Eugene weekly., November 23, 2011, Page 4, Image 4

living out
BY SALLY SHEKLOW
Special
Props
Appreciating those
living proudly
W
e’re deep in November, the month of
Thanksgiving
A chance to refl ect and be thankful
for living
It’s good to slow down, settle back, take some time
To express why I’m thankful, then make it all rhyme.
When I put it on paper (well, really a screen)
I can give my thoughts words, I can say what I mean
Expressing my thanks puts a smile in my soul
Now if you’re smiling too, I’ve accomplished my goal.
I know we’re all busy and worried as well
The news isn’t good, we can get mad as hell
At the unabashed greed of that darned 1 percent
So we certainly need to speak out and to vent.
And while we are using our freedom of speech
To make our thoughts known, to complain, and to teach
More people are hearing and speaking out, too
And fi nding there’s really so much we can do.
Our systems are broken, our world needs repair
And we can contribute to make things more fair
We can free up our minds, think out of the box
We can all get our news from more places than FOX.
The people uprising is good news to me
The great occupations, the will to be free
The long arc of hist’ry, dear Martin once said
Bends clearly toward justice, we’re moving ahead.
The movement is growing, there’s change in the air
There’s hope and there’s vision, and goodwill to spare
There’s progress and beauty, and so I say thanks
And express my desire to re-regulate banks.
When I stop to indulge in this yearly tradition
Of turning my thoughts to my current condition
I can’t help but notice that things, all in all,
Are pretty damned good, which is good to recall.
A few little problems are nothing compared
To this past year of health and the good times I’ve shared
With my dearest of friends and my closest of pals
Especially the gay boys and lesbian gals.
It’s not that my straight friends and loved ones don’t matter
They do and I’m glad for both former and latter
But I give special props to the glorious queers
Who are living life proudly and conquering fears.
Queers in the service aren’t really that scary
And looks like we’re winning the freedom to marry
I’m thankful I get to be part of this change
That makes queerness normal and makes normal strange.
Of course there is suffering, evil and hate
But it helps to remember the things that are great
Like the space and the time in the month of November
To cuddle in close, take some time, and remember.
Award-winning writer Sally Sheklow’s cheerleading for justice and equality has appeared in EW since 1999. Send
comments to sally@wymprov.com
4
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
letters
TO THE EDITOR
IN MY DREAMS
Here is a dream I had the other night:
While walking along 5th Avenue I
had an intuitive notion that prompted
me to walk over to the Occupy Camp
at Washington/Jefferson Park. There
seemed to be lots of people there and the
vibe seemed surprisingly positive, almost
festive.
From a small tent I was standing near,
out steps Phil Knight. He motions people
to gather around and then begins to speak
loudly:
“Hi, my name is Phil Knight, I am the
founder of the Nike Corporation and I have
something I wish to tell you. I have recently
had a vision in which the late Steve Jobs’
spirit visited me. He has convinced me to
do something that I know in my heart I
should’ve done years ago. I am announcing
to you here today that I have decided to
close one of our Nike manufacturing plants
in Indonesia and open up one right here in
Eugene, possibly in the closed Hyundai
plant. It will employ more than 5,000
people. I know this will cost me about a
$1 billion, but I can afford it and I know
that my accountants and lawyers are going
to try to stop me; they won’t. Steve also
promised me that if I could pull this off, he
would visit some of the other 1 percenters
and challenge them to do the same!”
As I awoke, I sat on the edge of my bed
and pondered the idea of dreams coming
true.
Rick DeAngelo
Eugene
TICKET-HAPPY COPS
I need to blow off a little steam over the
last two traffi c citations I got. The fi rst one
was for a burned-out brake light bulb that
cost me $142. Two bulbs were working
which is all you need to be legal, which I
found out later after paying the fi ne. The
most recent was $262 for failure to stay in a
single lane. My front tire was on the center
line briefl y.
Most of the Eugene police offi cers are
ticket happy and would give a ticket to
their own mother. I think we should all start
protesting. This is completely outrageous.
Phil Swaggart
Eugene
TIME TO LIVE FREE
The Occupiers have a problem
identifying with a specifi c course of
political action that they support. But, that
lack of focus only further explains why so
many Americans feel that the American
Dream has either passed them by or is now
only a hoax meant to divert our attention
while the robber barons continue to steal
the American Dream from us.
It used to take many years, sometimes
decades, for the capitalist system to create
the conditions that lead to wide-spread
social unrest. From the crisis of the Second
Bank of the United States in 1819, to the
New York Stock Exchange crash of 1929,
to Black Wednesday in 1992, and fi nally to
the Great Recession of 2008, the fi nancial
meltdowns have come with increased
regularity.
The capitalist system relies on two
major conditions: the ever expanding
market for goods and services produced,
and a population capable of purchasing
those goods and services. What has
happened is that the reduction of the ability
of the middle class to buy the output of the
capitalist system has caused the market to
become drastically reduced.
If the Occupiers are not especially
articulate it is because they are still in
the grips of an economic culture that
they expect will produce results for the
99 percent as well as the 1 percent of the
population. The fact is that the system as it
now enforced is in the process of strangling
the very market it needs to continue to
exist. The solution to this is not more
police action to break up the Occupier
camps or even more Occupier camps; it is
a retooling of the American Dream to make
it consistent with the legitimate desires of
all the population, the 99 percent and the
1 percent, to live free and to have a life of
dignity and self-respect.
Gerry Merritt
Eugene
HITTING & KICKING
In reference to the cover story (11/17)
on the muay thai martial arts champion, for
the life of me I cannot understand why a
person gifted with superior athletic ability,
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