Film and Reality in "Freedom Writers" (2007, MTV Films)

Hillary Swank’s innocence in the 2007 MTV/Paramount production Freedom Writers may be a relic of the Bush years (the studio’s previous production was the sequel to Jackass): a wide-eyed, white and naïve teacher finds herself faced by the dark jungle of Long Beach, California, where her students’ tribulations and violent environments are beyond her comprehension. She teaches anyway, and one never discovers what Midwest town Erin Gruwell (Swank’s character) hailed from, and it matters little to the narrative’s rising action. What is important is that Gruwell was a scrawny fish far out of her familiar waters, and chooses to swim over sink; she is led to question the district’s distribution of resources, including funds for textbooks and class trips, and is met with a stoic and vicious assistant principal who aims to support the status quo of educator tenure and class choice, played brilliantly by Imelda Staunton. Gruwell’s father is both protective and encouraging, and, by the close of the film, speechlessly impressed by his daughter’s accomplishment. The school itself is itself a complicated challenge to her language arts curriculum, and Gruwell seeks support from an upper-level administrator early in the film—to subvert the dismissive and truly awkward school administration.

This film, about innovation in language arts curriculum and instruction, was made during the reign of No Child Left Behind, but is set in its reality, of 1994—when a set of real events upon which this film was based took place. It was the age of the Rodney King Riots and OJ Simpson trial when Gruwell prescribed her students read and consume with the intention of improving and establishing their own authority and autonomy. Perhaps the film’s highlight comes when inter-city youth, their behavior and ethics, are transformed through gaining perspective on the events of the Holocaust, in a museum. A renewed context for hardship established through historical perspective, Gruwell’s personal and engaging style in the classroom draws from students a new level of engagement—with her, and with each other.

What effect did the actions portrayed in this film have on public, federal education policy? The “tenured” public school teachers in the film—namely, a rival male teacher, who teaches only “honors level” classess—are despicably inflexible and cold to Gruwell; they are shown as irresponsibly making assumptions about their students and their likely behaviors and responses to assignments. Successful collaboration in public education, across distinctions of social class, race, and gender, might describe the aim of Teach for America—a federal program that sought to implant teachers into unfamiliar and nationwide classroom environments. Now in its twenty-first year, that federal program may still not ensure new and aspiring educators in unfamiliar environments aren’t met by stuck-in-their-own-mud assholes.

One might question whether or not schools “teach to the test” to the extent they felt forced to in 2006; the somewhat-relegation of No Child Left Behind guidelines to state systems of education may or may not enable more teachers like Gruwell. Reality is that one of the actors who portrayed one of Gruwell’s students was shot in front of a Denny’s in California, weeks before he had the chance to accompany his grandmother to the film’s premeire. Reality is also that the film’s producers cut Gruwell’s use of Zlata Filipovic’s Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo, but included her classroom use of The Diary of Anne Frank, and documented the real-life falling apart of Gruwell’s marriage. Reality is that Gruwell and her former students are available for speaking engagements; the Freedom Writers Foundation administers a teachers’ institute as well as a full web presence, including resources for students and teachers.

Learn more at http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org

Music and Occupy Wall Street

Late-grunge era San Francisco-based rockers Stephan Jenkins and Brad Hargreaves, the vocals and drums that have pretty much been the basis for the group Third Eye Blind, have assembled a new band, and have released one of the first true ‘pop’ protest songs about the Occupy Movement: the band posted “If There Ever Was A Time” to their Facebook page on November 16, 2011, available for free download. The accompanying Youtube montage of Zucotti Park clips dramatizes these lyrics:

[…] where are the youth, we need you now

if there ever was a time, it would be now

to make the masters hear this

if there ever was a time to get downtown

and get non-violent and fearless

things only get brighter when you light a spark

everywhere you go right now is Zucotti Park […]

While the words of the song don’t ring with as much liberty as “Stand!” by Sly and the Family Stone, Third Eye Blind’s effort in writing a 21^st century pop-protest song is notable, if diluted by its place in history: are the “masters” the same as who Dylan described in “Masters of War,” or in the revived Black Sabbath epic, “War Pigs?” When we get downtown, the bridge reveals what’ll happen: And news corps says you don’t have a plan/well sit down, man, I’ll tell you again/the plan’s to stand together up to greed. Advocating non-violent demonstration to the youth (“we need you now,” the song repeats) in a centralized location through song, on Facebook and YouTube—a distribution effort that costs virtually nothing—is an new embrace of an established form. Neil Young and friends wrote, recorded and released “Ohio” in May of 1970, in response to the tragedy at Kent State, where four protesters were shot; within about a month of the event, radio stations and record stores had the 45rpm single in-hand, backed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young harmonizing on Stephen Stills’ “Find the Cost of Freedom.” Dylan, Young, Sly, Marvin Gaye: legends, from a time when songs could espouse to being direct social commentary on what What’s Going On.

A few months hence, and already a strange democratic melancholy threads through Jenkins’ lead vocal call, if there ever was a time, it would be now. While this sentiment may be inscribed on cave walls and in caverns deep within the pyramids, and found rendered more interestingly across the canon of recorded American pop music, “If There Ever Was A Time” is a call to action, however implicit and vague, implanted within a rock song. The production employs the glossiest kind of modern pop: the acoustic guitar shines, drums swing in up-tempo, the chorus is melodically rousing. The whole affair reminds me of Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train,” except Third Eye Blind’s number didn’t come out of nowhere in the way that the Dave Pirner missing-children anthem did, and that the video-music distribution landscape looked very different in 1994—back when MTV ran the Tony Kaye-directed video incessantly, featuring images of children missing in America. In the original video, Pirner himself appeared at its close, asking viewers to call a hotline if they could identify any of the children shown. Regardless of the fact that MTV in the United States chose to run the video without Pirner’s closing statement (not wanting their program to become a public service announcement), the video was successful in locating missing children across the country, as well as in Australia and the UK. The song won a Grammy that year; Third Eye Blind would win a Billboard Music Award for “Semi-Charmed Life” three years later. This modern socially-minded song with an ethical but cumbersome title, “If There Ever Was A Time,” might reflect the tribulations of the rock outfit: dropped unexpectedly by Warner in 2004, a few albums in the last decade with no hits whatsoever, and, early in 2011, an eight-million dollar lawsuit by former guitarist Tony Fedianelli over songwriting credits. Third Eye Blind, which may be at work on their fifth album, currently includes Kryz Reid on electric guitar and Abraham Millett on bass.

The official video of “If There Ever Was A Time” isn’t likely to be seen on MTV, and the song isn’t likely to go multi-platinum, like Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train” or Neil Young’s “Ohio.” The audio was used as a bumper on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz, but the video-- fast images of the police, the marches, dancing in the streets, cardboard signs flashing by in radiant hippie glory, a woman’s exposed belly painted “End the Fed”--while Jenkins appears in sunglasses, strumming his acoustic, is a made-for-YouTube production, helping define a new category in the realm of film. Video remixes abound, including ones of Jenkins’ acoustic performance in Zucotti Park; suggestions appear in the sidebar, offering Occupy performances by NOFX in Los Angeles, a haggard Joan Baez teaching the crowd “Joe Hill” on a cold November afternoon in New York, and a stunning live performance by Jackson Browne and Dawes, backed by a gospel choir on an original Browne tells the crowd he finished “last night,” posted by karinmoveon on Dec. 2, 2011. It’s both democratic and capitalist to sing a song of protest in a public (privately-owned) park like Zucotti or, virtually, through YouTube or Facebook; the factories where vinyl 45rpm singles were produced, and the studios and offices of MTV are no longer necessary to musical expressions that are calls to action, and that likely goes for a Jackson Browne live performance, an embattled Third Eye Blind making new, good use of their time, and the work of John L. Samuels Jr.-Esco, whose foresight in late September 2011 may give him claim to writing one of the earliest songs about the protest movement. It is a hip-hop number he created at Slag Studios in the Bronx, that he titled on YouTube “Occupy the Street Song (The Official Anthem)”; it is nearly five minutes of melodic vocal harmonizing around the words “stand up,” along with a quiet synthy string part, and one very loud kick drum. He posted his song, and accompanying video (featuring reverse footage of arrests in the street, and of the Twin Towers exploding) weeks before the Brooklyn Bridge blockade in mid-October.

Two months later, on the closing night of Philip Glass’ opera “Satyagraha” at Lincoln Center, Lou Reed told the crowd gathered outside—large enough to necessitate two repetitions by the crowd of the aged rocker’s words, so that all could hear-- “I’ve never been more ashamed than to see the barricades tonight. The police are our army. I want to be friends with them. And I want to Occupy Wall Street. I support it, in each and every way. I’m proud to be part of this.” Following the opera’s final performance, the esteemed composer himself emerged from the massive theater and into the cold street to address the gathered crowd. He wore a black knit cap and spectacles; I was not there, but wept as though I was, when I watched him repeat his prepared statement three times, realizing its relevance, and the challenge inherent to the artists, to find ways to share some truth in of our time:

“When righteousness withers away and evil rules the land, we come into being, age after age, and take physical shape, and move, a man among men, for the protection of good, thrusting back evil, and setting virtue on her seat again.” (Philip Glass at Occupy Lincoln Center, 12/1/11).

*****************

Sept. 2011—John L. Samuels Jr.-Esco, “Occupy the Street Song (The Official Anthem)”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF0zQwcMT14&feature=related

Nov. 11, 2011—Joan Baez at Zucotti Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh1z-E5RDhM&feature=related

Dec. 1, 2011--Philip Glass at Occupy Lincoln Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p1HWwh-rM8

Dec. 1, 2011—Lou Reed at Occupy Lincoln Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDR4YCAGk7M

Dec. 2, 2011—Stephen Jenkins at Zucotti Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h9d-mQbtyk

Dec. 4, 2011—Jackson Browne and Dawes at Zucotti Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RalPB3ux4M&feature=relmfu

Everyone's Drumming (Putney, VT); December 2011

On the crest of the bleak midwinter, and on the shortest day of the year, I drove south through Vermont, following the Connecticut River, and the ribbon of highway that trails along its side. The sun was brilliant, and the air solid and chilly-- the breathable ice that lingers in New England had made itself fully entrenched, despite the shining and reflection of so much else. I gunned the engine, rising and falling with the curves of the hills, the flattest ground to be found in among the ancient river bed. Christmas was nearing, and I was on a journey, to gather a gift for my son.
Weeks prior, I had enjoyed a conversation with Gov't Mule drummer and percussion guru Matt Abts, and, after minimal prompting from me, raved about his custom-drum builder of choice: Nathaniel Hall, of Everyone's Drumming, in Putney, Vermont. Never a huge Mule-head, I knew of the band's mid-1990s, Allman-inflected roots, and original bassist Allen Woody's passing, but hadn't had the rock-star-mythic vision of these cats debunked by interpersonal ancedote-- until Abts told me of how he came to know Nathaniel, and own his first custom, handmade drum. Woody commissioned Hall to build a special African ashiko, to celebrate the birth of Abts' first child. Soon after, Abts commissioned Hall to design a specific djembe-shaped cajhon-- a triangular floor-standing drum with a wooden head. After hearing Abts' praise of Hall's craftmanship, I realized I had found a sorely-needed Christmas present for my seven-year-old son, Andrew. Our latest jam sessions had involved sticks striking table legs and padded chairs, a plastic Gotham City, and anything else in sight.
Well over one hundred miles from my house-- where the wrapping paper, scissors, and tape sat waiting on the kitchen counter-- I left the highway north of Brattleboro, and descended into the narrowed and winding hills of Putney and Westminster. Hall's workshop is a two story barn/garage located twenty minutes from any pavement and deep into the sprawling and ever-scenic southern Vermont woods, a gorgeous and elite territory, of second homes and legends of fame living somewhere among the web of mountains and dirt roads (members of Aerosmith, the Eagles, and others occupy the Connecticut River corridor, at least part-time). Hall greeted me warmly on the driveway-- we had been in touch via email, as mine was a last-minute order, whose finish Hall buffed for a final time as we talked. The first of the two-floor shop, if emptied, is just big enough for a one-at-a-time auto mechanic to work, and live in the space upstairs. Two arrays of rough shells-- the bases for dozens of drums Hall will complete, for use in schools, through a non-profit program-- were surrounded by an uncluttered maze of half-completed orders. Upstairs, Hall's main workbench is also surrounded by a wild variety of bulbous wooden shapes, all priority work to be done: torn or punctured skins, frayed sinews, cracked shells. Spools of quality rope, and racks of untrimmed hides sat to the left of Hall's main workbench upstairs, besides a battered boombox. He polished the exterior of my son's new drum with care, as he explained the importance of summer music festivals to his business-- and that, this summer already presents a problem, as the Gathering of the Vibes, the All Good Festival, and another fest are taking place over the same weekend. Last summer, to ensure his presence at the largest concerts, Hall devoted two 'crews' to being vendors, peddling both his careful and tuneful creations, as well as a line of PVC-based Toca hand-drums, for quick sale and profit to the spotaneous crowd that wanders through the marketplaces found at most music fests. This summer, Hall expects to run three vendor 'crews,' he explained, as he wound a thick nylon cord inexplicably into a handle around the thinnest part of my son's drum (above his initials, which he had woodburned into the side, prior to applying any polish). As a bright and fleeting December light poured through the second-floor window and onto Hall's workbench, I realized he was the first person I had heard speak of their plans for the summer of 2012; I looked around and realized how far ahead Hall may have his work schedule planned in his head-- like a sculptor, who can envision within an untouched chunk of maple an actual, dimensional instrument, built of tension, reflection, and empty space.
For his expertise and care, Hall's street cred among the jam-band circuit may actually be far larger than anyone may at first notice: surrounding his main workbench were drums in-for-repair from a number of well-known musicians, including Mickey Hart's djembes (based on the Abts signature cajhon). Hall has also designed and builds a signature drum for Jim Donovan of Rusted Root, and works closely with DrumSTRONG, a non-profit devoted to "drumming to beat cancer." (Still available is a custom drum to commemorate Gov't Mule's Jan. 2011 Island Exodus, according to Hall's website). In progress were also some custom drums for Bob Weir's new studio, TRI, built specifically to accommodate webcasts and live streaming of musical performances. In his office/showroom, one of Hall's most inventive and original creations sat in the corner: a pedal-operated "talking" drum, built of a wooden dogbone-shaped shell, and a careful arrangement of hardware, including steel cable, connecting both heads. Instead of demonstrating it himself, Hall was proud to show a video of Phish drummer Jon Fishman trying it out (after two minutes of fascinating tonal-glide rolls and fills, Fish descended into looking for-- and finding, through the wah-wah action of the foot pedal-- the approximate notes for Black Sabbath's "Iron Man").
I slipped the smooth brown drum bearing my son's initials into its new, padded case, shaped almost perfectly for Hall's unique creation-- with a veneered head, a drum to last my son's full life, to be used quietly with fingertips or raucously, sounding a deep and thick djembe-slap in many rooms to come. The Winter Equinox sun dropped quickly in my rear-view mirror as I drove north later that afternoon, with other, warmer, summer visions, of drumming beneath trees, and music-- a common beat, made carefully by master craftsmen like Hall-- threading together seasons of light and dark.

Discover more of Nathaniel's work here: http://www.everyonesdrumming.com/

Vermont Goes to the Planet of the Abts (December 2011)

[This article originally appeared at 101distribution.com]

Matt Abts, longtime drummer for the band Gov’t Mule, took the band’s 2011 hiatus as an opportunity to explore new collaborations, and the Planet of the Abts [POA] was born. Abts is joined in Planet of the Abts by Mule bassist Jorgen Carlsson and guitarist T Bone Andersson, both of whom had met as session musicians in LA, long before Carlsson joined Mule in 2008. Having recently circled New England during the last months of 2011, the electric rock trio appeared on stage and on their self-titled debut (produced by Steve Holyrod and released independently through Hitthenote.com) as being a thrashingly good trio, in the tradition of Cream. The 2011 POA tour began with a brief west coast run, a handful of dates in the northeast, and ended with the group reuniting with Mule bandmates, as well as guests including Bela Fleck and Del McCoury, at Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jam fundraiser/festival in Asheville, North Carolina on December 10.

In some ways, POA bridges the gap between the Allman Brothers-inflected jam band sound of Gov’t Mule (originally a side project of Allman alums Warren Haynes and Allen Woody) and the strategic power blues settings of John Mayall and  Led Zeppelin. At the very least, POA has been an excellent use of the hiatus from tiring Mule tours during 2011. In an interview, Abts said he couldn’t have imagined getting “POA off the ground between Mule tour,” and the result—onstage and in the studio—of Abts’ efforts are clear. POA’s original material on their release (songs like “Trying to Be Myself” and “Dressed Up Looking Fine”) make clear the three members’ attention to detail; their recording (an analog one, made at a studio co-owned by Holyrod and Carlsson) offers far more diligent musicianship across what were originally conceived of as more loose, space-cadet moments. At POA’s fastest, they resemble a grungier, more complicated version of the electric blues, padded by an appropriate and interesting variety of musical introductions and conclusions, more thoughtful than the worst moments of the Grateful Dead, and constructed with more care than the best moments of Lynyrd Skynyrd. There is no sloppy noodling, and there are no extended and aimless jams on Abts’ Planet, but rather an ever-present progress in the simplest of three-chord songs. POA is a trio that moves quickly on its six collective feet; there is much communication between the members at work in the music. The scant lyrics of ever-serious introspection, and the abundance of soaring guitar notes, hover above the thunderous and solid rhythm section.

Abts is a wise and seasoned leader of this new musical Planet, and shows his leadership in running an outfit that proves itself flexible and fluent. Bassist Jorgen Carlsson played informally with Gov’t Mule since the untimely passing of founding member and bassist Allen Woody in 2000, and became the band’s steady bassist in 2008. He and Abts had a keen relationship, one built of careful and flowing riffs and fills; Abts appears ever at ease, and the trio smiled a lot at each other during both shows. T Bone Andersson’s  guitar work was mysterious and elusive in its origin, never shying away from the sudden and the brash, and expressive on his axe, and through a multitude of amps. Singing lyrics to “Circus” in performance, Andersson appeared emboldened, knowing well the simple tune and its nuances. Carlsson joined in on vocals on occasion; Abts, from behind the drum set, shouted verses to the band’s lone and choice cover that appears on the album, and shone in concert--the Rolling Stones’ “Off The Hook.” Performances included interesting and technically accurate Hendrix covers, including “Spanish Castle Magic,” the Doors’ “Light My Fire,” and T Rex’s “Children of the Revolution.”

Abts, Carlsson, and T Bone carried audiences to new prog-rock heights during the first weeks of December 2011, including two gigs in Massachusetts (Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury Beach was Abts’ favorite venue of their northeast tour), two nights in Vermont, and an appearance as part of Levon Helm’s weekly Saturday night Ramble, in Woodstock, New York, before heading south for dates in the New York metro area. Following Warren Haynes’ annual fundraiser in North Carolina, Gov’t Mule returns to ring in the New Year with their triumphant return across a pair of shows at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Across the short 2011 tour, POA were joined by Mule keyboardist Danny Louis at the New Ocean Music Hall, appeared with the Levon Helm Band in upstate New York, and catered with ease to unique crowds across two Vermont venues: the seated, contemplative listening room that is the Tupelo Music Hall in White River Junction, and the jam-band-aficionados attending the show at the cavernous South Burlington venue Higher Ground. Abts’ relationship with Vermont and New England runs deeply, being “one of the first markets we [Gov’t Mule] ever played,” he said, adding that Mule has played Higher Ground in Burlington over twenty-five times. A small drum manufacturer in Putney, Vermont produces Abts’ custom signature djembe; his relationship with Everyone’s Drumming began when, in celebration of the birth of his son, original Mule bassist Allen Woody gave Abts one of Nathaniel Hall’s handmade African ashikos, upon which was carved “a mother, father, and baby,” Abts explained. While his work with Gov’t Mule and other side projects have established him as one of the steadiest and most prolific drummers in live rock performance, Abts maintained that his “approach to the drum set” comes from study of the open and raucous sound of percussionists in the big band era, namely, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Abts responded favorably to a suggestion that his next solo project be to form a jazz band, in the style of his percussion heroes; for now, his rhythmic Planet represents his keen ability to coordinate and invent new musical collaborations.

Follow Matt Abts here: http://www.mattabts.com/index.shtml

Planet of the Abts here: http://www.planetoftheabts.com/

Thoughts on the Philosophy of Religion

[academic writing; original selections from forum discussions in Dr. John Shook’s course on social ethics and religion; Union Institute and University, fall 2011].

Posted: Wed 7/20/2011 at 3:19 PM, in reply to R S

I’m interested in what might be a spiritual schizophrenia, a standing belief in Buddhism and elsewhere, that attributes the creation of both the ‘evil’ of the world—what moved the rocks that trapped the miners—and the ‘good,’ that is, whatever life force saved them. We are creators: of meals, children and families, but also of weapons with which to draw to extinction other species, builders of tsunami-ready boats, somewhere seeking safer ways to split the atom at this very moment. If we had left it all alone, starting with the apple…? It doesn’t seem like we would have ever been able to leave well enough alone; humanity’s relationship with the non-human, natural world seems less harmonic and more adversarial by the day. Days of Prayer have been declared by the governors of a number of states this week, in response to our current environmental madness. It seems to be Flew’s failure of logic—that elements, lifeless or not, must be ‘good’ by their very creation—at work on the grand scale, as thousands if not millions fan themselves during prayer in churches, asking for help in keeping cool. I am willing to see in these events taking place in the non-human, natural world, as being significant, having something to say about humanity’s relationship with any ultimate reality… and, to use Mackie’s phrase, I use my own poetry and creative work as a way to make sense of a place where “these appearances fade away,” and “try to formulate the suggestion precisely” (249), where the grayscale of our lives might be given a hint, some prodding, that leads to seeing some moment of seeing some small part of the Technicolor of Oz, whatever that may be for an individual on their journey of gaining knowledge about themselves and their beliefs. Spiritual evangelism seeking viewers’ improved Perception through art might be sheer egoism, but still may be less toxic than government-mandated, state-by-state Days of Prayer in response to soaring temperatures. For a less mystical Buddhist, the acceptance of suffering may be the only and ultimate reality, the salvation of the individual through transcending a beautiful and beautifully cruel world. Adding to my own spiritual schizophrenia and challenge, I see ‘cash value’ in the universal promotion of such transcendence in others, however p assive or transitory (music).

Posted: Mon 7/25/2011 at 9:07 PM, in reply to R J

What proof of free will do we really have? Buying wholesale that “the reality of our existence is that we do indeed have moderate control over our own decision-making capabilities” passes Carrier’s test of being a delusion: one may hold the belief in certainty (“not wishy washy,” in Carrier’s words); holding the belief with incorrigibility (not changeable, even by evidence to the contrary); and that the belief would be “implausible, bizarre, patently untrue”. Suddenly it seems we’re splitting hairs of our differing experience, especially when it ocmes to our differing sets of circumstances that may help reinforce or dismantle one’s claim to incorrigibility—and this intersection of the forces of metaphysical human belief and whatever, if any, forces that are at work in the non-human, living world may not be underestimated. Religion may, for some, be about more than only the propagation of “better/heathier/more just” choices for those creatures evolved/lucky enough to have grown brains big enough to identify, and assess such an intersection. I’m less of a predestinationist than may appear (“destinationist?”), but may see as much fallacy in a belief in autonomous free will as in a belief that the trees are talking and I’m in actually less control than I may think.

Posted: Wed 8/17/2011 at 12:12 AM, in reply to J S

This is an interesting thread, and I like how examples of environmental and human “evil” are provided to represent the darker side of God’s hand: certainly tragedies that take place in and on the earth—hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like—might be equal in our definition of “evil” to a couple’s inability to conceive a child, though, as Dr. Shook points out, only in some situations may one’s preparedness counteract such destructive environmental truths. So our bodies are part of nature in that respect: a random tree may fall in the woods and kill a camper; a hurricane may make a beeline for a populated coast; we may be born with parts of ourselves that don’t work as well as others. I’m very hesitant—perhaps a practice of my own mental health—to make “evil” out of any ‘shoulda/woulda/coulda’ situations, including the example provided of building codes, and how one town’s regulations may prevent residents’ homes from collapsing during an earthquake. To me, such retrospect itself is damaging (I won’t say “evil”), as perhaps a basic premise of human social development is the acquisition of food, water, and shelter. Different populations across different environments have sought to meet those needs differently; civilizations’ collective intentions to procure those basic needs might be judged the best attempt possible at the time, and they may not. And, it’s unfortunately likely an individual’s “evil,” in greed or lust for control, may have gotten in the way of such collective intention. I think of those who mixed and poured concrete in the 1950s, who stacked cinder blocks into their own backyard bomb shelters, and of the weird array of survivalists who, in the name of their faith, stock canned food and buy bullets. Like others, I’m not up for assigning “evil” to economics—in the name of rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s, in a way, as systems contrived by humans are the products of human behavior and thought, and the range of our bad decision making is immeasurable, innate flaw. The individual’s “evil” mentioned above as ‘greed or lust for control’ might too be bad wiring in the brain, but this may be too far a leap, because at its worst, the systematic adoption of one individual’s destructive ideas constitutes something larger than collectively ignorant intentions (Nazism).

Posted: Thu 9/15/2011 at 5:08 PM, in reply to K M

thanks for inciting this discussion of rouge psychologists, as evidence of some ‘outside-the-box’ thinking on religion’s manifestation in people’s actions and beliefs. The overstimulation of our brains in this quickening, naturally- and humanly- tumultuous time surely complicates any individual or collective vision of how belief in a higher power manifests into deed. Professor Shook summed Dewey’s concern regarding the difference between the ‘religious’ and those who adhere to a ‘religion’ as a matter of objectivity and subjectivity: “anything a religion says about objective reality is subjective […] A million atheists aren’t any more objectively right than a million faithful, so far as just counting beliefs is involved.” I think sometimes that a dour postmodernism gripped too much of intellectual thought and culture in this country, creating a sociopathic and spiritually lazy climate in which all is subjective, and one’s own experience is ultimate and central: the “Pepsi Jesus” and “feel-good” church my father railed against as he watched our Episcopal church transform in sermon and mission, from the presentation of Biblical redemption as objective truth, to the discussion of the ethical metaphors and advice spoken by Christ and others in the Bible. Dewey would have condoned both theological reasons to gather on a Sunday morning: “[…] supernatural intervention is assumed to have effected the transition from brute to man […] Therefore, it is inferred, we must resort to supernatural control. Of course, I make no claim to knowing how far intelligence may and will develop in respect to social relations. But one thing I think I do know. The needed understanding will not develop unless we strive for it. The assumption that only supernatural agencies can give control is a sure method of retarding this effort” (Dewey, p. 76). The action of humanity gaining a grasp on its understanding of any connection to a higher power is an action of Striving: a reach, above and beyond the experience of what is common. Humanity holds in its grasp some intrinsic control of its future, its actions, decisions, and sense of belonging, and I have always wished—prayed—for more humans to embrace the control they do have over their own lives, however scant their rights may be. What is a divine action in this, our human environment? The rescue of neighbors from floods; the toppling of dictatorships; the fund drives that ask of the resources of untouched populations? In my view, there’s a big difference between an individual who can claim ‘it’s the right thing to do’ and one who can and will say to themselves, ‘I believe it’s the right thing to do’—the manifestation of spiritual and ethical exploration. Buddhism may be the handiest in this regard, in establishing a spiritual search for identity that manifests in an ethical and peaceful existence. Alan Watts has been my longtime guru in this; I attend church as well because I value the common and ritualistic action of being ‘religious,’ and the establishment of constructive, compassionate community around such common action. Watts is distinctly psychological and punchy (“How to Be A Genuine Fake” is one chapter in his 1966 The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are); here, he introduces his that work on identity, arguing that an individual’s experience may be one that may be experiential and scientific enough to offer grounding for an universal stance of understanding: all are able and may be willing to upholding the eight noble truths (prayers to typhoon-ravaged Japan): “I seem to be a brief light that flashes but once in all the aeons of time—a rare, complicated, and all-too-delicate organism on the fringe of biological evolution, where the wave of life bursts into individual, sparkling, and multicolored drops that gleam for a moment only to vanish forever. Under such conditioning it seems impossible and even absurd to realize that myself does not reside in the drop alone, but in the whole surge of energy which ranges from the galaxies to the nuclear fields in my body” (Watts, p. 12). Perhaps most common across the spectrum of a new category of ‘applied-religious’ individuals—those who act upon their spiritually-derived ethical beliefs—may be the simplest acknowledgement of the spiritual other, that knowledge that lies beyond what is common to our lives: “we can never, never describe all the features of the total situation, not only because every situation is infinitely complex, but also because the total situation is the universe. Fortunately, we do not have to describe any situation exhaustively […]” (Watts, p. 87). Watts, A. (1989). The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. New York: Vintage.

Posted: Tue 9/27/2011 at 11:41 AM, in reply to E A

I’m glad for your response to Daly, because you identified some of the risks associated with Daly’s reconceptualization: “in her attempt to emancipate women from the patriarchial system, Daly risks further alienating these women from real power and participation in the developed, predominantly Christian hemisphere.” This alienation comes through her call to ‘empty’ “Jesus and God of any concrete imagery of experiential identity” (Shook, lecture notes)—leaving behind an accessible, amorphous, and gender-neutral spiritual entity. The act of rethinking one’s notion of God to this extent may be a revolutionary and radical one, depending on the extent to which one’s traditional notion of a patriarchial Christian spiritual entity may be engrained. And thus I appreciate most that Daly engages language itself in her reconceptualization: “metapatterning women and words have magical powers, opening doorways of memories, transforming spaces and times […] Thus liberation is the work of Wicked Grammar, which is a basic instrument, our Witches’ Hammer” (p. xxv). The action of ‘re-seeing’ our intrinsic and natural spiritual abilities—and the fact that our existence proves our outright and liberatory success—requires our special attention to language, its power and glory, forever until we actively, consciously, change it, and perhaps not even then. I know a writer and teacher whose history of practicing energy transference and meditative perception spans more than three decades; the words he uses during his guided sessions, however, sound as if lifted from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. They are the words he knows, he says, but in the sessions they take on a fully different meaning. I’m very interested in the social and cultural context surrounding the publication of Daly’s work, because her scholarship and legacy may represent some of the most progressive and liberatory thought I’ve encountered in a while. I believe Mary Daly is as Christian as Kurt Cobain, Ozzy Osbourne, Adrianne Rich, and the writer described above. If Beyond God the Father was Daly’s stance in 1974 (whose voice and tone reminded me of a pissed-off and polarizing version of popular astrologist and Daly contemporary Linda Goodman), Daly’s sense of liberation did more than run the risk that Elizabeth identified, but fully established a separation of gender as being critical to the survival of humanity: “If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males” (Daly, as cited by Bridle, 2011, para. 27). Promoting gender inequality in a number of ways in the same 1999 magazine interview, Daly notes that if she had the chance to retitle her 1974 work, she would change it to simply Beyond God, leaving any form of patriarchy fully separate from her discussion. While I find such intellectual divisiveness about as useful as a government shutdown (up to and including stalled FEMA funding), I am interested in the social and cultural environment that gave rise to Daly’s voice: the revolutions of thought and action, politics and culture, war and peace that took place in the early 1970s may have constituted a different intellectual environment than what we’ve got today, one built at least in part of a “Wicked Grammar” with a purpose (though one might use that phrase to describe text messaging language). If we are to ‘empty’ ourselves of any “concrete imagery,” with what may we fill that void? Poetry is good; for a modern journal of feminist “wicked grammar” in this tradition, one that seeks Rich’s call for a common language, I recommend “Chain,” edited by Juliana Spahr and Stephanie Young (the latest issue, subtitled “A Megaphone,” features an introduction written without the letter ‘r,’ and presents new and poetic forms that each seek liberatory language). Music seems to always be my favorite answer, and many take the genre as a means through which to promote and divulge their spiritual understanding. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind album, whose grunge vision presented an ultimately bleek and dystopic spirituality (“here we are now/entertain us”). Mary Daly probably railed against and ignored Black Sabbath during their early, best, and formative years, but I can think of few musical entities from the years that preceded the publication of Beyond God the Father that sought specifically to redefine and recharacterize common spiritual understanding—employing what was surely viewed as a most “wicked grammar” at the time. The higher spiritual entity presented across Sabbath’s first few albums is one of Old Testament vengence, in full and perhaps diametric patriarchial opposition to Daly’s liberatory frameworks—but it the employ of language across Daly’s paperback, Rich’s poems, and Sabbath’s lyrics that creates an interesting environment in which the promotion of an individual’s self-sustaining spirituality may take place. Two years prior to the publication of Beyond God the Father, rock critic Lester Bangs sought, across two articles published in Creem magazine, to sum Black Sabbath’s place—if any—in popular and liberatory spirituality. He described the spirituality of the first ‘metal’ band as not just Christian but as “the first truly Catholic rock group” (p. 226), speculating that the vengeful characterization of God at work in Sabbath’s reconception of spirituality may be less than useful, as the band’s advocation of substance use and abuse squandered any attempt by the band at spiritual liberation through lyrics: “[…] I see this band making an attempt to provide direction for a generation busy immolating itself as quickly as possible. Since nobody else around that I can see seems to have any better advice for them than Black Sabbath, it pains me perhaps unduly to see them suggesting the hoariest copout concieved in 2,000 years. I mean, what’s the difference between a vegetable babbling about how much crank he can hold and stay alive, and one locked into repeating a zealot litany with mindless persistence to every stranger coming down the street?” (Bangs, p. 231). The promotion of spiritual liberation through language is important, and the important social responsibilities that seem to adhere to the roles individuals play in that action extend to all: the writer, the critic, the artist, the musician, the poet. To what extent was the liberation offered in Nirvana’s grunge vision really a squandering of human spirit; to what extent does Daly’s gender divisiveness later in life squander her liberatory vision? Some lyrics from Sabbath’s 1971 second album Master of Reality provide an example of alienation through gender bias while seeking liberation as much as Daly did, I believe, but I can praise them both for finding language for their vision: Leave the earth to all its sin and hate Find another world where freedom waits. Past the stars in fields of ancient void Through the shields of darkness where they find Love upon a land a world unknown where the sons of freedom make their home (“Into the Void,” 1971). Bangs, L. (2003). Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader. Ed. J. Morthland. New York: Anchor. Also available at http://www.creemmagazine.com/_site/BeatGoesOn/BlackSabbath/BringYourMotherPt001.html Black Sabbath. Master of Reality. (1971). Vinyl. New York: Warner Brothers. Bridle, S. (2011). “No Man’s Land: An Interview with Mary Daly.” EnlightenNext Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j16/daly.asp?page=3 Daly, M. (1974). Beyond God the Father. Boston: Beacon Press. Spahr, J. and Young, S., eds. (2011). Chain:Links:A Megaphone:Some Enactments, Some Numbers, and Some Essays about the Continued Usefulness of Crotchless-pants-and-a-machine-gun Feminism. Philadelphia: ChainLinks.

Posted: Thu 10/27/2011 at 2:24 AM, in reply to K M

What to do when one's got enough bliss with which to bear the brunt of this unbiased and cruel-- and beautiful-- world? If the Greeks sought a cosmological order and rational structure to our existence, I'll concur that we live in a bleak time for popular exploration of spiritual beliefs and views; tough times make for full pews, they say. I'll side with the universe as being that "brilliant accident" over anything we're able to wrap our brains around completely. While Philip K. Dick's existential reality-as-what-disappears-upon-your-disinterest appeals to me, I want to also invite the acknowledgement of an unattainable noble truth that we are together in our incomplete knowledge; like Dewey and others, I acknowledge the value of empirical, intuitive, and positive engagement as individuals. From Gregory Corso's 1962 collection Long Live Man, an excerpt from "Stain Francis Holding the Church From Falling": The Church is steadfast. Computers pistons engines hydros dynamos museum it; All is real estate. What once gave light to dark Now gives dark to light. The Church should not fall But walk away And leave behind the glory of its stay-- Corso, G. (1962). Long Live Man. San Francisco: New Directions.

Bibliography

C. Taliaferro and P. Griffiths, ed. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology (Blackwell, 2003, 978-0631214717)

Pascal Boyer. Religion Explained (Basic Books, 2002, 9780465006960)

John Shook. The God Debates (Blackwell, 2010, 9781444336429)

John Dewey, A Common Faith (Yale, 1960, 9780300000696)

Martin Luther King, Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (HarperOne, 1990, 9780060646912)

Cornel West. Prophecy Deliverance! 20th anniversary edn (Westminster John Knox, 2002, 9780664223434)

James Cone. A Black Theology of Liberation, 20th anniversary edition with Critical Responses (Orbis, 1990, 9780883446850)

Mary Daly. Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation, 2nd edn (Beacon, 1993, 9780807015032)

Miguel De La Torre, ed. The Hope of Liberation in World Religions (Baylor UP, 2008, 9781932792508)

Prayers of the People; Bethany Church UCC, Randolph, VT

“is it not better to live in revolution than to live in dead times?   Are we not little and low out of good nature now, when, if our companions were noble, or the crisis fit for heroes, we should be great also?” – from Emerson’s journals

Dear God,

we pray to you now in the name of your grace and mercy; let it be known by us, your people.

We pray for those who have lost loved ones, recent and past; we think of these people now, and how their lives led us to know love.

We pray for those who live and continue to suffer and heal from these losses…

…including Marine Scott Olsen, who suffered brain damage after taking part in a protest in Oakland, California on Friday night, and for those unable to find work or unable to find enough work to get by,

for those who live in countries whose goverments face critical challenges, for those living in countries whose governments tell them what to do, and for those whose relationship with nature has been challenged, by floods, fires, and weather we could not anticipate.

We pray that we may not suffer, and we pray that the leaders of this country and of all countries

make decisions that promote the most good for the benefit of all, that systems of injustice be seen

and recognized and made right: in Syria, Somalia, Libya, Israel, Palestine, Haiti, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Zimbabwe.

We pray for our local representatives, those who speak for us in Montpelier and in Washington,

and we pray for the President, and both parties and all parties and both houses of Congress:

God, please deliver to these people new peace and calm, that conversations may continue.

We pray that we may ever imagine the glorious reunions that will someday take place in your presence, when we will meet again, and will all at our best and most good.

And we pray that on our best days we may clearly see about us the crises fit only for heroes;

we pray that we may find within ourselves all the bravery and strength we need.