Alan Waldman :
Clever Brit series ‘Life on Mars’ combines sci-fi, 1973 police procedural, and comedy

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

A Manchester cop in 2006 goes into a coma after an auto accident and finds himself in 1973, where crime solving is very different.

life on mars uk 2

The original BBC version of Life on Mars.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | April 21, 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, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Life on Mars (the original 2006-2007 UK version) was an extremely clever 16-episode TV series that combined Sci-fi, comedy and 1973 police procedural, complete with 70s style, music and attitudes.
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METRO EVENT | Rag Blog ‘Highbrow Happy Hour’ features literary hotshots Barrios & Zigal

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
Event: Rag Blog ‘Highbrow Happy Hour’
Date: Friday, April 25, 2014
Time: 5-8 p.m.
Place: El Mercado
Address: 1302 S. 1st Street, Austin
Special Guests: Writers Gregg Barrios & Thomas Zigal
Sponsor: Friends of New Journalism

gentleman in monocleAUSTIN — The Rag Blog is having a party and everyone’s invited! Our special guests will be acclaimed writers Gregg Barrios and Thomas Zigal who will sign books and do short readings from their work. (We’ll also hang, hobnob, and consume adult beverages.)

The event will take place from 5-8 p.m., Friday, April 25, at South Austin Mexican restaurant and venue, El Mercado (“World Peace through Tex-Mex”), 1302 S. 1st St. El Mercado’s food and full bar will be available on a cash basis. Admission is free, though donations to the New Journalism Project will be welcome and Rag Blog t-shirts with original Jim Franklin art will be available.
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METRO | Life goes on at Austin’s Death Café

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Death Cafés are a community-based response to a mass media-plagued modern American culture that has no place for end-of-life discussion.

told you i was sick

Image from Death Café Austin / Facebook.

By Beverly Baker Moore | The Rag Blog | April 16, 2014

AUSTIN — Death Café is a nation-wide salon movement where local people provide pleasant places and spaces where anyone who has anything to say about any issue related to the last stage of life is welcome to say it.

In Austin on a recent mild Thursday evening it took the form of a small group of interesting, nonjudgmental folks passing a talking stick (actually a bone in this instance… and not a human bone it was pointed out to me) among themselves as they shared food and drink at a coffee shop on North Lamar. Any story, concern, statement or question about passing from this world to whatever was welcome.
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Rick Ayers :
Crimea, Obama, and the nostalgia for World War I

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The poet Wilfred Owen had the courage to look reality in the face. What can he tell us?

Wilfred Owen's regiment

The poet Wilfred Owen’s World War I regiment. Image from Voices Compassionate Education.

By Rick Ayers | The Rag Blog | April 16, 2014

It is fitting that President Obama should quote the poem “In Flanders Fields” while visiting Belgium and invoking World War I history in seeking to rally Europe into a united front against Russia.

There is something thrilling, almost comforting, for the West to return to the rhetoric and certainties of the Cold War – the evil Russian bear against the peace-loving democracies of the West. Suddenly millions of people in America are passionate about a place they had not heard of a few months ago and they still cannot find on a map.
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Mariann G. Wizard :
VERSE | Stronger and More Dangerous

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
dope cops

Image from Phawker.

By Mariann G. Wizard | The Rag Blog | April 16, 2014

Stronger and More Dangerous:
April 20, 2014

I read it in the newsfeeds,
I hear it all the time:
the marijuana grown today
is not the same as in my prime!
They say it’s much more potent,
with such a heady buzz,
it’s got to be real dangerous…
Well, let me tell you, Cuz,
I hope the stuff is stronger!
Yes, and much more ‘potent,’ too!
The kids are gonna need it
if they’re gonna make it through
the balled-up mess we’ve made of things
from sea to shining sea!
Too long we’ve trod on other lives –
now they’ll grow reefers tall as trees!

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Posted on April 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
jayme and dreyer
METRO PAGE | Beverly Baker Moore reports that ‘Life goes on at Austin’s Death Café.’
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Lamar W. Hankins :
The symbolic stoning of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Brandeis University rescinds speaking invitation to Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of denigration of women in Islamic societies.

ayaan hirsi ali 2

Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Paris. Photo by Martin Bureau / AFP / Getty Images.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | April 15, 2014

The Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali was to be the commencement speaker next month at Brandeis University, named for former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. But voices of hysteria, censorship, and bullying won the day and Brandeis University’s president rescinded the invitation and the honorary degree she was to receive because of Hirsi Ali’s outspoken criticism of the widespread Islamic degradation and denigration of women.

I read her autobiographical book Infidel seven years ago. Her life story is compelling, educational, and unique. She left Somalia with her family as a little girl because of the civil strife in that country and lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and finally Kenya. At the age of 21 she immigrated to the Netherlands, eventually becoming a member of the Dutch Parliament.
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METRO | San Antonio art show takes on the South Texas ‘fracking frenzy’

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

frackaso

Exhibit: Frackaso: Portraits of Extraction in Eagle Ford and Beyond
Opening reception: Friday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Place: Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
Address: 922 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio
Dates of exhibit: Friday, April 18 – Sunday, August 31, 2014
Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
More information: 210-228-0201

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | April 15, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — An art exhibit opening Friday, April 18, at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in San Antonio features photographs, visual and literary art, installations, performance, and film. Frackaso: Portraits of Extraction in Eagle Ford and Beyond takes on the fracking frenzy in South Texas and, well, beyond.
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Posted on April 15, 2014 by RagBlog
jayme and dreyer
FRONT PAGE | See Rag Radio interview with Austin school trustee and East Austin community activist, Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias.
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Thorne Dreyer :
PODCAST | Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias, Austin school trustee and American Catholic priest, on Rag Radio

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The Hon. Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias is an East Austin community activist and the first openly-gay member of the Austin school board.

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Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias, center, with Rag Radio host Thorne Dreyer and, far right, engineer Tracey Schulz, at the KOOP studios in Austin, April 4, 2014. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | April 15, 2014

The Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias — an Austin community activist, a priest in the American Catholic Church, and the first openly-gay member of the Austin School Board — joins us on Rag Radio, Friday, April 4, 2014, in a lively discussion of issues ranging from Pope Francis and his emphasis on inclusion, to the threat to public education from privatization and charter schools, to gentrification and displacement of minorities and the poor in East Austin and elsewhere.

Listen to or download the podcast of our April 4, 2014, Rag Radio interview with the Hon. Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias, here:
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Dave Zirin :
SPORT | Pat Tillman, the Boston Marathon, and a Tale of Two Anniversaries

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Two upcoming sports anniversaries contain elements of tragedy, honor, and courage. But one won’t get much attention.

pat tillman small

Cpl. Pat Tillman in 2003. A pro football player turned Army Ranger, he was killed by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan in 2004. Photo by AP.

By Dave Zirin | The Rag Blog | April 15, 2014

Two wrenching anniversaries loom in the world of sports. Both are in many respects conjoined by the dominant narratives of the 21st century. Both show how the military adventures of the last decade have even breached the escapist sanctity of the sports page. Both contain elements of tragedy, honor, and courage. But you can guarantee, that one of these anniversaries will get a whole hell of a lot more attention than the other.

On Monday, April 21, the Boston Marathon will take place, and we will be compelled to remember the horror of last year’s bombing attack at the finish line. Three were killed and over 250 were injured. Two immigrant brothers, driven by their anger, ideology, and alienation towards what is called “The Global War on Terror” set the blasts. Two brothers: one now dead the other facing state execution.
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METRO | Proposed system for court-appointed attorneys must have accountability

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
dog lawyer

Lawyer up. Cartoon from TheDogs.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | April 14, 2014

TRAVIS COUNTY — The proposal, reported in the Austin American-Statesman on April 12, to create a new system for the appointment of attorneys who represent poor criminal defendants in Travis County may have merit if there is sufficient accountability provided in the new system, a factor largely missing from the current court-appointed process.
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