Recently in Culture Category
World War Me - Up, up and away
Here's another selection from my recently printed chapbook "World War Me." I've got a good 20 copies left so if anyone would like a free copy (plus S&H), send an email to etrotter(at)themelononline(dot)com.
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Black Hole - A short film by John Espey
Award winning filmmaker and friend of The Melon, John Espey has released a new short on youtube. The film description reads "A mushroom hunter in a rich natural world." Observe. Enjoy.
Dana Gioia Stepping Down from NEA Chair
Poet and politician, Dana Gioia announced last Friday that he plans to step down from chairman position of the National Endowment for the Arts in hopes to write more poetry. In stepping down he will be taking up a part-time position as an Arts director at the Aspen Institute.
Gioia's announcement is being closely followed by praise for the 57 year-old's triumphant work as the NEA Chairman. Under his leadership the NEA saw dramatic funding increases as well as the initiation of many well-received programs such as the Poetry Out Loud contest.
...more.The Melon Interviews: Life of Elle
In our sponsorship of the 22nd Frost Park Chalk Offs, The Melon vowed to film an exclusive interview with the winner. That sunny Friday, when the chalk-dust cleared, one woman stood strong. A woman who only needs a monosyllabic name and paintbrush power to claim victory.
The Melon proudly presents our exclusive interview with the 22nd Best Artist in the Universe of Tacoma, Lisa "Elle" Lindholm.
The Melon Interviews: Life of Elle from The Melon on Vimeo.
Updates: Elle talks about video on Life of Elle.
Tacoma Buzz
Greetings Melonites,
I'd like to update everyone on a few things that are going on in Tacoma tomorrow but first, thank you to everyone that participated in the 9/11 narratives. Everyone produced some outstanding pieces that helped remember September 11th, 2001.
Onto business:
...more.Do Men Volunteer?
Last week the University of Puget Sound brought the current mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, to speak about his life and particularly his well-publicized and successful social justice work. He jumped from doing community organizing as a lawyer in Newark to running for city council (and defeating the political machine in the process) and, finally, winning the title of mayor in 2006. Throughout his life he has committed personally and politically to improving the problems of society: running a crisis hotline, mentoring young men (both formally through Big Brothers Big Sisters and informally), building bridges between the African-American and Jewish communities in times of hostility and race riots, living in crime-ridden apartment complexes and public housing projects, and much more. Last night he spoke particularly of a hunger strike he went on as city councilman in order to bring attention and help to a housing complex that struggled with drug-related gang violence. Since becoming mayor, Booker has constantly worked to reduce the crime rate and rehabilitate released prisoners; in 2007 murders dropped by 40%.
So Booker is a very hardworking and social justice-minded man, and the secret, as he saw it, was community support. Convincing people to come together and to problem-solve, to essentially change local culture, is the key to improving the world in Booker’s eyes. So I got up and posed this question to him: How do we encourage more young men to volunteer? I had the idea that, as someone who worked with young men and who was experienced at effectively changing cultural ideas to encourage community-mindedness, Booker would have some idea of how to appeal to (young) men as a group. However, his answer was a bit disappointing.
9/11: Generation To Generation
After writing and showing my narrative to my dad, he decided to contribute a piece as well. Below you'll find my piece, followed by my father's.
When the first plane hit I was struggling with an Advanced Geometry test. Our principal, Mr. Lorenz, announced over the intercom that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. A sophomore in high school, I didn’t really understanding the significance of that first plane, and my teacher insisting that we finish our test without turning on the TV to watch the day unfold, added to my suspicion that a plane hitting the World Trade Center wasn’t significant.
It wasn’t until after failing my test and seeing the images of a smoking tower on the classroom television of my second period history class did I realize that something more important was going on. There wasn’t much discussion as Mr. Richied’s students started to fill their seats, eyes wide on the live footage of blackness billowing out of one of the twin towers. It was apparent our planned history lesson would be forgone for the day, as history was in the making.
...more.Bob the Dog - War Games
Everyone's favorite hit or miss comic returns! I'm planning on releasing comics weekly again.
Penny Arcade Expo 08 Roundup
This past weekend in Seattle was PAX 08 (along with Bumbershoot and a ton of other stuff). I don't know how many tourists were in Seattle last weekend, but almost 59,000 of them were there for PAX. Penny Arcade is, of course, one of the biggest web comics on the web and is known for brutally honest commentary on the video game industry. This was the fifth year of their conference who's stated goal is to make the Internet into a physical place for one weekend a year. I've gotta say that they definitely succeeded this year. With Fruit Fuckers walking around downtown Seattle, some of the best nerdcore rappers around, and three floors of bean bags to hang out and play Nintendo DS games (which mostly consists of drawing penises on pictochat), it's hard to imagine what else is missing from this physical presence of the Internet....more.