Leaderboard

To start off this collection, i'd just like to give credit where credit is due. To announce, shall we say, a Lifetime Achievement Award to "Hollywood Liberals." After half a decade of being bashed for their "elite-ness," they and their colleagues all over the world deserve some love. Liberal writer's, actors, and directors have had key roles in moving society in the right direction. They've taken issues that were once black and white and converted them to living color--touching our hearts and minds, and bettered our lives in ways politician's should have, but didn't. 🏆

This tale covers six decades of a Lebanese family in Beirut, Lebanon and is told through the eyes of, Raja, a 63 year old gay man sharing an apartment with his Mother. I can't tell you too much about the story because I fear it would be a plot spoiler, but Raja recounts the story of his life as a beloved local high school philosophy teacher and the trials and travails of coming of age in an often violent landscape. Often self isolating, Raja finds himself often being unwillingly pulled into relationships with varied people in his community by his elderly Mother, Zalfa, a bonafide social gadfly. Throughout the book, Raja confronts his family's story, his homeland, and the tragic, violent events that have shaped his life. The story is heartbreaking, horrifying, infuriating, joyful, darkly hilarious at times, and yet absolutely beautiful and filled with love.

One to One: John & Yoko is a documentary about the experiences of Mr. Lennon and Ms. Ono in Greenwich Village during the early 1970s. I found it a fascinating and nostalgic time capsule. Not merely a focus on "The Smart Beatle" and his "Dragon Lady," it is also an educational snapshot of the turbulent political and cultural zeitgeist in post-Woodstock, post-"Summer of Love" America. Peripheral but significant "supporting players" include President Richard Nixon, radical activist Jerry Rubin, "Dylanologist" A.J. Weberman, Congresswoman and presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, and "Beat" poet Allen Ginsberg. Contemporary television shows and TV ads are intercut with footage of John and Yoko. Two memorable vignettes are a TV news clip of Alabama Governor George Wallace being shot* and Nixon being activistically "sucker punched" by a member of the Ray Conniff Singers**. The biggest impression that One to One: John & Yoko made on me was not made by the relationship between "The Two Virgins" or their activism or Lennon's music. Rather, it was made by the stubborn and nagging parallels between America 1972 and America 2025. Although much change has occurred during the past fifty-plus years, the irrefutable epigram by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr still applies: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (The more things change, the more they stay the same.). * Particularly indelible: a "man on the street" interview of a black man asked for his reaction to Wallace being shot. His terse reply: "I don't care." ** Nixon sat silently with a smile frozen on his face. Were DJT to be faced with such effrontery, he would probably be less equanimous: "Arrest her! Get her! Rough her up and get her the hell outta here!"

I Shall be Released, Performer: Joan Baez For What It's Worth, Performer: Buffalo Springfield Fortunate Son, Performer: Creedence Clearwater Revival A Change is Gonna Come, Performer: Sam Cooke Ohio, Performer: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young Abraham, Martin, and John, Performer: Dion Society's Child, Performer: Janis Ian Harvest for the World, Performer: The Isley Brothers Born This Way, Performer: Lady Gaga If I Had a Hammer, Performer: Trini Lopez

The passages of this story that inspired me were the ones that said that words sometimes "diminish" the thing they are talking about. King dealt with this problem admirably in this story. I run into that problem all the time when I am writing, be it an email, a personal note, or essay. It's a good thing we have other ways of expressing what needs to be said with other art forms including music and visual art. That's my two cents, and I'll close for now, so I don't do any more "diminishing."

Once upon a time, peace signs and protest songs moved culture's compass. Liking the French and respecting the U.N. was "in." Jesus was still a liberal. Then the "we" generation bought stock in the company, the "me" generation was born, and there was cable TV in every room to amplify the influences of the latest pop culture and commercial profits on political ideology. The results are in. Values changed. The music changed. I'm not sure which came first. But looking back, it seemed like, after the Vietnam War ended, the Left left the battlefield. It felt like... The Fall of Western Left-ern CivilizationIn 1971 John Lennon inspired us to "Imagine" a world undivided by countries or religions and Coca-Cola pledged to "teach the world to sing in perfect harmony". The 80's began with the question "War, What Is It Good For?" Edwin Starr answered "absolutely nuthin", dared to "say it again" and people danced. Then, Madonna proclaimed, "we are living in a material world and i am a Material Girl" and we moved to that beat. Before the decade was over Elvis Costello left us wondering, "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?" By the time the 90's kicked in it was becoming clear that, indeed, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". Sadly, in 2004 when Linda Ronstadt was tossed out of her hotel for singing a "Desperado" tribute to Michael Moore we faced the hard reality that, "freedom, well freedom, that's just some people talking."

As I have gotten older, my taste for fiction has considerably diminished. I am focusing more of my attention on nonfiction (biographies, memoirs, essays, journalistic reports, and humor) -- most recently, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe and Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson. I had read Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers -- assigned reading while I was in college -- and was captivated by Wolfe's "New Journalism" style. The following passage particularly tickled my fancy and stimulated my synapses. Background: A college teacher reads aloud an excerpt of Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver, then asks her students for their comments. As for Thompson's profile, my interest in the subject matter was born more from my fondness for sixties biker flicks produced by American International Pictures than it was from an attraction to Hell's Angels . . . whom I consider scum.

In the pursuit of happiness does wealth fulfill that desire? Gatsby, a self-made millionaire whose obsessive love for a woman from a higher social class leads to his downfall. Gatsby embodies the corruption of this dream, believing that money can buy him love and happiness, only to find that it leads to a spiritual void.

George Orwell's dystopian classic, 1984, was neither Right or Left politically. It could be classified as a horror story to any political ideology besides authoritarian. Or, at least that's what everyone assumed until 2024! We were naive to assume that a repressive dictator constructing a police state would fly with any American. Who, knew, that post Hitler's Nazi Germany, it might ever be acceptable for an American President to depict himself wearing a crown and dumping poop on 7 million American citizen's? George Orwell. The harsh reality, as depicted in this tale, is that there is no such thing as just "owning the libtards" or any other sector of society. Government ownership is all inclusive.

sure, the first half is full of stories passed on by word-of-mouth for generations, including commandments set in stone -- and endorses throwing stones, and was heavily edited over centuries to suit societal norms of the day, and is still used to justify an assortment of discriminations -- and accusations of abominations, BUT... the star of the 2nd half is the most liberal historical character that ever walked on earth or water. it is the bio of a man who clearly was "his brother's keeper" and "did unto others as he would have them do unto him." humble, selfless, giving, forgiving, self-sacrificing, foot washing, peace loving, materialistic shunning, cheek turning, greed rejecting, compassionate, charitable, and universal health care supporting the man was all about free handouts, especially to the poor. Today he'd be called a woke, hippie, snowflake --the Democrat's dream candidate -- a gift from God to the Green Party. And he'd be crucified as a commie by the religious right. [The old testament was written by various writers 1500 - 1000 BC. About 45 to 50 years after Christ, the new testament was written by people under the names of the Apostles]