We are Artists!

I was feeling a bit discouraged this past month looking for new places to stay in the Big Apple. I will never understand how people can justify charging a couple, two people's worth of rent. Double the utilities fine, but the rent?! No! I'm sharing ONE room, so how does that grant you the right to charge us twice the fare. I can't stand that type of discrimination! What hurts was I thought my wife and I hit it big when we found a room attached to a performance studio for only $800 a month, that is until the renters, who were artists themselves, pulled the whole pay us double because there's two of you. Come on my fellow artists, we need to help each other out! The economy is hurting, so that means you need to LOWER your costs. Not up the ante on our cost of living. That's what I feel is so different from 1929 to 2009. During the "Great Depression," business of all sorts had to slash their prices significantly in order to make some kind of profit. I just don't see that sort of thing happening now. Food is just as expensive, gas is just as expensive, traveling is just as expensive, buying and renting homes are just expensive... this does not help our ailing economy if the prices don't adjust to people taking pay cuts or losing their jobs!

Anyway, in light of all that I wrote a "semi-cutesy screw you" song with the help of Janet. It's called "We are Artists."

"We Are Artists" - Angry Jenny ©2009

Chorus:
We are artists, yeah we got the disease.
Nevermind we got college degrees,
So you think we're going to throw it away,
Well, we don't want your money anyway...

V1:
Divide and conquer is the name of the game,
but I'd rather ignore that shit just the same,
see, I'm trying to bring beauty in my community,
and if it sounds interesting,
then why don't you just join me,
why don't you support me...

Chorus:

Bridge:
I never was that quite naive,
to believe that everything would come easy for me,
and I just want people to see,
that art is a culture, and not just a hobby

Chorus:
V2:
Divide and conquer is the name of the game,
but I'd rather ignore that shit just the same,
see, I'm trying to bring unity in my community,
and if it sounds interesting,
then why don't you just join me,
why don't you support me...

Chorus:
We are artists, yeah we got the disease.
Nevermind we got college degrees,
So you think we're going to throw it away,
Well, we don't want your money anyway...

We are artists, working through all hours of the night
trying to fight for our rights (or trying to fight for what's right)
So you think we're going to fade away,
Fuck you! We don't want your money anyway...

(But we do)

Stand Up New York!

It’s time to strengthen our state law to make sure that women’s health is always protected in New York. We can do that by passing the Reproductive Health Act, a bill that will both guarantee a woman’s right to control her reproductive health and help New York reclaim its rightful place as a leader on pro-choice legislation.


This is the year to make this happen! we have a pro-choice governer, pro-choice leadership in the state senate, and a pro-choice majority in the assembly.


There has been a lot of negative publicity about this.
find out what it's REALLY all about:

Women's Health Matters!

want to know more?

read the bill here

find out how you can help!

Pro-Choice New York

STAND UP!

Love Is Blind

I don't usually want to dwell on celebrities' lives, but this is one case I couldn't ignore especially when it has to do with domestic violence. Obviously the subject hits very close to home with me and I wanted to discuss the current situation that's been going on between hip hop stars Rihanna and Chris Brown. Both are young talented musicians that have a lot going for them and I am terribly sadden by the unfolding story of abuse in their relationship. I'm not going to talk about the specifics of their case, but rather the unsettling negative attitude from fans of Chris Brown.

I've been all over the forums and blogs reading up on people's comments and I was horrified. Many fans of Brown actually wrote in statements like: "Rihanna got what she deserved, you would never do anything like that, or its okay everybody makes mistakes." Well ladies and gentlemen I hate to break it to you but abusers come in all shapes and sizes, wake up! It is not okay to intentionally hurt someone - physically, verbally, or pyschologically ... PERIOD! Yes, we do all make mistakes, but you have to learn from them as well - get the necessary professional help and make the conscience adjustments in your life so that you can be a better person. When it comes to domestic abuse/violence situations, 99% of the time the abuse happens more than once. It starts out "harmless" and gets increasing worse over time. Most victims of domestic abuse often don't even realize that they are in an abusive relationship, because they become blinded by what they want to see in their partner - and not actually seeing what abuse is taking place.

Are we socializing kids to be violent and in turn that violent behavior be accepted? When parents tell kids to not hit, bite, smack, and talk back and then they turn around and hit, smack, verbally assault, and abuse their own kids as punishment. Children do what they see, parents have to be the one to set the example. Are we still socializing girls to be nice and quiet, and not to "air out their dirty laundry" when a crime has been committed against them?

It's time we hold the abusers accountable for their deplorable actions and to not blame the victims for staying in the relationship.

Eve - "Love Is Blind" Video
(Strong language, disturbing images)

SYSTEM OVERLOAD

This month has been crazy and I apologize for not writing. Every time I want to write about something, something else in the news happens and then my attention wants to focus on that. So yes, I am happy about the election results, and yes I am really upset about California's Prop 8 passing, and yes I am really disturbed to learn about this being the 30th anniversary since the Jonestown Massacre. I promise to write more when I am able to focus more clearly on these particular subjects.
Thank you,
A.J.