It’s local election season and the races are on! Mark Allen’s recent Instagram post offered a commentary on a current Common Council race. Trixie’s List had a few questions.
Trixie’s List: Why the President of the Common Council race? What prompted you?
Mark Allen: I have no official connection to Margaret Morris’ run for Common Council president and have never met her officially, but have been around her at several town meetings where she made an impression. The first was one of the Hudson Charter Change meetings. I knew she’d had a political history in Hudson, but this was the first I’d become aware. She would ask questions to the Hudson Charter Change group, and wouldn’t stop asking until she felt she had the full answer. They would sometimes ask back. If she was stumped, she’d say she’d research something and get back to them. Then, at the next meeting… she’d have actually done that!
The last Hudson Charter Change meeting I attended was held upstairs at Saint Florian restaurant, and just before the meeting started, Margaret went downstairs and got a mug of beer from the bar. She ended up sitting near us. She would once again raise her hand to ask a question, and she had clearly done her homework. She would keep going until she felt the information she was seeking had been delivered not just to her, but to the room. Then she’d take a swig from her mug. My boyfriend Will McLeod leaned over to me and said, “I don’t know who this woman is, but she’s my person!” She had a commanding presence but didn’t seem to have the need to prove anything. She seemed experienced, strong, and human, and just wanted stuff to work… the kind of person you feel safe around. She’s got our vote!
I’d been aware of chatter on the street about the desire for a new Common Council president for a while. In talking later with others who have been involved in local politics for years, they had good things to say about Margaret. She was clearly well-liked. She also had a reputation for not being afraid to stick her neck out for what’s right. These friends responded to news of her running almost with a sense of relief. “Thank god!” They’d say. When Margaret announced, I made the meme.
Trixie’s List: The Aliens movie had a strong female lead, Sigourney Weaver, and the main subject in your piece, Margaret Morris, is equally strong and steadfast.
Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley character in Aliens has become a popular archetype of female (and human) strength. My impression of Margaret Morris just went there as I was thinking about a cultural reference I could tie her to, humorously. The analogy fit. The current Common Council president, Tom DePietro is represented in the meme as the character Newt from the film. Newt was the little girl who had survived in the trenches of the alien world for a long time, and saved Ripley’s team’s lives with her experience and knowledge… she basically knew more than any of them! But also, it had become Newt’s time to be rescued. I’d like to point out a pro-Margaret Morris meme is not an anti-Tom DePietro meme. I know some people in town don’t like Tom’s political position. I got to know him personally when my Hudson sidewalk video blew up, and I found him to be smart, funny, and often wryly self-effacing. He sometimes reminds me of the Larry David character in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Working in politics means putting yourself on the chopping block daily, it’s very hard. He’s been at it a while and is running on his fifth term. But, yeah… many feel it’s time for a change.
Trixie’s List: Do you see any other parallels between the City of Hudson and the movie Aliens?
I might have chosen it subconsciously. Hmm, I suppose one could make analogies between the film and Hudson, with its complicated political terrain. Are the aliens in the film who colonized the planet representative of Hudson’s dark monied interests infiltrating the city as an “opportunity zone,” and trying to milk the planet’s resources? Are Ripley and her team trying to save everyone and expose the corruption, or… are they unknowingly the actual bad guys because the sinister corporation that sent them are really just trying to capture the aliens for their weapons division? Will they figure it out? Are the mining community sent to work on the planet merely pawns caught in the middle of it all? Who is exploiting who? Who is rebelling against what? Talk about an exhausting argument on real estate and colonization!
Trixie’s List: Who is your artistic muse?
Hudson Wail, Henry Hudson of The Rivertown Collective, Hillsdale Hamlet, The Kinderhooker, and others, etc. Carole Osterink of the highly informative Gossips of Rivertown blog (and community talk-space) recently wrote a piece about the rising micro-wave of meme creators in upstate New York… local parodists who make waves in the politics and business realms of their local communities using snarky humor on social media. She titled the piece “Campaign Levity” (focusing on political runs). I’m not sure about the wording. “Levity” implies a moment where you stop being serious and have a laugh. I think a lot of these artists are actually a bit more serious. I see them as activists. They’re very popular, and not loved by everyone. There is definitely a cause and effect happening! And they seem to be growing. Also, the Hudson Wail started this whole trend, I can never resist the urge to point that fact out. They were first.
Trixie’s List: Are you planning to run for Mayor of the City of Hudson?
I’m the last person who should be running for public office. I have an artist’s mind, with all its associative ego complexities. People with big egos shouldn’t run for political office. Imagine that.