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Want to be in an art exhibit at Fort Myers Rauschenberg Gallery? All you need is a stamp, a postcard and a little creativity.

Thats the beauty of the new Postcards For Democracy exhibit, says renowned artist/musician Beatie Wolfe.

Its an exhibit inspired by the post office and democracy. But its also a democratic exhibit: Anyone can take part, no matter who they are or where they live.

You dont even have to be an artist.

We just wanted this to be as open and inclusive as possible, Wolfe says, and just have everyone and anyone that wanted to send a card. And whatever that card ended up being was great.

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"US Mail" by Denise Woodward, one of many postcard-art works featured in the "Postcards for Democracy" exhibit.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Wolfe created the art project with singer/composer Mark Mothersbaugh of art-rock legends Devo.

The idea was to championthe U.S. Postal Service and its essential role during the 2020presidential election. Both Beatie and Mothersbaugh are longtime fans of the postal service, and the friendslove to collect stamps and send letters (and often art) through the mail.

It kind of inspired us, Mothersbaugh says. I think we were impressed when our government started talking about eliminating the post office which was something we just thought was an integral part of our democracy and something that was very important to keep alive.

The project started as a collective art demonstration supportingthe U.S. Postal Service, mail-in voting and the right to vote. But it eventually grew into much more than that.

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Artists/musicians Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo and Beatie Wolfe co-created the new "Postcards for Democracy" exhibit.(Photo: Ross Harris)

People from all over the world submitted postcards decorated with all sorts of topics: The 2020 election, of course. And the post office. And Trump. And Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. But also Black Lives Matter. Human kindness. Racism. Feminism. QAnon. Science. The environment.

And there were other, less political topics, too: A one-eyed alien holding its arms out for a hug. The leg lamp from A Christmas Story. A monkey astronaut declaring I dont wanna go to space! A sun rising over the planet Earth. And lots of Devo-themed art, including the bands famous energy dome hats and their slogan, Are we not men? We are Devo!

Moresubmissions are arriving every day, Mothersbaugh says.

We love the post office and we love what its about, he says. And it (the art project)just happened to coincide with what was happening at the time in the country.

But, you know, theres still things coming in today. We have new cards sitting on the table today. And theyre not talking about the election. Theyre talking about other things. Theyre about other aspects of human existence.

The Postcards For Democracy exhibit features decorated postcards from people around the world, including this one by Dan Opalenik.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Thats why gallery director Jade Dellinger plans to change up the postcards in the world-premiere exhibit. At least twice during the shows three-month run, hell take down all the old postcards from their narrow shelves and replace them with an entirely new batch.

Dellinger expects that people who visit the gallery might be inspired to go home and create some art of their own, in fact. And those postcards might pop up later in the exhibit.

Its very much an ongoing thing," he says, "and were encouraging people to participate.

Wolfe and Mothersbaugh say theyve gotten sacks full of postcards for the exhibit, but they have no idea how many theyve collected. Thousands, they guess.

Its a bunch! Mothersbaugh says. Sorry, neither of us wanted to count.

Now about 1,000 of those postcards are being shown at Rauschenberg Gallery (Dellinger hasnt counted those either).

Wolfe says she's impressed with the creativity on display. The postcardscover a wide spectrum of the human experience and touch on some of the issues and feelings we've all had over the last year.

Its almost like this physical time capsule, a time portal in some ways, to whats been going on," she says. "I think its so wonderful that its being preserved in physical form in a very much digital age.

You look at those cards, and you see so many different facets of our collective human experience and identity, and I think thats whats really powerful about it. It feels very much like it represents what weve been going through.

Ron Logan's "Help Your Neighbor," one of many postcard-art works featured in the "Postcards for Democracy" exhibit.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Mothersbaugh and Wolfe say they wanted to do what they couldto help something they love: The U.S. Postal Service.

We just wanted to bring an awareness, Mothersbaugh says. We werent hearing anybody speaking up for the post office, so we said, Well dang it, were gonna do it! Because we had many reasons to be thankful.

Dellinger loves the idea of making the postal service participants in the exhibit, as well.

Youre kinda challenging the postal service, he says. At the same time, youre sort of entertaining and being grateful toward them by allowing them to be art handlers.

The project started last year, but the Fort Myers show will be the first time the postcards have been shown in an art exhibit. The world premiere sprang from Dellingers long relationship with Mothersbaugh and Devo, the 2021Rock n Roll Hall of Fame nomineesbest known for their 1980 hit "Whip It."

Guy Adams' "The World," one of many postcard-art works featured in the "Postcards for Democracy" exhibit.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Dellinger wrote the bands 2003 biography, We Are Devo, and he also worked with Mothersbaugh on a Tampa museum exhibit of his work. Theyd been talking about doing something for Rauschenberg Gallery, too, and then Postcards for Democracy happened.

Dellinger says hes impressed with the mountains ofpostcards that poured in after Beatie and Mothersbaugh announced the project last year.

They were getting thousands of postcards coming in the mail, and some people doing things daily and sending it to them, Dellinger says. And many people going to great effort and doing really clever, really beautiful, really wonderful artworks.

Sometimes it was a simple message, but many times it was a real labor of love that was trusted to the USPS letter carriers. And of course, everyone loved that idea.

The exhibit includes three authentic USPS stamp machines near the gallery entrance. For $1 in quarters, visitors can buy an art stamp featuring the exhibit logo anda drawing of Wolfe and Mothersbaugh.

Then theres the music Mothersbaugh contributed to the show: Seven hours of stream-of-consciousness organ music playing on a loop in the gallery.

Mothersbaugh who has a thriving career as a composer for TV, film and video games wrote and performed the song on an old home organ. He titled it The Most Powerful Healing Music in the World.

An anonymous piece featured in the "Postcards for Democracy" exhibit.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

The exhibit, he jokes, will do more than just entertain and enlighten visitors. You can go in and not only see all these cards, but you can come out healthier at the other end. I had the first clue when I had a cut on my finger. And while I was playing the music, I watched it heal.

Mothersbaugh and Wolfe have no plans to stop the art project anytime soon. Theyre continuing to accept postcards and might eventually show the exhibit elsewhere.

They hope it helps their beloved post office and spreads their mutual love of mail something Wolfe says helped her immensely during the pandemic.

Mail during lockdown, it was really the one thing that was keeping me sane, she says. I was just writing tons of letters and mailing art to people.

And a lot of people, it seems, love mail and the post office as much as they do.

We had no idea that it would get such an overwhelming response, Wolfe says. I think a big part of the whole project is just the joy of mail.

I think so many people have remembered how wonderful it is to make something and send it. Its so much more than just being a means to an end. It brings all this kind of joy.

The exhibit opened May 17, but its not too late to send your artwork through the U.S. Postal Service. In fact, Dellinger hopes that happens.

Its really a project that can truly be open-ended, hesays. Its really about continuing to participate in this ongoing kind of conversation thats happening.

To take part in the exhibit, make a postcard and mail it to 8760 Sunset Blvd., CA 90069-2206. For more information, visit postartfordemocracy.com.

Connect with this reporter:Email crunnells@gannett.com or connect on social media at Charles Runnells (Facebook),@charlesrunnells (Twitter) and@crunnells1 (Instagram).

What: Postcards For Democracy

When: Now through Aug. 8

Where: Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida SouthWestern State College, 8099 College Parkway S.W.,Building L, south Fort Myers.

Admission: Free

COVID rules: Masks and social distancing required

Info: 489-9313 orrauschenberggallery.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.news-press.com/story/entertainment/2021/05/18/fort-myers-exhibit-postcards-democracy-mark-mothersbaugh-beatie-wolfe/4869542001/

The rest is here:
Exhibit takes on U.S. mail, 2020 election. 'We love the post office,' says Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh - News-Press

The dark is rising. Anger, hate and violence are running rampant across the land. Hardly a day goes by without a mass shooting. Lies, half-truths and innuendoes all flow like water from a mountain spring. What can be done to stem the tide of ignorance and irrationality gripping the nation? Who will light a candle against the darkness?

American democracy is on the auction block. Did you ever think you would live to see the day when a president of the United States would assemble an unruly mob and direct them to the Capital in order to prevent the certification of an election? Few would have imagined such a thing. Yet here we are running down and sentencing the worst of the storm-troopers. What a sorry state of affairs.

Whatever happened to the American dream of truth, justice and the democratic way? Somewhere along the way the country took a wrong turn. People bought into the delusional thinking of Donald Trump, the conspiracy theories of QAnon, and the big lie of a stolen election.

How are we going to get ourselves out of the mess we have created? An old proverb tells us that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. All the institutions of our society government, corporate, media and education will need to join forces to promote democratic values. Lighting a candle against the darkness may be the first step toward saving the nation.

Stanley Ivie

Richfield

More:
Letter: American democracy is on the auction block - Deseret News

Most United States citizens consider ourselves fortunate to live in a modern, maturedemocracy. We appreciate the great freedoms and abundant material things our democracy affordsus. But while we all know the old adage that freedom is not free, neither is democracy. Our systemdepends on citizens being in ultimate control of the government through a written constitutionwith checks and balances, frequent elections, term limits, free speech, free press, the right topetition the government, the right to bring lawsuits against the government, referendums, recalls,and more. Unfortunately, too few of us take the time to actively participate in our democracy.

Which brings up another adageyou only get as much out of a thing as you put into it.So, how much are we putting into our democracy? How much are we as a countryinvesting in making sure our citizens are informed, knowledgeable, and prepared to fullyparticipate in our continuing experiment in self-government?

Our Current Investment in Civics EducationSchools can help prepare our youngest citizens for their critical role in our democracy. In fact, public education in the United States historically had the three related purposes of preparingstudents to participate in life as citizens, to engage in adult work and careers, and to becomefunctioning members of their communities.

The first goal is essentially civics education. What value do we place on achieving thisgoal today? Governments at all levels have given little support to developing civics educationover the last thirty years, according to the March 2, 2021, Educating for American Democracyreport sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department ofEducation. At the federal level, we spend five cents on civics education per student each year,significantly less than the fifty-four dollars per student for Science, Technology, Engineering, andMathematics education. Danielle Allen, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethicsat Harvard University, discussed this disparity in an Oct. 8, 2020, interview on Harvard EdCasttitled The Role of Education in Democracy. Her point was not that less money should be spenton STEM, but that the lack of support for civics education results in an inability for young peopleto understand democracy, be motivated to participate in it, [and] to have the skills and tools theyneed to participate effectively in democratic self-government.

The Cost of Neglecting CivicsIn a wonderful, wide-ranging discussion sponsored by the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies on April 14, 2021, titled Civics as a National Security Imperative, UnitedStates Supreme Court Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch discussed the importance ofcivics from their perspective as judges of the highest court in our country. Justice Sotomayor citedthe wide disparity on STEM and civics spending discussed above. Both Justices discussed thetroubling lack of knowledge about how our government functions, the low rate of participation ingovernment, the surprisingly large number of people who disapprove of democracy, and howpervasive false information is in our society, especially as spread by social media.

The Justices identified these dangers as resulting from a lack of civics knowledge, whichequips citizens to discern false information regarding our government and its functioning. JusticeGorsuch noted that more often in history, democracies fall not from external threat but frominternal discord. He noted democracy is not an automatic thing. Recently, foreign enemiescapitalized on our internal divisions and discord to further divide us, and Justice Gorsuch noted, it is no surprise that a lot of the false misinformation spread on social media is deliberately spread by our enemies to sow disagreement internally in the country.

Our democracy suffers when we as citizens are unable to fulfil our responsibility as theultimate control of government. We have to make reasoned decisions at the ballot box and in theother means of exercising our power. We cannot fulfill this responsibility when we do not knowhow our government functions. As Justice Gorsuch stated, when we are uninformed, not only dowe allow unresponsive and dysfunctional government, but we also allow foreign and domesticthreats to endanger our democracy.

Among the strengths of the American legal system are civility, civil discourse, constructivedisagreement, critical thinking, and respectful dialogue. Both Justices spoke of how society atlarge could use these principles, practiced every day in our courts, to bridge the divides we nowface.

By failing to educate our young people and ourselves on our government and our civicresponsibilities, we risk losing the freedoms we value so highly. We may have well-educatedSTEM students, but if we lose our democracy, in what kind of country will they live? In thatevent, we will all have to ask ourselves, did we pay the appropriate price for democracy?

Curtis L. CollierUnited States District JudgeChair, Eastern District of Tennessee Civics and Outreach Committee

Carrie Brown StefaniakLaw Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. CollierImmediate Past President, Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association

Eliza L. TaylorLaw Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier

* * *

In the recent opinion What is the Price of Democracy?, the authors advocate a return of basic civics in the education curriculum. I wholeheartedly agree and thank them for their advocacy. However, I find it somewhat disturbing the learned authors used the term democracy 15 times, but not once used the term Republic in their writing. Both terms are necessary to accurately substantiate and better explain the authors advocacy.

To illustrate, the opening paragraph should have read Most United States citizens consider ourselves fortunate to live in a modern, mature democratic Republic. We appreciate the great freedoms and abundant material things our democracy affords us. But while we all know the old adage that freedom is not free, neither is democracy.

There are other places in the opinion where Republic rather than democracy is the proper term to describe our country. By using the noun Republic appropriately to accurately describe the United States, and the use of democracy to describe the political process used to operate our Republic, the authors would demonstrate the difference and help inform a reader who may not have the benefits of a Civics class.

Ironically, the misused terminology helps to show the need and necessity to return a course in United States civics to our Republics education curriculum.

Bryan Bowen

Read the original:
What Is The Price Of Democracy? - The Chattanoogan

The judge is charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon.

May 18, 2021, 6:03 PM

4 min read

A North Carolina judge has been charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly almost hitting Black Lives Matter protesters with his car.

In a video of the May 7 incident released by police, an SUV reportedly driven by North Carolina Appeals Court Judge John M. Tyson appears to drive around a traffic circle past protesters, then move into the innermost lane of the circle near where protesters are standing and drive past them again.

The inner lane is painted with a mural that reads Black Lives Do Matter. End Racism Now. The lane is not open for traffic, according to local law enforcement officials.

Surveillance video released by police shows an SUV driving around a traffic circle in Fayetteville, N.C., just before passing close to a group of Black Lives Matter protesters, May 7, 2021. Law enforcement officials said that lane is not currently open for traffic.

According to The Fayetteville Observer, Myah Warren, a demonstrator at the scene, swore before a Cumberland County magistrate that Tyson nearly hit protesters with his car.

A court summons has been issued, the court confirmed, and court records show Tysons court date is June 21. Hell need to appear in court to answer to the charge.

Tyson told the local newspaper that he called 911 to report people blocking traffic, claiming that protesters were gathering around his car.

The surveillance footage does not appear to show exactly how close the SUV came to protesters or any demonstrators surrounding Tyson's car.

Surveillance video released by police shows an SUV driving around a traffic circle in Fayetteville, N.C., passing close to a group of Black Lives Matter protesters, May 7, 2021. Law enforcement officials said that lane is not currently open for traffic.

Several states have implemented or introduced bills that protect some drivers who hit protesters with their cars. Protesters often block roadways and stop traffic during demonstrations. Following 2020's summerlong protests against police brutality, legislators in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah proposed increased penalties for demonstrators who halt traffic and would grant immunity for drivers who hit them. North Carolina does not have this kind of law.

Tyson has been a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals for almost 14 years total and has taught law at Campbell University since 1987, according to the North Carolina Judicial Branch website.

Tyson and his lawyer, David T. Courie Sr., did not respond to ABC News requests for comment, but Courie told The Fayetteville Observer that he had seen the surveillance footage and it will be labeled Defense Exhibit #1.

Read more:
North Carolina judge accused of almost hitting Black Lives Matter protesters with his car - ABC News

Outside a high-rise apartment building for seniors in Louisvilles West End, volunteer Harriett Rankin helped residents board a long white van to get their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rankin has been with Black Lives Matter Louisville for about a year. Shes been to some protests downtown, many of which BLM Louisville helped organize.

But Rankin spends most of her time doing other things for the group, like working to improve the communitys health by getting folks to vaccine clinics or fighting hunger.

Im actually with Black Lives Matters food team, Rankin said as she loaded up the van with sandwiches for the seniors to eat on the way to their appointments.

Rankin is part of a seven-person crew within BLM Louisville who cook and deliver 350 meals a day, three days a week to the elderly in their homes and to people experiencing homelessness.

Another team buys and delivers groceries to about 20 families a week who are struggling to make ends meet.

Most of this aid goes to people in the West End, a majority Black, low-income area in Louisville with only one major grocery store.

Decades of racially discriminatory housing and policing practices and economic disinvestment have created deep and widespread poverty in the West End. Many residents dont have money to buy enough food, or transportation to get to a store with fresh produce or pantry staples. The area is whats known as a food desert or food apartheid.

West End residents also suffer from high rates of diabetes, strokes, asthma and other health problems.

Rankin, who is Black and a longtime West End resident, said a lack of pharmacies and health clinics is making it harder for people to get vaccinated here.

Its like you put us on an island, and you forget about us, she said.

Us Providing Safety For Us

Once the seniors are seated, the bus heads off from the apartment complex to the vaccination site at Emmanuel Baptist Church, a historic Black church a couple miles away.

Partnering with Black churches like Emmanuel Baptist is the strategy the city and health care providers have used to try to increase vaccine access for Black residents. Thousands of Black residents have gotten their vaccines at church pop-up clinics.

But vaccination rates in low-income majority Black neighborhoods are still much lower than in whiter, wealthier areas.

This Black Lives Matter van service is meant to help low-income and elderly Black people overcome barriers to vaccination: like lack of internet access or know-how, and transportation and mobility issues.

Volunteer Shelton McElroy, who is Black, has worked out agreements with different vaccine providers so that the people BLM brings in from the senior living home dont have to sign up online ahead of time. McElroy said sometimes the van will even pull over on the way to the site to pick up people they see walking down the street and offer to take them to the clinic.

I think this is actually what the world should look like: It should look like us providing safety for us, McElroy said.

The Continuous Work Of Black Liberation

Black Lives Matters community health initiatives are just as important to Black liberation as marches and rallies, according to BLM Louisville co-founder Chanelle Helm. Theyre part of efforts to build a new system through mutual aid that Helm believes will help Black people and other people of color to survive and thrive.

The system isnt here to serve us, she said. That system serves white folks and it serves white folks only. Black and brown people and other people of color are just utilized for labor...Its not here to serve us, so were going to have to serve ourselves.

Mutual aid is a form of organizing in which a community unites against a common problem, such as hunger, or vaccine access. The people receiving the aid are the ones directing the resources and setting the agenda an organizing structure that sets mutual aid apart from philanthropy or charity.

The Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s was known for using mutual aid. The socialist, militant, Black power group formed to fight against the same issues Black Lives Matter fights today: police violence and economic injustice against Black and oppressed people.

Through the Free Breakfast For School Children Program, the Black Panthers fed tens of thousands of low-income Black children breakfast before school from 1969 through the early 1970s. They also used the opportunity to promote the partys political ideas among children and their families.

Many historians say this program put pressure on the federal government to create the National School Breakfast Program in 1975, which now feeds almost 15 million low-income students each school-day morning.

Helm calls the Panthers her elders and many others in the movement for Black Lives see themselves as direct descendants of the Panthers.

Were actually guided by them, she said. A lot of the work of Black liberation has been continuous.

Black Lives Matters focus on vaccination and COVID-19 echoes the Black Panthers work around sickle cell disease, which like COVID-19, hits Black communities especially hard. The Black Panthers started a screening program and clinics to treat sickle cell anemia in Black communities across the country.

Thats where a lot of those things start at, Helm said. So we go back again, its the stories back into the Panthers ... where we have clinics, where we have stuff because they built it.

And now Helm and others in the movement for Black Lives say its their turn to see what they can build, in the streets and at kitchen tables, doctors offices and pharmacies.

This story was produced by Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health.

See the rest here:
Black Lives Matter Louisville Trying To Improve Community Health - WFYI