Passing time with Over Easy

During these times when every day brings another bitter pill or perhaps a handful, from bottles marked “Hope” and also “Change,” it’s hard not to become overwhelmed with cynicism. How do we keep going, maintain a shred of optimism and answer each other when we wonder, “What more can we do?  What can I do?” And we search the cupboard, the bathroom cabinet, the bedside table for something that reads “Inspire,” “The Sky is Blue,” or “Rain.”

We get by with a little help from our friends.  I have wonderful people in my life, my real life, and also in the virtual life we have here.  Herewith are some places I go in the virtual world where friends and kindred spirits unleash their dreams, their experiences and their worlds, sharing them in all the ways we know.

I have mentioned my friend Lora who has been living for months in Gaza.  She is coming back to Albquerque soon, this week, and here she confronts her feelings about leaving her friends in Gaza and sharing their world with us.  It is a bittersweet pill she offers.

Here are kindred spirits, but much braver than I.  At 83, 20 years may not be bad medicine for her, but it would be very hard for me to choke down.  If I am still alive at 83, I would reconsider it though.

And thinking about our friend SD, here’s some film about Algeria and the oil mess there.  The site has a number of other films made by Africans about their homelands, and perhaps it will fill out your imagination for something besides the tired cliches that fill the storehouse of what we have come to understand about Africa in our lifetimes.

And of course there is beauty, and words that cleanse our spirits.  Tasty morsels hiding between book covers, peeking through flower petals or maybe the sun glancing on water rushing past.

Because laughter is the best medicine, and also, because I can’t get enough of this.

What’s raising your boat today?

I have lately been wondering if geologic history is destiny, but given the vector of criticism on a topic that could veer woo woo, I thought it better to posit something perhaps a bit more real.  That said, it is Good Friday, and I thought I would venture in the direction of the Holy Land, at whatever peril.

The commonalities of various latitudes have been studied, and this is an area of interest for me.  Thirty-three degrees (N) latitude is one about which I have invested some time and thought.  I probably have mentioned it more than once in comments over the years; a string of places around the globe that share this commonality, give or take a few miles:  Beirut, Dar es Salaam, Ji’an (Chang’an), Nagasaki, San Diego, Trinity Site, Dallas, Atlanta, the Bermuda Triangle, the lost City of Atlantis, Babylon. The Grand Canyon and Palestine are similarly situated between 31 and 32 degrees (N) latitude.  They also share similar geologic underpinnings.  I am not a geologist, so I’ll leave it at that, and if this sort of thing piques your interest, you can try to establish some bona fides for “the great flood,” as it is called in the Bible.  Have a free-for-all, if you like.

Years ago in Albuquerque, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb was a coordinator of marches on behalf of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Palestine. She has left New Mexico, but she has remained stalwart in her efforts to non-violent solutions to the Occupation of Palestine.

New Mexico has a history of other worthwhile efforts towards peace between Israel and Palestine.  One of the most notable is Creativity for Peace, a summer camp held in Santa Fe for young women from Israel and Palestine.  These young women have become leaders in their communities as a result of the training and experiences they have shared. Most of them arrive in New Mexico never having met or known someone on “the other side.”

I have a couple of friends from (un)Occupy who are living in Gaza and Palestine and have been there for some months.  They regularly publish their experiences on line.  Lora Lucero is a lawyer passionate about her grandchildren, global climate change and Gaza.  Andrew Beal is from the next generation, fluent in a number of languages, enabling him to publish widely.  He and I went to jail together in 2011. He is both polite and radical and keeps me honest in our common struggles.  Andy and Lora are incredibly brave, and I admire them tremendously.

Some sources and linkage in the spirit of Southern Dragon:  Is it possible there was something (sort of) positive from Obama’s visit to Israel?  The Palestinian Monitor  is a good source of information about what is happening daily there.  Of course there is also the most excellent Electronic Intifada.

Have a great day, everyone.  Viva, viva Palestina.  Coffee’s on, have a cuppa.

There is no way to talk about the tragedy we have experienced here just now.  It has struck the progressive community close to home and we are extending our love to the family; our neighbors and friends, at this time.

But it gives me an opportunity to post a link to this story that should have more attention.  Our Secretary of State, Diana Duran, is a handmaiden of ALEC, and we have been force fed too much of her testimony on “voter fraud” at the Roundhouse not to find the biting irony in her complicity to cover up voter forgery by Governor Martinez.

Also too, Governor Susana Martinez, most comfortable in the role of Prosecutor in Chief and as a future hope for Republicans nationwide, deserves visibility for her own personal lawbreaking.  She is a good one for that apt old saw “do as I say, not as I do.”

Thanks to ProgressNow New Mexico for their work in bringing it all to light!

First of all, a huge thank-you to all of our internet supporters here and around the twitter-verse for your support yesterday.  You are all fantastic, and we knew you had our backs.  You went beyond the call, honestly, and I am truly humbled by your personal attentions to our trial.

Pam Gilchrist, another member of the Los Alamos National Labs 6, at the trial

There was tremendous community support at the courthouse.  The entry to the courtroom was packed, and the police got folding chairs for people to sit in while we waited for the courtroom to open.  There were many people with white hair, and the provision of chairs was quite considerate on their part.

The police told us to shut off our phones, and no electronics were allowed to be on in the courtroom.  Unlike in Albuquerque, they screened for weapons and did not take phones, backpacks or food away from anyone who came in.  I believe a knife for cutting fruit was actually allowed.  That was impressive.  The atmosphere was convivial, with all participants and court officials/police.

The courtroom is in a new complex in Los Alamos, and it seats 56 people, not counting officials, lawyers and defendants.  There were at least 70 supporters, so there was overflow outside the courtroom.  The judge said people could rotate in and out, as long as it did not disrupt the proceedings.  The audience was rapt, and there were no disruptions of any kind.

The prosecution consisted of police witnesses and a videotape taken on August 6.  It was straight-forward, and we were able to establish that no one told us we were trespassing, no one told us our permission to demonstrate was withdrawn (there was a permit), and traffic flow continued throughout the events of the day.  We established that there was a ratio of more than 6:1 of those arrested to the numbers of police and corporate security in evidence.  It was also clear that several warnings were given that we were subject to arrest if we did not move from the crosswalk, and there was no resistance to arrest.  The final warning was only seconds before the first arrest.

I was honestly surprised we were able to put on our complete testimonies about why we were there including our histories of opposing “the nuclear business,” as my father called it.  The testimonies were compelling.  Most of us had lengthy histories here and in England protesting nuclear weapons/energy.

Pam has beautiful white hair and a record of arrests for her anti-nuclear activism.  The prosecutor asked her go through her history, perhaps thinking he would show that she was a “repeat offender,” but after listening to just the second in her litany, he gave up on that tack.

“It was dramatic,” she said.  “There were 1000 women, and 200 of us climbed over a 20 foot wall.  We were put into buses and eventually released.”  She was establishing a pattern of being released without charges, and that was enough for him.

Wind talked about the dangers of low-level radiation and the harm of long-term exposures to it.  She talked about the transmission of it across the placenta and her concerns about the documented contamination of air, land and water around the labs and downwind/downstream, as well as to the workers.  She has a history of research on this issue, and her testimony was excellent.  The prosecutor tried to cross her on her “illegal” actions August 6, but she was resistant to his questions, and he was down for the count and failed to cross the next two witnesses.

Janet testified next.  She also has a long history of resistance.  She talked about living downwind of Los Alamos after the Cerro Grande fire in 2001.  She reported on the contamination of tested foods in her community, Dixon, “the organic breadbasket of New Mexico.”  She had the room in tears when she told about her son and daughter in law (living in Dixon) who got pregnant with twins after the fire.  They lost one baby during the pregnancy and at the hospital in Espanola (also downwind of Los Alamos) were forced to look at photos of deformed babies born or lost in similar circumstances.  Despite dire warnings, they continued the pregnancy to term, and the baby was born without known problems.

Summer talked about his research at UNM, where he is a graduate student.  He mentioned reading “Nuclear Borderlands,” about the theft of pueblo land for the Manhattan Project.  He was forceful about the issues of colonization and his history with (un)Occupy.

Good Morning, Caturdenizens and animal lovers of all kinds!  We are ringing in a new year with our animal companions and friends, and it’s a new opportunity to gather ’round and share our stories of the week.

I’m filling in for Margaret, who is writing today, working on a Book!  Something she and we all hope will be an important resource for young people struggling with gender ID.  So much appreciation to Margaret for this important task, and I’m wishing her a good day of words.  I am sure Neko will help.

The White Cat has been losing weight for some months now.  She’s been overweight for a long time, and the weight loss has been gradual, but impressive.  I noticed her gums were looking pale, so I took her to the vet yesterday.  She has lost 4 pounds in 10 months, and that is a lot for a cat, about a third of her weight a year ago.  She is not really thin, and after a careful exam, we decided she should have some blood work done with the idea that perhaps she has some kind of a thyroid condition, which is treatable.

The blood draw was difficult.  I could hear her cries, and she was struggling with the techs, she can be a biter.  Poor thing.  They gave up on getting it from her neck, and they went to a back leg, which was no less difficult for them or for her.  They finally managed to get what they needed, and she was very glad to get out of there.  I should  hear about it in the next few days.

Here is a nice white cat.  So what’s up in your world?

When I was in high school, opposed to the Vietnam “war” and impressionable, I read Emma Goldman and discovered Peacemakers.  I believed in anarchism and embraced civil disobedience.

I modified my thinking over time, but I remain politically active and call myself progressive.  Among the more difficult of my struggles personally has been the line I’ve walked between art and politics, not because they don’t go together but because I never fully committed my life to art.  But that’s another story.

Politically, I have become increasingly disillusioned, and I embrace OWS, in my case (un)Occupy, as one of the few movements in my lifetime in the US that addresses the broad and disparate crises of our failing economy (and capitalism), the horrors of climate change and perhaps most important, exercises a methodology of equality and inclusion.  It has inspired young people who are smart, tech-savy and committed to change and the future.

I was arrested with (un)Occupy in Albuquerque in October 2011, defending our space.  In August 2012, I was arrested in Los Alamos at the annual anti-nuclear event that commemorates the bombing of Hiroshima.  I did this in part to honor my father, who died in 2009 and was the most visible anti-nuclear activist in Los Alamos for decades.  It was easy to be arrested.

What is not so easy is the aftermath.  There were 6 of us arrested that day, and we are in solidarity about our reasons for being there and our unity going forward.  We are in a different court than those who have been arrested since 1999 in Los Alamos.  Our trial will be held in municipal court, the judge is the former police chief.  We were taken into custody by a private security force and turned over to the local authorities.  All of the witnesses against us are police, who may have relationships with the judge.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory was run by the University of California until 2005 or so.  At that time, a public/private partnership was demanded (in part due to hyped up post-9/11 security incidents), and UC partnered with Bechtel to win the contract.  From my perspective, the arrangement has been a disaster.  The workers at the Lab despise Bechtel, the yearly cost of running the lab (to taxpayers) has gone from under $30 million to $100 million, and the fabric of the community has been damaged by the short-term contracts and job insecurity that seem to be the SOP of the corporatocracy.

The cost of maintaining the nuclear arsenal continues to climb, and of course the weapons themselves are unusable no matter what, unless we want a truly ruined planet.  Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was the brilliant strategy that got us to this point, and we continue to operate from that basic framework today.  To that end we destroyed communities and homelands in the Pacific with testing, we poisoned communities, lands, water and air from Nevada to New Mexico and beyond.  The LANL 6 stand against all of this.

The work of the Laboratory could be useful if we harnessed all the brainpower for climate change, for example.  It is not hard to fight for a better future, and I have no regret for going to Los Alamos that day.  I am proud to stand with others who believe the same.  We are fortunate to have lawyers who have supported resisters throughout their careers.  They have been volunteering their expertise and have given us their time unstintingly.

On January 9 we will be on trial in Los Alamos.  The charges for each of us carry possible fines of up to $1500 and maximum jail time of 179 days.  (We are denied a jury if the possible sentence is less than 180 days/6 months.)

I have some kind of a platform here, and I wonder how to make the best use of it.  We are dreamers here,  I think.  My father used to say, “Do good.”  How do I best do good next week?  What say you, esteemed community of FDL?

Whew.  That day is done.  All we put in, and what we take out.  Time for respite and evaluation.  Take a deep breath and let’s talk about inspiration and (e’en though the end was after all not nigh), expiration.

Inspiration and Expiration.  Check it out, quite a lot to know just in the simple acts of taking in air and letting it out.  I learned about these medical terms in the course of making some art long ago.  I had visited Cuba, Nicaragua was in the news, and I was thinking about the idea of “homeland” and what that implies: home is where the heart is, that sort of thing.  I needed the sound of a heartbeat for a piece I was working on, and since it was before the internets, I went to the medical library and somehow got a piece of audiotape used for teaching medical students the subtle audible difference between heartbeats during “inspiration” and “expiration.”  I hired someone to make a tape loop of it, and I have occasionally resurrected the inspire/expire theme ever since.

Among others, Little Momma and Southern Dragon breathed their last this year, and I attended my share of funerals and memorial services, a ritual that rarely fails to inspire some kind of life-affirming renewal for me, personally.  Not all funerals are “good” in that way, but I feel that death is actually a gift to the living.  If we did not experience it, we would take life for granted.  At any rate, that’s my takeaway from the final call.

So let’s hear it for inspiration and expiration.  Let’s all take a breather together.  I found a new mug for the Easy Over that says, “Life is not about how many breaths you take but how many moments take your breath away.”  Cheers to that!

Expiration:  I would like to catch myself in those (too often) frustrated and aggravating moments when I find myself becoming rude, and instead be less irritable and more patient.  I’d like to become less messy.

Inspiration:  alchemy, water and light.  I’d like to make more art and overall be a bit more organized and productive.

What has taken your breath away recently or ever?  What inspires you and what would you let go as we get ready to turn the page on 2012?