I once lived in a desert, over 10 years ago. The Southern Californian desert changed me. I have never considered the swamplands of the gulf coast to be a forgiving land, but the urban environment has always obscured this, I grew up in a concrete steam room that I only learned was a marsh thick […]
From a Tiny Studio Apartment in Chicago
I am currently writing from my tiny studio apartment in Chicago that I pay far too much for in rent, listening to the album “Control” by Pedro the Lion, a concept album about a businessman killed by his wife for infidelity. On the song “Second Best,” I just heard this lyric: “Desperate attempts to fan the flame without […]
Audacity!
“Audacity, still more audacity, audacity always!” –Georges Danton, French Revolution 1792 “The best defense is disorder.” –The Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide The first Battle for Tucson ended in victory for us when the cops trashed our encampment at the Olive Grove by the University of Arizona Main Gate on May 1. We escaped from campus after […]
All Shall Be Afforded Dignity: The Art of Norman Kaplan
London Exhibit April 22 to May 6, 2024, and on-line Brief Introduction: The following is an on-line gallery of a recent London art exhibit featuring the work of Norman Kaplan. Norman is my brother-in-law and he is married to my sister Bronwen. They live in the Eastern Cape city of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in South […]
Aux armes! May Day in the Olive Grove
Students at the University of Arizona in Tucson erected two Gaza Solidarity encampments on April 29 and 30. For more information on the battle for Tucson, see https://livingandfighting.net/ This article is being published in Living & Fighting and Hard Crackers. What can we do against the steady drip of almost unbearable news, not only from […]
Dreaming Freedom: Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”
It’s a truism, but nevertheless may be worth repeating: that music and literature of a radical bent can encapsulate the possibilities of their social moment in a way that manifestos and movement histories, no matter how subversive their authors’ politics, are sometimes just unable to match. Yesterday’s dreams of a new tomorrow can live on, […]