Touching An American Sky

Amazing G20 Protest Photos

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:31:54 -0800

I ran across these photos, which were cross-posted by a reader of Jezebel.com's article on police harassment of female journalists working the protests on Saturday and Sunday. They're quite telling of how the relationship between a handful of black bloc wanna-be anarchist protestors and police bleed into what was otherwise a peaceful protest to turn it into a wasteful mess. While I understand rage and frustration, having lived with it for so long myself, I also know that "smashing the state" is more likely to backfire unless things have gotten so shitty that everyone decides to do it all at once because all hope is lost. Until that happens, and nothing matters anyway, the small number of violent protestors do no one actively and positively working for change a single favor (unless a few of 'em like the thought of people on their side being arrested and threatened with rape by creepy, exhausted cops), and for that reason their actions come across as being more about their own bragging rights. When ego enters the picture, rationality flies out the window, and they're sometimes no better than the people they're supposedly against.

The first and simplest definition of anarchy is "self government" and I respect people who live as free as they possibly can while still within the borders of the country protecting them from the world outside theirs. When I was a teenager, I met a guy who was a self-proclaimed anarchist. He was on his way to live on a farm collective near College Station that was started by another friend of his years beforehand. The people starting the project did so with a simple idea: work for The Man, save some money, buy a farm and drop out of society. If you want to be a real "anarchist" then go govern yourself already. Instead of spanging and smashing, take your lumps, earn some bread, and drop out in the best way you know how. Build a farm, expatriate, seastead, write a book, make music and art, and/or influence the people with the gifts of your mind, but don't pretend that lighting an empty police car on fire in the middle of an intersection is going to help.

More Great Music Blog Sites

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:34:46 -0800

GrrlBandGeek keeps paying off! Here's another couple of great sites I've found through this blogger. I'll probably have to add my own "blogroll" if this keeps up, but for now, I've decided to share them with you as a post due to my own incredibly busy schedule:

Guitar Women

Guitar Women is exactly what is says in the title: a blog about women who rock with guitars.

Jenny Woolworth's Women in Punk (it's a UK blog)

Jenny's blog spans punk from all across the world, including the US, Europe, and other places around the world.

Blogging About Blogging : I love music!

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:09:19 -0800

As I was looking for a couple of completed tracks for my Courtney Love Nobody's Daughter demos last week, I stumbled across GrrlBandGeek, a great blog full of rare tunes that I highly recommend. The author clearly loves music, and has taken great care to find and arrange tracks in such a way as to have maximum impact on the audience.If you get a chance, take a look and check out the treasure trove of gems she has included, which include music from Jane Wiedlin, Voice of the Beehive, Concrete Blonde, Rizzo, The Gits, The Bangles and L7.

Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Leader

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 12:14:45 -0800

Wilma Mankiller, Principle Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985-1995, passed away today. Here's a couple of my favorite quotes of hers from over the years, courtesy of ThinkExist:

“One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself . . . and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.”

“I don't think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.”

Women's History Month : Charlotte Cooper

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:06:45 -0800

Charlotte Cooper, born in England in September of 1870, was a prominent athlete for much of her life. In addition to winning 5 Wimbledon Championships (all played in an ankle-length dress!), Charlotte was also the first woman to win an Olympic Champion title for tennis, which she accomplished in 1900, the first year women were allowed to compete in the current incarnation of the Games.

At the age of 30, she married fellow tennis champion, Alfred Sterry, and continued to balance family and sporting life until she retired from tennis in her late 50s.

Women's History Month : Susan La Flesche Picotte and Susette

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:55:48 -0800

Susan La Flesche Picotte, like her sister Susette (who was a writer, progressive politician, interpreter and artist), was a pioneer and woman of many 'firsts'. Born on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska in 1865 to Chief and Mary La Flesche (the family was half Native American, half French), she was encouraged from a young age to seek an education.

After completing her studies at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies, Susan came back to the reservation to teach at the local Quaker school. While there, she met ethnologist Alice Fletcher while helping her recover from a medical issue, which resulted in Alice encouraging Susan to leave the reservation to go to medical school at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Inspired, Susan went on to graduate from the program one year ahead of schedule as the top student of her class. After spending a year in residency at a Philadelphia hospital, she returned home, determined to make conditions better for those she grew up with.

In addition to becoming the first Native American womanto become a licensed physician in the US, she also founded a hospital and lobbied successfully for federal aid for education.

Susan died at the age of 50 in Bancroft, Nebraska.

Women's History Month : Iaia of Cyzicus

Tue, 11 May 2010 23:05:34 -0800

Iaia of Cyzicus, daughter of Marcus Varro, was born around 116 BCE, was a famous artist working out of Rome. She was a painter of the women of Rome, of religious scenes featuring Dionysus, and of herself; one of her most famous was a self-portrait that was said to be the most perfect ever made. She was also a carver, and some of her ivory and wood carvings still exist today. As a chaste, unmarried and unattached woman, she became a celebrated, dedicated artist in part because of her otherness as an upperclass female artist.

Her story was recounted by Pliny the Elder, who was born just after Iaia passed away.

Women's History Month : First Ladies of NASCAR

Tue, 11 May 2010 19:42:54 -0800

The very first woman to compete in NASCAR racing -- at the very first NASCAR race on Charlotte Speedway -- was Sara Christian, whose career started in 1949 when she qualified as 13th in a Ford owned by her husband. During the race, she allowed another driver (moonshine maker Bob Flock) whose own car had overheated to take over her vehicle for the last 1/3 of the race. Despite the fact that Sara's car overheated with Flock behind the wheel, they managed to finish 14th.

Less than a month later, Christian competed at Daytona against Flock, his sister Ethel Mobley, and their friend Louise Smith (later known as the First Lady of Racing) and came in 18th, 7 places behind Ethel, who came in 11th in a race that included 28 cars.

Sara Christian spent the next year of her life as a Top-10 finisher, and she retired from racing in 1950.

Louise Smith's career lasted longer -- she stopped in 1956 after winning 38 races -- and NASCAR remained a part of her life until her passing in 2006.

Ethel Mobley (Flock), named after the fuel her father put in the gas tank of his taxicab, was a great driver like her brothers Bob, Fonty and Tim. They had racing -- and moonshine -- in their blood, and their courage, toughness, and pioneering spirit in the racing world brought them accolades and awards.

*photo credit: new.taringa.net

Women's History Month : The Drummers Are Still Women

Tue, 11 May 2010 22:46:31 -0800

When Courtney Love's new Hole album, Nobody's Daughter, became offcially available, I was ecstatic! I've been a huge fan of her music -- and the fact that a mix of great male and female musicians have shared the stage with her for the past 20 years -- since the early 1990s, and have almost every CD, record, bootleg, mixtape and bit of flotsam her career (and that of her bandmates) has generated over the past 20 years or so.Most recently, Courtney is touring with an all-male band of mostly younger players, and while they're technically proficient and sound great, it's a little different. I miss Melissa's snarl, Patty's hard-hitting drums (and later that of Samantha Maloney), and the interplay between Eric and Courtney, which was almost always entertaining, edgy, and electric.

Though Samantha Maloney isn't with Hole anymore, Courtney has a knack for finding great female drummers, and these women have made history along with such drummers and percussionists as Maureen Tucker, Tobi Vail, Carla Azar, Kate Schellenbach, Gina Schock, Meg White, Stefanie Eulinberg, Janet Weiss, Sandy West, and multi-instrumentalists Eartha and Rachel Trachtenburg.

Too often, female drummers (and bassists, for that matter) aren't given a lot of thought, but thanks to women like Maloney (who has also played with Motley Crue and Peaches) and Eulinberg (the drummer for Kid Rock), all of that is changing. Women have always been drummers -- and damn good ones at that -- and over the past few decades, we've been taking back the sticks, one band at a time.

*photo credit: axgrinding.com

Women's History Month : Caroline Herschel

Tue, 11 May 2010 12:32:13 -0800

There are certainly times when NOT being just another pretty face is helpful to one's quality of life and career, and in the case of Caroline Herschel, who was scarred from smallpox and stunted by typhus as a child, this is certainly true! Caroline, whose father said she'd likely never marry due to her looks, instead went on to become one of the world's great female astronomers.

Born in Germany in 1750 to a family of musicians (her father worked for The Hanoverian Guards), Caroline was trained to become a musician herself, and she was a gifted vocalist. Because she was considered unmarryable, Caroline remained at home while the rest of her siblings left the family to build lives of their own. She remained at home to take care of her parents, and remained hidden in the family kitchen until the death of her father.

After Caroline's father died, her brother Wilhelm, an accomplished musician and amateur astronomer, invited her to move to Somerset, England with him. While there, her musical training was reinstated, and she sang professionally with her brother. However, her real love was astronomy, and she spent much of her time at night studying the stars and working as an assistant to Wilhelm.

In 1782, Wilhelm accepted a post as the King's Astronomer for George III in Buckinghamshire. Caroline went with him, continuing to work as his assistant. She was paid £50 per year by the Crown. In 1788, Wilhelm married, and his new life left him with less time for astronomical pursuits. However, Caroline continued on, and made several discoveries on her own, including the M110 (NGC 205) galaxy, eight comets, and the rediscovery of Encke. In 1797, Wilhelm asked her to update Flamesteed's Catalogue of Stars, which previously contained a number of inaccuracies. Caroline's update added another 560 stars to the list, and verified or changed others.

After the death of her brother, she continued to work in astronomy as an assistant to her nephew, John. In 1835, she was awarded the Gold Medal of Astronomy by the Royal Astronomical Society.

Caroline Herschel, First Lady of Astronomy, died in 1848.