Malaquias Montoya and the Premeditation of Capital Punishment

This is a response to Paul's Post about Malaquias Montoya.

What strikes you about this art of protest?

The first thing that I noticed about the art was how dark, macabre, and depressing it was. Montoya took a all out approach with his art, holding nothing about these executions back. The images in the gallery were very grotesque, and they elicited strong feelings of sadness, disgust, and fear. I just took away a negative feel from this art.

Do you think anything will come of it?

I think that it’s possible that someone might protest or write a letter, but that only through constant preaching or sending of a message will really make a difference. It’s easy to walk out of an art gallery and say, “Oh my god that was horrible. Good thing I don’t have to think about that again.” I think that only people who are already activists about this cause will really do anything. The art is still powerful nonetheless.

Are the artist's positions valid, or has he failed to consider other factors about society?

For me personally, this artist positions are very valid. I do not believe in capital punishment, and so these images did not elicit a very strong negative response from me. I think that all of these paintings were very valid in their argument, especially the lynching and mentally ill artwork. To someone who is for capital punishment, however, these artworks may be leaving out the other side of the issue, which is what the criminal did to deserve such a punishment.

Automobile emissions are among the largest causes of pollution in the United States. Although the pollution from an individual car is small, this pollution is multiplied again and again by the millions of cars found in the U.S. Automobile emissions has been a major problem for a long time, but was not addressed until the 1970’s, when the smog from cars was at its worst in American cities.

There are two types of pollution that come from automobiles. The first, and most well known, is the pollution that comes from the engine of a car. I found out from HowStuffWorks.com that because the combustion process in a car engine is not perfect, some harmful byproducts are produced when an engine burns fuel.

I also learned about harmful emissions from a PDF the EPA website. Another type of harmful emission is fuel evaporation. Vapors from gasoline contribute to the hydrocarbons found in our atmosphere. While carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides are bad, hydrocarbons are basically straight poison. Fuel evaporation is a serious problem, and it is not one that is talked about very often.

There is also information available from the U.S. Department of Energy

First Post

My name is Mike Sutherland. This is a test post for the Anne Duffy/Paul Lopez school blog. Over the course of the year, I will post about Math, Chemistry, Humanities, and a project about Environmental issues.