Thanks to everyone who has expressed support for the people of Haiti as they deal with this disaster.
Here is an interactive wiki map where you can follow developments on the ground:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti#2010_Earthquake_Response
And please consider donating to the relief effort:
http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
Just when you thought the media might be ready to leave Tiger Woods and his rapidly dwindling bundles of endorsement cash alone on his houseboat or wherever…
By coincidence, the January issue of Vanity Fair features “never before seen” photos of Tiger Woods taken by Annie Leibovitz, including a cover shot that features the superstar golfer wearing only a skullcap, half-heartedly lifting barbells and looking like he might cry.
There’s no interview. Just photos of the man the collective U.S. pop culture has been discussing, mocking and berating since last year. But a large part of Tiger Woods’ allure has been his image (heck, he had many fans that couldn’t sit though golf) - clean cut, handsome, exuberant, African-American, Asian, er, “Caublasian,” we knew him when we saw him.
Racewire.org points out Leibovitz’ touchy background photographing Black male athletes. Remember LeBron James and Giselle Bundchen, and their much-debated American culturally significant pose that ellicited so many visceral reactions?
In this new photo of Woods, his trademark confident smile is nowhere to be found. This is not the smiling, red polo-shirted fist-pumping champ. This guy pumps iron, nude, when he feels like it. Right now, this sad, sullen photo is the definitive image of the golfer - it matches his new position at the bottom of the adoration heap. How did Leibovitz know? Maybe with time it will prove easier to just Photoshop the proprietary Nike swoosh off of a decade of black baseball caps (now that that lucrative relationship is over) and we can keep our cheesing wunderkind.
Yet another lesson on the power of images for an image-driven culture.
DocWatchers will be screening Coming Home: The Dry Storm as part of an evening of three short films.
Coming Home: The Dry Storm. Directed by Michele Stephenson and produced in association with the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI), Coming Home tells the story of Sam Jackson, a 52 year old resident of housing projects in the New Orleans and a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. The film explores how, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, this somewhat reclusive quiet man becomes a passionate advocate for his community, reaching out to people in his neighborhood, as well as around the nation and the world to support the struggle for the right of his community to move back to their rightful homes.
When: Monday Jan. 11, 2010. 7pm
Where: Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Avenue (between 127th & 128th Streets)
Donations are requested.
Also screening:
Battle for the Hearts and Minds, dir. Shani Peters
Battle for the Hearts and Minds depicts a battle of words between historical black legends W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey. Relating elements of their documented 1920’s era conflict to later century hip-hop and hip-hop beef, the ongoing ‘fight” for social justice, and black disunity in general, the ‘event’ is present as a cross between a title fight and a rap battle.
No Ward dir. Terence Nance
No Ward is a short documentary about the forced migration
of New Orleans residents to cities in Texas. The film
juxtaposes the migrations that occurred as a result of
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Gustave in 2008
Hope to see you there! For more information on this and other upcoming DocWatchers events, visit DocWatchers.com