UPDATE: The amazing singer, songwriter, KUKU, the Afro-Soul Acoustic Experience (http://www.kukulive.com) is performing at the art opening. KUKU will be performing from 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM on Tuesday at 7th & M Streets outside of the Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center Metro entrance.

The DC Convention Center is bringing its artistic side out. With a first-of-its-kind exhibit to fill windows and exterior gallery spaces with art, the Windows Into DC show is a reflection of our community. A little known fact about the Convention Center is that it houses a dynamic $4 million permanent art collection. With this new show, the Convention Center extends its inner-artists out to the sidewalk spaces around the building.

This is the time to take another look at the Convention Center. Thirteen DC artists created installations and new artworks for the exhibit. “Filling empty spaces with art is a great way to beautify the community and connect with new audiences,” says Windows into DC Artist Tim Conlon. “My Shaw Scrabble piece is a fun play with the words that connote the community. This way, area residents will see themselves reflected in the windows.”

The artists are: Beth Baldwin, Jason Clark, Tim Conlon, Liani Foster, Amber Robles-Gordon, Eve Hennessa, Michael Dax Iacovone, Anne Marchand, Cory Oberndorfer, Michael Platt & Carol A. Beane, Kelly Towles, Aneikan Udofia, Colin Winterbottom and featuring The New Community for Children.

The entire DC community is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 29 at 7th & M Streets outside of the Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center Metro entrance. At that time, young students from the New Community for Children will be finishing their three-panel art piece that shows their pint-size view of Shaw. Pick up a Windows Into DC brochure at the information desks located in the Grand Lobby. The installation will be open through March 2010.

The American city newspaper holds the space for its “metropolitan consciousness.” What happens to the city when the newspaper goes away? September’s Next American City reports on the demise of the newspaper industry and what happens to cities when their papers fold. (http://americancity.org/magazine/article/out-of-print/ — you have to buy the magazine to get the whole story.)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Digital_Divide1.png)

This is a constant conversation at Massey Media. Does social media and new media replace the paper? Isn’t more information a good thing?  One of our biggest fears is that the digital divide will create an information divide. While the democratization of the media means more and differing voices, it may also inadvertently exclude the voices of those without Internet access. If lower income families are not on the Internet, will online news sources include them or cover the issues related to social justice?

According to the article:

The Pew Foundation’s Internet and American Life project (finds …) the Internet community remains divided by access, savvy and taste. For example, 65 percent of white households have a broadband connection, while only 46 percent of black households do. While 88 percent of households with an income of more than $100,000 have broadband, only 35 percent of households with an income under $20,000 do. This means that in a cosmopolitan city such as Washington, D.C., for example, just half of the city’s residents have access to broadband Internet.

Draw your own conclusion.

- Sarah Massey

September 12 on the National Mall was a reminder to celebrate the basic right we have in the United States, the right of free speech and protest. While a lot of attention was given over to the poorly-named Teabaggers and their anti-health care reform agenda, there was also an important rally for immigrants rights in the shade of the Washington Monument. Organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), with the support of United Tenants and Workers, CASA de Maryland, Legal AID Justice Center, SHARE Foundation, CARECEN, DC Jobs With Justice, Comunidad Unida de Uluazapa (El Salvador), and CPR Radio 97.5 FM, immigrants rights supporters held a rally, vigil and a music concert to protest the 287g Program and to demand president Barack Obama to use his executive power and end or suspend this program until is fixed.

President Obama extended the 287g Program that turns local police into surrogate immigration officers. One of the most significant problems with this law is that it creates a fear of the police, the very people charged with protecting the population. If you are robbed at the worksite but you are an undocumented worker, you are not going to call the police. This means criminals get away. Further, civil rights groups have stated, “Racial profiling and other civil rights abuses by the local law enforcement agencies that have sought out 287(g) powers, have compromised public safety, while doing nothing to solve the immigration crisis.”

I attended the rally and music concert to show my support and celebrate the values of free speech and protest. Artist, Activist Cesar Maxit made powerful signs, “BROWN is not a crime. Stop 287g Racial Profiling.” We need creative, hopeful, and loud responses to oppression, even when it comes from the White House, I mean especially when it comes from the White House. Today, Maureen Dowd wrote about America’s racism in her column. She added an important quote, “… always remember that silence gives consent.” Don’t sit idly by. Raise your voice to support justice.

- Sarah Massey