"We are (Not) the World"

In chapter 6 in the Art of Protest, I found it interesting that the author does not believe that the songs are written for the people they were meant to reach. This part of the chapter reminded me of one of the first class meetings when we talked about Pink and that benefit concert. A lot of people had the same opinion as T.V. Reed. I do not agree with the comment on Jerry Lewis because I love that telethon and believe that it does help people. I also believe that celebrities want to help people and that is why they do benefit concerts. People have to remember that celebrities are people too and all people can be naive and that includes celebrities. All of these examples of musicians coming together to make these cds to make a point is an example of pooling their resources to make a little bit of a difference by providing awareness for other people. Recently, or in the past few years a bunch of bands got together and made a cd called Rock Against Bush. This was to make a statement about president Bush and make people aware of their opinion of the president. All of these cds are just exercising their right of freedom of speech. While it would be nice to donate money sometimes its more effective to become involved in situations physically. If a singer can sing, then why not sing for a cause?

Art of Protest Ch. 4 and Daniel Joseph Martinez

Daniel Joseph Martinez's work is very interesting because it gets very political. It ties in very well with chapter 4 of The Art of Protest. In the Art of Protest the Chicano movement artists' use murals to convey their messages. Martinez uses site-specific installation to show his work but i am sure that a lot of the murals that were completed in Chicano movement were site specific as well. In a lot of cases they only fit in the spots they were placed and they were put there for a reason, especially the murals that were done on walls. Martinez's piece of museum tags is almost a reaction to the culture clash of American-Mexicans and white-Americans. I found it interesting that the murals could cause such a stir and change in thinking. Art can speak so much and things can be interpreted in many different ways. I liked how on pg 126 they point out the word community. I believe that there are many different ways to use this word. A community can be almost any type of close encountered people. People who have something in common. Whether it's money, race, religion, etc. I personally feel that having a sense of community where you live is very important. I think that most of these movements revolve around that sense of community and how people feel that all communities should be created equal. That can go for anyone and any cause.