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Street Roots • Dec. 29, 2017-Jan. 4, 2018
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A sampling o f some o f our favorite conversations from 2017
they’re
going to make it easier for
i
: people to ignore our rights by saying
religion trumps our rights. That’s
what they are going to do.”
T
- Barney Frank, former Congressman. Jan.
20
Barney Frank
“My hope for the future is very simple:
that we can leave this little planet a little
greener and a little cleaner and a little more
peaceful for the generation yet unborn. But
if that is going to happen, we’ve got to stop
spending our limited
resources on more
wars, more bombs,
more missiles and
more guns. Spend it
on the people: food,
health care, clean air,
clean water. We’ve got
to stop the madness.”
-U .S . Rep. John
Lewis o f Georgia, Feb.
That’s not true. It’s just that the stigma is
so great that people (with illness) don’t
come forward. I think it’s a mistake when
doctors tell patients with schizophrenia to
lower their expectations. I was told to get a
job as cashier at a store.”
- Elyn Saks, who lives with schizophrenia,
is a lawyer and the Orrin B. Evans Professor
of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the
Behavioral Sciences at the University of
Southern California’s Gould School of Law.
She is also the founding director of the Saks
Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and
Ethics. June 9.
“I do believe there has been a process of
metabolizing some of the lessons of 9/11,
and one of them has been about the need to
show up for one another. We saw that very
movingly with the response to the travel
ban, and frankly, what happened in this city.
The fact that people witnessed a hate crime
and harassment, and stepped up to
intervene, I think, reflects that. They paid
the ultimate price for that. But that’s why
t h e y ’re b e in g h e ld u p a s h e r o e s , b e c a u s e
Rep. John Lewis
“There are friends I
thought would be
around forever who
just went. Douglas
Adams. I loved
Douglas, he was big
and complicated and
irritating and wonderful in equal measure.
So many people who were part of your life
and your landscape - I wish I could go back
and encourage myself to spend more tim e
with those people, learn more from them.
Whenever somebody dies I feel I’m kicked
up the arse by the
universe.”
- Neil Gaiman,
novelist, Feb. 24.
Neil Gailman
“There are many
ways to justify one s
actions when not
giving alms. “But why
should? If I give him
money, he’ll just
spend it on a glass of
wine.” If a glass of
wine is his only happiness in life, then so be
it Ask yourself instead what you do, when „
you’re alone. What secret “happiness
do you pursue?”
- Pope Francis, March 10
“I think that the only way
movements succeed is if there is a
sustained indignation.
- The Rev. A l Sharpton, March 17
The Rev. A l Sharpton
“Some people think that I m
unique. They say there aren’t people
like me who are as high functioning.
that embodies what we all need to do.”
- Naomi Klein, author, refering to the two
men who were killed after confronting a
violent racist on the Max in Portland’s
Hollywood District. June 23
“This culture of intense competition is .
really very convenient for the authorities,
and it’s convenient that they overlook the
‘ a r t s a n Jc „lHlr« almoSt t o ^ no;nt
U
is seen as irresponsible or a bit of a cop-out
to actually want a life in the arts.’
- Johnny Marr, former Smith’s guitarist.
June 30
“Y ’know, I told my
daughter, we watched
the election together,
and she was
dumbfounded, and I
said, “You know what?
When I was 13, my
main fear was that
Richard Nixon was
Pope Francis
going to kidnap me,
shave my head, and
send me off to Vietnam to die. This shit’s
been going on forever.”
- Peter Buck, with the band Filthy Friends,
August 18
“One of the dangers is that if machines
become so deeply implanted in our mental
activities, there’s an extent to which we as
humans cease to have control over our own
thought processes, and you don’t even have
to believe in an extreme sci-fi version of this
to be freaking right now.”
- Franklin Foer, author, “World Without
M ind: The Existential Threat of B ig Tech.”
Sept. 22.
Naomi Kline
“People who believe that they have a
corner on God, the Truth and Power don’t
change (even though the Gods and the
Truths may change). For the us/them
p e o p le , th e r e is o n ly o n e b o o k : “ o u r ” h o ly
b o o k ; t h e B ib le , t h e K o r a n , t h e T h o u g h t s o f
Chairman Mao. All other writings are
dangerous, evil. Information is a threat.
Education is an enemy. The sciences are all
fakes. Arts and humanities that don’t
directly preach God are against God. The
men in power speak for God - nobody else
can. Nothing should be printed for years.”
- Ursula K. Le Guin, author, Sept. 29
“I don’t know anyone who isn t in some
type of pain unless they’re successfully
distracting themselves, if not chemically
then perhaps through behavior or some
other form of illusion. M y belief is this
program can be used by anybody in any
situation, because what it is talking about is
the human condition - the odd habit we
have of attaching our happiness to external
Russell Brand
things. I do it still.”
- Russell Brand, talking
about his experience with
12-step programs. Nov. 24.
“There will always be
borders as long as there
are rich and poor and as
long as there are fast­
developing nations and
those that are less
motivated. Borders are like
physical mountains and
rivers. They will not
disappear anytime soon.
However, there are even
more severe borders in people’s hearts and
minds, which can stop humanity’s ability to
come together as one.”
- A i Weiwei, artist and dissident. Dec. 15
A i Weiwei