Article and photos: CNN, Do You See Us Now? by Ross Plesset | | Video: CNN's Media Blackout! by Naui Ocelotl Huitzilopochtli
Update: Idle No More Returns to CNN by Ross Plesset ]]>
Review/commentary: Why Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a Parable that Supports US Empire by Chris Burnett Spoilers! ]]>
If the FCC approves paid Internet "fast lanes," websites that pay hefty fees will be easier for the average consumer to access. On the flip side, small businesses, start-ups, and anyone who can not afford the large fees will have their Internet traffic sent to the "slow lane." #SaveTheInternet refers to the campaign to keep the Internet free from discrimination and defend the principle of net neutrality.
Or, in the words of Thursday's rally, "Google fast, my blog slow? To that I say: no, no, NO!"
Full story and photos: Los Angeles Joins Nationwide #WaveOfAction Occupation of FCC Offices to #SaveTheInternet by Los Angeles People's Media ]]>
"Precious Knowledge" is an important documentary that exposes the blatant racism that the State Superintendent of Education in Arizona recently displayed in cutting out the successful ethnic-studies program at Tucson High School.
The film follows the lives of four students and several teachers as they fight to save their classes and the program that became an educational lifeline for them.
The disenfranchised high school seniors became academic warriors and community leaders in the face of losing a successful program that has become a national model of success. In a climate where the national average of Mexican-American drop-outs is 45 percent, 100 percent of the students enrolled in the Tucson High ethnic studies classes graduated from high school and 85 percent of them went on to college.
The filmmakers spent an entire year in the classroom filming this innovative social-justice curriculum, documenting the transformative impact on students who become engaged, informed, and active in their communities.
This story is important to all of us; as Americans and as Angelinos. In our city Ron Gochez, a high school social studies teacher and important activist, currently running for city council, was recently fired for teaching ethnic-studies courses in his South LA classroom.
Come join LA IndyMedia, in conjunction with the Gateway-Portal in West LA for our screening of the film followed by a discussion.
Calendar announcement | | Trailer ]]>
Article: Isabel Avila's "Parallel Worlds" at the Vincent Price Art Museum by Ross Plesset, photos by Isabel Avila ]]>
Also insightful is the film's revelations about the powerful American Chemistry Council, which is made up of plastic and oil interests, including Chevron BP, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Dow, DuPont, 3M, Honeywell, and Bayer. ACC spends huge sums of money battling initiatives that would ban plastic bags. Some of their cute pro-plastic bag slogans include "save the plastic bag!"
Review: Important New Film "Bag It!" Playing on PBS This Week by R ]]>
Recently, MTV ran an episode of its "reality" show The Dudesons. In it, four buffoonish Finnish men visit Buffalo Hills, California in the hopes of becoming "honorary Native Americans." Their "rites of passage" include riding a canoe down a normally waterless hill, a "rite" called "Balls of Steel," and another that involves "Indians" breaking other "Indians" out of jail.
According to AIM, MTV has not apologized for the content on the show nor have they ceased broadcasting it.
More about the show: MTV's The Dudesons Offends Many American Indians ]]>
In the spring of 2008, after years of getting p.o.'d at Microsoft on almost a daily basis, I switched over to Linux (free, non-proprietary software). I had just gotten a new computer, and a friend who was setting it up for me, offered Linux as an option. This seemed a bit risky since Linux sounded less user-friendly than Microsoft, and I am not a technically-savvy person. Yet I loved the idea of being free of Microsoft and proprietary software. I took a chance and went with Linux. In the ensuing year, my computer sessions became markedly less stressful--it was usually at zero.
. . . On February 19th of this year, I attended the 2009 Linux Expo in L.A. Below are conversations I had with a few of the vendors. Story and photos: Transitioning to Linux and a (Late) Report on the 2009 Linux Expo L.A. by RP | RELATED: LA IMC 10th Anniversary - Technology Workshop by Mallory Knodel ]]>
"This weekend I saw the new Michael Bay film. The only thing that deserves prominence in TRANSFORMERS 2 is the careful valorization of military disobedience. . . . [M]ilitarism is a terrible phenomenon which is reinforced in all of the social institutions. Media and culture can turn create slaves faithful of the military values. Is that not what happened in Nazi Germany?" Full story: TRANSFORMERS 2 by Fabio de Oliveira Ribeiro ]]>
Article: "Fuel" (review) by RP ]]>