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I recently heard Robert Kennedy speak these words, part of a speech given at the City Club in Cleveland Ohio. A recording, of course, of when he first delivered them in that fateful, terrible year of 1968.
In the spring of that year, Dr. Martin Luther King was killed by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis. Vietnam raged, taking with it the young lives of thousands of Americans, while racial tensions and civil unrest left many parts of American cities in flames.
Desperate to make sense of it and find hope for an uncertain future, people gravitated toward Senator Kennedy’s vision and expression of purpose; of what he believed this nation can and should be.
I was ten years old then, my whole cognizant experience of the outside world up to then had begun with the assassination of Robert’s brother, followed by the menacing fear of nuclear annihilation , a war in a far-off and unknown place called Vietnam, and riots in the streets of America, all playing out on a black and white TV in our living room.
The world seemed to be falling apart, and Robert Kennedy helped many to believe that, despite all this, there was still reason to believe in America, that we could collectively live up to her founding ideals.
Bobby never made it to the presidency, of course, and nobody will ever know what might have been. If the hope and faith placed in him and his vision would have translated into a new and transformed America shall forever remain unknown.
But that there was hope on that hot June night there is no doubt; tenuous, unsure, but there it was. And just as suddenly, in that terrible year of 1968, to the horror, once again, of a nation that looked on in disbelief, it was gone. Another sucker-punch that left the world reeling. Taken by the specter of violence, the act of one fear-addled individual translating into a symptom of the sickness of the soul of which Kennedy spoke. A sickness that strikes back at any expression of its own undoing. Fear fueling violence against a message of “hope”.
I was young then, but looking back on it from today’s perspective and alleged maturity, I’m not sure if America has ever really recovered from those assassinations: JFK, MLK, and then RFK.
In these three individuals, Americans – indeed people from all over the world – dared the innocence of hope, of a belief in the potential of the human spirit, and each time it was suddenly, violently and publicly cut down.
And instead of the world Bobby believed in coming to fruition, leading us along with him, violence lingered and grew, and we withdrew into self-concern, suspicion, and cynicism.
Since then we have had very little in the way of leaders that can inspire the best in us. Certainly enough people to take control, but few, if any, to truly lead.
We have cartoonish leaders that rely solely on “swagger and bluster”, all too eager to “wield force” in the name of nothing more than their firm belief that, whatever they do, it is in the name of what is Good and Right, and so therefore they can do no wrong. Which isn’t leadership at all, really. Intransigence and arrogance is perhaps a method to maintain some control, but is not a basis for wise leadership. Fear is a poor motivator for bringing out the best in people, or giving them much hope.
Hope denotes something unfulfilled, and a promise that one day that something may be realized. And “hope” is also a word that is bandied about with seeming impunity from overuse; nonetheless diminishing its meaning, making it little more than a marketing buzzword.
There are no grand themes today. I feel uninspired by anyone that professes the audacity of thinking he or she should be president (though admittedly, the bar is currently at a remarkably low ebb).
I’m waiting for something or someone to come along that can counter what then becomes “hopelessness”, but if it is there, it remains quiet. There are no clear voices that I can hear that inspires much else but fear and division; at best confusion and well-packaged rhetoric.
It is too easy, however, to give in. If there are none to offer us hope and inspire us, then we have no choice but to do it ourselves.
And how do we do that? By reflecting on the words of people that at least had the vision of a better world, the eloquence to express it, and the courage to truly believe in it.
To destroy the individual is not to destroy the idea they expressed. We can build on that.
Those were desperate times back then, even a pointy-headed, half-blind kid of ten could tell that.
These are pretty desperate times now, even though it seems that many choose to ignore it. And it is the nature of how things sometimes shift balance that a voice will appear on the horizon. One with a vision of a better world. Not one the “offers a desert and calls it peace”, but that inspires a next, halting step to a better world, a sustainable and just society, and a chance to find a “Once and Future King”.
That’s what I’m hoping anyway.
Filed under Chastise Man, Mumbling to Myself, People, Politics by 
I can hear it now: “give it a break, already; Kerry lost”
Or maybe he’s just a loser, I don’t know. This isn’t really about Kerry being president or not. It’s about a book I’m reading by Greg Palast called Armed Madhouse.
Palast details the various problems with the 2004 election and makes a solid case for enough tainted or uncounted votes to account for a Kerry victory. Meaning, I suppose, that Bush was never actually elected president.
All this doesn’t portend nicely for how things will go down in 2008 or 2012 or…
Believe me, that’s really depressing. It means that even if everybody gets to vote, not everybodys vote counts, and some data firm somewhere (owned by a Republican Evangelical Christian) decides whose vote does count. If that is true we’ve failed the generation of the Founding Fathers and what they left us to “protect and defend”.
Chastise Man is vexed. He’s mad as hell. He knows that he now must abandon his limited skill with the turn of a phrase and defer to the closing paragraphs on Palast’s chapter entitled The Con:
…Yet most still voted for him.
What we witnessed on November 2, 2004, was a 59 million strong army of pinheads on parade ready to gamble away their pensions so long as George Bush makes sure that boys kill each other, not kiss; who feel right proud that our uniformed services can kick some scrawny brown people in the ass in some far-off place when we’re mad and can’t find Osama; who can’t bring themselves to vote for a guy with a snooty Boston Accent who’s never been to a NASCAR tractor pull and who certainly thinks anyone who does is a low-Q beer-burping blockhead.In his vulturous, brain-damaged way, Zell Miller was right: Stand up for Black voters and the redneck boobs will take their revenge. So the election came down to this: Nitwits who think Ollie North’s a hero not a conman, who can’t name their congressman, who believe Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were going steady, who can’t tell Afghanistan from souvlaki stand and, bloated with lies and super-sized fries, clomped to the polls 59 million strong to vent their small-minded hatreds on us all.
I fear the election was an intelligence test that American flunked.”
Chastise Man bows in awe of such a finely-tuned, deadly serious, and so very accurate rant.
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, People, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky by
Entity Unto Himself and All-Seeing, All-Knowing Dick to Assume Presidential Powers on Saturday While Dubya Gets a Colonoscopy
Gosh, the mind reels…
Here’s one: While Bush gets his head examined, Cheney steps down from Ruler of the Universe to spend the day marveling at the little red “launch” button.
But let’s get serious, I’d suggest we all remain vigilant tomorrow. We all know that Cheney is in charge, but on Saturday he’s really in charge.
Cripes, just writing that gives me the Willies.
Here’s the full scoop and the best one-liner.
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, News, Politics by
I work occasionally with a business consultant and earlier this week we were discussing the possibilities for The History Blog Project.
The conversation led to John relating the story of his recent conversation with two young men in his favorite Austin coffeehouse, one soon to be a senior in high school and the other just graduated. John asked them if they knew what the July 4th holiday was all about.
They both knew that it was about American Independence. But from whom?
One thought we had liberated ourselves from the iron grip of Imperial Spain. “No, no”, said the other, “It’s France”.
And when?
“1965?”
I was not there, I did not hear this exchange. But John has little reason to make such a thing up.
(I have a distinct memory of sitting on our couch in Denver during the Christmas holiday of 1965, watching the Vietnam war on television. At least I think it was Vietnam…)
Who to chastise here… The young men that have made it thus far in their American education without even a rudimentary understanding of our history? Or the adults charged with imparting this rudimentary knowledge? Or the society in general that allows both the adults and children to so egregiously miss the boat.
Take your pick.
How many of the young soldiers in Iraq are there, filled with talk of Fighting for Freedom – or the justification du jour – that don’t even know the history of their own fight for freedom? Is their idea of America only what they’ve seen since the election of George Bush and 9/11?
Is this what America has become? The vision of George Bush’s messianic mission – “crusade”, as he himself put it – and young men, products of mainstream American education, believing that July 4th is a day to celebrate our independence from France on that fateful day in 1965?
This is what I think: If you can’t name at least six people who signed the Declaration of Independence (that’s right, six. Go crack open a book, or better yet, google it if you need to), who we were declaring independence from, and the year it was signed, then I think you should not be allowed to go to preemptive war in a foreign country until you’ve taken – and passed – an American history class (one hopes George Bush would pass muster).
If we can’t insure at least this much, then we shouldn’t put a gun in their hands and send them to a country whose culture their own leader doesn’t understand.
Is anybody paying attention here?
Filed under Chastise Man, History Blogs, People, Politics, War in Iraq by
Despite claims that his administration does not use torture, “Vice” President Dick Cheney was recently caught in the act of publicly torturing logic. In fact, many claim that Cheney’s use of torture on logic was a flagrant act of contempt for his constituency -that is, the American people.
His method of torture is the claim that the office of the Vice President is not part of the executive branch of government – since a subset of the duties of VP is to break tie votes in the Senate – and is therefore not required to obey an executive order that requires his office to explain his handling of sensitive documents. In other words, how many secrets Dick has is a secret.
So the Vice Presidency – being clearly not part of the legislative branch, and, through the use of tortured logic, is neither a part of the executive branch – is its very own branch of government. The Dick branch of government. One that stands outside the pesky confines of the Constitution.
Or so it is how Dick Cheney would have us believe through his use of torture.
One may find oneself exclaiming, “Does he think he can get away with such an obvious abuse of power?” or “Doesn’t he care about the Constitution or the people he supposedly serves?” or “Does he think we’re all stupid or something?”
The answers, respectively, are: yes, no, and yes.
“President” Bush has abdicated much of his policy-making power to Dick Cheney (i.e. the thought process part) – probably more so than any other president in the nation’s history – and Dick Cheney has open contempt for the American people, the Constitution, and those with whom he goes hunting.
He must be stopped short. He will use torture again unless we take action now.
Read more from Slate.com
Photo Credit: Associated Press photo by Eric Gay
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Filed under Chastise Man, News, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky by
It is often the case that we start down a career path full of excitement and enthusiasm, and the price we pay after a decade or two of experience is the loss of some of that enthusiasm; the wide-eyed wonder and excitement that propelled us down our chosen path in the first place.
We can forget our sense of gratitude for the opportunity to do something that we love and that we are good at. We become jaded.
My last cue for a typical performance of Beach Blanket Babylon (out of about 300 “computer cues” and countless mix cues) is a simple one: start the CD player for the exit music on the band’s final downbeat. And that’s right on the downbeat, thank you. NO DEAD AIR!! (It’s the little things that seperate the men from the boys.)
Anyway, working Sundays is not something I usually do at BBB, other than to talk my understudy, friend, and colleague Mr. David Bucky Cat Allen through his shift of two performance over the phone. Usually one or two calls does it. Rarely is the Sunday that some issue or technical aspect doesn’t arise that requires at least a preliminary chat around noon before all the fun at Club Fugazi begins.
But with David on vacation I had the distinct honor of running the two matinee performances of BBB. (“yeah right” I thought as I walked to work)
Matinee performances are not everyone’s cup of tea. Most probably not my cup of tea. Nonetheless, I managed the 12–hour turn-around from Saturday night’s performances and was committed to making it through the day and going home as soon as possible.
The unique aspect of the matinee at BBB is the allowance of young tykes to the performance (no alcohol served, the dick joke thinly veiled by adding the word “Tracy”, and the Witch Doctor’s lack of an erect banana).
So thus it was that I sat listening to the band playoff at the end of the second show yesterday, dreaming of dinner and a smile from my sweetie waiting at home, with my finger on the GO button of the CD remote, cued and ready to start with It’s My Party on the moment of the band’s final downbeat.
Out of the corner of my eye I spied a young man of nine or ten just outside my booth peering in at the flashing lights, pulsating meters, and glowing touchscreen indicating the status of the sound coming into 32 mono channels, 4 stereo channels, 8 DCA busses (ahem – digitally controlled amplifiers), 16 mix busses, and 8 matrix channels (I could certainly go on with the specs, but, to the reader’s relief, I shan’t).
I wanted to let the boy know it was okay to look, but I was coming up on the last cue of the day and well, you know… NO DEAD AIR and all, so my focus remained primarily on the band’s playoff.
Right before I was to take the cue the boy blurted out "That’s so cool!" as he stared into my den of technology.
I took my cue, the CD started, I looked at the boy, smiled, and said, "Yes, it is cool!!".
He was a shy lad, I think, so he didn’t quite know what to say beyond his exclamation of coolness. I was about to show him how I could move the faders without touching them, or how I could call up EQ and dynamics curves for each channel (well, two processors each for each channel, but I promised you, dear reader, that I wouldn’t…) but the boy moved off with his family toward the door.
So there I sat, tired and hungry, my hearing in threshold shift at the end of a long day, capping a long week, one more of thousands and thousands (and thousands) of performances gone into the ether. What was different now was that some of that boy’s excitement lingered and I remembered how it felt the first time I saw a mixing console. The excitement of mixing my first gig. The feeling of “making the magic happen”.
I looked at my rig, one that I have fought and worked hard for years to acquire, and realized what a lucky SOB I really am.
That little boy’s wide-eyed wonder was the perfect end to the week. I was able to walk home with my sense of gratitude firmly in place.
Filed under Chastise Man, Something Nice to Say, The Soundman Chronicles by
The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has been a cultural landmark since 1981; not only for the city of San Francisco, but for the entire country. In its current home at 620 Sutter Ave., the future of the company – indeed even run of the current show playing in the theater – are now in jeopardy due to a thoughtless and entirely inexcusable move by the San Francisco Academy of Arts.
Lorraine Hansberry is the only remaining African-American theater company with its own stage on the west coast, but the importance of the company reaches far beyond San Francisco and even California. Many world-class artists, writers, designers, and technicians have helped make Lorraine Hansberry Theatre what it is today; a unique, thriving, and vitally important artistic institution. Ticket sales for its recently completed 26th season were up 40%, and founders Quentin Easter and Stanley E. Williams had been looking forward a bright future and building on that momentum.
It could all be stopped short because the Academy of Art College wishes to build a gym for the private use of its students, (the Academy now leases the building housing the theater and is in negotiations to buy the property outright).
That would be a hilariously funny joke were it not, apparently, the very real intentions of the Academy of Art. Can anyone see the irony here?
Of course you can, except the Academy who either can’t or simply doesn’t care about the community they supposedly support.
The idea of art schools isn’t a bad one in theory, of course. I am sure that among the hundreds of pierced, black-leather-clad wanna-be’s with bad attitudes and entitlement complexes, a few genuinely talented people rise to the top and actually find careers as artists in their chosen field (that is to say that working behind the counter at the Gap for a fashion design student doesn’t count).
The truth is that there are too many art students and not enough jobs. So we have an abundance of pierced, black-leather-clad ex-students with bad attitudes, a “portfolio”, no job, and parents that are $80,000 or more poorer than they were before the whole exercise began.
This isn’t unique to the Academy of Art. But my only professional experience with the Academy was when I offered their audio design students an opportunity to interview for the position of sound operator at Grace Cathedral. Admittedly not the be-all end-all position for audio designers, but it would give a chance for real-world experience, working in an acoustically magnificent space (for now), and the chance to work with various musical styles and sound applications.
Not one student replied. I guess getting up early on Sunday mornings was just too much to ask to start building a resume and a career. Give me a break.
I don’t wish this to degenerate into an ad hominem argument, it isn’t the student’s fault that the management of the Academy is more interested in real estate speculation than truly supporting the arts community in this town. I just have to ask, what is more important, supporting a premier theater company with a national reputation, or a gym for privileged art students?
If the students need exercise, perhaps the Academy could park some of it ubiquitous busses that spew carbon dioxide and make them walk wherever it is they seem to be going all the time. Or perhaps the Academy could sell it dozens of properties scattered all over the city and build an arts college in one location where all the students could come to learn, interact, and work at their craft instead of spending time on a bus.
But I guess that wouldn’t play too well in the Academy’s business model. In fact, perhaps the Academy of Art should open a new course: real estate speculation 101.
Stop them!
Contact the Academy of Arts at (415) 274-2200 or (800) 544-2787, email them at info@academyart.edu, or write them at 79 New Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94105-3410. Tell them they must allow the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to remain in their home of twenty years and continue to serve the arts community in this city and across the nation. Surely this is more important than a gym and yet one more piece of real estate for Academy.
Let the Supervisor Aaron Peskin know how you feel
(415) 554-7450 – voice
(415) 554-7454 – fax
Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
We must act quickly, however, as the Academy has plans to take over the space as early as next month.
Filed under Chastise Man, News, Things That Make Me Cranky by
George Bush vetoed legislation yesterday that would have eased restrictions for federal funding of stem cell research, stating that it is a “moral line" he will "not cross”.
A moral line Bush is unwilling to cross.
Let’s then consider what “moral lines” Bush is apparently willing to cross (this is the short list):
- He has no problem lying to the American people (and the world) about the reasons for invading Iraq and to shift those reasons as each one previous exposes itself as illegitimate
- He feels justified in lying to the American people about illegal wiretaps and surveillance on Americans
- He allows his administration to expose a covert CIA officer only because her husband calls him on his disingenuous assertion that Iraq had obtained nuclear “yellow cake” from Africa. And simply ignores his own previous claim that the people responsible (Dick Cheney) will not work in his administration
- He sees fit to appoint lackey supporters to key administration posts instead of competent administrators, helping exacerbate the criminally incompetent response to hurricane Katrina
- He feels justified in invoking fear, through repeated use of the words “nine-eleven”, to cling to power, harass his opponents, and excuse ill-advised policies
- He is comfortable with abusing and violating the constitution as he sees fit, causing many to fear a dangerous slide into a “monarchial presidency”
- He is willing to use torture as a means of interrogation
- He has no problem backing out of his own commitment to the Kyoto protocol and to do it in a way that then EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman describes as “flipping the bird to the rest of the world”. A posture he holds throughout his presidency, causing a former administrator to suggest that, according to Bush, America’s job is to do what it will, and the job of the rest of the world is to “deal with it”
- He has allowed, through deceit, incompetence, arrogance, and disdain for decency, the death of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Iraquis in a colossally foolish, mistaken, mismanaged, and immoral war
- He has allowed war and disaster profiteering from companies such as Halliburton, looting the American taxpayer for 10 billion dollars (money that is simply “missing”)
- He proffered claims that the war in Iraq would only cost $50 billion – current estimates of the cost of the war in Iraq now stand at $1.2 trillion. That’s 1,200,000,000,000.00 (check me on that, I don’t often use such numbers – do I have enough zeros?)
- He claims a unique relationship with God, as if he has been specially chosen by the Almighty to lead the country down the abysmal path of his presidency. If this is true, God must hate us
- He claims he is “for life” in vetoing funding of stem cell research, something that would help ease human suffering and disease. And yet Mr. Bush shows no compunction crossing moral line after moral line; opportunities lost, resources squandered, families torn apart, and thousands of lives ruined. All as a direct result of his arrogance, his intransigence, and his incompetence – in other words, his presidency.
If this is moral leadership, then: 
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Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, News, People, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War in Iraq by
The irony seems completely lost on the range of republican presidential candidates whom, save Ron Paul of Texas, either implicitly or 
expressly support the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons should Iran appear to be on the verge of acquiring a centrifuge enabling them to produce nuclear weapons.
I don’t think it’s a good idea that Iran posses nuclear weapons; I don’t think it’s a good idea that anyone posses nuclear weapons. But the genie is out of the bottle and using nuclear weapons to prevent the use or acquisition of the same is foolish and calling it “tactical” is a lie. There is no such thing as a tactical nuclear weapon; their very use has strategic implications. Using a nuclear weapon is a strategy. And not a very good one.
Should we preemptively strike another nation with nuclear weapons – call them “tactical” if you want –we guarantee that sometime, someplace, the same will be used against us. It may not be the thirty minute response those of us old enough to really remember the Cold War came to expect in the sixties and seventies, but it will come.
And will we then preemptively nuke other countries as they insist on their right to exploit the genie we unleashed in the New Mexico desert in 1945? Where does it end? It is only in restraint that any moral leadership is possible.
George Bush has gotten the ball rolling in the abrogation of that moral leadership. It seems the Republicans that wish to be president have plans to finish the job.
I think we’d better decide just what sort of nation we intend on becoming.
Filed under Chastise Man, News, People, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky, War by
The continued social and political turmoil in Zimbabwe has led to a dramatic surge in rhinoceros poaching.
In a desperate attempt to to stem the tide of destruction of these already critically endangered animals, government officials have announced plans to de-horn the population of Rhinoceros.
The hope is that a Rhino without a horn is worthless to poachers and not worth the effort of killing them.
Initial plans call for de-horning 780 Rhinos, starting in the southeast corner of Zimbabwe.
We spent three days in Zimbabwe in 2004, staying at the Victoria Falls Hotel, a remnant from the country’s colonial past and an oasis for “rich” tourists, where we were shielded from the ongoing strife taking place just beyond the grounds of the hotel.
Still, almost at the very foot beyond the hotel boundary, we ran a gauntlet of hawkers down the trail leading to the entrance to Victoria Falls. On one excursion a friendly police officer offered to escort us to the park gate and come back for us in a couple of hours to escort us back.
The van driver taking us to the airport the next day spoke of the land he once owned that had been confiscated by the government of Robert Mugabe.
The strain of human society is palpaple, even to the pampered and shielded tourist.
Unable to do anything for the throngs of people that lined the path from the hotel to the Falls as they thrust trinkets, carving, and worthless souvenirs in our faces, I remember do this day as one lady told Jayne as we walked past her little booth near the entrance to the Falls, “I am only trying to make a living ma’am”.
It is dubious for me to judge what it is like to survive in the circumstance of this woman and all the others that plied the mile long walk between the hotel and the Falls, hoping to get some of the wealth that we tourists brought with us. For the most part little more than an “annoyance”, as it is impossible – even of someone could or wanted – to accommodate the crowd of peddlers and impromptu tour guides.
The friendly policeman knew people aren’t always nice when faced with a tenuous grip on survival.
The Rhino in Zimbabwe is killed for the wealth it provides, a horn used for dagger handles and potions throughout Asia and the Middle East.
Perhaps it is easy for me to condemn the actions of poachers that would wipe out a species of animal just to acquire the horn to sell as the handle of a dagger, likely itself used for further violence. I live a comfortable existence and my belly is full.
I remember the woman: “I am only trying to make a living, ma’am”. An honorable living need only be a modest booth selling snacks or trinkets for rich tourists. It shows that an impoverished existence does not necessitate or justify succumbing to the worst of human nature: violence, greed, and indifference. These are traits that inhabit all of humanity, rich and poor alike.
A dishonorable living includes anything to do with killing a Rhino for nothing more than its horn; killing it to the point of extinction. And then moving on to the next act in the play of human darkness.
Filed under Chastise Man, Environment, News, Things That Make Me Cranky by
