Everything Old Is New Again

24 years ago, in the summer of 1984, with my then 2 year old daughter on my shoulder, I stood with a number of good friends, and thousands of like minded acquaintances, as, inside San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic nomination as the first female vice presidential candidate in U.S, history. In the second sentence of her nomination speech she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to express the great joy of the astonishing new moment in history.

Most of us already knew that the Mondale/Ferraro (the first time Super Delegates came into play) ticket was doomed in their race against Reagan's second term, but it didn't matter all that much, because we believed that, as Democrats, we were on the side of right... REGARDLESS. My great joy and my great hope was that the daughter I carried on my shoulders that day would grow up in a world represented by "Gerry's" candidacy and the possibility of a woman like Hillary as President. We knew it wouldn't happen then... but we knew that the door had opened and it was only a matter of time. Truth, Justice, and the American Way (all those 1950's Super Man values) would eventually triumph.

Over the weekend, Geraldine trashed BOTH her legacy and the legacy of the Democratic party with a backhanded, racist remark she made about Obama, that competed head to head with the kind of ugly, sexist remarks that were made about her 24 years ago.

I wrote some more about this (and included a video commentary from Keith Olberman) on George Washington's Cousin, but here, all I want to do is acknowledge the shame I feel as someone who at one time supported BOTH Geraldine Ferraro AND Hillary Clinton.

No matter what the situation... no matter what the stakes... INTEGRITY MATTERS, and it matters most when times are tough.

Someone very close to me reminded me of that just last night.

With this latest strike, the Clintons, and their army of subservient lackies, have lost my support forever.

Reverend Billy Gets to Carnegie Hall

Last Sunday, Reverend Billy, an old friend of mine, from days of Life on the Water, in San Francisco preached from the rooftop of Carnegie Towers in NYC, as he worked toward mounting a campaign to help a group of artists who are being threatened with eviction from Carnegie Towers.

The eviction of these artists and the transformation of the legacy for artists left behind by Andrew Carnegie is another startling example of our nation's epidemic of blindness toward the value and significance of art and artists as one of the things that makes life real, livable, and meaningful for all of us. It is a cultural and spiritual devolution that, if it is not stopped in its tracks, will lead us, and our grandchildren into a bog of consumerism, meaninglessness and despair.

You can help in this campaign to save the legacy of Carnegie Artist Studios and the studios of these vibrant artists, by going to CarnegieArtistStudios.Com for more information and to volunteer.

CARNEGIE-A-LUJAH!

We Are The Ones WE've Been Waiting For!

Nothing worth having... Comes without some kind of fight

I've started a new blog (yeah yeah yeah... I know) with the intention of expressing things from my heart in ways that I might not otherwise express them.

The name is "Bleeding Daylight" and the address is http://kickingatdarkness.blogspot.com. The title and the address come from a Bruce Cockburn song on the incomparable album "Stealing Fire" (that's the cover there over on the side). The line that I stole the title and address from is "Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, you've got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight" from the song "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." This is a song which to me has always described the reality and the struggle of attempting to stay alive and awake in the contemporary world, especially, but not exclusively, in the U.S.

The album was released almost 25 years ago and it is perhaps even more poignant now than it was then.The first time I heard that line, sitting on my couch in San Francisco, not long after a trip to Nicaragua in the early 80s, I was knocked over and knocked out. It did, and still does, what art is meant to do; it calls us, even drives us, to our better selves.

I am hoping that Bleeding Daylight will do the same.. if not for you, at least for me.

And it is, after all... about me.

The Day The Music Died

I just heard that Larry Norman died on Sunday. I'll have more to say (and play) about him a bit later when I've had time to put together my feelings on the matter.

The thing that I find surprising at this moment is how much this has affected me, and how sad I feel. I was with Larry only a few times over a period of twenty years, but the thing that is more significant - as I reflect on him, his music, and his life - is how much his influence (particularly when I was a teenager in Arizona) affected (and/or reflected) much of what I came to believe then, and still believe now.

His ability to link life, politics, action, and faith is what became for me the vital reality of my life. It is, quite unfortunately, something which so many "Christians" on today's political scene (not to mention today's "Christian Music" scene) seem to have missed entirely.

For Larry, his God was real and vital and present, and he was one of the first people to help me understand that for myself.

I'll miss ya Larry.