Lisa Casey
This photograph was taken right before my departure as a literacy teacher at the state prison in the spring of 2002.
The Department of Corrections did not provide me with books the first 10 months of my employment. My superiors in the DOC Education hierarchy were of little or no help.
Needless to say, I had to improvise. I began each class reading a local newspaper to the student inmates followed by a current events discussion.
I obtained bi-lingual educational inmate aides to assist the non-English speaking inmate students. We made our own study sheets (on a computer I donated to my class) and studied everything from the alphabet to volcanoes. I was eventually reprimanded for taking those initiatives.
In case you are wondering, I felt safe in a classroom with 30-plus inmates in a maximum security prison.
[Over-heard on the web:
 | I get to talk to her by phone on occassion and she has the sweetest southern drawl. Also calls me "Hon" and "Sweetie" a lot. That is endearing. Oh, did I mention that she runs one of the best anti-Bush sites on the web? Props to All Hat!] |
Below is a picture of me during the
Clinton Administration of peace and prosperity.
Background:
Raised in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during the "Where the Boys Are" era, when the worst thing a Republican governor did was try to peddle oranges to the Pope. Public schools were excellent, with 75 percent of high school grads continuing in higher learning. A voucher in those days was a receipt for payment.
We were taught to respect the Florida Aquifer, our only source of fresh water, because it was about twelve inches below our feet.
We knew the pollution in the Everglades was caused primarily by the Cuban-American owned sugar industry, which was supported on the backs of laborers from the Caribbean.
We welcomed tourists in South Florida because tourism was a great part of our economy.
We also knew that many visitors would relocate to this area. I married one.
Drugs began arriving in ever-increasing amounts during the early 1970s. First it was marijuana, and crime rates remained relatively low. Next it was cocaine.
In the 1980's, under the Reagan/Bush reign, paradise became America's hotspot for drug importation, arms dealing and money laundering.
That is why this website exists.
I want every vote to be counted.
That is when we left and ended up in the panhandle (Update: I moved to Alabama in 2005).
What I am saying, folks, is YES: It is important to vote and just as important to know all about the politicians you vote into office — except, apparently, if you live in Florida.
That is why this website exists. I want every vote to be counted.
Career:
Advertising print and web art/graphic/publication design/illustration.
Resource Marketing Inc. : Art Director 1975 - 1977
Advertising/Illustration/Graphic Publication Design: 1978-present - Clients included Harris Computers, Eastern Airlines, Bodega Steak House Chain, Broward County Historical Society, Joy's Florist, Horn of Plenty Furniture, Game Group of Companies (Durban, South Africa), Broward County Tourism Council, Sunshine Sunday Magazine-Sun-Sentinel, Santa Rosa Sun, Gulf Coast Commerce and presently All Hat No Cattle Education:
Parochial and public schools in South Florida
University of Florida - Florida State University - Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Arts/Art Education and Constructive Design Teaching experience:
Maclay School: (formerly Alfred B. Maclay Jr. Day School) 1969-1971 Head of lower school Art Education Department
Gretna Public School: 1973-74. Taught art education to rural black children grades 1-6 (internship)
Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale: 1981-1983 Taught Advertising Design, Photography Design and DrawingFlorida Department of Corrections: 2001 - 2002 Taught literacy to prison inmates. Literacy range was from 1st to 3rd grade TABE test scores. One third of my class was non-speaking English.
by David Namanny
LISA CASEY: Phototoonist
After the shocking events of the 2000 Presidential election, Lisa Casey, Phototoonist/Producer/Owner/Website putter togetherer — established the website AllHatNoCattle, in the hope that humor would help her get through the next four years of the Bush administration — that was almost six years ago.
And she's still here.
She the events created politicians, especially those "compassionate conservatives", in the form of humor. She creates and writes many of the phototoons and all of the copy on her site, in fact, It's a one woman operation.
"I provide daily political psychotherapy in order to keep myself and my viewers sane," said Casey. "I believe the Internet will make our earth smaller and peaceful through truth."
"I believe the Internet will make
our earth smaller and peaceful through truth."
NAD: When did you start your political web site and why?
LISA CASEY:
I started my website in November 2000 when Gov. Jeb Bush broke his oath to uphold the laws of my state of Florida. He instead went to the U.S. Supreme Court to help get his brother elected president.
I started my website in November 2000 when Governor Jeb Bush broke his oath to uphold the laws of my state of Florida.
He instead went to the U.S. Supreme Court to help get his brother elected president.
The Bush family was very familiar to me growing up in South Florida.
George H. W. Bush was closely linked to Manuel Noriega, the Iran-Contra affair and some woman in Miami. Jeb was hooked up with shady, Cuban-run real estate deals.
I was a fan of neither, and when little George reared his ugly head in 2000 I knew this country was in for a good old fashioned gang rape.
By that time I was living in Northwest Florida, an extremely conservative area of the state that was heavily supportive of Dubya.
I'm a conservative Democrat and not taken with many conspiracy theories.
But the halt of the vote recount in my state crossed over the line and motivated me to utilize my website-building skills to help myself and other wonderful people I met over the Internet to laugh through political turmoil.
My site began small and grew with demand over the years into a part time job run solely by myself.
I am truly grateful to Al Gore for inventing all these Internets, by the way.
My website grew more popular, and about six months after Jeb Bush handed his brother the presidency, a staff aide was found dead under unusual circumstances in the office of my Republican Congressman, Joe Scarborough, who now hosts a show on MSNBC.
I watched the hometown newspaper of Scarborough virtually ignore the news of the dead aide found in his office.
This was my first experience with suppression of news.
I watched the hometown newspaper of Scarborough virtually ignore the news of the dead aide found in his office.
This was my first experience with suppression of news.
I also was also disgusted at the lackadaisical investigation of the death by local authorities, and to this day I keep information about the case posted on my website.
In 2006, Scarborough sent me a cease-and-desist letter demanding that I remove any reference to him and the dead aide from my site.
I didn't, and he backed off. The page on my website remains quite popular among viewers.
NAD: I see you are an artist.
Tell me about your art and what motivated you to be an artist.
LISA CASEY:
I started drawing as a young child.
My father, also an artist, motivated me and taught me to draw as soon as I could hold a pencil.
My work has always leaned toward statement art.
Strong and large.
Finding a job in art was nearly impossible when I graduated from college, so I got into advertising.
It paid well, and I enjoyed the lifestyle it afforded me in very expensive Fort Lauderdale.
My work has always leaned toward statement art.
Strong and large.
NAD: Besides art and the web site, do you have another job?
LISA CASEY: My website is my only "job" — a part time job, really.
I'm now dabbling in flipping houses. (In fact, I'm putting one up for sale. Interested?)
As far as my teaching experience, in 1973 I interned in Gretna, Fla., at an all-black school comprised of poor children of farmers (more accurately described as sharecroppers).
My teaching experience began at the Maclay School in Tallahassee, Fla., where I was head of the art department for grades 1-8 in 1972-1973.
I also taught part time at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in the early '80s.
My last teaching job was in 2001-2002 at the Florida Department of Corrections, Santa Rosa County, where I taught basic literacy.
That was a challenge, since I wasn't provided any books for my students.
But they built a fancy baptismal pool for the prison chapel that we got to watch from my classroom! Thanks, Gov. Jeb Bush!
NAD: Where did you grow up?
LISA CASEY:
I was born about ten minutes as the crow flies from George W. Bush's birthplace, New Haven, Conn.
In 1953, my parents moved to Fort Lauderdale to pursue a life in flora land.
My education is full-Floridian.
I first attended the University of Florida and then transferred to and graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Visual Arts and Education.
NAD: What events influenced you the most when you were young?
LISA CASEY:
John F. Kennedy's death was a defining moment in my life, followed by my father's death 10 months later when I was thirteen.
That made me grow up and realize how short life is.
NAD: What band or type of music hits home for you?
LISA CASEY:
Favorite songs: Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, Crazy by Patsy Cline, Paradise by the Dashboard Lights by Meatloaf, any song by the Rolling Stones (or Rolling Bones as my students at the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute used to call them in 1980. Sigh.)
NAD: Do you have more hope now that Obama has been elected?
LISA CASEY:
Not only do I have more hope since Obama has been elected, but I have more faith and charity. Give people hope and they will follow you anywhere. (Note to U.S. CEOs).
Give people hope and they will follow you anywhere.
NAD: Tell us what you really think about George W. Bush and the last four years.
LISA CASEY:
Bush and his family have been a cancer on this country for a lot longer than the last four years.
NAD: Please feel free to include any other information about your background, your family, art and web site that you wish to be added.
LISA CASEY:
I've been married for 23 years to a journalist, and our son, now 22, is studying in Tianjin, China, perfecting his Mandarin Chinese.
I live part time in Costa Rica, where my husband and I bought property years ago and built a home before the prices surged.
[First published Feb. 9, 2009]
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