featured interview:
Peace Takes Courage
A conversation with Ava Lowrey
(May 2006)
Ava Lowrey, like so many Americans, has family members stationed in Iraq. When she decided to do some research and find out the reasons behind the Bush administration's decision that American intervention and occupation was necessary, she wasn't too happy with the results. Disgusted by the web of lies that she discovered, she decided to add her voice to the protest, and began making stark, arresting animations that she posted on her own website, Peace Takes Courage. These animations often consist of a slideshow of disturbing photographs from the frontlines and beyond - wounded soldiers, weeping civilians, all the sorts of things that you seldom see on the evening news. And, apparently, some people think you should never see them.
Since starting in early 2005, Lowrey, now 15 years old, has made over 70 animations, with topics ranging from John Bolton's appointment to the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, but never straying long from the war in Iraq. Her steady voice against the war eventually attracted the attention of Cindy Sheehan, who wrote a flattering article about Lowrey and her site. This almost certainly helped spark the conservative backlash, which quickly reached depressing depths of anonymous bullying and hysterical vitriol. One e-mailer wished for Lowrey to "fucking die and get raped while your corpse rots in the sun." More examples shouldn't be necessary. Unbowed, the teenage peace activist continues to make her animations, and even has her eye on film school.
Do you have a film background? What made you decide to make animations as opposed to, say, starting a blog?
I have no film background at all. There’s a website called Bushflash.com run by Eric Blumrich. He really inspired me to start working on animations, and he helped me out when I first began. I hadn’t made any animations before I started the website.
And you’ve fallen in love with it since?
Yeah, I really like doing it. It’s a good way for me to say how I feel without actually offending anybody because I don’t ever write out what I feel. I just put it in video.
How long does it take to assemble a typical animation?
Sometimes it will take a few days, and sometimes it will take just a little while. What takes the longest is picking out the music. I’m really picky about my music.
Well, yeah, I definitely wanted to talk to you about that. Where do you go for musical inspiration? How do you get exposed to new music?
If I’m watching a movie or a TV show and I hear a song that I like, I immediately go to the Internet and look it up. I try to find music by people that are lesser-known because I feel like that makes my animation more unique.
Yeah, I enjoyed the Inara George song, among others. What about usage rights?
All of my animations [are covered by] a fair use policy, because I make zero profit from them. I can use any music or pictures that may be copyrighted as long as I don’t make a profit from it.
Some of your Republican buddies on the Internet are saying that you’ve been charged with copyright fraud.
(laughs) I have a mother and a stepfather who are lawyers.
Let’s talk about the responses you’ve received. There have been some pretty nasty ones, it sounds like, and there has been some bickering online that involves people claiming that the e-mails quoted in The Progressive were presented falsely. What’s the story there?
All of those messages were responses to my animations—that is not a lie at all. I think it’s funny that people are trying to actually defend the people who said those things.
I struggled to understand their objections. Even if you are pro-war, shouldn’t you be open to seeing pictures of what’s going on over there?
People will write that the soldiers give them the right to do what they’re doing, and then in that same e-mail, they’ll say “But you shouldn’t do this.” I think it’s all hilarious that a 15-year-old is getting them this worked up.
Isn’t it frightening, too? Or was it amusing from the start?
Some of it is pretty frightening, but most of it is just stupid. I get e-mails that say “Are you a Muslim terrorist?” It’s silly. Obviously, they have nothing better to write to defend their views on the war. It makes me feel like I’m on the right side if people like that are on the other side.
How did you family feel when you started getting these random threats?
My mom and stepdad are on top of it. It’s all being taken care of, as far as reporting the serious ones to the FBI. Mostly, we’ve been happy that it’s gotten some attention, because it sheds some light on what these people are doing. Using the anonymity of the Internet, they say whatever they want.
What about the positive feedback? Who have you been hearing from?
I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from people just writing to say that they support me. Also, I’ve received a lot of e-mails from soldiers and soldiers’ family members.
I wanted to shift over to education, because I know you’re being home schooled. What caused you to opt out of public school?
The school system has gotten really bad down here. When I was in seventh grade, the above-average math was pre-algebra, and at that time I was ready to move on to Algebra I. So there’s that, plus the fact that the schools here are very, very conservative. I’ve had teachers make comments about my political views. During the 2004 election, I wore a Kerry-Edwards T-shirt to school and got picked on not only by students but by teachers.
How so?
Jokes and, you know, typical “liberal” terms. I had a Civics teacher who was supposed to be teaching Civics, and he was teaching us what Democrats and Republicans are. He pretty much said that Democrats are raising taxes and the way he said it was tricking all these students into believing that they were into raising taxes for the poor. That same teacher told me that he didn’t believe that I’d read a book—he just didn’t like me, obviously (laughs). I had to do a book report, and I did it on a book called FDR and the New Deal. FDR is my favorite president—I just love him and the New Deal and everything about it. I read the book, and it was a pretty big book, and I was writing my report in class one day, and he decided to act like I didn’t read the book in front of the whole class. That made me angry, especially since everyone else was reading 100-page books.
Surely you must have a few kindred spirits?
I had a few kindred spirits…that don’t agree with me. I’ve had a lot of teachers that I really did like, especially English teachers—because they don’t have to talk about politics. I haven’t had any teachers that have agreed with me politically. But I am in Alabama, so that’s not a big shock.
That’s interesting. Having grown up in the Midwest, I only knew where a handful of my teachers were coming from politically. It just wasn’t usually brought up.
Yeah, down here, all the teachers and principals and everything are fundamentalist Christians, and they go by whatever George Bush and his buddies say. We have a moment of silence before school every day—which is pretty much “prayer time.” And, yeah, I’m a Christian, but I believe in separation between church and state, like our Founding Fathers said. We’re not supposed to force our religion on other people.
We’ve also had several students in our class that were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I had one teacher—a conservative—that said they were being disrespectful when they wouldn’t stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m all for being patriotic, but I don’t think people should be forced into doing it.
So even now that Bush’s poll numbers are plummeting, are people staying the course there? Are they dug into the trenches with him regardless of what happens?
Well, you know, I saw a map the other day—I think it was in the Washington Post—and it showed states that approved and disapproved of Bush. Alabama actually didn’t approve of him. I was shocked by that. I don’t know anyone around here, besides my mom and stepdad’s adult friends, who disapproved of Bush.
All of my friends stay out of politics, first of all—they don’t care about what’s going on in the world, as long as they know what Britney Spears did this week.
Drove with her baby’s carseat turned the wrong way!
Yeah. So politically they’ll just say whatever their parents say.
Let’s talk about impeachment, which you’ve advocated in your animations. Even though it seems like the majority of people on the left think that Bush has committed impeachable offenses, there isn’t a consensus as to whether it would be realistic or even beneficial. What’s your case for going through?
Well, I think we should get rid of Cheney, too, because I’m more scared of him than Bush. It just scares me to look at him. And then I’m also scared of Condi and Rummy. It’s scary because I leave this up to the lawmakers, because this is what they’re elected to do.
I don’t think that Bush will get impeached, but I do think that it needs to have more attention brought to it—the more we show that he needs to be impeached, the more likely we elect somebody in 2008 who will actually help this country.
Republican or Democrat, I don’t think anybody could be worse than Bush at this point. Besides Cheney.
We hear over and over again that what tipped the 2004 election was Rove getting gay marriage initiatives on state ballots. Do you agree with that assessment?
I believe that two people should be able to marry as long as they’re in love—actually, if they’re not even in love. I just don’t get that. But, regardless, Democrats need to be a little smarter politically when it comes to trying to carry voters. In the south, people are very religious and have morals that they think are really…moral. They’re not going to vote for somebody that says that they support gay marriage or support abortion if they don’t have some common ground. I liked Kerry, but Kerry had zero common ground with people around here.
Candidates really can’t win, in some cases. Out here on the Left Coast, we want a candidate who will finally come out and take a firm stand on those same issues—just on the other side.
Yeah, well we need a Democrat who has some guts, who won’t just back down to whatever the Republicans say. Down here in the south, I’m scared that’s going to happen again in 2006 and 2008 with the immigration issue. Even though people disagree with Republicans on it, I’m scared to death that people will choose them over the Democrats, because the Democrats are either being quiet or agreeing with the Republicans.
There’s still this strange notion that the Republicans will do a better job of protecting people from any outside threat, whether it’s immigrants competing for their jobs or terrorists blowing up their ports.
To a certain point, Democrats are to blame for that because they’ve let it happen. The first day that any Republican said that the Democrats don’t want to fight the war on terror, some Democrat should have said something: that they do, just that they want to do it legally and do it the right way.
Would you like to see the voting age changed? You’re definitely more engaged and better informed than a lot of people who are older than 18.
I’m patient to wait. I think the voting age is fine; all my friends know nothing about current events, and I’d be scared for them to vote. I had a friend who, when I said something about Tikrit, asked if I was talking about Spain. He’s supposed to be smart—he makes straight-A’s in school. (laughs) So I’m fine with the voting age.
But I think teachers should encourage kids to be more involved in politics, even if they’re not voting. They shouldn’t be expected to turn 18 and to know nothing about politics but to go and vote.
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you have Driver’s Ed before they give you a license. What about you? Do you try to get people fired up?
I try to. It seems that most of the kids around here who seem interested in the things that I am interested in are guys—and that is not too fun because they want to, you know, have spitting contests and I don’t want to be involved with that. (laughs)
— Interview by Adam McKibbin
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