Category: First Amendment

My Coronavirus Crisis Photo Project

Posted on | by Steve M. Windham, LLM, MBA, EA

These are unique times in which we live.  The Coronavirus Crisis has had global repercussions.  The costs are measured in lives lost, lives damaged, businesses lost, and so much more!

As a photographer, I have decided to document the Coronavirus Crisis.  I plan to attend as many Coronavirus Crisis protests as I can, and I am going to be working on a series of Coronavirus Masks.  While my personal opinion is that most masks are ineffective, I would be very interested in photographing you in your mask and hearing your input on the topic.

Please check back frequently, as I plan on this being an ongoing project for the foreseeable future.  Follow this link to my Coronavirus Crisis Photo Project.

I have also posted several photos of the Coronavirus Crisis on:

My Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/steve.windhamllm

My LinkedIn page at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-m-windham-llm-mba-ea-8b73a07/detail/recent-activity/shares/

My Twitter page at: https://twitter.com/SMWINDHAM

Please feel free to follow and/or add me on any of these social networks!

 

Banned Book Week (September 24-30, 2017)

Posted on | by Steve M. Windham, LLM, MBA, EA

 

I urge everyone to stand up to censorship!
Celebrate your First Amendment right and the right to read!

When a government or society or any other group censors something, whether it is art, literature, music, news, or anything else because they find it “offensive” or “vulgar” or “controversial,” it creates a slippery slope that is both arbitrary and dangerous to our freedoms.  Whether or not something is offensive, vulgar, or controversial is most often subjective because what is offensive, vulgar, or controversial to one person may not be to another and vice versa.  The US Constitution, via the First Amendment protects, among other things, the freedom of speech, including symbolic speech.  Americans are uniquely positioned in that the US Constitution places limits on the government over the governed.  Americans must embrace their rights and oppose censorship at all  levels.  Freedom of speech is far more important than someone finding something offensive–freedom of speech is the cornerstone of our liberties.

Taken from www.bannedbooksweek.org:
“According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) – which tracks reports of book challenges and bans and compiles an annual Top Ten Challenged Books List – there was an alarming 17% increase in book censorship complaints in 2016. Since most challenges are not reported, the actual number is probably much higher. Even more disturbing, while only 10% of the titles reported to OIF are normally removed from the institutions receiving the challenges, half of the most frequently challenged books were actually banned last year.”
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/node/12963

More interesting articles on banned books: