Peace on Earth

At a little heralded press conference held at the White House on Monday, September 25th, 2006, first lady Laura Bush announced the formation of the U.S. State Department’s “Global Cultural Initiative.” With world public opinion of the United States and the Bush administration slumping to dramatic record lows, the initiative is a scheme designed to improve America’s image abroad through…

Throughout her long working life as a photographer, Dorothea Lange produced some of the most riveting photographic images in history. She documented the great depression in the US, the internment of Japanese Americans, strikes and workers on relief, the armies of unemployed and displaced farmers who left the dustbowl states for California. An extraordinary woman with enormous talent and a…

There’s an old adage that goes, “First they break your legs, and then they want thanks for giving you crutches.” New York City’s, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum has mounted an exhibit that adheres to that truism. Dedicated exclusively to historic and contemporary design, Cooper-Hewitt’s exhibition, Design for the Other 90 %, is the museum’s presentation of innovative tools allegedly created…

On March 24, 2005, a public forum titled Whither Arts Journalism in LA? was held on Olvera street in downtown Los Angeles on the topic of arts journalism in LA. Moderated by Adolfo Guzman Lopez, the panelists included art critics Christopher Knight (LA Times), Peter Frank (LA Weekly), Malik Gaines (artUS magazine), and Caryn Colemen (art.blogging.la). The event attracted an…