Lisa Aslanian, Author at Public Seminar

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Eminem vs. Trump

The political importance of the artist

February 18, 2018 • by Lisa Aslanian

I was in Chicago with my son, visiting colleges, and he was listening to the new Eminem album while he was working out in the hotel gym. He told me that he thought the album was great, but that he was not sure if he agreed with Eminem using his ...

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Trump’s Head and Women’s Blood

Is Kathy Griffin’s controversial image a work of protest art?

December 2, 2017 • by Lisa Aslanian

Kathy Griffin released a picture of herself, wearing a navy or royal blue pussy-bow blouse and holding up a faux severed and bleeding head of Donald Trump. How to describe her gaze? Emotionless? Steely? Resolved. I am not going to spend this essay defending the image or deconstructing the fallout around ...

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On Free Speech

An appeal to leverage the 1st Amendment as it stands

August 21, 2017 • by Lisa Aslanian

Don’t shut it down. Don’t look to qualify what is meant and protected by the right to free speech by making an exception to the rule for hate speech. Don’t move to make hate speech illegal. Take a step back and let your cooler head prevail. The First Amendment was written to protect minority ...

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Hanged at Sunrise

The Impossible Ethics of the “Homeland”

May 31, 2017 • by Lisa Aslanian

Nicholas Brody, one of the central characters of the popular and critically acclaimed drama Homeland, is a third generation United States Marine. Called Brody by his friends, Brody’s entire character is created around and through the interrelated issues of drones, torture and jihad. As the drama unfolds, Brody becomes a ...

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Hillary Rodham Clinton May Be The First Feminist President

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit

October 15, 2016 • by Lisa Aslanian

It has taken me a few days to figure out why Hillary Rodham Clinton makes me a little giddy. I have always enjoyed watching her run for office. She is the smart girl who does her homework. She aims to get the job by earning it. She is tireless and ...

Hillary Rodham Clinton May Be The First Feminist President

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Rap’s Civility Game

September 9, 2016 • by Lisa Aslanian

What we can do as artists is inspire people to give a fuck -Vic Mensa, from “16 Shots,” a song about the killing of Laquan McDonald by Chicago police. I should start this letter with a disclaimer. I am not a student of music, rap, or Black activism. All that I ...

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Never Trump. Maybe Hillary.

July 3, 2016 • by Lisa Aslanian

I cannot get my political bearings. There is little analysis of the current moment that I have not read, and read with appetite. Although much of it is deeply informative and often reiterates my own thoughts -- always good to feel less lonely if less original -- nothing I have ...

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Rap as News or Art?

February 19, 2015 • by Lisa Aslanian

“Rap music is the CNN of the ghetto.” – Chuck D

Rap began — Chuck D nailed it — as news from the streets. Rap riffed ghetto life, syncopated in hard rhymes and dense metaphor the raw reality of the ghetto. In Ronald Reagan’s America, blacks in the ...