One of the ironies of warfare is that an apparently vastly superior force can be defeated by an apparently much weaker one when the weaker force refuses to meet the more powerful on its own terms, play by its rules, square of army to army, submit to punch and counterpunch. A combination of strategy and […]
AWTT portrait subject Bruce Gagnon argues for transforming military spending to create humane jobs and a healthier culture.
What would a student-managed educational lending system look like?
On the first leg of a trip last week to work at the Maxwell School for Citizenship at the University of Syracuse, I flew from Bangor, Maine, to Washington, D.C. Sitting across from me in aisle two was one of Maine’s senators, Susan Collins, a woman of enormous power, seniority and prestige in the Republican […]
In honor of environmental activists Larry Gibson, artist Robert Shetterly contemplates the devastation of Mountain Top Removal.
For many years Americans Who Tell the Truth has had a special relationship with the city, the people and the schools of Louisville, Kentucky. The last week of August this year marked one of the highpoints. On August 30 , The Muhammad Ali Center opened an exhibit of AWTT portraits titled “Muhammad Ali and the […]
A couple of nights ago I had dinner with friends I have known for a long time. I think all of them – an inner city teacher, an artist, a retired doctor – would describe themselves as liberals. I would not describe them as progressive thinkers – not a litmus test – but I would […]
It’s true that the Americans Who Tell the Truth project has become all about education, but the primary education has been my own. In the past ten years I have learned more about our history, why our history is the way it is, and some of the people who have guided its evolution in order […]
I had pinned this credo (below) of Walt Whitman to my studio wall many years ago because it represented to me the essential democratic impulse, something I liked to keep in mind while painting. Overwhelmed by anger at the attitude and manner that our government adopted after 9/11, I wanted to honor Whitman’s words by […]