Friday, October 27, 2006

Askia Muhammad endorses Faith


Askia At-Large
Election Day: A Leap of Faith

Askia Muhammad
The Washington Informer
Thursday, October 26, 2006

Lost, I assure you, among all the pre and post-election analysis, interpretation, spin, punditry, gibberish and jibber-jabber that has already been said or has yet to be spoken or written regarding Decision 2006 will almost certainly be the story of perennial D.C. mayoral write-in candidate, Mayor “Capture the Rapture” Faith Dane.

Faith is a perennial write-in candidate who performed her own “campaign cabaret, dinner concert” at Steve’s Player’s Lounge in Southeast D.C. one election eve. She’s a believer. She’s a performer.

“Faith can move mountains,” she declares.

You know: Faith.

You’re at a grassroots political event in the District of Columbia, maybe even in a church. At a time pregnant with possibilities, the political air, the sanctity of the sanctuary is pierced by the sound of a trumpet! Loud! Brash! That’s Faith, campaigning for mayor!

You know Faith. You’ve been at a meeting when Faith blew her horn. Sometimes she was made to leave the room after the outburst; sometimes, her horn was simply confiscated. It’s memorable political theater of distraction. You see her with her horn in her hand at an event. You hope.

You know Faith.

She was the “show-stopping comedy star of the Broadway show & movie ‘Gypsy’” which also featured Ethel Merman, Jack Klugman and Sandra Church in May 1959. Then there was that movie with Marlon Brando! “Gypsy.” Faith played the trumpet-blowing striptease artist, one of three strippers in the musical fable based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee.

“I’ve known her since I was 22,” Mr. Brando told Washington Post writer David Montgomery in 2002. “She’s always stood up for what is right and stood up for principles.”

And she’s never been afraid to be disruptive, Brando continued. Many years ago “she was at a party and somebody made some untoward remarks about me ... and she grabbed this guy and broke his nose.” That’s Faith, all right.

But, dear voter, if you persist and wade on past the “show-stopping comedy star,” there is the kernel of a truly valuable political concept in what Faith preaches. The idea is: “Arts and Culture for Statehood.” Of course, that means statehood for the District of Columbia, but she also says arts and culture are important for “statehood” with a small “s.”

You don’t really know Faith.

She says arts can become a vital infrastructure for statehood. “Using FDR’s WPA Federal Arts Bill as a model,” Faith declared at the D.C. Statehood Summit in 1993, her project would “sponsor arts training throughout the city, in every neighborhood, in storefronts, public buildings, workplaces, schools and churches to provide an accessible, universal resource for human nurturance, self-expression, and careers that can lure people away from drug and alcohol abuse and crime.”

That’s a good idea! It should be introduced before the D.C. Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities!

That is the centerpiece of Faith Dane’s horn-blowing, political being. Meaning.

Faith is a write-in candidate for ... mayor this year. Faith is a perennial write-in candidate for something, running on faith mostly, with a good idea or two for good measure and well beneath the public facade.

Write-in Mayor Faith “to Free D.C.” her perennial poster/handout reads.

Askia Muhammad is Editor of National Scene News Bureau, which provides editorial, audio and photographic content for broadcast and print clients, including The Final Call, National Public Radio, Soundprint, WPFW-FM and The Washington Informer. His e-mail address is askia99@verizon.net.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Flyer: Fenty Schmenty!

Here's a flyer format of the Fenty Schmenty image! Click on it to enlarge. Print it out and Pass it out!

(updated 11/2/06)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

A New State: A NEW INTERCULTURAL INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE ARTS

click to enlarge the WHEEL of the WORKINGS of WASHINGTON by the WILL of the PEOPLE

INSTANT INDEPENDENT INTERCULTURAL STATEHOOD


POWER TO THE DC PEOPLE THRU THEIR ANC'S!!!
Prepare and Declare Faith's Platform:
THROUGH COMPUTER SELECTIVITY OF THE LEGISLATIVE IDEAS OF EACH CITIZEN, THE ANCS BECOME:
*LEGISLATIVE CLEARING HOUSES
*FAMILY COUNSELING CENTER
*DRUG REHABILITATION CENTER
*COMMUNITY CULTURAL CENTER
*NEIGHBORHOOD STUDIES IN RACISM (INTEREXCHANGE OF ETHNIC ARTS)
*COLLABORATION WITH AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS WITHIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
*THE WATCHDOG OF EVERY CITY AGENCY AND IT'S FUNCTION, ITS' FINANCING, IT'S EFFECTIVENESS
*THE ANC CHAIRS WILL WORK HALF DAY, SALARIED AT $40,000 PER YEAR
*ARTS SUPERSTARS WILL SUPPLY FREE TRAINING THROUGH SATELLITE TELEVISION HOOKUPS IN SCHOOLS AND CITYWIDE PERSONAL APPEARANCES...THE FINANCING WELL COME FROM PERCENTAGES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE. RESIDUALS FOUNDATIONS AND PENSION FUNDS

THROUGH THE FORTHWITH IMPLEMENTATION OF THESE COLLECTIVE MINI GOVERNMENTS, WASHINGTON, DC WILL BECOME FREE AND BECOME AN INSTANT INDEPENDENT STATE-AUTOMATIC CESSESSION WILL BE IMMINENT AND RENDER THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE NEW NEW COLUMBIA!!!!!!

Faith Cleans Systems (your government plumber)

Monday, October 02, 2006

Fenty Shmenty!

This is made from a photo that was on page 90 in September's issue of "DC North." The photo is used with permission of the photographer, Andrew Lightman. (click the thumbnail to enlarge)

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Count-Down

People seem to think the election is over! But actually, there's

Get your own Myspace Countdown


which is Tuesday, November 7th.