Opening Day.

Today is Opening Day.  And as has been the case on every other Opening Day for the 49 and a half or so years that I have been on this planet, I am not there.  I am at work.   Spring Break is over, and instead of being out at Citizens Bank Park watching our Fightin’ Phils [...]

Happy (human rights hero) birthday.

Happy birthday to Cesar Chavez, born March 31, 1927.
Sign the petition to make today a national holiday here.
See Fran’s great post on this here.

The bug list.

If some folks can use blogging as a form of therapy, why can’t I?
All of what follows is expressed in the spirit of love and compassion.  Honest.  I just figure if I get it out of my system here, I’ll be a happier person.
Right now, today, at this moment, here are some things that bug [...]

Saturday Gym Rat Random Workout Ten.

“She Sells Sanctuary“ – The Cult  (So totally ’80s, aren’t they?  I love this song.)
“Bad Reputation“ – Joan Jett
“Brasilia Crossed With Trenton“ – Bob Mould 
“Whirly 3 (Remix)“ – Afro-Celt Sound System
“Fortunate Son“ – Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Right Here, Right Now“ – Fatboy Slim
“Rush“ – Big Audio Dynamite
“Lubbock Or Leave It“ – Dixie [...]

Eegads! Another book!

The latest addition to the Spring Reading Challenge: 
I believe that the essay is the most under-rated and undervalued genre in literature. And I also think that Sarah Vowell is one of our most under-read essayists.
If you’re a public radio fan, you might know Vowell’s work on This American Life. If not, you might know her [...]

WalMart: Always cheating kids out of a paycheck. Always.

 
This is low, even by their low, low standards:
Wal-Mart prides itself on cutting costs at home and abroad, and its Mexican operations are no exception. That approach has helped the Arkansas-based retail giant set a track record of spectacular success in the 16 years since it entered Mexico as a partner of [...]

“Corporate America Trying to Make Union Activities Illegal.”

by Jane Slaughter, at Labor Notes:
Is it illegal for an activist group or union to criticize a company’s business practices? Is it a “conspiracy” if advocates call for boycotts, organize rallies, or press for resolutions from elected bodies?
Smithfield Foods, the largest producer of pork products in the world, is hoping so, after a lawsuit it [...]

More of what some of my recent comment-leavers sure won’t like, at all…

“When America Can’t Handle the Truth” by Pierre Tristam:
The word, attributed to the late writer Saul Bellow, is “angelization” — willfully putting someone beyond blame. Angelizing America is the common tongue of all national politicians, the oath candidates implicitly take when running for president. It’s what the most sentimental people on Earth expect. It’s what [...]

As if you needed another reason NOT to shop at WalMart.

Keith Olbermann covered this story last night, but in case you missed it…
JACKSON, Missouri (CNN) – Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she’s told that her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, was killed in Iraq.
The 52-year-old mother of three attended her son’s funeral, but she continues to ask how he’s doing. When her family reminds [...]

People Have The Power, v. 4.

Those Quakers are at it again… 
DARIEN, Conn. (Wilton Villager) March 24 - A Darien woman is hoping a program that helped rehabilitate prison inmates will help teens in Norwalk think twice about committing acts of violence.
Judy Meikle, mother of two and a former teacher at the Friends School is Wilton, has been involved with the Alternative [...]

Even more books!

The latest (by me) from The Spring Reading Challenge: 
Kathryn Erskine has managed to combine two of my favorite things into one book: Quakerism and Young Adult Fiction. I came across this book last year when I got my annual catalog from Quaker Books, and was really surprised: a novel for younger readers that had Quakers in [...]

“Why I decided to join the army, be arrested trying, and what I learned in jail.”

(Subtitled “Post-arrest thoughts from a 57 year old ‘grandmother for peace.’“)
By Susan (that’s her in the picture)
[Note: On Monday March 17, ten Atlanta Grandmothers For Peace were arrested for trying to enlist.  The video was posted earlier: scroll down a bit.  Susan was one of them.  Below she tells her story.]
I went into this act of civil [...]

People Have the Power, v. 3.

If I might, I’d just like to brag a bit.  About my students.  Actually, about all the kids at my school.
A little background:
At my Friends Meeting, as I have mentioned here before, we have a very active prison outreach program.  We have a Friend who teaches writing to women in prison.  We have a transitional support [...]

“Obama, Ferraro, Wright: ‘Postracial’ Meets Racism.”

By Gary Younge.  From The Nation:
“The way we see things is affected by what we know and what we believe,” wrote John Berger in Ways of Seeing. “The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.”
When former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro sees Barack Obama–a black man, raised by a [...]

Grannies for Peace: The Video.

Back on March 20, I posted about an anti-recruiting demonstration in Atlanta, Georgia, staged by the local chapter of Grandmothers for Peace.
Well, Artemis saw the post and sent me the video.  Thanks for that.
(You should check out the site: Artemis does some good work.)
And again: God bless those grannies.

True story.

This is an absolutely true story.  It happened to me.  Today.  Just a few hours ago.
I’m driving home from the gym this afternoon.   On the back window of my little Honda SUV, I have two bumperstickers: “Peacemonger” and “Teachers for Obama.”
About half-way home, I notice there’s an older woman (older than me, at least: we’ll say a senior [...]

Meet a “Typical White Person.”

I really hope that what follows makes sense.  You’ll be sure to tell me if it doesn’t, okay?
Headline from Saturday’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Obama’s “typical white person” makes waves
Story:
Sen. Barack Obama’s description of his grandmother as a “typical white person” in an interview with WIP (610 AM) wound up making waves from the online Huffington Post to [...]

4000.

BAGHDAD (MSNBC, 10:30 pm, EDT) March 23 – Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad late Sunday, raising the death toll for American forces since start of the war to 4,000, according to the Pentagon.
The grim milestone was reached less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the [...]

“China’s Genocide Games.”

by Eric Reeves
In preparing to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has engaged in a massive campaign to dissemble its role in the Darfur genocide in western Sudan, now entering its sixth year. Such a task was unexpected by Beijing. The regime knew it would encounter strenuous protests over the continuing destruction of Tibet, although [...]

Happy Easter.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son…”