Graphic Art & Fair Use

Walking home from class last night, I happened to catch this set of interviews on Fresh Air with Terry Gross about a lawsuit currently in process over the now-iconic Obama Hope poster and artistic fair use. The poster artist, Shepard Fairey, used an AP photograph of Obama as the reference for his graphic, and people have raised questions about whether he was diligent enough in crediting his source -- specifically his failure to track down the photographer, Mannie Garcia. The Associated Press approached Fairey for use fees and damages after the source of the image was identified, and Fairey has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Associated Press arguing that his use of the original photograph image falls under the fair use protections of U.S. copyright law.

Coming, as I do, from a family of artists, mapmakers, academics, booksellers, and librarians, these issues are all intensely relevant to the work that the people in my life do on a daily basis. (Not to mention the part of my soul that moonlights as a legal junkie). I found Gross's interviews with both artists involved fascinating. They gave me a lot to think about in terms of the nature of creative expression and what constitutes inspiration as opposed to plagiarism in visual mediums (most of my background is in text). My dad commented via email this morning, "I was thinking about how I would rule in such a case which is of couse now complicated by the lawsuits, etc. Personally, I thought the artist's offer to pay the original liscense fee was fair but AP's desire for 'damages' was too much given it was not a 'for-profit' undertaking."

Anyway, check out the interviews and feel free to leave any thoughts comments.

Post-inaugural links

So I've been trawling the web this morning on my usual sites, and here are a few things that I thought I'd round up vis a vis the inauguration and the new administration.

From Jon Carroll over at the San Francisco Chronicle:

And the crowd said "Amen" and Barack Obama said "Amen," and we had a new president and a new lesson: Eloquence is the best revenge. Nonviolence is such a great tool.

Bishop Gene Robinson, who offered a prayer at the pre-inaugural concert, was a guest on The Daily Show last night. Since I'm at work I haven't had a chance to watch the interview, but I will pretty much take Robinson's eloquence on faith. If you weren't able to catch the interview live, go watch it when you have a chance.

Pandagon has a story about the fishy way the costs of Obama's inauguration were reported in some media outlets.

And just in case we're in danger (coughcough) of getting too self-congratulatory, the ever-reliable Onion provides the following tongue-in-cheek headline: Inauguration Crowd Moves To White House Gates To Watch Presidency Happen.

Evening Addendum:

From the Guardian online comes a summary of Obama's first day in office: "President Barack Obama devoted his first full day at the White House to ditching in quick succession one discredited Bush administration policy after another."

Inauguration day snuffles

I'm at home today with a wicked sinus headache and cold, but thanks to the wonders of technology, I have ample options for coverage of the 2008 inaugural celebrations in Washington D.C. welcoming Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Right now, I'm listening to the BBC news hour streaming on MichiganRadio. I thought I'd mark the day with my favorite bit of campaign kitsch, "There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama" by the Corrigan Brothers. It's catchy, witty, cheerful . . . and as an extra bonus Hanna finds it deeply disturbing ;).




Enjoy inauguration day!

(Ah-choo!)

Obama the (Im)perfect Feminist . . .

. . . Just like the rest of us!

I like this post by Jill over at Feministe discussing the Ms. magazine cover featuring Barack Obama in one of their "This is what a feminist looks like" t-shirts, a graphic that has caused some controversy in the feminist blogsophere (then again, what doesn't cause controversy in the feminist blogosphere?) As Jill points out,

Obama has reportedly self-identified as a feminist, and has the legislative record to back it up. Is he a perfect feminist, or a perfect progressive? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Is he going to disappoint us over and over? Yeah, he’s already started. But he’s still pretty damned good, especially for a mainstream, center-left politician elected to the highest office, and I don’t really see the point in kicking him out of the club just yet.

Yup. I'm definitely looking forward to inauguration day!

UPDATE: There's also a nice post on this over at Bitch Magazine.

First Froglets?

Dear Mr. President Elect,

It has come to our attention, thanks to the national media and your own recent press conference in Chicago, that you and your family are seeking to adopt a pet to join you in the White House when you take up residence in January. While your stated intention to adopt a shelter dog is certainly laudable, we understand that this causes some difficulties due to your daughter's allergies. We feel in a position to offer a unique solution to this quandry: adopting a froglet.

Froglets are small, orange amphibians living on the Clanger planet. Their two natural habitats are a TARDIS-like top hat and a vertical mud puddle some distance below the surface of the planet. Clangers themselves are friendly, clever pink aliens who – if history is a reliable indicator – would most likely welcome a long-distance relationship with a harmonious earth government.

The froglet diet consists of blue and white pudding soup, which is obtainable from the soup dragon on the Clanger planet (if you ask nicely), and which can also double as a convenient jumper on cold winter days. This will be of particular value in the Obama White House, as we are sure you are planning on implementing an economically responsible and energy-efficient policy.

While you have only thus far indicated an interest in a single pet, the froglets seem happiest in triads. While they have a disconcerting habit of appearing and disappearing without vocal announcement, they are otherwise quite unobtrusive – once one becomes accustomed to their habit of bouncing when showing extreme emotions such as pleasure and discontent. Their presence would, we feel, be a comfort to your daughters during this period of transition and also serve as reminder to the White House staff and all officials you meet with of the need to maintain a sense of humor even during times of extreme stress.

Sincerely,

Hanna & Anna

The Future Feminist Librarian-Activist Votes

Despite fears of long lines (happily unrealized) and the lack of "I voted" stickers (I was sad) and "I voted" fudge (Hanna was sad), we went and voted today in Allston at the Warren Street Elementary School (Ward 21, Precinct 8). Mine was the 569th ballot accepted at the polling place. I voted for Obama/Biden--no mystery there--and kicked myself later for not having written in the cast of Torchwood for the local house and senate seats, which are all filled by unopposed Democrats around here. Note to self for next time: Prepare to alleviate election stress with humorous write-in candidates!

As I write this, Hanna and I are swapping election trivia off respective computers, puzzling over the inexplicable method The Guardian has of calling states for Obama . . . and getting lost in the interactive election map on NPR.org. As well as, in my case, following Feministe's live-blogging of the election results (me? a political junkie? what gives you that idea?), and of course catching the britcoms on PBS. Time for some election-night cocoa!

(Hoping you) Remember(ed) to Vote!

This was supposed to go up this morning, but somehow the pre-scheduling didn't work so . . . here it is a few hours late!

* * *

I'll be voting this afternoon after class a newly registered voter in Allston, having transferred my voter registration from Michigan. Go out and appreciate the privilege of elective franchise people!

I thought I'd celebrate the day with a clip from the ever-reliable Daily Show's last interview with Obama, in which he jokes with Jon Stewart how his white half may experience some inner reluctance to vote for a black president.

Quote of the Week: Is it over yet?

Hard to believe we're less than a week away from the end of what has seemed like a never-ending campaign season. Before going home on this Friday evening to wrap up in bed with blankets, a bowl of chocolate ice cream, and Neverwhere (in honor of Hallowe'en), I leave you with Jon Carroll's incisive political commentary:

I want it to be next Wednesday. I want Obama to win, and I want to start getting fretful about something else. Imagine what mischief George Bush is going to attempt between now and Jan. 20. He's gonna pre-pardon everybody for everything. He's going to kill endangered species with his bare hands. He's going to deforest entire states. Now, that's gonna be terrible, but there will be a date certain, as they say, when he has to go back to Texas and do - well, pretty much nothing, is my guess. Jimmy Carter he ain't.

Find the whole column over at the San Francisco Chronicle: Election Jitters.

Best News of the Week

I talked to my parents last night back in Michigan -- which has been a tight swing state in recent election cycles -- and they reported that the McCain campaign is so far behind that they're pulling out and leaving the state to Obama & co.! Aside from hearing that Brian and Renee have adopted a puppy, I think this might be the best news to come by way this week. Go Michiganders!

*image borrowed from handmade detroit via the sweetie pie press.

What Aaron Sorkin Said

As much as Maureen Dowd's views on politics and feminism piss me off, I might consider forgiving her a teensy little bit because she called up Aaron Sorkin and had him write a Bartlet and Obama meeting for her column in the New York Times.

OBAMA They pivoted off the argument that I was inexperienced to the criticism that I’m — wait for it — the Messiah, who, by the way, was a community organizer. When I speak I try to lead with inspiration and aptitude. How is that a liability?

BARTLET Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.

OBAMA You’re saying race doesn’t have anything to do with it?

BARTLET I wouldn’t go that far. Brains made me look arrogant but they make you look uppity. Plus, if you had a black daughter —

OBAMA I have two.

BARTLET — who was 17 and pregnant and unmarried and the father was a teenager hoping to launch a rap career with “Thug Life” inked across his chest, you’d come in fifth behind Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and a ficus.

OBAMA You’re not cheering me up.

BARTLET Is that what you came here for?

OBAMA No, but it wouldn’t kill you.

I miss the West Wing every day . . .

via Jill at Feministe.

*image borrowed from tvsquad.com.

Quote(s) of the Week: What Ann & Rebecca Said

In response to charges of sexism against feminist activists from the right-wing media (what alternate universe have we wandered into?), Ann over at feministing writes:

The real sexism against Palin . . . has been the flip-side of the sexism against Hillary Clinton. A sadly perfect illustration of the Catch-22 women face. You're either a scary, ugly, old, mannish harpy. Or a ditzy, perky, fuckable bimbo. . . The sexist remarks about Clinton and Palin are like our hate mail ("you ugly man-hater!" followed by "gimme a blow job!") writ large.

Rebecca Hyman, writing at AlterNet, expands on these same themes:

It's obvious that the caricature of Palin to which we're being exposed is the inverse of the caricature of Hillary Clinton. Even if you'd missed the first half of the campaign, all you'd have to do is flip the script. If Palin is "better suited to be a calendar model for a local auto body shop than a holder of the second-highest office in the land," then Clinton is a dumpy, frigid, post-menopausal, castrating bluestocking who only got women's votes because she was a victim of her husband's indiscriminate -- but hell, with that kind of wife? -- sexual transgressions. At least the Right gets the "sexy librarian"; those of us on the other side are stuck with the saccharine Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits.

There are many reasons to be against McCain/Palin as the presidential ticket -- not the least of which is their own sexist politics -- but I'm proud that feminist writers are insisting on a more nuanced understanding of how sexism is playing out in this race, and how all women -- Sarah Palin included! -- are judged according to narrow, gender-based stereotypes.

Quote of the Week(end): "Zombie Feminists"

From Rebecca Traister over at Salon.com:

The pro-woman rhetoric surrounding Sarah Palin's nomination is a grotesque bastardization of everything feminism has stood for, and in my mind, more than any of the intergenerational pro- or anti-Hillary crap that people wrung their hands over during the primaries, Palin's candidacy and the faux-feminism in which it has been wrapped are the first development that I fear will actually imperil feminism. Because if adopted as a narrative by this nation and its women, it could not only subvert but erase the meaning of what real progress for women means, what real gender bias consists of, what real discrimination looks like.

I'm torn between terror that she's got it right and thankfulness that so many feminist writers and activists are speaking out on behalf of a feminist ethic that encompasses all women's human rights. Go read the whole thing.

Quote of the Week: Politics & Privacy

From this week's RhReality Podcast, hosted by Amanda Marcotte:

I can't reiterate enough---every single person declaring that the Palin family deserves privacy on this needs to answer for the privacy of all other women in this country. Do I have privacy? Do I get a right to make my own decisions about my body away from the prying eyes and grabby hands of right wingers? Anyone who supports restrictions on women's access to birth control and abortion has forsaken the right to hide behind privacy on this. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. Anything short of that is saying that people in power have privacy and rights, but the rest of us don't, which is un-American.

I really have nothing more to add, except go listen to the podcast, which is excellent as always.

Dahlia Lithwick on Republicans & Choice

There's so much great stuff out on the 'net being written about Sarah Palin and her stance on issues important to feminist activists that I can't hope to link them all here. But I can't resist posting a note on this column from the ever-insightful Dahlia Lithwick of Slate on republicans and the illusion of reproductive choice. I think it's important to respect Bristol Palin's personal privacy when it comes to her pregnancy, but as many feminist writers have been pointing out, it's a personal privacy that the Republicans don't want any other woman to have. That's what makes the Palin's family decisions worthy of political attention.

Teen Sexuality & Agency

This weekend, while Governor Palin's nomination as Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, her hard-line conservative positions on human sexuality, and her daughter's pregnancy were making headlines, I was reading sociologist Jessica Fields' insightful new book Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality. As Courtney Martin posted over at Feministing (in a review that prompted me to run out and buy the book), Fields "basically lays out a liberation philosophy for sex education." Reflecting on the fieldwork Fields conducted in sex education classes during the mid-1990s, Courtney writes:

Young women learn to see their bodies as ticking time bombs and young men to see theirs as the uncontrollable fire that could lead to explosion. Instead of promoting self-awareness, responsible exploration, respect for the diversity of sexualities, or compassionate communication, we teach them that their bodies are dangerous. Conservatives want that danger staved off until marriage, where it suddenly becomes holy, and liberals want it staved off along the way -- through the use of accessible contraception.

While I obviously advocate safer sex, I also feel like progressives have let ourselves (as per the usual) be only reactive, instead of re-authoring the questions. We must not only ask how we can protect young Americans from unwanted pregnancy and STIs, but how we can encourage them to be self-aware, healthy, and happy. How can we inspire them to author their own questions?

As political commentators discussed teenage pregnancy, marriage, and parenthood, comprehensive vs. abstinence-only sex "education" (I offer a few examples here, here, here and here for those interested), Fields' book offered a what I thought was a fascinating counterpoint to the conventional wisdom. What struck me most about the political coverage was that the majority of Americans -- whether they identify as liberal, conservative or somewhere in between -- assume teenage sexuality is something dangerous, unhealthy, morally wrong. To be a sexually aware and engaged teenager in America is to be held suspect by the majority of adults as irresponsible and the result of bad parenting. As previously noted on here at the FFLA, this isn't the only attitude adults can take about teenage sexual expression, and (in my opinion) far from the ideal. In Risky Lessons, Fields prompts us to re-visit this common-sense assumption and ask ourselves how we might better support young peoples' exploration of the physical, emotional, and political pleasures and perils of their emerging adult sexuality.

In the early 21st century, "Sex education" has been reduced to risk reduction (if you believe in "comprehensive" sex ed) or eradication (if you believe in the abstinence-only doctrine). Young people deserve sexuality education that provides them with intellectual and emotional resources for making sense of their adult bodies, relationships, and agency in the world as sexual beings. And I hope that (if anything good can possibly be said to come from a Republican ticket so deeply opposed to providing those resources to all of America's teenagers) the Palin nomination and the resulting debates over teenage sexual expression can provide us a critical moment of reflection on these issues and a chance to consider the liberatory potential sexuality education.