Liberty Closed for Repairs?

Alex Paramo

Tomorrow evening, I will be headed home to NYC to visit friends and family. I return home triumphantly with my life-partner my 6 year old daughter and as a published Author! My daughter is excited to visit her relatives and her dad's old stomping grounds for the first time but lets face it, for her, visiting the Statue Liberty trumps everything. Unfortunately a small band of individuals "representing" us in government have been able to shut down our government. Besides the sheer irresponsibility of taking the country down the path of economic instability, and in-turn taking the global economy down with it, their stance is motivated by their desire to "stop Obama Care" the Affordable Care Act. Whether you agree or disagree with the Act, it is now law and has been for awhile. Nothing that the small band of individuals in congress are doing can stop the Act.

Personally I will not shy away from my responsibility to my fellow American because the idea of helping your family, neighbors, and countrymen is part of the American experience, as well as the Human experience. The three "major" religions as well as most other traditions/religions demand that we help our fellow man (person). That is, for me, the idea behind the Statue of Liberty. Much of our country is populated by people whose ancestors saw the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island. Even if your family came by plane from south of the border, like my family did, they all knew about the Statue of Liberty and what she represents. The Statue of Liberty is now closed and therefore we say to everyone that Liberty is closed. The idea that helping your fellow man (person) is now closed in the U.S. It is a water-shed moment in our history. Are we going to be a country populated by folks that care for each other and no just themselves or are we going to cave in to a small band of representatives that are pushing forward the agenda of their corporate/billionaire benefactors. I hope that when we get to the gates of the Ferry that takes us to the Statue of Liberty, I can tell my 6 year old daughter that the Statue of Liberty is open and that our country chose the path of helping our fellow countrymen, and continuing the tradition originally represented by the beautiful statue.

Creativity and the Masses

Community Publishing supports
community/local based artists
of all mediums

Alex Paramo

In a recent New York Times - Room for debate series discussion, contributor, Cecilia Conrad (McArthur Fellows Foundation) stated, "Reports of the death of American creativity are an exaggeration." While I have not combed through all of the various "reports," it is a well known fact that funding for arts programs in public schools have been or are being cut significantly. This short-sighted approach toward meeting the ever increasing budgetary crunch has and will have many negative societal repercussions. In terms of innovation, which I believe is fueled by the profit motive, there are some public funds and private foundations that provide funding for new ideas in business/industry. There are also, some public funds and private foundations that provide funding for an extraordinary student(s) around the country, but what about everyone else? What does our model say about how much our society values creativity in general. Educators are familiar of how Howard Gardner clearly illustrates the existence of multiple ways of learning and the importance that "musical intelligence" (for example) plays in a child's development.

Several pertinent questions come to the fore when considering the question of creativity and innovation. What values does our society place upon creativity? That is the root question. Are the creative arts just the domain of the wealthy and upper economic classes? If it is generally accepted that the arts are quite beneficial in the learning process to our children, why are they being squeezed out?  Perhaps we should consider the question, what kind of people are being "produced" in our public schools. Is the production of automatons the goal? Are we producing simple beings that do not think creatively and also lacking critical thinking skills, just to dump them into the ever expanding low paid workforce?

The vast majority of our children attend public schools. Fortunately for us we are the majority. We can change the curriculum, insist on funding for the arts by voting for pro-public education candidates. Instead of sitting at home watching old recycled shows and movies, we can also support local arts/artist by going out and visiting a local gallery, checking out a local band, attending community theater, buying the books of local authors. We must not forget that we, everyday folks set the agenda. In fact, we are the agenda, and we must demand a complete curriculum that includes Art Education so that our children grow up to be well-rounded healthy citizens.