activist | activist

Jan.13.2012 Words Mistranslated Friday afternoon, I listen to an American haiku and say to a poet friend of mine, “In Japan, we call that a senryu, not haiku.” “After I finish reading this book,” she says lifting a book, “I’ll give it to you. Tell me what you think?” The title of the book was something like “...	Nov.29.2011 The Time Has Come When Silence Is Betrayal This morning, I opened my favorite on line newsletter Dana Delivered. In this issue there was an article about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Time to Break Silence” speech. This brilliant speech was delivered in 1967 in direct response to the inequities of war, in this case the Vietnam War and...
Sep.06.2011 The poet's voice will not be silenced - Ana Elsner and 100,000 of her fellow poets speak out Calling for a transformation towards a better world is once again the ambition and purpose of the poet, in this case, that of thousands of poets world-wide. In a veritable marathon that spans all time zones and continents poets will join in a demonstration/celebration of poetry to promote urgent...	Feb.09.2010 Is Sex Work "Real" Work? “You’re a dreamer and can’t handle a real job.” Some guy once responded to my escort ad with that email. I never replied but his strange condemnation has always stuck in my head. He was one of many, many men who look at escorts, desire us and can’t afford us. They get...
Jan.29.2010 HOWARD ZINN - OH, TO HAVE MORE LIKE HIM " Zinn retired in 1988, concluding his last class early so he could join a picket line. He invited his students to join him." Howard Zinn, historian and shipyard worker, civil rights activist and World War II bombardier, and author of “A People’s History of the United States,” a...	Aug.18.2009 Woman of Courage Last week, I took two of our WriteGirl alumni mentees to a luncheon by the NWPC (National Women's Political Caucus) where they were honoring Gloria Allred with a Woman of Courage award. Her remarks were poignant and inspiring. She talked about several recent cases and stretched the limits of the...
Mar.29.2009 From the diary of a mad man (retired) :The next domino falls It became obvious to me that this strange neurological disorder that had scrambled my brain yesterday is continuing to takes its toll. The man next to me was talking quite loudly on his phone. From the loud laughter it sounded like he was enjoying the conversation with whomever he was talking to...	Jan.28.2009 Harassment Campaigns Against Human Rights Proponents There are reports that Ms. Ghada Jamsheer, President of the Women's Petition Committee, a Bahrain based organization that advocates for women in sharia law courts, is one of the more recent victims of a vicious, sustained, state-sponsored harassment campaign. The reports state that, while she was...
Nov.02.2008 STIEG LARSSON AND ME Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist and author who died of a heart attack in November 2004 (1954-2004), soon after he finished three detective novels in his trilogy the Millenium-series; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005, US release in September 2008), "The Girl Who Played With Fire...	Oct.01.2008 The bailout counter momentum. A lot of economists and businessmen are finally coming forward against the bail out. Here's a great article on the subject. I really like Mr. Soros' ideas. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/george_soros_hat... Please read that, then call your congress-persons and tell them to...