The Resistance Blossoms All Around

A couple hours ago, I came back from watching "The Corporation" with a bunch of kids down in the Lounge. It was really good, and insightfuly through all its 2 1/2 hours. I love being in the room, sharing these awakening experiences with all the others, laughing, gasping at the utter absurdity of capitalism, our worst fears being affirmed at every turn of the film. The experience was similar to when we watched "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" on March 26th. I was pleasantly surprised when a very large number of kids showed up for that one, rather than the few die-hards I had expected.

I highly recommend "The Corporation."
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation
Official website: http://www.thecorporation.com/


When I was walking back from the film, the night was crisp and clear. Almost nice enough for me to leave my window cracked all night (almost, but not quite). The perfect crescent moon glowed ahead and above as I returned to Fenenga. The moon was pale yellow, the color of the butter we made in 2nd grade for the Thanksgiving feast by shaking jars of cream. It was cooler today than those glorious days last week, but the sun shone proudly after the raining and mostly-cloudy weekend. The creek has receded a lot, since its high point around dinner on Friday 3/31.

*Today in New Orleans the main post office finally reopened for the first time since Katrina on Aug. 29th. People will finally get overnight mail service, with the New Orleans postmark again. Over the last months, a letter mailed from one side of town was shipped 540 miles through 3 cities to be processed, taking up to a month before it arrived at its destination at the other side of town.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1144044094303080.xml

* On Saturday, thousands of people marched across the Crescent City Connection, led by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in remembrance of the Sept. 1st travesty where mostly black refugees from the Convention Center trying to cross the bridge were turned back at gunpoint by the Gretna police. The event also focused on the need for ensuring all displaced New Orleanians are not disenfranchised in the upcoming municipal elections. They are pushing a campaign for satellite voting stations in Houston and other major cities of the diaspora.
http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/library-99/114396671551600.xml&coll=1

The noontime march was preceded by two hours of prayer, music and fiery speeches from Jackson and a list of luminaries, including entertainer Bill Cosby, National Urban League President and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. William Jeffersonof New Orleans, and Mayor Ray Nagin, the black incumbent facing 21 challengers in his bid for re-election.

"We've marched too much, we've bled too often, we've died too young," said Jackson, who compared Saturday's event to the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., that helped win passage of the federal Voting Rights Act that year.....

.....The orderly march included flourishes that were pure New Orleans: Ragtag bands led the way up the high-occupancy-vehicle ramp at Convention Center Boulevard, and people twirled umbrellas, second-line parade style, in time to the music beneath the sweltering sun.

Political signs were prominent, with messages that included, "Iraq has fairer elections."

***

I was surprised yesterday (Sunday) when I saw my computer clock had jumped an hour ahead and realized it was Daylight Savings Time. Already? Yay! I love the long days of summer coming, the light lasting till late in the evening, and coming so soon the next day. And I thought of time traveling...it seems like only yesterday when I was on the Island for Queeb and Daylight Savings Time of 2005 was ending on Oct. 30th. Out there during that odyssey, we got to live the same hour all over again. Yeah, it was a pretty bizarre time (my first Queeb...the scarf...the disappearing act...a tropical day on the beach at the end of October...stowing away in the veggie oil van to cross on the ferry for free [over $10 round trip? they're making a killing!]...finding a way to Minneapolis for the Barebones Halloween Show [Foretold: It's Your Funeral]...biking around the lakes in MSP, standing behind Minnehaha Falls...Ryan's incredible International Novelty Gamelan after the show...the barge barreling down the Mississippi, shining its searchlight on the crowd...the coolest Halloween ever...visiting Engel Tower in Duluth for the first time since June 2001 when Sam took me there...putting my ear on the bell from Japan, the twisted topiary bushes all around wrapped up with burlap bag straightjackets. The tower gates were welded shut this time, but that didn't stop Kaia, Little Kaia, and Richie. I was too reluctant that day, but I think I'll do it eventually). And who would have thought that after returning from that journey on Nov. 2nd, within a matter a days, a completely new fuse would be lit that would ignite a chain of events nothing short of prodigious. I'm trying to figure out exactly what day that was in early November when Brian Lazorik showed up, and Bob asked me if I wanted to go to NOLA.

And now we've time-traveled again, not to mention the transformative Equinox new year. I can hardly wait to find out what amazing schemes are churning just below the surface. It's only a matter of time until the ecstatic pot boils over the edges.