The Longest of Memories and the Highest of Mountains

Today is the 70th anniversary of the first successful climbing of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary.  News of the success arrived in England the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation and I remember my father, who was very excited by the news, telling me all about it.  For years thereafter Edmund Hillary was the greatest hero of my young imagination.

I have one or two memories about my brother and me that pre-date May 1953, but Hillary on Everest is the earliest I can recall anything outside the family.  I know from photographs that there were massive street parties I attended to celebrate the new Queen: I remember none of that.  But Hillary on Everest has stuck with me all these years.

The picture is of Tensing Norgay taken by Hillary.  There are no pictures of Hillary on the summit because Tensing didn’t know how to work the camera and, as Hillary said, the summit of Everest was no place to start teaching him!

In Memory of Malcolm X

Today would have been the 98th birthday of the revered Malcolm X.  Murdered by adherents of the Nation of Islam (NOI), Ossie Davis called him “our shining black prince”.

After years in the NOI’s leadership, Malcolm renounced the inherent racism of that organization and the alleged financial, political, and moral corruption of Elijah Mohammed. Without ever caving to white power, and maintaining his belief in the ultimate weapon of armed struggle, he sought, through Sunni Muslim beliefs, to raise the self-esteem of blacks in America.

Malcolm X’s “Autobiography” stands with Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and Nelson Mandela’s speech on his release from prison as the most influential statements of civil rights in the twentieth century.

Remembering The Big Bang

Forty-three years ago today, early on a Sunday morning, I was in North Vancouver at a friend’s house with a bunch of other folks recovering from what had been a major party the night before.  My eyes hurt, my head hurt, and I was sure that the big bang I heard, and the small tremors that swept up my legs, were all part of the painful recovery process.  But I wasn’t the only one to hear and feel those things, and we began to wonder.

There was no internet or 24-hour news stations then, and it was probably a while before we learned what had gone on south of us.

Mount St. Helens had blown its head off, and for hours we sat around watching KOMO or KING, gazing in awe as dust settled on towns for miles around, gazing in awe at the power of the mountain.

This was not a day to easily forget.

America Eating Its Young

Today is the 53rd anniversary of Ohio National Guardsman shooting dead four unarmed students at Kent State. Eleven other kids were injured.

Although the President’s Commission on Campus Violence equivocated and blamed both Guardsmen and students, it did finally conclude that “the indiscriminate firing of rifles into a crowd of students and the deaths that followed were unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.”

It was murder, pure and simple, though the US justice system refused to press charges against the Guardsmen.  After all, as Nixon himself said just a few days before the massacre, student protesters were just bums.

Lest we forget.

International Day of the Worker

 

In most parts of the world, May 1st is recognized as the International Day of the Worker and we celebrate it as such. Labor Day in September is a North American tradition, encouraged by President Grover Cleveland so as to distance American labour from socialists and anarchists.

Happy Birthday Willie!

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Today is Willien Nelson’s 90th birthday! Living proof that anti-marijuana laws are a crock.

Earth Day 2023

To All Those Celebrating 420 Today ….

… have fun!

Happy Vaisakhi 2023

Chag Pesach Sameach 2023

Tizku leshanim rabot

Nowruz Mubarak 2023!

Celebrating Pi Day!

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Happy Holi Day 2023!

Happy St. David’s Day!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and

the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and

winter in the shade.” — Charles Dickens

A Day of Joy and Sorrow 2023

Today would have been Nina Simone’s 89th birthday.  She gave us such joy and passion and most importantly a withering and uncompromising understanding of the black condition in America. This review of a Simone biography is well worth reading. She was fierce in her joy, and I love her for it.

Also, fifty-eight years ago today, the revered Malcolm X was murdered. At his funeral, Ossie Davis called him “our shining black prince”.

After years in the NOI’s leadership, Malcolm renounced the inherent racism of that organization and the alleged financial, political, and moral corruption of Elijah Mohammed. Without ever caving to white power, and maintaining his belief in the ultimate weapon of armed struggle, he sought, through Sunni Muslim beliefs, to raise the self-esteem of blacks in America.

Not long ago, in November 2021, the two men convicted of the murder were exonerated after an extensive investigation showed that their trials were “corrupt to the core”.  It may be time at last for the FBI and NYPD to own to their own part in the murder of a great leader.

Malcolm X’s Autobiography stands with Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and Nelson Mandela’s speech on his release from prison as the most influential statements of civil rights in the twentieth century.

Happy 90th Yoko!

Happy birthday to one of the most creative and innovative multimedia artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Long may she continue!

Night Music: Vincent

Remembering Luxemburg & Liebknecht

One hundred and four years ago today, on 15th January 1919, the Spartacist heroes Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were tortured and murdered by fascist Freikorps mercenaries of the German social democratic government.

Who remembers that government today?  No-one. But the memory of the two heroes lives on in glory.  As Luxemburg wrote on the day of her death, speaking as the embodiment of the masses: “I was. I am. I shall be!”

Chag Urim Sameach 2022!

Happy Hannukah to all those who celebrate!

Radio First

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Today we celebrate the 121st anniversary of the very first transatlantic radio transmission, sent by Gugliemo Marconi from Cornwall to Newfoundland, proving that the curvature of the earth did not affect radio waves.