Gina Harris's Blog, page 169

Band Review: Challenger

Challenger is a Synthcore/Rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
You will hear the "synth" more than the "core", but it's there, especially noticeable on "Mermaids & Vessels" and "Falcon Punch", the first two tracks on Under Shallow Seas.
It's there, but it never overwhelms the more melodic aspects of the music. The growl shouting is used more as an accent instead of taking center stage. There you will find fun and skilled use of keyboards, resulting in a danceable mix that has not grown boring after multiple listens.
"All Night" has a title and a chorus that may be reminiscent of boy bands, but unexpected elements make it more substantial than disposable pop. I have enjoyed Challenger a lot this week.
One word of caution: Under Shallow Seas is available on Spotify, but it appears to be listed under a separate Challenger band, so there will be other music there. This probably means the royalties aren't being paid out correctly (even if Spotify royalties were not notoriously low), which could be one additional reason to simply buy it.
https://www.facebook.com/CHALLENGERmvsic
https://www.youtube.com/user/challengerband
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/under-shallow-seas/id775344289
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Shallow-Seas-Challenger/dp/B00J3V95CG/
https://twitter.com/CHALLENGERmvsic

Becoming friendly to the mentally ill

While race is a frequent factor in cases of police misconduct, mental illness comes up often as well. This has been especially true in Portland.
I have written about the Aaron Campbell shooting before, and how the procedures local police use are not recommended for dealing with suicidal or mentally ill people. Police training is important, but there are good reasons to question whether mental illness should be a police matter at all.
A few weeks ago Parade had several articles related to Alzheimer's. One of them focused on Knoxville, Tennessee becoming an Alzheimer's friendly town, inspired by several town in Europe that have done so. Much of the certification simply relates to people being trained on how to best deal with people who may be disoriented.
I care a great deal about dementia, and I do want everyone to be able to be good with dementia patients, but I think the mentally ill need this more.
I would like to see a push for cities to become friendly to the mentally ill friendly. I am not aware of a program for this yet. There seems to be a church-focused program in California, but I could not find anything else. That's okay, their program and the dementia-friendly programs can provide some patterns.
This will again be an area where guilt has to be faced. We have made some horrible policy decisions regarding the mentally ill and their care. Focusing on seeing them can only help. Maybe then we will find better solutions for health and treatment and homelessness. The first thing we can learn to do is to understand what their distress might look like and how to best help.
One of my greatest disappointments ever was reading Fixing Broken Windows. I had read an article on it, and the basic tenet that if a place looked like no one cared about it, no one would care, made sense. My mistake was thinking that meant something along the lines of helping businesses owners get their windows fixed, instead of perhaps fining them for leaving the windows broken when they could not afford the repairs. "Community policing" I thought meant strengthening communities by caring about the people in them, but that was never how it was implemented.
There is still room for us to care about each other and help each other. That's the direction I'd like to see.
http://parade.com/405451/paulaspencer/people-power-a-better-world-for-people-with-alzheimers/
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1843
http://www.eachmindmatters.org/
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/04/reinstating-ron-frashour.html

Changing police relations

Naturally a lot of this discussion has focused on abuses by the police force.
It is important to remember that there were complaints about racist, abusive, and dishonest behavior by the police before technology started backing it up. Now not only can people record encounters easily, but then the footage can be shared and demonstrations can be planned via social media. Unfortunately, right now all that does is show people who are willing to see it that there was no justification for the death after the fact.
I am not against police wearing body cameras. I think it's a good idea, but most of the relevant video evidence has come from bystanders and their phones. Body cameras have been mysteriously turned off, officers have moved to the side of dashboard cameras, and cell phone videos have shown officers say things that did not match up with their actions, perhaps to get audio in their favor. Outfitting the police with cameras is one tool, but not a cure-all.
I do think there are some changes that could be a huge help in changing how police work is done.
One important thing is to change how police work and local governments are funded. We learned from Ferguson is that there is an over-reliance on tickets and fines for funding. This happens in many communities. Courts are set up to be as inconvenient as possible. The poor are disproportionately targeted because they do not have the means to fight it.
This is regressive. More to the point it's cruel. It also creates an inherently abusive relationship with law enforcement toward citizens. Even without the threat of violence, there is fear for the citizens, because a simple traffic stop can be financially devastating. There were many accounts of people losing jobs due to court problems for minor offenses.
It is not at all incomprehensible that the power can go to an officer's head, nor how dangerous that can be.
Of course the next step is to end the War on Drugs.
This is also a funding issue, because a lot of funding goes there, and then more funds go into incarcerating people. Some corporations do find of way of turning that into a cash cow too, at least part of that is coming out of your tax dollars.
I understand the concern that ending said war will result in more people using drugs, but law enforcement has not been successful in curtailing drug use. At all. Making drugs illegal has created a thriving black market, and a lot of violent crimes come from that. It makes it harder for addicts to seek treatment. It encourages the promotion of stronger versions of drugs. It terrorizes poor neighborhoods and is racist in its implementation.
Speaking of cash cows, a lot of money flows to departments through this program. That appears to encourage extraordinary measures to keep numbers up. The military style weapons encourage SWAT style antics. This gets people killed.
I was looking for information on Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a 7 year old killed in a raid on the wrong apartment. That was not strictly a drug raid, but also I found this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/drug-war-deaths_n_5162673.html
All the drug war does is compound misery. That can be dealt with better through other, peaceful measures. If you have any doubts on that, try reading Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. He also has a web site:
http://chasingthescream.com/
Taking both of those steps will probably mean that we will need less police. We will certainly need less jails. People will fight that.
It's worth fighting back.

Some notes on radical revolution

Breaker: Look, Bill, if this is about reliving the 60's, you can forget about it, buddy. The movement is dead.Strannix: Yes, of course! Hence the name: movement. It moves a certain distance, then it stops, you see? A revolution gets its name by always coming back around in your face.- Under Siege
With last week's suggestions on how to fix things, they came from two different angles. Authorizing the study on reparations would be a way of taking on structural racism: what is in place systemically, how did it get there, and how do you address it. Reading diverse characters and authors is more for addressing individual racism - not necessarily as a conscious feeling of hatred or superiority, but an ease in accepting that problems created through the system are the sole responsibility of the system's victims.
There is a constant back and forth between those two aspects. As the system enforces black poverty and criminal prosecution, it enforces the mental image of black people as criminal and poor. When people have that mental image in mind, it makes it easier to accept individual elements of that system as acceptable and fair. There is starting to be some momentum, where with copious filmed evidence people are beginning to see that there is a real problem with police brutality, but that acceptance is by no means universal.
Because of that, resolving racism requires addressing it from both ends. Fixing policies is not enough, changing hearts is not enough - it all needs to go together.
There is so much racism built into various institutions (including police roots in antebellum slave patrols) that it is hard to imagine success without a total uprooting of all systems.
I have never seen Under Siege, but I have caught bits of it while flipping channels. The other two bits looked kind of dumb, but that exchange about revolution and movement stuck with me.
When the system is corrupt, it seems perfectly logical to burn it up or tear it down - revolt against the system. It seems logical, but then over and over again you end up with another bad system. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
I suspect that happens because people stay too much the same. Too many people still value having someone to look down on. It is still too common to side with the strongest, even when they are in the wrong.
How we reinvent or replace some institutions will be tricky enough to figure out anyway, but it is also necessary to reinvent ourselves.
The things that I think about and write about will keep going back and forth because of that.

Band Review: Jesse Valenzuela

Technically I should have reviewed Jesse Valenzuela a long time ago, as a musician who follows me (even though I followed him first). It never occurred to me to do so because I had not thought of him as a solo artist, only being familiar with his work in the Gin Blossoms and Northey Valenzuela. Then he released a new album.
Hotel Defeated came out in June. There is also another album from 2003, Tunes Young People Will Enjoy. I had some catching up to do.
There are other instruments, including some honky-tonk style piano on "Company", but the focus is on guitar, and gives Valenzuela a chance to show his skill. There are delicate intricacies on the title track, and country twangs on songs like "Tragic Hero" and "Keep Falling". He also gets pretty funky, especially on "That's How It Works".
The songs mentioned are heavily slanted toward the newer album. I do like Songs, but Hotel is that much more impressive, being more mature. It shows you that he hasn't been stagnant for the past twelve years.
It may still be somewhat reasonable to not think of Valenzuela as a solo artist. His Twitter profile links to the main Gin Blossoms page, so really all I have is that and a few places where you can buy the music.
That's all right - I love the Gin Blossoms. However, I'm also glad that this is out, and I can see where Jesse Valenzuela solo could be an excellent show.
https://twitter.com/JesseoftheGB
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hotel-defeated/id1006895559
http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Defeated-Jesse-Valenzuela/dp/B00ZSA0D6I
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jessevalenzuela
http://www.ginblossoms.net/

Band Review: Midnight Soundtrack

Midnight Soundtrack is a new electronic rock band featuring Marcio Novelli, who was reviewed as a solo artist in March.
The electronic aspects seem to bring out a more mature and darker side. I'm not even sure that the content is so different, but with track titles like "Walk of Shame", "I Want To Have Your Abortion" and one more that I'm not comfortable typing, there is a harsher feel to this album. There is a theme of relationships not working out, and the resulting disappointment and resentment. This can be most felt on "Why I Never".
The songs are still danceable. There is a good sense of melody, and not only is there still tender aching but there is still emotional soaring, no matter what goes wrong.
Midnight Soundtrack is only available for preorder until September 1st (Novelli directed me to a preview), but some tracks are up on Bandcamp and Youtube. "Eleven Fifty Nine" is available on both, and is a good starting point. There has also been a chance to win a free album via the band's Twitter, so there are some opportunities available now.
For pre-release there is already a strong web presence. Relevant links are below.
http://midnightsoundtrack.com/
https://www.facebook.com/midnightsoundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/user/MidnightSoundtrack
https://midnightsoundtrack.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/12soundtrack

Reading diverse characters and authors

This is one of my favorite ways of helping, because it involves more reading, which is great! It also operates on multiple levels. It is also surprisingly controversial.
Perhaps the controversy isn't that surprising. I had read one article where K. T. Bradford read no white, straight, cis male authors for one year. I thought it was a good article and made good points, but there were many articles taking offense. I won't link to those, but here is the original:
http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/reading-challenge-stop-reading-white-straight-cis-male-authors-for-one-year
In the offended response I read most recently, I noticed two complaints that made it hard to take him seriously. He acted like she had said to never read a white male author again, when "for one year" is even specified in the title, and he asked why she didn't recommend diverse authors instead of just condemning the straight white males. She made several recommendations.
The other thing that I think is worth pointing out is that it appears that her primary genre is speculative fiction (because sometimes there just isn't enough science to call it science fiction). You would think that in a genre where anything can happen there should be a lot of variety, but there are some common prevailing attitudes written by a lot of authors with the same viewpoints. Seeking out different authors makes a lot of sense for that, and it reinvigorated her. That is a great result.
It doesn't necessarily have to go that way. You might see that you already read a lot of male and female authors, but they are all white, and so make an effort to alternate with authors of color. Honestly, when I started thinking of this I wasn't initially thinking about adults.
I was thinking primarily of children's books. It has been common knowledge for books and movies that girls will accept male protagonists but boys will not accept female protagonists. That makes it safer to make male protagonists, except that also reinforces that boys have no reason to be interested in the personalities or problems of girls. Is it possible that might have something to do with adult men not seeing why women should get equal pay or be able to refuse unwanted attention?
If reading becomes a way of building empathy (and it is), then it becomes very important to fill the formative years with lots of different kinds of people. Books are a way of making others accessible. White boys are already very well represented. I'm not saying that's a reason to exclude books about white boys, but if you did there would probably be enough representation through television, movies, and personal experience that no children are going to forget that white boys and men are people.
If there are no books about black boys and girls, and other races, and handicapped children, and other religions, it seems to send a subliminal message that they aren't fully realized. There is the norm, and they fall outside that so are just a little bite less.
We talk sometimes about representation and being able to see someone like yourself, and that's important, but being able to see people unlike yourself is huge.
I wrote recently about comics, and how men writing women often get it wrong. That's not saying that men can never write women, but there should be women writing. There should be writers of color. Publishing should be recruiting writers out of all walks of life.
They need to be doing that because breaking into publishing is hard. Most of the people who have the kinds of contacts that can help them out will be more of the same. But each new face that you bring in can have a cumulative effect, breaking down barriers.
They will then write more interesting and enjoyable things than before, because the variety of viewpoints will keep things from getting stale. They can open up new markets which seems like it should be tempting. There is often this idea that "oh that won't sell", but there are often hard numbers that prove the naysayers wrong.
I wrote recently about looking for black female musicians, and finding far more than I had dreamed of; it is like that with authors too. Even though there need to be more diverse writers, there are some out there now. If their books start getting more attention, it can pave the way for others to join their ranks.
In the meanwhile, you will have learned so much more about the world, and will be seeing a constantly bigger picture. There is lots of help already out there. The links below are just a starting point.
http://blackcomicsmonth.com/
http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/
http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/20-native-american-authors-you-need-to-read/
http://theculturetrip.com/asia/articles/10-award-winning-books-by-asian-authors-you-should-read/
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/
http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-authors-to-read/#.VblWEvlHORs

The Case for Reparations

This is a good place to start for fixing things.
One would be everyone reading the "The Case for Reparations", by Ta-Nehisi Coates, from the June 2014 issue of The Atlantic. It is conveniently available online:
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
That is not actually the main goal, which would be the passing of HR 40, the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. Congressman John Conyers Jr. has been trying to make this happen for twenty-five years.
As the title says, this is just a resolution to study the issue. It will not immediately lead to any money being paid out, which is often what people assume and get touchy about. Paying out money might not do enough. There is so much that has gone into the current situation, and it did not end in 1865. HR 40 would commit to dissecting those issues and finding the best way to resolve them.
That still faces a lot of resistance, but that's what makes reading the article such a good first step. It is an introduction to the many things that happened.
It is lengthy, and it is often uncomfortable to read. It should be. It is also thorough, well-researched, and beautifully written.
One thing that Coates does well is put a human face on the issue, in this case Clyde Ross. Born in 1923, Ross' story starts in the South, involves theft of property, moving his family into sharecropping with the inherent abuses there. Ross enlists for World War II and later moves to Chicago where his life is affected by corrupt real estate and finance practices.
Other people are featured as well, and events that Ross did not personally experience, like Black Wall Street and Roseland, but as you focus on this one person you can see him constantly having to fight a persistent oppression. The game is rigged, and it is rigged so badly that you know that it is not that Ross is unusual. If you talk to enough people of a sufficient age you will find many similar stories.
Yes, a lot of pundits like to blame it on laziness or criminality. There probably were people who were lazy and there were certainly people who were criminal, but they tended to get rich on it.
That may be part of a disturbing trend, but for now here are two simple steps. As individuals we can educate ourselves by facing our nation's original sin of slavery. The article is a good start. If you want to go deeper, there is a lot of information out there.
Then as a nation we examine it together so we can atone for it.

If you want to go deeper into how the abuses against African Americans continued after slavery, two good books out of many are Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (there is also a documentary) and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.
If you want to know more about how similar abuses happened in Africa via colonialism, try How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild.
It's not about white people being evil. Greed lets people to do some pretty horrible things, and not being willing to face that perpetuates it.

Knowing how to help

Some time ago I expressed frustration with people who will argue about whether something like structural racism or economic inequality is really a problem, and after refuting various proofs they offer, they suddenly go, "Well then what do YOU suggest doing about it?"
On the most basic level it's a dick move to avoid admitting they were wrong, but there are two things that make it more aggravating. First of all, it takes more effort to bring up verifiable facts then repeat stupid things from Fox News that were never thought about that deeply. Thus they have quickly dumped the burden of solving the problem on the person who has already been working harder and frankly is probably more stressed out about it anyway because caring about big problems and wanting to fix them carries some stress with it.
That means it should be perfectly fair to respond to the perpetrator of the dick move with something like, "Well the first step is to get people like you to quit denying the issue." Unfortunately, I have a flaw where I automatically take questions seriously. I may know that a question is rhetorical or a joke, but I will still be thinking about the answer, sometimes in very absurd ways. So the second reason the move aggravates me so much is that I feel compelled to provide an answer. I want the issue solved, I think about it all the time, I have ideas on it, but for something so big there tends to not be one simple answer but many steps and options for getting closer. Having that discussion would take a lot of work, which would probably be wasted on the recent perpetrator of a dick move.
But maybe not. I read an article that I can't find now, but here is the gist: when confronted with bad situations humans will have a tendency to play it down or deny it unless they see a way to fix it. With a redemption storyline, they can accept that there was suffering because they are able to aid it.
There could be something horrible in trying to turn off empathy by denial, though it would explain a lot, but if we focus on the need to help, and that wanting to fix things is a normal part of humanity, then we don't sound so horrible, do we? We just need to have a way to know that we are helping.
The next few Monday through Wednesday posts are going to be going over things that I believe would help. That's a big topic.
My primary issue based on the links I post on Facebook probably looks like it is racism, or maybe police brutality. Well, those two aren't completely unconnected, but going back to that recent post on structure, a lot of bad comes from the need to believe that others are below you. Some people focus on economic inequality, and that's big, but it's not everything, and can't be while "some animals are more equal than others".
Things can also work on different levels. Things you might do to cause children to grow up with less prejudice might be relatively simple actions but take years to pay off. Some ideas might require government programs, but not all. You can make good arguments that no government programs would be that effective because maintaining the status quo is in the government's favor. I do not completely despair of the government playing a helpful role, but yes, I do realize some of the hindrances.
Seeing some of the obstacles, I can acknowledge reasons to be pessimistic, but I'm usually not. The efforts matter because they make differences for individuals. I always want to do more good, but good still happens, and it still matters when it does. Don't lose sight of that.

Band Review: The Homeless Gospel Choir

I'm not calling this a concert review because I was only there for two songs, possibly three. A personal anecdote explaining that will occur at the end of the post.
The Homeless Gospel Choir is a one man band from Pittsburgh, consisting of Derek Zanetti.
When introducing himself he at one point referred to punk, with this being a place where everyone was welcome. That is fair. In many ways the sound is more reminiscent of folk. That is partially a result of having a singer accompanying himself on guitar, but it is also there in the spirit of the music, which is politically and socially aware. Also, he said "This is a protest song," before each song ("With God On Our Side" and "Musical Preference" if I recall correctly), which is not present in all folk but there is a tradition there.
I would say that the music is mellower than punk, but the tempo often gets quite fast, and the emotions are actually pretty punk.
He comes up with interesting rhythms. "Live News Feed" is pretty funky and "Sometimes I Feel Like A Stranger" almost feels Hawaiian.
With only the self-accompaniment, instruments never drown Zanetti out. This means that the profanity is really noticeable. It stands out, and I don't think it particularly underscores the songs either - it seems habitual more than effective. So that's something to know going in if that is something that bothers you. That being said, it does not allow for how completely likable he is.
There were pretty long lines to get in, which ended up not being an issue due to the show starting a bit late. Before we knew that, I heard various fans expressing concern about missing "Derek". He was not the headliner, but you could hear that they felt connection and affection for him.
That makes sense. He comes through completely in the songs, where you are not likely to get lost so much in the music as becoming awake to the music, which is good for the messages that he shares.
(And that air of welcome and goodness makes The Homeless Gospel Choir a good touring match with the Cellabration.)
I'm glad for what I was able to hear, and was sorry not to see more, but the music remains.
I do believe that it is more powerful to see him live than merely listening, so if you get an opportunity you should take it.
http://thehomelessgospelchoir.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheHomelessGospelChoir
https://thehomelessgospelchoir.bandcamp.com/
http://homelessgospelchoir.bigcartel.com/
https://twitter.com/thgchoir

*Why I missed the show.
I have written earlier about my mother starting to have some memory issues. She dropped me off at the train, which she has done many times, but then she didn't make it home. I was starting to worry when I was in line, and becoming frantic by the time I got in, especially because this was all my fault. I was in contact with my sisters, and I pretty much knew that she would be located and home before I could get there, especially since that would take over an hour on public transportation.
Because of that it made no sense for me to leave, and I knew that, but a wrong number on my phone sent me over the edge, and I couldn't do it. She was in fact located and home before I even got over the West Hills, but I was not at that time capable of being logical. I could only have been a buzzkill for anyone around me anyway. Fortunately, this is normal on Tri-Met.
The irony is that having gone to Frank Iero shows twice, this is the second time I have been an emotional wreck and had to leave early. I may need to quit seeing him, but I really like him.