A Healthy Dash of Hope

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I must admit that I wasn't sure how the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act was going to pan out. Things have become so incredibly divided when it comes to politics, that it's easy to become cynical. However, Chief Justice John Roberts broke with his fellow conservative judges and voted to uphold most of President Obama's health care reform (the vote was decided 5-4). In my view, yesterday was a huge step forward for our country, helping more Americans get the care that they need.

Source: Amnesty International
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It was shrewd of the President's team to turn the word "Obamacare" into a positive,after his opponents had been throwing it around as a derogatory term. As a President, I do think Obama cares. Over the past four years I think some of his supporters have felt that he hasn't acted "liberal" enough--that he has run more moderate, and maybe even acted more aggressive in regards to the use of military force (i.e. the escalating use of drone missiles). I'm no fan of war and am uneasy with the idea of assassinations. During the 2008 election, the President promised to close Guantanamo Bay, where some of the previous administration's more troubling abuses of political prisoners took place, but near the end of his term, it remains open...

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When I volunteered fot the President's election campaign, Obama appeared to be level-headed, intelligent, and idealistic--well, maybe he is more of a realist... There is a poem that I worked on for the Spoken Word Almanac Project called "My Obama"--it's a funny piece, written by Darian Dauchan and being performed by several of the spoken word artists. The poem tries to understand who the "real" Barack Obama is:

"...His Obama would throw you into a cell indefinitely 

My Obama wouldn't do that

I know who he is!

I know what he did!

I know what he's capable of!"

And so on...

You can see the visuals I created for this poem, and more of my media design at SWAP's mid-year show being held this Saturday, June 30, at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City. Show starts at 7 p.m., and it should be interesting with all the news that has happened so far in 2012... 

Cheers. Here's to your health!...

Related Links:

The Health Care Decision, Explained in 1 Paragraph on SCOTUSblog, Atlantic Monthly, June 28, 2012

Robert's Rules, Atlantic Monthly, January/February 2007

"A Cruel and Unusual Record" by President Jimmy Carter, editorial for The New York Times, June 24, 2012

Peace Action New York State

www.facebook.com/swappoetry 

Just My Type

A little bit of soul... getting there!
©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

I had the last of my graphic design classes tonight at The Art Center−we continued working on our logos. I tell you, I will never again take logos or type for granted... it is really challenging! I'm still trying to figure out the right font and arrangement of elements, but feel like I am making some progress. My instructor offered to give me a critique later on, which was nice... it sounds like there might be a chance to do some work with his company down the line as well. 

We had the movie Helvetica playing in the background. 

I had rented this film before, and found it interesting to learn about the development, popularity, backlash and comeback of the ever-present font. What was cool about seeing the film again, was to now recognize many of the names and work we had covered in the class: Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister... I'll probably watch it once more just to get perspective on and summarize all that I have learned. 

I'm really happy that I took this course−there's still much to learn, but I feel progress and skills I will be able to use. I will definitely check out The Arts Center again−it feels like a bit of an undiscovered gem in the Capital Region.