January 19, 2004

• Anxiety mounts,
  Zero hour is approaching
  Hope my strings don’t break.

  01.19.04

  ###

  That was about the worst haiku I’ve written, but not enough time today to make it perfect. Daisy Cutter is playing at the Red Sea tonight and 4th Street Station tomorrow. Check the website for more info.

  ###

  In the spirit of people’s recent quizes, here’s AOL’s president match:

  http://www.presidentmatch.com/Main.jsp2

  Yep, I seem to be following a family tradition of picking presidential candidates who aren’t likely to win (or in this case, even be given a shot at running).

  The matches for me were :
  Kucinich : 100%
  Sharpton : 96%
  Gephardt : 93%
  Kerry : 92%
  Dean : 87%

  and so on, down to…

  Bush : 8%

  ###

  Kind of an interesting tidbit. About a year ago, I lent a digital camera to someone who was going to do work in Palestine. They ended up working at an ISM media office which was raided by the Israeli military as well as dealing with numerous other problems.

  Apparently, when they arrested her, they tried to confiscate the camera, but she managed to hang on to it. They did however take one of my memory cards from her.

  Sort of strange to think that one of my memory cards is now in the possession of the Israeli military. I hope it wasn’t my 256 meg card.

  On the upside, she’s gotten over 1000 pictures (I did give a couple dummy cards so that she could surrender one without her good stuff). I saw the photos she brought back from the last time she borrowed my camera to go over there – they were pretty incredible, so I’m looking forward to seeing what she has this time.

  It is impossible to imagine what living in Palestine would be like, but through an independent lens, one can get a hint…

  ###

  And, a local tragedy. I’ll just forward it.
  

  Babylon Art and Culutral Center 612.722.5438 www.thebabylon.org

  Dear Friends,

  As many of you may have heard, the Gustavus Adolphus Hall in which the Babylon is located was consumed by fire on Friday, January 17. The cause of the fire is , as of yet unknown. Fire department officials are currently determining whether or not the building will need to be demolished. No one has been allowed into the building to retrieve any possessions, and the fire department has charecterized the damage to all four of the businsesses in the building as a “total loss.”

  This loss has been devastating for all of us invovled in the Babylon. It is till hard for me to believe that the Babylon no longer exists- one night we were there working on our projects, and the next morning I spent the day in the restaurant across the street watching the dream that so many people had worked so hard to build burn to the ground.

  The losses- beyond just the space, and what it has come to mean in our community, as well as in the greater Twin Cities art and performance community, are extensive. Iraqi artist Haider Al- Amery lost his entire collection of artwork, literally nearly every piece of work that he has created since coming to the United States. His uncle, Sabri, also lost many of his paintings. The La-Tia artists collective, which had just gone into a partnership with Babylon, lost an extensive amont of artwork, including the majority of the work for an exhibit that was supposed to open that very night. Patricia Mendoza, an artist who rented space at the Babylon, lost alomost her entire collection of artwork as well. Luckily, the Art Across Borders exhibit of Iraqi and Palestinian art work is currently on tour in Iowa, and wasn’t damaged, although all records and information about the artists and their artwork, as well as irreplacable information collected in Iraq and Palestine are gone.

  On top of these material losses, I am saddened beyond words by the loss of the work, energy and dedication so many inspiartional and incredible people have poured into the Babylon since it’s humble beginning. The growth of the Babylon as a political art space, with no grant funding and no wealthy backers, has proven to me that anything is possible when people are dedicated to their dream and willing to work for it.

  Next week the Babylon collective will be meeting to decide our next steps. I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have already recieved- it has given me the strength to get through what have been an extremely difficult couple of days. While our course of action is yet to be determined, all indications from those involved is that we would like to re-open the Babylon in the next few months. I am, personally, dedicated to re-opening the Babylon in South Minneapolis, and continuing to build on the incredible relationships we have developed with our neighbors, colleagues and supporters in the past two and a half years.

  If you have ever thought about getting invovled with the Babylon, or making a financial doantion, NOW IS THE TIME. Checks can be made out to the Babylon Collective, and mailed to me at 1522 Carroal Ave. St. Paul MN. If you are interested in organizing a benefit, or otherwise helping out in the re-grouping and rebuilding process, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at megbabylon@hotmail.com, or call me at 612.251.1746.

  Thank you again for your support-
  Meg Novak
  Babylon Art and Cultural Center
  Art Across Borders

  I think my favorite rug store was in the same building. *sigh*

  I feel really bad for the folks at Babylon, they’ve really worked to make it a cool place with lots of great memories. I’ll never forget sitting on the floor in their big room listening to David Rovics or all the political movies I’ve watched there.

  They weren’t only political though, a couple of people I’ve known had their first art shows there as well.

  sad…

  • 1:20 pm
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