Michael Jackson v. Prince: Thinking About Copyright, Intellectual Property, and the Age of the Eighties

12-0135tIrene’s recent post on why we love intellectual property gets at its certain power–its ubiquity in everyday life. The recent death of Michael Jackson speaks to that particular ubiquity. What was necessarily powerful about his death was that for kids of a certain generation (maybe if you were born between 1972 and 1980?), his music served, as the pundits keep saying over and over, as the “soundtrack” of our lives. I remember one slumber party where all of the Michael Jackson videos played over and over and over for 24 hours (those poor parents). The summers of 1983 through 1985 were consumed in the great debate (forget US v. USSR) of the middle 1980s: who was better, Michael Jackson or Prince! I was a stone cold Prince fan, who marshaled my arguments as if I was getting ready for battle (Purple! Let’s Go Crazy!, Purple!). I was usually in the minority in that one, as no one could top Michael’s videos (did Prince dance with zombies (No!), could Prince moonwalk (No!), could Prince rock that awesome red jacket (No!)).

This “great” debate of the Eighties morphed, though, in the Nineties, into a more interesting debate about, strangely enough, the performance artist’s relationship to copyright.

Continue ReadingMichael Jackson v. Prince: Thinking About Copyright, Intellectual Property, and the Age of the Eighties

Professional Responsibility: One Marine’s Example

As I was driving home the evening of Memorial Day, I happened upon Terry Gross’ Fresh Air. She was interviewing former Marine Donovan Campbell. From the NPR site:

Campbell served three combat deployments, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. In Iraq, he commanded Joker One, a platoon of new Marines that he trained and transformed into a fighting unit. They were assigned to Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province where they engaged in daily house-to-house combat with insurgents. Campbell has written a memoir about his experiences with the platoon called Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood.

You can read the NY Times Book Review here.  Among other accolades, Campbell was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor. I can proudly declare that Donovan and I were high school classmates in Texas. Accordingly, I can personally attest that Donovan was then (and surely remains) a man of the highest integrity, in and outside the classroom, and on and off the sports field, where he excelled as a true scholar-athlete.

One episode from the angst-ridden days of high school illustrates Donovan’s character. I fondly recall that the spring semester senior year he gave up time from track-and-field and made a self-effacing foray into “my” realm of thespian endeavors, donning Musketeer garb as a commedia dell’arte palace guard in Carlo Gozzi’s Il Re Cervo (The King Stag) and standing ramrod-straight and bellowing “Sir, Yes, Sir!” USMC-boot-camp style.

Continue ReadingProfessional Responsibility: One Marine’s Example

Thoughts on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision

First, let me thank Prof. Slavin for inviting me to contribute to the blog.  I shall try not to be dull, and in that effort, I begin my blogging stint with a controversial topic, the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

My take on same-sex marriage begins with my personal experiences with same-sex couples, and homosexuals in general.  If the law treats them like second-class citizens, and my experience shows me that this is just not right, then I look to the law to make sense of why this treatment must be so.  And I cannot find the justification.

The first time I met someone I knew to be gay was in the Navy.  I met many during my service.  On our boat, the presence of gay sailors was open and notorious, and no one cared.  They did their jobs and stood their watches; nothing else mattered.  It was the same on shore.  

Continue ReadingThoughts on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision