Inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Steve, January 21st, 2008
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (78KB PDF) (quote sent to a Jefferson High School e-mail list)
Those of us working for equity in Portland Public Schools are on the second step: negotiation. We’ve clearly documented the gross inequities plaguing the district, and we’ve outlined sensible ways to address these problems. We’ve been speaking to the school board about this for years now, and we’ve taken our concerns to the city council.
Our civic leaders are now saying they “get it” (how could they not?), but we have yet to see any significant concrete action to “address it.”
If the school board fails to address this inequity in a meaningful way, Dr. King has pointed the way toward direct action. Will we need to organize walkouts and boycotts of our schools that have been starved by the institutional racism and classism of PPS? Will we need to do sit-ins at our more comprehensive schools across town? Do we need to draw national attention to the shameful state of our schools before the school board makes significant policy changes to address it?
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not calling for direct action right now. I’m willing to give negotiations a chance, and I think we have a reasonable partner in Carole Smith. But policy makers need to be on notice that patience is thin, we are strong, and there is a sleeping giant in the cross-cultural, multi-generational Jefferson community that is ready to be awakened.
This is not a community to be trifled with.
More on that NBA “Brawl”
by Steve, February 2nd, 2007Typical NBA punch. In hockey, your own team would beat you up for that.
— Two-time NBA MVP and proud Canadian Steve Nash describes his thoughts on Carmelo Anthony’s punch-and-run in the Knicks-Nuggets melee.
Here’s a funny take by Ivan Carter and Michael Lee.
Arundhati Roy on bombing for feminism
by Steve, August 15th, 2006It’s being made out that the whole point of the war was to topple the Taliban regime and liberate Afghan women from their burqas, we are being asked to believe that the U.S. marines are actually on a feminist mission. (If so, will their next stop be America’s military ally Saudi Arabia?) Think of it this way: in India there are some pretty reprehensible social practices against “untouchables”, against Christians and Muslims, against women. Pakistan and Bangladesh have even worse ways of dealing with minority communities and women. Should they be bombed? Should Delhi, Islamabad and Dhaka be destroyed? Is it possible to bomb bigotry out of India? Can we bomb our way to a feminist paradise? Is that how women won the vote in the U.S? Or how slavery was abolished? Can we win redress for the genocide of the millions of Native Americans upon whose corpses the United States was founded by bombing Santa Fe?
—Arundhati Roy, Come September (speech), Santa Fe, New Mexico, September 2002
Top of the World, Ma!
by Steve, April 27th, 2006Pssst — hey you guys, it’s me. Wacky Mommy. Hockey God gave me his password so I could clean up the spam in here. The spammers, they want to party with him! They like his site as it is Great! Also they show an abnormal curiosity about his, uh, butt. And who can blame them?
He wasn’t thinking that maybe I’d post while I was tidying up. Heh heh heh heh (maniacal cackling). The power! It’s in my hands! I could really hotrod it through his blog if I wanted. Vroooooom, vrooooooooooooom… I mean — I could put up girly-girl quotes (wait, here’s one: “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within” — Elizabeth Kubler Ross). Or there are always cute potty training stories, or I could share a crumb cake recipe or two.
Here’s another quote:
“As I get older, I just prefer to knit.”
– Tracey Ullman
Oh, wait!
From “Postcards from the Edge” (1990)
Julie Marsden: “You’ve got to learn to deal with your feelings, Suzanne, before they deal with you.”
Suzanne Vale: “Do you always talk in bumper stickers?”
Julie Marsden: “You know, addiction isn’t the problem - it’s the solution.”
Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip! Yeah that’s the sound of him being whipped by me. I would not do that to the big fella.
I bid you adieu. Hope you are doing well, wherever you are.
Love,
PS — And a joke: “Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?”
Answer: “Because he was dead.”
Ha! Ha!
And here’s a link to Dad Gone Mad, best-known for pissing off Rockstar Mommy by nicknaming her “Crotchstar Mommy.” So. Not. Okay. And second-best known for such quotes as: “But if one of those little shits (is) whining about needing (to) leave the field to take a leak in the middle of our moment of glory, I�m kicking him off the team. For some things, you hold it � even if that means pinching your wiener and doing the pee-pee dance in front of 40,000 people.”
Betty Friedan R.I.P.
by Steve, February 5th, 2006“The problem that has no name—which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities—is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.”
—Betty Friedan, 1921-2006
She died on her 85th birthday. May she rest in peace.
