Culture
All You Need is Love...and some Pride at Work
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 00:57 — Bobbo
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung...
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Update: I received some sad news this evening of August 27. Del Martin died today. She was a fighter and a great lady. My sincere condolences to Phyllis Lyon and to everyone who was touched by Del Martin's wonderful life. .
Shortly after 5 PM on June 16, 2008, longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were wedded by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome. Both women were well up into their eighties and had been together for 55 years. They were founding members of the Daughters of Bilitis which began way back in 1955 and became the nation's first lesbian advocacy group.
Given their history, it was fitting that they were the first gay Californians to get legally hitched. They were followed by hundreds more, joining the many gays who had already married in Massachusetts where it has been legal since 2004.
Why the Scottish Highland Games and Festival is Starting to Bore Me
Sun, 06/29/2008 - 02:31 — Bobbo
My dad's parents were both Scottish immigrants and my mom's Scottish ancestors go back to before the American Revolution.
I think Scotland is one of the most beautiful places in the world, though it is not a warm cuddly beauty. The Highlands will take your breath away, but the weather can be dangerous and when the mists come down, it's all to easy to take a misstep and fall off a cliff.
Who's Afraid of Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.?
Tue, 03/25/2008 - 19:36 — BobboSince Reverend Wright is not running for office or a place on the Sunday morning gab fests, he can speak truth to power in a way that is forbidden to mainstream political candidates and pundits. Speaking truth to power does not mean that one is always right. Some of his pronouncements are off-base, but he does appear to be speaking from his heart.
Of course one's heart is not where most public political pronouncements come from. Most of these come from the word processors of fresh-faced communications graduates filtered through the mesh of endless focus groups. That way all genuine substance can carefully strained out before being released to the public.
One Big Union
Thu, 01/31/2008 - 20:18 — BobboAmazing rebel music from Matthew Grimm and the Red Smear. Best damned thing out of Iowa since sweet corn.
Coming Home from the War after Flying Close to the Sun
Thu, 11/08/2007 - 22:13 — Bobbo
I recently read Cathy Wilkerson's memoir, Flying to Close to the Sun about her days in SDS and Weatherman. She was in Chicago a few months ago giving a reading from her book. I attended and here is my report.
Riding the Red Line up to Women and Children First Bookstore had my stomach tied in knots. Cathy Wilkerson was going to give a reading from her new book Flying Close to the Sun.
Thinking about Cathy brought back painful memories of the breakup of SDS, the murder of Fred Hampton, the bloody civil war that tore apart the Black Panther Party, the townhouse explosion that killed three SDS leaders, the splitup of the Mother Bloor Collective.... all of which happened around the last time I had laid eyes on Cathy Wilkerson.
Visiting Chicago? Read This First.
Wed, 09/05/2007 - 04:06 — Bobbo
Chicago is famous for its architecture, its storied political crime and corruption and its hapless but loveable Chicago Cubs. Tourists come from around the world to snap pictures from the top of the Sears Tower, marvel at the Impressionists housed in the Art Institute and tremble before Sue the Tyrannosaur at the Field Museum.
Some even ride the Green Line out to Oak Park to enjoy the work of Frank Lloyd Wright (you know, the guy who designed all those leaky roofs).
Not to put down these tourist attractions, which after all do pump some money into Chicago's 21st century de-industrialized economy, but one of my favorite spots in Chicago is---- a feminist bookstore.
Reading Lord of the Rings in 1968
Sat, 08/11/2007 - 02:15 — Bobbo
1968 was not a good year. War, assassination, political violence and creeping fascism fell over the land like a gloomy shadow. It was however, a very good year to read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for the first time.
Newspapers............The Long Goodbye
Sat, 08/04/2007 - 01:19 — Bobbo
After nearly a lifetime of being a newspaper junkie, I'm close to finally kicking the habit. I recently canceled our daily subscription to the Chicago Tribune. At the last minute, my determination to go cold turkey faltered and I'll be tapering off by reading the Sunday edition for a while longer.
Hairspray: What a Hoot!
Mon, 07/23/2007 - 03:01 — Bobbo
Tracy Turnblad and the gang are back in this latest version of the John Waters classic about desegregation in Baltimore, Maryland during the early 1960's. Hairspray was originally a 1980's film starring Ricki Lake as Tracy Turnblad and then turned into a hit Broadway musical. The 2007 film is based more on the musical than the John Waters original film. Waters does make a brief cameo in the new movie as a flasher pervert. Anyone who has seen his Pink Flamingos will appreciate the irony.
The story of Hairspray was based on the real life civil rights protests at Baltimore's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park and at the Buddy Dean Show, a dance program modeled after Dick Clark's more famous American Bandstand.
It's the troubles that cause the rebels.
