Speed of Life

Gregg Chadwick speaks at the AACN Symposium at UCLA on Art as a Tool for Social Justice by Gregg Chadwick Last Thursday, I spoke at the AACN Symposium at UCLA on Art as a Tool for Social Justice.  It was an honor to speak at my alma mater. UCLA's  proud history of advancing civil rights was a prime reason I attended the university as an undergraduate.  I was inspired by the heroic stories of  UCLA alums:  Jackie Robinson as he broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Kenny Washington as he broke the color barrier in the National Football League in 1946 Ralph Bunche at the UN.  And as I learned later the advocacy for social justice by UCLA Nursing Grad AfAf Meleis. As I write this, I am reminded that six years ago today, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed for simply being black in America. His death fueled a movement. I also remember that with millions of others, I marched on January 21, 2017 in the #WomensMarch. Our crowd in L...

by Gregg Chadwick Gregg Chadwick Generation Pink 14”x11” oil on panel 2017   Generation Pink,  inspired by the Women's March held on January 21, 2017,  will be exhibited at  Art & Home 2017 : a benefit for LA Family Housing - hosted by Room & Board in Culver City.  Along with around 750,000 others, I marched with my family and friends in Los Angeles to show the world that we stand for love, inclusion, diversity, and social justice.  Generation Pink  is part of a series of paintings exploring the Women's March and the continuing protests in this volatile time. As an artist, I often use my creations as a sort of reflecting device that mirrors and focuses attention on social and political change. As Marvin Gaye sang so poignantly- “What’s going on.”   In collaboration with Angeleno magazine, please join us for a special art show at Room & Board in Culver City on September 13, 2017. Over 100 local, contemporary artists...

by Gregg Chadwick On June 27th , I posted a criticism of the GOP led Senate's horrific proposed healthcare legislation. Their bill is back with a few revisions and it is just as awful as before. The New York Times reports that, "The revised bill is broadly similar to the earlier measure that Senate leaders hoped to vote on before the Fourth of July recess, though the new version includes some additional provisions meant to entice reluctant Republican senators with varying policy concerns.  Like the previous bill , it would end the requirement that most Americans have health coverage, and it would make deep cuts to Medicaid , capping payments to states and rolling back its expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Though some Republican senators expressed concern about how the previous bill would affect Medicaid, Senate leaders stuck with the same approach in the new version." Also, the proposed new bill would allow insurers to offer substandard insurance packages tha...

by Gregg Chadwick As the husband of a cancer survivor I ask those who support Trumpcare- "How can you help pass legislation that you know will kill people? Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity?" Yesterday, the American Medical Association released a letter  expressing fierce opposition to the GOP Senate's current proposed healthcare legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act passed during President Obama's first term. The AMA writes,"Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere , or “first, do no harm.” The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels." Written in a series of secret closed meetings, the GOP cabal's Better Care Reconciliation Act , or more accurately Trumpcare , is worse than imagined. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimations the bill will strip millions of Americans of their health insurance  - increasing the number of people without health insurance by...