I was sitting on the local benches with a handful of my pals last Sunday, masked up, pulling on a Crisp Pilsener and shooting the shit. I raised the question about the various crises, in particular the fires out west. We all immediately agreed how dangerous the whole mess is. We got onto the phrase […]
Rehearsals (Clowns Included)
A couple of weeks ago, an author named Jack Luna explored the significance of the Trump-supporting car/truck and boat parades on Labor Day: “With images of raucous white Americans on parade freshly troubling me, I kept turning that word — parade, parade — over in my head until it suddenly hit me like a ton of mailbags dumped […]
Direction
I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth, The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south “Substitute” by The Who (1966) Most thinking people on the side of the insurgency against the police and state sanctioned murders aren’t sure what might happen next. It seems topsy-turvy because […]
“We’ve been thinking about a world without policing, a world where we can actually survive”: A conversation with Stickii and Shae Shae
In Part I of this conversation, we heard from Stickii and Shae Shae about their experiences with police growing up in Springfield, MA and what got them into the streets protesting from a young age. Now, we hear about their lessons from over a decade of challenging police, and where they look for inspiration. Stickii: […]
We’re Cooking with Gas, Brother
My brother-in-law Norms responded to my recent Shebeen article in Hard Crackers with his own story. I want to tell it and a little more. Norms lives with his wife in the Walmer neighborhood of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He is married to my older sister, Bronwen. They have been a unit for coming on […]
“Everyone Agrees”
When a politician, TV anchor or newspaper opinion writer starts out by saying that “Everyone agrees”, I think it’s time to pay attention. There are not too many instances where everybody agrees—except about something that’s really wonderful or awful. Everybody does agree, I think, that a rainbow in the sky is beautiful. They also all […]