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“Bones” Christmas Fund

For those of you who knew Roger “Bones” Ranch, you understand the way that he could bring out the best in people. As the anniversary of his death passes with the winter solstice, some of us have tried to find a fitting way to remember him.

The holidays can be hard for families struggling to just pay the bills, especially if there are children who’s hopes and wishes sometimes extend past what is fiscally possible. To that end, the “Bones” Christmas Fund was created by Lennie Moren, who was likely hit worst by Roger’s passing then anyone else. You can make a contribution to it here, or by clicking on the link to your right.

The Roger “Bones” Ranch Christmas Fund is dedicated to the memory of our friend, Roger. He passed away on December 21, 2010. It is in his memory that we hope to continue making positive change in the world through the generosity and compassion he demonstrated on a daily basis.

The mission of the Roger “Bones” Ranch Christmas Fund is to adopt a family in need so they can receive gifts and needed items for the holidays. Any surplus funds will be used to purchase items like socks and shaving kits, which will be donated to the homeless in Anchorage at Bean’s Cafe.

Roger inspired those around him to embody the better aspects of human compassion and equality. May his memory continue to inspire others to improve themselves and the lives of the others.

Apologies, but we do not currently hold 501(c)(3) status, and so are unable to provide a tax receipt for donations. However, you will receive a confirmation e-mail if you make a contribution. Please forward any questions or concerns to boneschristmasfund@gmail.com.

Hold your loved ones close to you. You never know how long you’ll get to enjoy their company.

Finally.

Raise a glass in celebration!

I don’t think I can contribute more to the conversation that is already happening across news channels, websites and blogs. There’s much to be said about the end of the U.S. Military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Here’s what I will contribute, with a little frustration, but mostly relief:

Finally.

It’s a step forward that I believe will have a hugely positive impact on the individual lives and overall moral of our country. A heartfelt “thank you” to those who have fought so hard and so long to end the ugliness and abuse of this policy. I couldn’t even begin to name all of the military personnel who have stepped forward and raised their voices for equality. But I will also give thanks to the members of the military who have served silently under DADT. These folks have served under a military policy that forced them to hide so much of themselves from their commanders, their fellow service members, their friends.

Thank you for continuing to keep us safe.

Protest Music Lives On, But It May Be On Life Support.

“What disappoints me is that there isn’t any protest music anymore.”

This was a comment made around the dinner table. It was a valid point.

Kind of.

If you turn on the radio today, you’ll hear idiots. Music is overwrought with idiots (and I was one of them) who only sang about love and loss and the oh-god-I-just-want-to-fall-in-love typology of lyrical irrelevance, there is a definite lack of content on the airwaves regarding the bigger picture. Politics is ignored by bands today (and yesterday, in my case).

A world ago.

Music served, to me, as a precursory lesson in politics before I understood how much our day to day lives depended on policy; in a time where I was young and way too self-absorbed to realize that a microphone had a certain power to it and should be used as such, and not just be a way to alleviate pain on a personal level.

I used to both joke about and fight my band mates’ positions on inserting politics in music. It was for a realistic reason: Politics doesn’t sell. Teen angst does. I was a screwed up teenager at first and jaded quarter-lifer at the end, and I sang about what I knew. And even when I wrote about frustrations regarding the music industry – this giant monopolistic profit machine that killed creativity and replaced it with Britney Spears – I didn’t realize that what I was agonizing over was, at its core, innately political.

But, the way I saw it, politics served as a death knell to a good melody. Rage Against the Machine was awesome, but how many people actually got their message, and how many people were just pissed off and identified with the angry tone? How many people just really liked that they used the F-word a lot (me!)? The reality was that the most repeated songs always consisted of lyrics that involved tragic break ups, unrequited love, and stress over failed relationships. Those are themes that every human being identifies with, and you run zero risk of alienating any portion of your fan base.

Ironically, their are ties to the tea party’s popularity there. The tea party is a populist chorus responding to a big, dumb, lovable, nonthreatening hook. They don’t care about the lyrics, but they love the hook. It just sounds so good.

I’m more about the whole song.

Bravery.

Rational voices do not dominate local politics in Anchorage, Alaska.

Don’t beat yourself up. Rational politics barely have a foothold anywhere in America. This is by design. De-legitimatize the executive, legislative, and even judicial functions of a democracy and the clear distinction can be made between an aristocratic rule and a landed-gentry. Between Obama’s high-flying rhetoric that no one, including Jesus Christ, could live up to, and Anthony Weiner tweeting his junk for the nation to see, and you have the breeding ground for a body politic that doesn’t get their news from their local representatives, their state delegation, or from a self-oriented critical analysis; but, instead, from the Daily Show and Colbert Report, or, unfortunately, Fox News.

When complacence and acquiescence to a system that is broken beyond a point of belief of repair rule the day, the aristocracy can rule without the worries of the populace rising up in objection.

Government becomes the comedy show, and is thus easy fodder for us to ridicule and not feel any ownership stake in.

Here’s the problem: Watching Jon Stewart point out everything that is wrong with politics as usual is hilarious and cathartic. But it doesn’t do anything to improve the situation. Our DVR boxes have afforded us the ability to fast-forward through commercials, but offers no incentive to email our representatives and point out how backwards they have been behaving. It’s self-serving, but not self-situation-improving. While pointing out the tragic pointlessness of our current government, it misses the point entirely in terms of our obligations to fix it; to be involved in it.

Loussac’s high-tech Teen Underground lacks infrastructure

Photo courtesy of Scribbit. Logo by Spencer.

On Friday afternoon, the Anchorage Public Library and the Anchorage Rotary Club proudly announced the grand opening of the Teen Underground at the Loussac Library. Tucked in a corner of the Loussac’s third floor, the Underground is the new home to the library’s Young Adult section as well as a collection of new technology never seen at an Anchorage library before. The space contains ten iPad 2s, ten MacBook Pros, a Xbox 360, a Playstation 2, and an LCD SmartBoard – the first in Alaska, and one of just a handful across the country. The room is also outfitted with two separate speaker systems that can be connected to computers or music players, along with appropriately soundproofed glass walls.

Billed as a revolutionary new space designed to engage youth who have grown out of the children’s section but have not reached college yet, the Library and the Rotary both described the space as a way to bring teens back into the library system. Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan seems to have missed that memo, though – he lauded it not as an important step for making Anchorage more youth-friendly, but rather as an example of successful public-private partnerships. In not so many words, Sullivan added that thanks to his budget cuts, he sees the city needing to engage in more of these partnerships in the future.

During the opening ceremonies, speakers kept mentioning how expensive the space and its technology were, and how creating the Underground would not have been possible without substantial support from grants and community foundations. That much was clear just looking at the room and the amenities offered within. What is less clear, though, is how much teens will actually be able to take advantage of the space.

The GLOBAL BLOCK Vision

[Originally posted on By 2015: America on June 14, 2011 by Kokayi Nosakhere]
As an activist, who believes that the solution to America’s problems lie in us ACTING like Americans, I get lonely. Not everyone agrees with me. In fact, the majority do not. (Voting records prove this.) Instead, they choose to WATCH as some Americans make decisions which affect all of us – with impunity. I do not believe in suffering peacefully. I believe in responding to the challenges which face us, which means I choose to inspire Americans to be Americans.

In 2008 I first met the Honorable George “Rithm” Martinez. He possessed the same intense vision that I possessed: one that said the American Dream was for all Americans – no matter where they happened to reside in the Americas! I was taken aback by how BOLD a vision he possessed. It was (is) bigger than mine. Since I believe in allowing Americans to speak for themselves, I would like to introduce you to my friend, RITHM.

RITHM Martinez - First MC elected to Political Office

Hon. George RITHM Martinez: In 2002, I became the first Hip-Hop artist elected to poIitical office in New York, and the first active Hip-Hop artist/activist elected in the country. I then became the Assistant Director of Intergovernmental Relations for the NYS Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer. In 2006, I was appointed by the US State Dept as a Cultural Envoy to Latin America, after being recommended by the first Hip-Hop US Cultural Envoy, Toni Blackman and H2A Founder, Martha Diaz in 2006.

A Mature Political Response

[Originally posted on By 2015: America on June 2, 2011 by Kokayi Nosakhere]

Befitting the memory of Mr. Charles Peterson, Food Bank of Alaska (FBA) launched Summer Foods in Alaska from the Fairview Recreational Center on June 1, 2011.  This is very serious business. FBA estimates 33,000 children face hunger when school is not in session.  Through a network of grassroots-based distribution centers, Summer Foods attempts to fulfill that need.

Like ALL other anti-hunger networks hit hard by the Recession, FBA is in need of greater resources on all fronts.  I learned last week from Dallas-based activist, Sa’tori Ananda, that the federal government did not make things any easier with budget cuts to WIC – Women Infants and Children – amounting to $800 million.  Since WIC’s 9 million “customers” overlap with the 19.5 million children the government serves for School Breakfast and Lunch, I became emotional over such news.  Boys and Girls Club Director Dave Barney had to caution me for cussing. (I was in front of MENO’s house so I did not feel bad.  I had to buy his new album with Jah on it.)

In my anger, I contacted Don Burrell Jr.  He calmly informed me, “The budget’s passed about a month ago.  Remember when they were fighting over shutting down the government?”

“Yeah,” I said.

Perspective

Perspective, in three Acts.

Act 1. History.

First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The quote is from Martin Niemöller, a German pastor who spent the last seven years of Hitler’s rule as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. His crime was not that he was a socialist, trade unionist, or Jew – as he affords us – but instead only that he was not an outspoken supporter of Hitler.

He did not play a role in opposing Hitler. In fact, he supported him. The above quote, now engraved in history and cited often, was not uttered until well after the war was over and Niemöller had been rescued from incarceration and torture, by allied troops in 1945. But freedom afforded the Lutheran pastor only a woeful, regretful retrospective on the tragic position that he found himself in – having the ability to speak up, but choosing not to do so. And he lived out the remainder of his life (39 years) chained to a resonating feeling of culpability; a burden made unimaginably heavier by the weight of his own personal scars from his memories inside Sachsenhausen and Dachau.

Act 2. The Absurd.

This past April played host to our annual municipal elections, which this year included Ballot Proposition 11. The question posed to Anchorage residents was whether or not we should require 100% card checks for liquor sales at our box stores (i.e., Brown Jug). This means, simply, if you want alcohol, you have to show valid identification proving you are over 21 and have no criminal record that would prohibit you from purchasing alcohol.

It was an advisory vote, meaning that no legislation would be enacted solely on the yes or no vote that appeared on our ballots, but instead would provide incentive and public support for the Assembly to address the issue. The intent was to help curb the increasing and ever present chronic inebriate problems in the municipality, and put one more speed bump in the road that separates a problem drinker from attaining a drink. Especially when that drinker’s next move is to place him or herself behind the wheel of a car.

My Apologies Children

[Originally posted on By 2015: America on May 16, 2011 by Kokayi Nosakhere]

I must apologize children.  Due to the lure of the internet and the assistance of several friends, I stepped away from the fundamentals of grassroots organizing.  And, it cost you dearly, children.

According to KTVA (Channel 11), your best bet to stave off hunger this summer in Anchorage is George Bell’s Children’s Meal Mission operated out of the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club.  (In rural Alaska, see Food Bank of Alaska’s Summer Foods distribution program.)  The State legislature has decided to determine whether or not it will add 35 cents to school breakfasts and 15 cents to school lunches next year. Which means another 18 months before the State steps in to assist in feeding you.

I experience emotional pain over this failure, children.  After all, the By2015:AMERICA movement supported Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senator Bill Wielechowski.  In the Anchorage Press we published our intentions to conduct a letter campaign.  Together, with the Alaska Food Coalition we were able to inspire The Anchorage Daily News to do an expose on high school lunch before the end of the Session. All in all, I thought we did a good job of keeping the issue before the public.