Jack-of-all-trades artist creates gallery and music combo

Photo by: Kimmy Coyne
Serial killers are feared by most Americans, but are nevertheless studied and loved by a few like SCC student Clayton Ballard and his grandmother.
They call each other at night when serial killer stories appear, they enjoy talking about serial killers, and Ballard likes to draw portraits of them.
Ballard is now showing a collection of 15 charcoal serial killer portraits at a local café. He inaugurated the show with a concert about failed relationships and some serial killer related songs on the eve of Valentine’s day.
Ballard is not glorifying the acts of serial killers, he is simply intrigued by what they do and people’s reactions to them.
“It’s an intriguing thing because most of us can’t do what they do: kill someone,” Ballard said.
The serial killer collection started out as a school project Ballard had this past fall quarter. He since drew 15 serial killers, and 15 family members with different expressions and elements around them. “I tried to manipulate what people think with the way I draw them” Ballard said.
In the first show of these works Ballard printed ballots, and had the viewers go around and vote on which portrait was that of a killer, or his family. He wasn't just showing art, he was creating controversy.
According to Ballard "good art always challenges people's emotions. They can get upset...it makes them react."
“The whole point was to get people to talk about it," Ballard said. “If I would have chosen a normal topic then people would have forgotten.”
Ballard, a "creator" as he calls himself, is a multi-talented artist. He does more than just draw serial killer portraits, he writes poems, writes dark folk songs, plays accordeon, harmonica, guitar and piano, plus he sings and dreams about writing "that novel" someday.
Ballard started exploring the arts when he was a little kid, drawing and playing piano, which he learned from his grandmother. Later, when he was 16 years old, he abandoned the visual arts for 15 years while he learned music theory and experimented with different instruments.
Ballard always found pop music forgettable, and decided to write puppy love lyrics to metal rock tunes, and apocalyptic lyrics to mellow folk music.
Throughout his 15 years of musical exploration Ballard recorded two solo albums, and is currently working on his third solo album. On the upcoming album, he sings, and plays most of the instruments to a folk style of music, with stories about shotguns, among other topics.
He also started a band with his brother and some friends called "the wRIGHT BROTHERS". And no, this is not a typo, the band name is actually spelled with a small caps "W", because according to Ballard they are the right Wright brothers, and for him capitalization is just a way of showing importance and respect.
"the wRIGHT BROTHERS" makes allusion to the Wright brothers who invented the first successful airplane, and perform shows with flight suits, goggles and white contact lenses; they are supposed to be dead fighter pilots from WWI.
But music is not just music, and art is not just art. For Ballard these are all creations, and after 15 years of being a full time musician Ballard decided to come to SCC to study visual arts and create. Working on his solo album, and taking painting and drawing classes Ballard started to realize that he could put those worlds together.
Ballard has dedicated each of his two album covers to two of his favorite visual artists, Salvador Dalí, and Francisco Goya. Recently he even picked covers and wrote music to match his serial killer subject. He's starting to mix art forms, in a way that they all compliment each other to enrich the audience's experience.

If you're interested in Ballard's serial killer show, go to the Laughing Ladies café on 17551 15th Avenue Northeast, and to check out his music tracks and follow his artistic track try his solo and band myspace sites. http://www.myspace.com/claytonballard
http://www.myspace.com/rightbrothers

Haiti: ways to help

Photo by: United Nations Development Programme

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti in Jan 12, left a death toll estimated to exceed 100,000, leaving more than two million Haitians homeless.
Rescue teams from different countries are arriving to Port-au-Prince, but the access to the city and the affected areas is too difficult. However certain organizations based in other areas of Haiti have been mobilizing victims to treat them in their hospitals and field hospitals.
Many organizations already have websites to make money donations, however we better be careful, because some people are taking advantage of the situation and scamming people. The safest is to donate to well known organizations listed in CNN impact, like the one I personally have been following and supporting for a couple of years, Partners in Health (PIH).
Partners in Health (PIH) was co founded by Doctor Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl 25 years ago, and has been providing health services to poor Haitians in the Central plateau and other areas.
With more than 100 doctors and 600 nurses and auxiliaries Haiti, PIH is currently trying to set field hospitals in Port-au-Prince and mobilizing people from Port-au-Prince to safe areas where they can receive healthcare.

Though the decades the programs of PIH have successful decreased chronic diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis in the areas where they work, with community-based care that relies on village health workers who are part of their local partner Zamni Lasante (Partners in Health in creole).
This model has been reproduced in other countries like Russia, Peru and Guatemala after its success in Haiti. To learn more about Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl and their mission with Partner in Health, check http://www.pih.org/home.html
.

As for material donations, hospitals do not have supplies. Not even basic things like band-aids or aspirins, said co-founder of the American NGO Partners in Health (PIH) Ophelia Dahl to NPR. So any type of donations could help Haitians, however because of accessibility issues, monetary donations could be more efficient since Haiti based NGOs know the channels to get aid to the country.

Other organizations you can donate to (CNN impact list):

Providing Basic Needs:
• American Red Cross
• CARE
• United Nations Foundation/CERF
• World Vision
• UNICEF USA
• International Relief Teams
• Save the Children
• Catholic Relief Services
• Samaritan's Purse
• American Jewish World Services
• Clinton Foundation
• Yéle Haiti
• World Concern
• Mercy Corps
• Operation Blessing International
• Mercy & Sharing
• Oxfam America
• International Rescue Committee
• United Way Worldwide
• Episcopal Relief & Development
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Love a Child
• Project Hope
Providing Shelter:
• Shelterbox
• Habitat for Humanity International

Providing Medical Aid:
• Direct Relief International
• International Medical Corps
• Medical Teams International
• Doctors Without Borders
• Operation USA
• MAP International
• World Health Organization
• Americares
• Project Medishare
• Partners in Health

Providing Food:
• World Food Programme
• The Salvation Army
• Compassion International
• Food for the Poor
• World Water Relief
Organizations accepting international currencies:
• The International Committee of the Red Cross
• UK: The Disasters Emergency Committee
• Oxfam Great Britain
• British Red Cross
• The French Red Cross

Haiti, so what?

It's a mix of depression and rage.
I sat down at my school's lobby and started reading the Seattle Times. I tried to start a conversation with someone about the front page story on Haiti's earthquake, and all I got was a: ¿What happened?
¿What happened? ¿Seriously? Tens of thousands are dying, and there aren't enough resources and technology to save their lives. CNN stopped transmitting news and began transmitting Haiti news during the whole night on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most newspapers had pictures of children dying on their front pages and they still didn't not know what had happen.
But why would they care?
Because human beings are dying, human beings are loosing their entire families, human beings are suffering and not getting help on time. But the question might be, how would we know about this?
If you could at least take a few minutes everyday to open a newspaper and check the headlines you would know that there is more people in the world. Being informed is just a compassionate act, acknowledging that there is suffering in the world and understanding the situations that lead to the catastrophes that happen is just the least we can do.
Could you imagine being trapped in a country were thousands of people are dying, needing help, needing food and water, and your parents are trapped a couple of feet under your house roof? You will hope with all your heart that someone in another country will care and do something about it.
I personally have decided to be that person, and take some responsibility by reading and writing, because awareness leads to action.

Haiti, oportunidad de abrir los ojos y actuar

Aqui estoy yo sentada viendo como un grupo de Haitianos tratan de sacar a una adolescente que grita de dolor debajo de los escombros y después de horas de empujar con palas y empujar entre varios de ellos la logran sacar viva. Su tía y abuela murieron debajo de ella.

Un jóven que no puede ser mayor que yo llora en la pantalla porque ha perdido a toda su familia, todos abuelos, padres, h

ermanos. Todos aplastados por su propia casa y sin equipos de rescates que los puediera tratar de sacar a tiempo. Y yo estoy acá frente a un televisor. Qué no daría yo por poder ver esto con la tranquilidad que la película se va a acabar, pero lastimosamente no es una película y los cadáveres son reales. Los niños, los bebés todo estan muriendo a lado de más niños, padres desesperados, madres adoloridas. Quisiera poderla ver como veo una película y saber que todo es ficción, pero no. Eso esta pasando mientras escribo esto.

El cielo esta claro y azul, pero el futuro para estos seres humanos no s ve tan claro. Después de dos siglos de explotación y genocidios el país más pobre de América sufre uno de los peores terremotos en la historia reciente de nuestro hemisferio, pero sólo asi logran tener cubrimiento internacional.

Si, si existe, ese país del que hemos oído en cuentos de vodooh, pobreza y sangre. La antigua colonia francesa del Caribe, y é

l segundo país independiente del continente ignorado y descuidado por todos su vecinos logra subir la voz y gritar por ayuda.

Pero sinceramente, ¿tenía que pasar algo de esta magnitud para que oyeramos de Haiti?

Espero ahora más que nunca que todos re evaluemos nuestras vidas, logremos aprender algo de esta crisis, pero especialment

e que nunca más se pasen por alto todo el sufrimiento por el que pasa Haiti y todo lo que cada uno de nosotros podría hacer. No por los cientos de miles que han muerto en estos dos días, sino por toda la cantidad de sobrevi

vientes que necesitarán reconstruir su país y tratar de vivir como que si sus vidas enteras no se hubieran derrumbado.

PORFAVOR DONEN!

Es muy facil hacerse el pendejo

Estamos hoy a 4 meses del asesinato del Licenciado Rodrigo Rosenberg. Para algunos Guatemaltecos este evento cambio sus vidas.

Despues de un tiempo de andar queriendo poder salir a la calle sin preocuparse porque un grupo de patojos le pongan un revolver en la cabeza para robarle su celular y su cartera; o de poder dejar de pensar que algo le puede estar pasando a su familia mientras estan haciendo vueltas en la ciudad este suceso nos dio una esperanza. No por lo que el abogado haya dicho en el video, sino porque este le movio la conciencia y el corazon a mucho Guatemaltecos y muchos consiguieron el valor de salir a marchar en contra de la impunidad.

Yo desde un café en el centro de Seattle, Washington esperaba ansiosamente que alguno de los noticieros que puedo encontrar por internet me dijeran algo de lo que pasaba en las calles del centro de la ciudad de Guatemala desde el lunes en la tarde. Llamaba constantemente a mis conocidos ya que los noticieros, en su mayoria tuvieron a bien no darle importancia a las manifestaciones.

1000, 5000, 10.000 hasta llegar a poco mas de 25.000 guatemaltecos se reunieron espontaneamente en las calles en contra dela impunidad por parte del gobierno de Alvaro Colom. Al ver que no estaban solos y que el escandalo no era solamente un asesinato en la familia que saldria si mucho en los obituarios y en una nota departamental en Prensa Libre para ser olvidado la semana siguiente; sino en vez un video postmortem y la noticia de un asesinato que fue difundido en todos los medios, los guatemaltecos y guatematecas se pusieron los pantalones y salieron a exigirle cuentas a la justicia.

Recuerdo recibir correos, ver a un monton de mis contactos en facebook poner mensajes como "ahora si se acabo la impunidad", "estoy contigo Rodrigo Rosenberg". Me llegaban millones de cadenas, invitaciones a las marchas que se organizaron durante toda esa semana, cada dia hasta llegar a la gran marcha del domingo. En fin, llegue a ilusionarme y a pensar que ahora si. Nada que se acabo la impunidad, sino que ahora si los guatemaltecos iban a tener los huevos de hacer algo.

Mis temores empezaron conforme el numero de manifestantes empezo a bajar, hasta el punto que cuando llegue yo a Guatemala un mes mas tarde eramos apenas unos cuatrocientos manifestantes con pintas absolutamente desalentadas, me incluyo a mi misma. No es un gran misterio pero es esta misma actitud, esta facilidad con la que nos ahuevan ya sea por falta de participacion o por demasiada violencia y poca justicia. Y tampoco es una gran ciencia pero obviamente si seguimos a donde nos dirigimos, llegaremos a donde vamos. Y lo peor de todo es que esta direccion no se ve del todo alentadora.

Por el momento relajemonos, sigamos chupando con nuestros cuates hasta borrar nuestras memorias, hagamonos los de la vista gorda ante a corrupcion (talves un par de chelas ayude a tragar esto si usted es primerizo), leamonos nuestros periodicos como si fueran novelas de Miguel Angel Asturias si es que leemos o si es que sabemos quien es el, vayamonos de paseo al puerto con diez carros de guardespadas que al fin y al cabo hay maneras de hacerse el pendejo hasta que nos pase algo.