Poet, playwright, publisher, andactivist Lawrence Ferlinghetti died of interstitial lung disease on February 22, 2021. (This post compiled from various online sources.) He was born Lawrence Monsanto Ferling on March 24, 1919 in Yonkers, New York. His father, an Italian immigrant, had shortened the family name upon arrival in America. When Ferlinghetti discovered the lengthier … Continue reading Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“May I be boiled in oil, And fried in Crisco, If I ever call San Francisco, Frisco.” –Ogden Nash All right, let’s stipulate that some of those San Francisco schools SHOULD be renamed. But some other cases are, well, complicated. I mean, if living in an independent country has any value for us, the bad … Continue reading What’s In a Name (Change)??
Just about every day, Facebook pops up on my personal page a post & photo from this date some year in the past, as a memory. The other day, a photo came up on FB of me, taking nap recliner, while mischievous granddaughter, seven, piling stuffed animals and stuff on my torso to see how … Continue reading Coping with General PTSD
I knew it would happen, and knew I wouldn’t like it, but I did it anyway. The third “it” above was start a Facebook group called “Quakers,” about a month ago, after a previous one abruptly folded up: some internal hassle among the admins had spun out of control. I wasn’t involved in the hassling, … Continue reading Biting the Bullet: Truth and Consequences
February is not only Black History Month, it’s also Lincoln’s month: birthday (the 12th); holiday (the 15th, tho he currently shares it with some old & about-to-be-canceled slaveholder named Washington). Lincoln is an endlessly fascinating and enigmatic character. (And speaking of canceling, he just got tossed as namesake of San Francisco high school by a … Continue reading Frederick Douglass, on Lincoln as a White Man’s President & the Memory of Emancipation