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POTUS needs a safety lesson

Apparently Obama was riding along a Martha’s Vineyard trail with no helmet, and the bare-headed ride was caught by a photographer. Not a very good example to set…

No-helmet Obama

Let’s hope no one hits a pothole.

While Sasha Obama (yellow shirt) and another girl have enough sense to wear helmets, it appears President Barack Obama (second from left), his secret service agent and Dr. Eric Whitaker (far right)need a few bike safety lessons while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

Whitaker, we should point out, is technically wearing a helmet, but they don’t work very well when they’re not fastened. (See the photo below).

“What kind of fool doesn’t wear a helmet while biking?” wondered Tribune photo editor Maggie Walker, who was so aghast after spotting the images that she emailed the White House. She’s waiting to hear back. (AP photos by Alex Brandon)

Via the Chicago Tribune.

PennSound

Poets are social critics by default. That is, since not very many of us take the same care to craft our daily language that poets do, poets often are (or see themselves as) outsiders. And as outsiders, many poets are well-positioned to see things that not everyone is able to see. Hence the buzz of excitement Obama generated just by carrying (and thus being photographed with) a collection of Derek Walcott’s poems three days after the election. Imagine… a politician with a daily habit of thinking about something in a meditative way.

Celebrations of the power of words, succinct demands for our attention, suggestive as well as demonstrative. When done well, poems — like film — leave the reader/viewer with much to think about, much to interpret.

There are many, many poetry websites that host, share, invite, and collect the written text. But like Meyer Abrams argues, poems should be read aloud. I remember well the first time that I heard a college friend, poet Edward Bartók-Baratta, perform a collection of his writings. Without artificial amplification, his normally quiet voice took possession of the stirred atmosphere inside the Northampton, MA church. It was a look inside the soul of someone I knew best as a baker and gardener.

PennSound is a remarkable online archive of poetry readings. Supported by the University of Pennsylvania’s English Department Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing and the Kelly Writers House, the web-based project is directed by poets, and the recordings are of poets reading poetry. [Thanks to Al Filreis for the correction.]

Collecting original recordings as well as hotlinks to recordings hosted in other archives, PennSound is the “first and the biggest site of its kind,” says Charles Bernstein, an English professor and the site’s co-director.

Launched in January 2005, their first press release boasted a collection of 1500 recordings. By 2007, the site had aggregated more than 10,000.

According to a May 2007 Associated Press article, recordings are…

contributed by poets, fans and scholars worldwide and converted to digital format. Some, such as Gertrude Stein recordings from 1934, date back decades.

The site mainly focuses on historical avant-garde and innovative contemporary poetry. So while you can hear Allen Ginsberg or current U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, you won’t find Maya Angelou.

You won’t find Billy Collins or Rita Dove, but you will find plenty of contemporary and historical readings, mostly with an avant-garde bent. Don’t miss the extensive set of Ezra Pound readings.

Sticking with the theme of this site, below is a poem that includes mention of a two-wheeled pilot.

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John Tranter reads “God on a Bicycle” at a March 30, 2005 reading at the Kelly Writers House.

ManifestHope:DC

ManifestHope: DC is the Georgetown installation of some of the most inspiring visual art produced during Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency. Judges for this juried exhibit include Shepard Fairey, Spike Lee, and Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation), among others. Who says art and politics can’t mix?

ManifestHope:DC from Phillip Barron on Vimeo.

From the website:

Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The MANIFESTHOPE: DC Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grassroots movement that carried President-Elect Barack Obama to victory.

MANIFESTHOPE: DC gathers together a diverse array of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one roof to mark this monumental achievement in our nation’s history and encourages artists and activists to maintain the momentum to bring about true change in the United States.

Along with its partners, MoveOn.org Political Action, the Service Employees International Union and Obey Giant, MANIFESTHOPE: DC, will issue an inspiring visual call-to-action, encouraging a redirection of public energy toward true reform in three key areas:

• Health Care Reform
• Workers’ Rights
• The Green Economy

The MANIFESTHOPE: DC Gallery will be open to the public in Washington, DC for the days preceding the Presidential Inauguration, Saturday, January 17th, 2009 through Monday, January 19th, 2009 between the hours of 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM. Art exhibition management will be provided by our Washington, DC gallery partner, Irvine Contemporary.

We Are One, This Land is Your Land

We Are One, This Land is Your Land from Phillip Barron on Vimeo.

Kicking off Obama’s inauguration celebration, Pete Seeger — along with numerous other stars and artists including Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, Beyonce, Usher, Stevie Wonder, U2, Herbie Hancock, Mary J. Blige, and Garth Brooks — performed at today’s We Are One celebration.

OBAMA

From Election Day

I like this photo, captured with a friend’s cell phone, because it captures both the rainy ambiance and the uplifting spirit of being downtown last night. I wanted to stay until they called North Carolina, but that may yet be a few days away. The unofficial results, though, show that Obama will get North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes.

He’s my President, and I know he’s Durham’s.

today’s the day

GO VOTE

97,697 voters vote early in Durham

In only one previous election has total voter turnout in Durham broken 90,000, and election day (Tuesday) is still to come. This is what democracy is all about.

See early voter turnout here.

From Obama

Get out the vote.

Barack-o-lanterns

Obama in Raleigh

Barack Obama was in Raleigh yesterday; so were 25,000 of his closest friends in the Tarheel state.

A free event, the line to get in wrapped around several city blocks.

Rodney Hines, the No Hands King was among Obama’s supporters who came out for the rally.

UPDATE: As of Wednesday, 70,896 people have already voted in Durham, or 42% of registered voters.

in the days Obama

Out canvassing with friends this weekend, we came across Lewis Days‘ house. Days, the bike man, is eager to vote in this historic election, and agreed to let us place a sign in his yard.

UPDATE: As of the end of the day Sunday, Durham county is up to 53,247 votes.

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