International Women's Day Potluck and movie showing Saturday March 9th 12-4pm Democracy Center 45 Mt. Auburn, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Celebrate international women's day! A potluck and movie showing hosted by Socialist Alternative to celebrate International Women's Day. Every other day of the year, women perform countless hours of unpaid labor. All unpaid labor (cooking, child care, etc.) will be done by men. This is a public event and all are welcome! Donations accepted but will not turn away for lack of funds. We will be showing: America the Beautiful In a society where "celebutantes" like Paris Hilton dominate newsstands and models who weigh less than 90 pounds die from malnutrition, female body image is one of the more dire problems facing today's society. "America the Beautiful" illuminates the issue by covering every base. Child models, plastic surgery, celebrity worship, airbrushed advertising, dangerous cosmetics - no rock is left unturned. FOLLOW US ON:

Saint Patrick's Peace Parade

The Alternative People's Parade for Peace. Equality, Jobs, Environmental Stewardship, Social & Economic Justice

Sunday, March 17,2013

Assemble Time: 2:00 pm

Start Time: 3:00 pm (Approx.)

Start Location: Corner of West Broadway & D Street,

Four Blocks East of the - MBTA Redline "Broadway Station"

Look for Veterans For Peace Flags

End Location: Corner of Dorchester Ave. and Dorchester St)

"Andrew" MBTA Station

'The St. Patrick's Peace Day Parade STARTS on West Broadway (easterly), left onto East Broadway, Right onto "P" Street, Right onto "East 4th" Street, Left onto "K" Street, Right onto "East 5th" Street, Left onto "G" Street, Right onto the 'Southerly Arm of Thomas Park', Left onto "Telegraph" Street, Left onto "Dorchester Street" and ENDING at "Dorchester Avenue" (Andrew Square).

 

Out In The 1930s Dustbowl Night- John Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

Oddly, I first read John Steinbeck’s classic tale of the 1930’s depression, The Grapes of Wrath, as a result of listening to Woody Guthrie’s also classic Dustbowl Ballads. In that album Woody sings/narrates the trials and tribulations of the Joad family as they get the hell out of drought-stricken Oklahoma and headed for the land of milk and honey in California. After listening to that rendition I wanted to get the full story and Steinbeck did not fail me. His tightly-woven story stands as a very strong exposition of the plight of rural America as they tried to make sense of a vengeful God, unrelenting Nature and the down-side of the American dream. For those who have seem Walker Evans’ and other photographers pictures of the Okies, Arkies, etc. of the period this is the story behind those forlorn, if stoic, faces.

The story line is actually very simple. The land in Oklahoma was played out, the banks nevertheless were pressing for payment or threatening foreclosure and for the Joads, as for others, time had run out. In classic American tradition they pulled up stakes and headed west to get a new start. With great hopes and not a few illusions they set out as a family for the sunny and plentiful California of their dreams. Their struggle along the way is a modern day version of the struggles of the old Westward heading wagon trains-including the causalities. But, that is not the least of it. Apparently they had not read Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis that the frontier was gone- the land was taken. The bulk of the story centers of what happened when they get to the golden land-and it was not pretty. Day labor, work camps, strike action, murder, and mayhem-you know, California, the real California of the day. Not the Chamber of Commerce version. In short, as Woody sang, no hope if you aint got the do re mi.

The Grapes of Wrath was made into a starkly beautiful film starring a young Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. On a day when you are not depressed it is a film you want to see, if only for the photography. So here is the list. Listen to Woody sing the tale. Watch Henry Fonda to act it out. And by all means read Steinbeck. He had an ear for the 1930’s struggle of the Okies and their ilk as they hit California. What happened to those people later and their influence of California culture and those who didn’t make it are chronicled by others like Howard Fast and Nelson Algren. But for this period your man is Steinbeck.

Out In The1970s Film Night-Robert Altman’ Slice of Americana Nashville

FromThe Pen Of Frank Jackman

The late Robert Altman was the past master of weaving a simple plot line and existential characters in order to form very interesting slices of the life in the American experience, with a wry sense of humor about that experience to boot. Shortly before his death he had produced Prairie Home Companion, essentially a Midwestern version of the presently reviewed film Nashville. He had an ear and an eye for the sometimes absurd characters that are part of the American landscape and those senses do not fail him here, although there is just a touch of datedness in the story line of the film.

Of course, the subject here, given away by the title, is a look at country music, as least how it looked in 1975, intertwined with a indeterminate but assumingly populist presidential campaign by a third party candidate. The mix of politics and music is an interesting choice although whether the electoral campaign could stand in for that of ex-Alabama Governor George Wallace on the right or an insurgent Eugene McCarthy-type campaign on the left is far from clear, probably purposefully so. All the characters one would expect when one’s only sense of the Nashville country music scene is the Grand Old Opry are here; the mainstream male and female country singers modeled on George Jones and Loretta Lynn; the country folk ‘crashers’ trying to cash in on the popularity of genre; the wannabes working the open mikes off the main street in order to get a break; and, the truly talentless all striving to get ahead in the dog eat dog but lucrative world of country music. All looking for the main chance. All driven to be on a stage somewhere in front of some audience even if it is that of an eccentric presidential candidate. The sub-plot, which in the end holds the action together, is the random violence afoot then, as now, that is seemingly an endemic part of the American Way.

There are several outstanding musical performances highlighted by the film’s Loretta Lynn character, Ronee Blaklee. Her rendition of Dues still sounds good after over 30years. Try to find her work. The late Vassar Clements on the fiddle also should receive kudos.