Crowds line up for gay marriage cases. Photo by David Lloyd
Today the Supreme Court of the United States will hear the first of two cases for same-sex marriage. Opponents will argue that legalizing these unions will destroy the traditional definition of marriage since marriage is about “responsible procreation and child-rearing” (tell that to couples who choose not to have children or the elderly couple who have found happiness again). This is a simple question of equal rights. Why shouldn’t gays, who pay taxes and participate in society just like anyone else, be able to marry? Churches will still be able to decide which couples can be married within the church; this will not impact them. It will be interesting to see which Justices support the Separation of Church and State and which ones are still living in the pre-Loving v. Virginia era.
This week SCOTUS will hear two same-sex marriage cases this week; on Tuesday California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriages case and on Wednesday the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
The Washington Post has a slideshow of some of my print work leading up to and during the first couple of years of the Iraq War. Here’s a couple of them; you can see the full collection here.
My next animation includes Senator Ted Cruz from Texas; here’s a quick sketch I did while doing research. The Washington Media has been portraying the republican from Texas as an upcoming republican star; you’ll see what I think later.
Dick Cheney is back in the news and today is the 10th anniversary of his infamous “My belief is, we will, in fact be greeted as liberators”. Three years later Cheney doubled-down on that statement on Face The Nation.
The wait (and excessive media coverage- but that’s another post) is over. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina has been elected pope. This BBC profile of the new pope describes him as “orthodox on sexual matters but strong on social justice”. I see that as a big contradiction. Women’s economic status, especially in poor countries, is affected by the lack of access to contraceptives and their position in society.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush made the Sunday morning news show rounds yesterday and suggested that his brother’s presidency will be remembered in a favorable light. I certainly hope our memories aren’t that short.
Republican Senator Rand Paul spoke out against the Obama administration’s drone policy during a 13 hour filibuster yesterday. He was joined by several other republicans but only one democrat, Senator Ron Wyden.
Just wanted to offer a glimmer of hope after my last post about the Oscars. I recently returned from a visit to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where Ralph Eggleston and I did a presentation for the character animation program. During our question and answer segment it was mentioned that women made up 62.5% of student enrollment for the 2012-2013 school year. When I attended CalArts in the early 1980’s there were approximately 6-8 women in the entire program. Progress.photo courtesy of Amanda Candler, one of the inspiring young women at CalArts. See more of her student work at her blog.
I considered just letting this go. There’s so much other important news happening and frankly I’d rather concentrate on my next animation. However, after listening and reading some of my regular morning news sources I felt I had to spend a few minutes to address last night’s Oscars. Yes, there were funny and memorable moments; I laughed out loud at the clever Christopher Plummer Von Trapp intro and cheered Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger performance– but really, we’re still doing boob jokes? Yes, I know Seth MacFarlane was brought in to attract younger audiences but the obnoxious references to women’s body parts and female tendencies really set my teeth on edge. As some of you may know, MacFarlane’s fame comes from animation and since I began my career there, I wasn’t surprised at the sophomoric humor. But what was a surprise was that it hasn’t changed since the 1980’s.
But maybe I’m not reading the tea leaves here. Perhaps this is the way to look at the situation; let’s hope so.
Do I need to add anything more?
photo courtesy of Amanda Candler, one of the inspiring young women at CalArts. See more of her student work at her
I considered just letting this go. There’s so much other important news happening and frankly I’d rather concentrate on my next animation. However, after listening and reading some of my regular morning news sources I felt I had to spend a few minutes to address last night’s Oscars. Yes, there were funny and memorable moments; I laughed out loud at the clever Christopher Plummer Von Trapp