North of Center Wednesday, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Free TAKE HOME AND READ NOCLEXINGTON.COM Volume III, Issue 20 Ciudad Juárez Reckoning with feminicide, part 2

By Beth Connors-Manke What we have here is not indelible; it exists only as long as we demand a just Editor’s note: In part 1 of this series, body politic and a safe community. Beth wrote about the exhibit Wall of When we relinquish safety and justice, Memories: The Disappeared Señoritas society unravels—and very quickly. of Ciudad Juárez by Lexington artist This is the case with Juárez. Charles Diane Kahlo. Here, Beth reports more on Bowden, who has reported on the city the feminicide in Ciudad Juárez. for years, calls it a “black hole in the body politic.” A black hole destabilizes In 1993, young women began dis- everything around it. appearing in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Bowden’s view on Juárez is bigger which sits across the border from El than the feminicide: it encompasses the Paso, Texas. The young women, often murders related to the drug traffick- workers at the assembly plants along ing—just as torturous as the women’s the border, are found around the city or murders—and the economic shift that in the desert, tortured and mutilated. is slowly, like a cannibal, eating every- Many believe that the murders are par- thing in it’s path. The environment. tially the result of neoliberal economic Governments. The social contract. Dog on mailbox, CEO Dronez. Photo by Julie Mayer. policies, drug trafficking, and govern- Men, women, children. As Bowden sees mental corruption. One can only say it, what is happening in Juárez (and in ‘partially’ because the murders have other borderlands) is a new beast, a new Street art never been solved and the situation in war: Juárez is a confusing web of violence, “[T]his war I speak of cannot be PRHBTN runs 11/11-18 on Manchester drugs, conspiracies, and fear. While understood with normal political lan- many news reports put the number at guage of right and left or of capitalism By Clay Shields After roughly half a century, graf- 350, scores more women are believed and socialism. It is not postcolonial or fiti has finally reached some level of to have been killed under similar precolonial or even colonial. It is life “Your expectations will be simultane- wide-spread cultural interest. In addi- circumstances. against death. For the poor moving ously defied and exceeded” tion to the subversive work being The murders in Juárez have north, it is their life against death. For —Myke Dronez, CEO, Dronex, Inc. done within the subculture, it has also haunted me for more than ten years. the ground and the sky and the rivers, become commodified in the same way In the last few months, as I spoke with it is slow death as human hungers out- TheHerald-Leader refused to write hip hop was—taken from the margins Diane Kahlo about her exhibit, looked strip the earth’s ability to feed them.” this article. Now a dirt bag has to do it. and repackaged by corporations to at her portraits of the murdered girls These hungers exceed the simple On November 11, Lexington will sell deodorant to the masses. But just and women, researched the situation need for a full belly. These hungers begin its first street art exhibition, like hip hop, many key figures in the in Juárez, the haunting has become are vicious, cruel, careless, and they PRHBTN. “Street art” is a catch-all movement have remained true to their more acute. Once one knows that bru- have created a shadow world with its term for art processes and products counter-cultural roots by utilizing this tality like the feminicide exists in the own rules. “There is a new order in the created in public spaces. More often new found popularity to further their world, it becomes harder to believe that wind,” Bowden writes in Dreamland: than not, the phrase refers to unsanc- own agendas. the civil society we enjoy here in the tioned work done illegally by individu- Internationally known graffiti U.S. sits on an unshakable foundation. continued on page 7 als as graffiti. The PRHBTN event artists have their own documenta- will showcase both unsanctioned and ries and books. Banksy collaborated “legitimate” artists who utilize street with (and mocked) the pop-culture art methods. powerhouse The Simpsons. Shepard Closing the Kentucky Since its birth fifty years ago— Fairey’s (“OBEY” in the graffiti world) most notably in the subways of New iconic “HOPE” posters gained official Labor, river care, lockmasters York and Philadelphia—modern graf- approval from the 2008 Obama cam- fiti has been steeped in counter-culture. paign. As a result of this increased By Wesley Houp Roy Berry, former lockmaster at In a culture where they were other- exposure, society has developed a lock 13 in Lee County, transferred to wise silenced, writers like Taki 183 simultaneous, seemingly contradictory, In 1985 the state signed a three- Taylorsville Lake on Salt River and and Cornbread began “tagging” their fascination with and aversion to street year lease agreement with the Corps finished out his career as lockmas- names everywhere in an act of defiant art. of Engineers to keep Kentucky River ter on the Green River. In his own self-acknowledgement. Graffiti (and Lexington is no exception. locks open for recreational boaters. The words: “I sure didn’t want to leave the later street art more generally) became agreement allowed the Corps to place [Kentucky] river when I did. I didn’t an avenue for reclaiming the public The great Lexington locks in “caretaker status” should the think it was necessary to close the river. spaces of the city through the self- graffiti bust of ‘11 state fail to assume full control by lease It didn’t cost them much money, wages expression of a largely disenfranchised, Less than five months ago, Mayor termination. Caretaker status, a curi- were so low.” impoverished, immigrant youth: a Jim Gray announced the arrest of ten ous if not ironic designation, would bold, simple, “I was here (and here and involve “welding the lock gates shut Capstaning it to the man here and here).” continued on page 3 and discontinuing upkeep.” After a career spanning three-plus From 1982 to the lease agreement, decades, Chuck Dees, lockmaster at locks 5 through 14 closed opera- lock 7 in High Bridge, retired in 1979, Tramps like us: Lexington tions, and most of the lockmasters two years after a federal district court retired, moved on to other work, or decided in favor of a suit filed by Dees Guerilla Bocce League took reassignments at the lower locks and 27 other Kentucky River lockmas- from Frankfort to Carrollton. In some ters and operators demanding back Monday nights, 10:00 P.M. cases, they moved on to other rivers and lakes. continued on page 6 By Northrupp Center two on courts that run to ninety feet long. In Guerilla bocce, players walk “It is said that all games of bocce begin their environments to roll their balls and end with a handshake.” on a variety of public, quasi-public and —Maxim printed on the rules to some just downright no-trespassing a bocce set purchased in 2001. green spaces. Hooting and hollering is often involved, though it holds no offi- Guerilla bocce is an anarchist vari- cial place in Guerilla bocce rules. ant of the popular Italian lawn game Over the past decade, Guerilla that dates back to ancient Roman times. Bocce Leagues (GBLs) have begun to The game is simple to play. Players take spring up throughout the globe, as peo- turns throwing two balls at a smaller ple increasingly seek to reclaim under- ball, known as the Jack or the Pallino. utilized, stolen, or otherwise priva- Points are earned based upon proxim- tized public space. Fledgling leagues ity to the Jack: 2 points are awarded to have started in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, the player whose ball is closest; 1 point Madison (WI), Las Cruces (NM), and is awarded to the second closest ball. Lake Martin and Guntersville (AL). Games continue until the winning Players have also been spotted globally player reaches 11 points. in Amsterdam and Oulu (Finland). Aesthetically, Guerilla bocce is North of Center editor Danny closer to Free Range bocce than to the Mayer, current non-commissioner of more staid and traditional Courted Gates at Lock 7 entrance, flood of ‘72. Photo courtesy Bobbie Jean Johnson. bocce, which is played by teams of continued on page 3

Contents Coming soon 2—Neighborhood 5—Film & Media 8—Comics Occupied Lexington Herald Return of Lexington Public Meals by Maria Seeking violence I’m Not From Here Bursting bubbles Art by Mike Heh heh heh KY: Land of Righteous Letters New I’m Not From Here Announcements Local happenings Oratoion Calendar of events 4—Music Better business Live music calendar Local investments Introducing Little Jamie D 2 North of Center

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 The Neighborhood Cooking up a business By Randi Ewing compliments on her food and that was a change. Suddenly, it wasn’t enough was too much to come to work and see always payment enough. Then, after a to just make cakes at home, filling up that nothing was selling, that no one This article originally appeared in trip home to Mexico, she came back a school notebook with the various was coming,” she says. the bilingual publication La Voz de with a recipe for tres leches cakes and orders. She wanted her own place. Those tough days were tempered Kentucky. Grab a copy. started making them for parties and “I have always been very persistent by the support of her husband. “He for family. People recommended her to with the things that I want. Meaning, would say to me, ‘It doesn’t matter. You This past July, when simply sit- friends and before long the orders were if I get an idea in my head, I go and go work, and soon people will come.’ He ting in the shade would make you coming in faster than her husband and go until I get it. And when you like was always there. He always encour- sweat, Maria Hernandez was happily could drive her to the store for supplies. doing something and want to dedicate aged me, because he would say, ‘You working in the tiny, boiling kitchen at “To be honest, I didn’t even know yourself to that, what you have to do is wanted this, now wait, be patient,’” she the back of her restaurant, La Cocina what to charge,” she says, adding that search and search and search until you remembers. de Maria. The restaurant, located on she was just doing what she loved. find where you’re headed,” she says. A little patience, a supportive fam- North Broadway and consisting of lit- That love of cooking began when Where she was headed was a little ily and a love of what one’s doing— tle more than an enclosed kitchen with Maria was a child in Mexico, working place on North Broadway and into one that’s Maria’s recipe for a successful tables and chairs set up outside, is aptly weekdays in a woman’s home during of the hardest businesses out there. business. Maria’s Kitchen has weath- named. It is Maria’s kitchen. It is also her vacation from school. The woman Her husband was skeptical at first. ered the economic crisis and she plans the result of a dream that sprang from was a good cook. He wanted a house for the family, but to expand into a bigger place soon. years of doing what she loved. “I watched how she cooked, and Maria’s mind was made up. They found Hopefully, one in which she’ll be able “When I arrived here, I never when I would go home on weekends, a location and started serving food. to bake cakes and serve the restaurant’s thought about having a restaurant. I would buy all of the things that she Then a year after opening La Cocina tacos, tortas and tamales. Until then, I simply cooked,” says Maria, who bought to make her food at home,” says de Maria the bottom fell out of the she’s happy to keep working, because moved to Kentucky 18 years ago. Maria. economy and Maria learned that loving working at something you love, she Living with her husband on the When she moved to Lexington, what you’re doing is not always enough. says, doesn’t feel like work at all. ranch where he worked, Maria would Maria brought that love with her and “That year the economy started to often make tamales and food for the when the cake supply store in Lexington suffer and that was when it was hard- Maria’s Kitchen is located at 895 North workers on the farm. She received shut down a few years ago, Maria felt est. I felt like I couldn’t keep going. It Broadway, just past Loudon Ave. Mike Goodlett’s biomorphic world By Ben Durham forms blend to describe a basic human outside of its own. Much desire to lose our isolated sense of self, like Goodlett’s previous In his current exhibition “Dress our sense of separateness, and gain some Shadow Box works, there Socks and Other Diversions” at Institute sort of connection.Immediately one remains a distinct dynamic 193, Mike Goodlett presents three strik- is struck by the unique and nuanced between outer and inner ing new bodies of work that address qualities of Goodlett’s draftsmanship worlds, but the strik- issues of representation, figuration, and and use of material. With both ink and ing beauty of his recent desire. In Goodlett’s work art functions graphite he achieves a balance between work serves as a thought- as a distorted mirror image of our social Rembrandt’s refined sfumato and a ful invitation. In this way, selves; our social interactions, frustra- doodler’s phone-side drawing pad. He “Dress Socks and Other tions, and desires are reflected back as references the deconstructed comic Diversions” is a welcom- dream-like manifestations. His mimetic book imagery notable in the work of ing introduction and, for representation is not illustrative of physi- Raymond Pettibon, Philip Guston, and those already familiar with cal likeness or real-world phenomena, Tom of Finland while maintaining an his drawings, installations, but is instead a representation of social outsider’s sense of distinctly individ- and shadow boxes, it is a and emotional behavior and desire itself. ual style. Graphite depictions of ethe- revealing glimpse further In his recent body of Sewn real and surprisingly sensual cigarette into the depths of Mike Drawings, Goodlett’s threadwork binds smoke, drawings of morphed bodily Goodlett’s biomorphic his drawn forms together, functioning forms in red Bic pen, and sewn ele- world. as net-like enclosures capturing and ments referencing fetishized dress socks displaying odd moments of apparent (or stockings if you prefer) demand a “Dress Socks and Other bodily interaction. In Goodlett’s pre- level of careful scrutiny and invested Diversions” remains on sentation, desire is anthropomorphized examination that allows the viewer to view at Institute 193 until into organic forms, creatures even, as enter the complex visual world created November 26th. For more his playful titles seem to suggest. There by Goodlett. Far more than most con- information including gal- is a distinct scientific methodology to temporary artists, he presents an almost lery location and hours, this approach that brings to mind the awkwardly sincere perspective of the visit www.institute193.org. “Stroll.” studies of Alfred Kinsey, the botanical world that renders him vulnerable and illustrations of Carl Linnaeus, and the very much on view. Although his works anthropomorphic nature films of Jean do not function as self-portraiture, they Announcements Painlevé. From the Sewn Drawings are clearly projections of self. to the wall-sized installation of a dis- The work at Institute 193 main- Gallery Soleil reunion at will host a Gallery Soleil reunion at sected and sewn back together figure, tains a balance of raw emotion and Homegrown Press his Homegrown Press Studio, located the body is depicted through an often- fluid elegance that mark this as one of For art patrons of the pre-corpora- at the corner of Sixth and North nightmarish lens of desire. Desire here Lexington’s most dynamic and signifi- tized downtown sector, Gallery Soleil Limestone. In addition to the artists is an obfuscating force, confusing and cant shows in recent memory. Despite on West Short Street was the place to listed above, the reunion will feature clouding our view of reality. To this the works’ personal and almost intimate be on Gallery Hop night, with lines the work of many other Soleil alum. end, Goodlett’s practice seeks a break- nature, the show succeeds in connect- regularly stretching onto the sidewalk. ing down of differentiation. Diverse ing and communicating with a world The upstairs gallery housed between 7 Moby Dick in Pictures at and 10 different Morris Book Shop studios. Artists November 18 at 4:30 P.M., Morris like Blake Snyder Book Shop will welcome Matt Kish, a 953 Delaware Eames, Mike self-taught artist who illustrated every Richie and Daisy Goodlett, Diane page of Moby Dick. His new book, Kahlo, Bob released on October 11, 2011, depicts Morgan, Claudia these unique illustrations and the Michler and text that inspired them. Kish states, John Lackey (all “I worked my way through the whole featured at some book in order, beginning with page point in North of 1 and ending with page 552. I didn’t Center) rotated work ahead or jump around to the through. In late pages I might have liked the most. I 2009, as the city started on August 5, 2009 and finished touted its down- on January 29, 2011. It was 552 pieces town artistic of art.” Morris Book Shop is in their resurgence, the new location at 882 East High Street. building hous- ing Gallery Soleil Volunteer tax preparers needed was sold to ETS TheU nited Way Central Kentucky Realty out of Economic Empowerment Project Charleston, West (CKEEP) is providing free tax prepara- Virginia, and the tion and filing for hardworking fami- artists kicked lies across Central Kentucky who earn out. The Dubai- less than $50,000 during the tax year. based corporate The project is looking for volunteer restaurant chain tax preparers. No accounting experi- Shakespeare and ence needed. Free training available. Company is set Time commitment up to you. Help to open in the lower and middle income families save Daisy and Richie had already moved out of the house at 953 Delaware Ave. They had lived with this couch ETS Building. money by doing their taxes; help them for 2 years and decided to replace it with a better one during their move to a new home. We were lucky to D u r i n g get refunds. For more information, catch them while they stopped to see if there was any mail delivered for them in their old mail box. Gallery Hop on contact Geoff Parker at (859) 233-4461 November 18, ext. 300 or email at geoff.parker@ Image and text by Kurt Gohde and Kremena Todorova, Discarded project. John Lackey uwbg.org. North of Center 3

NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Graffiti (cont.) continued from page 1 Ricky Lynn mentioned that the team philosophies and styles. The intersec- In creating PRHBTN, Case is traveled to Louisville in order to talk tions of art and street art yield a huge starting a conversation in Lexington. It local graffiti artists in order to publi- with street artists about their work, spectrum of viewpoints, and many is the first time anything like this has cize an overall “crackdown” on graf- which gave him an appreciation for the people are less interested in keeping been done here, and the results may fiti in Lexington. The press conference style as an “art form.” Lynn went on to them separated than they are in collid- be unpredictable, but she is just happy came as a response to the growing advance his hope that the city could ing them together for the sake of seeing to provide the opportunity. And she anxieties of citizens concerning graf- find some sort of compromise by pro- what might happen. promises not to stop there. Case hopes fiti in the Lexington area. Most nota- viding “legal graffiti” locations to quell Enter Jessica Case. to begin a tradition this year and make bly, the Mayor’s appearance was pro- the illegal activity. After her viewing of Banksy’s PRHBTN an annual event. voked by the efforts of one individual, a The anti-graffiti “Buffers” shirts Exit Through the Gift Shop, Case felt Lexington Parks and Recreation board produced by Lisa Johnson ironically a renewed interest in street art, which Ride the wave member, Lisa Johnson. employ popular graffiti art tropes: a she considers a “real part of the fabric of The general fascination with graf- Johnson took it upon herself to stylized “street” font, a stencil pattern, our everyday lives because it decorates fiti in Lexington seems to be growing. investigate and find the culprits respon- and fuzzy over-spray (paint that has the surroundings of our urban environ- Less than a year ago I participated in sible for vandalizing Woodland Park, sprayed over the borders of a stencil cre- ment.” As a lawyer and previous co- a three mural group project spear- which she claimed was so riddled with ating a hazy effect). Even Mayor Gray owner of Buster’s, she admits that she headed by Transylvania professors graffiti that people were afraid to go to acknowledged that the work can be an is an outsider to the street art commu- Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde. the park. (I say “claimed” here simply art form if it is done with the permis- nity; but Case hopes to use PRHBTN We installed stenciled wheat pastes on because that park is possibly the most sion of property owners. to foster an increased awareness of the Sav’s Grill, the Sayre School, and the popular and crowded park in the city But herein lies the problem. Graffiti sub-culture in order to share her own Hop Hop. Ricstep was commissioned year round, especially during the height is gaining acceptance from culture only appreciation of the often misunder- for a mural on the side of LOT gallery of summer when Gray’s announcement by accepting culture’s terms: graffiti stood world of graffiti. Simply put, and recently had a full show at Taste. was made). artists are being asked to assimilate “it’s all about exposure,” she says: for Left Hand Wave has since started his Yet during the press conference, into a world of private property that the artists, the people coming to view own show in the same space. the Mayor and his graffiti task force is fundamentally contradictory to the the show, and for any mutual learning It’s to the point where one is unable alluded to their own slight ambivalence meaning behind their work—they are experience that may come as a result. to tell which is more important to the toward the “art” of graffiti. Officer being asked to drop the pre-fix (graffiti) In an effort to guarantee such expo- term street art--the street or the art in to their name. sure, Case booked the popular elec- street art. Irrespective of how the cul- tronic band Passion Pit to do a 18+ DJ tures are changing each other, it is clear PRHBTN: 11.11.11 set alongside local acts on the opening that they will never blend together fully. In this sense, a graffiti art show— night of the event, Friday November What’s important now is to consider where the work is removed from its 11. Tickets will be $20 in advance and the place of street art in our society: all-important public setting and sold $25 at the door on the opening, but the how and where it overlaps and pushes to private parties—seems like the most show will run for another week, free against our preconceived notions of problematic thing of all. Banksy’s to the public, from 5-10PM. (Events “legal” self-expression. Events like documentary Exit Through the Gift take place at the Warehouse, 1211 PRHBTN can’t answer these ques- Shop, now widely discussed thanks to Manchester Street.) tions, but they can surely provoke a an Oscar nomination, provokes any PRHBTN, so named for its rep- broader audience to ask them. intuitive viewer to ask how street art is resentation of arts that have been pro- altered and even compromised when it hibited, will showcase a broad range of PRHBTN will run between November is repackaged in a gallery space for the street art techniques and artists, includ- 111 and November 18 at the Warehouse, art world. Even more succinctly, in a lot ing Dronex Inc., Left Hand Wave, 1211 Manchester Street. Opening night of ways, this repackaging can be “like Ricstep, Print Mafia, Caper, Chasen will feature performances by some of the castrating your street art,” as Lexington Igleheart, Housefire, Katie Blaesing, nation and region’s top dance/electronic graffiti artist CEO Dronez put it. Kenton Montgomery, Nate Corder, Joe artists, accompanied by appearances from But this is only one opinion from Schubert, Casper, Creep, David Wise, trained performance artists and spectacu- one member of the street art commu- Rick Lewis, Michael Haas, Graham lar light installations from 9 P.M. – 4 nity (one, admittedly, I tend to agree Allen, Kurt Gohde, and Kremena A.M. Tickets: $20; 18+. Thereafter, it’s PRHBTN: 11.11.11. Photo by Julie Mayer. with); other artists have a range of Todorova. open daily for free, 5-10 P.M. Bocce (cont.)

continued from page 1 faculty members who teach writing, nights at the occupation. Mayer again: bringing his bocce balls to play quick film and community engagement, “Michael and I noticed that only a games around downtown. Sports, he the newly formed Lexington Guerilla began to think of ways to get compla- few people were spending the night says, also need to be occupied and re- Bocce League (LGBL), first heard cent Lexingtonians to participate in the at any time, and those people were asserted as a public right. High cost, about Guerilla bocce from some friends movement. put in the position of having to spend low access, privatized spectator sports playing in Georgia. “I’ve been a fan of “After the chaotic and thrilling many nights there. They were getting like UK basketball need to be chal- bocce for a long time. I’ve got a mini- initial push to establish the occupation exhausted. It was an immediate place lenged and undermined. The city needs court in my backyard. Several years here in Lexington, we began to think we could contribute.” better alternatives and models for gath- back, a couple Georgia rollers told me of how we could offer steady contri- “Right now, Danny and I show up ering together and blowing off com- an apocryphal story of a group call- butions to the movement. To do our by 10:00 P.M. and leave around 7:00 petitive steam. The model is less “gold ing itself the Columbus Guerilla Bocce part, pull our weight,” Benton says. A.M. We stay up all night to help give the standard” SEC sports teams, and more League, which played a couple rounds “We both have full-time jobs, our own other regular overnighters a break. I’m 47. “community participation” activities on the grounds of the School of the community initiatives we contribute to He’s 36,” Benton says. “We’re not young. like roller derby, bike polo, disc golf, Americas [a U.S. training facility for and a free bi-weekly print paper we help It kills us, but it’s one night. Nobody said ping pong, chess and checkers. Latin American dictators and their mil- publish and distribute, among other changing the world is easy.” Out of this, the Lexington Guerilla itaries that is housed in Georgia nearby things. Our time is limited, but this Around this weekly commitment, Bocce League has been formed. Fort Benning]. As the story goes, the is an important moment in world his- the two have started to work on other Unlike privatized sports, league military wasn’t too happy—Columbus tory making. There’s no sitting on the ways to encourage people—particu- play for the LGBL privileges not only GBL got several dictators to join in the sidelines.” larly college educators from UK who “winning” matches, but also regular fun and temporarily stop studying how “We also felt that, as college edu- have not had a significant presence at participation. Players move up in the to oppress their people—and so the cators and faculty members, we had a the occupation—to make their own league standings partially based on military slapped League players with moral imperative to contribute,” Mayer regular time commitments to show how many “points” they score, irre- 20 year sentences in the stockades.” continues. “We are fortunate. We don’t up. Mayer started a People’s Media on spective of whether they won a match. “I never looked to see if the story make bankster money, but our state Mondays (5:30-7:30) with BCTC film- Show up regularly and participate, and was true, but it got me out playing jobs provide us flexible schedules, good certificate holder Ramona Waldman. you’re already a winner. in Lexington. I learned that Guerilla retirement plans and decent health care. Benton is in the process of organizing “Let’s get this straight,” Mayer says bocce is just plain fun. We walk the We get a month break in December, a regular Monday teach-in. The two do on the night I interview him, “I don’t city, playing green spaces, and hoot nearly three months (unpaid) in the camp clean-up while staying overnight really expect anybody else to actually and holler. Last week, we ended up at summer, plus all federal holidays. As on Monday. join in. This is Lexington, after all, SideBar for a league nightcap. It’s sport, employees of the state, we’re tasked Mayer calls Monday nights the big town with the lazy mind and it’s activism, it’s exploration.” with bettering the Commonwealth. “Community night” at Occupy, and a detached state university. People are We have an obligation to contribute, to has solicited participation on this night late coming to things here because make time and justify our jobs.” from BCTC faculty, staff and students they’re so uptight, just puckered ass- Benton continues. “Plus, we teach (past, present and future). “Can they holes all around.” at a community college. So our obliga- drop by for an hour on Monday, offer As he turns from me and walks tions are also to our local communities. something to teach, a game to play, away toward the 12 people (out of a Unlike professors at the University of music or art to make? Can they spell city of 300,000) collected together to Kentucky, who increasingly teach the us Tuesday morning from 7:00-9:00, assert their rights as citizens at Occupy sons and daughters of wealth, we daily when traffic comes through town? Lexington, he pauses briefly. “But who interact with people who have been Those are the sort of small participa- knows. Maybe lightning will strike screwed the most by our nation’s eco- tions this movement needs.” and people will join the fold. They’re nomic, social and political choices. So He’s also challenged UK faculty certainly invited. Stranger things have Occu-bocce and two educa- while we teach more than UK profes- to pull their weight, though he hasn’t happened.” tors’ moral imperative sors, have more administrative duties seen much traction from the resource- Though the LGBL has roots run- than UK professors, are afforded less guzzling State University. “They may Currently, the Lexington Guerilla Bocce ning several years back, things started resources than UK professors, and be helping, I don’t know. If they are, League convenes at the JP Morgan Chase really coming together last month make significantly less than them, we they need to do a better job of publiciz- Bank Plaza, Main Street at the corner of when community members began feel a greater sense of responsibility to ing it. They hold a lot of cultural capital MLK, on Monday nights at 10:00 P.M. occupying the JP Morgan Chase Bank our students and our community.” in this city and state.” If you have them, bring your bocce balls Plaza on Main Street in downtown To ensure their participation, to share. If you don’t, show up anyway Lexington. Mayer and his colleague- the two BCTC teachers decided, in a Lexington Guerilla Bocce League and we’ll find a pair for you. Drinks friend Michael Benton, both Bluegrass sense, to Occupy Mondays. To begin, As an outgrowth of Community afterwards at nearest bar for those inter- Community and Technical College they committed to spending Monday night at the occupation, Mayer started ested in such things. 4 North of Center

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Music Live music to apprehend the divine to: 11/9-17 Wednesday, November 9 to visit the Green Lantern events page to ascertain the name of the band. Again, moe. no luck. So we don’t know who the band Buster’s; 899 Manchester. 8:30 P.M. is, or if they’re actually playing this night. For 20 years, the jammiest of the But sometimes you gotta take a chance in jam bands have toured relentlessly, life, right? building the grassiest of grass-roots fanbases. I don’t know anyone who On Thursday this week a band owns any of their albums, nor anyone from Dayton, Ohio will be bringing who can even name a particular song, their brand of indie, synthesizer-driven though I’m sure those people exist. punk rock to the stage. Their distorted Then again, with music like moe.’s, vocals remind me of old seventies punk songs and albums are nothing more rock, a real snotty we-don’t-give-a-crap- than arbitrary divisions of the never- what-you-think-about-us feel. At cer- ending groove. tain moments their music even seems to take on a very prog-rock sound, with Beirut intense melodic textures. I’m especially Kentucky Theater; 214 E. Main. 8 P.M. interested in seeing them live, just to RB Morris. This show costs $27.50. I bring this find out how they get all of their inter- up because even though we don’t usu- esting sounds mixed so flawlessly. One gospel channel. And who doesn’t love Saturday, November 12 ally print ticket prices herein—the idea of the musical influences listed on their Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the is that the cost of art is irrelevant when web page is video-game music, and you Sky?” It’s a positive, groovy song that Chris Knight considering whether to consume it, can definitely hear that at times. just happens to be about Christ. Not Buster’s; 899 Manchester. 9 P.M. and that most shows in Lexington are At other points there are very obnoxious at all. Of course, one could Small towns. Beat-up pickups. pretty cheap anyway—this particular haunting reminders of early Nirvana— argue that Creed’s body of work more Rain. Hickory trees. River bottoms. price caught me off guard. you know, that underground feeling than makes up for whatever obnoxious- More rain. Freight trains. Freightliners. Now, I am old, but hear me out: that hadn’t yet been exposed to the ness “Spirit” lacks, but you can always Still more rain. Home cookin’. Billy I saw Clapton in an arena, 10-row MTV glitz and glamor. This band is a turn the channel. gone off to the service. Jenny run off floor seats, for $22. That’s 22 smack- definite treat and you should for sure Anyway, Jonathan Sexton’s music, with that ne’er-do-well. Cornbread. ers to sit no more than 30 feet from check them out. Local rock stars the blessedly, resides firmly in the posi- Rusted quarter panels. Yet more rain. Slowhand himself. This was 1990, on American Werewolves will be opening tive, groovy sphere, and as such may be Chris Knight’s in town. the Journeyman tour. Nathan East did the show to round out a great lineup. apprehended by you secular humanists Thursday, November 17

RB Morris Natasha’s; 112 Esplanade. 8 P.M. Songcraft. That’s what this show is about. Many people can’t recognize it when they hear it; for them, there’s no difference between a disposable piece of pop fluff and four minutes of distilled greatness. As long as I can tap my foot to it, the Philistine thinks, it’s plenty good enough for me. But you know bet- ter. You know what emotion can be wrested from the form. You know the power of a perfect lyrical couplet, can appreciate a sublime chord progression, a tasteful key change. For you, there’s RB Morris.

Gonzo Jones The Tin Roof; 303 S. Limestone. 8:00 P.M. If you’re a college student, you’re probably gonna be at The Tin Roof anyway, so enjoy the show. If you’re not a college student, and you’re over 30, and you’re planning on being at The moe. Tin Roof, then you’re pretty creepy, man. a haunting “Can’t Find My Way Home” Friday, November 11 with little trouble. Doesn’t mean you’ll Which brings me to another on vocals and electric upright bass. Then like it—just that the religious bits aren’t point: why do college girls in this Eric encored with “Cocaine.” $22. Tall, Dark and Handsome overbearing. The music itself is gos- town insist on wearing heels when And now some band called Beirut Natasha’s; 112 Esplanade. 8 P.M. pel- and blues-inflected rock, sharing they simply cannot walk in them? is charging $27.50? Then what’s a Traditional American music that sensibilities with Robert Randolph and Is this a local problem, or a genera- Clapton ticket these days? $400? A incorporates jazz, country, and folk; Derek Trucks on one hand, and early tional one? I seem to remember that grand? We thought $22 was expen- later in the evening, Natasha’s contin- John Mayer and Dave Matthews on the when I was in college, girls walked sive back then, because we’d only paid ues its “Alumni Reunion Party,” cel- other. And it’s nothing like Creed at all. in heels just fine. And when they $14 to see R.E.M. tour Green the year ebrating 20 years of food, music, and got drunk, instead of persisting with before. $27.50? theater. Kansas Bible Company the endeavor, as local girls do, they Look, I don’t know Beirut, but I’m Al’s Bar, 601 N. Limestone. 9 P.M. simply took them off and walked in sure they’re worth every penny. They’ve Jonathan Sexton and the Big Love Choir Despite the name, the Kansas stocking feet. been on TV, and the Kentucky is a Cheapside Bar & Grill; 131 Bible Company aren’t shilling for the Is it a failure of upbringing? I pretty swank venue all told, so they’re Cheapside. 9 P.M. Savior. They’re not even from Kansas. mean, in the small Southern town probably great, and they’ll pack the Look: I’m no friend of Jesus. My And they have horns, and expan- where I grew up, girls were taught place. But just remember: I saw God heart is shuttered to the Holy Spirit. sive arrangements. They sound like these things. Guys held doors and said for $22. The only time you’ll hear me intone “I the lovechildren of Billy Joel and Fee “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am” and am the resurrection” is when I’m sing- Waybill. Cool. girls learned to walk in heels. It was Thursday, November 10 ing along with the Stone Roses in the universal; even goth chicks with shoe- car. And I like it that way. The Moonshine Millionaires polish hair and nose rings could walk [unknown artist] That said, sometimes that ol’ The Crossroad on Southland; in heels like they were born in them. Green Lantern; 497 West 3rd. 9 P.M. time religion does provide for some 286 Southland. 9 P.M. Just another sign of the decline of infectious tunes, so maybe it isn’t all Rockin’ country from Louisville. America, I guess. Will the Occupiers Editor’s note: this anonymous submis- bad. For instance, it’s a truism that ‘Nuff said. address this at some point? sion came without mention of the actual the funkiest music available, at any band. The editors attempted to contact the given time, on any given set of radio author, to no avail. Then they attempted stations, is to be found on the black

Chris Knight. North of Center 5

Film & Media NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Violence in films By Michael Benton agree with the portrayal of the causes or motivations for the violence. “Far from being mindless, violence is What is needed is intelligent reflec- usually the cutting edge of ideas and tion on the uses or outbreaks of violence. ideologies.” Is it a means to a goal? Is it a frustrated —John Fraser, in Violence reaction to events beyond our control? in the Arts (1974: 162) A tool for oppression/resistance. Who is using the violence? As a means to what I believe that violence is a neces- end? Who is/are the victim/s? Why are sary part of many creative narratives they chosen? Is the violence random? because it is a part of reality. Violence What are the goals of the perpetrator? is a part of the human experience. How Ultimately, violence in great films can we ignore it? cause you to think about the action At the same time, I reject simplis- beyond the visceral sensations. It chal- tic, cartoonish uses of violence where lenges you to exercise your own judg- the heroes are shot at a hundred times, ment, to initiate critical reflection upon receiving perhaps a scratch, while the events of the story. For me, this is methodically dispatching every person a defining moment in judging a film or they face. I think it is irresponsible to any other work of art. A scene from Ousmane Sembene’s Moolaadé. repeatedly portray, or think of, violence as simply mindless entertainment. Narrative violence It is important that we have intel- The benefit of some narrative faced with an intellectual quandary in is an examination of the operations of ligent, complex explorations of individ- violence is that it makes it harder for regard to the usage of the violence and power in society. ual and collective violence. In life, there audiences to ignore the motivations or the rationale for its usage. are outbreaks of violence that, when beliefs of the characters. This is espe- A powerful film will not allow us Some violent films to view they happen, seem beyond our kin or cially true when we become implicated to stand on the sidelines and retain our Pier Paolo Pasolini’s brutal, dis- present understanding. But, usually by our own violent impulses, becoming intellectual integrity. We have to take gusting and difficult Salo, or the 120 with time, we are able to grasp their so wrapped up in the narrative that we a stand, even if it is to condemn the Days of Sodom (Italy: 1975) traumati- motivations or causes. Likewise, in a encourage the violence—”Do it! Do it!” movie. After all, the artist presents us cally (for this viewer) explores the vic- work of “art,” one can begin to grasp at A good narrative can cause us to reflect with a work that is intended to shock or tim’s complicity as well as the oppres- the reason for the violence and make a on this dangerous impulse. Thus, in the affront. (This cuts both ways: it is also sor’s degradations in fascist societies. It sort of sense of it, even if one does not complex cinematic presentation, we are hypocritical for the artist to complain is a truly painful and wrenching film, when people condemn their work if but I do not regret having watched it. their intent was to depict acts of vio- The ending of Peter Greenaway’s lence in a graphic manner.) aesthetically beautiful The Baby of Beavis and Butt-head Violence historically is employed Macon (UK: 1993) horrified me more in the service of power on an individ- than any sophomoric slasher story ever ual or systemic level. Our democracy could and, to this day, has left me pon- in the new century is built on the ignorance of the daily dering the meaning of the film. Blocked usage of violence to keep some people from being exhibited in the U.S., when By Kevin Martinez ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, and Ashlee docile about their situation in life. we showed it for our film society at Simpson. This structural mask sometimes slips, Illinois State University, people were Back in the 1990s, America was We also saw MTV completely turn allowing a glimpse of the true face of crying in the audience. Afterwards, we prosperous. We weren’t in any wars, the its back on music videos and become that power. Thus, a necessary part of spilled into the streets and made our economy was awesome, and the ani- a reality show channel. In fact, during some violent narratives is our under- way to a pub where we argued into the mated MTV sitcom Beavis and Butt- the 2000s the whole nation dumbed standing of the roots of hegemonic night about the meanings of the film. head ruled the airwaves. down. We even had a president who power. Most Hollywood films, as well As with any difficult film, some of the A prime example of how good was by all accounts just as stupid as as many foreign films (see the recent audience members were angry that we things were then? Politicians had to Beavis and Butt-head. explosion of Asian extreme films), miss had shown it, and they had reason to look deeply for things to criticize. I watched the premiere of the new this aspect of violence. People facing be angry. We listened patiently to their Beavis and Butt-head gave them that Beavis and Butt-head movie on October the threat of actual acts of violence complaints even if we believed, ulti- ammunition. 27; it was like they had never left. The help us to understand human poten- mately, that the film should be seen. Let’s face it: when times are good, animation hasn’t improved that much, tial. It is not a case of human physi- politicians go looking for villains within and the voices haven’t changed a bit. cality or oversized phallic weapons. It continued on page 8 our ranks. Back in the 1950s, when the The plots are still simple, yet there is still economy was booming, everyone who something oddly clever about them. didn’t agree with our government was By being as dumb as they are, a communist. McCarthyists began Beavis and Butt-head tend to cut Local film happenings to finger comic books, among other through the crap and say how it is— cultural products, as dangerous prod- which is the troubling part. Now they KET’s Kentucky ucts that could turn our youth into provide commentary for Jersey Shore, a Muse Broadcast axe murderers and homosexuals. And show that I’ve never watched but about Premiere when the oppressed youth of the 1950’s which I now know a bit more thanks to Kentucky Muse, grew up? Well, they, in turn, became Beavis and Butt-head. the KET-produced concerned that the youth of the 1990’s These two actually come off as series which showcases would become sadistic freaks with bad more intelligent and clever than the creativity in and from taste in music because of Beavis and cast of Jersey Shore, which makes me Kentucky, will broad- Butt-head. think that over the past two decades cast its newest docu- Fourteen years ago, when Mike we have become a much less intelligent mentary on Monday, Judge decided to end Beavis and Butt- society. November 21 at 10:30 head to concentrate on King Of The Hill, I can only hope that kids discov- PM. The film, Julius it created a vacuum in the music world. ering Beavis and Butt-head for the Friedman: Picture This, Without these two ridiculous charac- first time will be elevated to a higher follows the career path ters telling the world that this band or comprehension level about the world of the titular artist, a that singer sucked, we suddenly had a around them. To me the simple stupid- celebrated Louisvillian massive output of crap that, while it ity of Beavis and Butt-head is much bet- who is renowned for was just as bad as what preceded Beavis ter than the gaudy and moronic world his work in photog- and Butt-head, now had no champions of Jersey Shore. It’s probably because raphy and graphic calling calling out crappy music for Mike Judge is a smart guy who is play- design. Most widely what it was. Before Beavis we had New ing a part. Snookie and her pals are the known for his iconic Kids On The Block and Vanilla Ice. same idiots when the cameras aren’t image of a pointed shoe After Beavis we had Backstreet Boys, rolling. balanced on an egg (which he produced for the Louisville Ballet), Friedman has exhib- ited his work through- out the United States, Europe, and Asia. For those interested in see- ing the film on the big Julius Friedman’s iconic image taken for the Louisville screen, it will premiere Ballet. Image courtesy KET’s Kentucky Muse. on Tuesday, November 15 at 6:30 P.M. at the Kentucky Center Art,” the show will feature film, pho- for Performing Arts in Louisville. For tography, painting, drawing, sculpture, more information on the film and the installation, and performance. The show series, please visit www.ket.org/muse. is being organized/curated by artist and performer Theo Edmonds, and will Trickster Makes This take place at his studio on 261 Midland World: A Group Show Avenue between 5:00 and 9:00 P.M. November’s Gallery Hop will fea- ture a group show by thirteen artists If you have a film or media event that from four states and three countries you would like to announce in North of who are pursuing BFA/MFA degrees Center, please send an e-mail with all in Lexington. With an emphasis on pertinent information to lucyjonesky@ Beavis and Butt-head return to their couch. “Mischief and Myth in Contemporary gmail.com. 6 North of Center

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Sports

Closing the Kentucky (cont.)

continued from page 1 first things Pete Hardin asked me was ‘How in the hell did a foreigner like you pay. The efforts to reclaim the back get a job with the Corps of Engineers?’” pay were initiated in the early 1970s by Pete Hardin himself benefited from the Ralph Conway, lockmaster at lock 8 in “who you know” system. Pete mar- southern Jessamine County. According ried Ruby Simpson, daughter of Bill to the plaintiffs in a 1974 letter to U.S. Simpson, lockmaster at 7 through the Comptroller General, Elmer B. Staats, 30s and early 40s. Pete’s brother, Cecil “[T]o enable the Corps to operate, Hardin would become lockmaster at maintain and protect the system 24 locks 3 and 4. hours a day year-around with minimal Dees’ life on the river spans from personnel, a lockmaster and assistant the era of steamers like the old tow, were required to occupy and pay rent Chenoka, to the advent of diesel-pow- for quarters within each lock reserva- ered engines. As a child, Dees remem- tion. At least one of them had to be bers when the Chenoka would steam on duty at all times. This required the into port at lock 2: men, alternately, to work regular shifts “They had an old cook on there plus standby duty up to 24 hours every was named Jenny Carter. All of us day, averaging about 40 hours plus 40 kids, running around there, we had hours or more standby duty a week per to go see the boat when it come up. I employee.” know back in that time, which was in The restitution, $2.5 million, was the late 20s and early 30s, there wasn’t divided among claimants according to none of us I don’t guess over 10 or 12 seniority. Dees, who began working on years old. After all the men would set the river the year after his discharge down to eat, Jenny would come out from the Army in 1945, received the there and holler for us, or some of the largest settlement award, $117,000 and deck hands. Everybody would help us, Conway the second largest, $91,732. if we needed help, to get on the boat, “Uncle” Sam Eversole, long-time superintendant of the Kentucky River and one of its Conway believed that Dees’ award was and take us and line us up around this champions. Photo courtesy Bobbie Jean Johnson. the largest ever conceded by the federal big table, and we thought that was the government for back pay. The actual grandest thing that ever was. But it was abolished, and in the spring of genuine attention to needs. Even rec- value of their settlement, however, was was back then, you know. And then, ’47 operation of the fourteen lock reational use of the locks, which had little more than $50,000 for Dees and of course, they had plenty left over and dams was transferred, along with been discouraged by the Corps prior $39,000 for Conway. The lion’s share, and fed all of us. Well, we met that Dees and many other lock men, to the to the mid-30s, found strong support of course, was destined to cover federal boat religiously.” Louisville District. According to Dees, among higher-ups, namely Colonel and state taxes and legal fees. The last packet boats passed up no one at the headquarters in Louisville Roger G. Powell, the Ohio River’s first The lockmasters felt they had “been and down the Kentucky during Dees’ was all that interested in an operational Division Engineer, who in 1936 main- shafted.” As Conway maintained, “If childhood as well. The last packet boat Kentucky. tained that pleasure boating on the our claim has merit now, it had merit he recalls came up the Kentucky from The coal and timber industries Kentucky—in addition to barge, tow, in 1972. We are being paid in inflated Madison, Indiana on the Ohio. in the upper stretches and above the and snag boat traffic—should not only dollars and are not receiving any inter- “They made every whistle stop and forks had all but abandoned the river be accommodated but encouraged. est on the money due us. We are not picked up passengers and livestock and in favor of a less temperamental mode His advocacy led to a regular opera- getting any tax break because, with what-have-you. But this old drunk got of transportation, namely rails. The tional schedule, expressly directed at five-year averaging, I will have to pay on in Madison. Well, they started out, Kentucky River, particularly above public use, so no locks were closed still more taxes on the money I get.” you know, going up the river and he lock 4 and Frankfort, was all but to navigation from mid-May to mid- In 1976 the Corps deemed 24-hour goes around to get a ticket, and they dead to commercial traffic by the late October of each year. During these surveillance of locks and dams unnec- went to him two or three times, and 40s and early 50s (with the excep- peak recreational months, locks could essary, and lock men were no longer all he did…was just waddle his head tion of several short coal booms, the only be closed for emergency repairs required to reside on lock reservations around and just fall around.” last occurring in early 1975). So from and only at his express written consent. or work longer than eight hours, thus When the ticket agent asked the the onset, the relationship between And to speed needed repairs, work eliminating the opportunity for over- old drunk where he wanted to go, he Kentucky River lock men and the crews would operate on a 24/7 basis. time pay. But the Corps’ evasive legal replied, “I don’t know. I want to go to Louisville District headquarters was The river-using public, it seemed, had maneuvers came too late to dodge the hell…” The agent told the captain, and marked with a palpable acrimony. a champion in Powell. court’s snag. While both Dees and the captain said, “Just let him off in “Uncle” Sam Eversole, long-time Within the Cincinnati District, Conway expressed reservations as to the Lockport, that’s the closest place to hell superintendant of the Kentucky River the Kentucky had earlier devotees legality of the Corps’ decision to dis- I know.” and one of its champions. Photo cour- as well. Prior to Powell, Cincinnati continue 24-hour surveillance, noting In the first decades of the 20th tesy Bobbie Jean Johnson. District and Assistant Engineer, the strategic importance of the locks in century, over 50 packet and show boats These men and the ancient, slow- Lucien Johnson and Kentucky River maintaining water levels and supplies, plied the Kentucky, most taking pas- moving river they represented quickly Superintendent, Sam Eversole, were particularly locks 7 and 8, both men sengers as far up as lock 9 at Valley became the unwanted step-children of keenly aware of needs along the called it quits on the river. View. “The old show boats, they’d a parent far more interested in caring Kentucky. The annual maintenance After the three-year closure, Dees come in and you’d hear that old calli- for its favorite charges, the Ohio and schedule they developed in the 1920s returned in 1985 to operate lock 7, and ope. This part of the country it’s ‘cally- Green Rivers. In Dees’ words, “how was based exclusively on empirical in 1986 he began to oversee locks 5 ope’ but—you’d hear that thing for they could hate one thing as bad as data. Early each year, the two would through 9 for the state as part of the miles back in the hills. I know we used they hate the Kentucky River is beyond boat from Carrollton to Beattyville, lease agreement. Asked if he would find to go…to shows. But that’s all probably me, and I know it never did one earthly stopping at each lock to gather infor- it hard to leave the river again when the around early 30s, you know.” thing to them. Never hurt them in no mation, hear the lockmaster’s own lease expired, Dees responded: “I can’t way.” accounting of needs, and send their put this on my shoulders and carry it Yes, Louisville does suck diver, Curtis Leitch, down with an with me. Too many people do that, and Dees went to work for the Corps Early champions ice-pick to assess the condition of the they end up doing some slow marching of Engineers in September, 1945 for It wasn’t always bad, though. Prior timber cribs and gates. They inspected and sad singing.” His final retirement the Cincinnati District. The next year, to dissolving the Cincinnati District, lock houses and made note of any nec- in 1988 marked the end of an era, what the Cincinnati District, which oper- the Kentucky River and its lock men essary repairs. During their one-way, Corps historian, Charles E. Parrish ated the entire Kentucky River system, enjoyed more than several decades of 255 mile journey, they’d document called “the nearly 200 year dream of a all snags in the channel and sound profitable Kentucky River navigation the lock approaches on either side system,” which “now exists as a testa- to determine any need for dredging. ment to the fact that great dreams often Assessment complete, they reported to become disappointing realities.” Cincinnati for approval and a repair fleet dispatched to begin work each A family affair April. For Charles Dees, being a lock- To a man working 24/7 and rais- master was more than a job. It had ing his family on the river, this kind of been a way of life for as long as he could genuine attention to his professional remember. He was born in 1923 at as well as personal needs inspired a Lockport, KY, where his father worked sort of shared responsibility and pride on a relief crew. Later, his uncle, Estill that carried over to the communities Thomas became lockmaster at lock 2, nearby. Just as gravity pulls the river and his brother, Russell Dees, took ever onward, the orderliness of the lock over lockmaster duties at lock 1 at and dams was a positive energy ema- Carrollton. “Most of the lock men nating to the surroundings. Of course, came from river families in the early being a lockmaster on the Kentucky days,” writes William Ellis in his river never exempted anyone from the hard- history. Like the railroad or the postal ships of the times, particularly in these service, when it came to getting a job, rural stretches of river bottom, but it who you knew was far and away more was steady, guaranteed employment important that what you knew, and and the focused, comprehensive atten- prior to World War II, who you needed tion provided by men like Johnson and to know was primarily another close Eversole, one might argue, was of ben- family member—a father, brother, or efit to the entire watershed—natural uncle. and human communities alike. Earl Gully, Jr., lockmaster at lock 12 beginning in 1958, recalls an early In part two, Wes will look at the commu- encounter with Pete Hardin of the nities sustained by lockmaster labors, and High Bridge Hardin’s (a river family what the state’s “caretaker status” means employed by the Corps). “One of the Pete Hardin at Lock 7 in ‘40s. Photo courtesy Bobbie Jean Johnson. today. Volume I Issue 2

The housing bubble How we got here By Austin Parker whatever else they desired. Bankers and mortgage brokers approved ques- By now, the bare facts of what tionable loans. Cable networks fol- happened in what’s commonly-known lowed marginally employed baristas as the “Great Recession” are widely as they received questionable loans known. Unfortunately, these facts are and made bank on the enterprise little reported on by most media, here known as home flipping: TLC’s in Lexington as elsewhere. So in the “Property Ladder” and A&E’s “Flip interests of due journalistic diligence, this House” (not to be confused with here’s some information on what is TLC’s “Flip that House”) stand out meant when leaders refer to the hous- here. ing bubble: how it happened, and how Two things happened when it contributes to our current depres- our media, politicians and certified sion economy. experts told us to all buy homes, and when the financial services industry The housing bubble began to push alternate, more risky, Colossal private banks, made methods for purchasing such homes. even larger through decades of dereg- First, supply and demand: with ulation and lax oversight by the gov- demand stoked by fiscal, political and ernment-run Securities and Exchange media outlets, housing prices soared Commission, pumped billions of dol- throughout the 1990s and 2000s, lars into the housing market world- pricing many people out of afford- wide. As they did, leading opinion able homes. Second, Americans makers (many of whom worked for, went increasingly into debt as they or were funded by the housing/bank- attempted to buy into the inflated ing industry) reinforced the need for market. Between 1990 and 2007, the Americans to by homes. ratio of debt to disposable personal Then-president George W. Bush income rose from 77% to 127%, much spoke of creating an “ownership soci- of this increase mortgage-related. ety.” Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan concurred. After the A popped housing bubble and a economy entered a recession follow- global depression ing the 9/11 plane hijackings and the The dirty little secret, of course, Enron financial scandal, Greenspan is that bubbles eventually pop. Even Illustration by Christopher Epling. lowered national interest ratesto spur the protestations of such economic consumer borrowing and thereby luminaries as Alan Greenspan and to understand what was contained in and revealed the depths of their expo- grow the national economy. This was every realtor between here and Boca them. Alan Greenspan and most other sure to subprime loans, the enormity reflected in historically low mortgage Raton couldn’t stop the fact that this financial wizards endorsed this prac- of the crisis only became more in rates, which spurred home-buying and insane blood-pact of spiraling home tice as another modern financial inno- focus. At the height of the housing refinancing of home loans. By 2004, values and risky mortgages would vation, though a slew of recent lawsuits bubble, most banks were leveraging Greenspan also publicly endorsed eventually wind up collapsing. against the banks more commonly cite each dollar in deposits nearly ninety Americans’ growing reliance on sub- The banks, however, were smart. it as white collar fraud. to one. (They had 1 real dollar for prime mortgages, mostly Adjustable First, they divested themselves of the After selling off their bad mort- every 90 borrowed dollars.) The CDS Rate Mortgages (ARMS) whose inter- crappy mortgages they sold to unwit- gages, banks then issued, purchased, market was valued over six times the est rates (and mortgage payments) ting home-buyers. They did this by traded, and otherwise mangled a new value of the mortgage market in 2008. “adjusted” according to the Fed’s packaging together large amounts class of derivative financial instru- Foreclosures soared. The reces- whims. In a speech that year to the of mortgages that were held on their ments known as the CDS (credit sion led to employers cutting millions Credit Union National Association, books, and then selling them as a default swaps), a fancy way of saying of jobs, and many of the new home- he claimed that such mortgages, single “product.” Generally, these insurance. The colossal investment buyers saw their payments skyrocket which were higher risk and normally new products were referred to as firms essentially bet the spread. If as the rate on their ARM jumped. targeted to poor communities and derivatives because their value was your home loans performed well (that Refinancers and “flippers” were sud- people of color, provided Americans “derived” from somewhere else—the is, if you did not default), banks stood denly stuck owing thousands more an innovative money-saving method ability of individual homeowners to to reap untold trillions off interest and than expected, or having a bundle of to purchase a home. pay the inflated loan values on the fees on the loans. If your loans failed houses in their name, having been Greenspan and Bush were just original mortgages. More specifically, and crapped out the packaged securi- paying interest only on the proper- two of the most powerful and well- the derivative products were known as ties sold to investors, banks could call ties without paying down principal. known American figures reinforc- “securities,” a term also used as a verb: in their “credit default swap” insur- In many cases, people simply walked ing the need for Americans to buy Wall Street banks securitized their ance policy. They won either way. away from mortgages they couldn’t property at cut-rate deals. Real estate individual mortgages to be sold on the If this doesn’t sound absolutely pay, which helped collapse the value agents, bankers, mortgage brokers, unregulated derivatives market. insane to you, then you have a bright of existing homes. These events have media figures and politicians of every The process of securitizing allowed future in investment banking ahead of put tens of thousands of homeown- color all talked about houses as sound banks to hide many of their bad loans. you. ers underwater on their home: the “investments,” brick and mortar bank It also made it difficult for pension The aftermath of the collapse of value of their home has sunk below accounts that contained equity (cash) funds, individual retirement accounts, the housing bubble was a gut punch the amount they still owe on their that homeowners could use to pay school boards, and others buying the to the global economic system. As the mortgage. for cars, vacations, braces, college or securities as AAA rated investments, banks started to unwind their books So, yeah, pretty bad stuff. Right? Two jobs and some classes Letters from 99ers To the gentleman that yelled “Get In order to keep our home, pay my truly didn’t understand how an intelli- Letter to Occupiers a job” at me while I was protesting medical bills and save some small bit of gent person with a liberal arts degree I moved to a local bank a couple Wall Street yesterday: I do have a job, money before our second child is born, and extensive experience in manage- years ago (“Too big to fail, too big for thank you—two jobs, in fact. I also go I work 30 – 40 hours a week as a man- ment could eventually be struggling me,” October 26). The Big Bank had to school full-time. There was a time ager at a local restaurant and substitute to feed himself and his family. But we torpedoed my IRA, given bonuses when I didn’t, though. teacher while also taking out my full live in a system that values profit over to their fat-ass execs and then taken I was unemployed for nine months share of student loans. My wife also people; a system that won’t insure me Bail-out money. That was too much; once. I lost my job while Bush was in works around 40 hours a week, on her because they know I require routine there’s no dealing with thieves. The office, and a month after my wife, step- feet, while carrying our second child. medical care and will probably die local bank pays only about 1%, but daughter and I moved into our first It is a shame I am not as fortu- before I am 60; a system that requires I had to stop the bleeding, and it’s a home. Two months later, I was diag- nate as you, dear sir, with your newly my family and I to go into debt so good thing. nosed with Type 1 diabetes. Then my washed sport utility vehicle and freshly that I can eventually make an honest health insurance dropped me and my pressed suit. I suppose from your per- living, a system that values war over Bruce Williams medications went from 20$ a month to spective it is my own damn fault to be education, wall street over main street, 200$ a month. You see, my body does where I am, but I was much like you building factories in China over build- not produce insulin; therefore, I will die once. I too worked in insurance and ing bridges in America. We belong to The Occupied without my medication. My wife, who financial services. I too imagined hav- a system that benefits the top minority does fairly well with her job as a hair- ing a fancy car and nice clothes. But rather than the bottom majority; a sys- Lexington Herald stylist, had enough saved and was able then I lost my job because I wasn’t tem that will kick a family out of their to keep the roof over our family’s head. bringing in enough new clients to home and reward the corporations that wants you! When it eventually became clear that I invest their money with us. Everyone made it impossible for that family to The Occupied Lexington Herald is was not going to find a job before my was understandably frightened by the keep that home. Who got bailed out? looking for photo coordinators, unemployment and our savings ran out, falling market in 2007 and was more The banks got bailed out. Who got sold artists, events coordinators and I decided to enroll in grad school, partly interested in holding on to their money out? We got sold out. We are the 99%. writers to help cover the move- to ensure a job in the future, but mostly for fear of the crash to come. ment. Interested? Contact us at because I needed the health insurance I didn’t expect to end up where I Your fellow American, [email protected] and loans that school provides. am. I was a bit more optimistic then. I Billy Petot Occupied Lexington Herald The better business model Be good to each other

By Ian Epperson Sadly, as a company grows it has to be accountable to shareholders We have a bad habit of taking who are located further and further Jesus and molding him into someone from the smaller communities that who agrees economically with what gave rise to the business. It must be we already believe. We do this with tempting to stray from the being-good the Bible too. A die-hard opponent business model and toward the model of welfare can find the passage “if a whose over-riding interests involve man doesn’t work he doesn’t eat.” A maximizing profits. In that race to Photo by Al Marzian. Found on the Occupy Lexington Flickr site. socialist or communist can find “no the top, as the number of customers one considered anything to be their increases and those customers who own but shared everything in com- were once names and faces become mon.” A charitable person can find numbers, the pursuit of profit gradu- What’s going on John the Baptist saying, “He who has ally overrules and overwhelms the two tunics should give to him with desire to be good to our neighbors. Occupy activities at JP’s plaza, Main Street none, and the one with food should do As businesses have increas- the same.” ingly moved away from providing a Please contact [email protected] to add an activity to the calendar. There is a problem, however, with commerce based (at least in part) on Unless otherwise noted, all meetings at the Occupation site, 201 E. Main Street. our desire to mold Jesus into our eco- neighborly relations in favor of one nomic ideologies. He then becomes based primarily on economic ones, Every day unable to change us, since he stands we encounter many of the world’s 6:30 P.M.: General Assembly. Come take part in consensus decision-making as only to reinforce our already held most pressing problems: sweatshops, to how the Occupation in Lexington should proceed. beliefs. climate change, the concentration of When we take the scriptures as a wealth in so few hands. The problem is Wednesday, November 9 whole, we can’t find any popular eco- not which economic system we adhere 7:30 P.M.: Technology Working Group. Regularly scheduled Technology nomic model today that Jesus would to. It is that regardless of the economic Working Group Meeting endorse. What we find instead is a system, we have forgotten how to be consistent message that has to do not good to each other. We have forgotten Saturday, November 12 only with economics, but also with our how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Noon: Drums for Peace. Drummers, dancers, hoopers, jugglers, or other movers more intimate lives. That message is As we stray from this basic rela- and shakers invited. There are usually extra drums, rattles, shakers, and other simple and can be summed up thusly: tionship that Jesus provided us, any noise makers. Even if you think you don’t have rhythm, come and enjoy the “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In number of rationalizations begin to music and energy, or just hold a sign for the Occupy Group. other words, be good to each other. So seem reasonable. As the be-good let me not drone on about the pros and business model diminishes and the 7:30 P.M.: Technology Working Group. Regularly scheduled meeting. cons of any particular economic sys- maximizing-profit business model tem but instead talk about being good takes hold, the result is often a fren- Sunday, November 13 to each other, and being good to each zied rush to secure greater and greater 1:00 P.M.: Study and Teach-In Group. The Study and Teach-In Group provides other as a business model. profits, a race to the top that disre- opportunities and resources for in-depth studies of issues important to the We all have a picture in our head gards anything that doesn’t generate Occupy Movement. Meetings are in Room C at the downtown public library, of what it looks like to be good to an attractive return on investment. across from J.P. Morgan Plaza. Contact Michael Benton ([email protected]) each other in a business setting. We As the pursuit of profit takes for more information. Website: http://olkyeducation.blogspot.com think of a small community bank giv- hold, should we then be surprised that ing its customers a break when hard the symbol of Wall Street is a 3,700 3:00 P.M.: Knit-in. As winter approaches, Occupiers will need warm scarves and times come along, renegotiating loans pound bronze bull at the corner of hats. Love to knit? Want to learn to knit? Come join us for a wonderful after- after a medical emergency or a cut in Morris and Broadway in downtown noon of knitting and chatting! Ample yarn, needles of all shapes and sizes, and hours at work. It is not necessarily the Manhattan, eerily reminiscent of the instruction will be provided. best business model if your only goal golden calf the people of Israel built is to make as much profit as possible. in Moses’ absence as they wandered 7:30 P.M.: General March. A weekly march held directly after General Assembly. But if you are interested in the being- the desert for forty years. Starting at the Occupation site and traveling throughout downtown.We want to good-to-one-another business model, Once Moses stood up to Pharaoh engage our immediate community who might not otherwise pass by our site. it’s the only thing that makes sense. it didn’t take long for the people of Companies abiding by this busi- Israel to get out of Egypt. But it took Monday, November 14 ness model are the stuff of legends forty years to get Egypt out of them. 5:30-7:30 P.M.: People’s Media. BCTC film certificate graduate Ramona Waldman in many American cities and small In the same way, a conversation is hap- and North of Center editor Danny Mayer will be on hand to produce and help fos- towns. In my hometown, for exam- pening in cities across the world as we ter citizen media. Tell your own story of hard times and high hopes on camera to ple, there’s a funeral home whose discuss how to get out of Wall Street, Ramona. Pencils and paper provided for anyone wanting to write a letter to the founder never let a poor farmer pay and more importantly how to get Wall editors of the Occupied Lexington Herald. Visitors are invited to share working for a funeral during the depression; Street out of us. We hope you’ll come drafts of news articles, letters to the editor, or other media publications. eighty years later, we still remember join the conversation. We hope you’ll how this business treated the least of come out and stand up with us for the 10:00 P.M.-7:00 A.M.: Community night. Bluegrass Community and Technical these in those hard times. be-good business model. College professors Michael Benton and Danny Mayer invite BCTC students, faculty and staff (past, present and future) to join them in spending the night downtown. (Other members of the community are invited, too.) Mayer will Invest in Kentucky bring bocce balls for the Lexington Guerrilla Bocce League. Wednesday, November 16 Occupied Lexington News 7:30 P.M.: Technology Working Group. Regularly scheduled meeting.

Invest in Kentucky is a grassroots initiative calling on the Kentucky State Saturday, November 19 Treasurer to reinvest the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s public funds into a finan- Noon: Drums for Peace. Drummers, dancers, hoopers, jugglers, or other movers cial institution that is headquartered in Kentucky. In 2011 Kentucky’s accounts and shakers invited. There are usually extra drums, rattles, shakers, and other were moved to J.P. Morgan Chase, a financial institution that contributed to the noise makers. Even if you think you don’t have rhythm, come and enjoy the financial collapse of 2008, has taken part in numerous unethical business prac- music and energy, or just hold a sign for the Occupy Group. tices, and has displayed a pattern of untrustworthy and unethical behavior. You are invited to send our Kentucky State Treasurer the letter below, ask- 7:30 P.M.: Technology Working Group. Regularly scheduled meeting. ing him to publicly consider where the state’s money should go. Just tear and send. Sunday, November 20 1:00 P.M.: Study and Teach-In Group. The Study and Teach-In Group provides opportunities and resources for in-depth studies of issues important to the Office of State Treasurer Todd Hollenbach Occupy Movement. Meetings are in Room C at the downtown public library, 1050 US Highway 127 South, Suite 100 across from J.P. Morgan Plaza. Contact Michael Benton ([email protected]) Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 for more information. Website: http://olkyeducation.blogspot.com

Dear Kentucky State Treasurer Todd Hollenbach: 3:00 P.M.: Knit-in. As winter approaches, Occupiers will need warm scarves and hats. Love to knit? Want to learn to knit? Come join us for a wonderful after- I am writing to ask you to move Kentucky’s Public Funds out of JP noon of knitting and chatting! Ample yarn, needles of all shapes and sizes, and Morgan Chase and into a bank headquartered in Kentucky. instruction will be provided.

Kentucky’s public funds should be invested in the state of Kentucky. 7:30 P.M.: General March. A weekly march held directly after General Assembly. Banks lend idle funds, and Kentucky’s public funds, if they were Starting at the Occupation site and traveling throughout downtown.We want to located here in the Commonwealth, could be used by our local and state- engage our immediate community who might not otherwise pass by our site. wide banks to provide loans to Kentucky small businesses, prospective homeowners, and entrepreneurs that wish to create new jobs or expand Monday, November 21 their existing businesses here in the Commonwealth. In solidarity with 5:30-7:30 P.M.: People’s Media. BCTC film certificate graduate Ramona Occupy Lexington, we demand that our tax dollars are taken out of Too Waldman and North of Center editor Danny Mayer will be on hand to produce Big To Fail banks like Chase and placed in a financial institution that and help foster citizen media. Tell your own story of hard times and high hopes will invest in Kentucky. on camera to Ramona. Pencils and paper provided for anyone wanting to write a letter to the editors of the Occupied Lexington Herald. Visitors are invited Sincerely, to share working drafts of news articles, letters to the editor, or other media publications. ______Signature 10:00 P.M.-7:00 A.M.: Community night. Bluegrass Community and Technical College professors Michael Benton and Danny Mayer invite BCTC students, ______faculty and staff (past, present and future) to join them in spending the night Printed name downtown. (Other members of the community are invited, too.) Mayer will bring bocce balls for the Lexington Guerrilla Bocce League. North of Center 7

Opinion NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Ciudad Juárez (cont.)

continued from page 1 markets flowing into theU .S. According to Olivera, “Narco-corruption is so The Way Out of Juárez, “and it looks great that official security structures like chaos but it is not. There is a new have had to be continually replaced as order in the wind and it sidesteps gov- gang members penetrate or bribe the ernment, or, if pressed, steps on govern- police.” There’s a war over power, and ment. There is a new order in the wind the Mexican government is losing—if and it cannot be discussed because any it hasn’t lost already. discussion might threaten the old order Still, though, how do the hun- now rolling in the dirt.” dreds of disappeared women of Juárez fit into the picture? The cartel wars Altogether different have plenty of casualties—men and I sat in a sparsely populated women involved with the drug traffick- room watching the 2001 documen- ing—but that doesn’t seem to explain tary Señorita Extraviada by Lourdes the feminicide, whose victims are not Portillo. Señorita Extraviada tells the necessarily connected to cartels. The story of Juárez in a way that is now motivation for killing a double-crossing relatively common: a new economic drug mule is different from snatching order has made poor women targets of Silvia Arce, who disappeared in 1998 sinister violence. As much as I already while collecting money for jewelry knew about the feminicide, the film she’d sold to dancers. was still a blow. Portillo’s documentary As her mother Eva Arce tells the presents terrifying and gut-wrenching From TheD isappeared Senoritas of Ciudad Juarez. Photo by Brian Connors-Manke. story, Silvia was waiting for her hus- testimony from the families of disap- band to pick her up when a white peared women. We meet mothers who really look at what is going on, if we this landmark lawsuit, it was simply Cavalier took her away. People around investigate and demand justice. We see don’t see Juárez on its own terms, we accepted that war meant rape, and that the area knew that Silvia was a “good a government that will not or—worse have no way of combating the degrada- everyone did it. Nenadic and Armanda girl,” but none would help Eva find yet—cannot intercede. tion and brutality that threatens every- essentially said, “No, that is not what her daughter. When she went to police The documentary’s perspective one in Juárez and all of us connected to we see here.” and the DA’s office, it seemed eerily as is in line with much research on the the border—and we are all connected if officers and officials knew what was situation. Scholars such as Mercedes to the border in one way or another. Russian nesting dolls happening to Silvia. One said: “Ma’am Olivera note that poverty, unemploy- Unfortunately, since 1993 when In some ways, genocidal programs when your daughter comes back, you ment, migration, and the disintegra- the disappearances began, conven- work like Russian nesting dolls: they will have to take her to a place for her tion of the peasant economy in Mexico tional thinking has been the order of are wars inside wars. For the twentieth to recover.” Another told her: “We’re became more acute after President the day, a way to create red herrings to century, we rely on World War II as just waiting for the order to go get her.” Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-94) shield the real perpetrators. First, the fullest example of this process. “With They seemed to know something but accelerated neoliberal policies. With women themselves were blamed for the regard to the Holocaust,” Nenadic says, refused to aid Eva. these problems came more violence disappearances (“they are prostitutes”; “initially people didn’t see it as a dis- Eva believes that “all of them knew against women. To put it concretely, “they are bad girls”). Then, there was tinct crime within all the atrocities that where she was being held, and they factories along the Mexican-U.S. bor- speculation about a single serial killer; were happening during World War II. never rescued her.” A shadowy game der have drawn poor migrants to cities an American expert was even brought They saw the mass destruction of war. was being played, and Silvia was a dis- like Juárez. Women take jobs at these in to give theories. Then, it was a But this was a particular type of ‘war’ posable pawn that allowed the game to maquiladoras and engage in other low- satanic ritual; then, it was gangs. With within a war. It wasn’t something being continue. wage, temporary work. In a culture of as many women as have disappeared carried out by all sides to the conflict; conservative gender roles, this ruffles at this point, any of these people or it was a concerted policy committed by The second state men’s feathers. groups could have joined the rampage. one side only, a policy to destroy a par- When Bowden writes that “[t]here After watching the documentary, However, many doubt that the root ticular ethnic group. That needed to be is a new order in the wind and it side- though, that explanation didn’t seem of the feminicide lies in any of these made visible.” steps government, or, if pressed, steps sufficient. Portillo’s film reveals the explanations. This large scale, system- In Yugoslavia, this war within a on government,” he suggests that power sadism involved in the murders of the atic killing suggests something more. war included the killing of women belongs to organized networks that women—and suggests that the brutal- in ways as vicious as the Juárez mur- function largely outside the law. They ity is planned, organized. For instance, Scholars and activists conceptual- ders. While the sadism exhibited in act furtively yet boldly; they take peo- one family found that their daugh- ize the widespread murder of women the Serbian camps and in the Juárez ple off the street in daylight; they pho- ter’s factory work schedule had been in Juárez, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and borderland echo each other, another tograph young women and then choose changed the day before her disappear- elsewhere by using the term femini- aspect of the violence seems strikingly among them; they torture woman after ance, leaving her unable to travel to and cide. Rosa-Linda Fregoso and Cynthia different: Juárez isn’t in the midst of woman, girl after girl with impunity. “ethnic cleansing.” Some of the tar- Anthropologist Rita Laura Segato geted women are peasants from other believes that Juárez has a “second regions of the country and some are state,” an underworld that is “acting indigenous, but this doesn’t seem to and shaping society from beneath the be a state-sponsored campaign against law.” The act that creates and sustains them. (According to Marcela Lagarde y de los Ríos, who was on a Mexican continued on page 8 special commission about the femi- nicides, if the state is sponsoring the one-by-one massacre in Juárez, it is North of Center is a periodical, a through the impunity it has granted place, and a perspective. Read on to the perpetrators.) find out what that means. If genocide is partly about the systematic extinction of a group, then Editor & Publisher Juárez doesn’t seem to be genocidal. In Danny Mayer fact, this feminicide wants the oppo- site: it wants a continual supply of Features women so that it can use their deaths Beth Connors-Manke to support other ends. Even if we can’t call Juárez a genocide, we can say that Film & Media there is a war going on—and that the Lucy Jones From TheD isappeared Senoritas of Ciudad Juarez. Photo by Brian Connors-Manke. feminicide is “nesting” inside another larger war. Sports from work with family. At that same Bejarano define feminicide as “the Troy Lyle factory, the women were regularly pho- absolute degradation and dehuman- A legacy tographed on payday. This girl’s photo- ization of female bodies,” arguing that While neoliberal economic policies Music graph showed her beautiful and model- it is a crime against “women’s life and are blamed for the violence in Mexico, Buck Edwards like, and the film speculated that she liberty.” Other scholars go as far as to there’s another element that plays a had been chosen based on her photo. say that feminicide is a type of genocide part: the legacy of Latin American Design Another woman, who had been against women. repressive military regimes. State terror- Ghostnote Editorial taken but avoided death, told of It wasn’t until recently that sexual ism, abductions, and torture—of both photo albums kept by the kidnap- atrocities were even recognized as part women and men—has not been uncom- Illustrations pers of the women and their torture, of genocide. During the dissolution mon during Latin America’s civil wars Noah Adler rape, and murder. Planned, organized, of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, it came to and repressive military reigns. When documented. light that Serbian forces had imple- women activist-citizens were taken off Contributors This isn’t the type of violence one mented a system of mass rapes and the streets, their torture was sexualized Michael Benton tends to see from men trying to con- killing of women as part of the “ethnic and especially misogynistic. This type Andrew Battista trol women. This isn’t on par with the cleansing.” To see some justice done, of political culture reinforced a social Dylan Blount aggression used to put women back in Natalie Nenadic, now a UK profes- system that made violence against Wes Houp their “rightful” place in the home. This sor of philosophy, and Asja Armanda, women normal. Additionally, amnesty Kenn Minter system is altogether different. a philosopher and Croatian-Jewish laws in countries like Guatemala later Captain Commanokers women’s rights advocate, intervened. let the perpetrators off the hook, creat- Sunny Montgomery Conceptualizing feminicide They brought international attention ing a culture of impunity. In Mexico, a Because Juárez defies conventional to the issue through a lawsuit against similar situation occurred when police Address correspondence, including thinking about the serial murder of Radovan Karadzic, the head of the officers in Mexico’s Dirty War of the advertising inquiries and letters to the women, we have to find a new way to Bosnian Serbs and an architect of the 1970s went on to become high-ranking editor, to [email protected]. see the situation. That “new order in the genocide. The lawsuit accused Karadzic officials in Chihuahua, the state where wind” that Bowden perceives needs to of genocidal sexual atrocities, mak- Ciudad Juárez is located. Unless otherwise noted, all material be seen through a new lens. If we don’t ing this the first time sexual atroci- Add to this a drug cartel war over copyright © 2011 North of Center, LLC. stretch, if we don’t have the courage to ties became legally recognized. Before distribution zones and control of drug 8 North of Center

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Comics

NoC Fundraiser Update The NoC fundraiser was a learning experience. We raised $400 and secured a new friend while at Al’s who sold these mini-ads on post-it notes to bar customers for an additional $32. (Hint, hint, others. You can do this, too: [email protected]). Thanks Charles, and thanks all of you below and everyone else who donated their hard-earned time, money, energy, voice, mind and body. We hope to roll out a form of community sustained journalism next issue. We’re also always looking for interested ad partners interested in supporting our form of print media.

“You can’t dismantle the masters house with the masters tools.” —Audre Lorde

Thank you North of Center for creating Support Independent Movements! Occupy. a space to share stories, inspirations and struggle. Support Independent News! NoC. xoxo Ondine Quinn Enku Ide

Future K!dZ We would like for you to support unsigned music and like Future K!dz on Facebook and Greg Capillo Will Rush visit our youtube channel @ NotAverageTV Matthew Ward and Chris Gilley

Film violence (cont.)

continued from page 5 demonstrates how cinematic art has social forces--usually is a clear indica- reflect on what those boundaries are, the potential to change the world. Its tor of the boundaries of society: what who they benefit and who suffers, and If you believe that a disturbing por- portrayal of structural and individual is permitted, what is forbidden, and how they are masked/legitimated as trayal is important and should be seen, violence speaks to audiences around who controls these boundaries. Always normal. you should respect contrary, disturbed the world. In protagonist Collè’s and angry reactions. This is what you struggle to speak out and stand up Ciudad Juárez (cont.) expected the film to do, therefore you against tradition-bound violence, it should address its effects on those audi- presents an imaginative opportunity continued from page 7 wars, the war against equitable eco- ences. Do not dismiss these humanis- for the audience to consider its own nomic structures all “nest” around the tic responses, engage in a dialogue that society and its stance within it. loyalty to this mafia-like brotherhood is violation of these women. The biggest art demands of its audiences. Do not the mutilation and murder of women. war, though, is between this second become complicit in the further mysti- The violence of war In order words, these young women state and civil society. Segato writes, “I fication of experience. Directly engage A recent BBC/HBO film, are sacrificed in order to maintain the understand these to be crimes perpe- with audience members’ fear/confusion Conspiracy (UK/USA: Kenneth underworld of the second state. When trated against us, addressed to us and and, in the process, your own. Branagh, 2001), has led me to consider these men (sometimes with female for us, the law-abiding citizens.” A problem with the usage of vio- how problematic the violence of war is accomplices) abduct, rape, and leave As Bowden points out, this is lence in contemporary film is that it has when represented in films. Any repre- the women dead in the desert or in the war we have difficultly perceiv- become an effect used to entertain and sentation of the actual battles of war- empty lots, they are proving that they ing. Because if we recognize it, then titillate. This is the ultimate failing of fare, even in explicitly anti-war films, belong to the world that haunts and we must admit that our old order— a filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino. becomes an opportunity for people to now controls civil society in Juárez. a society that guaranteed safety and He so desperately wants to be under- glorify the heroics of the participants. This seems to be the root of the a measure of political, personal, and stood as a serious filmmaker, while also Former marine Anthony Swofford, in sadism. This is why the feminicide isn’t economic freedom—is “now rolling in doing everything he can to be one of his memoir Jarhead (2003), called these a genocide intent on eradicating poor, the dirt.” In the new order, there’s no the cool kids. In order to remain popu- films “War Porn” because they were racialized women from the border- firm distinction between the U.S. and lar, his films do little to understand the used to pump up new recruits for the lands; rather, it needs a continual sup- Mexico. There’s simply a continuum violence that is liberally spread around Gulf War. They didn’t watch nation- ply to bind men to this other world of from south to north, along which there like party favors. alistic celebrations of war as good, power, cruelty, barbarism. is a struggle of life against death. A critic of these types of films pro- like John Wayne’s Green Berets (USA: To return to the metaphor of wars So when political candidates pro- duced one of the most powerful and 1968). Instead, they screened tradi- structured like Russian nesting dolls: pose a higher, bigger, better wall along disturbing films of the last few years. tional anti-war films like Apocalypse the disappeared women of Juárez are the U.S.-Mexican border, you know Michael Haneke’s Cache (France/ Now (USA: 1979) and Full Metal Jacket that tiniest doll around which all the that they don’t recognize the new real- Austria: 2005) explores the after effects (USA: 1987). other dolls form their contours. The ity—or that they don’t want you to see of repressed systemic and individual This is where Conspiracy is differ- dirty war of earlier decades, the cartel it. acts of aggression/violence. It is mini- ent from other war films. It delves into malist and subtle in its presentation of the inner world of power kept hidden violence, but the impact is long-lasting, in traditional narratives. It goes into reverberating in my mind still, causing the legal process of the 1942 Wannsee me to question the impact of individual Conference in which NAZI military Castlewood Neighborhood and societal repression of violent histo- and officials negotiated the “Final ries. It forces us to reflect on our own Solution” for the perceived problem of societal repression of historical violence the Jews. The film powerfully engages Tree Planting and our individual role in this repres- us in the use of pens and words as sion. Perhaps even more devastating is weapons against peoples. At the same November 12 & 19 the subtle portrayal of the long-lasting, time, for me, it provokes a consider- generational effects of violence. ation of our own current legal minds Meet 9am at the Loudoun House Instances of violence can also that institute “torture memos,” “secret cause us to focus on what gives life prison camps,” “extraordinary rendi- Bring a shovel or a rake dignity and what is noble and ignoble tions,” and “assassination policies.” in the human condition. The legend- This is violence perpetrated on a mas- ary Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane sive scale. Questions: call 335.4753 Sembène’s last film, Moolaadé A last thought. Legitimated vio- (Burkina Faso/Senegal: 2004), lence—sanctioned by the state, or other