THINK you're registered?

Even if you are all ready registered, you should make sure your INFO is UP-TO-DATE. Here's a recent post from the lovely and talented Raina Telgemeier:

Unbelievably, I just realized my voter information was NOT UP TO DATE!

I've been a registered voter in New York State since 2004, so I figured I was all set for November. But I decided to confirm it anyway, because you never know. So I checked, and only THEN did I realize--hey! I've moved apartments since 2004! Would that have affected my ability to place my vote? Who knows? But this is not the kind of election where I want to take chances.

Are YOU registered?

Is YOUR personal info up-to-date?

Are you SURE?

Did you move? Get married? Change your name?

You can go here to check. Or register. Every state is different, and every state has a different deadline for submitting your registration--New York's is October 10. The website will tell you what your state's deadline is, and where to send your form. It took about 2 minutes for me to do this.

This is important, you guys. I may or may not have more to say about the election as it gets closer, but suffice it to say I've been thinking about it since early this year, even if I haven't been talking about it publicly. Just please please do it.

Thanks.

~raina

This is from Raina's LiveJournal! Check it out to keep up to date with her work, and sound perspective on events in the comics' industry. Also! She's used our 'Artists for Obama' as her avatar!

REGISTER TO VOTE! TODAY!

YOU NEED TO REGISTER TO VOTE

THIS WEEK

For many states, your deadline is only 20-30 days out from Election Day-- which is 35 days from now! Not sure what your state's deadline is? Check at DECLARE YOURSELF (http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_faq/state_by_state_info_2.html).

You can easily do it online, by mail, or you can go to your local election office to do so. Here are a few more resources:

ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

PROJECT VOTE SMART

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

DECLARE YOURSELF

ROCK THE VOTE

I am fond of Rock The Vote because when MTV launched it in 1992, I was finally 18 years old and an adult! Of course, Madonna, REM, and Deee-lite appealed to my silly senses and I found myself at a Clinton rally in St. Louis and thought myself very politically minded. Later, I filled out the Voter Registration form in person at the Webster Groves Library and was rejected because the librarian "official" who looked over my U.S. birth certificate saw 'Born Abroad' stamped on it which she found suspicious for some reason...

Had I any intel or guidance, I would have discovered that this was NOT CORRECT. Should anyone try to deter you for obscure or some reason other than what you see on many voting documents FAQs, please question another source or authority!

Twelve years and three elections later, I finally made the effort and got registered! Check out my LiveJournal post (http://spookoo.livejournal.com/11961.html) where I posted my jubliation:

"I registered to VOTE!! This is my first time voting. I did not in the last two elections because the first time I was denied registration due to my international status. The second time I felt deflated and let's be honest, I was too apathetic.

NO MORE! I'm a real citizen and I'm going to really vote. Very exciting. I registered via declareyourself.com and found that a lot easier and more informative than Rock The Vote's interface/form thing.

If you haven't registered, GO!"

--ME!
October 8, 2004

A Nation for Everybody

REGISTER TO VOTE

KNOW YOUR POLLING LOCATION

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

SPREAD THE WORD

36 DAYS LEFT TILL ELECTION DAY

Truth, Justice, and the American-Artist Way

"ART can't just be a rear-view mirror,
it should have a headlight out there...
to point where we need to go."

-- Barack Obama

Marion Vitus, illustrator extraordinaire, took this photograph and very graciously emailed it to us. She wrote, "Not exactly comic art... But, I like the crossover nonetheless."

My love, my darling, my duck! We are not exclusively about the comics art, though it is obviously our main passion. ARTISTS FOR OBAMA , I say, all mediums and craft! Painting, photography, music, sculpture, robot-making, what-have-you! JUST DO!

(Fantastic job taking this photo, Marion! And thank you very much for taking the time and emailing me.)

Get ready, get ready

'COS HERE I COME...

UPDATE: IT'S ON, PEOPLE! Senator McCain decides to participate in the first debate for the 2008 Election for Presidency of The United States!

I know, it's one of the craziest news mornings I've ever seen. I'm trying to digest everything from the financial crisis to foreign military arms purchases and if the presidential debate is taking place tonight in Mississippi. There's still no official word from the McCain campaign if Senator McCain will show and I think the latest report is that if he doesn't, Obama will hold a town hall type meeting. Well, whatever happens, I think we can be ready for it, don't you?

Oxford, Miss., September 24, 2008 - “The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is moving forward with its plan for the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. this Friday, September 26. The plans for this forum have been underway for more than a year and a half. The CPD’s mission is to provide a forum in which the American public has an opportunity to hear the leading candidates for the president of the United States debate the critical issues facing the nation. We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled.”

-- Statement by Commission on Presidential Debates. (http://www.debates.org)

On this Dance Political Party Friday, may I present Senator Obama's views on the politics of hip-hop and what he has on his iPod... The presidential playlist, up for debate?


Happy weekend, Peace and Love!

Artists for Change

This week has been an amazingly productive time for the Obama movement. In the last twenty-four hours, I've created this Artists for Obama graphic, been informed of a social network called "Comics Industry for Obama", organized by the incredible Sarah Grace McCandless, and received an email from Charette Communication Design's Pete Friedrich on a graphic he was inspired to make against the McCain/Palin campaign titled 'McCain't'.

Here's information on all three projects should you like to participate in any of them:

COMICS INDUSTRY FOR OBAMA

Whether you’re an artist, a writer, a publisher, an editor, a retailer, a fan, or all of the above, this is the place to show your support. In the words of Senator Barack Obama, let’s bring about the change we need by helping to elect him as President of the United States this November!


Bid on one of our upcoming auctions featuring one-of-a-kind Obama sketches from top comics artists such as Mike Mignola and Eric Powell (who also designed our awesome logo). 100% of the final winning bids will be donated to the Obama campaign!

MCCAIN'T

Hi, I woke up in a cold sweat, and the only way to make it go away was to get this graphic out of my head. So here it is. Use it however you like. Please.


And if you want to get a legit piece of merch, I uploaded it: http://www.zazzle.com/paved_planet All proceeds from orders I will funnel into the Obama Campaign!

ARTISTS FOR OBAMA

There are many peoples representing and being represented for Obama. Women, Latinos, Environmentalists, People of Faith, even Sportsmen. Perhaps it is obvious that The Arts community would be behind the Democratic ticket, but how can we know unless we show our support?

I've created the above graphic, displaying the basic tools of 'the artist', which I invite you to use as you please. Print it out, use it on your own blog or website, whatever you feel will send the message that we need a change and have the audacity of hope! Though, if you feel this logo does not best represent YOUR art, there is a blank logo which I encourage you to use as your canvas to show your support: http://www.spookoo.com/artists_for_obama.html

(Thanks to Beckerman for the art direction and Jackson for the encouragement.)

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

During my morning stroll through the internet, saw this on my fav site SUPERFOREST. Never thought I'd ever in a million years state: peace and love to you too, Nascar and Coors Light.

W... is for Peace

Show your support!

This past Saturday, I was walking through the thronged streets of SoHo when I spotted this sidewalk vendor expressing a fantastic YES WE CAN attitude! I love it that she feels so strongly that she's handmade her sign of support for all to see.

Even if you know your state will win for Obama, I think it is such a positive endeavor to celebrate your candidate every day until Election Day! Perhaps through such public displays, you might inspire and win over a tourist from a swing state, or more likely someone who may just be lackadaisical and needs the little bit of an extra push to get out to vote!

If you want to show some colors and support, AND want to directly contribute to the Obama/Biden campaign, you can purchase support packs on the Barack Obama web-store. Prices range from $25-125!

http://store.barackobama.com/product_p/op00051-2.htm

B... is for Peace

YES, Gray's Papaya

For his part, Mr. Gray said he has never been overly concerned that his endorsements would offend customers. “Maybe I shouldn’t do it,” he said. “Maybe I shouldn’t mix business and politics. But it’s a high-traffic location, and I feel strongly about certain things.”

--Alexis Mainland
NY Times/City Room, March 3, 2008

I feel strongly about certain things too, Mr. Gray. I feel strongly that I love walking by your window and seeing your sign to Obama. I'll take the Recession Special with Mustard and a papaya, please! Thank you!

Gray's Papaya
402 Sixth Avenue at 8th Street


View Larger Map

H... is for Peace

SO, my brilliant and lovely friend Jackson has been working on this neat little art project called The Peace Alphabet. SO, he also asked me to collab with him on it. SO, I said, "A'ight". SO, it's gonna happen. SO, in no particular order, posted here, somewhere, hopefully everywhere, you'll see... my concepts for PEACE, A thru Zed...

YES WE CAN

I think I may have posted or twittered that I am an Obama Mama. Well, I am now making it officially known starting with Barack Obama's incredible "YES WE CAN".

So, it may or may not come as a surprise that I'm dedicating the next fifty days to letting my vote be public. One of the first and easiest things I am going to do is make it known online by making regular posts here and adding some of my persuasion's political flair to my websites. Did you know that there is a whole media area on Obama's site that contains all kinds of logos, images, and information for tricking out? I can't wait to use more of them!

If you want to do the same, check it out at www.barackobama.com/downloads And, if you do create something, can you please comment below and share with a URL or something so I can see it too? Thanks, that'd be amazing!

Love,

Christine

. . . the reason our campaign has always been different is because it's
not just about what I will do as President, it's also about what you,
the people who love this country, can do to change it.

That's why tonight belongs to you. It belongs to the organizers and
the volunteers and the staff who believed in our improbable journey
and rallied so many others to join.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no
matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the
power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will
only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been
asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against
offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been
anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible
odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't
try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a
simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

-- Barack Obama

Romantica

Jamie S. Rich done gone and posted the rest of our ol' Romantica sketches+words! Hop over to his blog to see:

ROMANTICA 1: A CERTAIN ROMANCE
ROMANTICA 2: ANOTHER SUITCASE IN ANOTHER HALL
ROMANTICA 3: YOU MUST LOVE ME

Thanks for taking the time to share these, Jamie. >MWAH!<