I came across an interesting “diary” blog post at Booman Tribune, one of the sites I read daily, about a memory Rosa Parks recalled of an experience she had at about age 6. It’s on page 2 of her autobiography (Rosa Parks: My Story), so you can deduce the import it had for her.
“One of my earliest … Read the rest
And of course, few in OKC bother to support this talented progressive singer songwriter… Read the rest. Next time someone complains that OKC doesn’t get included in such tours, I’ll just ask, well, were you at David Rovics (or David Swanson, or Max Blumenthal and David Cobb — all outstanding local progressive events that were under-attended)? These people talk to each other,
Any award Special Citation for Hank Williams (Sr) doesn’t really need an explanation.
New York City, April 12 – The Pulitzer Prize Board has awarded a posthumous Special Citation to country music icon Hank Williams for his lifetime achievement as a musician, Columbia University announced today.
The citation praises Williams for “his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal … Read the rest
Oh. My. God. This had me wiping tears off my cheeks AND my keyboard, it’s so hilarious. Maybe to fully appreciate it, you had to have watched them religiously for years like I did, enjoying the tension between the two movie lovers who couldn’t seem to agree on anything.
I often wondered what they talked about during the commercials, so… Read the rest
Most of the world was moved by Tank Man… Read the rest, the unknown rebel to the Chinese government’s violent crackdown on the student democracy movement in Tienanmen Square during the Spring of 1989.
But I was moved intensely enough write a poem that those who have seen my small body of work say is probably the best I’ve written. Anyway, I
Marking the 70th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, today The Oklahoman had a story — front page — about the evolution of the term “Okie”… Read the rest from slur (intentional or perceived) to proud label of strength against adversity. A sidebar story looked at reactions to the book through history.
Quoted in the article (and
On April 14, 1939, The Grapes of Wrath was released, to immediate public and critical success. And to immediate controversy. In Oklahoma, the book was sometimes misunderstood, or perhaps understood all too well, and thus maligned for craven political purposes… Read the rest. Anyone who reads the book with even a scintilla of awareness can recognize that the Joad family is admirable,
Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma filmmaker, had his latest movie, Barking Water, premiere at Sundance on Jan. 17. Here’s the synopsis:
Before Oklahoma was a red state, it was known as the Land of the Red People, described by the Choctaw phrase Okla Humma. In his sophomore film, Sterlin Harjo takes viewers on a road trip through his own personal … Read the rest
Seeing the (banned on YouTube) video of Pete Seeger singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Sunday made me think about how I first heard about him. It’s a pretty weird way, I think.
I was a typical 60s teenybopper — I loved the Monkees and read Tiger Beat and 16… Read the rest. My favorite Monkee was Peter, and in
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
- Howard Zinn
The Peace Arena
