Free Press Houston November 2014

RIP PAM

FPH 11.14 p.2

FPH 11.14

staff Publisher Omar Afra Managing Editor Harbeer Sandhu Business Manager Ham Sandwich Web/Digital Media Andrea Afra Associate Editors Michael Bergeron Andrea Afra Mariam Afshar Contributors & Staff Writers Jack Daniel Betz Nick Cooper Will Guess David H. Amanda Hart DL Haydon Meghan Hendley-Lopez Blake Jones M. Martin Rob McCarthy Mills-McCoin Kathryn McGranahan Michael Pennywark T h e Fr e e P r e s s i s a n o p e n

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Staff Dog Lucy

FPH 11.14 p.4

ain't

no

party like www.timecube.com

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EDS LETTER ​R IP PAM Pam Robinson was one of the toughest yet sweetest people I have ever met.

She was a supporter, albeit reluctant, of FPH at our inception in 2003 and we owe her a debt of gratitude. Her death was indeed a huge loss to the Houston music scene yet more importantly she was a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, aunt, and friend. We simply wanted to take this moment and acknowledge her for all of her great work and for all the love she put into what she did.

THURS. 6TH BROKEN SPOKES, BO BRUMBLE FRI. 7TH FUNERAL HORSE, TEN FOOT BEAST, CADILLAC TO MEXICO, INSOLVENT

SAT. 8TH THE REEN, DUSTIN PRINZ MON. 10TH OPEN MIC COMEDY NIGHT THURS. 13TH 2040 MEETING, OPHELIA’S ROPE FRI. 14TH SAVAGE MASTER, THE SWINGIN DICKS, FUNERAL HORSE, EMERALD HEAVY SAT. 15TH DIRTY SEEDS, DESTROYER OF LIGHT, ”DOWNER”, HYRILLA SUN. 16TH LEVEL UP-NERDIST NETWORK WITH DAVID ROSS

MON. 17TH OPEN MIC COMEDY NIGHT TUES. 18TH BOO TOWN PRESENTS: GROWN UP STORY TIME #72 THURS. 20TH BEER TASTING FRI. 21ST RACEWAY, PURAPHARM, EMPTY SHELLS SAT. 22ND PLAYING FOR NO ONE, EX-OPTIMISTS, SUNDAE DRIVE, THE ESCATONES, BRIAN ZEOLLA MON. 24TH OPEN MIC COMEDY NIGHT WED. 26TH SLIM BLOODWORTH AND SAM DEMARIS, HOWL AND BRAVO JAZZ FUNK BAND FRI. 28TH THE PUNKNECKS, THE BLOODHOUNDS, THE WITHEREES SAT. 29TH DOOMSTRESS PRESENTS DOOMSGIVING III:WITH PROJECT ARMAGEDON, VANITY CRIMES, ”DOWNER”, GIANT KITTY

FPH 11.14

CAMH Finally Shows Its H

by Michael McFadden “ Houston has been a lively breed ing ground for artistic innovation for decades now, and is increasingly considered a global art center alongside New York, Los Angeles, London, and more recently, Berlin,” the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (CAMH) boasts in its press release for R ig ht H e re , R ig ht N ow : H o u s to n . I t can sound a little hypish, but it ’s true.

Great things happen in Houston, but the geographic isolation of the city has always made things difficult for local ar tists . Tucked midway between the coasts, Houston has struggled to garner national and international attention while struggling to stem its own braind r a i n a m o n g it s m o s t t a l e n te d a n d hard-working artists.

Sti l l , a g rowi n g n u m b e r of co n temporary Houston artists have been gaining attention outside of the City.

Earlier this year, Lovie Olivia was showing simultaneously in Houston, NYC, and Los Angeles. Houstonian Mark Flood h a s t a ke n u p re si d e n ce i n N YC a n d put on his own “art fair” this past May. Rick Lowe was awarded the MacArthur “Genius” Award for his artistic work in Houston and beyond.

Robert Pruitt has spread our local culture and brought back new insights/ connections through residencies around the country, and his collective Otabenga Jones and Associates (OJA) took over Brooklyn recently with Funk, God, Jazz, & Medicine. Jamal Cyrus, another OJA member, per formed his piece Texas Fried Tenor (2012) this July at Walker Ar t Center in Minneapolis as par t of Radical Presence: Black Performance in C o nte m p o ra r y A r t , a n exh ibitio n curated by CAMH’s own Valerie Cassel Oliver, which has traveled to New York and now Minneapolis since its debut at CAMH last year.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of talent in Houston. It’s starting to get the recognition it deserves, and it’s nice to see that the CAMH, one of Houston’s largest arts organizations, is showing some support. They recently presented a retrospective of internationally-known local Trenton Doyle Hancock, and currently, CAMH has two exhibitions that feature four H ouston - base d a r tist s: Right Here, Right Now: Houston, featuring solo mini-exhibitions by Carrie Marie Schneider, Debra Barrera, and Nathaniel Donnett, and Destroy and Rebuild, featuring the works of Robert Hodge.

With Right Here, Right Now: H o u s to n , th e C A M H s h owc a s e s th e diverse talent s of the Cit y ’s ar tistic community. Selected by Curator Dean Daderko, Executive Director Bill Arning, and Senior Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, each of these three artists differ greatly in terms of style, concept, and execution.

Schneider’s exhibition, Incommensurate Mapping, curated by Daderko, puts her collaborative spirit in the spotlight. Along the walls, visitors

can find documentation from collaborations Schneider has spearheaded with other local artists, including Human Tour in which she and Alex Tu led walking tours around the city while wearing futuristic hazmat suits. In a back corner, hidden behind a stolen development sign, is a small, dark room with a chair situated for viewing clips from C are House (2012), one of Schneider’s most powerful installations. Referencing the changing landscape of Houston, she also collaborated with numerous artists and citizens to construct a series of sculptures that re-envision the CAMH itself as a more collaborative, welcoming, and convivial community space.

Curated by Arning is Debra Barrera’s exhibition Avalon. The exhibition explores humanity’s desire for escape. A testament to Barrera being named the artist-in-residence for the Physics department at Rice University, it also showcases Barrera’s deep connection with the sky and space, perhaps viewing it as the ultimate escape. The exhibition consists of a variety of works that portray this connection in a plethora of fashions, from the most visually literal - a giant bottle rocket sits near the entrance of the space - to the most visually stunning - a reflecting pool sits inlaid in the floor against a back wall, a void that one could spend hours peering into whether they see it as a black hole or a portal to the great beyond. Without a d o u bt , B a rre ra ’s wo rk is a s sm a r t as it is aesthetically pleasing. (Note: Many miss a piece installed by Barrera on the outside of the CAMH in a stairwell, where a playlist made by Barrera repeats on a loop.)

The third installation in Right Here, Right Now: Houston is Nathaniel Donnett’s Nothing to See Hear. Working wi th C a s s e l O l i ve r, D o n n e t t b u i l t a sort of zen garden of civil rights references. With a drumbeat pulsing in the background, it serves as a great space to reflect on those who have worked and are working to improve the lives of black people in the United States.

Of Donnett ’s work (although not this specific installation), Glasstire’s Bill Davenpor t wrote, “… a mish -mash of familiar black artist imagery and materials... expressing well-trodden racial identity issues without adding much.”

Davenpor t ’s point is valid, to an extent. Many black ar tists reference the same issues of race, history, identity, exclusion, privilege (or rather lack thereof), and from an outside perspective, sometimes it might seem as though these pieces all address the same viewpoint or experience, but each piece also adds a voice and serves as a reminder that contemporary America is anything but post-racial. The method for delivering this voice varies from artist to artist, which becomes apparent when visitors go downstairs to Hodge’s Destroy and Rebuild.

Making use of a vast array of found m ate ria l s a n d h is to ric a l refe re n ce s , Hodge connects innumerable voices by collaging one man’s garbage over prints

and paintings that display how black people have been viewed throughout history. He brings history to the prese nt d ay by th e n cut tin g lyric s f ro m contemporary hip hop into the refuse.

A prime example is Anaconda. Hodge connects a modern obsession with big butts portrayed by Sir Mix-a-Lot and Nicki Minaj back to materials that reference Saartjie Baartmann, a woman stolen away from Africa to travel with a show that exploited her: Baartmann was not only carted around Europe as an object of exoticism and grotesqueness but also used by French scientists, if one can call them that, as an example of how Africans were sub-human and savage to purport the racist rhetoric prevalent in that time. Hodge, along with Schneider, Barrera, and Donnett, is among many Houston artists climbing the ranks, and when a local giant shines the spotlight on what makes our underrated ar ts community so great, they deserve praise.

The museum is turning its attention to its formerly silent H, and it’s on track to continue into 2015 with the Houston-born Mel Chin. Many questions come to mind, though: Will it continue?

Should it? If this is a long-term change, what does the City lose by not having this forum for national or foreign artists? When we focus internally, are we fostering those within or cutting them off from outside influence? These are all questions the CAMH staff is, or at least should be, ruminating on.

Robert Hodge: Destroy and Rebuild Contemporary Arts Museum Houston On view October 4, 2014 – January 4, 2015 Checklist Robert Hodge Bert Williams (Tapdance), 2013 Mixed media on reclaimed paper 60 inches, diameter Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge The Great Electric Show and Dance, 2013 Mixed media on reclaimed paper 41 x 54 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Forever Ever, 2014 Acrylic, found cardboard, and spray paint 61 x 81 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Before the Limelight Stole Ya, 2014 Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper 42 x 31 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Jesus Piece, 2014 Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper 78 x 54 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Dem No Know, 2014 Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper 42 x 31 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Stand Your Ground, 2013 Acrylic on reclaimed paper, hemp thread, and mixed media 57 x 97 inches C o ll e c ti o n of Ste p h a n i e a n d B ill P e r k i n s , Houston Robert Hodge Severus, 2014 Gold leaf, hemp thread, and mixed media on reclaimed paper 96 x 104 inches Collection of David Anderson, Houston Robert Hodge Anaconda, 2014 42 x 31 inches Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge In the Mainstream, 2014 42 x 31 inches Mixed media on reclaimed paper, and medium density fiberboard Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Why You All in My Grill?, 2014 42 x 31 inches Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Forever Ever, 2014 Acrylic, found cardboard, and spray paint 61x 81 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge All My Sons, 2014 Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper 42 x 31 inches Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge No Man is Safe, 2014 42 x 31 inches Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Pow, Nobody Now, 2013 42 x 31 inches Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper Courtesy the artist Robert Hodge Silent Treatment, 2014 42 x 31 inches Medium density fiberboard, and mixed media on reclaimed paper Courtesy the artist

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FPH 11.14

KEEPING IT REAL: Denny’s Heritage

By Harbeer Sandhu

“I mean real sugar,” I said. “That ’s tions had a newly designed menu (look, just the artificial stuff. That stuff’s scary.” not food), which featured photos of “That’s real sugar,” she insisted.

Denny’s customers in 1953 beside cusH e r c o w o r k e r i n t e r v e n e d , d u g tomers of today. The photos from 1953 around in her purse and brought out a -- couples on dates, sock-hopping teen“ I h ave th is fe e lin g ,” my f ri e n d sl u r s few packets of real sugar for me. My agers at the soda counter, parents with through a cloud of deep sedation, “that point is not about sugar, though, my their children -- featured exclusively these noodles are lodging in some weird point is that a grown person did not white people. The more recent pho space behind my jaw and it’s going to know the dif ference bet ween sugar tos, on the other hand, are much more build up and kill me.” made from plants and artificial sweeten- “diverse.”

She has just come from the dentist ers made from chemicals. (Yes, I know We don’t have those pairs of images and her mouth is numb. I am her ride. that granulated white sugar is highly to compare at this location, but the only We’ve stopped at the Denny’s on 610 at refined product, but still. Chemicals. people depicted anywhere on the menu TC Jester to check out their recent reno- Barf. I’d rather take it unsweetened.) are on the cover -- a smiley, clean-cut, vations. This is the first Denny’s location black man with great teeth who is likely in H ouston that has b e en re done as * * * very “articulate,” and what looks like a part of Denny’s new “ Heritage brand toothy white guy hitting on what could re-imaging campaign, “ which seeks to T h e r e w a s a D e n n y ’ s n e a r t h e be a Latina in scrubs. remodel 70% of the chain’s locations apartment where I lived during gradWhat is this authentic “ Heritage” by 2018 with “all-new, locally-inspired uate school. It was in San Francisco’s to which Denny’s is laying claim? When design and diner menu[s].”

Japantown, in a building meant to evoke I was coming up, Denny ’s was more I have dragged my drugged friend Japanese architecture, but the interior Cracker Barrel than the Cracker Barrel. to Denny’s to check out how an inter- was all neon-lit with seafoam and fus- They were known for their Grand Slam nationally-franchised corporate chain chia booths and the walls were painted Breakfast, but they were even better stakes a claim to authenticity through similar, loud colors . My buddy and I known as a racist restaurant chain that a “locally-inspired design and menu.” So called it Miami Denny’s. refused to serve black Secret Service far, as far as we can tell, the only thing I think the owners got sick of paying agents who were guarding the president that sets this Denny’s apart from any the franchise fee, so Denny’s became in 1992 and paid $54 million to settle other Denny’s is a large photo-mural the knock-off “Danny’s Restaurant,” and a class-action lawsuit with it’s African of the downtown Houston skyline. The then I think they got bullied by Denny’s American customers for ongoing diswaitress tells us the booths and light fix- because Danny’s Restaurant became crimination at locations from the Deep tures are new and a wood laminate floor “New Danny’s Restaurant.” Through all South to California. has replaced the old carpet, but none that, the interior stayed the same and we But people can change, and so can of this is particularly “Heights,” “Oak continued calling it Miami Denny’s. And corporations, I suppose. Denny’s has all Forest,” “Northwest Houston,” or even apart from the weird 80s color scheme, kinds of current stats on minority franTexan or Southern from what we can Miami Denny’s was like any and every chise owners, suppliers, and employees. tell. The menu, likewise, features nothing other Denny’s populating truck stops Our waitress here in Houston was particularly local that can’t be found at and strip malls across the late-capital- exceedingly nice. She’s a recent transany other Denny’s. ist, post-modern, Corporate States of plant from the Rio Grande Valley; been My friend reaches into her mouth a America. Too bright light and oversized in Houston less than a month. She said pulls out a wad of cotton-batting soaked portions of standard American fare. she was having a bad day and our goofiin blood and chicken broth. Turns out it Just one block away from that place ness had cheered her up, so she comped wasn’t noodles. that was so at odds with its environ- us the chocolate shake.

We cackle. I tease her about the ment, from the Miami Denny’s in the I was glad to note that they had tampon she’s been chewing. She open- heart of Japantown, was Benkyo-Do, real sugar as on option on the table, mouth gums some mashed potatoes and a n a c t u a l , a u t h e n t i c (J a p a n e s e -) and I’m glad I got that visit out of the takes a pull off her chocolate shake. She American diner dating back to 1 9 0 6 way because next time I’m going to the has ordered all soft-foods and I am eat- that sells cof fee, cereal, donuts, and Triple A. ing chicken fried steak, because despite m o c h i - - co u n te r s e a ti n g o n l y. O l d this Denny ’s’ failure to live up to it s people go in there to read the newspapromise, I’m still trying to keep it local. per. The coffee kind of sucks, but the (Thank you, Robb Walsh, for all your donuts and mochi are good enough to words about CFS. We should have gone stuff in your pockets to nosh on all day. to the Triple A, I know.)

I fe e l b a d m o dif yin g “A m e ric a n” a s “Japanese-American” when referring * * * to the more authentically-American diner. Benkyo-Do had been standing I had spent the morning at the den- on that corner of Buchanan @ Sutter tist’s office, waiting for this friend. Her for 47 years before the first Denny’s dentist’s fancy coffee bar had been one even opened it’s doors -- 108 years of of the selling points she used to ask me independent ownership vs 61 years of for a ride, so I thought I’d dress up the corporate ownership, but still, one gets black coffee I brought from home with a hyphen and the other gets to call itself a little cream and sugar, except there “America’s Diner.” wa sn’ t a ny sug a r, o n ly S p l e n d a a n d Sweet & Low. So, only because I was * * * feeling fancy at a fancy cof fee bar, I searched inside the drawers and cabinet.

Though this recently remodeled When I failed still at finding sugar, I jok- Houston “ Heritage” Denny ’s doesn’t ingly asked the receptionist if sugar was seem too different from any other, my banned from the dentist’s office. friend was recently in California where “It’s right there,” she pointed to the she visited two other such Denny’s in bowl of artificial sweeteners.

Granada Hills and Burbank. Those loca-

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FPH 11.14

Whipped edition

by Michael Bergeron

M o n d ay, N ove m b e r 3 , a s p a r t o f t h e m u s e u m “Conversations with the Director” series hosted by MFAH director Gary Tinterow. A reception in the Back in the day a friend came up with the idea for a lobby starts at 5:30 pm., with the interview commencpunk band, the drummer of which was a gyrating cat ing at 6:30 pm followed by a screening of “Cabaret.” named Slash Whiplash. Slash Whiplash had switch- York was a debonair leading man of the ‘60s and ’70 blades in his drumsticks. When he would play all the although more recently he played Basil Exposition in veins in his arms and neck would stick out. the “Austin Powers” series.

In a story a bit closer to reality, I once worked with this dude who had been a professional drummer when Houston Cinema Arts Festival: November 12-16 he was a teen. He toured with Don McLean among The 2014 edition of the Houston Cinema Arts others. He would tell me stories about how he took Fe s tiva l will u n sp o ol at ove r a h a lf d oze n l o c a lessons from Buddy Rich. He claimed that he would tions around Houston from November 12 through 16. rehearse so much that afterwards he would piss blood. Venues include Café Brasil, the Aurora Picture Show, Pretty sure that last bit was meant in a metaphorical Project Row Houses, the Menil Collection as well as sense. larger theaters at the MFAH, Sundance Cinema and Rich, who died in 1987, was considered one of the Miller Outdoor Theatre. greatest drummers of all time. Legend has it that his Special guests include James Ivory who will prestemper had a short fuse. The film “Whiplash” takes as ents “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” and “Remains of the Day,” its premise an aspiring drumming student at an exclu- and Julie Taymor who latest movie “A Midsummer sive musical conservatory and the abusive professor Night’s Dream” will be the festival’s opening night who takes him under his wing. film. Other artists appearing are avant-garde filmFirst of all, the performances in this film are razor maker Ken Jacobs who will screen select 3D films; sharp and in tempo to the excellently written script. J. Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes; and Elizabeth K. Simmons plays a teacher who is closer to a Marine Streb and Catherine Gund whose films incorporate drill sergeant than a mentor. Miles Teller is the student boundary pushing dance routines with art. who practices until his hands bleed. Teller appears to One event will celebrate the attending filmmakbe playing the drums for real. More than one solo dur- ers and ticket buyers with a reception at Café Brasil ing the movie is simply mesmerizing. “Whiplash” keeps on Saturday, November 15 from 10 am. until 2 pm. A you on the edge of your seat with excitement, which full schedule can be found on the festival website says a lot since this is more of a psychological battle of (cinemartsociety.org). wills as opposed to an action flick.

Writer/director Damien Chazelle should be on your watch list. Chazelle just bursts forth in every scene, covering the drumming action from just the right angle and cutting away to the brass with just the right subliminal momentum. But it’s not just the concert and rehearsal scenes that rock (literally in 7/4 and 14/8 time signatures), Chazelle works his magic at a dinner sequence that has you rooting for Teller even though he’s being a prick to his relatives.

In a way Teller responds to the abuse his character is receiving from Simmons like a hostage that begins to identify with their captor. Stockholm Syndrome like.

Simmons has never been more powerful as an actor, not in “Oz,” not in “Juno,” certainly not in “Spider-Man.” Simmons has this charismatic edge that makes you think he would be a great educator, but then he bullies every student under his baton -- horns, woodwinds, and percussionists. This weird relationship between the two comes to a head in a movie conclusion that is so invigorating it consummates the whole story.

Besides numerous references to B uddy Rich , there is also the myth of Charlie Parker having a cymbal thrown at his head during a performance where he missed a cue. This is mirrored in a scene where Simmons throws a chair at Teller to get his attention.

The truth about Parker regarding the cymbal being thrown at his head (as opposed to being skipped across the floor in his general direction) is one of those stories that become confused with fact. But that shouldn’t stop a good movie from printing the legend, so to speak. Even Clint Eastwood did that in his Parker biopic “Bird,” which also featured the flying cymbal as a constantly occurring visual motif.

“Whiplash” does what so few films do, but which is the domain of a great film. You walk in the shoes of the protagonist only to see them fall. When you start to doubt their motives, they surprise you by achieving the very goals you were rooting for.

Michael York Q&A on November 3 B ritish ac tor Michael York will appear at the Museum of Fine Ar ts , Houston on the evening of

10

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FPH 11.14

ALBUMED by km anderson

was a vast improvement on what he had done previous to that album. It was more street, it was more direct, and it featured (some) great verses, but plenty of RUN THE JEWELS - Run The Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal) great lines. The Drake assisted “Believe Me” from the The first thing I can say about RTJ 2 is that is a brief Carter V seems to follow the formula of his last album: album, maybe 40 minutes. The next thing is that all 40 guest appearance, decent beat, passable Wayne verse. of those minutes are incredible. There are no breaks “Krazy” (another single) was OK, nothing spectacular of silence, it plays through, one punch after another, and Grindin’(also featuring Drake) is another of those by the time you are close to the album’s end, you are Migos/Young Thug style trap songs, but again, no real almost shocked that is over, it is gripping, continually subject, which is fine, but may get tired over the course exciting, I guarantee you will play again, as soon as it’s of an album. Ultimately, I don’t expect Wayne to reindone. “Oh My Darling” is menacing, “Fuck them all they vent the wheel, I expect some funny lines, glimpses of can eat my dick, that’s word to pimp,” El P states when possibility, but at this point Lil Wayne sounds tired, like the song begins, it is one of many sentiments of dis- truly tired, mostly phoning it in, so yeah, it may be his gust, Killer Mike proclaims a “fuck boy jihad.” The bass last album, but mainly it will be just another collection is heavy, the beat is sparse, it is hardcore rap, this is of Lil Wayne songs, which used to seem more exciting a hardcore rap album, it is the kind of thing you play than it does currently. loud before going to discipline your misbehaving child.

“Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” is a real name of a song, featuring a vocal sample and a blood spitting verse from Zack de la Rocha. “Love Again (Akinyele Back)” is sort of a love song, with the chorus “Dick in her mouth all day” only to be one upped by a fantastic Gangsta Boo verse that then states “Clit in your mouth all day.” “Early” features a particularly sharp verse that retells a tale of police brutality superbly, poignant to the times. Best rap album of the year, there’s a few left I know, but as stated earlier, the brevity is its friend, it is like getting robbed, attack-chaos-you get off the ground dumbfounded, what the fuck just happened?!

DEERHOOF- La Isla Bonita (Polivinyl) The selling point to this album? Deerhoof is playing guitars again, maybe they hadn’t stopped, I do know that this album is, to me, as great as their classic “Runners Four” album. It is all the things that Deerhoof does best, it grooves, it takes weird turns, and it is immaculately played. “Mirror Monster” is a beautiful song, like beautiful like something Nina Simone has sung. “Oh Bummer” is like 80’s pop rock in the style of a great Police song but still a signature Deerfhoof song.

“Last Fad” is a revelation, adventurous, “Exit Only” is said to have begun as the band trying write a Ramones song, it has the energy, it has the spirit, it has maybe the most perfect guitar sound heard on a record. This album is magnificent, it improves every time you hear it, it sounds magnificent, like the songs are good, but sound of the instruments, the mix, the way it was recorded is dynamic. You need this in your life.

Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic) Nicki Minaj is a great rapper, and regardless of what decisions she makes in terms of her brand, let it never be misunderstood that Minaj is a beast on the microphone. With that stated, Minaj the rapper and Minaj the recording artist have different motivations, for all of the “Chiraq” verses and “Danny Glover” verses, for early looks like “Yass Bitch” and “Lookin Ass” you knew the pop of “ Pills and Potions” and “Anaconda” was coming. She says that The Pinkprint will be her equivalent to Jay Z’s “The Blueprint (one only) and while that was a back to basics album for Jay, Minaj sees the iconoclast he became after that album, it solidified Jay, and Minaj’s hopes for The Pinkprint are the same, to be certified as a classic, across the board.

It could happen, like I said, Minaj can go, she may feed the streets, while serving the pop world (Anaconda went platinum). I believe, based on what I’ve heard, it will be better than “Pink Friday,” but the rest is yet to be seen.

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter V ( Young Money/Cash Money/Republic) This is supposed to be Lil Wayne’s last album. If so, I think it is a good move. Lil Wayne is not a song artist, he is a verse artist most of his songs have no subjects, with the exception of a few, and as of late, he has abandoned the idea of an idea completely. “I Am Not A Human Being ll” was not Wayne’s best work, but 12

FPH 11.14

Huicholes: The Last of The Peyote Guardians Bryan Parras interviews Katira Ramirez The Wixaritari (Huicholes), are a precolonial culture whose territory spans approximately 540 square miles in central Mexico, between the Sierra Madre Occidental and Zacatecas moun tain ranges. They Huicholes survived European disease, Spanish Conquest and Mexican societal encroachments, but now they face their biggest threat, yet. Canadian mining company First Majestic Silver purchased underground mineral rights in 20 09 giving them access to the Huicholes most sacred site at Real de Catorce, in the state of San Luis Potosí.

The small town of Real de Catorce was founded in 1779 shortly after silver was discovered in nearby mountains, but indigenous peoples have lived in the region for thousands of years. The Huicholes are direct descendants of those original inhabitants. One of their ancient traditions is to make an annual pilgrimage to this region where they participate in religious ceremony in a sacred area they call “Wirikuta”.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Huichol Shaman, José Luis “Katira” Ramírez about this very topic and the long fight ahead, as he and the Wixaritari enlighten us about the importance of ceremony and reverence for sacred sites. This all comes together in the documentary film “Huicholes: T h e L a s t of th e P eyo te G u a rd i a n s ” which will make its U.S. Debut at Rice T h e ate r, N ove m b e r 5th at 7: 0 0 P M .

The film’s protagonist Katira and son Enrique Ramirez will be in attendance.

Argentine film director, Hernan Vilches will also be in attendance for a Q& A after the film.

I spoke with Katira over the phone about the film.

How would you like people to identify you?

Wixaritari – In our mother tongue from where our great-grandparents, where our grandparents were born , it is a real name and original name.

Wixaritari [is] the name of the people, if you speak of one person, in general, Wixarika.

Tell us how you began to notice problems in the community?

It has been known for some time, within the four major indigenous communities in the area – Santa Catarina, San Sebastián, San Andrés Cohamiata and Tuxpan de Bolaños. We all noticed territorial problems dealing with sacred sites and within communal boundaries between the four communities, as well.

T h i s f i l m wa s m a d e by H e r n á n Vilchez by your request. Do you feel t h a t t h e f i l m d i d yo u r c o m m u n i t y justice, and have other Huichol communities supported the film?

The story is really funny. Hernán and I, we kinda bumped into each other, I don’t know where, I can’t remember, might have been in DF [Mexico City].

We ran into each other, and out of neces- children and all the grandchildren can sity, I spoke to him about the community grow to defend the environment. because there wasn’t enough water, and Earlier, you asked me how I felt about if it was possible to make a documentary all this, and I say, how should I feel? How about the community. He said yes – I will should one feel when you are far from get to work on this, but I have no one to home? Courage and strength is what is sponsor this project; it will take a while, required here, especially when one is but I will work on it. away from family. Having seen what has Later we agreed to get it done. We been happening in the last few weeks – t a l ke d to t h e c o m m u n i t y a b o u t t h e with what is happening with violence, to topic and people commented: Yes, they women , to what has happened to the wanted to be a part of it, no, some didn’t, 43 education students who have disapand so on, but it will turn out to be a good peared [in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero], it is thing, because that way the thing can difficult. But, I hope that the great father, be recognized and one can support it the great mother, the great son, the spirit, because many people don’t know about heart of the sky and the earth gives us that corner of the world – that’s the way blessings …to our struggle, our cause, the idea started. nuestra lucha.

Then, in 2009 the whole issue with Thank you for talking with us , for the mines sprang up. We confronted this helping with this and for the future of all and invited the director on the pilgrim- our families, for the promise of change... age the following year – and that’s when long live the spirit. we started to get to know one another. I couldn’t believe this was going to stir up ideas on such an important topic, a legacy - and we can’t say that is a simple topic to cover, but it is a major documentary.

How do the Wixaritaria people live in the region?

E a c h co m m u n it y h a s exi s te d f o r m i l l i o n s o f ye a r s s i n c e o u r u n i ve r s e began. We were there since the beginning, not recently, but since the arrival of our essence, since the arrival of the viceroys . At the arrival of the time of the viceroys, they came from the ocean at San Blas, Nayarit, they went to populate different [places] and we now have dif ferent ethnicities . That community h a s im p o r t a nt , u n ive r s a l co n n e c tio n with the sacred places, the four cardinal points, and to the center in the place of Tatewar,“Grandfather Fire” at the mountain there [between San Andrés and San Sebastián, in Santa C atarina] , and we serve as the responsible ones, the guardians.

W h y i s R e a l d e C a t o r c e i m p o rtant and why must the silver stay in the ground?

For us, our great-grandparents, our grandparents, left there for us the formation of our universe, which we call “ Llogachiban” [a universit y] , bec ause there are the books , magically invisible, that can’t be seen, but [are there] for the people who collect the medicine, because with their medicine they have visions and dreams through the universe.

Then, the mine, the gold is the center of the heart of humanity. If from me you take my heart, if a temple can be knocked down, well then, that is why we don’t want [Wirikuta] knocked down, we don’t want it worked on, because there will be pollution. We don’t want the little bit of water that is there to become contaminated and furthermore, the damage it would bring to the medicine, and the [toxic] dust, this would harm all the areas where there is medicine.

Is this the message you want the audience to take away?

Well, yes, this is what we want everyone to know, all the communities, the international community so that all the 14

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FPH 11.14

Stand Up & Deliver: Family As An Audience

By David Garrick Photo: Myke Toman Comics who were around during what many c all “ the golden years” of the H ouston come dy scene will tell you that audiences were fed a healthy mix of pros and amateurs during that era.

This would be the era of Paul Oddo, Sam Demaris, and Kristin Lindner, who were all getting their feet wet prior to the turn of the millennium. When I interviewed the legendary Andy Huggins, he spoke massive amounts of praise for Kristin Lindner’s comedic timing, her willingness to take advice, and her rapier wit.

FPH was lucky to catch Lindner between multiple gigs, a corporate job, and her family life for a quick chat.

You ’ve be en at this for 1 5 years , who was in your “stand up class” here in Houston when you got started?

I started in 1999 with Paul Oddo, M i ke M c R a e , a n d S l i m B l o o d wo r t h , among others . Sam Demaris star ted shortly thereafter.

The word on the street is that the corporate life wasn’t enough and you decided to give stand up a try. Is that really how it happened? What drew you to stand up?

W h a t s t r e e t i s t h i s w o r d o n? I majored in theatre in college and loved it. I started a family, we’ll say suddenly; and had to make the decision to let the dream of being an ac tor be delayed indefinitely. My youngest daughter was g et tin g o ut of dia p e r s wh e n I inte rv i ewe d f o r w h a t wo u l d b e my f i r s t “corporate desk” job. The evening of the interview, I went to watch the open mic at the Laff Stop. I fell in love with stand up that night. I began going up at that open mic two months later, thinking that stand up would take less time away from my family than doing plays and musicals - HA! But, I was hooked from that first night in mid-1999.

You’re known for an unconventional style and a quick wit. Have you always gon e at it that way, or has yo ur a c t evolved over time?

One of the strange things about stand-up is that you are at your best when you are yourself. But, it still takes years to find your “voice.” People asked me early on what my “character” would be onstage and I didn’t understand the question, honestly. I would say, “ Um. Me?” But the truth is that stand-up is a combination of the mechanics of performing and acting with the passion and personality of your own writing. It is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. My voice has definitely developed over time, and I hope it is still developing. I am not as comfortable in my own skin on stage as I feel I should be at this stage of my career.

It seems like you have a pretty hefty show scheduling, how do you juggle day-to-day life with a job and a family and still have time to write and perform as frequently as you do?

Painf ully. Ugh , I don’ t do it well

is the only answer I have . My house is a MESS! I miss my daughters’ concerts, plays, and events way more than is acceptable. I try to be there for birthdays and the really important things for my family, but I still struggle daily with priorities. My co-workers know I am a comic and the comics know I have a corporate career. Unfortunately, my peers from both worlds feel I’m not as committed as I should be.

This year you got the chance to perform in Chicago on the NickMom “Night Out” show. For people who don’t understand how a comic’s life goes; was it another notch in your belt or an “ I have arrived” moment for you?

Filmin g “ N ight O ut ” wa s su ch a great experience! I had to take unpaid days off from my day job, and I went to Chicago knowing that when I returned, I would quit my job and within weeks be a full-time comic. Of course, it didn’t happen like that. The show didn’t air for almost a year. And even after it aired, not much changed. I did my job and performed at night, exactly the same as I did before. I’d sit at open mics immediately after the taping and think “I’m on T V! Why am I not a big deal? ” As a comic, a TV credit is vital. That logo under your headshot is so crucial. When you do get it, then it’s all about getting the next one. And the next one. It’s all about continuing to grow. It was a fantastic experience for me, but all it means now is that I have something to give the emcee to say when I am introduced.

The great Carol Burnett once said, “My grandmother, who raised me was my first audience, and her laughs are what inspired me to do what I do.” Do you feel like you can relate to that in having a family and using them as your initial audience when you write?

CAROL BURNETT!! Although she isn’t technically a stand up, she is a HUGE influence on my love for comedy.

She and Lucille Ball are just so timeless in their talent and accessibility.

Yes, my family is at the core of my stand up for sure. My poor husband and daughters make up most of my act. And 99% of the jokes I tell onstage about them are true. They are all way funnier than I am, I just need more attention than they are comfortable with.

As far as using them as my audience for when I write? That is absolutely true, but not in the way you meant. When I get an idea for a joke, I will tell my husband and/ or my kids. If they hate it, or just don’t understand why it’s funny, then that’s a killer joke. It will, almost guaranteed, do very well in front of an audience.

If they love the joke, it’s terrible and it won’t work. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still try it, but it almost always gets stares.

Like the more my family laughs at it, the blanker the audience stares.

You can catch Kristin Lindner at the First Tee Pub November 6th, the River Center Comedy Club in S an Antonio November 28-30, the Joke Joint Comedy Showcase December 12 & 13th; and JoMar Visions Studio on New Year’s Eve.

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FPH 11.14

BADVICE

BY Marini Van Smirren Illustration by Valeria Pinchuk Fuck sober, thoughtful, level-headed advice. Here’s the truth: BADVICE BEST OF OCTOBER Disclaimer: You don’t have to fucking read this if you don’t like it. I know I sound like an asshole. The title states: “BADVICE” which therefore constitutes an awareness that one reading should anticipate the nature of said bad advice.

In a long distance relationship, and he’s needy. What should I do? I’m in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend of 4 months. Sometimes he gets busy and misses phone calls and text m ess ag es , wh ateve r th at ’s f in e . B ut when I miss them it’s a fucking shit show.

He’ll text, send me snaps, send me messages on facebook, etc. And then once I actually reply, he doesn’t. It pisses me off, what should I do?

Wait, a four-month- old long- distance relationship with a clingy guy that uses Snapchat? Did you lose a bet or something? Drop the headache and blame it on roaming charges. You don’t even get to fuck the guy you’re annoyed with. i ate pussy like once and it made me gag. am i like straight or did i eat the wrong pussy?

You probably ate the wrong pussy.

There is pussy in this world that is like sweet, honey nectar. Do you like plums?

Okay, well sometimes you get a plum that isn’t sweet and kind of hard, and sometimes you get a plum that is ripe and sweet juices gush out as you bite into it. It ’s the same for pussy. Maybe don’ t eat out your best friend when you’re drunk. You can’t try it once and make your decision off of that.

I ’m 8 & ½ i n c h e s l o n g , a n d 5 & ½ inches in girth. Too big or just right?

Lol, I can make up numbers too.

D o w o m e n l i k e g u y s s h ave d o r trimmed?

I m e a n trim m e d is tight . N o girl wa nt s to b l ow a d u d e a n d f l o s s h e r teeth at the same time. Shaved… well… it can be tight but if she really likes you she’ll realize that shaving means you’re uncomfortable for a week after and she won’t encourage it because she won’t want you to go through that itchy hell.

If she does encourage it, she’s an awful, selfish person and you should reconsider dating her.

Do girls find it attractive when a guy claims pussy is being thrown at him left and right?

Fucking nope.

I’ve got a 13” tongue & I can breathe through my ears.

You sound like a sci-fi species I want to fuck with.

ERECTIONS AT YOGA. HIDE ‘EM OR OWN ‘EM? Yoga pants are for females, dummy.

T h i s i s a n a c c e p t a b l e t i m e to we a r b a s ke t b a l l s h o r t s . T h e O N LY o t h e r acceptable times for wearing basket-

ball shorts, if you are not aware, is when playing basketball, laundry days or in your mom’s basement where you live; Empire café is not your mom’s breakfast nook. Then you can just tuck that boner into your waistband and remember your middle school days.

W H AT ’ S Y O U R I D E A L B O O T Y CALL? I take my booty calls like I take my pop music; simple and catchy. If your 3 to 4 minutes makes me hum to myself the next day, we may meet again.

WHY DO UNICORNS DO BACKFLIPS OFF OF PTERODACTYLS? Oh, you must be the funny one in your family.

SHOULD I FUCK MY EX? Look , that ’s like Jack in the Box. Hear me out. Okay, so you know when you’re really drunk and into bad decis i o n s a n d t h e n yo u ’re l i ke , “ O M G , I should have Jack in the Box because I’m so hungry.” Jack in the Box is cheap and makes you feel like shit the next day.

That’s the same as fucking an ex. If might feel okay in the moment, but you’ll feel horrible the next day.

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FPH 11.14

Vote for Kim Ogg Because Weed

By Omar Afra Sometimes I ask myself if it is possible for me to get any more disenchanted with the political process. I think it is apparent to everyone that we live in a country where we get the best democracy money can buy.

More of the same is easy to imagine: our county continues to lead the country in executions, maintains a sham of a criminal justice system, every day chips away at women’s rights and access to proper medical care, and more of the most rigorous and draconian marijuana laws in the country.

However, right here, right now in Houston we are teetering on the precipice of being able to change course away from the typical Republican right wing white-male patriarchy which has dominated the state for too long. We have the opportunity to change course here, even for a little bit.

Kim Ogg, who is running for District Attorney, wants to flip the script when it comes to misdemeanor marijuana prosecutions in Harris County. Her hook is, “No jail. No bail. No permanent criminal record.”

You have to love that. With a state criminal justice system that is plugged up with non-violent possession offenders, it just fucking makes sense. She has articulated the drain on our criminal justice system by marijuana offenders and let’s be honest here, everybody smokes weed.

Marijuana is no longer a pastime of the brown and left, but smoked by right wing libertarian rednecks and soccer moms and frat boys and punk rock kids and grandmothers all the same. Why the fuck are people still going to jail over weed?

In November 2013, even the American Medical Association amended their official policy regarding marijuana possession, calling for “public health-based strategies, rather than incarceration.”

Ogg is one of the first District Attorney candidates in Harris County history to delve into what she calls the “economics of prosecution.” This refers to how much it costs to bust criminals and prosecute them and what that financial burden entails.

You will find when comparing various crimes that the priorities of our prosecutors are clearly out of line with public opinion, common sense, and even common decency. Last year, the State of Texas spent $2 million on burglary prosecutions but only $150,000 on rape prosecutions. Let’s just call that what it is. A goddamn shame.

Ogg says she plans to “prioritize investigation and prosecution of violent, professional criminals, instead of filling the jails and prisons with young, nonviolent offenders.”

That makes sense to me and I can’t remember the last time I read something a politician said that made sense to me.

On the personal tip, I have met Ogg several times and she did not come off as one of these insincere bags of shit that the majority of politicians I have met come off as. She was cool and caring and she really knows about the city and our county and community.

In 12 years of publishing this newspaper I have never endorsed a candidate. I am endorsing Kim Ogg here and now.

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FPH 11.14

East End: Transported + Renewed By Luna Oliveira On September 1st, the Houston Arts Alliance (HA A) launched a series of community-supported events around H ouston’s E ast En d . Tra nspor te d + Renewed is a year-long project with a two-month long commitment of bringing art to the public, free of charge.

These programs will run until November 30th.

The idea for this project came from the celebration of the centennial of the Houston Ship Channel. Stretching 50 miles from downtown to Galveston Bay, the Houston Ship Channel has made the city almost everything it is today. In a city of such a large population where public transportation is not the main priority, it seems almost silly to think it got to where it is because of accessibility.

East End, located along the Buffalo Bayou, is the perfect place to celebrate -- it breathes the birthplace of the Ship Channel (both figuratively and literally -- and it is not always the freshest breath). With Allen’s Landing located within the neighborhood, it marks the star t of this “ five -lane highway ” on water that ends in Galveston Bay. This neighborhood’s ability to adapt to the constant growth and drenching of this Bayou and the community’s development around the Channel awards it the ideal place for the centennial event.

It is impossible to fail to note the attention the East End has received over the past few years. When developing the theme for the Transported half of the HA A proje c t, the group also took into account Houston’s current investment in the new METRO Rail line cutting across the neighborhood.

Besides the ability of access created by the rail line, it is also important to note the sharing of ideas and the crossing of paths that c a n occur f ro m a better public transportation system.

Much like an art event at a park might gather neighbors and re-unite longtime friends; the train can become a meeting point, a connection in people’s lives.

The rail will bring Houston to East End’s footstep and Transported + Renewed brings art to the footsteps of the community.

The Renewed half of the project can be associated with the development of an area for the better. Greater connection and sharing of concepts c a n e n l i ve n a n e i g h b o r h o o d . T h i s exchange of ideas is part of the constant evolutionary process necessary to build a community’s character. A public ar t display, for example, can serve as a gathering point and an icon to an area. We all know the “Transco Tower.” This renewal of the East End is tied back to the rail, the Ship Channel, the modes of transportation and their p o te n ti a l to e n g e n d e r e n c o u n te r s between members of the community.

Alth o ugh so m e critic s co nte n d that established, long-term resident ar tists in the East End were passed

up for these public commissions, HAA claims that the events by in Transported + Renewed are community driven and conscious of local talent. Starting with the five public art installations themed for transpor tation displayed around Houston throughout the length of the project. These include works by Jesse Sifuentes, Amber Eagle, Patrick Renner, Sharon Engelstein and 5 site-specific art installations in and around East End businesses along the new Metro Green Line rail by artists Kelly Alison, Elaine Bradford, Johnathan Leach, Emily Link and Mat Wolff.

Included in the series are ongoing activities through November 30th produced by HAA. The Hear Our Houston East End Walking Tours involve a publicgenerated walking tour around the city.

Participants take a walk while recording their thoughts about the places they are walking by “archiving local knowledge along the way.” These tours are downloadable and free of charge so that fellow Houstonians can follow in the original producers footsteps while hearing her reflections on the walk. The East End Bicycle Opera is a collaboration of multiple sources that created a GPS-activated speaker attached to a bike -- influencing cyclists to move to the beat of the music they are hearing.

22

These bikes are located at the Ripley House Neighborhood Center.

The parades incorporated in the project also reflect the theme of transpor tation. The first parade being Afloat! A Parade on Water, held along the Buffalo Bayou, the second Afoot! A Marching Band Extravaganza, and the third Around! A Parade on Wheels, a different take on our beloved Art Car Parade.

Transported + Renewed also held three Buffalo Bayou Silos Series, celebratory events of several themes and th re e s h ows of m u s i ci a n s O s va l d o Ayala, David Lee Garza, and Celso Piña as part of the Latino music series.

Angel Quesada, Folklife and Traditional Arts Program Manager for Transported + Renewed, defines art as nourishment. “Art is food for the soul” says Quesada. Transported + Renewed managed to bring the theme of the project and the neighborhood of the East End together beautifully. Always maintaining consciousness of the community and local artists, this project is an example to be followed.

All events are free and open to the public. For weekly event listings call the Transported + Renewed Hotline at 713.481.2819 (English) or 713.481.9538 (Spanish).

FPH 11.14

MATT SONZALA and the HOLIDAZE MIX By kmanderson Photo by Eva Sonzal The holidays are a time when stress, scandal and gossip are (temporarily) sidestepped for the closeness of family and friends. A time like this needs a soundtrack, and that soundtrack is normally Christmas music -simultaneously both the happiest and the saddest music in the world -- and since 2011, Matt Sonzala can be counted on to create the aural companion to your merry Christmas. So one wonders, how did this tradition begin?

“Well, honestly, the internet plays a big role in that.

Because of things like Napster, I would go search for music sometimes, and I would see some weird alternative band had a Christmas song,” notes Sonzala, “And it kind of made me start digging into the virtual ‘crates,’ as they say, to see who else made Christmas songs. It was kind of surprising me, and I was like some of this stuff is really good. When you listen to some of the old singers -- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole -- all those guys made Christmas songs. Valerie Masters and things she did with Joe Meeks.

“I never heard the song ‘Christmas Callings’ when I was shopping at Kmart, but I think that is an incredible song to listen to-- at any time, because it is a jam, it’s just a beautiful song. So I just entered the wormhole, just kept digging in. Literally, that’s all it was, and every year about this time I would go looking for more stuff. I’ve got records, I’ve got tapes, but a lot of it is straight up from online.”

The Christmas mixes are truly expansive in scope and content, it is almost like listening to the history of popular music through Christmas songs. From Sweet Tee’s, “Let The Jingle Bells Rock ” to Giant Sand’s “Christmas Everyday;” from Ella Fitzgerald’s “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” to Lee “Scratch” Perry’s “ S anta Claus; ” f rom S un Ra’s “Ch ristmastime” to Clarence Carter’s “Backdoor Santa.” For those interested, all (or most) of the playlists can be accessed on AustinSurreal.com. So in preparation for these mixes, how does one begin to sift through this seemingly endless catalog of music?

“Man honestly, to be real with you, I just get a few drinks and sit down. As far as planning, I don’t know.

I’ll download stuff throughout the year and just throw them in a folder, but when it comes time to make the mixes, if I have nothing to do some nights, I’ll have a drink at the computer and start messing with it. I have so much now, I have folders and folders and folders and folders of Christmas music, which is kind of ridiculous, but I totally have them. I have a ton. So if it’s night and I have time and I’m kind of just chilling out, I’ll mess with it. The best thing about the internet, is that I can make that mix and have it online in like, then, like right then.”

But there is also the angle of what the DJ used to represent to radio, something like a John Peel in a sense. A DJ was like a conductor of culture, a representative of the epochal moments of music, and nothing is more significant and somewhat sacred to us, culturally, than the idea of Christmas. Christmas music is celebratory, festive, it is also sad and forlorn in the sense of missing someone or something during a time when everyone is together, it is humorous, it is, ultimately, about the human condition, framed through a time when we are our most emotionally vulnerable. I mean, everyone, deserves a good Christmas.

“Well first of all man, John Peel is my hero, for sure, hands down, he is the greatest. In my opinion John Peel is the greatest human being involved in music ever at all. Outside of the musicians, he is the greatest person to work with music in any way. I derive a lot of influence and inspiration from him, big time, I am kind of even obsessed with him.

“I also do an internet radio show on Radio KAOS here in Austin, Thursday mornings from 11 to 1 in the afternoon, on kaosradio.org. It’s called Pushermania’s Playlist. The whole goal of it is to play new music, and if I get a couple of thousands of listeners a week, that means so much to me. It’s so incredible, and as far as the Christmas music, it’s like anything, let’s offer an alternative… And to be honest, it’s also fun for me, it’s nothing, it’s a labor of love, it means nothing to me financially, it’s just a fun thing to do. So when a friend of mine hits me up and is like ‘I love this mix!’ or when someone posts it on Facebook in December, ‘I just pulled out Matt’s Christmas mix from two years ago, they’re so great,’ that’s so cool, that’s 100 percent the reason why I do it.”

Christmas, independent of its corporate attachments , is still sacrosanct, still time for all that is precious and dear, Sonzala celebrates that aspect.

“To be honest man, Christmas means a lot to me, cause, my parents were divorced when I was like three, so they weren’t together at Christmas. I got to see my dad when I was younger, and that ’s one of the few times I get to spend like a week with my mother. It’s a big deal to me. I love Christmas. I don’t care about the commercialization of it, like I don’t care, my mom’s gonna be here, all my little cousins and nieces and nephews are gonna be here having food and drink, which is pretty much the only thing I want to do at all, ever, just have food and drinks and kick it, you know, literally, and so Christmas is like a huge thing in my family, it’s like the time we all get together for sure. I’m not missing Christmas.”

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FPH 11.14

Thanksgiving Herstory

By Jennifer Fox Bennett Art by Austin Smith There are so many myths wrapped up in the American holiday of Thanksgiving. The myth has travelled so far from the original feast(s) that the Pilgrims likely celebrated after surviving their first winter in the land now known as Massachusetts that it has come around full-circle. It remains untouched by the Thanksgiving holiday that George Washington declared in December 1777 and even the one that Abraham Lincoln created. The original feast in the fall of 1621 may actually have been part of the Pilgrim’s Puritanical/Calvinist self-flagellating tradition of Days of Thanksgiving -- which were more of a fast than a feast.

George Washington declared a military holiday for a singular (not annual) thanksgiving to recognize recent victories at the Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. Ten years later, he had another holiday declared for November. The proclamation that Abraham Lincoln made, setting aside the 4th Thursday of November -- where it remains on the calendar -- was created from a political desire to bring a respite from the drawn-out, increasingly bleak Civil War. The myths of benevolent aid from the local Wampanoag Indians to the Pilgrims of forest meat and the corn shoots to grow their own winter supply are likely not that far from the truth. What is a definite myth is that all Pilgrims were friendly with all Native peoples that they met in their new environs. It is important to rewind the feast about a year before, to the first days that the Pilgrims set foot upon the Cape Cod Peninsula before moving inland to the mainland, just south of present-day Boston.

They landed on the Cape Cod Peninsula in November 1620.

On November 16, the Pilgrims found a large, winter cache of corn belonging to local Nauset Indians and promptly absconded with the contents. They stole the corn. They also discovered a large gravesite and promptly dug up the graves, but, unhappy with the lack of material goods, moved on. Two weeks later, they came across another gravesite, dug it up, and stole items that they deemed of value.

The Nausets, understandably upset with the immoral parasites that had threatened their winter supply of food and desecrated their beloved ancestors, made a show of force against the Pilgrims, who packed up ship, moved further west along the Cape Cod Bay to Plymouth, and quickly befriended the local Wampanoag.

One might wonder what would spur the some of the most selfflagellating Christians to loot graves. It is known that the writings of Bartholomew de las Casas extolling the Christian necessity for humane treatment and understanding of Native people was available in English and Dutch at the time that they Pilgrims left Europe.

But, a popular writer and Anglican priest had published many papers encouraging the settlement of North America and condoned the practice of looting graves in his Virginia Richly Valued, published a decade before the landing at Plymouth.

and tubers, among others. How lucky we are, to have been gifted these foods that give us every nutrient we ever needed.

My own people, the Odawa, believe that many of these nutritious foods are medicine. Eating them is a part of the greater positive way of living with a good mind which can be summarized in seven philosophies: wisdom, love, respect, truth, courage, honesty, and humility. To live like this is to have/be/living mino bimaadziwin. It is to be in harmony with your fellow beings, the natural world, to have one mind.

I have been to Iroquois functions, during the years I lived in central New York, where I heard a Thanksgiving Address that lasted nearly 20 minutes. In lieu of passing over generalities of “plants,” the speaker has, instead, talked about specific kinds, like medicinal plants, grasses, and the different kinds of food plants, and detailing the ways they make our lives better, more comfortable, more brilliant.

The prayer does not thank a singular Being for the gifted, soulless things. Rather, it thanks the individual spirits of the living beings for aiding us in the special way that they do. Important celestial bodies like the sun and moon are close, nurturing family members. The different kinds of animals are often referred to as a nation, such as the beaver people or nation. When your cosmos is filled with so many living things that compel your respect, it bursts with more color and bestows you with profound humility.

I have been to a few Thanksgiving dinners with friends and have given a shortened version of our very similar prayer in hopes of giving a glimmer of our perspective. When asked to contribute food, I often volunteer pie (baking is my specialty) and stuffing. The former, I will make from scratch with maple syrup and pumpkin that I roasted.

I will often make stuffing with sage, giblets, wild rice, and cranberries. And I can explain why I make the food the way I do.

These dishes only loosely resemble what was eaten at the 1621 feast, but I get the opportunity to explain why I’ve made them the way I do -- tell the stories behind the plants, and thank the plants and herbs for nourishing us and letting us live more brilliantly. It has the effect of appearing to perpetuate the myth of the ever-helpful Indian, but more optimistically, I like to think I am helping break the wall between communication exchange.

Maybe this view that does not condone overconsumption and the dehumanization of fellow humans, coupled with the revolutionary idea that maybe some plants have spirits and some animals might, too...maybe knowing this could instill more humility in our relationships, not just with people, but the world. Or maybe that is just a myth, too.

It is a story of willful arrogance, immorality (if you view looting graves as such), and egocentric consumption, which is somewhat fitting of modern American celebrations, where overconsumption is a theme of the day.

Despite knowing this history, I still celebrate the holiday and many other Native people do, too. It’s an obviously welcome excuse to visit and celebrate life with loved ones. And yes, eat well. But, for me, it as an intensely personal holiday, not one meant to reenact the nascent racism and superiority complex of the Pilgrim navel-gazing story. It is the opportunity to practice the ancient invocation of both Algonquian and Iroquois people, the Thanksgiving Prayer, and autumnal harvest celebratory feast of our beloved and sacred indigenous foods.

When I eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal, I am awed and humbled by the nutritious density of foods we ate before contact with Europeans: multiple varieties of pumpkin and squash, corn, beans, multiple varieties of berries, maple syrup, turkey, venison, wild rice,

26

FPH 11.14

Houston to Host World’s First Museum Dedicated to the Private Prison Industry

by Harbeer Sandhu Houstonians probably can’t count the number of times they have driven past the Olympic Hotel on I-45 North between Tidwell and Parker, but the pair of nondescript two-story buildings give little reason to take even a second glance, much less to file it away in the memory banks. It is yet another ugly, seedy motel on one of the ugliest roads in a city that, let’s be honest, isn’t known for its looks. You might have seen it a million times yet never even registered that you saw it.

“The universe [is] a place of wonders,” writes Salman Rushdie, “and only habituation, the anesthesia of the everyday, dull[s] our sight.”

What few people realize, though, is that the Olympic Motel is the site of the world’s very first private prison and the birthplace of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the world’s first and largest for-profit prison operator. When CCA founders Tom Beasley, T. Don Hutto, and Doctor R. Crants won a contract from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to house 87 undocumented workers in 1983, the Olympic Motel in our own back yard is where they first set up shop while they finished building their Houston Processing Center.

The trio of visionary entrepreneurs saw that harsher drug laws and stricter sentencing guidelines were swelling the nation’s prison population with nonviolent offenders, and even though the crime rate was declining, the prison population doubled between 1975 and 1984. It was a market ripe for growth, and as Beasley noted, prisons could be sold “just like you were selling cars, or real estate, or hamburgers.”

And they were right. Since 1983, the incarceration rate in the United States has gone up by 500%, and since 1994, the number of people locked up in forprofit prison facilities has increased by 1,664 percent. The US is by far the world’s largest jailer. Though we claim only 5% of the world’s population, the Land of the Free incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners--head and shoulders above even Russia and China--with per capita incarceration rates higher even than Iran and North Korea. Profits at CCA run more than $1.7 billion annually.

The New Horatio Alger Jesús Cruz was a 24-year-old laborer from El Salvador who had overstayed his student visa when he was picked up in an immigration raid at his workplace.

“El Salvador was a mess back then,” Cruz says. “We had all these military guys coming back from their trainings at the School of the Americas [at Fort Benning in Georgia]. That priest, Archbishop [Oscar] Romero, and those American nuns got raped and killed by the CIA-sponsored death squads. The death squads were killing whole villages, even infants.”

“But hey,” Cruz shrugs, “there’s two kinds of people in the world: winners and losers. I decided I wanted to be a winner. I applied to the School of the Americas” (SOA).

Cruz did not get in, however. He was near-sighted and asthmatic. His first choice, the US Army’s School of the Americas (since renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or WHINSEC) rejected him. SOA, the Harvard University for dictators and torturers, accepted only the most physically (and mentally) fit cadets. Luckily, he had applied to ITT Technical Institute as a backup, and his second choice welcomed him with open arms.

“I wanted to go to a private school for sure,” Cruz says. “That was one thing that I knew for sure, even early on. All private, all the way.”

After graduating from ITT with his Bachelors in Business Administration, however, Cruz found himself mired in insurmountable debt.

“I owed US dollars, greenbacks, to the World Bank for my student loans,” he says, “so I had to earn greenbacks. I never could have paid back my loans making Salvadoran colóns back home.”

So Cruz overstayed his student visa to earn dollars, he claims, to pay back the student loans he owed in dollars. He got a job as a builder in Houston’s heady, early 1980s boomtown days. Things were going good for him: he was chipping away at his debt, sending a bit home, and enjoying his bachelorhood…until an immigration raid at his jobsite. After being put through the wringer in INS-run facilities while awaiting deportation proceedings, he became one of the original 87 inmates that arrived at the Olympic Motel on January 22, 1984 where none other than his future hero, T. Don Hutto, took his fingerprints.

A SLATE WIPED CLEAN Despite having lived in the US for almost five years, Cruz had never stayed at a motel until he was brought to the Olympic.

“The motel, the ‘motor hotel,’ is like a symbol of North America,” he says. “It means freedom, movement, the open road. It’s the perfect symbol. Route 66! Go west! New beginnings!”

“It was way better than a jail,” Cruz’s eyes glaze over with nostalgia. “Sure, we had to clean our own rooms, but it was just like any other motel with a very high chain-link fence and doors that locked on the outside. The pool was filled with sand but if you had a quarter you could put it in the vibrating bed. We had pillow fights…”

“There were 87 of us, all from all over,” Cruz recalls. “It was like a party. We would play cards and talk about living without papers in the US. It was fun. It’s not like any of us were violent criminals or anything. They were all pretty nice guys.”

“Except for a few of us.” He looks at his hands. “There was this one guy at the end of the hall. He was always screaming, crying, yelling like he was being tortured, even when he slept. He kept us all awake all through the night. They put all the screamers in the same area at the other end of the building, but they still kept us up all night.”

Instead of being discouraged by his deportation, though, the plucky, enterprising Cruz forged on ahead. Finding inspiration in his own Stateside captivity and noting the opportunities for incarceration that the ongoing Salvadoran Civil

28

FPH 11.14

War offered (torturers needed chambers, after all, and the disappeared disapCruz disagrees. peared to someplace, of course) Cruz founded his own chain of private prisons in “Society has many legitimate reasons to send someone to prison--to deter El Salvador. potential criminals, to keep criminals from committing crimes, to rehabilitate crmi“It was a goldmine,” Cruz recalls. “It was a privatizer’s dream, a completely nals, etc. If these are legitimate reasons, then why should someone not profit from unregulated free market.” this?

In the US, companies like CCA had to use the American Legislative Exchange “It takes many things to build and run a prison. It must be built, first, then Council (ALEC), the American Correctional Association (ACA), and other front it requires security, food, laundry, medical care, maintainence, and the adminisgroups to lobby Congress and state legislatures to pass stricter laws with harsher tration of all these things,” says Cruz. “We in the private prison industry provide sentences to boost their occupancy. In El Salvador, on the other hand, Cruz took solutions that combine public sector oversight with private sector efficiency.” advantage of arbitrary arrests and indefinite detentions to boost his business.

Still, the industry has been rocked by many scandals. In Texas, a female prisDespite being denied admission to the School of the Americas, Cruz was bene- oner in the CCA-run Dawson State Jail gave birth to a premature infant girl in a fitting from lessons on counterinsurgency taught to El Salvador’s military elite toilet with no medical help after requesting a pregnancy test for three weeks. The by the US military paid for by the American taxpayer. It was the perfect business infant lived only four days. In Pennsylvania in 2008, two judges were found guilty plan! of accepting bribes from officials at a privately-run juvenile detention facility-Needless to say, with that enterprising spirit in that unregulated environment, they were sentencing kids to harsh juvenile sentences for the pettiest of “offenses” it didn’t take Jesús Cruz long to bounce back from his deportation and quickly -- such as drawing a funny picture of the vice principle or being accused of throwearn a fortune. ing a piece of meat at their mother’s boyfriend -- that destroyed many kids’ lives, “We didn’t have guaranteed, contractual minimum occupancy requirements leaving them with a criminal record, and even pushed one such juvenile to suicide. like the US prison companies have, where their jails have to stay 90-100% full In light of these and many other scandals, many states are reconsiderwhether the crime rate rises or falls,” Cruz explains. “We still don’t! But for those ing their relationship with private jailers. Last year, the Ohio docked CCA nearly years during the Civil War--peasants, teachers, students, union organizers, jour- $500,000 because of an audit that revealed inadequate staffing, unacceptable nalists, priests, human rights advocates, everybody--everybody got a taste of our living conditions, and delays in medical treatment at the Lake Erie Correctional hospitality! And I learned it right here, in Houston, at the Olympic Motel.”

Institution. Just this summer, Idaho took back management from CCA of the Idaho Correctional Center, which is also called the Gladiator School for its reputation of COMING BACK TO GIVE BACK violence, because of problems caused by understaffing.

The idea to establish a museum at the site of the world’s very first ever priRegardless, CCA’s stock has doubled in value since 2004 and Cruz sees hope vately owned, for-profit detention facility came to Jesús Cruz several years ago, in the current refugee crisis on the border, and not just for private prisons but for but it wasn’t easy to accomplish. The first hurdle for this deportee was getting a all manner of industry. visa to re-enter the States, 30 years after being sent home.

Indeed, detaining undocumented immigrants is the most promising sector in “First they denied me because of my 1984 deportation,” Cruz says, “then they the private detention business at present. Despite a decreased flow of undocusaid I had to pay back my student loans. Of course, I had more than enough money mented immigrants across the border in the years since the economic downturn, for that, even with all the fees and interest, but it was still a lot of running around more immigrants are being detained for longer periods. As incarceration rates and paperwork for my lawyers.” have risen, so have profits for CCA and the Geo Group. The White House has a The paperwork dragged on longer than Cruz had hoped, so he missed his budget request pending in Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency spending to goal of opening the museum’s doors by the 30 th anniversary in January 2014, but confront the current crisis, of which $879 million would go toward detaining and he looks forward to celebrating the 31 st on site. removing adults traveling with children.

Cruz says he is most excited about setting up the special exhibit on what used “This new kids refugee crisis is going to be great for everyone,” Cruz believes. to be called “convict leasing,” which was one of the precursors to private prisons “I call it the Children’s Crusade because these kids are going to save a lot of peoand temp (temporary employment) agencies. After the Civil War, Southern farm- ple. Not just CCA and the Geo Group, who will be housing the people, but also Bi ers faced a shortage of affordable labor, so they began “renting out” convicts Incorporated, which supplies ankle bracelets to ICE, CSI Aviation, which operates from local prisons to help out on the farms, and as wardens and other govern- deportation charter flights, General Dynamics Information Technology, which is ment officials began to recognize the potential benefit to the state, they passed supplying case-management services, and Lionsbridge Technologies, which prostricter laws with stricter penalties to grow the prison population that could then vides translation services. And then there is this huge new 2,400 bed refugee be rented out--instead of costing money, jails could now mint money. family detention center they’re building in South Texas. Pay day!”

“T. Don Hutto is my hero,” he says of the former Arkansas prison director who “When you look at the big picture,” Cruz explains, “it’s amazing how all the went on to become one of the three original founders of CCA. “Hutto managed to pieces click like clockwork in the grand scheme. turn a profit in a public prison while he was in Arkansas, can you imagine?”

“In the late 1970s, when I came up, US foreign policy made El Salvador unliv“It’s not enough that Hutto has only one facility named after him. There should able for people like me, so we came north as refugees. When we got here, we be a statue of T. Don Hutto in every town square.” wound up in rough neighborhoods where we found strength in numbers, formed Cruz is further saddened to learn that the Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas was gangs like MS-13, and maybe started dealing drugs to survive. Under the harsher downgraded in 2009. It no longer imprisons whole families, just females. laws that were passed thanks to companies like CCA and their lobbyists, these “This is a travesty of justice,” Cruz shakes his head. “Hutto deserves better.” young men spent long sentences in prison, where they became hardened criminals, before being deported back to El Salvador. Now they are there with North TROUBLE IN PARADISE American guns fighting with each other over supply chains to send drugs to North Critics of the industry say that introducing the profit motive to incarceration America and creating this whole new children’s refugee crisis.” is a perversion, that prison companies care for one thing only, profit, and they cut “It’s amazing,” he repeats, “the master plot of master-minds. So much money back on things like staffing, guard training, rehabilitative programs such as classes to be made at every turn. The sky is the limit!” and psychological/drug/alcohol care for prisoners which would reduce recidivism, James A Gondles, Jr., Executive Director of the American Correctional and medical care. Additionally, these companies have an incentive to increase the Association, will be appearing with Cruz at the museum’s ribbon cutting cereprison population by lobbying for harsher laws, longer, stricter prison sentences, mony. and deny parole. And in regards to privatized immigrant detention, critics say the worst part is that people are being imprisoned for civil, not criminal, violations.

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FPH 11.14

Four Years After the ‘Arab Spring’ Series: Egypt

By Nick Cooper, with interviews from: H o s a m A b o u l - E l a , a n a s s o c i a te professor of English at University of Houston M . Waleed Gaber, a professor at B ay l o r C o l l e g e o f M e d i c i n e , B o a r d Member of Arab Community and Cultural Center, and President of the Egyptian American Society - Houston (speaking only on his own behalf) M i r a ( p s e u d o ny m) , a M u s l i m American in Houston whose family left Egypt in the 1970s Fa ra h , a p ro ce s s e n g i n e e r i n Houston Sharif Abdel Kouddous, a DemocracyNow! correspondent based in Cairo The ‘Arab Spring ,’ An End to 60 Years of Military Rule?

From the overthrow Egypt ’s monarchy in 1952 until the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011, Egypt was in the hands of military leaders. The 1952 coup relied on help from Islamist factions including the Muslim Brotherhood, but immediately af ter wards , the militar y began criminalizing the Islamists. They were hung, jailed, tortured, and exiled.

After years of preparations, in 2011, protesters took to Tahrir S quare . In response to what Hosam calls, “the 30 year reign by political / military leader Hosni Mubarak’s cavalier and repressive kleptocracy,” a revolution began from the working class, and by disillusioned secular youth who wanted jobs and freedoms. “Eventually, the movement grew, adding intellectuals, football fanatics, opposition politicians, and reluctantly and belatedly, the Brotherhood.”

When this movement ousted Mubarak and brought free elections , a slim majority voted for the Muslim Brotherhood’s coalition, as they were the best organized, had been the main opposition to M ubarak , and seemed non-corrupt and righteous. However, when their candidate President Mohamed Morsi took of fice, the military and it’s cronies, or the ‘deep state,’ as it’s called in Egypt, retained most of their corrupt privileges.

Morsi’s Rule Lasts Only One Year Morsi made unpopular attempts to take more state power and to Islamize the Constitution. To Mira, the ‘deep state’ never really gave democracy a chance.

To Farah, Morsi suf fered because he was not charismatic, “and his speeches were always jumbled... The media kept using all of this to fuel up the population against the Muslim Brotherhood.” Morsi also came up against, and was threatened by deep state’s the judicial system.

It “remained untouched by revolutionary endeavors that resulted from the national Tahrir square uprising,” says Mira.

On June 30, 2013, the people rose up ag ain st M o rsi a n d , “ this wa s th e opportunity for the army to gain power back and to slowly re-establish the crew behind Mubarak,” says Farah. “The army came into the picture as the savior of the population and took power, making the Brotherhood enemies of the state.”

“The public sees it ’s only going to get worse and the ignorant military government has offered no solutions,” says Mira. “As an example, in a public address, [the new] president, Sisi decided to divide pieces of bread into quarters as a solution to the public’s looming famine fears.”

M orsi “ had lost almost all of his popularity outside of his base within the Brotherhood,” Hosam says. “Meanwhile, the militar y, which had always been su spicio u s of a ll civilia n p o liticia n s , e s p e c i a l l y th e a u th o r it a r i a n s o u n d ing ones from the Brotherhood, seized on his lack of popularity to return most of the military’s privileges and executive authority.” When the military, “felt comfortable that their power over the Brotherhood had been restored, they started to go af ter some of the civic leaders who had planned the original revolution.”

To Waleed, Egyptians, “really want a modern state, but they can’t pay the price in terms of uncertainty and instability that would bring it about.”

Waleed saw the military as successfully turning the middle class against not only the Brotherhood, but “against the whole democratic process, by saying, ‘Look around you, the state is collapsing everywhere. Were not going to let the Egyptian state collapse, we’re going to get rid of democracy.’ Liberals turned to fascist language, saying, ‘So what if we lose a few thousand here or there, it’s all for the stability of the motherland.’”

For S harif, the only light in this dark time is that, “There is a generation of young people in Egypt who spent the last four years going through this transformative process that was the revolution, they don’t buy into the regime’s jingoism. They’ve spent the last few years shuttling between street protests, to police stations , to hospitals , and to the morgue. The fact that this generation is still very young and had this experience, gives me hope for change and that this regime will not last the 30 years that Mubarak’s did.”

Meet the New Boss, The Same as the Old Boss With chants of “the army and the people are one hand,” the second popular coup threw Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood figures in jail, and swept Deputy Prime Minister Abdel Fattah elSisi into power.

Waleed sees the return to military rule as being dominated by fascist slogans like ‘this is not the time for dissent, sexual freedom, artistic freedom, this is not a time of freedom, it is a time to give to your country.’ He sees the military as dependent on and controlled by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

E

VOT

In Cairo now, Sharif is witnessing first-hand, “a resurgent authoritarianism that is surpassing even Mubarak’s era… There’s thousands and thousands of people in prison, they ’re cracking down on NGOs, the media, and on anyone speaking out.” There is widespread disillusionment. “Those who fought for social change,” says Hosam, ”now just want normalcy at almost any price.”

Farah agrees that people are, “very pessimistic and feel very defeated. The general feeling is that nothing changed and all the lives that were lost, were lost for nothing. People are also very passive now and they are done trying to change things. They just want to have some stability in their lives. Since all the efforts went [down the] drain, what is the point of making any more.”

30

FPH 11.14 p.31

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FPH 11.14

The Maternal Mortality Epidemic: The Policy Created Health Emergency Happening Under Our Noses

by Bill Lambert, Pro-Choice Houston Art by Tim Dorsey Few get misty eyed reflecting on the Bush Sr. presidency, but from a matern a l m o r t a l i t y s t a n d p o i n t i t ’s wo r th a rev i ew. T h o s e we r e ye a r s o f h i storic lows in childbirth related death due largely to common sense policies and health spending levels introduced before Bush Sr’s tenure. As a nation we prioritized the health of our most vulnerable citizens and achieved something to brag about. Since those lows, maternal mortality nationwide has more than doubled, and women of color and/ o r in p ove r t y a re dyin g at a dis p ro portionate and growing rate. A recent U N re p o r t e ntitl e d R EP RO D U C TI V E I N J U S T I C E : R AC I A L A N D G E N D E R DISCRIMINATION IN U.S. HEALTH CARE details what it describes as a Human Rights Crisis in our own backyard: “Maternal mortality is a human rights crisis in the United States. Between 1990 and 2013, as the overwhelming majority of countries dramatically reduced the incidence of maternal mortality, the maternal mortality ratio in the U.S. more than doubled from 12 to 28 maternal deaths out of every 100,000 live births.

Racial disparities fuel this crisis. For the last four decades, Black women have been dying in childbirth at a rate three to four times their White counterparts.

Cities and states with a high African American population also have the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country; in some areas of Mississippi, for example, the rate of maternal death for women of color exceeds that of SubSaharan Africa.”

UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination How did we get from the lows in maternal mor tality at the end of the 1980’s to this human rights crisis? Health factors including obesity and diabe tes play a role, the overuse of Cesarean Sec tions on the par t of the bir thing industry is a factor as well, but these alone can’t explain a nationwide doubling of maternal mortality rates.

I n Te x a s w e ’ v e s e e n a 4 0 0 % increase between 1995-2010. Yep, four times as many women are dying from childbirth than only 20 years ago and the number is increasing! The death toll was alarming enough to get the State Government’s attention as Joan Huffman (R) introduced SB 495 in the last legislative session creating a bipartisan task force to study the issue and to make recommendations via a report to the governor. While the task force recognized that “nationally as well as in Texas, Black women have a maternal mortality rate more than twice as high as White women and this disparity gap has increased since 2007,” after a year of review the task force was unable to

b r i n g a s i n g l e re co m m e n d a ti o n f o r reduction.

But isn’t this a bit like the police policing themselves? Isn’t the rush to slash health spending a factor? Can the the Joan Huffman task force be critical of anti-choice policies designed to (1) deny women their bodily autonomy, (2) MANDATE THAT DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION be given to patients, ( 3 ) p u b l i c f u n d i n g of a nti -a b o r ti o n counseling centers disguised as clinics, and (4) abstinence-only educational programming? How much of the crisis of maternal mortality has been created via policy? The states where anti-abortion legislation has been most rampant and women’s health spending fleeced the most ARE the states with the “worst health outcomes for women and children”: For example , O klahoma has the maximum number of abortion restrictions (14 in total) and has some of the country’s worst outcomes for women’s health – including higher maternal mortality rates, higher uninsured rates, and lower rates of cancer screening, among other outcomes – and some of the worst outcomes for children’s health – including higher infant and child mortality rates, lower rates of preventive care, and higher rates of teen alcohol and drug abuse, among other indicators.

Politicians in states like Texas and Louisiana have ma de th e claim that restrictions on abortion services protect women’s health and safety, despite the fact that leading medical associations—including the American Medical Association and the American College of O bstetricia n s a n d Gyn e cologist— oppose such restrictions precisely because they are a threat to women’s health, lives, and well-being.” Evaluating Priorities: M easuring Women and Children’s Health a n d We l l - B e i n g A g a i n s t A b o r t i o n Restric tions in the States , by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health.

And for women of color and the working poor, the numbers only get worse. The UN report lists these factors stacking the deck against pregnant Black and immigrant women:

in allowing for “evaluating whether the ambulatory surgical center provision would actually improve women’s health and safety.” [Ed. Note: This law appears to have been struck down by the US Supreme Court in the time since this article was written.]

Women’s lives and livelihoods are being jeopardized for short term political gain. This is a man-made disaster playing out around us with no political will to address it in an honest way.

Shouldn’t the common sense funding of Women’s Health during Daddy Bush’s era be our guidepost? before all the unnecessary legislation driven by politics to deny women reproductive health access? We got there before. We know how. We just need leadership with the political will to fight for us instead of against us, but that leadership has yet to show itself.

1. lack of information about sexuality and sexual health; 2. discrimination in the healthcare system; 3 . l a c k o f a c c e s s to s ex u a l a n d reproductive health care; and 4. poor quality of sexual and reproductive health information and services.

However, pregnant women in Texas are more likely to find misinformation and outright lies from state funded crisis pregnancy centers. Access to Women’s health services has been infringed upon by legislation arbitrarily closing facilities.

In upholding the law (HB2) designed to shut down all but seven Texas abortion clinics, the Fifth Circuit Court decided the lower U.S. District Court had erred 32

The U N Committee of fers some recommendations: “Eliminating disparities in reproductive health care, including maternal mortality, will require proactive steps by the U.S. government to: increase both ge n e ral a n d pregna n cy relate d coverage of uninsured women; improve access to contraceptive services and maternal health care; train healthcare providers to avoid racial stereotypes a n d provide high qualit y c are to all women; ensure comprehensive sexuality education and information; and pro vide adequate social supports for recent parents, including paid parental leave.

In addition, the U.S. should strengthen monitoring and accountabilit y mea sures for maternal mortality in line with human rights standards.”

But the leadership that can see this through has to be built.

FPH 11.14

LOLCATS DOWN

By Harbeer Sandhu

from 1997. There were enough to fill a small phone book!

“Today,” said Henigin, “most homes have one, at People say the Internet is like 95% cat videos and porn, most two choices for Internet — and if they have a but do you know what it would look like without Net choice, it’s between Tweedledee and Tweedledum!”

Neutrality? Like broadcast television -- ABC , NBC , How could less options, less competition be good CBS, Fox -- just a few big companies providing most of for consumers? the programming. With lots of commercials. And infoWait, what? Consumers? That might have been mercials. All day, every day. the single most-used word through the whole session.

If not for Net Neutrality , you might never even “Consumers.” To the FCC and their panel, we’re all just see small, community-focused sites like freepress- a mindless mob of passive zombies, not “producers” of houston.com. blogs and videos and , not “citizens” in a democracy.

OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit…but only Just “consumers” demanding more bandwidth for our a little bit.

Netflix and our Hulu.

Net Neutrality is the idea that the Internet is like It is true that people are streaming more video the roads, waterways, and telephone lines. It trans- and using apps like Skype that require more and more por ts stuf f that people need . Proponents of N et bandwidth. It is true that we need to upgrade our Neutrality say that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) infrastructure to deliver better service in cities and should be regulated as “common carriers” under Title II extend broadband to rural areas. Investment is necesof the Communications Act of 1934. Common carriers sary -- someone needs to cough up some dough, and are companies that can collect money for transport- big companies want to create toll roads for some to ing things but they can’t discriminate. In other words, recoup those potential investments, but at no point nobody should be able to bribe the gatekeepers and did any of the panelists suggest that this could be a toll collectors to let them go faster or slow down their public effort -- that the federal and/or municipal govcompetition.

And isn’t that what makes the Internet great?

Wasn’t that always the big promise of the Internet -that independent content producers like bloggers or school kids making YouTube videos could offer non-mainstream perspectives, could take risks and experiment in ways that big corporations could not even imagine. The two brothers who made Homestar Runner playing on a level field with Hanna-Barbera (not counting marketing budgets, of course).

The Internet has been a place where size does not matter, but that could soon change. Comcast is trying to merge with Time Warner. Big Internet wants to get bigger, and they want to start charging companies protection money to make sure their content reaches audiences without interruptions.

Last January, an appeals court struck down key parts of the FCC ’s regulations that protected Net Neutrality, and it seems like the FCC is tilting toward new rules that would allow ISPs to start charging companies for special access to consumers. ISPs would get paid by people like you and me for access to the Internet, and they’d get paid by the likes of Netflix and Skype for better access to you and me. Cha-ching!

Good-bye lolcats, it’s double payday!

But it ’s not a done deal. The FCC is currently soliciting public comments about these proposed ernments could use this as an opportunity to create changes, and the public is overwhelming in favor of shovel-ready jobs. Not once!

Net Neutrality. Comedian John Oliver’s fans accidenAnother highlight was when Donna L . Nelson tally crashed the FCC’s website when he aired a call (Chairman of the Texas Public Utilities Commission) to action. The FCC’s website couldn’t handle the web got booed by the audience during the Q&A. An auditraffic -- the irony! ence member asked why we couldn’t just provide free It was still da rk o ut o n Tu esday, O c to b e r 2 1 , public wifi like France. when eight Houstonians piled into a bus paid for “I am from Texas,” Nelson said, “and we don’t take by the media watchdog group Free Press (no rela- cues from Europe.” tion) to ride up to College Station. Commissioner Ajit Wow, Chairman Nelson, is it really inconceivable Pai was making a rare appearance outside of DC to to you that someone in Europe might have a solumeet with the public at A&M’s George Bush School tion to a problem that might be better than what of Government. There was a decent-sized crowd for a you’re doing? You are a dumb nincompoop not worhastily announced meeting on a weekday morning. thy of your office if you refuse even to consider an Commissioner Pai opened by saying he was just idea because of where it originated. In fact, stop using there to listen, and the two-hour session was taken English right now, dummy. up mostly by a panel of “experts” -- Donna L. Nelson Dr. Tish Stringer, an anthropologist focused on (Chairman of the Texas Public Utilities Commission), a media studies, filmmaker, and film instructor at Rice couple of lobbyists, and three people from small com- Universit y entered this comment into the public panies offering services such as data storage and record: internet access in rural areas. They were NOT repreI’m put of f by the discussion here focused on sentative of the public. Of the seven people on stage, Consumer vs. Citizen. Company interest vs. Creativity only two favored Title II “common carrier” regulations. and innovation One telling moment was when Edward Henigin of I am a producer. Net neutrality means I don’t need Austin’s Data Foundry held up what looked like a small a license to produce and distribute content as with tv phone book and said that it was a directory of ISPs and radio stations.

I te a ch f ilm m a kin g a n d my s tu d e nt s use th e internet today to distribute films, build work sample portfolios, raise money, promote their screenings, submit to festivals, access and use archives for free use art. If the new rules favor large corporations the little creative producers will struggle to make their voices heard.

The airwaves writ large supposedly belong to the people as a public good, but we see them dominated by a few large corporations. The same will be true of an Internet regulated like other telecoms.

Immediacy of a free Internet for populist publishing has been an incredible benefit for information sharing for example in cases of disasters or social movements organizing.

I support net neutrality because I support a plurality of voices and free access to information as a cornerstone to a healthy democracy. As panelist McCullough stated, open Internet and access to everyone is the goal.

Call and write your congressional representatives to show that you are not just a passive consumer.

Support Title II reclassification of ISPs as common carriers. Do it for the lolcats.

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BEDHEAD: NOW, AS WAS, BUT ALWAYS by km anderson [W]e have an experience when the material experienced runs its course to fulfillment. Then and and only then is it integrated within and demarcated in the general stream of experience from other experiences...

Such an experience is a whole and carries with it its own individualizing quality and self sufficiency.

- John Dewey (excerpt from “Art As Experience, Chapter 3: Having An Experience).

Bedhead was a dynamic band with a decent number of albums -- some would say just enough, some would say not enough, either is fair. Their latest album was released in 1998, and there it ended. New things began, lives took turns and new music was made, but as a live entity, Bedhead no longer remained.

Archival record label Numero Group will release the band’s catalog as a box set in November, a revisiting for some, a discovery for others, but to all it will be a monument to the (almost) whole life of the band. It will contain never before seen, previously unreleased, and re-engineered recordings, but it will all be a portrait of what happened, and one can wonder, is that OK with the band? To view history is to view something objectively, unaltered, what actually occurred, but the natural instinct -- the way that memory works, subjectively -- is to change it, to think of what could have been, no?

“Because the band broke up so long ago, I probably do see the songs as tied to another time in my life that’s no longer all that accessible. But I’m not sure that I see some of the ideas and approaches that I attach to the songs as finite, or at least as fully explored,” notes Matt Kadane (former member of Bedhead and current member of the ever so superb Overseas).

willingly in part in the belief that they helped to create some of the tension we thought the songs needed.

But I also remember at the time thinking that a less-ismore approach was in some cases a way of giving the songs a more timeless quality. Pete Townshend somewhere talks about wearing white jumpsuits in the late 60s and early 70s in the effort to avoid being dated by fashion. Obviously that’s not a foolproof plan. But even so I think we were trying to do something similar.

By avoiding playing songs a certain way, maybe especially in a way that ‘felt right,’ which we interpreted as a suspicious feeling that indicated being too influenced by what was happening at the time, we were trying to avoid so obviously dating the songs, and dating us. We did the same by avoiding certain sounds — by tr ying to keep the guitars unadorned by any sounds except those that could come from amps that had already been around for so long they could no longer be pinned to a particular set of years.”

The Bedhead box set is a great opportunity to experience one of the more unique, and I will biasedly state, better bands of the 90s. Their music is as vibrant and amazing as it was then, devoid of nothing, their music is representative of a band that made all the right choices in reference to their music, it is one of the few times you can see a band’s discography as complete, whole, the last song is the perfect last song.

“I’m satisfied with the music we made, with the re cords as ar tifac t s , with some of the shows we played,” surmises Kadane. “I also wish we had been able to do more — to record more, tour more, reach more people who might have been interested. I regret our decision not to document the band visually. But on the whole I’m happy we were able to do anything at all.”

To say there was another band like Bedhead is something that would fit into the category of “influenced by,” more than stating a contemporary. One could look at things such as Macha or Slint, or Sonora Pine in the sense of what some were calling slowcore, still that label is not sufficient in the fact that songs such as “Psychosomatica” or “Haywire” were definitely more raucous than would be associated with that style.

If anything, I would say that Bedhead was deliberate, each note had a purpose, a specific place, every guitar line so meticulous, in a way, it was more of what they didn’t play, their restraint was the equivalent of a guitar solo. And rightfully so, as many songs the band composed dealt with those thoughts that come as afterthoughts, self talk, mild musings, the use of silence was similar to the use of feedback, pacing and tension were explored in a way rarely seen before or after Bedhead’s epoch of rock.

“Most of the quiet songs on the first record had been around for a while before we finally recorded them, since the late 80s in the case of a few, and there was a lot of paring down of those songs to get at what we thought was essential ,just because they were around for so long and were exposed to critical attention before being made more permanent on record.

There was an early version of the song ‘Unfinished’ that had violin playing the main part and some strummed acoustic guitar at the end. Maybe a year into the song’s life we decided to ditch the guitar. A year after that we ditched the violin. From individual cases like that some basic principles emerged. Like the absence of chords, maybe especially in the case of songs that had their origins in a chord progression, or the absence of drums throughout a song and not just during a drum drop-out. We started to apply those principles more

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FPH 11.14

Gone Gamer

By DL Haydon Art by Austin Smith

Good to Huffpost for maintaining standards. More than what CNN did. Matter of fact, about the only other news sources that did their objective jobs were TechCrunch with their “A tale of Two Sides” piece by Allum Bokhari and National Public Radio’s “On Point ” which interviewed several people for and against.

Everyone else, from VICE to Stephen Colbert (Wikileaks is pro-Gamergate, if that matters) basically went with the politically correct one-sided story. If you point that out however, you’re not objective. You’re sexist.

Have you screen-capped hastily deleted tweets from a moral crusader bullying a gamer? You’re a misogynist. Pointed out how media are speaking with only one side? You’re pro-rape. Mentioned it in the comments section of Jezebel, Kotaku or basically anything owned by Gawker? Comments disabled -- and you’re a bigot. Started a thread about it on 4chan? Thread deleted, you’re banned and a neckbeard loser aspie.

Point is, Gamergate is a teaching moment for how close we are to censoring people for no crime other than hurting someone’s feelings. This issue is past video games and feminism. It’s now freedom of thought. Gatekeeping in the media.

Social Righteousness. The ability to discuss, debate, argue, bitch, moan, flame and complain. As in, one of the most basic human rights: Speech. The media says this argument is an excuse to target women under the guise of journalistic reform and anti-censorship. So you’re virtually allowed three options: 1-Oppose Gamergate, become a social justice hero.

2-Support Gamergate, become a boogeyman.

3-Ignore Gamergate, worry about rent money, Houston traffic and Ebola.

If you haven’t spent the last two months panic-stricken by media reports that Ebola will spread from Dallas to kill us all, you might have come across the scandal known as Gamergate.

What is Gamergate? At this point: whatever you want it to be. Corruption or Sexism. Choose your own adventure. Most Houston game developers and journalists want to stay the hell out of it, and for good reason. It’s not hard to lose your job for having an opinion.

I contacted several Houston-based game developers for this story. Two responded.

“That’s a big fat *NO* on the Gamergate opportunistic sound bite,” one said.

“You should write that everyone had years of me bringing actual game and tech news that has gone ignored, and now that this *thing* is trending you’re wanting some kind of opinion/statement.”

The second agreed to talk under anonymity.

“The whole debate on both sides seems to have poisonous elements. I’ve tried to stay out. Giving it more attention would just add fuel to the fire. I need to get back to work,” they said before adding: “OH GOD EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE WHY ARE PEOPLE SO MEAN TO EACH OTHER, PLEASE EVERYONE JUST BE NICE.” A quick Twitter search turned up similar: “Avoiding Gamergate. I like video games and craft beer. I lead a simple semifreelance life., tweeted Houston Chronicle blogger Cody Hardin.

[UPDATE: As of Oct. 20, Houston Chronicle video game reporter Willie Jefferson wrote a very objective piece on his LinkedIn account titled “A simple solution to Gamergate: R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” which was later posted on the Chron’s blog.]

One of the few Houston video game journalists who would talk, a brave soul by the name of Bryan Dupont-Gray, told me the following: “I honestly could care less about Gamergate at this point,” Dupont-Gray said.

“Recent news about a few of their bad apples making death threats has made me feel so removed from them. The only concern I have with this movement is it’s scattered, and when you have a large group of people with no leader, you have a scatterbrained effect.”

Full disclosure (journo speak for “being a professional”) Dupont-Gray and I worked at the same student newspaper two years ago.

Attempts to find anti-Gamergate protesters in H-town were unsuccessful, but a Houston-based activist and gamer who had a few relations in the now-defunct Timegate studios did respond to an interview request. The activist, who goes by @ PwnParrot, thinks developers just want to work in peace.

“I started off slightly on the other side. Saw the Polygon article ‘Bad time to be a gamer’ about some misogynists attacking a female dev and thought it sounded awful,” @PwnParrot said. “Later I found the link to the Internet Aristocrat video. I did step back and look at both sides. It looked like people just talking past each other. It still is, in many ways.”

When I asked PwnParrot about their relation to the industry, PwnParrot identified as “a consumer.”

“I’m a PC and Nintendo gamer. Play a lot of FFXIV, I don’t play games as much as I used to. I really didn’t even identify as a gamer until I saw the ‘Gamers are Dead’ articles and found them insulting.”

And that’s Houston. You want the mainstream answer to “What is Gamergate?”

Simply punch a few keywords into Google. Not that you’ll get a the truth that way.

The journalism industry’s handling of Gamgergate is confusing as hell. They’re fixated on death threats. For a group proud about how it tells both sides, we sure love to demonize the unpopular. How so? By pointing out death threats sent only to anti-Gamergate protesters. The death threats sent to those in Gamergate?

Deep sixed.

And for an opportunity to prove gamers also received death threats, feel free to call up Portland’s police department and ask the public information officer about report 1484066.

Wait, I forgot: Don’t mention harassment aimed at Gamergate. Their death threats are less equal than anti-Gamergate. I mean, we all know how Gamergate is full of angry (negative noun) and (unpopular adjective) losers.

To nudge a biased narrative is one thing but to claim victory in an attempt to shut up the opposition? That’s beyond yellow journalism. Gawker Media (heavily involved in the scandal) did just that when they used several of their sites to say Gamers/Gamergate are dead and encouraged everyone to block/ignore/ ban anyone who disagrees. Is this what journalism has come to? Thoughtcrime?

Thinkpolice?

Meanwhile, any outlet that interviews both sides receives a rude awakening.

Huffpost Live discovered this in the second week of October. After a segment that included an anti-Gamergate game developer, they interviewed three female proGamergate supporters: Georgina Young, a staff writer at Gamesided, and gamers Jennie Bharaj and Jemma Morgan. All three pointed out that if Gamergate WERE about attacking women, the three of them wouldn’t be there to interview.

38

Or as one Houston Chronicle opinion writer told me: Oh barf.

actually it's about ethics in games journalism

FPH 11.14 p.39

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