Communists | Communists

Nov.10.2012 The World, Books, and Politics The Communists were in power. The year: 1988. The place: the territory and city of Kaliningrad, named for a buddy of Joe Stalin. My wife and I were there for the day, exploring the bleak, gray remains of several centuries – none bleaker or...	Sep.02.2012 Kafka, (bureaucracy), and Revolution, Part Two “The world is going to Hell.” We’ve been hearing that for so long, it may seem surprising that we haven’t got there yet, but plenty of people have been there and some would say they still are. For many folks trying to exist behind the Iron Curtain, everyday life was a kind of Hell. That...
Aug.29.2012 Nostalgia for the Silly Season: Memories of A Radical Mother Ah for the years of presidential campaigns gone by. Political pundit's call the run-up to presidential elections the Silly Season. The time when campaign rhetoric jumps to conclusions about what is going to happen, based on small pieces of information. As Congress is in recess until...	Aug.23.2012 Kafka, Bureaucracy, and Revolution, part one Getting off the train in Prague in 1988 was stepping into a Kafka story – or a film noir of dark streets, decaying buildings, aggressive shadows, and a constant suspicion that hidden eyes watched. The old train station near the top of Wenceslas Square spilled us onto a flight of grimy steps...
Sep.25.2011 The hypocrisy of John Lennon. John Lennon. The "Peace Activist" who supported murderers. In this world there are good people and bad people. There are those who will go out and sacrifice themselves for a cause, people like Gandhi, who almost starved himself to death in protest at the sectarian violence that swept India at the...	May.29.2011 Magic at The Majestic When I read a bad review I want to go directly to the source and read or watch what caused so much trouble -- usually. There are some writers and actors that get an immediate down turned thumb from me. Jim Carrey is at the top of the listu. Yes, he's a great comedian with his rubber face, flat feet...
Apr.01.2010 MY CAREER AS A PETTY THIEF/PART NINE/Part One I STEAL MY FIRST BOOK/Part 1 It's 1961 and the Godless Communists are on the move. Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space. "Now the Antichrist can rain death down on us from the heavens," evangelist Nelson Bell warns. "America is in the gravest danger in its...	Oct.02.2009 AutoBarography 8: MY CAREER AS A PETTY THIEF/PART THREE FALSELY ACCUSED, FOR A CHANGE. It's 1958 and America needs workers. The New York City high school school system offers vocational training for those students who plan to skip college and go right into the work force. Girls can learn secretarial and bookkeeping skills at Washington Irving and...
Jul.16.2008 Blacklisted _ The Hollywood Ten The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is tucked into a woodsy residential area of Carmel, California. If you didn't know otherwise, you'd assume it's someone's weekend getaway. But for six decades it's been home to theater, art and poetry, often of an edgy nature. So it's not suprising that the...