by Mark Smiley | Jun 23, 2017 | Feature Story Middle Left
by Amy Springer
In a lot of ways, many mornings it feels as if our fine country has lost its collective mind. Between the name calling, the satirical “beheading” of the president (which was about as unfunny as the caricatures of Obama being lynched) and the Chinese Fire Drill at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it has become increasingly more difficult to maintain one’s sanity.
And so it was, on Memorial Day 2017, that the Internet lost its collective mind when an artist in New York decided to create a rudimentary dog and place it symbolically peeing on the leg of a statue in New York City.
To understand this reaction, context is required. After the stock market collapse of 1987, an artist named Arturo DiModica created a massive, shiny Charging Bull sculpture and placed it in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Although it was initially removed, the city later reinstalled it near Wall Street in the Financial District. If you’ve visited the city, it’s hard to miss the 11 foot, three-ton monument, and it has withstood the test of time to become a landmark in its own right.
On March 7 of this year, the four-foot “Fearless Girl” statue was placed defiantly in front of Charging Bull, purportedly as an homage to “International Women’s Day.” Kristen Visbal was the artist who created the girl, but it was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, a massive, multi-trillion-dollar asset management company. Unlike Charging Bull, Fearless Girl was not merely the expression of its artist, but rather instead the brainchild of State Street’s own advertising agency.
The placement of Fearless Girl drew the ire of Mr. DiModica who claimed to the New York Post that its placement made him “sick.” He immediately announced plans to sue State Street Global Advisors for trademark and copyright infringement. As reported by the New York Post on April 12, 2017, Mr. DiModica’s attorneys asserted during a press conference that “the placement of the statue of the young girl in opposition to ‘Charging Bull’ has undermined the integrity [of] and modified the ‘Charging Bull’ … The ‘Charging Bull’ no longer carries a positive optimistic message. Rather it has been transformed into a negative force and a threat.”
Enter Alex Gardega, a New York artist and now cause celebre who decided
to take
matters into his own hands on Memorial Day and, gasp, create an ugly dog sculpture to be placed peeing on the leg of Fearless Girl. Quelle Horreur! Alex called the dog “Sketchy Dog,” admitting that it was not intended to be a thing of beauty, but rather a statement of artistic expression.
In the interest of full disclosure, Alex Gardega is a personal friend of the family and we own many of his works. We know him as a quirky starving artist, but incredibly adept at self-promotion. Exhibit A: Alex’s dog sculpture quickly made both the national news (CBS, NBC, New York
Times, Washington Post, Daily Best, etc.) and international news (Daily Mail UK). It was featured prominently on blogs and social media, and Alex used the exposure to make a point about political sensitivity and artistic expression, both of which I believe bear repeating here. Most of Alex’s actions speak louder than his words, so in some ways I may be ascribing unintended motives to Mr. Gardega, but knowing hi
m as I do, I’m sure he’d be ok indulging me.
First, as one commentator deftly noted on social media, if Fearless Girl can “bogart” Charging Bull, then “Sketchy Dog” can surely “bogart” Fearless Girl. Following that lead, Bill Bramhall’s May 31 cartoon for the New York Daily News portrayed a “Kicking Granny” sculpture lining up on Sketchy Dog which, in turn, is peeing on Fearless Girl while she is staring down Charging Bull. In terms of publicity, one can only think, “well-played Mr. Gardega.” Alex claimed that he was motivated primarily by the plight of Mr. DiModica, presently suffering from cancer, and from this perspective, it’s hard not to appreciate Mr. Gardega bringing this issue to the public’s attention.
The second, more sticky issue involves the conclusion many have drawn that by placing the dog at the feet of Fearless Girl, Alex must be a misogynist and afraid of women. It is frankly shocking to google Mr. Gardega and observe the venom that has been publicly spewed on him on account of Sketchy Dog. I think it simultaneously exceeded his wildest expectations and scared the crap out of him. He recently acknowledged to me his dismay in receiving hate mail, including letters up three pages in length “as if I could read all that.”
It is worth noting that right after the election last November, mainstream outlets such as Politico published articles to the effect that “the left” a/k/a liberals, “Created Trump.” Per Rob Hoffman’s November 20, 2016 article for Politico: “The general attitude to the left was: Disagree with us? You’re probably racist, xenophobic, sexist, bigoted or all of the above.” It was the clarion call of Yale University one year earlier when “outraged” students rallied against what they termed “offensive” Halloween costumes that some students found “culturally unaware and insensitive.” This prompted one faculty member to express her frustration, questioning why costumes could not be obnoxious, inappropriate or even progressive.
The backlash was swift, with hundreds in the fragile student body condemning the Yale teacher’s argument that free speech usurped the objective of protecting students from hurt feelings or personal offense. It was, in a word, ridiculous. When I was a kid trick-or treating in Denver, if it was warm I was a belly-dancer and if it was cold, I was a gypsy (a/k/a belly-dancer with a turtleneck). I shudder to think of the uproar this would have created today.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that this over-sensitivity and downright self-righteousness that is often affiliated with “liberalism” set in motion the forces leading to the election of Donald J. Trump and the overall view that liberals are elitist, unable to take a joke and overly judgmental. Mr. Gardega’s Sketchy Dog peeing on the leg of Fearless Girl keeps this cautionary tale alive.
I hate to blow the ending, but Alex is neither a misogynIST nor anti-feminIST. He is an artIST and a friend, trying to make a living and call attention to his craft. Love him or hate him, this type of hysterical vilification evidences that lessons still have not been learned, and that mistakes in judgment will likely continue, even with the knowledge of how catastrophic and disastrous the result.
by Mark Smiley | Jun 23, 2017 | Editorials
In Alexandre Dumas’ beloved historical novel The Three Musketeers, a young man named d’Artagnan travels to the capitol and joins the Three Musketeers of the Guard (Athos, Porthos and Aramis). Together they fight off the minions of Cardinal Richelieu, the evil minister to the weak King Louis XIII.
Today in Denver a modern parallel may be occurring. A young man, Jolon Clark, was elected to Denver City Council in 2015. Joining him on the Council were the Three Musketeers of the People — Wayne New, Paul Kashmann and Rafael Espinoza. The Three Musketeers were the only City Councilmembers elected without developer money and thus free to fight the good fight against the developers’ powerful corruption of Denver.
Slowly Clark began to learn of the perfidy of many of the other nine members and their lack of ethics or honesty. The “beefy, bloated and ethically challenged” director of the Orwellian named “Denver Community Planning Development Director” Brad Buchanan makes a perfect evil Cardinal Richelieu to the weak head of state, Mayor Michael Hancock.
The first real battle that Jolon Clark and the Three Musketeers have fought together was against the small lot exemption being used by Buchanan for his real estate developer friends to build micro-housing cells free from any parking requirements. This would have made finding on-street parking in some neighborhoods difficult, if not impossible, during certain times.
The residents fighting this proposal had gone to duplicitous Council President (and mayor-in-waiting) Albus Brooks who pretended to be their friend but intended to destroy their cause with a phony moratorium. In Dumas’ novel Albus Brooks would be the treacherous Richelieu spy Milady de Winter. Brooks had set up a crooked developer controlled “Task Force” whose basic purpose was to basically give developers everything they wanted and the neighborhoods nothing.
Our heroes led by Clark took up the citizens’ cause in the nick of time. Incredibly the city staff headed by Buchanan and the phony Task Force of Brooks called for no parking restrictions on the 3,000 plus small lots across the city. If the City had adopted the same, it would have made on-street parking in neighborhood after neighborhood throughout Denver a nightmare.
This is not by accident. Buchanan and his Planning Department literally want to make parking a nightmare so that all Denver residents, other than the very wealthy, are forced to walk, ride bikes or take public transportation in Denver with a rare Uber trip allowed. The old, the infirm, the crippled are to be sacrificed on the altar of the young and healthy millennials and of course the high density real estate developers who are the true enemy of Denver neighborhoods.
With rapiers drawn, Clark, New, Kashmann and Espinoza went to work. They convinced three other councilmembers to support a compromise whereby the parking requirement exemption would only apply for housing or offices in the first story, or the first two floors if within a quarter mile of a frequent bus line or within one-half mile of a light rail station. Apparently well-connected developers can still go to the City Council for full exemptions provided notice is given to the affected neighborhoods before a vote.
The vote was 7-6 in favor of the Musketeers and Denver neighborhood on-street parking was at least partially saved. With other amendments added, the final vote was 9-2, an abject humiliation for Albus Brooks, his Task Force and Planning Director Brad Buchanan. Only Brooks and developer owned Mary Beth Susman voted against the final version. If neighborhood groups are looking for a test recall case, Brooks and Susman would certainly be the names on the top of the list.
Of course, Denver and its neighborhoods are in continued danger. It can only be hoped that the alliance formed among d’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers continues strong to beat back the endless efforts of Buchanan, the weak Mayor, and the corrupt members of the Denver Council to destroy what makes Denver a great city, its neighborhoods.
As Dumas’s Musketeers would shout: “Un pour tous, tous pour un.!” — “All for one, and one for all!”
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Jun 9, 2017 | Travel
by Diana DeGette
Don’t hold me to it, but there’s a good chance that June in Washington, DC won’t be the wild roller-coaster ride that May was.
It’s no exaggeration to say that nearly every day last month brought stunning news that raised concerns about the state of our democracy, starting at the top. There was one shocking revelation after another involving Russian officials, President Donald J. Trump’s actions, the firing of FBI director James Comey, alleged conversations between Comey and President Trump, and other matters.
But as of this writing in late May, things have started to settle down — in part thanks to the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the FBI’s Russia investigation, which I had called for in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein earlier in the month while at home in Colorado.
I was especially pleased that Rosenstein tapped former FBI Director Robert Mueller, whom I know to be a man of integrity, professionalism and absolute dedication to justice.
Given the complexities of the situation and what is sure to be a thorough investigation under Mueller’s leadership, we can expect that it will be a long time before his work produces conclusions that can be shared with the public.
So maybe now we can get dispense with dramatic distractions for a while and get back to what Congress should do: pass legislation that improves life for Americans and helps make our country more secure.
If the President keeps to the promises he made in January, this would include major tax reform and an initiative to fix America’s crumbling infrastructure. But his one-page tax plan outline from late April hasn’t yet been translated to legislation, and an infrastructure bill is evidently even further down the road, since there’s been no sign of one yet.
Meantime, the House Republican leadership has forged ahead on its unilateral effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, jamming through a TrumpCare bill without waiting for an assessment of its costs and effects from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO reported in the last week of May that if this bill becomes law, it will ration care and put insurance companies back in charge. Twenty-three million people will lose their coverage within 10 years while the cost for millions others will go up — including those covered through employer plans. The onus is now on the Senate to prevent this damage.
We also should be deep into the process of preparing a budget for Fiscal Year 2018, which starts on October 1. President Trump’s budget blueprint in March, which slashed spending for important domestic and foreign policy priorities in favor of dramatically boosting the military budget, was greeted as a non-starter by congressional Republicans and Democrats alike.
The appropriations process only begins in earnest when the President presents an actual, detailed budget request to Congress, which he finally did on May 23. If enacted, this heartless and short-sighted budget proposal would cripple important domestic and international programs to create needless tax breaks for the wealthy. Republicans and Democrats alike spoke up immediately to protest it.
The delays, chaos and dysfunction that have characterized the Trump administration to date have not only affected the work of Congress. They have also undermined Americans’ confidence about where we’re headed as a country and how it affects our standing in the world.
With respect to the matters involving Russia and President Trump’s campaign and administration, the coming weeks and months will likely bring more revealing investigative reporting, along with rampant rumors, misdirection and misinformation. A truly independent, impartial Special Counsel will follow the cold, hard facts wherever they lead. And the Justice Department can determine whether there has been a violation of federal law in a way that no other approach to these issues can.
But that doesn’t rule out taking other paths to get at the truth. I have long supported the formation of an independent commission to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, including any possible collusion with the Trump campaign, and to ensure that such interference never happens again.
I first called for that commission in December when the intelligence community made clear that Russia had meddled in the election. That’s why I support, H.R. 356, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would establish such a commission. This bill has been ignored by the House Republican leadership, along with other substantive legislation intended to hold the President accountable.
An independent commission would involve experts from outside the government, who would not only seek out the facts, but also suggest solutions. The 9/11 Commission was one such effort, and its recommendations led to changes that helped make the United States safer.
Diana DeGette represents Colorado’s First District to the U.S. Congress. She serves as Chief Deputy Whip and is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
by Mark Smiley | May 31, 2017 | Main Articles
by Mark Smiley | May 26, 2017 | Feature Story Bottom Left
by Kurt Woock
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
Name the only two days each year when no teams from any of the four major sporting leagues play.
Who was Tom Cruise’s first wife?
If you know the answer to either of those questions, consider attending Trivia Night, a fundraiser for the YMCA of Glendale and for the Glendale Youth Rugby programs, which will be held on July 22 in the International Ballroom of the Infinity Park Event Center.
Trivia Night began 851 miles away in St. Louis. Mike Boese grew up there. As he puts it, “On any given weekend, there’s probably 20 different nonprofit trivia events going on.” There’s a website dedicated to keeping track of them. The events are a true community effort. “Most of these events are in a Catholic school gymnasium,” he said. “It’s a potluck evening.”
Boese and his family moved to Denver about five years ago. He works as a financial advisor with Country Financial. He joined the Glendale Chamber of Commerce to meet people, and soon found himself on the local Y’s board of directors. Last year, he pitched the idea of hosting a trivia event for a fundraiser to Nicole Limoges, executive director for the YMCA Sports Branch & the Glendale Sports Center at Infinity Park. She told him to run with it. “From my point of view, I owe so much of this to Mike. He really threw his expertise into this. This was all his idea.”
Following the St. Louis template, last year’s Trivia Night was a potluck event, with Boese as MC, and was held in the Denver Jewish Day School gym. Boese even recruited his Aunt Colleen to travel from St. Louis to help keep score. It was a success, as 65 people brought dishes to share and took their shot at trivia glory. “Not only are you able to give back, but you have a pretty good time doing it.”
Giving back is at the core of the event. Limoges said the goal is to raise $20,000, which will be split between the YMCA and the Glendale Youth Rugby programs. “The YMCA serves the Glendale community, and there are families in need,” Boese said. “They need scholarships, otherwise they couldn’t take advantage of these programs.”
A few changes are in store for this year’s event. First, the event won’t be in a school or church basement or gym: The City of Glendale has donated use of the International Ballroom at Infinity Park Event Center. “This year, a lot of credit goes to Linda Cassaday (Glendale’s Deputy City Manager) for getting on board and saying ‘we’re going to step up and make a difference.’” Also, the potluck has been replaced by a catered dinner from one of the night’s sponsors, Biscuits & Berries. Guests will also receive two drink tickets, and a cash bar will be available all night. Tickets for the night costs $40 for an individual, $75 for couple, and $300 for a team of 8. People or companies can sponsor the entire night, or even just a round of questions.
After an hour of food, drink, and socializing, the trivia begins. If all goes well, Aunt Colleen will again be on hand. “She and I have been working on putting together questions,” Boese said. Boese will lead the crowd of up to 300 in 10 rounds of 10 questions each. He said for each round, he tries to include two questions that nearly everyone can answer and two questions that are unquestionably difficult. The rest of the questions are where the night is won or lost.
Traditionally, each round has a theme. For some rounds, each clue involves a video, photo, or audio clip; a good pairing given the International Ballroom’s A/V capabilities. Short breaks between rounds are an opportunity for other entertainment. This year, there will be a silent auction, with opportunities to bid between rounds. Last year, guests had the option to participate in a “last person standing” type game in which Boese reads the name of a public figure, and participants guessed whether that person was currently living. After each name, those who guessed incorrectly sat down. Those who guessed correctly played another round. The last person standing won half of the total one-dollar entry fees collected (which that person ended up donating to the night’s total proceeds).
In the end, though, the main competition is for the trivia crown. Each table of 8 works together. Last year’s winning score was in the low 80s out of a possible 100 (though tables are able to purchase one mulligan per round).
In just its second year, Trivia Night has the markings of an annual tradition.
Two more important pieces of information: The day before the MLB All Star Game and the day after are bad days to watch sports: Nobody is playing. And on May 9, 1987, Tom Cruise married Mimi Rogers.
