vaca 2013-14

not that it’s been a bad year. all things considered it has been a decently good year as my best of 2013 blog/radio program will undoubtedly show. and i don’t like to complain about first world problems because i know things could be a lot worse.  i also know things could be a lot better.  so, though i can’t complain, i might just a little.

i live in the high desert.  i am not, nor have ever been in any way, a fan of winter, or extremely hot summers (though i prefer the latter to the former). not that winters are bad in eastern oregon. they’re not much different than missouri winters. but not a cold day goes by that i am not reminded of how much i can’t stand missouri winters. and then there’s the driving. that’s the other thing i have to do in eastern oregon. i walk to work every morning. and then spend about half the day in my work car.  and everytime i get behind the wheel of a car, i am reminded of why i do not live in kansas city.

once i start to be reminded of life in the midwest, i am immediately searching for a way out. more especially, here in eastern oregon than if i actually lived in the midwest. at least in kansas city i know lots of people and have family. what do i have in eastern oregon?  i do know a lot of people, but not in the same way. these are people i have known for a short time. here i have lots of acquaintences and contacts, but not “friends” so to speak, other than panda.  you know the kind of people you call on when youre in crisis?  or people you see on a regular consistent basis, not just for work or some other such “active lifestyle” pretense?  and without a lot of close people like that around, things like winter and driving, much less the two combined, become extremely frustrating, more than any given day. and then pick one or two items from the la grande complaint menu and it’s just enough to push you out of town faster than you can count your money to find out if you can actually afford to leave town.

i am in a lucky position, currently, that i can save a decent amount of money. that probably is the biggest factor that keeps me in la grande. no, that is absolutely the reason.  along with the fact that i haven’t found another motivating reason to leave yet, as in moving away. but i did find a reason to go on vacation. and did i have the perfect vacation lined up?  a ticket to pasadena, round trip, for under $300 in the beginning of january. 

i “like” college football to the extent that i used to like pro football. that interest wanes as big money takes more and more control, but still i am with it for now. this year, january 6 is the date of the national championship. pasadena is the place. the plan was to see the missouri tigers playing in that game and to have a gathering of friends from missouri congregate in pasadena. it would have been the biggest stage mizzou has ever seen, a sort of incomprehensible feat. they only needed to win one last game to make it to pasadena. they came about 17 points short of making it. and by 17 points, I mean 500-some-odd auburn rushing yards in the SEC championship game.  not that it’s fair to be pissed at mizzou.  they had a most impressive season to even make it to the SEC championship game.  but the mere fact that they sold out to join the biggest money conference in college football two years ago is part of why my interest wanes in college football.  that and the fact that the beavers can never beat the huskies or the ducks, let alone good teams like stanford or usc.  (fact check, the beavers actually do beat usc every once in a while.) but enough about that, pasadena was within my grasp as a warm winter destination with palm trees and all that.  but it was not meant to be.

being that i had already made up my mind to take the vacation, i went with the next best option…texas.  mizzou, by way of losing that SEC championship, fell to a #8 ranking and ended up with a somewhat lame predicament of playing oklahoma state in the cotton bowl.  not that it’s a bad matchup.  it’s a perfect matchup, in that it puts mizzou back in the big 12 conference where they belong.  and dallas, texas, while not being exactly the best vacation destination, was better than going to atlanta for the sugar bowl like mizzou probably hoped for.  it is warmer in dallas than la grande, by at least twice the degrees.  so, i think about this prospect for about a day and am sold on it. the potential of seeing dealy plaza and the book depository, as well as dallas’ proximity to austin clinched the deal rather quickly.

i get some plans sketched out.  my mother likes any opportunity to meet me somewhere.  dallas is not terribly far from kansas city and she has friends in austin, so it sounds like a great new year plan to her.  buddha and t.s. could be talked into going to the cotton bowl on january 3.  in sum, it was a pretty good thing sketched out.  day one in portland in which faithless saints open for leftover crack (almost as good as having seen them open for mdc on labor day weekend). fly to dallas, drive to austin for a couple days, back to dallas for the cotton bowl, drive to kansas city for a couple days, fly back to portland and back to work.  a nine-day vacation, any more and i have to surrender some pay… a decent plan when considering i have friends in dallas and austin.

then i booked the ticket to dallas.  and i was working on booking a ticket from kansas city back to portland when my mother texts and says she isn’t coming to texas. well that’s a parade on an overcast day.  at least i have friends in texas… turns out one moved to pennsylvania and the other is on holiday in mexico…  well now it’s starting to rain on the parade.  spending three days at new year in dallas by myself, waiting for buddha and t.s. to arrive is not the idea of a vacation i have in mind.  but, i had already spent $550 in transportation costs, and was looking at $200 more for a relatively insignificant football game in one of those wretched stadiums that all the third world countries combined couldn’t afford to build and probably about another $100 earmarked for new years eve since i am pretty sure i would not skip seeing willie nelson and delbert mcclinton at austin city limits if i happened to be in town.  that’s a lot of cash for a trip that i suddenly had lost most of my interest in.

with over two weeks to go, i was so excited i might have rather stayed in eastern oregon for another three years. or i could have let the trip suck my bank account dry enough that i would be forced to stay in eastern oregon another three years.  but i have been on a enough vacations to know that they all turn out pretty decently.  it’s a first world problem obviously enough, but it’s still a problem no less.  how can i make the most of a less than perfect situation? 

hmmm.  the answer to come ... 

are bundles bogus?

...depends what you value i suppose...

i was just looking at (cabletv.com) where it asks if bundles are bogus. they provide a graphic explaining that at regular cost, cable $60, internet $42, phone $30 come to a total value of $132. therefore, if you bundle all three together for $99, then you are “saving” $33 per month.

now, let me put this into kid yoshida terms and extract the crackhead mentality of this portion of the entertainment industry.  $99 is still a scam.  the first problem is that, at least with comcast, that is a introductory price for the first 6 months. the next year and a half of the contract, that price goes up dramatically.

for the american consumer sake, let’s assume i need a landline phone, then the bundle starts to become somewhat worth it. but i don’t need a landline. so, until that “$30 phone” part of the deal accounts for a cell phone with unlimited minutes and data, then this is not an attractive bundle option. so, now we are saying that i could get a $60 cable package and a $42 internet package for a total of $102. that’s a $3 savings per month with the bundle. at that rate, it would take three years to “save” enough for one month’s bill. i know they have two part bundles, but still...

let me go one step further. TV is not worth $60 a month. oh, i know plenty of people that pay even more for that, but to give a company $60 a month to brainwash me and make me desensitized to actual human interaction is an outrageously high price. but just like a job qualifying education used to free, so did TV.  let’s not get started about how the $60 package wouldn’t include half of what i wanted to watch, so suffice it to say i am not going to pay $60 a month to watch reruns of the waltons.

next, $42 internet may be worth it, but then as a one-off deal, they stick you with other charges like a modem fee. and if you’re using charter, you are also paying for those one or two days per month where the service is down.  unless companies are ever willing to reimburse every customer for those times then to that, i say, forget it.

disregarding any of that, the so-called “savings” is an illusion anyway.  if i am spending $99, i am not saving any money. i am merely spending less money than in another nearly-as-bad scenario.  this i call, the safeway club card effect.  i still choose to check out library books for free.  it’s better entertainment and, according to the above formula, saves me $132 per month. and someday when they start charging for library books, i will find something else to do for free.  there are always buskers in the street that deserve my money way more than any of these companies.

rabble rousers of the month :: november

first off, let’s make sure hollycassiano and tony rohr get their ust mention as rabble rouser nominees. holly is manager of a sears branch in new hampshire who refused to open her store on new year’s eve, despite sears mandating that she do so.  tony had a similar case as manager of pizza hut. however, in this case, the eleven year employee was axed for standing up for his workers.   as honorable as the actions are, or at least seem at surface level, the debate this month becomes more broad than getting into yet another rights vs reason debate regarding the idiocy of holiday shopping.  i support people having choice ove their lives, customers and employees both.  if a manager wants to open a store on a day like thanksgiving, they shouldn’t expect more work to get done than they themselves get done. nonetheless, participating in the argument is the same as participating in the shopping. it only provides more drama for people to be attracted to. there are huge fish to fry, but secondly…let’s not forget to mention runner-up

cameron rodriguez.  this dude hit a promotional half court shot at a okalhoma city thunder game and won $20,000.  problem in this scenario is that rodriguez is a sophmore guard for southwestern university.  the NAIA school (in fact, their ladies team lost to EOU ladies in the first round of march madness) has petitioned the league for an exception after rodriguez was basically asked to not accept the money or lose eligibility for a couple of years.  I don’t want to get carried away with the reasonableness of most rules that exist.  rodriguez’ making money from that shot had no coorelation with his integrity as a player or student.  let the kid have fun while he's still a kid for the love of god.  but the more impressive part was that rodriguez has no problem letting go of the money. from his espn chat, “in my eyes, it’s just money,” said rodriguez, who receives a partial scholarship that offsets some of the cost of his tuition. “i know i’m a college kid who can use some help, but my love for basketball and my passion for the sport – it’s worth more to me than $20,000.”   rodriguez has asked that the money be given to him either in the form of scholarship reduction or as a contribution to non-profits. in effect, he is not asking for the money. he doesn't care about the money. he wants to go to college and play basketball while his body is still “cooperative” and make $20,000 later.  after this, rodriguez met with his teammates and hit four in a row from half court!

the winner... 
John Moffitt

just a football type guy it would seem. played two years for seattle seahawks, traded to denver broncos in august.  going from one super bowl contender to another and with up to $1 million on the table thru next season, moffitt quit his job on november 5.  he wants to grow his own food.  he also chastised corporate america and the NFL for being about profits over people.  moffitt majored in sociology at wisconsin, which shows in quotes like this, "i like higher ideas and higher thoughts, and i think that's not promoted enough. how much do you really value intelligence when as a society you continue to do unintelligent things?"

the runner up... myself and three others voted for, but not enough to help...

Loraine Cook 
 pocatello high school teacher/girl's basketball coach was fired for being "immoral" after posting a picture on facebook of her and her boyfriend on a boat this summer in which he has his hand on her breast. turns out that her boyfriend also works for the school. he has been the football coach since 1981, won 10 state championships and is in the idaho high school football hall of fame. he was only "reprimanded" but kept his job. um, double standards there at all pocatello school district?

apparently, this is an immoral act and a more conservative person wouldn’t post such a tantalizing photo and all such pre-requisite background thought that the school district seems to take to heart.  not saying there is nothing to any of that, but it’s not a discussion i am willing to spend my time on. the point is, she was fired for this “immoral” act. whatever, each culture has to decide their own mores.  but…her boyfriend was also a teacher at the school. not just any teacher, but the football coach who was very successful a long time ago. he was merely “reprimanded” for his role in being the lascivious breast grabber.  this is where the culture apparently cannot decide their own mores because it is a sexist, double-standard.  if it’s wrong to hold someone’s breast, then punish the person who did the act, not the person who posted the photo.  or at least give them equal treatment, if your society values equality.  if not, hand out the punishments you feel are fair, just expect some backlash by people that DO value equality.  here's survey from the idaho state journal: no reason to fire.

5 new rabble rouser hall of fame members !!

november is native american heritage month!

on thanksgiving, during native american heritage month, i realize that there are no native americans in the rabble rouser hall of fame. well, now there shall be. three members of the lakota band, past and present. 

leonard peltier  (1944 – present)

shepard fairey illustration (obey giant, copyright)

leonard peltier has been imprisoned on bullsh*t charges by power tripping white men for longer than i have been alive. if they can give some reprieve to the angola three, why not leonard peltier?  he did less wrong after all.  in fact, i am not sure peltier ever did anything wrong.  he did publish one stellar book of essays and memoirs, “prison writings: my life is my sundance” in 1997.

peltier lived in seattle in the 1960s as an auto repair shop owner.  in seattle, he became involved activism and joine the american indian movement (AIM). peltier traveled, at times, to the pine ridge reservation as a peace liaison between oglala separatists (GOONS).  he always seemed to have a federal case nipping at his heels, keeping him on the move.  

two FBI agents arrived at a ranch in unmarked cars in june of 1975 (99 years and 1 day after sitting bull defeated custer at little big horn). there was a quick shootout that left the two agents and one tribal member dead.  within moments, over 150 agents, cops and GOONS had the ranch surrounded.  (the death of native joseph stuntz has never been investigated and no arrest made.)  peltier fled to canada after the murder of the agents. ultimately, one of the more scandalously handled trials of the 20^th century featured no evidence ever showing peltier specifically involved in the killing of the agents.  however, there was much evidence of FBI agents terrorizing the reservation, creating tension in the years following a 71-day standoff at wounded knee in 1973. the oglala GOONS were fighting a civil war of sorts to rid the reservation of AIM members. the FBI aided the GOONS and disregarded the violence they committed and even supplied intelligence and ammunition. this added to the fears of why the natives of the reservation asked people like peltier for protection. 

in 1977, peltier was convicted to two life sentences and has ever since been the subject of a heated debate.  he has received support from as high as the dalai lama, to amnesty international and archbishop desmond tutu.  some have referred to peltier as “america's mandela.”  peltier was the presidential candidate for the peace and freedom party in 2004, only on the ballot in california, receiving 27,000 votes.  his next parole hearing will be in 2024, when he will be 80 years old. 

sitting bull (1831-1890)

photo: david francis barry, ca. 1885

a lakota holy chief during some especially turbulent years of indian resistance to u.s. government. northern indians suffered a loss of independence as well as depletion of buffalo and other survival resources in the harsh winters.  sitting bull had a vision prior to and then carried out the defeat of general george custer at the battle of little big horn, just before the nation's 100th anniversary in 1876. sitting bull fought with the oglala lakota leader red cloud in guerilla attacks of small forts through out the dakotas and montana.  three years in a row, sitting bull's forces turned back railway companies bringing militias in vigorous standoffs for the point of imposing their routes/tracks on other's lands. the panic of 1873 delayed the exploitation for a bit while prospectors sought fortunes in the california gold rush.  however, general custer soon came looking for gold in them thar black hills. the battle of little big horn was a brutal defeat for the white man, and for safety sake sitting bull and his followers retreated to canada.  he had a short time in canada doing some diplomacy to mend divides in bands of native indians of canada and the united states.  upon returning to the states, in sitting bull's later life, he was a very popular figure traveling in buffalo bill's wild west show.  during that time, legend holds that he adopted annie oakley as a daughter.  because sitting bull was such an influential figure, the government feared he would give unwanted support to the ghost dance religious movement (which seems to have lead to the wounded knee massacre of 1890). his arrest was ordered, which he defied, and there was an unclear incident in the botched arrest in which sitting bull was shot in the back and then the head by two indian policemen at his standing rock reservation in south dakota on december 15, 1890. 

crazy horse (1840-1877)

an oglala-lakota contemporary of sitting bull, crazy horse fought off u.s. imperialism to protect lakota people and lands.  he played an instrumental part in the defeat of general custer at little big horn. he joined with cheyenne leader little wolf in the battle of the hundred in the hand and thoroughly annihilated captain william fetterman's army.  all accounts tell of crazy being a brave and fierce warrior who never took a hit from an enemy. until the next year when he was fatally shot in a botched arrest (as sitting bull would later have suspisiously happen to him). 

the name crazy horse came from a vision quest he had in the black hills where he saw his horse dancing crazily.  crazy horse was a rogue outlaw in the sense that he broke away to live the old way of life while other bands were adopting the white ways.  author chris hedges stated,  “his ferocity of spirit remains a guiding light for all who seek lives of defiance.”  even in death, crazy horse remains controversial.  to the dismay of many natives even, the crazy horse memorial, in the style of mount rushmore, when finished, will be the biggest statue of a human anywhere in the world. 

purported picture of crazy horse, though it has been said there are were never any photographs taken of him.

black pantherism...

kid yoshida may be too much of a feminist to care for a lot of the black panther philosophies, but nonetheless many of the panthers carried a thought process and motivation to keep the currents of world history changing at the most opportune time.

stokely carmichael (1941 – 1998)  

november 15 marked the 15^th anniversary of the death of stokely carmichael. (this past may marked the 15^th anniversary of the death of eldridge cleaver – see below). born in trinidad and tobago, carmichael immigrated to the united state at age 11.  he didn’t believe in the american dream from a young age, later stating, “my old man believed in this hard work and overtime stuff.  he was religious, never lied, never cheated or stole.  he did carpentry all day and drove taxis all night.  the next thing that came to that poor black man was death, from working too hard.  and he was only in his 40s.”

after rejecting scholarships offers from white universities, carmichael graduated with a philosophy degree from howard university in washington dc.  in the “freedom summer” 1964, carmichael first joined the black panthers as a member of the student nonviolent coordinating committee (SNCC) rising to the rank of chairman and became immersed in the civil rights movement as a freedom rider. influenced by the sit-in movements, he joined the congress of racial equality (CORE) and began picketing and traveling to sit ins.  he also helped register black voters in alabama, increasing their numbers to higher than the total of white voters.

carmichael spent time at parchman farm for “disturbing the peace” with a group of others by trying to integrate the dining car of a train.  after one of his many arrests, he famously stated “we been saying ‘freedom’ for six years.  what we are going to start saying now is “black power!”   a chant erupted, the phrase stuck and he became the leader of a new era of black militant youth.  the NAACP and martin luther king, jr. condemned carmichael as fighting race against race and creating a separatist state.  carmichael’s views were of those people less tolerant as espoused by marcus garvey and malcom x.  he was critical of civil right leaders promoting integration into middle class society which forced him out of the SNCC.  he took a more prominent role as honorary prime minister of the black panthers and wrote the book “black power” in 1967.   after speaking in the UK, carmichael was banned from re-entering britain.  soon after, j edgar hoover demanded agents find him responsible for rioting in DC after the death of martin luther king, jr.  carmichael was also targeted in cointelpro plots to divide him from other panthers.  

huey newton accused carmichael of being a CIA agent and carmichael moved to africa, changed his name to kwame ture, and split with the panthers due to their not being separatist enough in working with white radicals. carmichael died of prostate cancer on november 15, 1998, which he said “was given to me by forces of american imperialism and others who conspired with them.”   whatever bad boy side of carmichael can be shown, he was a very egnigmatic and powerful speaker.  gordon parks, in his article for life magazine in 1967, said that carmichael could “stroll through dixie in the broad daylight using the confederate flag for a handerchief.”  the colorful figure always answered his phone, “ready for the revolution!”

here are som telling quotes from stokely carmichael/kwame ture...

“the first need of a free people is to define their own terms.”

“there is a higher law that the law of government. that is the law of conscience.”

“the masses don’t shed their blood for the benefit of a few individuals.”

“now, then, in oder to understand white supremacy, we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.”

“i maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people.”

“there has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.”

“the philosophers camus and sartre raise the question whether or not a man can condemn himself.”

“i usually say i did the best i could with what i had. i have no major regrets.”

stokely carmichael

eldridge cleaver (1935 – 1998) may 1, 1998 15^th anniversary

this dude had one of the weirdest bios of the 20^th century. jailed a number of times, cleaver's most heinous perhaps being for rape, which he admitted, gave rationale for why, but never an apology.  he did later renounce the practice.  his memorable quote in response to his lack of remorse, “the blood of vietnamese peasants has paid off all my debts.”  following his early prison stints, he joined the black panthers serving as minister of information and ran the “black house” in oakland in 1967.

cleaver received 36,000 votes in the 1968 presidential election on the peace and freedom party ticket (even though he was not the requisite 35 years of age to be eligible to hold the office).  it was his book of essays called “soul on ice” and it's sequel “soul on fire” that established him as a leader of thought in 1960s black power movements.  charged with ambush and attempted murder of police officers, cleaver jumped bail for cuba, then algeria, then france, serving as the minister of international panthers for a time.  while in europe, he eventually split with huey newton in principle.  where huey newton wanted to put down guns to relate to all of the black community, cleaver wanted the panthers to escalate armed struggle, specifically versus cointelpro tagets.  by the late 1980s, cleaver had renounced all of his radical past and became a born against christian mormon and a republican politician.  he died of unannouced causes on may 1, 1998. 

this eldridge cleaver couldn't really say more about the state of modern life: 

“does anybody know what the situation is? do you know what we can do and what we can’t do? what we can say and what we can’t say?  i don’t know that anymore. and i don’t have enough time to go and research all the laws. so that i’m in the position where the only thing I can say about that is fuck it.”

transmedia: sally kane, keynote speaker for oregon rural action

on october 19, oregon rural action had their benefit dinner, elections, games and prizes, silent auction, beer, wine and did i mention the dinner was all locally sourced?

the dinner part of the evening concluded with sally kane from paonia, colorado (near grand junction) and her work with community media as used to cover issues relevant to and by the community.  sally has grown up with KVNF, a radio station her mother founded in 1979, where sally began as a dj when she was 16-years-old.  the station started as 10 watts in a shed, to now having two transmitters and a signal that can stretch across entire states.  they have a very active role in representing a community that the mainstream media bypasses.  sally and her daughter both having been djs made it no foreign concept for KVNF to use kids as the next-in-line broadcasters in their video on climate change.

KVNF put together a video on transforming media, an incubator project for the association of independents in radio (AIR) producing transmedia storytelling.  KVNF’s project called iseechange (on climate change) is featured on “localore,” a ten member nationwide circuit of radio and tv stations hosted by AIR working with interactive media producers zeega to “sink new taproots into local communities … laying the ground for more inclusive 21^st century public media.” 

kane also screened the AIR localore video, available on the localore website as well, which featured looks at all of the ten member projects:

iseechange ::  90.9 KVNF, paonia, colorado

black gold boom :: on the oil rush of north dakota, in collaboration with zeega

curious city :: crowd sourced questions and issues :: 91.5 KBEZ, chicago

sonic trace :: latin american immigrant roots :: 89.9 KCRW, los angeles

hear here :: alternative to “bleed and lead” mainstream news :: 91.7 KALW, san francisco

austin music map :: 90.5 KUT, austin

planet takeout :: community through the lens of chinese food :: 89.7 WGBH, boston

the making of… :: northern california interactive artworks :: 88.5 KQED, san francisco in collaboration with kitchen sisters and zeega

reinvention stories :: rebuilding america’s fastest dying city :: 91.3 WYSO, yellow springs, oh

ed zed omega :: “what does school accomplish?” :: twin cities

we live in a high tech world.  technology has shown to be very valuable in telling of grass roots stories – think twitter in the middle east and northern africa.  combine this technology with the fact that everyone needs their opinion represented in some way.  as the dayton project reinvention stories revealed, the story becomes more that of the teller than the reporter.  ultimately, a trustworthy news source makes people more willing to speak.  for example, KVNF found that even conservatives not wanting to support environmental efforts, still had work habits that depended on changing weather patterns.  to be sure, changes in colorado have been extreme enough to cause katrina-level catastrophe flooding last month.  the progressive thinking of KVNF has drawn the ire of the tea party, which only reinforced the mission of KNVF as a community station.  why not have an honest station that deals with life and death issues, even at the risk of life and death?

that is to say, there are many risks that go beyond the financial support of a community media outlet or the mastery of modern technology.  there are risks in trying new ways of reporting that some don’t want exposed.  there are also risks in not trying new ways of reporting.  there are risks of being an unknown person and whether people can trust the reporter.  that’s where the work directed toward real community issues helps create bridges to people that may not trust corporate-owned media.  the solid point remained that if there are issues that affect people’s lives, those issues need to be reported at any cost.  if the community is going to fund a project, then that project has a responsibility to represent the community.

as sally says “technology is not the medium, it’s a tool.  the medium is love.”  there is a link between love and listening.  they complement each other.  a person who loves, listens.  a person who listens, loves.

october rabble rouser hall of fame

joe bell (1946-2013) & jadin bell (1998-2013)
     the course of events surrounding the bell family in the past year is absolutely incomprehensible.

     in april, joe bell set off on a walk from la grande thru the southeast and north to new york, a walk he hoped wouldn’t take more than about two years. his mission was to spread the word of his son jadin bell, who committed suicide after being bullied.  on KEOL’s grande review show all summer, we featured the progress of joe bell and some of the deeply inspiring stories he was sharing in what could otherwise be seen as a somewhat slow summer.  

      meeting joe bell during the pancake feed fundraiser for his "walk for change" gave the impression of exactly the man to be spreading the gospel.  joe was calm and unassuming.  he listened no matter how important the topic and made others feel comfortable, respected and understood.

      kid yoshida feels particularly guilty for doing such stupid things with more fortunate outomes.  certainly, for all the causes to support, there can be no underestimating the point of what joe bell was trying to do in a generation where gay rights are the watershed movement.  to be willing to do such a thing, and to pull it off, shows a dedication that can’t be tarnished.

       joe made triumph in overcoming lots of hurdles on the road, with his artificial knees and perpetual blisters, having to adjust physically to the task and the elements, surviving theft and misunderstanding by others.  but he also  inspired a lot of people.  he featured some interesting and frustrating accounts of the ordeal in this salon article ("they ripped him apart") that is required reading. few things are more important than this article published last september.

here are some other links....

faces for change

joe on opb’s think out loud

walk for change 

paul toutonghi's rememberance on opb's think out loud




malala yousafzai  (1997-present)
nominated for, though not awarded, the nobel peace prize, which was given to the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons october 11.  however, malala has recently won numerous other awards like the sakarov prize, the RAW in war anna politkovskaya award, and the gomes humanitarian award.  the sixteen-year-old pakastan girl was shot in the head by the taliban for promoting girls' access to education. still, she refuses to give up, saying "they can kill me, but it doesn't mean they can kill causes."  malala vows to press on in the face of persistent threats, seeking to become the doctor of the whole country and prime minister of pakistan.







annette buchanan conard (1945-2013)

a pioneer in journalist's right to protect sources.
     in 1966, buchanan assumed the role of editor of the oregon daily emerald and shortly thereafter wrote an article called “students condone marijuana use.” annette was then subpoenaed and asked to reveal her sources.  she refused to provide names to police and, in fact, mocked the need for a subpoena, saying, “i don’t know if you should need a grand jury to find out about drug use on campus.”  buchanan was charged with contempt of court, but was supported by journalists nationwide, and by president johnson, pushing free press and shield laws to protect sources.  what’s a person to do, be ostracized from their profession or follow court orders?  annette did what she thought was the responsible decision, not necessarily the popular or safest decision.  she was ordered to pay $300.  before paying, she appealed to the oregon supreme court, who upheld the verdict. the u.s. supreme court passed on the case in 1968. sometimes justice is hard to find, sometimes credibility is not respected.  the “girl editor” who just wanted to write about kids using drugs ended up dropping out of school and dropped back from the press firing lines, taking a job as copy editor at the oregonian.  support for her cause continued and by 1973 governor mccall, a former journalist himself, signed a shield law into place forbidding authorities from asking oregon media representatives to share sources.

     buchanan never revealed anything, staying out of the media.  frontal lobe damage from a few different head injuries left buchanan unable to talk, walk, dress, or eat by 2006.  she passed away in february 2013 without ever discussing the case or, more importantly, telling anyone who her sources were.  not that the police probably didn’t find out anyway.  they just didn’t find out through any complicity of buchanan.

     her story is featured in the autumn 2013 story in oregon quarterly “the stand she took.”  

herman wallace (1942-2013)

one of the angola three, who spent 40 years in solitary confinement for the supposed killing of a prison guard.         

       wallace had previously been an poet, “lover of literature,” and activist seeking to improve prison conditions on segregation, rape and violence, through hunger strikes, petitions, etc.   he had been purportedly held in the hole because of his “black pantherism” by a warden seeking a christian way of reform.  wallace was finally released on october 1 due to advanced liver disease and died on october 4 at the age of 71 years old.  three congressmen; cedric richmond, john conyers and bobby scott  referred to wallace as “the muhammed ali of justice” and entered a tribute to him in the congressional record.

       wallace died the same day as vietnamese general vo nguyen giap (aged 102 years old).

september 2013 rabble rouser of the month: russell brand

russell brand photo by richard young of rex features from the guardian

good comedy makes it nearly impossible to tell the difference between jokes and truth.  that’s what makes russell brand a master.  good luck figuring out whether he’s joking or serious.

on september 3, russell spoke at the gq men of the year awards ceremony to accept his oracle award. first thing brand attacked was how fake all the pompous parties associated with such events are.  then he bagged on his own oracle award, which he said “sounds recently made up.”  getting more serious, concerning boris johnson (the london mayor who had just won the politician of year), brand said, “glad to grace the same stage where boris johnson has just made light of the use of chemical weapons in syria.  gq can now stand for ‘genocide quips.’”  but the most notorious part of brand’s speech was, of course, the comment regarding hugo boss (the event sponsor).  “we had a lot of clients in the 30s and 40s. i can’t remember all of them” brand joked to mock his revelation that hugo boss made the uniforms for the nazi party in world war 2.  “the nazis did have flaws, but you know they looked fucking fantastic!  lets’ face it.  while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality.” 

history is not as forgiving as current times for covering up actions, so hugo boss can’t exactly deny the claims.  on the contrary, siegfried boss said, “the whole industry worked for the nazi army” in a huffington post report.  that’s an interesting quote in so much as it sounds as cavalier as it does obvious.  sure, in a you’re either with us or with them society, the lines are clear cut and you stand either to kill or be killed.  my guess is that most people would want to join the side of the victor.  (i am not sure who the “whole industry” refers to. all the clothing manufacturers or all businesses in general?)  still, i would assume most of the ones allowed to live did support the nazi army.  but the attitude didn’t seem one of remorse or compassion on boss’ part as much as a disconcerting, almost a boastful pride.  speaking of not telling the difference between jokes and truth, maybe siegfried boss should go into comedy.  the more things change, the more they stay the same.  by supporting politicians who condone the use of chemical weapons, how much does gq or hugo boss regret having supported the nazis in the 30 and 40s?  then to now, nothing has really changed.   

russell brand, congrats!    not just for exposing a little known fact, but for putting it into perspective.  i mean, if there had to be one thing positive said about the nazis, they did have impressive uniforms.  i am not sure brand wasn’t serious on that.  i suppose hugo boss was running with pride in their work.  and brand certainly wasn’t joking about the “fake parties,” so it was most likely to his delight that he was kicked out of an after party due to his speech.  “the glamour and the glitz isn’t real.  the party isn’t real.  you have a much better time mucking around trying to make your mates laugh.  i suppose that’s obvious.  we all know it.  we already know the important stuff like don’t trust politicians, don’t trust big business and don’t trust the media.  trust your own heart and each other.  when you take a breath and look away from the spectacle, it’s amazing how absurd it all seems when you look back.”

brand’s point in the guardian article in explaining his comments, questioned some glaring truths known that are certainly not funny, “if you can’t criticize hugo boss at the gq awards because they own the event, do you think it is significant that energy companies donate to the tory party?   will that affect government policy?  will the relationships that ‘politician of the year’ boris johnson has with city bankers… influence the way he runs our capital?   is it any wonder that amazon, vodafone and starbucks avoid paying tax when they enjoy such cosy relationships with members of our government?  ought we be concerned that our rights to protest are being continually eroded under the guise of enhancing our safety?  is there a relationship between proposed fracking in the uk, new laws that prohibit protest and the relationships between energy companies and our government?

that’s asking some serious questions. russell brand is the second brit to win the rabble rouser of the month award in the last three months and perhaps the first true celebrity to win it (in addition to the prestigious oracle award obviously). 

here is a video of the acceptance speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8U9JBJTm40