Did Sen. Obama campaign on a public option or not?  It’s a question that is taking up a lot of pixels online and airtime on radio and TV.  As a motivation to go looking for some answers, I have pondered something for a while about President Obama and other elected officials: How much does every American read into a candidates’ generic statement?  Are we really listening to what they’re saying or are we hearing what we want to hear?  All too often, I fear it is the latter.   That’s one reason why campaigns are so frustrating to many people.  Candidates are purposefully generic because they know everybody will read into their statements what they want to some degree.  Getting elected is all about convincing enough people that you support everybody’s position.  You can’t, of course, but that’s the task.

To begin with, I think I remember then-Sen. Obama campaigning on a public option.  While I knew he wasn’t the most progressive Democratic candidate, he was all I had once Nov. 2008 rolled around.  But did he campaign on something close to what I wanted or didn’t he?  Here is some of what I found:

The presidential debates provide some answers.  Below, (O-) stands for comments Sen. Obama made and (M-) stand for McCain’s.

O – Just one last point I want to make, since Senator McCain talked about providing a $5,000 health credit. Now, what he doesn’t tell you is that he intends to, for the first time in history, tax health benefits. – 1st Presidential Debate

So here’s what I would do. If you’ve got health care already, and probably the majority of you do, then you can keep your plan if you are satisfied with it. You can keep your choice of doctor. We’re going to work with your employer to lower the cost of your premiums by up to $2,500 a year.

And we’re going to do it by investing in prevention. We’re going to do it by making sure that we use information technology so that medical records are actually on computers instead of you filling forms out in triplicate when you go to the hospital. That will reduce medical errors and reduce costs.

If you don’t have health insurance, you’re going to be able to buy the same kind of insurance that Sen. McCain and I enjoy as federal employees. Because there’s a huge pool, we can drop the costs. And nobody will be excluded for pre-existing conditions, which is a huge problem. – 2nd Presidential Debate

M – If you’re a small business person and you don’t insure your employees, Sen. Obama will fine you. Will fine you. That’s remarkable. If you’re a parent and you’re struggling to get health insurance for your children, Sen. Obama will fine you. – 2nd Presidential Debate

O – Well, I think it should be a right for every American. – 2nd Presidential Debate

O – Number one, let me just repeat, if you’ve got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I’m going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it. You’ll still have choice of doctor. There’s no mandate involved.

Small businesses are not going to have a mandate. What we’re going to give you is a 50 percent tax credit to help provide health care for those that you need. – 2nd Presidential Debate

O – And some of the cuts, just to give you an example, we spend $15 billion a year on subsidies to insurance companies. It doesn’t — under the Medicare plan — it doesn’t help seniors get any better. It’s not improving our health care system. It’s just a giveaway. – 3rd Presidential Debate

M – Now, Senator Obama, I’d like — still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don’t think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America’s economy. – 3rd Presidential Debate

O – Here’s your fine — zero. You won’t pay a fine, because… [...] Zero, because as I said in our last debate and I’ll repeat, John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees, but are not doing it. – 3rd Presidential Debate

O – And once you’re out on your own with this $5,000 credit, Senator McCain, for the first time, is going to be taxing the health care benefits that you have from your employer.

And this is your plan, John. For the first time in history, you will be taxing people’s health care benefits. – 3rd Presidential Debate

O – But we’re going to have to invest in the American people again, in tax cuts for the middle class, in health care for all Americans – 3rd Presidential Debate

It now appears that Sen. McCain was more correct than Sen. Obama was: fines will be imposed on those who refuse to pay for corporate insurance.  Lately, I read that the fines will be high enough to dissuade most people from choosing them over the mandated insurance.  During the debates, the discussion was all about what fines small businesses would be impacted.  It now looks like (according to the Senate legislation) ordinary Americans will be the ones fined.  As then-Sen. Obama pointed out – for the first time in history.  I’m not sure how much sense it makes to fulfill Sen. McCain’s warnings.

Next, here is the Obama/Biden  “HealthCareFullPlan.pdf”.  It includes items such as:

• In markets where the insurance business is not competitive, their plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care insted of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration.
• Allow consumers to import safe drugs from other countries.

The former looks like it made its way into the Senate bill.  The latter was a casualty.

• New Affordable, Accessible Health Insurance Options – any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan.

There won’t be a public plan or a public option.

• Expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP.

Is Medicaid expanded?  I don’t remember details on SCHIP actions taken earlier this year.

How about the Organizing for America, BarackObama.com website?  Any mention of a public plan or public option?

• Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.

I’ve read that this proposal came out after John Edwards and Hillary Clinton campaigned harder on their health care plans.  Interestingly, it could be argued that Sen. Obama triangulated then to grab as many progressives as he could.  Once elected, of course he had no intention of following through on such a proposal.  What happened instead is his staff worked out a deal with the pharmaceutical industry so that they wouldn’t run the kind of ads against potential legislation that they did during President Clinton’s 1st term.  So it wasn’t just my imagination.  Sen. Obama campaigned on one thing and then worked to achieve something quite different once he was elected.  No wonder many (most?) Democrats feel betrayed and disillusioned with the Great Speaker.  That was one thing I was worried about with this man – would be be a better speaker than President or would he be as good a President as he is a speaker?  It’s starting to look like his speaking skills are superior.

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I really enjoy cutting my own mats if I need only one or two reasonably small ones.

Here is an excellent demo by artist Ginny Piech Street showing how she uses a Logan Mat Cutter. This setup is a step above what I use. Mine is simply a little hand held cutter, and I measure by hand and make my cuts using a simple straight edge. I also like that she uses as an example a small piece of art with a very generous mat border.

For additional explanation with photos and diagrams and a slightly different setup, here is a great article. I really like the tools outlined in this article, and would get this if I were in need of more mats than I’m currently making.

Cutting your own mats is more economical in some cases (but not all!) and the skill comes in handy when you want a mat with a non-standard opening, or even perhaps with multiple openings. If you know in advance that you want a quantity of custom mats to fit a specific size of artwork, you can order them precut and very reasonably from several sources online. I have ordered mine from Redimat where I can also get the poly bags, backing boards, and other framing supplies.

If you’d like to see the proper way to mount and mat your artwork to prevent damage to the art, watch this short but elegantly simple video.

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I recently purchased a beautiful print from Jennifer Judd-McGee’s Etsy shop. Jennifer goes by the name of Swallowfield on Etsy and has an array of different art pieces items for sale, from collages to prints of drawings – her style is just my cup of tea. By kind permission of Jennifer, I’ve been allowed to blog the print I purchased. Now all I have to do is find the right type of frame to do it justice!

Check out her blog here to find out more about her!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy new year.  Thank you to all my wonderful customers for your on-going support this year, and I look forward to working with you again in the new year.

Trading hours for the holidays – open until 5pm 24th December.

I’m then off to Las Vegas for the West Coast Art and Frame Show, so business will resume as per usual from 10am Tuesday 2nd February 2010.

The foundation was officially finished a couple of days ago!  Yippee!!

There is the finished slab . . . all nice and smooth!

For the past two days, they have been backfilling the foundation and grading the site.  So that the land, as well as the foundation, can be nice and smooth! 

Remember those huge “mountains”?  Well here they are now . . .

Then they had this thing called a . . . (asking my Dad what the name of that thing was ) tamper (aka jumping jack) that stamped down the dirt around the foundation.

Doesn’t that look like the funnest job in the world! (that was sarcastic )  I learned (from my Dad of course, who else?) that they pack it down 8 inches at a time so that they ground doesn’t settle.  I know you really wanted to know that (sarcastic) but I just wanted to share my knowledge !

The carpenters are supposed to start framing on Monday but there is LOTS of snow forecasted for the weekend.  Stay tuned . . .  Here is a pic of all that lumber . . .

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I saw this picture in a Meteor Blades diary on dkos and had to comment on it:

Here is a comment made at the end of the post:

[The Time magazine cover photo is of Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers from February 15, 1999, right after Gramm-Leach-Bliley repeal of Glass-Steagall was signed. h/t to Paul Krugman for the reminder.]

Remember how good the economy was doing at the end of the 1990s?  Remember how little growth the economy and families in the U.S. experienced in the next decade as the Bushies ran the country into the ground?  The efforts of these three men, among others to be sure, was to stave off a global economic meltdown for a little while.  Their solutions were temporary and actually made the fundamentals worse than before their tinkering.

What’s the point?  Two of these men – Robert Rubin and Larry Summers – are part of President Obama’s economic team.  Does anybody seriously expect the changes necessary for long-term economic recovery will be made with two of the three Marketeers Mouseketeers back in decision-making positions of power?  Think again.

I realized during the Bush years that the President doesn’t matter so much on most issues that matter to people on a day-to-day basis.  It’s the people they put in power around them that matter.  Think that doesn’t make sense?  Think about Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and dozens of others.  They were around for Nixon’s failed presidency.  What did you expect would happen if the architects of that epic failure were put back in positions of power?

Now think of Obama.  Robert Gates is a holdover from the Bush “administration” – in the Department of War.  Has our approach been significantly altered abroad?  In Iraq, the answer is a tentative yes, but that has more to do with Iraqis exerting control than any desire in the Obama administration or the too-powerful War Industry to leave the 2nd largest proven-oil reserve area without direct control.  In Afghanistan, a surge has been proposed.  So no change there.  Economic policy?  Ben Bernanke, Greenspan’s replacement and the man who stood by while the global economy went down the toilet, has been selected by Obama to serve another term as Fed Chairman.  Two of the clowns in the picture are an integral part of Obama’s team.  Their failed economic ideology gets another chance.

The reforms necessary for full economic recovery will not take place with Rubin and Summers in charge of anything important.  They’re devout believers in the false “Free Market” religion.  It has failed every time it’s been implemented according to leading “Free-Marketeer” dogmatists.  It will fail again – count on it.

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Democrats had better take notice: jumping on board with every asinine conspiracy theory the Cons come up with isn’t a good idea.  In this case, a U.S. Federal Court has issued a preliminary injuction that the funding ban imposed on ACORN was a “bill of attainder” - a legislative determination of guilt without holding a trial, because it specifically sought to punish one group.

Democrats went along with too many of these kinds of witch hunts when the Cons were “in control” of the Congress.  To have seen them go skipping along to the Cons’ tune while they hold decisive majorities in both chambers was embarrassing and, quite frankly, pathetic.  Being in the majority doesn’t mean jumping when the minority party says jump, especially when the minority party pulls something as silly as the doctored tapes showing what they want ACORN to be about instead of what really happened.

Double egg on the face of the Democrat/Jellyfish party.  Wise up, Democrats.  If you keep doing the wrong thing at every opportunity, your base will desert you.

There is some saying out there in the photography world about never work with kids or animals as both are unpredictable. I don’t think that is precisely true. It is their unpredictable nature that is predictable, right? Huh? No. That makes no sense. Let’s try this again…

Photography and kids do not mix.

There. Short. On-point.

But add a rank amateur to the mix of photography and children and you have a recipe for something akin to a disaster. Or, at the very least, a lot of pictures being taken with only a few worth keeping. But I’ll take a few keepers…

A few weeks back our friend and neighbor Sandi asked if I would consider shooting her family’s Christmas pictures. They like to have a few family portraits in celebration of the holiday season and send out one of those family picture Christmas card things. Very suburban of them. I wasn’t certain I wished to get involved and not because I’m either difficult or uncooperative, but because I really have no fucking clue what I’m doing. Just look at my photostream for the evidence.

And this “no fucking clue what I’m doing” thing is particularly true of family portraiture as I haven’t ever done any. And I’ve barely used my quaint (i.e. inexpensive and incredibly basic) light kit so I haven’t yet quite got a real feel for it. So….no experience with family portraits. No experience working with kids. No experience working with posing. And no appreciable work with my light kit.

A recipe for failure if I’ve ever heard of one.

Yet….

As I elected to do this favour and opted to look at it as a learning experience, what precisely did I take away from it?

First, kids are difficult. Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Don’t get me wrong…Kendal and Elise are lovely children, but there is something about dressing them in Sunday finery, setting up overly bright lights and placing a camera in front of them that makes them…no….FORCES them to stick fingers up their noses. Or to not smile. Or to look over at the interesting thing happening somewhere else. Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christ! Smile and look at the camera!

(sigh)

Second, difficult kids mean you don’t pay enough attention to the parents. While trying to help focus the girls on my needs for the picture-taking extravaganza, I inadvertently stop noticing to what the adults are doing. Suddenly Sandi is slouching. Or Bruce has lifted his chin and now his glasses reflect the overly-bright soft boxes. Or that lovely smile previously upon Sandi’s countenance is now a grimace as she struggles with a child.

You can begin to see how we managed to burn through 146 images in less than 25-minutes.

Third, while smallish soft boxes are better than nothing, larger soft boxes would have been ideal. Looking over the images (including the keepers) I distinctly felt that larger boxes would have cast light over a larger area, thus reducing the difference in light fall between the adults and girls (the height difference). And a third would have been handy…something higher up and above me (centered upon the subjects). During moments like this it frustrates me to think that I could use more and better lighting, but dollars being limited I have to be thankful for what I have. But what I have clearly shows its limitations. However, between the limitations of the checking account and the lights, I’ll have to defer to the checking account as it, like the Ring, rules them all.

Fourth, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR COMPOSITION AND FRAMING! For example…

This should, or one would hope, seem rather self-evident, but it is so easy during the heat of battle to forget the simplest of matters. In this instance I genuinely believe I might have noticed how much dead space I was leaving above them had I not been frazzled by the dealings with the kids just moments before. And it’s this sort of image that just leaves me so frustrated. Even though they took at as a keeper, I think it’s awful. They look fine. The composition is for shit.

All that said, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because it was Bruce, Sandi, Elise and Kendal it was fun. They are such a nice couple and family. I always enjoy spending time with any of them. And it was, like I had hoped for, a learning experience. And the single greatest thing I learned was to take my fucking time.

Not wanting to seem slow (in both speed and mental capabilities) I pushed instead of taking my time and letting the pictures come to me. Instead I pushed to move through everything so that we could get in a lot of pictures from which to select. Had I been patient and took some time we very well may have taken fewer pictures and had more keepers.

Live and learn, eh?

Sorry I have been AWOL for a while … all I can say is that I’ve been struggling emotionally, I guess, for a number of weeks now, and I’ve been in a bit of a ‘black fog’ for want of a better way to put it.  Anyway, I have been planning a trip back down to Melbourne for about 2 months now, but it was then put on hold indefinitely after Erin passed away until I heard about when her service would be held in NZ – as that is now likely to be the middle of January, on Monday night it was all of a sudden ‘full steam ahead’ and Katie and I started making plans once again for the trip.  It’s taken me probably until yesterday before I started feeling brighter and looking forward to the trip, but now I think it will do me the world of good … getting away from home and away from the stress and pressures of work will be great.  Of course it just may make me more homesick for Melbourne and those friends I left behind …

When I get home I think I may need to take a quick visit to the GP as well … according to my hairdresser the itchy scalp I’ve been developing over the last few weeks is likely caused by stress and upheaval, as opposed to a reaction to my conditioner … I guess my body’s trying to tell me something!  Oh well, only two weeks left and I’ll get some TLC at home when I fly over to Mum and Dad’s for Christmas – something else that I’m really looking forward to.  Recent events brings it home even more that family is really important!

I haven’t picked up a needle for weeks now, so I guess that gives an idea of my mindset of late, as that’s super super unusual!  I did force myself to do a bit of home DIY, though, as I had a gift I needed to get ready for my trip to Melbourne.  Unfortunately other gifts still aren’t done, so I guess those’ll have to go in the post later. 

Here’s the results of my labours that I finished last night (just have to have the hooks/hangers screwed into the back):

A framing job I did first, but in a ready-made mat and frame from Target:

The gift I needed to get finished for this weekend (as it would be too hard to post) – this is for my ex-flatmate and friend Lisa for her birthday:

Then this one is especially for me – LHN’s Hannah Purington, to match our lounge’s marine/blue theme):

The piece de resistance – Graeme Ross’ Tiger … I’ve been waiting many many years to see this one framed!

And, finally, the one frame that I cocked up a bit (this was my 2nd framing attempt) … the corner shifted slightly when I was tightening up the clamps and I didn’t notice – c’est la vie, I still love it

These are all photos taken prior to adding the glass – I can’t believe it only cost AU$29 for 5 pieces to be cut, and the canvaswork and tiger pieces are decent sizes!  Anyway, I’m really quite proud of these for first attempts – it feels wonderful to be able to say “I did all that” … from the stitching to the mat cutting, frame making, and the actual framing itself.  I think I’ll be doing more in the future to give myself some more practice, and get some items out of the finishing pile.

Anyway, I’d better go get my packing done … it’s 8pm and I still haven’t even started yet!  Maybe there’s still a bit of reluctance hanging around under that black cloud, but I’m sure that’ll be shaken off by the morning

As you can see Waldo and Bella are getting into the spirit of the season!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Solstice!

Joyous Kwanza!

Whatever the reason for your celebration, we hope to see you soon!

One of the reasons I chose to call my consultancy No Spin PR was because serious public relations practitioners are always hopelessly frustrated by the word spin being applied to what they do.

It’s a derogatory term, and I believe there are some terms and words that can never be reclaimed (in this I differ from the hiphop artists who have ‘reclaimed’ the ‘en’ word – in my view it would be better to let that one fade away to the point that 23rd-century folk who encounter it would have to ask what it meant).

Implicit in the word spin is the idea that deception is involved, facts are being turned on their heads, and/or there’s so much fast talking going on the truth would be unrecognizable even if it were part of the mix. The ‘truth’ is, it’s as much of an insult to call a public relations practitioner a ’spin doctor’ as it is to call a woman a ‘chick.’ And it is a female-dominated profession, although not yet at the most senior levels.

Despite the cross-fertilization that occurs between journalists and PR practitioners (since writing well is the foundation skill for both professions), there is also the perception that journalists are those who ferret out the truth and present it objectively, while PR folks do their best to deflect, disguise, and distract from the truth. The notion of the muck-racking journalist being free of bias is laughable in the 21st Century. We wouldn’t have populist, right-wing, and left-wing media outlets if bias weren’t inherent in every medium, whether it’s the way the headline is written, the fact that the story is covered at all, or the selective presentation of facts. The notion that objectivity is in disrepute is, thankfully, permeating the zeitgeist – and not a moment too soon.

The inspiration for this post came not from the field of public relations, however, but rather from some tweets by Portuguese journalist and science communication PhD candidate Andréia Azevedo Soares (BordadoIngles on Twitter) re Mike Hulme’s ideas on the climate change debate. Hulme is the author of Why We Disagree about Climate Change and recently gave a lecture at Imperial College London. (The book will be out in paperback in early 2010.)

Here are her tweets from Hulme’s Dec. 7, 2009, lecture (rearranged to appear in chronological order and edited into paragraph form):

Mike Hulme suggests there are six different ways to frame the climate change debate: market failure, technological hazard, global injustice. overconsumption, climate change as mostly natural and finally as a planetary ‘tipping point.’ Hulme shows that those different frames lead to different solutions to climate change. They relate to our various worldviews, beliefs, and values. Different framings suggest we need to recognise pluralism in our approaches to make climate change policies.

Oddly, I’ve rarely heard the term ‘framing’ used by a public relations practitioner. But it struck me as something that should be a integral part of the PR lexicon, since it is precisely what we do. From the Wikipedia definition, framing is ‘…an inevitable process of selective influence over the individual’s perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases. A frame defines the packaging of an element of rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others.’

Framing is inevitable, an involuntary reaction that is part of our effort to make sense of the world around us, its people and its problems. I particularly like the example used in the Wikipedia article of a wink vs a blink (although I’d argue both eyes close during a blink). The glass half full/glass half empty analogy probably works better, since by definition half means equal portions.

Whether you view the world through rose-coloured glasses or not, whether you think all politicians are dishonest or revere those who occupy the corridors of delegated power, whether you’re a MacHead or a PC fan, we all have filters we apply to information, and these filters affect our decision-making processes.

There is nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical about choosing a frame. You need to be aware that there’s more than one framing choice. You need to consider the fact that others won’t choose the same frame as you. Ultimately, though, you will have to either pick one or leave the picture unframed. Choosing a frame and developing a strategy for its presentation is the heart of public relations. As a practitioner, aligning yourself with clients whose framing aligns with your beliefs and values is the soul of a successful PR consultancy.

Perception has never been reality. It just appears to be. That, I suspect, is a natural consequence of the human condition.

The sun on the first day of ecology lab embraced our group and warmly encouraged us to step out of the classroom and into the wild and unknown, if only for 3 hours a week. In the last ecology lab of the semester, our group returned to its original site, Waubesa Wetlands, to address the changes in vegetation, weather, and how our own understanding and opinions this semester have changed along with the seasons.

This actually took place a couple weeks ago, and, as my blog absence has suggested, my lack of writing is due to the flurry and hubbub that takes place at the end of each semester. Over the past two weeks, I’ve gotten to the point where my only response to what I have to get done this weekend is, “I don’t want to think about it.”

Although writing here has been difficult to maintain over the past month or so, I have made a couple presentations about my blog now, and from these, I know that I’ll keep it up as I think it has aided in my own understanding of environmentally-related subjects and encouraged me to advocate for increased environmental knowledge and action among my readers. Anyway, sorry again for my absence. Can’t wait to catch up on here with all the interesting things I’ve learned.

Back to Waubesa.

Samuel and Lisa’s idea for taking us back there was very rhetorical as it related to our maturation coinciding with the seasonal changes in the wetlands. Where on the first day we shyly followed Samuel into the grass to get our bare feet dirty in the peat, on the last we shivered in the wind and boldly shared our insights and memorable moments from the semester. We stood in the leafless, browned wetland to discuss what we’d learned or how our opinions had evolved in light of Cal’s quirky lessons, our hands-on labs, and or our application of these lessons in other parts of our lives. I scribbled notes of peoples’ memories as quickly as I could, but without relaying them all back, it was a powerful time to see how each lab had affected us differently and showed us each something new that we could take away and apply to our other studies.

The theme of the semester, as introduced by Samuel on the first day, remained the fact that humans are a part of nature just as “natural things” are that we may refer to as nature itself. While a telephone pole in the wetland may not seem “natural,” it was placed there as a result of a human choice, and us humans are just as important (or unimportant) to nature as a beaver or bird or tree. So, what made us feel like we were important enough to disrupt this environment by adding this pole? Would our actions have been different if we’d considered the rest of the environment before choosing this location, type of wood, type of wiring, etc. Humans are a part of nature and must not view themselves as “above” or somehow removed from it.

We also talked about how people are reached through what Cal likes to call “Bogmat moments.” This term came about when Cal literally fell shoulder-deep into a hole in his backyard wetland. When he asked a student a few years after his class what she remembered, this Bog moment was the only thing she could recollect. Given that lesson, Cal’s tendency to jump on tables, orchestrate symphonies (students) in patterns similar to heating molecules (translation, vibration, and rotation), share long stories of his travels, studies, and tendency to befriend wild animals, are now all in attempt to create these memorable moments that will remind his students why this is important and why he’s dedicated his life to teaching and researching it.

Although there were many, a major bogmat moment for me was when Cal talked about community land-use politics related to development and environmental stewardship and education. He spoke about his efforts in his hometown, the Town of Dunn. He said in a letter to the class,

Most people say at sometime in their life, “They need to do something about this!” By doing so they confess that there is someone other than themselves who is really responsible. While this sometimes may be the case, it most often is not. In a democracy, our talk about the “they” – the people who are expected to act on our behalf – often are no one else but ourselves. If proper stewardship of land and Town resources are to be accomplished, we must see ourselves as ‘they.’ In democratic governments, we are ‘they.’ Unless we understand and believe this, the land and the Town’s resources will steadily deteriorate. Recognizing that we are they means that we will be ready to tack action whenever we see something that needs doing.

I found this really powerful and a great example of a person who put individual action and applied it to political will and created great change in many people. Jack Kloppenberg once said in class that he was advised by a friend, “you in the north don’t have the opportunity to be naive.” And it’s true. We don’t. We have a voice, an education, access to nutrition, shelter, clothing, funding, and information.

Basically, I have been very motivated by my professors and peers in the past few weeks to USE what I have learned and feel very fortunate to have this education. Because of these lessons (and many others), I have gained a deeper understanding and obligation to doing my part even when it’s inconvenient, controversial, or scary. I hope that something I write on here may encourage others to do their part (in whatever form they want it to be in) as well. More on this later.

Anyway, it’s been a difficult but rewarding semester. I am still unpacking the discussions I have had and desperately writing them down in hopes that I won’t forget them!

It’s time to get back to work, but I couldn’t call myself a green blog unless I brought up the fact that the UN Climate talks at Copenhagen began today to finish what Kyoto started. I will be updating this blog with the major stories and am actually somewhat overwhelmed with unpacking all the political, scientific, naysayer, supporter, impassioned talk going on.

So, today I will begin with a series of important links. Chose whichever interest you, or look it up online, but this is an exciting current event that you won’t want to miss!

1. Day one round up here

2. Grist (always a favorite) has a series of easy to read, easy to understand discussions of important Copenhagen details. I recommend checking them out

3. The New York Times had a nice bunch on the Business News section, but I liked this basic summary video for newbies to the situation.

4. This important editorial was published in 56 newspapers and 20 languages today (sadly, only the Maimi Herald stepped up in the US). But overall, I approve.

Finally, in Bill McKibben’s article, “The physics of Copenhagen: Why Politics as Usual May Mean the End of Civilization” he gives a summary of why treating climate change as a normal political issue is completely lacking and inadequate in order to make the necessary changes. He says:

We’re no longer capable of “preventing” global warming, only (maybe) preventing it on such a large scale that it takes down all our civilizations. {…}

So here’s the thing: When Barack Obama goes to Copenhagen, he will treat global warming as another political problem, offering a promise of something like a 17 percent cut in our greenhouse gas emissions from their 2005 levels by 2020. This works out to a 4 percent cut from 1990 levels, the standard baseline for measurement, and yet scientists have calculated that the major industrialized nations need to cut their emissions by 40 percent to have any hope of getting us on a path back towards safety.

While his message was political (and scary), the fact I took away was that while Copenhagen and political action is necessary, we are they again in this situation and must use our powers in this democracy to beg our politicians, friends, neighbors and selves to do what we/they can to make up for where the government lacks.

Copenhagen is important, but so are we.

Nervous yet optimistically yours,

Jenny

Cherry Creek Framing is sharing this great coupon with you.

Cherry Creek Framing is now offering 20% off custom framing! One coupon per customer, per visit please.
Visit sweetcherrycreek.com/coupons/Cherry-Creek-Framing.htm

Now through December 13th, I will be offering buy one, get one prints in my shop. Purchase any print (8×8 or larger) and get one 8×8 or 8×10 of your choice at no cost to you. Order by December 13th, and your photo will ship out in time for Christmas.

There are a lot of new pieces in the online gallery so check them, as well as some old favorites out! The holidays are right around the corner and art makes a wonderful gift! I offer custom work as well, large format prints, framing and matting…all here in my online gallery.

"Ponte Vecchio"

When the moment is seen through your eyes alone
and alone is when the moment you own,
no one to see in your mind privately
no noise to disturb your life, silently.
A click of the frame that moment in time,
A look in your soul, is one with your mind,
Alone with your thought, but two with your heart
Love steers your sight, not alone nor apart.

Almost ready for the Xmas Arts Market now and since I’m going to be selling a range of new small prints that I’ve been working on I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on how to frame them. Personally I think they look great float mounted. I meant to take a photo of one that I framed this way but erm, I forgot, and now it’s hanging in the Winter Exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers. Oops.

So anyway, here’s a (relatively) simple way to float mount one of my small prints (this example is for the 20cmx20cm prints, so adjust sizes for the 20cmx18cm ones!).

I usually recommend that my prints are framed by a professional framer, however, when they’re this small I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all to use an inexpensive frame, and the one I’ve used for these in the past is just over £6 from Ikea.

You will need:

Ikea box frame (Ribba 23cmx23cm http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80078269)

Piece of 5mm thick foamboard cut slightly (about 1cm all round) smaller than the print to be mounted.

Lightweight archival mounting tape (such as Filmoplast)

Two 2.2cm x 23cm strips of 5mm thick foamboard
Two 2.2cm x 22cm strips of 5mm thick foamboard

Strong masking tape

Strong framing tape

(All of the above – apart from the frame which is of course from Ikea! – should be available from good art supply shops)

A pair of plyers

1. Remove the back of the frame by bending back the metal pins that keep the backing board in place and removing the board and the mount that come with the frame.

2. Set aside the paper that’s included.

3. Attach archival tape to the back of the print in a T-hinge method as below (note – the image only shows tape at the top edge but you’ll need to do the same at the bottom edge too) :

4. Place the foamboard (the piece cut to just smaller than the print) squarely (you can make small pencil marks on the back of the print before attaching the tape if you like to make sure it’s straight) on the back of the print and press firmly but carefully to make sure the tape is secured.

5. Measure the aperture in the window mount that’s included with the frame. Now replicate the size of the aperture in pencil on the back of the foamboard, measuring from the sides to make sure it’s centered.

6. Using the same method as before, attach archival tape to the back of the foamboard, making sure the adhesive bits that are facing outwards are OUTSIDE the lines of the aperture that you drew.

7. Place the window mount on the BACK of the foamboard (ie: the print is still face down on the table) so that the aperture lines up with the one you drew in pencil.

8. Press the window mount down onto the foamboard so it sticks and then secure with strong masking tape, using the aperture as access to the foamboard below (ie: the tape should overlap the window mount aperture, onto the foamboard so you end up with a square of masking tape in the middle).

9. Flip over to make sure the print is aligned in the centre of the mount board (if it’s not, you can always adjust it by removing the masking tape and carefully slitting the archival tape with a craft knife and re-doing it).

10. Take the frame and, using the plyers, carefully remove the metal pins.

11. With the frame still face down and the glass in place, insert the long strips of foamboard on edge directly against the internal sides of the frame and push down so that they fit snuggly into the frame and there are no gaps (you will be using the two longer ones opposite each other).

12. Place your mounted print face down into the frame. The strips of foamboard should now act as a ledge so that the print sits to the back of the frame. Hold it up with your fingers keeping it in place and check it looks ok.

13. Place the frame back down on the table again face down and lay the backing board into the frame against the mount. The backing board should lie almost flush with the frame now.

14. (If you want to you can try to re-insert the metal pins at this point but be warned it is not easy!) Using the strong framers tape, secure the backing board to the edge of the frame. The edge of the tape should not overlap the sides of the frame, but should be in line with it, so that the majority of the tape sits on the backing board. Do this around each edge so they are all covered and no dust can get in. You can use your fingers to press the tape into any corners so that it’s well stuck down.

15. Your float mounted print is ready to hang! You can use the hanging kit included with the frame or attach mirror plates to the back of the frame.

Disclaimer: This is just my method for float mounting using this specific frame. There are other resources on the internet that you may want to consult if you’re using a different kind of frame or if you want to be more professional about it (ie: you may want to use the Japanese rice paper method of hinge mounting). If you’re unsure then please do use a professional framer.