Michael James :
Broken bones, Castle in the Sky, on the res, and meeting Katy Hogan, 1975-’76

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Once, in an altered state, Duane and I climbed a fire tower in the night and looked over many square miles of pine trees under the stars.

michael james self-portrait

Michael James self-portrait, The Castle in the Sky, Chicago, Illinois, 1975. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.

By Michael James | The Rag Blog | May 14, 2014

[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about — and inspired by — those images. These photos will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.]

1975 jumped right off with a joyous New Year’s Day People’s Dance and Celebration at the Midland Hotel featuring the power-rock trio Fast Eddie, a benefit for Rising Up Angry’s “People’s Legal Program.”

The very next day, January 2, the Menominee Warrior Society took over the Abbey, the abandoned Alexian Brothers Novitiate in Gresham, Wisconsin. My friend Duane Teller was the young warrior who ran through the snow-covered woods bringing that news to the reservation town of Keshena and beyond.
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Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
roger baker campo sharp crop 2
METRO | Roger Baker vs. Mayor Leffingwell at CAMPO! They sparred over Roger’s take on the proposed light rail plan.
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Bob Simmons :
FILM | Scarlett Johansson gets ‘Under the Skin’ (Ouch!)

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

What a muddled mess this movie is. It gives you the same feeling you might get while watching a drunk trying to cross an icy street.

under the skin

Under the Skin: Even painful to look at.

By Bob Simmons | The Rag Blog | May 14, 2014

I’m not sure a movie could be more appropriately named than Under the Skin. This thing will get under your skin while watching and make you wish to excise it before the credits roll. I found it painful to even look at, like a splinter under the skin. Please rid me of this foreign body.

One thing though, I did realize while leaning into a glass of sauvignon blanc at the Alamo Drafthouse, everyone wants to kiss Scarlett Johansson. There is something about the fullness of the lips, her vulnerable eyes. Man, woman, the family dog, we all want to kiss her, even when she is a heartless alien stalking hapless Scottish men on the streets of Edinburg like the Green River Killer or any other garden variety serial murderer.
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METRO | Melanie Scruggs : Houston’s regressive trash burning proposal

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The global Zero Waste movement is actively opposing Houston’s proposed ‘One Bin for All.’

no dirty mrf

Rally to Recycle, Houston City Hall, February 25, 2014. Photo by Caitlin Murphy.

By Melanie Scruggs | The Rag Blog | May 14, 2014

HOUSTON — The environmental community in Texas has organically cultivated an unofficial division of labor that allows us to collaborate on issues while specializing in different areas of research and advocacy: some of us work on water conservation, others on renewable energy or food policy. Others focus on environmental justice and how pollution affects communities of color and concentrates health problems in high-risk areas.

I work in the movement called “Zero Waste,” devoted to reforming how we manage municipal solid waste, sustainable product and packaging design, and diverting waste from landfills and incinerators through waste reduction, recycling and compost programs. Anything trash-related is the focus of my organization’s full-time work and advocacy as we do our part to curb pollution and protect natural resources.
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Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
smart enough to separate
METRO | Melanie Scruggs reports that Houston environmentalists are trashing a regressive ‘One Bin for All’ plan.
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Jonah Raskin :
BOOKS | Gordon Young’s ‘Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City’

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

‘Teardown’ has the kind of heart that once made Flint, Michigan, a center of trade union and labor activism.

teardown

Teardown is a grim portrait with heart.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | May 13, 2014

[Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City by Gordon Young (June 2013: University of California Press); Hardcover; 288 pp; $29.95]

Gordon Young’s book about Flint, Michigan, Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, might have been a depressing read. After all, the facts and the figures about crime and about poverty are likely to keep any sensible family from moving there. They might also persuade longtime residents to get out when they still can and locate somewhere else. Like San Francisco, where Young himself now lives.
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Bob Feldman :
People’s History of Egypt, Part 24, January-February 11, 2011

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

In early February 2011, massive street protests opposed Mubarak and called for democratization and economic justice.

tahrir square sunset

Sunset on Tahrir Square, February 2011. Image from c-Blog.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | May 12, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman’s Rag Blog “people’s history” series, “The Movement to Democratize Egypt,” could not be more timely. Also see Feldman’s “Hidden History of Texas” series on The Rag Blog.]

According to James Gelvin’s 2012 book, The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs To Know, in Egypt “youths between 15 and 29 make up…30 percent” of the population and “youth unemployment in Egypt is 43 percent.” The same book also noted:
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Jean Trounstine :
Mother’s Day in prison

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Many wonderful articles appeared about mothers in prison as we celebrated this Mother’s Day.

US-CALIFORNIA/PRISON

Photo by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters.

By Jean Trounstine | The Rag Blog | May 11, 2014

Nancy Mullane, on the blog she co-founded, The Life of the Law, interviewed Veronica Martinez at Folsom Women’s Prison in California. There you can listen to or read about Martinez, to learn how she was shackled during birth and had to give up her baby after three days — luckily to her family. In spite of that horrendous experience, Martinez also points out the amazing support of the other women in the jail where she was at the time:

My bunkie had a collage of babies pasted. She had pasted it with toothpaste, cause that’s what we used. In the county jail, you don’t have tape or glue or any of that so she took toothpaste and she pasted all these pictures of cutout magazines and baby feet and babies and stuff. And she made a little sign, ‘It’s a Girl’ on my bunk.

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Alan Waldman :
‘Hamish Macbeth’ is a very charming small-town Scottish comedy starring the incomparable Robert Carlyle

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Suspense, comedy, drama, and delightful locations mix in this Caledonian TV gem.

hamish macbeth

Robert Carlyle stars in Hamish MacBeth.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | May 11, 2014

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Hamish Macbeth is a Scottish comedy-drama TV series that ran for three seasons (1995-1997) and 20 episodes, 19 of them on Netflix, including this one.  The series was nominated for a BAFTA Best Drama Series award, and star Robert Carlyle was nominated for four Best Actor Awards, winning those from the UK Royal Television Society and the Scottish BAFTAs.
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James McEnteer :
The devil went down to Georgia

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

After Georgia’s new gun law, euphemistically called the ‘Safe Carry Protection Act,’ takes effect July 1, all bets are off.

georgia pub

Political cartoon by Mike Luckovich / Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Image from Sky Dancing.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire.” – Robert Frost 1920

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” – POGO Walt Kelly 1970

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” – Barack Obama 2008

Georgia’s new gun law goes into effect July 1, allowing firearms in bars, nightclubs, and government buildings without security checkpoints. Georgia churches can permit parishioners to come armed to services.

Euphemistically called the “Safe Carry Protection Act,” the new law lifts restrictions on individuals convicted of certain misdemeanors from obtaining a gun permit. Gun dealers are no longer required to keep sales records. A stand-your-ground law will expand and police will not have the right to ask armed citizens whether they have a license.
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Alan Pogue and William Michael Hanks :
VIDEO | Dan Rather and Robin Rather in lively, far-ranging, and funny Rag Radio interview

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Video captures the legendary newsman and the pioneering Austin environmentalist in their first father-daughter interview.

Video by Alan Pogue and William Michael Hanks.

By Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

Alan Pogue and Mike Hanks have just posted this excellent video filmed during my Rag Radio interview with legendary newsman Dan Rather and Austin environmental activist Robin Rather. The show — their first-ever father-daughter interview — is one of my all-time favorites from the six-year history of Rag Radio.

The incisive, far-ranging, and frequently very funny session was originally broadcast on September 27, 2013, on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, Texas. The video was shot by internationally-known documentary photographer Alan Pogue, who was staff photographer for the original Rag, Austin’s pioneering underground newspaper, and was edited by award-winning filmmaker and writer William Michael Hanks. The video can also be found on YouTube.
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David McReynolds :
On becoming a living fossil

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

David may have been ahead of his time, but he was late to pick up Muriel Lester.

muriel lester 2

Radical pacifist Muriel Lester.

By David McReynolds | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

NEW YORK — This past Friday I went up to a Unitarian Church here in Manhattan to take part in a series of interviews for a film project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Virginia Baron had been there just before me, and Leslie Cagan was arriving as I left. The chances are good I may have been, at 84, the oldest of those interviewed.

On the way up I had thought of a story involving the late Muriel Lester, but as I got to the church her name had escaped my mind. I realized, as I sat waiting while the lights were adjusted, that none of those working the cameras would have the slightest idea of whom I might be thinking. They were all young, and Muriel was long dead. (She has an all-too-brief entry in Wikipedia and Richard Deats, whose health has recently not been good, edited a book about Muriel several years ago).
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