Duct Tape Politics

Time to rev this up, I have been sequestered to silence in this area but truth need be told.
Over the next few months I will be writing about taboo truths here but first I feel the absolute need to confess that I am not a biggot, sexist, narq, hater of particular people, places or events.
Truely I am just taking advantage of this medium and reporting on issues that I feel are dragging down the human endeavor. This is an attempt to make a sincere document that is succinct and not self indulgent.. that holds true, inspires and helps others whom may find it.

Time for the violet flood that covers this state in continual winter like conditions for the next six months occassionally breaking out with intense sun beams and jewel like moments of light.

Chelsea NY Docks in Two Hours during Solstice

American Axle Workers Almost Busted

The American Axle Strike has waged on for over three months now here in Hamtramck, Michigan, as well as at other locations across the country including New York. The strike represents the tight fisted American politics of our time which leave little room for change or resistance on the receiving end. Rather we find ourselves with prescription lives that are difficult for the average person to detach from.

This strike is particularly nasty as just three years ago American Axle was ranked as one of the top five companies to work for in USA and abroad. Yet American Axle's CEO Fred Dauch has held just as stern as any other imperial dictator of our time and refuses to bargain with the Teamsters for anything but job losses and a slice in wages by fifty percent. Meanwhile the company aggressively expands beyond in Mexico, China and elsewhere. Many of these workers whom have been with the company since its birth in the mid nineties have found themselves shafted to say the least.

Living in Hamtramck, I have made a point to circle the plant everyday sometimes making several loops and honking for the union. Through snow, rain and heat these workers and their fellow union friends from across the spectrum have sent a message of solidarity. Now three months later it looks like the Axle workers will have to take a cut despite grand profits on the executive side.

Senator Hillary Clinton has written to CEO Dauch and shamed him for the companies actions.

I shame the executives for their actions and the greater picture of elite executives in the world whom seem to have been set off on a rampage since President Bush's conservative ku and imperial presidency has taken place.

Perhaps soon we will wake from this nightmare and find the voice demonstrated by these union workers to stand fast. Their victory is in that feat. Though they have not received fair treatment it is time to reorganize and patiently await the next fight. You are my heroes!

STILL PULLING: Prints at Elaine Jacobs

Cultural edifice Wayne State University has one of the most impressive gallery spaces in Detroit. The Elaine Jacobs Gallery is currently exhibiting STILL PULLING which is an elaborate look at the more traditional aspects of printmaking that are almost extinct in the digital age.

"The artists chosen for this exhibition create prints as a mainstream activity. They utilize traditional print processes and shared aesthetic of abstraction that references nature. Artists represented in Still Pulling include: Sarah Amos, Sean Caulfield, Charles Cohan, Gail Deery, Denes Galfi, Anna Hepler, Eunice Kim, Amanda Knowles, Karen Kunc, Kimiko Miyoshi, Tomomi Ono, Chris Papa, Ellen Price, Roselyn Richards, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Sadoff, Roxanne Sexauer, Tanja Softic, Seiko Tachibana, and Akiko Taniguchi."

Today most artists are struggling more than ever to keep the work coming. Digital prints have been seen as a cheap and effective means to get work out, retain an original and make a little bit of money. The classic time consuming and toxic methods of printmaking still hold a quality that these digital methods have not yet attained. We will see what happens ten years from now as technologies improve and digitization becomes even less expensive.

Still the process of physically manipulating a surface, planning, articulating and the inherent layering involved in this creative form is by itself an exercise that is profitable and difficult to put a price tag on.