozen hair should be a mini-challenge on next season’s Drag Race, don’t you think?
(via HuffPo and Oddity Central)
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Singer/songwriter/dancer/choreographer Bobby Newberry dazzles in vintage pieces from Balmain, Hermes, and Cèline in the fiercely sensual music video “Flight from Paris.” The video costars humpy Yanis Marshall (you know: The Stiletto Dancer) and pop provocateur Porcelain Black (who is a fixture on the WOW Best Dressed List), as well as a slew of fashionable disco dollies, all primping and preening in the world’s most decadent nightclub.
“We were going for an underground European sexy Eyes Wide Shut vibe,” Newberry explains to Out magazine. “Fashion-forward, chic, and exclusive.”
Which they certainly accomplished. Check it out below.
Below is an excerpt from Bobby’s interview with OUT about the video shoot:
Out: Where was the video shot? How much prep time was there when choreographing/working on the video.
Newberry: We shot the video at Beso Hollywood which is one of L.A.’s hottest restaurants. This video actually came together very quickly… I wrote “Flight From Paris” with Intyce two weeks before we shot the video—which is a super quick turn around. I worked with Yanis Marshall for one full day to create the choreography, and then we had two rehearsals with the dancers. The next day we shot the video it was definitely hectic.
Tell us a little about the styling and fashion. Especially that black pleated skirt!
The video was styled by Jonathan Burdine. The black leather kilt was his idea, and it is my favorite moment in the video actually. We used pieces from Balmain, Cèline, Dolce & Gabbana, and mixed them up with Zara, Top Shop, and vintage pieces, as well as some Jonathan Burdine originals.
Why did you decide to collaborate with Porcelain Black?
I’ve known Porcelain for about six years now. I was brought in to do her choreography for her music video with Lil’ Wayne “This Is What Rock N Roll Looks Like.” I also choreographed her tour performances when she was on the I AM music tour with Lil’ Wayne and Nicki Minaj. We became really good friends and always support each other. So I asked her if she’d be in the video with me, and she was like, “Yeah! Of course!” Which is amazing because she looks so MAJOR in the video!
Was this the first time you’d met or danced with Yanis?
I actually did a workshop in Paris about five years ago, and he came to it and we met then. He’s been a supporter of mine from the beginning, and I think he’s soooo talented and such an awesome person. We’ve been planning on working together on something for a while now and this ended up just coming together so perfectly.
He’s known for dancing in heels, but there’s seem to be more comfortable footwear featured in this choreography.
I wore boots in the video, which were actually not that comfortable, LOL. Yanis was in heels the entire day, naturally. I have danced in heels many times. It’s definitely fun—but not my steez.
Newberry’s passion for dance originated during youth, as he struggled with being young and gay in an underprivileged home. He taught himself dance as an outlet and earned a scholarship to a prestigious dance studio. Fast forward a decade or so… Bobby is now known best for his choreography and has an outstanding list of credits spanning live/stage, TV and music videos including: the Pussycat Dolls, Eminem,Girlicious, Jessie & the Toyboys, Porcelain Black, Lil’ Wayne, Taylor Dayne, Eva Longoria for Bebe, Missy Elliott, Jody Watley, Aaron Kwok, and most recently with Eden (he choreographed her live performance for Good Morning on America on February 23) to name a few. His television credits include: X Factor, Dancing with the Stars, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman and America’s Got Talent. He even won a VMA for Best Dance Video with the Pussycat Dolls.
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I don’t know. I don’t know. Far be it from me to call something “tasteless” or “shocking for the sake of being shocking” but maaaaaaaaybe this new domestic violence ad is crossing some sort of line. In a creepy attempt at cashing in on the viral frenzy surrounding the Gold & White/Blue & Black dress, The Salvation Army in South Africa launched a campaign featuring a woman covered in bruises wearing the dress. “Why is it so hard to see black and blue?” reads the tagline, with copy that states, “The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in 6 women are victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women.”
Seriously. Tasteless clickbait or powerful social commentary? You decide.
From HuffPo:
“We know that one in four women are victims of domestic violence in the U.K.,” a spokesperson said in a press release. “This innovative and powerful campaign by The Salvation Army in South Africa highlights that domestic violence is often overlooked by society. We hope this image helps people to see the true impact of this crime.”
The ad was created by the Johannesburg-based Ireland/Davenport agency, who offered it completely free to the Salvation Army.
“We wanted to take advantage of the hype of the meme to spread awareness for something important,” Ireland/Davenport creative director Wihan Meerhloz told ABC News. “Our creative team brainstormed ways to send a greater message about overlooked abuse against women using the dress.”
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Now in its 12th year, Outfest Fusion is the only multicultural LGBT film festival of its kind and will be held March 13th – 14th at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Outfest Fusion is presented by HBO and is supported by NBCUniversal and Nielsen. This year: A new digital restoration of Paris Is Burning, the worldwide premiere of Bamby Salcedo’s Ascendance: Angels Of Change about the trans youth group she runs at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and writer, director and producer Rose Troche (Go Fish, The Safety of Objects, The L Word) will receive the 2015 Fusion Achievement Award.
For complete listings and to purchase tickets, log on to www.Outfest.org/fusion2015 or call 213-480-7088.
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
FRIDAY, MARCH 13
7:00pm – EXCLUSIVE TELEVISION EVENT: EMPIRE (Egyptian Theatre – Rigler)
7:30pm – STORIES OF OUR LIVES (Egyptian Theatre – Spielberg)
9:00pm – PARIS IS BURNING – New Digital Restoration! (Egyptian Theatre – Rigler)
9:30pm – DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (Egyptian Theatre – Spielberg)
SATURDAY, MARCH 14
2:00pm – THE YEAR WE THOUGHT ABOUT LOVE (Egyptian Theatre – Spielberg)
3:00pm – EAT WITH ME (Egyptian Theatre – Rigler)
4:00pm – I AM HAPPINESS ON EARTH (Egyptian Theatre – Spielberg)
5:00pm – ASCENDANCE: ANGELS OF CHANGE (Egyptian Theatre – Rigler)
6:00pm – DOCUMENTARY SHORTS (Egyptian Theatre – Spielberg)
8:00pm – FUSION GALA & ACHIEVEMENT AWARD PRESENTATION (Egyptian Theatre – Rigler)
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I’m sorry, on all fronts. I hesitated posting this. It makes me sick and sad, but this is so barbaric, the world needs to know it’s happening. ISIS militants in Syria have thrown yet another young man to his death from a building after accusing him of being gay. These sickening photographs, posted by the Daily Mail, show a huge crowd in the street and clambering on to rooftops to get a better view to watch the murder. The blindfolded man is dragged to the roof of the tallest building in the neighbourhood by the militants, who use mobile phones to film him being thrown to his death. The images were released by local activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, who work undercover in the there to expose the terror group’s atrocities.
Similar images were released in January and February of men being thrown from ‘the highest point in the city’ following accusations of homosexuality. Both of these men somehow survived the fall but were then stoned to death by the crowds gathered below. The horrible men responsible for these killings are the lowest of the low, but what might be even worse are the hundreds watching and doing nothing. The year is 2015. Just a reminder, a sad one.
(via Daily Mail)
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Phyllis Schlafly has a message for the LGBT community: Don’t believe for a minute that the Supreme Court’s decision in June on marriage equality, no matter how positive, will diminish the crusade against LGBT equality. Schlafly has a gay son too, btw. John Schlafly was revealed to be gay in the in the early ’90s, but defends his mother and continues to work for her. She explains that her son
“supports me in everything I do”
… including fighting what she views as the dangers of “the gay agenda.”
“The gays have their argument about inevitability. I don’t think that’s so… I’m extremely disappointed that the Republican Party, the conservative movement, even the Democratic Party and the churches, have been saying, ‘Well soon the court will decide, and that will be it.’ Well, a lot of people thought that about Roe v. Wade, and we’ve seen the whole abortion movement turned around in the last ten years.
We should develop all kinds of strategies — legal strategies, legislative strategies and public opinion strategies, in order to reject the rules of, in many cases, a single judge or just a simply majority of judges. I do believe the grass roots can take back the Republican Party… These kingmakers… they’re the people who really want us to be bipartisan and get along with everybody. But that’s not the American way. Americans believe in the adversarial concept.”
Those who like to fight like adversaries, don’t they? Not to be mean, but this hateful old lady will be dead soon enough, however, others will take up her fight… but for what reason except for some vague religious beliefs, I cannot fathom? (via Huffington Post)
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At the Planet Fitness in Midland, Michigan a transphobic female member complained about a trans woman using the locker room. Yvette Cormier, a member at the Midland location, says she had no idea what that even meant until a few days ago:
“I was stunned and shocked. He looked like a man.. He did not look like a woman. This is very unprofessional. This is very scary. They told me … that he was allowed in there because that’s the sex he wants to be.”
Unclear why the “man” was in the women’s locker room, Cormier says she complained to the front desk and later to corporate offices. In the trans-member’s defense, Planet Fitness put its advertised “no judgment” policy into practice and revoked Cormier’s membership for violating that ideal. Cormier says she no longer cares about getting her membership back but she’s launched a public crusade against Planet Fitness and its inclusive policy. But they are sticking to their guns, according to this just-released statement:
“Planet Fitness is committed to creating a non-intimidating, welcoming environment for our members. Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use all gym facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity.
In expressing her concerns about the policy, the member in question exhibited behavior that club management deemed inappropriate and disruptive to other members, which is a violation of the membership agreement and as a result her membership was cancelled.”
Good for PF! Everyone is learning, some the hard way, Yvette. (via Instinct)
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We’ve been following Missy Elliot’s new pop/hip hop protégé Sharaya J for a couple of years now. Back in 2013 she put out club banger Banji (an acronym for “Be Authentic Never Jeopardize Individuality), produced by Elliot, with cheeky lyrics like “If he gotta girl, bet I can make you leave her”. But since then, we haven’t heard much from the Jersey girl. That’s all about to change. The 30 y/o rapper who grew up in the animated NYC ballroom scene, walking for the House of Lebeija in Face and Runway categories, is hoping to bring that same frentic energy back to the dance floors. “I know for sure that we need to start dancing again”, says Sharaya. “It’s a way to express yourself, to get away from problems, to just be real and work it all out on the dance floor with your people.” Sharaya J’s debut album is due out this month. (via The Fader)
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President Obama spoke before thousands yesterday at a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the events of “Bloody Sunday” when over 600 non-violent protesters were attacked by Alabama state troopers as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. It’s one for the history books, it’s worth reading in its entirety. 50 years from now, they’ll be quoting from it:
It is a rare honor in this life to follow one of your heroes. And John Lewis is one of my heroes.
Now, I have to imagine that when a younger John Lewis woke up that morning fifty years ago and made his way to Brown Chapel, heroics were not on his mind. A day like this was not on his mind. Young folks with bedrolls and backpacks were milling about. Veterans of the movement trained newcomers in the tactics of non-violence; the right way to protect yourself when attacked. A doctor described what tear gas does to the body, while marchers scribbled down instructions for contacting their loved ones. The air was thick with doubt, anticipation, and fear. They comforted themselves with the final verse of the final hymn they sung:
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.
Then, his knapsack stocked with an apple, a toothbrush, a book on government – all you need for a night behind bars – John Lewis led them out of the church on a mission to change America.
President Bush and Mrs. Bush, Governor Bentley, Members of Congress, Mayor Evans, Reverend Strong, friends and fellow Americans:
There are places, and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided. Many are sites of war – Concord and Lexington, Appomattox and Gettysburg. Others are sites that symbolize the daring of America’s character – Independence Hall and Seneca Falls, Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral.
Selma is such a place.
In one afternoon fifty years ago, so much of our turbulent history – the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and the dream of a Baptist preacher – met on this bridge.
It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the meaning of America.
And because of men and women like John Lewis, Joseph Lowery, Hosea Williams, Amelia Boynton, Diane Nash, Ralph Abernathy, C.T. Vivian, Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. King, and so many more, the idea of a just America, a fair America, an inclusive America, a generous America – that idea ultimately triumphed.As is true across the landscape of American history, we cannot examine this moment in isolation. The march on Selma was part of a broader campaign that spanned generations; the leaders that day part of a long line of heroes.
We gather here to celebrate them. We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof; men and women who despite the gush of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their North Star and keep marching toward justice.
They did as Scripture instructed: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” And in the days to come, they went back again and again. When the trumpet call sounded for more to join, the people came – black and white, young and old, Christian and Jew, waving the American flag and singing the same anthems full of faith and hope. A white newsman, Bill Plante, who covered the marches then and who is with us here today, quipped that the growing number of white people lowered the quality of the singing. To those who marched, though, those old gospel songs must have never sounded so sweet.
In time, their chorus would reach President Johnson. And he would send them protection, echoing their call for the nation and the world to hear:
“We shall overcome.”
What enormous faith these men and women had. Faith in God – but also faith in America.
The Americans who crossed this bridge were not physically imposing. But they gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of years of brutal violence, and countless daily indignities – but they didn’t seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them almost a century before.
What they did here will reverberate through the ages. Not because the change they won was preordained; not because their victory was complete; but because they proved that nonviolent change is possible; that love and hope can conquer hate.
As we commemorate their achievement, we are well-served to remember that at the time of the marches, many in power condemned rather than praised them. Back then, they were called Communists, half-breeds, outside agitators, sexual and moral degenerates, and worse – everything but the name their parents gave them. Their faith was questioned. Their lives were threatened. Their patriotism was challenged.
And yet, what could be more American than what happened in this place?
What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and humble people – the unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition but many – coming together to shape their country’s course?
What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this; what greater form of patriotism is there; than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?
That’s why Selma is not some outlier in the American experience. That’s why it’s not a museum or static monument to behold from a distance. It is instead the manifestation of a creed written into our founding documents:
“We the People…in order to form a more perfect union.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
These are not just words. They are a living thing, a call to action, a roadmap for citizenship and an insistence in the capacity of free men and women to shape our own destiny. For founders like Franklin and Jefferson, for leaders like Lincoln and FDR, the success of our experiment in self-government rested on engaging all our citizens in this work. That’s what we celebrate here in Selma. That’s what this movement was all about, one leg in our long journey toward freedom.
The American instinct that led these young men and women to pick up the torch and cross this bridge is the same instinct that moved patriots to choose revolution over tyranny. It’s the same instinct that drew immigrants from across oceans and the Rio Grande; the same instinct that led women to reach for the ballot and workers to organize against an unjust status quo; the same instinct that led us to plant a flag at Iwo Jima and on the surface of the Moon.
It’s the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what’s right and shake up the status quo.
That’s what makes us unique, and cements our reputation as a beacon of opportunity. Young people behind the Iron Curtain would see Selma and eventually tear down a wall. Young people in Soweto would hear Bobby Kennedy talk about ripples of hope and eventually banish the scourge of apartheid. Young people in Burma went to prison rather than submit to military rule. From the streets of Tunis to the Maidan in Ukraine, this generation of young people can draw strength from this place, where the powerless could change the world’s greatest superpower, and push their leaders to expand the boundaries of freedom.They saw that idea made real in Selma, Alabama. They saw it made real in America.
Because of campaigns like this, a Voting Rights Act was passed. Political, economic, and social barriers came down, and the change these men and women wrought is visible here today in the presence of African-Americans who run boardrooms, who sit on the bench, who serve in elected office from small towns to big cities; from the Congressional Black Caucus to the Oval Office.
Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for African-Americans, but for every American. Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian-Americans, gay Americans, and Americans with disabilities came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past.
What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say.
What a solemn debt we owe.
Which leads us to ask, just how might we repay that debt?
First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day’s commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is never done – the American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation.
Selma teaches us, too, that action requires that we shed our cynicism. For when it comes to the pursuit of justice, we can afford neither complacency nor despair.
Just this week, I was asked whether I thought the Department of Justice’s Ferguson report shows that, with respect to race, little has changed in this country. I understand the question, for the report’s narrative was woefully familiar. It evoked the kind of abuse and disregard for citizens that spawned the Civil Rights Movement. But I rejected the notion that nothing’s changed. What happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it’s no longer endemic, or sanctioned by law and custom; and before the Civil Rights Movement, it most surely was.
We do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, or that racial division is inherent to America. If you think nothing’s changed in the past fifty years, ask somebody who lived through the Selma or Chicago or L.A. of the Fifties. Ask the female CEO who once might have been assigned to the secretarial pool if nothing’s changed. Ask your gay friend if it’s easier to be out and proud in America now than it was thirty years ago. To deny this progress – our progress – would be to rob us of our own agency; our responsibility to do what we can to make America better.
Of course, a more common mistake is to suggest that racism is banished, that the work that drew men and women to Selma is complete, and that whatever racial tensions remain are a consequence of those seeking to play the “race card” for their own purposes. We don’t need the Ferguson report to know that’s not true. We just need to open our eyes, and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation’s racial history still casts its long shadow upon us. We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character – requires admitting as much.
“We are capable of bearing a great burden,” James Baldwin wrote, “once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is.”
This is work for all Americans, and not just some. Not just whites. Not just blacks. If we want to honor the courage of those who marched that day, then all of us are called to possess their moral imagination. All of us will need to feel, as they did, the fierce urgency of now. All of us need to recognize, as they did, that change depends on our actions, our attitudes, the things we teach our children. And if we make such effort, no matter how hard it may seem, laws can be passed, and consciences can be stirred, and consensus can be built.
With such effort, we can make sure our criminal justice system serves all and not just some. Together, we can raise the level of mutual trust that policing is built on – the idea that police officers are members of the communities they risk their lives to protect, and citizens in Ferguson and New York and Cleveland just want the same thing young people here marched for – the protection of the law. Together, we can address unfair sentencing, and overcrowded prisons, and the stunted circumstances that rob too many boys of the chance to become men, and rob the nation of too many men who could be good dads, and workers, and neighbors.With effort, we can roll back poverty and the roadblocks to opportunity. Americans don’t accept a free ride for anyone, nor do we believe in equality of outcomes. But we do expect equal opportunity, and if we really mean it, if we’re willing to sacrifice for it, then we can make sure every child gets an education suitable to this new century, one that expands imaginations and lifts their sights and gives them skills. We can make sure every person willing to work has the dignity of a job, and a fair wage, and a real voice, and sturdier rungs on that ladder into the middle class.
And with effort, we can protect the foundation stone of our democracy for which so many marched across this bridge – and that is the right to vote. Right now, in 2015, fifty years after Selma, there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote. As we speak, more of such laws are being proposed. Meanwhile, the Voting Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood and sweat and tears, the product of so much sacrifice in the face of wanton violence, stands weakened, its future subject to partisan rancor.
How can that be? The Voting Rights Act was one of the crowning achievements of our democracy, the result of Republican and Democratic effort. President Reagan signed its renewal when he was in office. President Bush signed its renewal when he was in office. One hundred Members of Congress have come here today to honor people who were willing to die for the right it protects. If we want to honor this day, let these hundred go back to Washington, and gather four hundred more, and together, pledge to make it their mission to restore the law this year.
Of course, our democracy is not the task of Congress alone, or the courts alone, or the President alone. If every new voter suppression law was struck down today, we’d still have one of the lowest voting rates among free peoples. Fifty years ago, registering to vote here in Selma and much of the South meant guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar or bubbles on a bar of soap. It meant risking your dignity, and sometimes, your life. What is our excuse today for not voting? How do we so casually discard the right for which so many fought? How do we so fully give away our power, our voice, in shaping America’s future?
Fellow marchers, so much has changed in fifty years. We’ve endured war, and fashioned peace. We’ve seen technological wonders that touch every aspect of our lives, and take for granted convenience our parents might scarcely imagine. But what has not changed is the imperative of citizenship, that willingness of a 26 year-old deacon, or a Unitarian minister, or a young mother of five, to decide they loved this country so much that they’d risk everything to realize its promise.
That’s what it means to love America. That’s what it means to believe in America. That’s what it means when we say America is exceptional.
For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That’s why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction, because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it.
We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea – pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit.
We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some; and we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That’s our character.
We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free – Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We are the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because they want their kids to know a better life. That’s how we came to be.
We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights.
We’re the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent, and we’re the Tuskeegee Airmen, Navajo code-talkers, and Japanese-Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied. We’re the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, and the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We are the gay Americans whose blood ran on the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge.
We are storytellers, writers, poets, and artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told.
We are the inventors of gospel and jazz and the blues, bluegrass and country, hip-hop and rock and roll, our very own sounds with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom.
We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway.
We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of, who “build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how.”
We are the people Emerson wrote of, “who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long;” who are “never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”
That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American as others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for it. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing; we are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe age of 25 could lead a mighty march.
And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habits and convention. Unencumbered by what is, and ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, and new ground to cover, and bridges to be crossed. And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.
Because Selma shows us that America is not the project of any one person.
Because the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.” We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. It is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.
Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished. But we are getting closer. Two hundred and thirty-nine years after this nation’s founding, our union is not yet perfect. But we are getting closer. Our job’s easier because somebody already got us through that first mile. Somebody already got us over that bridge. When it feels the road’s too hard, when the torch we’ve been passed feels too heavy, we will remember these early travelers, and draw strength from their example, and hold firmly the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”
We honor those who walked so we could run. We must run so our children soar. And we will not grow weary. For we believe in the power of an awesome God, and we believe in this country’s sacred promise.
May He bless those warriors of justice no longer with us, and bless the United States of America.
(Photo, The White House/ Pete Sousa)
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London Bridge is being built, not falling down. Well, not THAT London Bridge but a new one from Nine Elms to Pimlico. Hundreds of submissions from around the world poured in for this bridge competition in London and of 74 imaginative, striking, and offbeat designs were selected to advance to the next round of eliminations. I’ve culled those down to a baker’s dozen. The pedestrian bridge will connect two growing neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Thames. The designs will be judged by the people who know the area best —a panel of residents. Submissions from up to four teams will be shortlisted for the next round of competition, where they will further detail their concepts. The council plans to announce the panel’s decision—and the chosen contestants—later this month. I vote for the waterfall bridge, which must use the river water in circulation. To see the rest of of the designs, go here.
(via Architectural Digest)
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Gagosian New York, along with with Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris, just opened a dual show worthy of a museum with works by American artist John Chamberlain and French architect and designer Jean Prouvé. These two twentieth century innovators have used metal to a new potential in their respective fields –art and design. Large- and small-scale sculptures by Chamberlain are juxtaposed with two prefabricated houses and key architectural models by Prouvé.
“Every time I turn around I see more openings for the material to do something else.” –John Chamberlain
Chamberlain began to create his “crushed” metal sculptures from industrial detritus during the late 1950s. Again and again he returned to metal car components such as bumpers and hoods, which he dubbed “art supplies” fusing them into multi-colored compositions.
“It seemed to me that sheet steel offered unlimited possibilities: cut up, then bent, rolled, and welded, it let you create all the profiles you needed for specific purposes, from straight lines to angles to curves.” –Jean Prouvé
Prouvé is widely acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s most influential industrial designers creating furniture for the home, office, and classroom —as well as prefab houses, building components and façades—for more than six decades. He applied industrial principles used in the making of furniture to his architecture of the postwar reconstruction and vice versa.
This dazzlingly installed show pairs these two giants of the 20th century in obvious and unexpected ways within Gagosian‘s huge West 24th Street space. The exhibit runs through April 4. See it if you can.
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Nine-time Emmy winner Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons died yesterday of colorectal cancer at his home in LA. In 1989 along with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, he developed the ground-breaking animated series and he co-wrote nearly a dozen episodes, also serving as co-showrunner, character designer, creative consultant, creative supervisor, developer, and writer. He left the show in 1993. He said animation gave him more freedom than live action:
“You can draw animals and sets but the animated characters also have freedom. The Simpsons sometimes do things that real people wouldn’t do.”
Simon was also a BIG animal lover, he funded the Sam Simon Foundation, which rescued dogs, funded a animal surgery clinic on wheels assisting the ailing pets of those who otherwise could not afford medical attention and provided vegan food for hungry people. He also supported PETA, which named its Norfolk, VA, headquarters the Sam Simon Center; Save the Children; and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which named one of its vessels after him. After being diagnosed with colon cancer in late 2012, Simon started buying zoos and circuses to free animals. He was 59. (via Variety)
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Bryan Cranston
Mary Ann Heagerty
