Salon.com > Jennifer Buckendorff

The Oprah way

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 18:42:00 +0000

In his book "Collapse," Jared Diamond writes that "perhaps the crux of success or failure as a society is to know which core values to hold on to, and which ones to discard and replace with new values, when times change." He wrote this statement in discussing national security and environmental devastation, but it's also applicable to individuals. In the recent presidential election, progressives hoped to persuade Americans to change their minds about certain core beliefs -- including accepting the legitimacy of gay marriage -- but failed.

What makes someone reverse a long-held opinion about a touchy political issue? What's the thing that convinces an otherwise apolitical Midwestern churchgoer that gay rights are a good idea or that racial inequality needs to be immediately addressed?

Last spring, Salon published my article about concerns among the gay community that the marriage issue would be red meat for the right during the election. Clearly it was. And a good part of the problem -- the reason many Americans weren't convinced -- is that there was no strong sense among voters of an injustice perpetrated. Once the San Francisco courthouse became the center of the issue, the public face of the gay marriage debate was predominantly one of celebration, not of a right wronged.

The “Velvet-Strike” underground

Tue, 04 May 2004 19:30:00 +0000

Even on a Tuesday afternoon, the line for the Whitney Biennial stretches around the corner, blocking the sidewalk at 75th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The Biennial is a survey of the last two years of new American art, but what constitutes "art" is open to interpretation. When I visit, one of the exhibits is a computer showing a loop of "Counter-Strike," the anti-terrorism variant of the classic video game "Half-Life."

A first-person shooter (FPS) on display at one of the world's most preeminent contemporary art shows isn't the strangest thing one might expect to see, but it's still pretty odd. I step closer to the computer, where a woman stands frustrated, clicking the mouse impatiently. I explain to her that the game looks to be on a loop, and is not actually controlled by her. But it's not clear to me why "Counter-Strike" is in this collection until I read the curatorial card explaining the piece. "'Velvet-Strike,' 2002. Online game intervention."

I look more closely at the screen, at the dim world of concrete and crates, the space the game designers have created. A soldier changes weapons. But instead of firing his gun, he spray-paints a message on the nearest wall. It reads, "Hostages of Military Fantasy."

Bracing for the backlash

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 00:22:00 +0000

Diane Palladino and her partner, Ellen Koteen, live in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The valley includes the towns of Amherst and Northampton, and is known for its five liberal colleges. The National Enquirer once called it "Lesbianville, U.S.A." It would be an understatement to say that right-wing talk radio is not much of a factor in local politics.

Palladino and Koteen have been on the forefront of the culture wars for much of their 24-year relationship. Both have been organizers for feminist causes, like Koteen's past directorship of the Lesbian Education and Health project. And like thousands of valley residents, they were thrilled when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled last month that same-sex couples in the state are entitled to the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples. Under the court order, same-sex marriages will become legal on May 17, and they plan to be married soon after.

Still, despite the pervasive sense of joy here, they share something else with many Massachusetts gay-rights advocates: a nagging uneasiness.

“Matrix” nostalgia

Tue, 06 May 2003 19:30:00 +0000

An information technology manager visits the graveyard shift of build operators, the nighttime nerds who monitor the company's Web site through the early morning hours. He glances over at a lone workstation, where the staff has a movie on constant play, on endless repeat, often with the sound turned down. That movie? "The Matrix."

The film -- and its upcoming two sequels, "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" -- are tech-geek nirvana. But four years have passed since the first "Matrix," and in that time, the tech world -- the tech economy, anyway -- has imploded. In 1999, every programmer in the audience could picture himself hacking his own brain; in 2003, we're happy to slog along on B-list inventory-control projects, if only to ensure a paycheck.

The future that "The Matrix" illuminated has endless appeal for the technically inclined. It is dystopic science fiction -- a favorite subgenre of books, movies and video games for techies. It promised that a PVC-clad, lesbian-chic hacker hottie, like Trinity, might approach them in a crowded bar sometime soon. And as a final incentive, it told them they'd be able to learn drunken boxing just by thinking about it really hard, rather than actually working out.