On Tuesday, Nov, 4

VOTE!

Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But oportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker, sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt out basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Remember all the people who gave their lives so that this day could come

I saw a commercial last night asking us to "preserve traditional marriage"

The countries highlighted are where traditional marriage includes polygamy.

This map shows where forced or arranged marriage is still practiced. By heterosexuals. You know, those people that bombed (among other places) Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden?

Mom always liked photographing red barns & sunsets on vacation; this barn isn't red but I think she'd have liked it

Never doubt...

This is why the rest of the world is ticked off at us

Gov. Sarah Palin spent enough on her campaign wardrobe to feed 300 Haitian families ...for a year. The pundits have all wagged their tongues; the comedians have made all their jokes. But as the presidential campaign draws to a conclusion, I'm not laughing.

There are so many good organizations doing work in Haiti, I couldn't pick just one, but if you click the header at top, it will take you to Doctors Without Borders, who can give you a comprehensive overview of conditions there and what needs to be done. A simple online search will yield many additional ways to offset Palin's kharma footprint as well.

In defense of Western Pennsylvania

Greensberg Train Station, Westmoreland County

Although Westmoreland County is 96.2% white according to the last census, whenever we went back there to visit my grandparents, it was the closest that I have ever known to familial roots in this country. The gentle rolling hills, lush and green with forest and fields, a land that is a living Currier and Ives print, have never been anything other than a place that represented peace and serenity and all that is good about America.

I'm that sure my parents and the rest of the family could fill me in on stories of life back in the day, but I do know that when Dad came home for the family reunion, he was treated like a hometown hero (which he is, but that's another story for another time).

There could be plenty of malice hidden out of view, but that's not what I ever remember feeling. It's a little too far to the nearest espresso for me to contemplate living there; San Francisco it ain't, but only San Francisco can be San Francisco. Every visit I've ever made since I was a child has filled me with such a sense of comfort that I could only wish those who have childhood memories of families less embracing and full of love and diversity than mine could experience.

If you want to tear up when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, and have a belief that you belong to this country and know that it is possible to feel good about being American without being embarassed or ashamed for it, pass through here and look for that essence that makes this country and its people all that it is, and all that it could be.

I know that not all of America is there yet, perhaps not even all of the Keystone State; and some parts may never be, but I'll not sit idly by and let all of Western Pennsylvania be impugned with such an ugly taint.

Happy birthday, Celia Cruz

I wouldn't care if Obama was a Muslim --or Jewish. Or Buddhist. Or atheist.

Frankly, after seeing what the last forty-something hetero white men have done, I think it's about time for a gay person of color to be President. We have to clean up the messes they make anyway.

Thank God Obama "Doesn't see America" as Sarah Palin does

This is Democracy

This is Democracy under McCain/Palin

Remember: friends don't let friends fist bump Republicans (unless they switch to Obama in the privacy of the voting booth)

You don't vote, you don't count. And you DO want to matter in this lifetime, don't you?

Click on the header at the top if you want an early Halloween scare (and a laugh, too). But remember: if you don't vote, this is what could happen!

*Most of these images are available from the individual artists or various Obama campaign sources. I recall after the first post-apartheid election in South Africa, I had a phone conversation with a magazine editor in Capetown who was amused that pristine ballots from the election with Nelson Mandela as a candidate were selling like hotcakes. Something tells me that these posters are going to be a lot more popular than "Nixon's the One" or "I Like Ike."

See? We CAN all get along!

You betcha! Think of this as America's new drinking game*

*Or if you prefer, you can donate a dollar to the Obama/Biden or the No on Prop 8 campaign.

Arnold does it again

Amid the flurry of over 300 bills that Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed (faster than I suspect he could even read what they were) was one designating Harvey Milk Day.

Not as dumb or mean-spirited (or just plain stupid) as this mayor in Kansas playing dress up.

Or the guy who wanted to get real close for a photo. Why? Why?

November 15 Fundraiser for author Stuart Timmons

Artists and authors will gather to raise funds for the medical expenses for Stuart Timmons, recovering from a stroke, at the ONE Institute (909 W. Adams Blvd, at Scarff, between Figueroa and Hoover) on Nov. 15 from 3 - 5 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Lambda Literary Foundation, Monette/Horwitz Trust and Drk/rm photo lab.

For reservations or more information call 213-741-0094. Contributions may be sent to

Stuart Craig Timmons Irrev. Trust
c/o Gay Timmons
POB 472
Los Gatos, CA 95031.

Banned Books Week Sept. 27 - Oct. 4, 2008

What I wish I was having tomorrow (it will be volleyball-grade wonderful at the beach)!

Hide yer booty! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrgghh!

The interior of 221B Baker Street, London

This is going to be a most interesting election...

I hate to follow good news with bad

The final day of business for Acres of Books (and that is no exaggeration) will be October 18th.

After the compromise wrought from the hollywood CRA in their classic David vs. Goliath struggle, one would think the Long Beach CRA could find a way to keep this icon as part their redevelopment schemes, which have not --to be kind-- always worked out for the best, unless you're with a demolition firm or like fug-uttly buildings replacing classic early 20th century facades such as Acres of Books, shown above. The imitation streamline-moderne of the downtown Long Beach shopping center is a poor replacement for the original.

But I guess what I think about it doesn't matter.

George Takei and Brad Altman

Live Long and Prosper

Steinbeck map of America by Molly Maguire in the collection of the Library of Congress

Not that it has anything to do with what I'm reading at the moment (The Painter of Battles, by Arturo Perez-Reverte), but it's a cool map that I hadn't seen in a while...

What a difference (during hurricane season) a day makes

As recently as Memorial Day, the water levels of Lake Okeechobee were at a record low; now authorities are draining the lake to prevent the possibility of flooding South Florida.

As any student of Florida history knows, the storm surge from the lake poses a threat to life and property almost as severe as if it were the coast. Turn your back on the lake in a wet season at your peril; of course, if humans weren't building in places where they have no business being in the first place, maybe Nature knows what's it's doing.

Unfortunately, humans aren't going to go away any time soon, so Nature will take it's course, and if they have any intelligence, the humans in the path of its fury will learn to get out of the way.



Even if none of the storms this season make a direct hit on the Florida peninsula, eventually one -or two, or three-- will. And you thought Katrina (or Andrew) was something, well, just hold on to your hats...

Actually, to look at the projected landfall of the next few storms, finding a dry place in Florida will be like trying to find an honest politician in Miami.

This is what America looks like now

I thought that the Dems were going to have to get Zhang Yimou to get any decent buzz for the convention. Well, he can save his plane ticket.

From Palestine to Soweto to Sadr City, there are people who will now have faith that this is not a man who will bust down their door and destroy their lives. Once again, people will be able to say, "Thank God! The Americans are here!"

To say nothing of what could happen from Neah Bay, Washington to Key West, Florida; and Imperial Beach, California to Van Buren, Maine.

Who's dismayed more? The Borg Queen or John McCain?

Teachers with guns? That'll liven up those faculty meetings!*

And I betcha that the art and music departments will get all their funding, now, too... or else!





*The Texas state legislature votes to let teachers bear arms. Who's next? Hotel maids and garment workers? Yee haw!

How I spent my weekend; no, I didn't talk like a pirate ...yet!

Not a nice (or smart) thing to do

Gov. Schwarzenegger, as threatened, signed an executive order to reduce the salaries of 200,000 employees to the Federal minimum wage as a result of the ongoing state budgest stalemate. Arnold is personally worth more than $100,000,000.

The ripple effect of his stunt could end up costing the state more money. Not to mention make him very unpopular around state employees.