Lalo Alcarez’ “La Cucaracha” is one of the most insightful, engaging, and downright hilarious comics in the publishing world. He has a somewhat askew take on society, politics and relationships. He is also one of the few successful Latino comic artists in the country who actually incorporates his ethnicity into his daily work.

The Houston Chronicle has just announced that they will be discontinuing La Cucaracha. In the heart of the American southwest, a singular, regionally relevant, voice is being silenced, and a community that is sorely under-represented in the media is again being neglected and disrespected.

Alcarez is a talented artist with a strong following. Earlier this year, when the Los Angeles Times announced that they were ditching La Cucaracha, there was a reader revolt that resulted in the Times reversing their decision the next day and retaining the comic strip. Alcarez is hoping for a similar outcome in Houston.

From his website:

“In a replay of March 2007’s brief firing of La Cucaracha from the pages of the Los Angeles Times…the Houston Chronicle, home of maybe the largest comics pages in the nation, has dumped La Cucaracha and replaced it with a New Zealand based strip about penguins. Now, experts agree that the huge Latino population of Houston, Tejas must have its penguin-themed entertainment, but somehow there is no room for a strip that explores pro-immigrant and Latino-themed issues like La Cucaracha.”

It is simply unconscionable that the Chronicle would drop this strip at this time. We are entering a highly charged election season that already has too few voices that challenge the establishment – especially from the perspective of one of the most significant, and significantly ignored, block of Latino voters. To some degree the Democrats recognized the importance of this community by participating in a Spanish language debate sponsored by Univision. And, of course, they have a viable Latino candidate in Gov. Bill Richardson. Republicans however, refused to appear at a similar debate. Alvarez addressed this issue, and in doing so, demonstrated why it’s so important for his voice to be heard. Who else at the Chronicle is producing editorial cartoons with messages like this one:

You can help to support Alcarez by contacting the Chronicle and asking them to keep La Cucaracha. Public pressure was proven effective at the L.A. Times and it can work at the Chronicle as well. So write or call and express your support for this unique artist and for diversity in the the arts and the media.

Phone: 713-362-3222
Email: comics@chron.com

Once again Boston has shown itself to be a little too tightly wound. What is it that makes these people quiver at the sight of toys and pranks?

The latest episode of skittishness is the arrest of an MIT student who is accused of wearing a “fake bomb” at Logan International Airport. Never mind that the allegedly fake bomb is nothing more than a circuit board with a battery attached. Forget that it was being worn on the outside of a sweatshirt in full view of everyone (not something a terrorist is likely to do). And ignore completely that the student, Star Simpson, is enrolled at MIT where students commonly engage in creative inventions.

The foregoing notwithstanding, Boston’s finest still managed to overreact and assume the worst. This, of course, is not the first time. Back in February, the city ground to a halt because a cable tv network left some litebrite toys around town to publicize the premiere of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon series. As I said at that time:

“Once again we are reminded of the ever-present danger posed to society by artists. The free exercise of creative expression continues to be amongst the more serious threats to an ordered and manageable population. No wonder responsible governments spend so much of their time and resources suppressing such subversions. Without such efforts we would be forever vulnerable to the horrors of independent thought and action.”

In both incidents, the media became a willing accomplice to this conclusion jumping. Every headline and teaser blasts the words “Fake Bomb” as if there had been an actual determination that this was the intent. A responsible press might have considered describing it as an “electrical device” of unknown purpose. But that wouldn’t grab as many viewers or sell as many papers.

I had no intention of weighing in on the Michael Vick dog fighting story, but some of what I’ve read around the InterTubes™ just begs for some enlightenment as to the media’s handling of this.

Lawrence O’Donnell wrote an article at the Huffington Post that he ironically titled “What’s Wrong with Killing Dogs?” The point was to suggest that compassionate people who are outraged by Vick’s treatment of dogs ought to be equally outraged by the inhumane treatment dished out by the beef and poultry industries – to say nothing of hunters and others who kill for sport. O’Donnell correctly observed that people have an irrational preference for the welfare of dogs and an indifference to the suffering of other species. This is an angle that the media has thoroughly ignored.

Let me say, unequivocally, that I think Vick’s activities are disgusting, but I think Dyson Foods is 1000 times more disgusting. I mourn for the dogs that Vick harmed, but I also mourn for every gentle, peaceful cow that ended up in some glutton’s Big Mac. And what of all the birds and fish and what are perversely refer to as “game?” I think everyone who laments the fate of these dogs and does not feel the same about all the other animal victims of mass murder in the this country, are hypocrites.

However, this news eruption is just a new flavor of the “missing pretty white girl” syndrome that our media loves so much. Vick is this week’s Paris Hilton. They’ll exploit him for ratings because of his celebrity, and ignore 100 other atrocities that occur contemporaneously. This story further reveals how the media values one type (race?) of victim to the exclusion of all others. It reeks of a disingenuous compassion with blinders on.

If I thought that the promotion of this story would lead to a deeper examination of animal cruelty in America, I might be consolable. But all the talking heads are concerned with is whether Vick will still have a place in the NFL when he gets out of jail. It’s just pathetic.

In the first act of Sicko, Michael Moore introduces the audience to several unfortunate souls who have had to suffer both poor health and poor access to care. But that is not what the film is about. As it proceeds we meet individuals who have been mistreated by giant corporations that promised to protect their well being, but betrayed them when need arose. But that is not what the film is about. Moore takes us on a world tour of nations that offer services not provided in the U.S. They see these services as birthrights for fellow citizens who are human and in distress. But that is not what the film is about.

Most people’s expectations for Sicko probably encompass scenes that are part lecture to school the audience on the dry statistics of health care policy, and part screwball satire to illustrate points that Moore has preselected. But that is not what the film is about either.

While there is an abundance of information imparted in the course of the film, and there is much of the trademark humor for which Moore is famous, the most surprising ingredient is a generous portion of heart. This film is, at its core, a moving drama about genuine people whose hopes and fears are alarmingly similar to yours and mine if we were struggling with critical health issues – and some of us are – and all of us will.

But if there were one theme that could be rendered a conclusion, it would be that “we can do better.” Many critics of the film allege that Moore is merely bashing our current system and recruiting foreigners to help him do it. But I don’t see it that way. I see Moore asking us all a question: Why has a nation as great, as rich, as compassionate as this one is, fallen short with regard to caring for every ailing neighbor. I think Moore is baffled as to why other nations are able to accomplish something so fundamentally necessary for survival while our nation cowers before greedy conglomerates as if they were the ones deserving of sympathy.

After seeing this film, I left the theater feeling that I had experienced something that was enlightening, depressing, and inspiring, all at the same time. And I hope I also came away with a sense that there is work to be done to improve our country and ourselves. In that regard I think it is vitally important to heed the words of Tony Benn, a former member of the British Parliament who was interviewed by Moore:

We must not succumb to our fears and frustrations. There is too much at stake to allow ourselves to be led off the path.

On May 11, 2004, Hope Kurtz died in her sleep of heart failure. The next morning, her husband Steve, an artist and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, woke up and summoned the police. What followed is the subject of the film “Strange Culture” which was featured yesterday at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.

When the police arrived at the Kurtz’ home they found a collection of petri dishes and biological specimens. Steve explained that it was part of an art project he was preparing for exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. While all of this could have been easily verified, the police, and the FBI agents they called in, decided that Steve was a bio-terrorist and arrested him as he was still trying to cope with having just lost his wife of twenty years.

Steve’s artwork as a member of the Critical Art Ensemble was often controversial and dealt with subject matters that were likely to rile authorities and wealthy and influential corporations. And although the government realized that there was nothing threatening in the articles confiscated from his home, they are still continuing to prosecute him on charges related to his acquisition of the specimens used in the art project. There is more background on this case at the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund.

Join The Art Insurgency!

This is another particularly sad and disturbing example of how the rights of artists, and all Americans, are being suppressed in the name of security. It is a stark reminder that we must never allow these merchants of fear to silence us, and that we must continue to fight for the freedom to express ourselves and to challenge those in power who would prevent us from doing so.