How we treat our environment and relate to our ecosystem are
just two facets of what makes life for us and our grandchildren’s grandchildren
sustainable. But sustainability also has to do with cultural issues and what it
is to be truly human.
Our ancestors who lived more than 40,000 years ago were not
much different anatomically from us today. However for over a million years
before a marvelous event of 40,000 years ago man-made artifacts consisted of
nothing more than crude tools and weapons fashioned mainly from rocks. Then
something happened. Archaeologists call it the Great Leap Forward for it was a
quantum leap in culture that would affect humanity and human society henceforth.
Suddenly, there were paintings, carvings, figurines, ornaments and murals such
as those at the Lascaux
Caves. Human culture, the brilliant blooms of the human spirit, was
born not from engineering or mathematics or scientific achievements – but from
art. Indeed, art not only preceded all other human discoveries, it
foreshadowed, foresaw and nurtured them.
Whenever a government cuts funding for the arts, it is a
fatal mistake. There is plenty of research to suggest that children enriched by
fine arts do better than other students. There is something about the warp and
woof of our brains that, with a musical tempo or a swirl of color and shape,
our minds conceive quantum mechanics and relativity, unlock genetic codes and
can solve Fermat’s Theorem or twist a Rubik’s cube so that each side has a
single-color. It is always foolish to cut-back on the arts to penny-pinch a
budget to balance. Any municipality that does this, does so with an atavist’s
nostalgia for the good old days before the Great Leap Forward. It does so with
total disregard of what makes a City vibrant and worth living in and worth
visiting.
Yet, the City of El Paso is on the verge tomorrow of
de-funding the arts. Item 5A on tomorrow’s agenda introduces an ordinance to
cut funding for the arts for (they claim) six years. The public hearing for
this ordinance is scheduled for June 26th but it would be great to
contact your representative now and nip this one in the bud. There are
many good reasons for City Council members to say “NO” now and Arts Advocate,
Katherine Brennand (who is also a member of the PSB), makes
the case. Please read her
powerful argument to deep six this new ordinance at its introduction.
Then, please contact your
City representative. (Just click on the image of your rep and follow the
links to contact.)
Also in regard to our sustainability as a people and
culture, we need to be mindful of the education we provide our children and all
citizens. We are all familiar with the sickening scandals that have rocked the
El Paso Independent School District. Thanks to real public heroes such as
former Senator Eliot Shapleigh and diligent
journalists such as those at the El Paso Times, we know the story. Yesterday
the Times took the unprecedented but necessary step of publishing an editorial
on its front page. That
piece written by the editorial board of the paper called for the immediate
resignation of five of the EPISD board members. The El Paso Times is right.
They also published the names of the five board members who should resign now
and gave their email addresses. They urged readers to email these persons and
demand their resignation. The Times editorial board wrote: "It will take a strong public outcry to get these board members to finally do the right thing."
Here are the names and email addresses:
Here are the names and email addresses:
David Dodge, jaddodge@earthlink.net
Patricia Hughes, phughes@episd.org
Isela Castañon-Williams, miselacw@yahoo.com
Russell Wiggs, russell.wiggs.b4mc@statefarm.com
Joel Barrios, jbarrios@episd.org
Please email them if you agree that they should go.
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