Most of the world was moved by Tank Man, 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 really identified with the man, since I was working then (much as now) as virtually a full time peace and justice activist. His solitary statement was a symbol of individual resistance, the importance of even just one person making a stand for what is right.

Today is the 20th anniversary of Tank Man’s stand. In some ways, it seems to me like much longer, but I also feel like it was not but a year or two ago. Most of those 20 years have not been particularly productive ones for me — but that’s another post. It’s a time to remember, and to be grateful that democracy continues to be sought and practiced more and more around the world, however imperfectly. Some of the students who were at Tienanmen Square 20 years ago even say that China itself has become better (an article in today’s Oklahoman quotes a man who now teaches as OSU), though there are many who would argue with that. There are protests taking place in cities around the world, to call for real change for the people in China.

The fact that China has blocked a lot of internet sites for the past week or so doesn’t indicate much improvement to me — except for the fact that the intrinsically democratic medium of the Internet is a bloody headache for tyrants to control. In my opinion, if the US really wanted to spread democracy around the globe, they would make broadband freely available via satellites to every spot on the globe.

Images of Tank Man are continuing to be newly revealed — enhancing our understanding of that moment — and art created. Because passion for and commitment to love, peace and human rights will always inspire.

So here’s my little contribution to the genre. I have only altered it from the version I produced in a few hours 20 years ago in that I removed Roman numerals over each stanza, which I now do not know why I thought was a good idea. It was previously published in the Palmetto Post, a newspaper of the Florida Green Party.

(I’ve posted the poem as an image, because I have not figured out yet how I want to publish my poetry, if at all, and would like to lessen the chance of it being used until that time. I would ask that if you want to share it, that you link to this post rather than download the image. Contact me for other arrangements. Thanks.)

Turns out I’m a big meanie because I won’t open my so-called liberal heart to loving bipartisan accord with Sally Kern and her anti-gay Christian Taliban brigade  (see, I just did it again!).

So I was thinking, what mean things could I do, now that my cover is blown?

How about we distribute the stimulus money, jobs and programs based on how the congressional deleations voted. Ha ha! Imagine the squawks from Inhofe on the Senate floor when that was announced. And Coburn would say “No, no, no! Can I put a hold on that?” The Oklahoman would write a sarcastic editorial about how liberals hate America (okay, they don’t really need to write it, just pull it out of the file), but point out that Carrie Underwood is from Oklahoma, and we should all be so proud.

Speaking of the Gaylord’s personal media projects, I would force them to rename their school to “Gaylord College of Propaganda and Mass Deception.”

Wal-Mart would have to unionize all their employees, and give every woman customer free birth control.

The NRA would have to hold their meetings in the most crime prone area in the chapter’s region.

Jeez, having a black heart is fun. Imagine what I could do if I had actual power or an official platform of some kind, like, oh, I dunno, state representative. I could really make people I don’t like suffer and I wouldn’t even need a rational excuse.

I don’t want to pre-judge history or anything, but you know how all the holidays for notable presidents and civil rights leaders are all scrunched together at the beginning of the year, right after all those other holidays, for religious leaders and man-made counting turnovers?

You know how, in mid-February, everyone is going, “Jeez, another day off??? How’s a person supposed to get any work done around here?”

And everyone (okay, just me probably) is always going, “I need a holiday in August. Why can’t someone born in August do something so great that we shouldn’t have to work in honor of them?”

Barack Obama was born on August 4. I’m just sayin’.

Keith Olberman referred to this list tonight on his show. So I Googled and found a version, here.

Bitchin’ Bush Ice Cream Flavors

Jay Hazen sent us this list of flavor names supposedly submitted to Ben & Jerry’s for a Bush themed ice cream. Comment with your favorite one or submit your own!

• - Grape Depression
• - The Housing Crunch
• - Abu Grape
• - Cluster Fudge
• - Nut’n Accomplished
• - Good Riddance You Lousy Motherfu***r… Swirl
• - Iraqi Road
• - Chock ‘n Awe
• - WireTapioca
• - Impeach Cobbler
• - Guantanmallow
• - imPeachmint
• - Heck of a Job, Brownie!
• - Neocon Politan
• - RockyRoad to Fascism
• - The Reese’s-cession
• - Cookie D’oh!
• - Nougalar Proliferation
• - Death by Chocolate… and Torture
• - Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
• - Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
• - Credit Crunch
• - Mission Pecanplished
• - Country Pumpkin
• - Chunky Monkey in Chief
• - WMDelicious
• - Chocolate Chimp
• - Bloody Sundae
• - Caramel Preemptive Stripe
• - I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands . . . with nuts

And in comments, these good additions were offered:

• Rotten Apple DeCider
• Choc and Awe (better spelling that above, IMO)
• Credit Bubble Gum

I think my favorite is Abu Grape. That’s some pretty black humor.

Runner Up
Best Political Blog
[Browse 2008 archives]

Wow, this is amazing to me. First of all, not to sound like a cliche, but being nominated is so validating, especially since most of the time a I alternate between feeling that no one even reads my blog and feeling that my efforts are just too pathetic to matter, or it’s just a lot of time wasted in vain in a conservative state where I’m quite the fish out of water.  I read many of the best (lefty) political bloggers in the country daily, and know I can never aspire to their level, but I make whatever effort I can. This recognition will certainly motivate me to continue despite all those countering aarguments.

I also feel that being a far left blog in a far right state makes it all the more amazing that Peace Arena got the readers and the votes to reach this level. So, Oklahoma is getting more of my rantings and offerings for another year, at least!

The winner in the category is Batesline.  An excellent and popular conservative blog, which totally deserves the honor. If you haven’t blogged, you can’t fully appreciate the time and effort involved. Batesline has been around quite a while, and never seems to flag (something I do all the time). Don’t know how Michael Bates does it. His writing is great, and he does his homework. So kudos to him — not to mention all the other winners, and nominees (they are listed here. All are worth your time to read regularly, for information, for opinion, for laughs, for culture, for the odd take. The Oklahoma section of the blogosphere is vital and growing, please be sure to support OK bloggers all year long by reading, commenting, donating, sharing their links with your networks, etc. etc.

Thanks to all those who participated in the awards by blogging and/or voting this year, and especially to Mike at Okiedoke for doing the awards. He’s created a very open and fair way to recognize and honor Oklahoma Bloggers, and takes on this extra work of managing the nominations and voting every year now for four years.

Finally, I’ll repeat my ongoing offer to anyone who wants to start blogging: I will help with the tech side of things. You can use free services like Blogger or Wordpress.com, or you can jump in and get your own domain and software install. But it never hurts for more voices/perspectives to be part of the discussion. Contact me and I’ll provide whatever tips or tutorials you may need. Who knows, maybe YOU will be up for an Okie Blog award for 2009.

Wow, it’s that time again already, that time when all the little people of the Netroots rise up against their oppressors, the big people of the Netroots who won’t link to them (the bastards!).

So we link to each other — freely, wildly, irresponsibly, like the DFHs we really are. The motto is “look up, link down” that is, to show some love to blogs smaller than yours.

Skippy the bush kangaroo, who started, with Jon Swift and Blue Gal, this ancient rite in Blogtopia (and, yes, he coined that phrase) lo those many three years ago, has the rundown on how it all works, the inviolate rules (which always get violated, because size comparisons are always funny, aren’t they?), and what it all means in his most honorable 2009 B.A.D. post.

Note the first three of my five are progressive (loosely defined) Oklahoma blogs, because it is my mission daily to promote those every chance I get. They may or may not be smaller than Peace Arena, but I’ve only just come across them recently, so they may be unknown to you as well.

1. I really don’t like the word Blog
2. Green Tulsa
3. Progress on the Prairie
4. Tana-rama – Tana Hanson is a very talented designer
5. Ranting Woman Ranting Daily – Interesting writer with personal take on politics, religion and technology

So, I have a year-round open blogroll policy. You can see that “roll” — collapsed flat for spacesaving — at the bottom of the front page of this site. I call it “Open Seating,” this being an arena and all, and it includes anyone I add by choice, and anyone who asks (within a very wide range of opinion, but still within the realm of civil discourse). Elsewhere I further refine with sub-categories like “Virtual Oklahoma,” hopefully self explanatory, and “La Resistance,” being online compatriots in the struggle for peace, equality and justice, a.k.a. the netroots.

If you have a blog that you would like to be added to my blogroll, comment below with the pertinent info, and tell me if you think you fit in one of the sub-categories, because if I agree, you will get extra linky goodness. You do not have to add me back, though that would be a lovely gesture. And, it would also be good and just if you too participated in Blogroll Amnesty Day when it rolls around again on the calendar. Let us lift up and nurture one another, making the virtual reality ever more virtuous, and helping to actually realize Skippy’s vision of Blogtopia.

I had two meetings today, have two paying (!) jobs on my plate, one of them with a tight deadline, and Mom is feeling better and want to get back to car shopping. So don’t be surprised if I don’t post much for the next few days — if I do, it probably means I’m procrastinating.

In the meantime, please peruse the Oklahoma City Progressive Events Calendar (covering the greater Metro area, including Norman), which I’ve been working hard to keep better updated this year. I make no claims that it’s comprehensive, but I’m putting as much on it as I can find and have time and sanity to keep up with.

Here’s the current list of events. If you have more time than I this coming week, you can surely find something to do. I’ll be tweeting and checking in at Facebook when I can.

Wow, very cool. It really is an honor, just to be considered… of course I’d like to win it too!

Voting open to Okie bloggers. Please take time to visit and read all the nominees. It’s great that we have so many compelling voices, that the Internet allows us to share them with each other so readily, and that we live in a country where free speech is one of our highest ideals.

And if you would like to start a blog so you could be considered for the 2009 awards, let me know, I will help you with the tech part. The ideas you gotta bring yourself.

Update: I think that, technically, the voting should be based on the posts of 2008, rather than current ones (the awards are happening a little late this year for reasons Mike explained a while back). Anyway, you can peruse Peace Arena’s 2008 archive, or go month by month during the year.

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. My favorite Monkee was Peter, and in Tiger Beat, I learned how intellectual and politically passionate he was — so different than his character on the show. In one TB article, he talked about liking folk music, and how much he admired Pete Seeger. Although at the time I probably lived within 100 miles of Pete Seeger, I’d never heard of him.

In other seemingly forgettable TB articles about Peter I remember him saying he drove a beat up foreign car, Saab I think, because it was safer and more environmental or something, which made me think he was just so cool — which in retrospect he was, since this was before the first Earth Day even.

Anyway, I wish I could say I immediately went and listened to Seeger, discovered Dylan, Patti Smith and Lou Reed and left the Monkees to the other sheltered suburban girls, but that was not the case. I didn’t go in that direction until several years later in college. But don’t knock the Monkees, I can’t be the only one whom they eventually led into subversive activity. (Or maybe it was just those of us who chose Peter as “our” Monkee! And, yes, we divvied them up; it’s not like you could have two girls in the same clique liking Micky!)

If you haven’t seen the brilliant and moving documentary about Pete Seeger, The Power of Song, I urge you to do so. I wrote about it previously and just can’t recommend it enough. Here’s a preview:

Back in 2002, I met the three still-touring Monkees (Peter, Davy and Micky for those who don’t follow these things) after a concert in Clearwater, FL. I have a photo somewhere. It would really be perfect for this post, but I have no idea where it is.

By the way, when Peter Tork was imprisoned in the 70s (for marijuana possession), he served his time at the penitentiary in El Reno, Oklahoma.