Why take the bus stop that's two blocks farther?

Because each morning
steep Denny street
makes my lungs swell,
my heart pound
to the rhythm of rush hour
and dreams dissolving

because some afternoons
the black crooked-tail kitty
circles, purring as I crouch
to scratch behind her ears and chin

because these August days
the no-man's plum tree
hangs sweet black jewels
just out of reach -- gifts
for anyone who cares to climb.

New Nalgenes = Nasty

For years I've carried water bottles virtually everywhere I go, snazzy ones in bright colors, from the company known as Nalgene, an old standby for hikers and campers.

No more. Various studies have shown that the transparent, colored bottles from Nalgene, made from Lexan® polycarbonate plastic, have potentially terrible health effects. Check out the article "On the Trail of Water Bottle Toxins" for the evidence. Then throw away your transparent Nalgene bottle (plastic type no. 7) and get yourself one of the old school ones, made of opaque white plastic (no. 2), which are much safer.

"La gente aprendió a usar los medios y Oaxaca se transformó"

An article in La Jornada about "Un poquito de tanta verdad," the new documentary by Jill Friedberg (Corrugated Films)

The battle for Red Hook

There's an area in Brooklyn called Red Hook where for years, Latin Americans have gathered to play soccer on Sundays, and a food market has grown up around them, serving tacos, pupusas, huaraches, tamales, and other cheap, delicious meals. Now local authorities are trying to push the vendors out with new permit requirements. My friend Burke made a short video about it, with a great soundtrack by Los Lobos ...

A Tribute to the Red Hook Vendors (quicktime):
http://www.estansbury.com/redhookvendors2007.mov

or on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o6qJYDPmGI

"Language Burier": Why English should the the official language of the U.S.

[ if you're aghast that I should post such a thing, here's a hint: it's a video from Comedy Central ]

Cardiology

My heart is crowded with broken furniture
and cigarette smoke.

It’s a wobbly, spinning top.

A water wheel that fills itself up, rises
to dump its contents, returns
parched to the river
to fill again.

My heart is a river frozen over.
Fish seethe underneath, swim in place.

It’s a custard
carmelized on top
waiting for a spoon to tap.

A kaleidescope—

a lead weight
heavy on my lungs—

a tinderbox
eyeing the matches.

It’s a rowboat in choppy seas
my four grandparents
lost in the fog, arguing
in two languages.

I got drunk one night, fall-down
drunk, and my heart became a cage.
I heard a child’s voice—
my father’s voice—
crying out
lonesome and ashamed.

My heart is true,
remembers everyone and every thing I ever loved.

My heart is false,
leads me into the arms of too many
and not enough.

It retreats into a tortoise shell
scratched and ancient,

swells with hope
its steady rhythm beating
against the surface of my skin.

It runs over with desire
and with love. Touch it
and the palms of your hands
stain red.

My heart is a blind old man
walking down Fourth Avenue
talking to the rain.

My heart is a warbling bird
you hold in your hands.




revised December 9, 2007

Watch Real Change for "Greenbridge"

The poem "Greenbridge," which you'll find posted elsewhere in this blog, is to be published sometime soon by Real Change. Unfortunately, realchangenews.org does not include the newspaper's poetry section, so if you want to see it in print, watch for paper vendors on the streets of Seattle ...

At the crossing of Story Street and Branch

At the crossing of Story Street and Branch
stands the house where the old lady lived
who bicycled downtown each Thursday evening
pulling a cart, a card table, pamphlets
full of heart and socialism,
to her post between the flower vendors
and the barbecues.

Here’s the school where we skinned our knees,
bruised our hearts, where we taunted
and were taunted,
until June came in sixth grade –
we sang out last children’s songs
signed each other’s notebooks and t-shirts,
saying nothing of our fear and wonder
at what came next.

It’s quiet here.
A bicycle ticks by, a sprinkler drips
droplets on my pant cuffs, on my shoelaces.
A bus rumbles around the corner
where Manuel’s Liquors still sells treats
like Abba Zabba and Jolly Ranchers
and still they pour them stiff
at the Gaslight Lounge
where we filled our hearts and spilled our guts,
turning twenty-one years old.

A blue jay screeches.
Breezes run their fingers
through front porch chimes
move tree to tree
like bumblebees:

A magnolia with one white blossom.
Red bottle brushes, avocados,
lemons and pines.
From thin, robust branches
persimmons emerge, small and green,
making promises
for a sweet November.

How do grocery store CEO salaries compare with workers' salaries?

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfQ_667f6z0 for a visual comparison of what they make in the Puget Sound region.

The Real News

Very, very, very interesting ...

A new online video news network, funded by members, dedicated to investigative journalism ...

Take Action Now for Police Accountability

From an email from a friend ...

There is an urgent need for action right now to help change police accountability politics in Seattle. Please take a minute to read the rest of the below email, email your City Council members, and attend a rally next Thursday, June 28, to help reform and strengthen citizen oversight of the Seattle Police Department.

As you may have read in recent newspaper articles, Seattle's Chief of Police, Gil Kerlikowske, recently orchestrated a cover-up for two police officers accused of planting drugs on people they arrested, using excessive force, and lying about their behavior. Chief Kerlikowske intervened in Office of Professional Accountability's (OPA) investigation of the allegations, helping guide the investigation in a way that exonerated the officers. The OPA's Auditor found the exonerations unfounded, while its civilian Review Board report (which you can read here) found that the Chief's intervention in the investigation was unethical.

There is a growing call for the City Council to intervene in this issue, review the reports, discipline the Chief, and reform Seattle's police accountability system so this kind of abuse cannot happen again. But unfortunately, instead of taking these issues seriously, the Chief of Police, the Mayor, and at least one City Councilmember (Jan Drago) are dismissing these critical reports out of hand and trying to stifle any serious discussion of reform.

Please contact your City Council members now and demand that they:

1. Read the OPA Review Board's report which documents the Police Chief's unethical behavior.
2. Support the OPA Review Board giving the City Council a briefing on the report.
3. Address problems raised in the report by considering reforms of Seattle's Police accountability process.

Please also attend a rally sponsored by the Seattle NAACP on the City Council steps at 4th and James next Thursday, June 28, at 12:15pm.

I can't stress to you enough how important it is for the City Council to receive these letters and see your presence outside their offices. Here is what a colleague of mine, who is a lawyer-activist, wrote to me about this issue:

There will not soon, if ever, be another case like [this]: one where the victim of the misconduct was brave enough and hopeful enough to actually make a complaint; where the events at issue were fully captured on videotape; where the videotape was preserved; where city, county & federal prosecutors did the right thing & notified defense lawyers of serious credibility problems about the officers involved; where a highly respected forensic video analyst analyzed the video & concluded that virtually no part of the officers' story could be true. If we cannot repudiate what happened here, we may as well give up on any pretense that we have police accountability in Seattle. A culture of impunity will be reaffirmed within SPD that it simply doesn't matter what you do as an officer -- you can be caught on videotape in flagrant untruths, and as long as the only person harmed is a criminal suspect, no one will care.

Thank you for reading this long email, and for taking any time that you can to act on this important issue. Please contact me if you have questions or need any additional information.

Trevor Griffey

PS Here are the emails for Seattle's City Councilmembers:

Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov
David.Della@seattle.gov
Jean.Godden@seattle.gov
Richard.McIver@seattle.gov
Jan.Drago@seattle.gov
Sally.Clark@seattle.gov
Peter.Steinbrueck@seattle.gov
Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov
Nick.Licata@seattle.gov (Make sure to thank Nick for his leadership on this issue-- he is the only one on the City Council to take a strong stand for police accountability so far)

IMMIGRATION & TRADE TEACH-IN

Wednesday, June 20th, 6-8 PM

Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 911 Stewart St., Seattle

Immigrants share their own stories - Updates on immigration and trade legislation - CISPES delegates report on their recent trip to El Salvador - FREE!

Seattle CISPES is pleased to announce, in collaboration with CASA Latina and the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, an Immigration and Trade Teach-In on Wednesday, June 20th.

This distinctive event will examine the root causes of immigration from Latin America and the effects that U.S. trade and immigration policies have on families. Recent immigrants will share their own stories, while leaders of local organizations will speak out about current immigration and trade legislation. Additionally, CISPES activists will share from their recent experiences in El Salvador, where they visited the families of immigrants who have settled in Seattle.

Join us for a night of education and personal stories, and leave with ideas for concrete action you can take in solidarity with immigrants and the families in Latin America that depend upon them.

For more information, contact Seattle CISPES at 206.325.5494, or seacispes@igc.org

Seattle CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
206.325.5494 - www.cispes.org

SOA: School's Out

Yes! Magazine's summer issue focuses on Latin American social movements, including a brief article I wrote about opposition to the School of the Americas. It is on the newsstands now, and you can find it by clicking the headline above. Look for number 3 in a series of articles titled "U.S. Role Turned Upside Down: Why U.S. economic, military, and covert influence is waning."

Cómo ahumar un salmón

Last month I visited my sister in Barcelona, where she runs a language and arts school, called Collage. Recently they began hosting a monthly performance night for poets, musicians and artists to share their work. I translated and read one of my poems for the occasion. The original, How to smoke salmon, appears in an earlier post on this blog.

Cómo ahumar un salmón

Salarlos un día entero, reyes
jalados del océano por las redes barredoras.
Reemplazar parte de la mar con ajo
y jenjibre.

Prepara tu lugar de trabajo
debajo vigas que se agarran
a los cayucos. Recuerda:
no podemos nadar, tú y yo,
hasta el vientre del río.

Saca los filetes del cubo glacial.
Admira las escaleras de los huesos,
las manchas de carbón en escamas plateadas,
la carne rayada como hebra de madera.
Ya pronto tus dedos estarán iguales de helados.
Date cuenta de los huesos que esconden.

Coloca el ahumador en el concreto,
leña de nogal en pedazos
debajo el elemento. Deja espacio
que pase el aire, que se filtre
el humo en la carne. Cuenta cuentos
de nuevas amistades y de amores perdidos.
Deja que el humo te enjuague el cabello.

Siéntate, abre una lata de cerveza,
cuenta cuentos de viajes,
de recién nacidos y de tipos de interés.
Sal de paseo, deja que la lluvia
te cepille las cejas.

Al ratito, echa más leña
y un cuento triste;
de un sabio asesinado, quizás.
Esparce ceniza y rescoldo;
luciérnagas en el rocío.

Luego descansa,
sueña con la isla de Kodiak. Con algas.
Con pececitos, y los gordos que se los comen.
Y cuando te despiertas,
el desayuno te espera,
el salmón ahumado.

Venezuela and the Media: Fact and Fiction

"... the US media coverage of Venezuela’s RCTV controversy says more about the deficiencies of our own news media that it does about Venezuela. It demonstrates again, as with the invasion of Iraq, how our news media are far too willing to carry water for Washington than to ascertain and report the truth of the matter."

The art of the possible

What happened in a small town in Andalucía, with many homeless families and an unemployment rate of 70 percent, when people voted in a socialist mayor and town council? They built homes, soccer fields, swimming pools and cooperatives to process local wine, olives, beans, and peppers, and now they have to bring in workers from elsewhere ...

Read about it in "El imbatible alcalde de Marinaleda," by Juan Jesús Aznárez, El Pais May 17, 2007.

You are out of control ... I wish you good health.

An amusing snippet of Turkish political discourse, so typically bombastic, formal and of course with the kind colloquialisms that enrich Turkish speech ...

CHP, DSP slam Erdoğan's comments
Monday, May 21, 2007
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer criticized the prime minister's comments on the election alliance of their parties Saturday, with Baykal accusing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of being out of control.

Erdoğan, speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) rally in Van on Friday, said: "If you combine 40 rotten eggs, you cannot get one fresh one," in reference to the election cooperation of the two parties.

Speaking at DSP headquarters on Saturday, Baykal said: "It is upsetting to see that the prime minister of the country is so out of control. I wish him good health."

Evo Morales for 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

"Sacrificial Wolfie"

Says Naomi Klein:

"The World Bank has the perfect standard bearer. The bank's credibility was already fatally compromised by hypocrisies far greater than those of Wolfowitz."

Click the headline to read on, a biting critique of the World Bank and the corruption it embodies.

Crime and Punishment, the poem

A short piece of prose I wrote a few days ago just wrapped itself in a cocoon and came out a poem ...

The gavel came down on Mel Kay
and Michael McLaughlin
of the Golden State Fence Company

who built a levee fifteen feet high
to hold back the human tide
at the southern border.
The Army Corps of Engineers
called their work impeccable
and stuffed their pockets full.

Then a judge banged his gavel
sentenced Kay and McLaughlin
to house arrest, fines of five million,
for hiring men with borrowed names
and imaginary numbers.
For shuffling papers with a wink
and putting them to work.

But does the punishment fit the crime?
Perhaps a fine, a few thousand each
would suffice, paid with indentured sweat.
Being forced to run the deadly gauntlet
through the desert,
for the profit and pleasure of bandits.
Spending years not knowing when
the knock might come at the door,
whether tomorrow they will take you away
in a windowless van, leaving behind
your spouse, your children,
once again.
Spending years apart from your firstborn,
who turns flat into photographs, a voice echoing
at the other end of the line.
And getting stuck on the wrong side
when your mother or brother is dying back home
but there’s no way you can go to them,
because there’s no telling if you can get back again.

This, perhaps, would make a just sentence for Kay and McLaughlin.
Not for hiring workers without papers,
that is not the crime.
For building fences to block their passage—
cages, for men and women
who arrive with dry throats
and hearts laden down with stones.




revised December 12, 2007

May Day / Primero de Mayo

Hilary Stern from CASA Latina says: Yesterday, there was an interesting report on the National May Day Marches and Boycotts on the NPR show, "Democracy Now." Organizers predict that it will be even bigger this year. Be part of history. Join us!

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/19/1349225&mode=thread&tid=25

May Day March and Rally
FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

WITH HUMAN, LABOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS!
Tuesday MAY 1st, 2007
3P.M. Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion

ACT NOW!
Stop breaking our families apart
MORATORIUM ON DETENTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

If you are interested in volunteering please call (206) 324-6044.

Crime and Punishment

Mel Kay, President and Founder, and Michael McLaughlin, a manager of Golden State Fence Company, ran a tight ship. They were contracted in the late nineties to build a fence 15 feet high and 6,100 feet long near the U.S.-Mexico border, to hold back the tide of immigrants. The Army Corps of Engineers called them “professional, reliable, and extremely competent … We have never encountered any problems with any personnel they have used.” Their revenue grew to $150 million in 2004. Their motto is “Home of the American Dream.”

In late March, a federal judge sentenced Kay and McLaughlin to house arrest, community service, probation, and fines of $300,000, for knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants between 1999 and 2004. Their business was also fined $4.7 million.

But does the punishment fit the crime? Perhaps a more appropriate sentence would have included a fine of a few thousand dollars each. That, and being made to run through the desert. With no food and little water, risking death by hypothermia, dehydration and the violence of bandits. That, and spending years wondering when the knock might come at the door, whether tomorrow they will be taken away from their wives and children. Years of seeing only photos of the other kids left behind.

This, perhaps, would be a just sentence, but not for hiring workers who lack the right papers. For building fences to block their passage. For building cages.

Backyard Bounty

My friend Leonard has started a business to help "urban farmers" grow organic veggies in their yards. Spread the word about this good man with a green thumb.



click the headline or see http://backyardbounty.com/ for details

Step It Up!

Join the National Day of Climate Action this Saturday ~


click headline for details

Public Health: Pay now, not later

From a recent Seattle-Post Intelligencer editorial:

Washington ranks 44th in the country on public health spending, and one source told us that as of right now, some local public health offices can "barely afford to keep the lights on and the doors open."

[ click the headline for the full text ]