This is a shout out to OB Ragsters Ernie and Judi, and my library loving pal Sandy, and that bright constellation of caring, tough, committed, brilliant teachers who have shaped the human being I am today. Respect!
Archives for March 2011
What Are We Going to Do to End the Silence?
On April 15th there will be a “National Day of Silence” during which hundreds of thousands of students nationwide will take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools. Isn’t it sad, though, that there has to be such a day and even sadder that our gay […]
Reprogramming NPR After the Right Wing Video Sting
As you may have heard, the right wing’s darling provocateur James O’Keefe, the conservative activist whose previous heavily doctored videos targeting ACORN eventually led to that organization’s demise, has revealed yet another “gotcha” video that purports to have NPR officials turning a deaf ear to radical Islamicist rhetoric in the hope of gaining major donations. […]
Overflow Crowds at City College Conference Hear Call for General Strike in California
Organizers for the day-long community/labor conference, held last Friday at San Diego City College were stunned by the response–expecting perhaps 150 registrants, nearly 300 people turned out. “This is a good kind of problem to have”, said AFT member Professor Jim Miller, as he asked attendees to rotate seating so everybody could have table space during a lunchtime seminar entitled “Making Change at Walmart”. It was clear from talking to forum participants that recent events in Wisconsin have resonated locally. [Read more…]
Sharing a Note I Once Wrote to a Very Artsy Guy
Recently I sat and wrote and chatted with some of the coolest people alive. No jive. Most of them happen to be gay or lesbian but among us there were straight allies like me. Man, I’ll be glad when our gay brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts and cousins and […]
Life Flying By
I pause with a picture to just look at my face, the wrinkles, the gray in my beard, the few strands of black in my hair slowly fading away to mere memories of yesterday. Hey, there are no complaints from me, by the way, considering “It’s better than the alternative” as people are wont to […]
Hello San Diego!
The San Diego Free Press is being established, in association with the OB Rag, to bring news and commentary from a distinctively progressive and grassroots perspective to the greater San Diego and outlying areas. Our mission is to provide a forum for those views, just as we’ve done at the OB Rag, but on a […]
Tanja Winter – San Diego Hero For Our Time
Editor’s Note: We received the news that Tanja Winter passed away on February 9, 2014. The date for a celebration of her life in San Diego has not been determined at this time. This article was published in 2011 and provides a glimpse into the life of an extraordinary woman.
When Tanja Winter – the matriarch of San Diego’s progressive community – was 12 years old, she watched as German Nazis troops rolled into Prague where she lived, in what was then Czechoslovakia. It was 1939 and she was coming home from school. She vividly recalls that awful scene to this day – all the adults were standing around weeping.
Over seven decades later, I’m sitting in her living room in La Jolla Shores, getting her to tell me more of her story. I’ve known Tanja for decades but never knew the details of her growing up or her earlier life on the East Coast with her soul-mate, Bernie, who passed away a quarter of a century ago. [Read more…]
