San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Putting My Love in Play

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I recently wrote a rhyme about all the love I’ve enjoyed for 80 years, and now I’d like to share how I’ve put that love in play.

Regarding that, I have to say that loving has been easy for me because my life’s work has been dedicated to schools which are perfect places for spreading love.

And my intent, all along, has simply been to make my world more just for all human beings – beginning, in a moment in time, when I was in grade school myself.

I can still picture the day. There was a sweating fan blowing across a little container of water as though that could affect the temperature in a classroom in Tucson, Arizona, the first weeks of school.
  [Read more…]

Eleanor’s Gift | National Poetry Month

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By Gail Shatsky

I am relaxing into meditation
Listening to the teacher telling us to breathe
Trying to quiet the chatter in my mind
Trying to find the witness to my thinking

Hearing a commotion, looking up to see

Eleanor is fainting
The white curls of her head falling gently
Onto her neighbor’s shoulder   [Read more…]

Supernova Women — Restorative Justice, Legal Weed and the California Cannabis Enterprise | Video Worth Watching

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From the HuffPost YouTube web page:

The Oakland-based collective Supernova Women is working to inform, support, demonstrate and advocate on behalf of communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. Their aim is to push local government to create more opportunities for people of color and those convicted of cannabis-related offenses in the early stages of a booming industry.

  [Read more…]

OB’s ‘Vote’ Human Chain Captured in Drone Images

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In true San Diego style, more than 170 people, many dressed in blue, gathered on Saturday, April 21 at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach for a Get Out the Vote Action Day. Led by Ocean Beach resident Mike James, activists from San Diego County Indivisible and other community groups registered voters and made a human “VOTE!” banner on the beach.

Voters traveled from the hotly contested congressional districts of CA49 in North County and CA50 in East County to express their hopes for a “Blue Wave” midterm election. The June 5 primary is only 6 weeks away and mail-in ballots will arrive in San Diego voters’ mailboxes beginning on May 7.

The Ocean Beach action was coordinated with a similar event at Ocean Beach, San Francisco on the same day.    [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: April 15-21

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This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week contains articles, commentaries, columns, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, cartoonists, at-large contributors, and locally and nationally sourced writers on National Poetry Month, Council Districts 2 & 4, rotten County officials, Last Days in OB, Ernie turning 80, Yasser Murtaja, education fakers, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s feisty, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

On the Nature of Daylight – Max Richter | Video Worth Watching

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So today is a study in contrast when compared to yesterday’s selection. To follow Kendrick Lamar’s powerhouse performance, here is Max Richter’s contemplative and scintillating “On the Nature of Daylight”. I took in the movie Arrival recently and this work featured prominently in the soundtrack. So, breathe deeply and slowly and reflect on the nature of daylight …   [Read more…]

Who Is This Latest Pulitzer Prize Winner, Kendrick Lamar? | Video Worth Watching

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Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition. Rapper Kendrick Lamar was chosen for this year’s music prize. So who is Kendrick Lamar? First, a bit of an introduction: Kendrick Lamar Visits Mr. Mooney’s Class.

A North Bergen, N.J. high school teacher, Brian Mooney, blog posted on the internet a project that his class created to explore the connections between Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye and Kendrick Lamar’s song “Complexion” from his album To Pimp A Butterfly. The internet posting was incredibly popular and eventually came to the attention of Lamar, motivating him to visit the high school and Mr. Mooney’s class. Highlights from the visit:

And now for the full-on Kendrick Lamar experience from the 2018 60th Grammys, with assists from U2 and Dave Chappelle:   [Read more…]

Can We Have a Conversation About Capitalism Yet? | Progressive Activist Calendar April 20-30, 2018

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Dig deep enough into any of the issues of the day and you’ll find they all have one thing in common: economics. Yes, indeed, money makes the world go around. And the fact is most of us are getting a smaller piece of the economic pie as the years go by.

Our fearless leader’s tax reform package is worthless and 73% of the American people have already figured that out. Take the illusion of empowerment out of all the ‘reforms’ (of either political party) and what’s left is more wealth for the people who already have it

The contemporary conversations starting back in the days of Occupy about the 99% have evolved. Nowadays we speak of economic justice. Generally speaking, these discussions center on the reallocation of government resources to alleviate the most blatant examples of those falling through the so-called safety net.   [Read more…]

A Photographer Looks at Pollution

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In honor of Earth Day and the fair coming this weekend, here are illustrations of just some reasons that Earth Day needs to be every day. Humans consume earth’s resources and, in turn, poison her even as our plastic poisons us. Industrial uses crowd residential districts. Climate change fuels year-round “fire season.” Beneath it all is the trash and litter we all leave behind us. Stay conscious, San Diego.   [Read more…]

Organic Spirituality | Geo-Poetic Spaces

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A mosque
may also be a church
if the beholder’s eyes
can marry minaret to
round-arched windows

If two houses of worship
can grow together

Minds
can mirror architecture   [Read more…]

Tammy Duckworth Makes Senate History (Again)! | Video Worth Watching

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Tammy Duckworth makes Senate history (again)! The Washington Post reports that:

It’s not every day that a 10-day-old infant makes history. But that’s what happened Thursday when Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, newborn daughter of Sen. Tammy Duckworth, was carried onto the Senate floor.
Maile, born April 9, became the first child permitted on the floor of the Senate under a rules change that allows children up to age 1 to accompany their parents to votes.

  [Read more…]

Medicinal Cannabis For All – the #ReeferSanity Army Takes On Jeff Sessions! | Video Worth Watching – 4/20 Edition

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Medicinal Cannabis For All! What’s Jeff Sessions got against our veterans getting access to healthcare they need? Full Frontal’s Allana Harkin recruits the #ReeferSanity army to find out.   [Read more…]

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