Grown-up White Denial at Heart of Jena 6 Case

When I originally started research for this story, my intent was to write a much different post. However, the more I read, the more complete a picture of the story emerged, and I realized this was a different story.

The Jena 6 case, where 6 black youth are being charged for serious crimes stemming from a series of racist incidents, is not about a series of unconnected events, like the District Attorney, Reed Walters, would like to have the media believe. No, it’s about grown-up adults condoning circumstances that encouraged racism to seethe and grown.

It all begins with a tree. This tree was widely known to provide “white-only” shade. When the Vice President of the School was asked during a school assembly by a group of black students if they could sit beneath that tree, the answer was “sure, sit wherever.” The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree. The incident was considered a prank and the students who committed the “prank” were suspended for 3 days. That’s it. I’m sure you know the rest of the story. I’m not going to go there. If you don’t you can start at CNN.com but that will only provide a smidgen of the details.

Where I am going to go is into the microcosm of society known as high school. The blame for this situation rest squarely on the school officials, the DA, and on the adults who send their kids to this school. They’re the ones that allowed this situation to incubate and chose to do nothing.

Good Fences and Good Neighbors by the Doze…n

If you live in the suburbs of Portland like I do, you know that Measure 37 is bad policy. Just this week, on my way to work, convoy of 8 dump trucks barreled by on the way to some field that’s being cleared for development. It’s crazy! And what’s bad - this was on a narrow, 2-lane road - testament to the fact that home development is far out pacing the development of new roads and infrastructure.

And so this Friday’s Drawing for a Reader comes at the request of Measure37watch.com. Check out who’s really behind Measure 37 claims (as if it’s any big surprise).

Dose of Reality

This probably happens to every anxious blogger that enters the blogosphere. You post obsessively for a month, watching your stats, hoping to see your authority on Technorati increase, or your page rank eventually happen on Google. You make friends, you comment on other blogs, you work 24/7.

And then sometimes nothing happens. Or a lot happens but not the sort of happening you hoped for. You start to question all your efforts but enough good happens to keep you going. You keep posting every day.

About the time you start to see success…you get really tired. So tired, that it takes more success the next day to keep your posts coming.

Do you give up? No, of course not. You’re still in denial. You still think it’s a maintainable system to pull off 80 hours weeks between your full-time day job and your full-time blog. (By the way, I truly believe creativity cannot happen in a tired mind.)

Then events happen that are never expected. Tipping points that make your realize you’re going to have to make a decision. You’re going to have to trust that people will still visit without posting every day. You have to trust that the foundation you’ve built will last.

Yes, this cartoonist is at that point.

PixelMarx was launched as a simple experiment: Draw one political cartoon every day until the election of 2008. The first cartoon took exactly 1 hour. The quality sucked. By the end of the week, the cartoon quality had increased dramatically, but each drawing now required 3 hours from start to post. And that didn’t include the time necessary to nurture the site, and grow its web presence.

30 days became a target date for evaluation. And 30 days passed with success. But the evaluation never happened. It was just easier to keep on drawing.

Then this blogger realized quality was better than quantity - after a few select cartoons really started to draw traffic. This happened last week, and ever since then I’ve been debating posting this third blogger bomb - The Dose of Reality.

For my regular readers - thank you. And keep checking back. Or better yet, subscribe to my RSS feed so you only visit when I have a new post. I do plan to keep posting, just not every day.

For those readers just visiting, take some time and explore. And a tip to any new blogger looking to start out…look for an idea that allows balance, and that’s maintainable. Post everyday for the first 30 days to establish your blog. But then have that evaluation period, and don’t keep posting just because. You need to rest.

At least that’s what the Doc’s told this IrishSpacemonk.

A Tribute to the Birds of Captivity - Alex (1976 - 2007)

This Friday’s Drawing for a Reader is a bit different. It’s for Alex, the notorious bird brain African Gray parrot. Alex never requested this drawing, and I’m sure if he did surf the web and find it, he’d probably disagree. I like to think he was a bit of a skeptic when it came to studies and research.

That said, when a normal African Gray Parrot can reach up to 70 years of age, with an average lifespan of 50 (almost the same as humans when unaided with medicine) then I’m led to think research and the stress of captivity might in some way contributed to his untimely death.

Yes, this is coming from a monkey who lives most of his life in an astronaut suit. Take it with whatever amount of bird seed you require.

Bush and Cheney Bury Nations Blood and Treasure

A lot has happened this week, including (insert surprise here) George Bush’s continued strategy to remain in Iraq until the end of his term, with a coordinated withdrawal of the “so called surge” troops right before the 2008 election.

When hasn’t this administration used terrorism and the Iraq War for political positioning?

Today’s cartoon was inspired by Martin Lewis on The Huffington Post (September 12, 2007).

Note: On the cartoon style this week - sorry, not as refined as my other ‘toons. I keep trying to get a drawing out everyday, but I continue to be slammed by other work.  Hope you enjoy either way.

Voting Republican Leaves Blood on Your Hands…

Beware. What follows is an IrishSpacemonk soapbox moment (as if this entire blog isn’t).

Okay - you’ve been fairly warned.

Let me begin by explaining that every time I’m reminded we are at war in Iraq (which is just about every day) I’m also reminded that twice, half of America voted for the man in office that put us in this quagmire. And I’m confused by polls that show a majority of American’s think Iraq was a mistake, and yet we still remain at war, with no calls for impeachment for Bush or Cheney, despite obvious crimes.

I’ve always felt that anyone who voted for Bush in both elections should feel a heavy burden for every death, both US and Iraqi. And I’m sure most do. But it’s time to take that burden and sorrow beyond supporting the economy through consumerism and take real action. And the most simple step any Republican can take is vote Democrat in 2008.

Of course, if you’ve read this far, it’s very likely your not a Republican, and this post is just one of many useless soapbox moments.

California Republican’s Strategy to Paint the US Red

When I started looking for a California story, I came across something that surprised me….no, take that back, it scared the #@&! out of me.

The California Republican Party is proposing a set of rules that would give them up to an additional 20 electoral votes. As many point out, this is the equivalent of Ohio, and we know that Ohio was the state that kept us RED in 2004.

While this may be a local issue, it extends beyond the borders of sunny California, with the ramifications close to catastrophic if you’re a freedom loving Democrat. States will no longer be vested with the power to elect, but rather congressional districts.

Help put a stop to this Republican nonsense.

Next Page »