LOWERCASE PEOPLE

This is some of what you'll find at brand new Lowercase People, an on-line magazine focused on music, arts, literature and social justice.

AN EXCERPT FROM THE "REGULARS" SECTION:
"Two hundred years or so before we began to fancy ourselves the occupiers of a No Spin Zone, William Blake talked about "mind-forged manacles," metal clasps forged by the mind and for the mind. He heard the clank of the manacles whenever human beings opened their mouths; the dirty trick whereby we pull the wool over our own eyes, denying ourselves the ability to think carefully or handing over to a talking head, a career politician, or an ideological authority our capacity to say two and two make four. Or as Simon and Garfunkel tell us, we hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. News networks understand as much. They have to sell the news, after all. What's news? Whatever they can sell as news. They can't change what we'll buy into. They have to anticipate it. If we want to hear tell of Michael Jackson's woes more than we want to know about a genocide in Darfur, the Jackson trial will be the news. To survive, the networks have to play to our "felt needs." In this sense, we are the newsmakers. They're the sales force." From "Are You Reality Based?" by david dark

AN EXCERPT FROM THE "JUSTICE" SECTION:
"We walked alongside a man named Cassie—a white man who has thrown himself into the Kayamandi community: a man who has slept in its shacks and whose daughter attends its schools (a decision that caused an outrage among the white community). Cassie calls Victor his boss, and an especially good one at that. Together they work for the good of Kayamandi. Black and white, rich and poor. The best friends have big dreams for the future. " (From "Out Of Africa" by jon foreman)

AN EXCERPT FROM THE "MUSIC" SECTION:
"I've heard of painters who have torched all of their art, set it all on fire to start painting with a clean slate. That's not really an option for a band." (Feature by reeve oliver)