The Washington DC Historical Society has an exhibition on the Negro Baseball League.
There were all-African American baseball teams starting after the Civil War. But there wasn't an organized league until the 1920's. There were integrated teams until the 1910's where there was an agreement to segregate the game.
The exhibit focused on stars of the league's later years-Josh Gibson, Satchel Page and James "Cool Papa" Bell. The highpoint of the league was the war years where major league parks began to notice that there was more fans for the Negro Baseball league than for the other professional league. At this point, Sam Lacey, a reporter at the Afro-American newspaper which was a national paper out of Baltimore, began to urge Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers to integrate its team. It was interesting that the Washington D.C. Historical Society didn't note that Lacey's grandfather was the first African American detective on Washington D.C.'s police department.
The exhibit highlights the Homestead Grays which was based in Pittsburg (Homestead is a suburb of the Steel City) and during the 1930's and 1940's, also played at Griffith Park in Washington D.C. Interestingly, the exhibit never mentioned the influence of the Grays' long-time principal owner, Cumberland Posey. A former player, "Cum" Posey recruited a long line of future Hall of Famers which resulted in the Grays sweeping the Negro League national pennant throughout the 30's and 40's.
The Smithsonian Anacosita Museum is located in a southeastern neighborhood of Washington D.C. that is facing gentrification. It is a quiet neighborhood that has a rural feel. Anacostia was originally founded by a group of freed slaves and its largest home was once owned by Frederick Douglass. The exhibit showed the struggles of the residents to get services (and respect) from the District.
This weekend, the Washington International Art Show held its 2nd annual art show at the Washington DC Convention Center. While there was approximately 100 exhibits, there weren't many visitors. The exhibit was located in one corner of the theater and the art ranged from Walmart-quality to very good.
Nicole's Gallery of Chicago exhibited several collages of Allen Stringfellow. Stringfellow had achieved international acclaim, including several pieces in the Smithsonian. But according to the owner of Nicole's Gallery, his dream was to have an exhibit at Krannert Museum at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign.
Stringfellow grew up in Champaign and his dream was to have a major exhibit in his hometown's leading art museum. It finally achieved his dream in 2003 when he was 80 years old. The exhibit ended in the beginning of October 2003 and Stringfellow became ill several days later. The owner of Nicole's Gallery said that it was obvious that once Stringfellow had achieved his boyhood dream, he was ready to face death.
Here are some links to Stringfellow's work:
http://www.octobergallery.com/paintmagazine/pages/mg_stringfellow.html
Monday, September 22, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Mixed Coverage for Third Party Presidential Campaigns
Today, the Washington Post ran a story on Ron Paul's supporters at his rally in St. Paul. The article focused on working class supporters who were making great sacrifices to get to Paul's rally. The purpose of the rally was to convince the RNC to allow Ron Paul to speak. It obviously fell on deaf ears.
Last week, several public radio stations, including KPCC in Pasadena, posted podcasts and stories about Bob Barr, the Libertarians' presidential candidate. Barr's supporters were trying to raise their candidate's profile during the DNC convention in Denver.
Yet, there was very little coverage about the Nader/Gonzalez campaign's "Open the Debate." Val Kilmer, Congressional candidate Cindy Sheehan, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Sean Penn spoke at the rally held at University of Denver's Magness Auditorium. According to Nader/Gonzalez's website, over 4,000 supporters attended the "Open the Debate" rally. Ralph Nader and his running mate, Matt Gonzalez is scheduled tomorrow (Sept. 4) in Minneapolis.
Third parties have played a crucial part in getting key issues into the minds of voters-and eventually into the mainstream. An example would be women suffrage. Both the Prohibition and Socialist Parties promoted women's suffrage during the late 1800's. But women suffrage didn't become law until Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment in August 1920.
Historians agreed that FDR hadn't thought of the "New Deal" when he was selected by the Democrats in 1932 to be their torchbearer. Instead, FDR used the ideas of third parties to try to reverse the impact of the Great Depression. A case in point is social security. The Socialist Party supported a fund to provide temporary compensation for the unemployed in the late 1920's. Yet, the Social Security Act was not passed till 1935.
Political debate introduces more ideas for the public to ponder, weigh and evaluate. By limiting the nation's political discussion, we limit the solutions that could address our nation's problems.
Last week, several public radio stations, including KPCC in Pasadena, posted podcasts and stories about Bob Barr, the Libertarians' presidential candidate. Barr's supporters were trying to raise their candidate's profile during the DNC convention in Denver.
Yet, there was very little coverage about the Nader/Gonzalez campaign's "Open the Debate." Val Kilmer, Congressional candidate Cindy Sheehan, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Sean Penn spoke at the rally held at University of Denver's Magness Auditorium. According to Nader/Gonzalez's website, over 4,000 supporters attended the "Open the Debate" rally. Ralph Nader and his running mate, Matt Gonzalez is scheduled tomorrow (Sept. 4) in Minneapolis.
Third parties have played a crucial part in getting key issues into the minds of voters-and eventually into the mainstream. An example would be women suffrage. Both the Prohibition and Socialist Parties promoted women's suffrage during the late 1800's. But women suffrage didn't become law until Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment in August 1920.
Historians agreed that FDR hadn't thought of the "New Deal" when he was selected by the Democrats in 1932 to be their torchbearer. Instead, FDR used the ideas of third parties to try to reverse the impact of the Great Depression. A case in point is social security. The Socialist Party supported a fund to provide temporary compensation for the unemployed in the late 1920's. Yet, the Social Security Act was not passed till 1935.
Political debate introduces more ideas for the public to ponder, weigh and evaluate. By limiting the nation's political discussion, we limit the solutions that could address our nation's problems.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
C & O Canal Trail and the National Building Museum
The C&O Canal Trail became a national park when Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas challenged the Washington Post to a hike along the former canals in 1954.
The Post then took up the cause to make the lands surrounding the canals from Glen Echo, MD to Georgetown a national park-a dream that became a reality in 1961.
Along the trail, I saw an immature great blue heron and several turtles. Throughout the park, the National Park Service warns visitors that an average of seven people die each year by being swept away in the white water of the Potomac that runs along the canal.
Glen Echo is a national park located next to C & O Trails. It was an amusement park that had been created by Washington D.C.'s streetcar company to get people to use their street cars. Unfortunately, the Metro does not have a stop near Glen Echo-so you have to have a car to get to the Glen Echo National Park.
Glen Echo has been developed into an artist community with a puppet theater, a theater for small children, a carousel, pottery kiln and art classes. The Spanish Ballroom which was built in the 1930's, is used for dances and dance lessons. The former bumper car barn is used for concerts.
Over Labor Day weekend, Glen Echo had its annual art show which displayed photographs, fused glass and other visual artwork from its students.
I also went to the National Building Museum which is housed in the former National Pension Office on F Street NW. The National Building Museum had a exhibition of refrigerator doors that have been created into artworks-to show that the best way to save money (and energy) is to unplug your second refrigerator and replace your 10+ year refrigerator with an Energy Star refrigerator.
The entries include the Marion Appliance Company's entry of a Ohio Buckeye player painted on Shelvador. JACO Environmental created two artworks-one for their client, Sierra Nevada with the front door having a rendering of the Luxor Hotel and one side of the refrigerator being a painting of the Hoover Dam. The other JACO was for another client, Puget Energy of Bellevue, WA and it was a door of mini-refrigerator with two dolpins.
Puget Sound received a Judge's Special Mention for their entry. They used one of their employees as a model and took a photograph of her lookng like a 1950's housewife. They then used recycled metal to create flowers and a garden on the refrigerator to highlight that replacing your old refrigerator is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint.
The Post then took up the cause to make the lands surrounding the canals from Glen Echo, MD to Georgetown a national park-a dream that became a reality in 1961.
Along the trail, I saw an immature great blue heron and several turtles. Throughout the park, the National Park Service warns visitors that an average of seven people die each year by being swept away in the white water of the Potomac that runs along the canal.
Glen Echo is a national park located next to C & O Trails. It was an amusement park that had been created by Washington D.C.'s streetcar company to get people to use their street cars. Unfortunately, the Metro does not have a stop near Glen Echo-so you have to have a car to get to the Glen Echo National Park.
Glen Echo has been developed into an artist community with a puppet theater, a theater for small children, a carousel, pottery kiln and art classes. The Spanish Ballroom which was built in the 1930's, is used for dances and dance lessons. The former bumper car barn is used for concerts.
Over Labor Day weekend, Glen Echo had its annual art show which displayed photographs, fused glass and other visual artwork from its students.
I also went to the National Building Museum which is housed in the former National Pension Office on F Street NW. The National Building Museum had a exhibition of refrigerator doors that have been created into artworks-to show that the best way to save money (and energy) is to unplug your second refrigerator and replace your 10+ year refrigerator with an Energy Star refrigerator.
The entries include the Marion Appliance Company's entry of a Ohio Buckeye player painted on Shelvador. JACO Environmental created two artworks-one for their client, Sierra Nevada with the front door having a rendering of the Luxor Hotel and one side of the refrigerator being a painting of the Hoover Dam. The other JACO was for another client, Puget Energy of Bellevue, WA and it was a door of mini-refrigerator with two dolpins.
Puget Sound received a Judge's Special Mention for their entry. They used one of their employees as a model and took a photograph of her lookng like a 1950's housewife. They then used recycled metal to create flowers and a garden on the refrigerator to highlight that replacing your old refrigerator is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint.
Planet Arlington and Cool Globes at the Smithsonian
At the Kennedy Center, an exhibition of "Cool Globes"graces the middle of the two main halls.
The "Cool Globes" are painted globes, each with a theme. One talked about how much water is wasted by junk mail. Another talked about 100,000 homes in the nation having solar. Another globe used tiny plastic beads to show that each small step helps the planet.
I had a problem with one of the exhibits. It had tiny faucet pins throughout the globe and talked about how much water is wasted. So its motto was "Save Hot Water." It should have said "Save Water (Hot or Cold)."
There were also "Cool Globes" created by celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Robert Redford and Oprah Winfrey. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana touted wind power (Montana has an tax incentive to wind power companies that come to Montana). Mayor Rich Dailey had a globe that touted Chicago's excllent environmental programs and their efforts to become the greenest city in the nation.
The third annual Planet Arlington was held on Saturday, and on the grounds of the Iwo Jima Memorial.
Planet Arlington's crowd was fairly modest with approximately 3,000-4,000 people. It started with Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca. Lemvo is from the Congo and has created a salsa band. His music drew a number of dancers, including a group of young people in a line dance. Unfortunately, the sound equipment created feedback that could be heard by the audience throughout the first part of his set.
As the sets were changed, several acts went through the audience, including a line of belly dancers who were trailed by a line of smiling men (including one with a small baby in blue).
The second act was Yang Ying who played an erdu to acoustic music. To my ear, it was dance techno music. The erdu didn't change the sequence and at this point, many of the families began to pick up and go home for dinner.
I used the opportunity to wander through the booths that were between the concert and Arlington Cemetery. Honest Ade was giving away free samples of their product. There were several trailers that were selling food from Mexico and Latin America. One booth was selling African baskets, while another were trying to sell Rosslyn with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.
The next act was Tania Saleh from Lebanon. Her intro stated that her lyrics used black humor to talk about the pressing issues of the day. While her accompaniment was very nice, the sound system had her mike too low. So the backup band drown out her voice.
The "Cool Globes" are painted globes, each with a theme. One talked about how much water is wasted by junk mail. Another talked about 100,000 homes in the nation having solar. Another globe used tiny plastic beads to show that each small step helps the planet.
I had a problem with one of the exhibits. It had tiny faucet pins throughout the globe and talked about how much water is wasted. So its motto was "Save Hot Water." It should have said "Save Water (Hot or Cold)."
There were also "Cool Globes" created by celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Robert Redford and Oprah Winfrey. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana touted wind power (Montana has an tax incentive to wind power companies that come to Montana). Mayor Rich Dailey had a globe that touted Chicago's excllent environmental programs and their efforts to become the greenest city in the nation.
The third annual Planet Arlington was held on Saturday, and on the grounds of the Iwo Jima Memorial.
Planet Arlington's crowd was fairly modest with approximately 3,000-4,000 people. It started with Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca. Lemvo is from the Congo and has created a salsa band. His music drew a number of dancers, including a group of young people in a line dance. Unfortunately, the sound equipment created feedback that could be heard by the audience throughout the first part of his set.
As the sets were changed, several acts went through the audience, including a line of belly dancers who were trailed by a line of smiling men (including one with a small baby in blue).
The second act was Yang Ying who played an erdu to acoustic music. To my ear, it was dance techno music. The erdu didn't change the sequence and at this point, many of the families began to pick up and go home for dinner.
I used the opportunity to wander through the booths that were between the concert and Arlington Cemetery. Honest Ade was giving away free samples of their product. There were several trailers that were selling food from Mexico and Latin America. One booth was selling African baskets, while another were trying to sell Rosslyn with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.
The next act was Tania Saleh from Lebanon. Her intro stated that her lyrics used black humor to talk about the pressing issues of the day. While her accompaniment was very nice, the sound system had her mike too low. So the backup band drown out her voice.
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