2 October 2022

RBG

The Internet can be like a maze that swallows you up. You go this way and that. Turn here and turn there. There's always something of interest to draw you in or catch your eye. Even after thirty years of regular use, I am still enthralled.

How did I get there yesterday? I wound up looking at paintings by Joan Baez. It's funny how many well-known  song-makers of recent decades have also shown genuine talent as painters. They include Bob Dylan, Ronnie Wood and Joni Mitchell.

Joan Baez has specialised in portrait painting. It seems to be the human face that has magnetised her creativity. She has painted pictures of many well-known celebrities such as Greta Thunberg, Tony Fauci, The Rolling Stones and her old boyfriend - Bob Dylan.

Joan Baez is now eighty one years old. She has lived a hell of a life of music, art, friendship and political struggle for just causes. Back in the sixties she would only perform at all-black campuses in America's southern states because of the lingering racism that polluted the college selection system. She was seriously involved in protests against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and she supported environmental protests as well as the struggle for improved  LGBT rights. 

For sixty years she has been a thorn in the side of America's establishment, reminding doubters that protestation matters and it can change things for the better. Without protest and fightback we are little more than sheep. It is easy to sit comfortably on the sidelines doing nothing - much harder to raise your head above the parapet and speak out as Joan has always done.

Here's Joan Baez's portrait of another battler for justice and fairness  - Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, completed in 2018, two years before her untimely death:-


This is what Joan Baez said of her: “RBG spoke truth to power, and gave teeth to truth. She could be counted on for her non-partisanship and fairness, things that are now so scantily present in the offices of the highest law of the land.”

I think Joan caught Ruth Bader-Ginsburg's penetrating stare so brilliantly. It was a look that scanned the darkness like a lighthouse beam, searching for truth. No wonder Trump was quick to replace her in The US Supreme Court with another  unqualified puppet. Tragically, his spiteful  legacy lives on.

33 comments:

  1. The Chartists and the Suffragettes were not sheep. If they never protested ordinary people wouldn't have the right to vote.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Status quo conservatives conveniently forget that fact.

      Delete
  2. The portrait is a great work of art. I imagine that an artist like Joan Baez gets really close to the person she portrays; I don't know how many hours they actually spend sitting for her but it must give them a special closeness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some were cerainly based on sittings but others came from photographs.

      Delete
  3. That is a great portrait though I must say, I thought RGB was a pretty forgettable justice when she was alive. She never made the news much and just seemed like another vote. But I admit that perhaps it was just my perception of her since I am more of a centrist and didn't agree with a lot of her votes.

    I am also puzzled by the number of armchair quarterbacks who automatically dismiss the current court without having ever took a day of constitutional law studies or even read an opinion written by the justices. I think most do because they are unhappy with the outcome of a recent decision. I've been unhappy with lots of decisions over the years but since I've never studied constitutional law, I have never outright dismissed a decision. I have read some of the majority opinions I have been disappointed with and could see how strong the case was against my belief was to understand why the decision was made the way it was.

    At the end of the day, I'm always thankful that they are there as a counterbalance to our president and congress, no matter whom the president or how lopsided the congress is. Even if I don't always get the ruling I would like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You don't have to have studied constitutional law to see that Trump's appointees were underqualified and happen to sing from his right wing hymn sheet. He rushed Ruth Bader-Ginsburg's replacement in with undue haste.

      Delete
    2. Underqualified? All three were lawyers with extensive resumes in the field of judicial law including having clerked on the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court before being appointed to the Supreme Court. In fact, they have the same qualifications as Jackson who was recently appointed. I'm not surprised that Trump's three appointees "sing from his right wing hymn sheet" just as I am not surprised that Jackson sings from Biden's left wing hymn sheet. It is what it is, but I wouldn't say that any of them are unqualified just because they have a different belief set than I do.

      Delete
    3. Take Brett Kavanaugh as an example. Kavanaugh was criticized for coming across as overly emotional, partisan, and biased when defending himself against allegations he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a Maryland house party in 1982.
      The National Council of Churches, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and over 1,000 law professors publicly spoke out against his confirmation.

      Delete
    4. Yeah I will give you that. Kavanaugh, like Thomas before him, didn't sound like a real gentleman and not the type of person I would associate with. Other than his moral digressions, if true as accused, he was well qualified from a resume standpoint which was my point.

      Certainly makes me wonder what kind of dirt they (the opposition of me politically) would find and choose to extort if I were ever appointed to some high office requiring congressional approval. One of many reasons why I would just decline any such offer.

      Delete
  4. Two powerful women. Love that. Need more of that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But not necessarily in an Olympic Games way.

      Delete
  5. I, too, have often noticed how many musicians have incredible artistic skills in other areas. It hardly seems fair, does it? I just read a short blurb about Joan Baez's father yesterday, strangely enough. The apple did not fall far from the tree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With her Mexican heritage, she was often a victim of racists.

      Delete
  6. Great portrait, I met RBG a couple of times, heard her grill attorneys in the Court several times, she was excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How cool that you met her Travel... and I mean really cool!

      Delete
  7. Two amazing women.

    ReplyDelete
  8. An amazing portrait - so lifelike. As I stared at it, I somehow expected her to blink!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Joan Baez is a hero of mine -- I've seen her in concert several times. But I never knew she painted! Or perhaps I read it in passing at some point and forgot. She's better than I would be, that's for sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have only seen her once. I missed her the last time she performed in Sheffield.

      Delete
  10. Wow! Great picture! I just wish RBG had retired while Obama was president...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't considered that but you are right Ellen.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:22 pm

    Great women, unlike one I won't mention, make the world a better place and Baez and Bader-Ginsburg certainly qualify.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You give a good number of reasons why people should like Joan Baez.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am going to listen to some of her songs again.

      Delete
  13. What an excellent painting! I didn't know anything at all about RGB until she died and the international blogs I read were all about her. I don't know a thing about Joan Baez either apart from now knowing she can paint very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try listening to some of her songs River. I am sure you could easily find some on YouTube.

      Delete
  14. Joan Baez was a fighter against the injustices of her time. Did not know that she painted but I see she also reflects the personalities of her time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She has lived proudly on the side of what is righteous.

      Delete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits