Barry Graham's Blog, page 101

Image: Vince Larue

(At this event, Vince Larue will have copies of Dark Heat for sale.)

In March, curator Robrt Pela will present The Joe and Jan Show, a group exhibition of artwork from 11 different artists, all of it in homage to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Governor Jan Brewer. The exhibit will be open on First Friday, as well as during Art Detour weekend (March 2 and 3) and again on Third Friday in March.

Much of the work, which includes both portraits of these infamous public servants as well as...

PHOTOGRAPHER BEARS WITNESS TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The captions on these pictures tell a more powerful story than the article by the photographer.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
Who’s good? Who’s bad?
The answer is written
on every gravestone
in every cemetery.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote that I think some of the best narrative journalism is being done on Twitter, and as an example I cited Michael Kiefer’s coverage of the Jodi Arias murder trial in Phoenix, AZ.

After reading what I wrote, Kiefer responded with some comments that I thought interesting:

I think it works if you approach each Tweet like haiku. I use the Tweets as notes also. So I get to tell the story more than one way,and you can use it like a comedian builds a routine, watc...

I’ve heard and read much commentary about the impending demise of good writing (which has been predicted for as long as words have been written down), now supposedly because of Twitter and text messaging. The poet Gary Snyder has said that texting is “abhorrent.”

I not only disagree, I think the opposite is true. I think writing in a limited space is a perfect practice for anyone who wants to write clearly, essentially, and without flab or self-indulgence. Some of the best-wr...

criminalwisdom:

A “perp walk” is “an arranged public appearance of a recently arrested criminal for the benefit of the media.” “Perp” is an abbreviation of “perpetrator”, a word that hails from “perpetrate,” meaning “to perform or be responsible for (a deception [or] crime)” Perpetrators are, for all intents and purposes, suspects — the accused, not the convicted. The perp walk, therefore, is the physical act of moving a person on foot (an...

In a column forPhoenix New Times, I wrote:

What’s most striking about Seagal when you talk with him is that such an intelligent and thoughtful man can be such a talentless actor—and not realize how talentless he is. With a decent actor, his movies would be good action flicks. With him, however, they’re classics of pulp cinema. Seagal—and,...

It should come as no surprise that the state of Georgia is eager to kill Warren Hill, even though he is mentally retarded and therefore legally not competent to be executed.

I have witnessed two executionsin Arizona. In 1999, Michael Poland’s attorneys argued that he was not competent to be executed because he was mentally ill. The state’s own psychiatrist, Barry Morenz, testified that he was not faking it, and indeed was trying to fake sanity. Judge James E. Don had him killed any...

George Galloway is being called a racist for walking out of a debate at Oxford University when he discovered that his opponent was Israeli.

This is a dishonest, easy way of ignoring what Galloway is actually saying. After walking out, he made this statement:

“I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation. Just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the apartheid...

‎”Members of Congress are asking whether the CIA can operate in the US to kill Americans. Not by drone, but by any means…”