MEDIA ROOTS – In the glory days of Rome, Julius Caesar came to understand that the masses could be pacified so long as they had plenty of food to eat and games to entertain them. It is said that while barbarians crashed at the city gates, Romans sat mesmerized by the displays of gratuitous violence in the Coliseum. Rome, like … Read More
Media Roots Radio – Conversation with Songwriter and Musician John Vanderslice by Media Roots MEDIA ROOTS– A couple of weeks ago, John Vanderslice killed his headlining show at the New Parish in Oakland. As he milled around the merch table enthusiastically greeting dedicated fans, I approached him and asked if he would be willing to conduct an exclusive interview for … Read More
Killing Hope, 16” x 20” acrylic, 2011 MEDIA ROOTS– Never before Barack Obama’s presidential campaign had I ever seen a candidate brand themselves with a corporate logo. Obama’s official logo appears to be a giant blue “O” sun rising over an American flag horizon, symbolizing the supposed dawn of a new beginning. The manipulative branding of the loaded words “Hope … Read More
Resist, collage and acrylic, 2010 MEDIA ROOTS- I pull a lot of inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut. The sentence “Here it is: the end of the world” from Cat’s Cradle stuck out to me, and this image is what came out of it. It made me picture a beautiful resistance blooming out of a bleak, dystopian society that had … Read More
nthWORD– Naomi Wolf’s book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, argues that there are ten steps common to every state that has made the transition into fascism. One step is the targeting of key individuals or demographics: artists, academics, activists, civil servants, gays, Jews; the public blacklisting of those who don’t tow the party line. … Read More
