By: Samantha Downing
Redpath and the Libertarian party say the government has too much power.
When it comes to election time, most voters choose sides between Republican and Democrat.
But some look elsewhere when preparing to cast their ballots.
“The greatest problem with our political system today is the special interest-driven two-party system that provides the American people with two big-government ‘solutions’ and asks them to choose between the two evils,” said Vladimir Rudenko, vice chairman of the organization Libertarians at VCU.
The chairman of the organization, Steven Latimer, agreed.
“America was founded on a tax revolt, and the Libertarian Party and its candidates are aware of this,” said Latimer.
William Redpath is Virginia’s Libertarian candidate for Senate.
The most important issue in his campaign is national security, without which, he says on his Web site, “The benefits of a free society and prosperity cannot be enjoyed.”
Redpath says the U.S. should adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy. He promotes withdrawing from Iraq and focusing on Al-Qaeda as the greatest security threat.
Regarding the economy, Redpath encourages a reduction in federal government spending.
“Stop the cheesy, half-baked, short-sighted federal responses to the current economic situation,” he says. “Implement long-term solutions now.”
Redpath and the Libertarian party support reducing federal income tax.
“It is time to end this confiscation of our earnings and get the government out of our pocketbooks,” says the party’s Web site.
Seniors should have control of their own Medicare benefits, says Redpath, and Medicaid should be financed by state and local governments rather than the federal government.
“Health care is not a right, because it requires the talents and resources of other people,” Redpath says. “The federal government is not empowered by the U.S. Constitution to provide health care.”
Redpath supports a health care system driven by consumers, not based on employers.
He says Americans should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding consensual crimes, and the individual states should address the issue of drug prohibition.
Born and raised in Ohio, Redpath worked for NBC and ABC in New York, and WISH-TV in Indianapolis before joining BIA Financial Network, Inc. – a Chantilly, Va., company that appraises media and telecommunications businesses.
The Libertarian Party was created in December 1971, and Redpath has been a member since 1984. He is currently the chairman of the Libertarian National Committee.
According to its Web site, the Libertarian Party seeks “a return to the basic principles that made America great,” with a smaller government than either Democrats or Republicans want.
“Government at all levels is too large, too expensive, woefully inefficient, arrogant, intrusive and downright dangerous.”
Rudenko said the government should be shrunk to “its original Constitutional boundaries.”
The Libertarian Party supports the idea of individual responsibility, which means that each person has “the right to control his or her own body, action, speech and property.”
The Libertarian Party says it is the only political party that respects people as individuals and wants the government to do the same.
Redpath formerly ran for the House of Delegates in 1993, for the state Senate in the special election in January 1998, and for governor in 2001 – where he won less than 1 percent of votes.
This election, as he runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate, Redpath’s motto is, “Anything that’s peaceful.”
Also running for Senate in Virginia are Republican Jim Gilmore and Democrat Mark Warner.
Redpath’s name does not often appear alongside his opponents’ in polls, but people like Latimer still support him.
“By voting Libertarian, I made my personal vote as powerful as possible.”
Rudenko said the reason he voted Libertarian is that our country is in trouble because our liberties are being taken away from us.
“Freedom is on the run, in short, and the tiny libertarian minority is trying to shout ‘come back and hold your ground.’ This is America, this is where freedom belongs.”
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Photorealistic chocolate art
By: Samantha Downing
This piece was posted on the Faces of Richmond blog.
A local artist paints what she is passionate about - chocolate.
Chocolate Hershey’s kisses sit partially unwrapped on a tall, 12-inch-square black table, with two lights and a camera staring at them.
No one is planning to eat this candy.
The chocolate kisses are the subject of Sharon Lalik’s current paintings – actually, the photographs of the kisses are.
“I’m a photorealist artist. I do paintings of photographs,” Lalik explained. “The subject matter is the photograph; it is not what is in the photograph.”
Lalik, a former Virginia Commonwealth University art student, has always painted realistically. Recently, she has been using her own photographs of chocolate as the subjects for her paintings.
“I’d always go to the store … I’d always grab a piece of chocolate,” she said. “I realized I love chocolate – I really love chocolate. Maybe I should just start painting some paintings that have chocolate in them.”
She took her passion for chocolate and reflective surfaces and turned it into art. Part of the reason Lalik paints chocolate is that it’s unique.
Also, she said, “Who could not love a chocolate kiss? So I figured, you know, if nothing else, people will love my pieces. It’s chocolate!”
Lalik attended VCU for Communcation Arts and Design, but was unable to finish after she broke her hand in a car accident.
Not knowing if she would ever be able to paint again, Lalik designed and sewed clothing, window treatments and a variety of other materials.
“The only thing I could do right-handed was cut, so it saved me,” she said.
It was 10 years before she started painting again, even though she never gave up drawing. She started with watercolors but eventually went back into oil painting.
Lalik said the sewing she did strengthened her hand so she could hold a paintbrush. Now she paints four hours each day.
“I have been an artist all my life, ever since I can remember,” Lalik said.
Her sister Sandra White said Lalik would be pulled out of classes in high school to work on the art for school dances and other functions. This happened so often that White had to tutor her in some classes.
“You’d always see Sharon in the big hallway with her paper rolled out, drawing,” White laughed.
She also said that Lalik is accident prone, can’t cook and should have been a therapist.
“She can tell me everything that’s wrong with my life. She can tell me everything I should be doing,” White said. “Unfortunately, most of the time she’s right.”
But, White added, Lalik is very good at making people feel good about themselves and encouraging them.
As a painter, Lalik is very detail-oriented.
“Everything has to be perfect,” White said. “I think she oversimplifies it because she does put a lot of her emotion into the piece. She just tries to hide that she does.”
Lalik’s inspiration for painting is the ability to help people see things in a different way.
“What inspires me is to do a painting that gives another person another set of eyes,” she said with a smile. “They see things they never saw before.”
Being an artist isn’t always fun and games and chocolate.
“I have to get up in the morning and make myself paint just like somebody else has to go to work,” Lalik said. “And some days I’d rather clean the toilet than paint.”
But, she went on to say, painting is a part of who she is – not just what she does.
“It’s like weaved fabric, like it’s part of your being.”
Lalik’s paintings have been sold and shown in a number of different places, including in VCU’s art center.
In a March art show, Lalik plans to feature 25 pieces. Many will be paintings of chocolate, some of which are not even painted yet.
She is also trying to get into the Meisel Gallery in New York, named after the man who coined the term “photorealism” during a time when abstract was the most popular form of painting.
“Nobody used a photograph to paint by,” Lalik said. “It was like the biggest sin across the art world.”
Even today, many artists still do not respect photorealism as an art.
“They feel it should all come from your heart,” Lalik said. “I think anything you do comes from your heart.”
# # #
This piece was posted on the Faces of Richmond blog.
A local artist paints what she is passionate about - chocolate.
Chocolate Hershey’s kisses sit partially unwrapped on a tall, 12-inch-square black table, with two lights and a camera staring at them.
No one is planning to eat this candy.
The chocolate kisses are the subject of Sharon Lalik’s current paintings – actually, the photographs of the kisses are.
“I’m a photorealist artist. I do paintings of photographs,” Lalik explained. “The subject matter is the photograph; it is not what is in the photograph.”
Lalik, a former Virginia Commonwealth University art student, has always painted realistically. Recently, she has been using her own photographs of chocolate as the subjects for her paintings.
“I’d always go to the store … I’d always grab a piece of chocolate,” she said. “I realized I love chocolate – I really love chocolate. Maybe I should just start painting some paintings that have chocolate in them.”
She took her passion for chocolate and reflective surfaces and turned it into art. Part of the reason Lalik paints chocolate is that it’s unique.
Also, she said, “Who could not love a chocolate kiss? So I figured, you know, if nothing else, people will love my pieces. It’s chocolate!”
Lalik attended VCU for Communcation Arts and Design, but was unable to finish after she broke her hand in a car accident.
Not knowing if she would ever be able to paint again, Lalik designed and sewed clothing, window treatments and a variety of other materials.
“The only thing I could do right-handed was cut, so it saved me,” she said.
It was 10 years before she started painting again, even though she never gave up drawing. She started with watercolors but eventually went back into oil painting.
Lalik said the sewing she did strengthened her hand so she could hold a paintbrush. Now she paints four hours each day.
“I have been an artist all my life, ever since I can remember,” Lalik said.
Her sister Sandra White said Lalik would be pulled out of classes in high school to work on the art for school dances and other functions. This happened so often that White had to tutor her in some classes.
“You’d always see Sharon in the big hallway with her paper rolled out, drawing,” White laughed.
She also said that Lalik is accident prone, can’t cook and should have been a therapist.
“She can tell me everything that’s wrong with my life. She can tell me everything I should be doing,” White said. “Unfortunately, most of the time she’s right.”
But, White added, Lalik is very good at making people feel good about themselves and encouraging them.
As a painter, Lalik is very detail-oriented.
“Everything has to be perfect,” White said. “I think she oversimplifies it because she does put a lot of her emotion into the piece. She just tries to hide that she does.”
Lalik’s inspiration for painting is the ability to help people see things in a different way.
“What inspires me is to do a painting that gives another person another set of eyes,” she said with a smile. “They see things they never saw before.”
Being an artist isn’t always fun and games and chocolate.
“I have to get up in the morning and make myself paint just like somebody else has to go to work,” Lalik said. “And some days I’d rather clean the toilet than paint.”
But, she went on to say, painting is a part of who she is – not just what she does.
“It’s like weaved fabric, like it’s part of your being.”
Lalik’s paintings have been sold and shown in a number of different places, including in VCU’s art center.
In a March art show, Lalik plans to feature 25 pieces. Many will be paintings of chocolate, some of which are not even painted yet.
She is also trying to get into the Meisel Gallery in New York, named after the man who coined the term “photorealism” during a time when abstract was the most popular form of painting.
“Nobody used a photograph to paint by,” Lalik said. “It was like the biggest sin across the art world.”
Even today, many artists still do not respect photorealism as an art.
“They feel it should all come from your heart,” Lalik said. “I think anything you do comes from your heart.”
# # #
Thursday, October 30, 2008
VCU employees donate mostly to Obama
This article was published in the Commonwealth Times: VCU employees donate mostly to Obama - News
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Future of media
By: Samantha Downing
This piece was published in the VCU Mass Comm Week blog.
RICHMOND - Many VCU students get a large part of their news from the Internet. “I think putting the news online gets students to check out what is going on more, said Sierra Heath, a creative advertising sophomore.
As part of VCU’s Mass Comm Week, Heath and more than 100 other students gathered on Tuesday afternoon to hear representatives of several media companies address how the Internet affects traditional forms of media.
“Without an informed society, democracy is weakened,” said Daniel Finnegan, senior editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
He said that the newspaper is in the process of moving to the Internet, but he didn’t know if the newspaper would ever be Internet-only. Finnegan said that, though the number of paid subscriptions has dropped recently, the Times-Dispatch still has 175,000 subscribers.
Finnegan was not concerned about blogs impacting the newspaper because they are usually full of opinions and important only to a few people. He did mention using Facebook as a tool to reach people, adding that in the future, people might be able to monitor their Facebook profiles from the newspaper’s Web site.
As far as a future in the media industry for students, Finnegan said, “I think it’s going to be there in some shape or form.”
Jean McNair, news editor at the Associated Press, said that the world's largest news organization is adjusting to the changes, too. She said that the AP is working on new ways of getting news to people, including through cell phones.
“One advantage the AP has is that we’ve kind of always been a business model that works well on the Internet,” she said. “The cliché was we had a deadline every minute.”
People have an appetite for news, McNair said, and they want to be able to follow stories as they progress.
The publisher of Virginia Business, Bernie Niemeier, said that money is the biggest factor. He said that the Virginia Business Web site does not get enough “click-throughs” – visitors clicking on ads on the site, which generates money for the magazine – to make a significant amount of money.
“If you think about what it costs to put all this content here,” he said, “it can’t be supported by the revenue that’s being generated online.”
The challenge is “monetizing the eyeballs,” which is difficult because it is hard to monitor who visits the site, Niemeier said.
Kym Grinnage, general sales manager at NBC12, said that people need to create a “menu for their life” listing the things that are important to them and the sites they will visit for their news.
He said that it is important to read the newspaper because it contains so much more information than television.
“TV is the tease to get your attention,” Grinnage said.
Grinnage said that students now can design their own careers better than they ever could before.
“You guys have the best opportunity you could have in the world,” he said. “You have the World Wide Web.”
The panel of speakers didn’t think that print media would fade.
“Print is not as dead as you may have heard,” Niemeier said.
Finnegan said, “Newspapers still are, at least right now, your best mass marketing tool.”
Grinnage advised students in the mass communications field to remain "very curious about everything."
When asked how students could support local media, Finnegan laughed and said, “Buy the newspaper.”
# # #
This piece was published in the VCU Mass Comm Week blog.
Media professionals share advice with VCU mass communications students during Mass Comm Week.
RICHMOND - Many VCU students get a large part of their news from the Internet. “I think putting the news online gets students to check out what is going on more, said Sierra Heath, a creative advertising sophomore.
As part of VCU’s Mass Comm Week, Heath and more than 100 other students gathered on Tuesday afternoon to hear representatives of several media companies address how the Internet affects traditional forms of media.
“Without an informed society, democracy is weakened,” said Daniel Finnegan, senior editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
He said that the newspaper is in the process of moving to the Internet, but he didn’t know if the newspaper would ever be Internet-only. Finnegan said that, though the number of paid subscriptions has dropped recently, the Times-Dispatch still has 175,000 subscribers.
Finnegan was not concerned about blogs impacting the newspaper because they are usually full of opinions and important only to a few people. He did mention using Facebook as a tool to reach people, adding that in the future, people might be able to monitor their Facebook profiles from the newspaper’s Web site.
As far as a future in the media industry for students, Finnegan said, “I think it’s going to be there in some shape or form.”
Jean McNair, news editor at the Associated Press, said that the world's largest news organization is adjusting to the changes, too. She said that the AP is working on new ways of getting news to people, including through cell phones.
“One advantage the AP has is that we’ve kind of always been a business model that works well on the Internet,” she said. “The cliché was we had a deadline every minute.”
People have an appetite for news, McNair said, and they want to be able to follow stories as they progress.
The publisher of Virginia Business, Bernie Niemeier, said that money is the biggest factor. He said that the Virginia Business Web site does not get enough “click-throughs” – visitors clicking on ads on the site, which generates money for the magazine – to make a significant amount of money.
“If you think about what it costs to put all this content here,” he said, “it can’t be supported by the revenue that’s being generated online.”
The challenge is “monetizing the eyeballs,” which is difficult because it is hard to monitor who visits the site, Niemeier said.
Kym Grinnage, general sales manager at NBC12, said that people need to create a “menu for their life” listing the things that are important to them and the sites they will visit for their news.
He said that it is important to read the newspaper because it contains so much more information than television.
“TV is the tease to get your attention,” Grinnage said.
Grinnage said that students now can design their own careers better than they ever could before.
“You guys have the best opportunity you could have in the world,” he said. “You have the World Wide Web.”
The panel of speakers didn’t think that print media would fade.
“Print is not as dead as you may have heard,” Niemeier said.
Finnegan said, “Newspapers still are, at least right now, your best mass marketing tool.”
Grinnage advised students in the mass communications field to remain "very curious about everything."
When asked how students could support local media, Finnegan laughed and said, “Buy the newspaper.”
# # #
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