March 27, 2009

Disability & BIID: I Sing the Body Modified


"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." -- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) article 1

“Who could say I have ‘no worthwhile quality of life’? I am sure that no doctor could have predicted when I was 28 days old that despite my physical problems I would lead such a full and happy life. I do not doubt they were ‘acting in good faith’ when they advised my parents to abandon me, but that does not mean their advice was correct.”
-- Alison Davis, “Right to Life of Handicapped,” “Journal of Medical Ethics 9 (1983)

If you think about it, we able-bodied citizens are one step away from disability. The misjudged dive, the snowboard mishap, the car accident, and the botched bungie jump seem obvious in this regard. But some of us learn lessons the healthy never think about. Time is a factor here. Most of us have worn casts, used crutches, and lost our voices. And so we temporarily consider what it must be like for the permanately disabled. Others of us contract serious diseases that bring us closer to the brink of disability, and therefore force a longer consideration of what it’s like to, like McGee, not be able to speak, like McGee, to be voiceless.

Cancer, in all its manifestations, offers long and short term experiences of what it means to be disabled; To lose the small motor skills required to turn the ignition key, to feed the parking meter, to use the credit card meter at the pump, to button the pant and tie the shoe, to swallow, to walk, to eliminate. But even in this, neither McGee nor I can know what it means to experience disability as a form of identity. What we do understand, however, is this: there is a certain stigma attached to disease, and those who have suffered irreversible injuries know the social discrimination that accompanies the wheelchair, crutch, and walker.

In “Disability Studies”(2008), Professor Tobin Siebers suggests (I think) that, to some extent, traditional social attitudes toward disability derive from the medical definition of disability as “a defect that must be cured or eliminated if the person is to achieve full capacity as a human being”(3). What deserves scrutiny here is the correspondent nature of the terms " disease" and "disability." A slippage that fosters the assumption that being disabled precludes the possibilty of achievement, contentment, and happiness. The rhetoric of "cure" and "elimination" may fit a medical model, but seems inadequate as a descriptor of disability. Simply put, disability is a state of being, cancer is a disease. During its reign, cancer, whether temporary or lasting, induces a feeling of being defective, as diseased, as incapacitated.

My friend, whose son has Down Syndrome, asked me if I felt “inferior” when I was sick. After thinking a bit, I decided I had a feeling akin to this, but not exactly that. I would say excluded, or ignored, would be a better description, at least for me. It was as if the world was passing me by. Being invalid, in home-immuno-isolation (and here I shudder to imagine what folks like Greg Mingay, who had a marrow transplant, have gone through), and gazing out the window with the turn to Fall, made me melancholic, depressed, afraid, and, in a science-fictiony way, obsolete. Dave’s question made some sense to me when I considered his experience of having an intellectually challenged (I’m borrowing Sieber’s term here) son. Perhaps being cognitively and intellectually challenged is sometimes a kind of disability where the existential feeling of being “ignored” manifests itself as a form of negative identity legitimized by a society that encourages “enforced systems of exclusion and oppression”(3).

A key idea in Seibers’ book is the “defect” is less in the person than the social context that defines them, or perhaps better, in the way their public identity is prescribed, or circumscribed. If nothing else, my readings on BIID (Body Integrity Identity Disorder) reveal more about the radical polarity between exotic and romanticized media representations of disability (fictional films, like “Boxing Helena,” “I Am Sam,” and “Charly”), and exclusionary and reductive representations of disability (news images that sensationalize stories like that of Terry Schiavo, and questionable representations that masquerade under the umbrella of aesthetic value [or do they?], like those of Diane Arbus) in the cultural perception of disability – there seems to be no middle ground.

Why else would not having a limb become such an obsession, if not for the fact that the limbless are percieved as so radically different. As Siebers has it, “It is as if disability operates symbolically as an othering other. It represents a diacritical marker of difference that secures inferior, marginal, or minority status, while not having its presence as a marker acknowledged in the process”(6) (It should be noted here that Siebers is not using the term minority here in the sense of identity politics).

It may be that BIID is a direct consequence of society’s failure to recognize that “Disability is not a physical or mental defect but a cultural and minority identity”(4). Changing the social rhetoric and fostering the cultural integration/assimilation of disability might go a long way toward demythologizing what a “wannabe” wants to be.

It is the way disability is culturally understood, through a network of social apparatuses, at the center of which, what Siebers calls the “Ideology of Ability,” shapes the kinds of representations of disability BIID sufferers apire to. What casts suspicion on the term “sufferer” is the aporia at the heart of the question it begs: why would one aspire to suffering? Seibers writes, "It is not the fact of physical difference that matters, but the representation attached to difference – what makes the difference identifiable”(17). Siebers’ insistence on the liberatory aspects of seeing disability as a minority identity politic implies attaching a political meaning to disability, and reassigning a progressive signification to a once null signifier, the sign gaining its authority from its union with a now empowered signifier! Hallelujah!

What radically differentiates successful BIID wannabes from the disabled is the issue of body modification. And this has everything to do with how the “fact of physical difference” is subsumed by the “representation attached to difference” which shapes the BIID objective. The concept of “choice” inheres in the verb form, “to modify”; but the disabled had no choice in their state, and I would presume to say, never would have chosen to be handicapped. This is not to say they are unhappy, lacking in something, or are defective in some way, it simply assumes their lot was not a choice.

Now, I know there will be BIID folks who object to my equating amputation by choice with tatoos, piercings, and other such cultural manifestations, but the fact is, as in the case of every desire to modify one’s body, establishing a physical and psychological identity is at the core of painting one’s fingernails, piercing one's penis (there’s that rascally Prince Albert again), and amputating one’s arm. Disabled citizen’s don’t choose to be handicapped, but society chooses the way they are percieved, and these public perceptions, reinforced by cultural representations, profoundly shape the kinds of body modifications BIID folks seek.

Best – Randy Tessier

March 22, 2009

Now Showing: "I AM BARACK" Starring Sean Penn


3/21/09

I suppose I should talk about this or that, or, for that matter, the other thing. McGee likes McGoostock ‘09, so McGoostock ’09 it is.

Went to the Joe last night with Miss Brigitte. I had hoped we would arrive amidst a victory celebration by Northern. Alas, the Irish vanquished the Wildcats in a hard fought defensive battle, 2 to 1. It turns out defense was the order of the day. In the nightcap, Alaska, sparked by their CCHA player of the year goalie (I forget his name), reluctantly succumbed to the Blue onslaught, 3 to 1. The post-industrial apocalyptic urban grimness that pervades the architecture surrounding Joe Louis is reminiscent of the most ominous scenes in movies like “Blade Runner,” Terminator 2, and Alien 3. Darkly gray foreboding concrete tunnels... aging in a blighted and desperate urban core.

Speaking of movies, let’s first talk about TV. Did you see the Special-Ed bowler on Jay Leno the other night, his insistence on the same New changes made me not want to watch 60 minutes this Sunday. Hey, O., my bro Kolan McConiughey (see photo), who’s won six Special Olympics bowling medals, bowled five, count ‘em, five, perfect games.
Oh yea, the movies, So I’m channel surfing and decide to check out “I Am Sam.” Yikes! Now, I know that “cognitively impaired, “mentally challenged,” and “learning disabled,” are the correct terms, but this movie seemed, well, kinda retarded. Ok, I’ll suspend my disbelief and imagine that Sam’s child is (here’s that pesky descriptor) “normal”, but this pathetically contrived wannabe tearjerker had me howling with laughter. In his “Variety” (12/20/01) review, Robert Koehler writes, “Jessie] Nelson and co-writer Kristine Johnson have badly veered off into a near-parody of ultra-politically correct storytelling, in which single parenthood is lionized (and even finally found preferable over an alternative two-parent family option). The movie assumes, in a thoroughly unearned way, a total acceptance of its shaky premise -- that a man like Sam, with the mental abilities of a 7-year-old, is the best possible parent because he has more love for his child than anyone else.” Ok, I’ll buy that, he’d make a good parent, but to then make him a mentally handicapped social reformer, challenging a cold, and uncaring, social Services bureaucracy, well…? Hey folks, that’s Hollywood. Penn’s attention to detail certainly makes him the perfect mental case, but that’s the problem. He’s like a cognitively impaired android, which, I think, makes Sam an oxymoronic contrivance, and, therefore, a thoroughly unbelievable character. Should some future fact or fiction arise that requires an actor of such scope, depth, emotional sensibility and psychological sensitivity as to be capable of portraying a gay, retarded, replicant, or a Special-Ed bowling politician bent on saving the world, we have our man.
.
3/22/09
Michigan got smoked last night, 5 to 2, Notre Dame. The good news, however, is that Northern shutout Alaska, 2 to nothing.

Dear Chase Card Services:

Did you know there have been proscriptions against USURY that stretch back to the hanging gardens of Babylon. My dictionary defines “usury” as “The practice of lending money and charging interest at an exorbitant or illegally high rate.” You see, the way you get around the “exorbitant” part is to get rid of the “illegal” part. You “deregulate,” which means get rid of the “regulations,” which are like “laws.” Then the interest gouging and ‘usurious” practices,” are, like, legal.

I write this to express my sympathetic understanding of your need to charge 20 to 25% interest rates. Your willingness to expose the true hypocrisy of so-called citizens who espouse Christian virtues like humility, frugality, and charity, is not only brave, but patriotic, in its mission. The sins of living for the moment, taking out reckless loans, running up debt, and greedily revisioning one’s abode as an ATM, are transgressions against the longstanding civic core of this country, and a wicked betrayal of the Protestant Work Ethic this great nation was founded on.

So keep up the good work. Raise the interest, lower the limit, and teach us poor wretches the sins of our ways. Adios Dom Perignon, hello Cold Duck, begone filet mignon, enter Spam, farewell Starbucks, welcome back Folgers, I’ll miss you Hummer, and yes, I deserve you, Used Yugo.

God works in mysterious ways, and so you are his wrathful wand. You have the wisdom of Moses in showing that, just as guns don’t kill people, it’s not the credit card that undoes us, we doom ourselves.

Sincerely – Randall L. Tessier

March 15, 2009

Bill's Big Merch Idea (And Some Photos)!







I thought I might begin by posting some stuff from Billy De Broux and S. Hussein Glantz.
I LOVE the McGoostock '09 as a title (what say you, Skip?).

From:
William DeBroux
To: Randy Tessier , Rick Wester , Kris De Broux
Subject: 'T' Shirts

Dear Randy & Rick,

Let's discuss donation opportunities. Kim Dudewicz, a childhood friend of my wife Kris, friend of Mr.McGee, graduate of NMU, and now hailing from St. Claire Shores believes that the illustration on the blogpost "McGeefest '09" would look mighty good on a T shirt with possibly McGeefest '09, McGoostock '09, or some such across the top and Big Bay,MI on the bottom. Give them free to the acts and sell them at the venue. That's where Mr. Rick Wester comes in. Rick is the owner of Pride Printing Inc, a business he established in 1985. Now, Kim wants to invest some money towards producing these snazzy shirts, maybe say, one hundred, or whatever the number is to get a good deal.
Rick, could you write-up a proposal on this? The idea is for us to purchase the blank shirts, have you print them up (if you could donate some production time from your crew, that would be moocho cool) and just like that, you are a corporate sponsor. Go to Randy's blog--meetthecrab.blogspot.com; scroll down to the post dated February 27, 2009 entitled McGee Fest '09 and you will find the illustration Kim is talking about. We are seeking your knowledge and expertise plus the skills of your team. Anything else you could kick in would be icing on the cake. WHAT SAY YOU?
Randy, the acts themselves are graciously donating their talents to this, but what about product? Most, if not all, I am sure, have recordings. Perhaps they could bring some product, and donate a portion of the price to the Fest. I'll tell you right now, if Tret brings a vinyl copy of her first album, I'm slapping down a 'c' note. I also want a copy of Mike Stadlers work. And I'm sure others are interested in purchasing recordings and they could load up on the good stuff. WHAT SAY YOU?



Late, Billy D.

Robert Hussein Glantz See this IMAX if you can. This number alone is worth the price of admission. Note the profound gesture of respect at the end of the song: Keith gives Buddy his guitar.

The Rolling Stones and Buddy Guy - Champagne and Reefer - Live 2006
Source: http://www.youtube.com/

Pure Blues... The Stones and Buddy! A man who played with Muddy Waters in the old days! Amazing!Posted 17 hours ago · You like this.

Mark Smotroff at 6:19pm March 14
I saw Buddy Guy last year on his 70th Birthday show here and he was amazing -- he and his band smoked the place. The odd thing that was just ludicrous was that they had him OPENING for George Thorogood -- there was no way Thorogood could top Buddy's presence or playing. What was bothersome was that Thorogood didn't even try... he just karaok'd ... Read Moreall his ... um... borrowed Chuck Berry moves from 30 years ago (when I first found him boring ;-). Strutting around saying you are "Bad to the Bone" doesn't make you that. He was just bad. The crowd loved him tho. But we were so aghast we left 5 songs into his set.

Robert Hussein Glantz at 8:39pm March 14
We were at that show. Buddy Guy was in great form. A couple years earlier, we saw him at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, splitting the bill with Los Lobos. The Santa Rosa show was AMAZING. He was at absolute the top of his game that night. ("I'm gonna play the blues so funky you gonna smell it.") Buddy would go from a delicate whisper to ... Read Morea full-throated blues roar and back in four bars. The worst BG show I ever saw was at the Greek. The promoter had Buddy Guy opening for Johnny Lang, who then then all of 19 years old. Buddy was pissed and gave a half-assed show. I think Johnny Lang, a young man whose taste and talent I admire, was embarrassed to be at the top of the bill. Buddy Guy is the living link between the Chicago blues masters of Chess Records and all those skinny Brit kids who were picking up what they were putting down - kids like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.

A word about the photos below. Sudsy's facebook post about Buddy Guy got me looking through some pics.


The photo of Buddy Guy and the guy in the Cal Schenkel T-shirt (yes, the dude responsible for all those Bizarre records by Zappa et. al.) was taken at Buddy Guy's "Legends" in Chicago. That's Rich Dishman, drummer par excellance, in front of the logo. The third photo from that series is of myself and the horn man from Junior Wells' band. George Bedard opened the show that night.


The photos of, and with, Johnnie Johnson were taken at two places, the Magic Bag Theatre in Fernadale, and a private wedding in Windsor, CA. we played as Johnnie's backup band on a number of occasions when he came to the Detroit area. The guy was an unbelievable player, and Bedard's early dedication to Chuck Berry's stylings (George plays Chuck Berry BETTER than Chuck Berry!) made the band sound sick. The two dames in the Magic Bag pics are, Thornetta Davis in the beads, and Niki James from Niki James and the Flamethrowers. Below is a thumbnail sketch from Wiki of who Johnnie is. By the way, after he toured with the Bob Weir/Ratdog/post-Garcia Dead, he told me they paid him 50 grand, gave him a pink Cadillac, and transported him in a pimped out tour bus with all of his favorite DVDs.










He was born Johnnie Clyde Johnson[2] in Fairmont, West Virginia[1] and began playing piano in 1928. He joined the United States Marine Corps during World War II where he was a member of Bobby Troup's all serviceman jazz orchestra, The Barracudas. After his return, he moved to Detroit, Illinois and then Chicago, where he sat in with many notable artists, including Muddy Waters and Little Walter. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1952 and immediately put together a jazz and blues group, The Sir John Trio with drummer Ebby Hardy and saxophonist, Alvin Bennett. The three scored a regular gig at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis. On New Years Eve 1952, Alvin Bennett had a stroke and could not perform. Johnson, searching for a last minute replacement, called a young man named Chuck Berry, the only musician Johnson knew who because of his inexperience, would likely not be playing on New Years Eve. Although then a limited guitarist, Berry added vocals and showmanship to the group. As Bennett would not be able to play again because of his stroke, Johnson hired Berry as a permanent member of the trio. They would remain the Sir John's Trio until Berry took one of their tunes, a reworking of the Bob Wills' song, "Ida Red" to Chess Records. The Chess brothers liked the tune and soon the trio were in Chicago recording "Maybellene" and "Wee Wee Hours" - a song Johnson had been playing as an instrumental for years for which Berry quickly penned some lyrics. By the time the trio left Chicago, Berry had been signed as a solo act and Johnson and Hardy became part of Berry's band. Said Johnson, "I figured we could get better jobs with Chuck running the band. He had a car and rubber wheels beat rubber heels any day." Over the next twenty years, the two collaborated in the arrangements of many of Berry's songs including "School Days", "Carol", and "Nadine."








The photos of my life long, dear, reliable friend, and fantastic drummer, Don Kuhli, are, well, Don Kuhli. Dig the one of the cool in his canyon yodelling suit. Cool. Nice suspenders and bowtie, dude. He's a Ludwig man for life.

The Los Chickens B/W is, from left to right, Charlie Tysklind, Brophy Dale (see photo), Dave Cavender (the tall guy), Don Kuhli, and Guppy Boy. This shot was taken in front of the bar at Mr. Flood's Party.
The B/W shot of my son, Russell, (on bass) and the Ann Arbor Community High Big Jazz Band backing up Wynton Marsalis was taken at a rehearsal for an appearance at Hill Auditorium. I've also included some pics from his younger days.












The photos of The Magic Poetry Band under the Duke Ellington Boulevard sign, and on the promenade along the Hudson, were taken in Manhattan on the eve of our gig at The Knitting Factory. Left to right are M. L. Liebler (THE Magic Poet), Brigitte, Jim Carey, and yours truly (photos by Barry Wallenstein).













Best - R. T.

March 13, 2009

Santino, Zaidi, and Castratos: Let There Be Drums!





Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum…


Who is that little drummer boy? Why, it’s Don Kuhli (photo by Bonnie Quinn) and his sidekick Warren Macdonald. The Bantams live! With Brigitte Knudson’s kindly consent, and Warny Mac’s generous consideration, we, the Lollypop Guild, have procured two, yes two, sets of drums. The next rubber tree plant we have to oops is a sound system for the Lumberjack backyard (I have one for inside). Because the Stockholm Zoo has graciously agreed to lend us their frisky chimp, Santino, we will also have a security guard Sonny Barger would be proud of. What, you ask, are Santino’s credentials? Here’s an excerpt from his resume:
“Born in 1978, Santino became the dominant male at the zoo in 1994 and the only male a year later when the other male died. For his first three years of dominance the act of throwing stones across the moat separating the chimps from zoo visitors was infrequent. However, in June 1997, zoo officials noted his stone throwing increased dramatically, with demonstrations involving the throwing of 10 or more projectiles in what one caretaker described as "hail storms." The following year, the chimpanzee added pieces of concrete to his ammunition, and was observed gently knocking on concrete rocks to break off smaller, disc-shaped pieces. According to his friend, Swedish researcher Mathias Osvath, it's ‘the first unambiguous evidence’ of an animal other than humans making plans in one mental state for a future mental state, in this case, an agitated display of dominance from the lone male chimpanzee at the zoo. Since the initial finding, caretakers at the zoo have removed hundreds of caches, and the gathering of stones has been observed on at least 50 occasions, Osvath reported. Santino's stone-gathering is a clear case of planning for the future, he said, since the calm manner in which the chimpanzee collected the stones differed from the agitated state in which he later hurled them. ‘It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including life-like mental simulations of potential events. They most probably have an 'inner world' like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come,’ he said.”
We’ve also sent out an offer letter to one of the many candidates who’ve applied for the doorman position. Because we had to negotiate a deferred sentence for him, we had a bit of a time with this. Yes, the dude is prone to acting rashly, but you want someone who will aggressively check I.D.s, AARP cards, and such, as well as someone passionate about making sure everyone contribute to the cause. Yes, his people will miss him, and yes, the Grand Poobah took some convincing, since he needed assurances Muntader, or Munty, as his friends call him, would return to pay his debt to society. While Munty failed to submit an official application, he did send along an article written by a fellow journalist and friend, Sachin Seth, attesting to his work ethic and personal commitment:
“Dear McGee-Fest Committee:

Do you remember that Iraqi guy who threw his shoes at President Bush? Remember how he was lauded as a national hero? Well, now he’s going to prison. Muntader al-Zaidi, a journalist, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for the shoe throwing ordeal, charged with aggression towards a visiting head of state, a crime that carries a maximum 15 year jail sentence in Iraq. Zaidi pleaded not guilty before Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie, arguing that in that one moment, he was overcome with a brutal passion as he remembered the scores of civilians that had been killed in his home land, all because of Bush. ‘I am innocent. It was a natural reaction to the crime of occupation…In that moment, I saw nothing but Bush, and I felt the blood of the innocents flowing under his feet while he was smiling that smile,’ he said at the hearing, according to the New York Times. The trial was set to take place a while ago, but was postponed while the judge took time to decide whether or not Bush’s trip to Iraq was an official visit. Since Bush spoke in the Green Zone which is controlled by American Military, it could be argued that his visit was not official. The judge however decided that the visit was official. Zaidi was tried, oddly, in Iraq’s Central Criminal Court, a court set aside for major cases including terrorism. Zaidi’s lawyers - all 18 of them - said they would appeal the decision. As Zaidi, who has been in prison since the incident, approached the courthouse before his hearing, scores of followers greeted him outside chanting ‘hero.’ It’s clear the Iraqi people don’t like the ruling.
Sincerely – Sachin Seth”
Judge al-Rubaie reluctantly agreed after we guaranteed him Zaidi would be castrated should he attempt to flee the U.P. As a way of further guaranteeing the judge we would put Zaidi’s mind right before returning him to abu Ghraib, an addendum was added to the contract, stipulating that Zaidi would be fully Limbaughtomized upon completion of his work abroad. In responding to al-Rubaie’s query about the specific method of castration, we photocopied our contract with a group of Czech psychiatrists who will be flown in and housed in the old alert shack at the former K.I. Sawyer AFB. As proof of this we submitted the following excerpts from a New York Times article by Dan Bilefsky regarding the Czech Republic’s expertise in these matters:
"The Czech Republic has allowed at least 94 prisoners over the past decade to be surgically castrated. It is the only country in Europe that uses the procedure for sex offenders. Czech psychiatrists supervising the treatment — a one-hour operation that involves removal of the tissue that produces testosterone — insist that it is the most foolproof way to tame sexual urges in dangerous predators suffering from extreme sexual disorders. Surgical castration has been a means of social control for centuries. In ancient China, eunuchs were trusted to serve the imperial family inside the palace grounds; in Italy several centuries ago, youthful male choir members were castrated to preserve their high singing voices. Now, more countries in Europe are considering requiring or allowing chemical castration for violent sex offenders. There is intense debate over whose rights take precedence: those of sex offenders, who could be subjected to a punishment that many consider cruel, or those of society, which expects protection from sexual predators. Last year, the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, signed legislation requiring courts to order chemical castration for offenders convicted of certain sex crimes a second time.Whether castration can help rehabilitate violent sex offenders has come under new scrutiny after the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee last month called surgical castration “invasive, irreversible and mutilating” and demanded that the Czech Republic stop offering the procedure to violent sex offenders. Other critics said that castration threatened to lead society down a dangerous road toward eugenics. Ales Butala, a Slovenian human rights lawyer who led the Council of Europe’s delegation to the Czech Republic, argued that surgical castration was unethical, because it was not medically necessary and deprived castrated men of the right to reproduce. Although the procedure is voluntary, Mr. Butala said that he believed some offenders felt they had no choice. ‘Sex offenders are requesting castration in hope of getting released from a life of incarceration,’ he said. ‘Is that really free and informed consent?’”

After reviewing Bilefsky’s testimony to the Czech’s expertise, the committee came to the conclusion we should not only include the “castration clause” as a way of procuring Zaidi’s services, but also as a protest against the kind of bleeding heart liberalism run amok that would worry about “depriving” pedophiles of the “right to reproduce,” while ignoring the rights of children to a future free of sexual molestation. After all, Mr. Ales, what guarantees of “free and informed consent” were given the violated children? And speaking of having “no choice,” what choice did these children have in the face of their irrevocable degradation?

Best Regards – The McGee-Fest Committee

March 11, 2009

McGee-Fest 09, Queers, and Movie Reviews


First this from Bill De Broux:
Dear Randy,

A friend of mine, Jamie Kobie happens to have a home that he shares with his wife that is about 1/2 mile from downtown Big Bay. They have a huge front yard that you cannot see from 550. This front yard has two mobile trailers (the small one is booked for this event) with a big assed firepit and an OUTHOUSE for cripesakes plus water/elec hook-ups for more RV's. There is moocho room for popups and 40' RV's and the Kobie's are totally down with loading up their front yard with mobile accommodations for, say, THE ACTS?? The main house has two bathrooms and one guest bedroom with my name on it. This would be a good place where the musicians can rehearse/relax/lodge and the price is right. Zero bucks. So we have one mobile trailer donated to the cause(it sleeps four comfortably, six in a pinch) plus, we could take some donation bucks and rent as many popups as we need and park them there. I have another friend, Rick Wester, who is tracking down RV rental places for me there in the Yoop. Can you say "Charitable Donations"? I thought you could. My intentions are to badger the Hell out of these people for donated Lodging For The Stars.

Later,Bill.

“Leonard Matlovich: He served for 12 years in the US Air Force, received exemplary ratings, and won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After revealing his homosexual orientation, he was dishonorably discharged. His tombstone reads: ‘Here lies a man who was given a medal for killing two men, and a dishonorable discharge for loving one.’"

Dear Readers:

All apologies for being out of touch of late. Attending to academic responsibilities and musical endeavors often leaves time for little else. To that end, the task I’ve set for myself today will be to assess student writing. But to make it a bit more interesting, I’ve decided to intermittently comment on papers and compose a blog posting. The issue at hand is same-sex marriage. Welcome to my world.

What I find is that regardless of the position most students adopt, whether for or against an issue, like gay marriage, their main problem has to do with providing credible evidence to support their stance. In other words, their idle opinions all too often outweigh even a gesture toward citing authoritative sources. For instance, they might claim that same-sex marriage has to do with the individual right to pursue one’s desire, and vaguely refer to the pursuit of happiness clause in the Constitution; rather than address the more central idea that gay marriage is, at heart, a civil rights issue.

Ironically, many minority students, primarily African American and Mid-Eastern, are the first to miss this connection. One of the persistent misconceptions among blacks is that homosexuality is a choice, as if someone would choose to be shunned and discriminated against by mainstream society. Another is that same-sex couples should not be allowed to raise children or adopt for fear they will influence their offspring’s sexual orientation, which makes no sense considering that most homosexuals are raised in traditional family settings by heterosexual parents. No doubt this attitude is fostered by the false stereotype that homosexuals are somehow more sexually charged than heterosexuals.

What these cultural myths have in common is this: they are reinforced by an entrenched ideology that derives its authority from an overarching fundamentalist Christian morality. If we look at an excerpt from the paper before me, this shouldn’t be surprising. A U-M football player writes: “George W. Bush finally got something right when he said, 'The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith.’ Ex-president Bush made that statement on February 25, 2004 when he endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages.” Leaving aside the unaddressed issue of Bush finding common ground with radical Islamic fundamentalists, the student attitude displayed here is typical of a troubling trend in many otherwise liberal African American communities, that of disassociating themselves with political policies that would serve their best socio-economic interests in favor of moral issues prescribed by Biblical scripture. In fact, many blacks, at the urging of their pastors, voted for the anti-abortion candidate, George W. Bush, rather than support Al Gore’s commitment to expand social and educational programs that would have addressed the desperate problems so woefully neglected in poor urban neighborhoods.

In short, a majority of the Christian ministers in cities like Detroit endorsed a moral agenda over the material needs of their flock. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that even a man as well educated and culturally sophisticated as Barack Obama, would be against same-sex marriage. You be the teacher. How would you respond to an argument against same-sex marriage based on the premise that “The Creator of the Universe established the relationship between a man and a woman, thus it is a divine pairing, not a human one.”

Just coincidentally, I watched Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” (2008) last night. While I thought it a bit didactic, Sean Penn’s performance gives this biopic a certain life that is often lost in attempts to recreate politically charged historical moments. The interspersed non-fictional clips that depict actual raids on homosexual clubs in the 1940s and 50s, as well as key moments in the fight for gay rights (the Stonewall riots) lends “Milk” the kind of credibility that might serve it well as a teaching prompt. While I suppose the depictions of physical intimacy are meant to deconstruct the polarity between deviant sexual behaviors and culturally constructed sexual norms, I found them somewhat unnecessary; but I should say I find most sexually explicit films a bit boring (I’d rather engage in sex than watch it on screen or in magazines). It’s purely a matter of taste, but movies, like “9 1/2 Weeks” or “Last Tango in Paris,” don’t interest me, although I highly recommend “Auto Focus,” Paul Schrader’s (recall “Taxi Driver,” one of my all time favorites) 2002 biopic on the life of the “Hogan’s Heroes” star, Bob Crane.

Best - Randy

March 3, 2009

"When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it." E. W. Howe (1911)

Dear Darrell:

First, I/we are so pleased you’re willing to help out. Thank you. There will be a back line of drums and amps to reduce logistical problems and reduce downtime between acts. Anytime on the evening of the 24th that you want to play (early/mid/late, it doesn’t matter), it could be one song or an entire set, either solo, with some accompaniment, a group, or any combination, would be welcomed. I’m thinking we should start at 7:30 or 8ish and going until 1-1:30ish?? Some of my downstate friends will be there, as well as the locals, in terms of available musicians. Below, I’ve included some excerpts from my blog posts about this, just to give you a feel for what’s in the air about this. Googling Randy Tessier Blog will also get you there, but a guy as humble as I, (is it I or me?) would never try to solicit hits on the web.

Best - Randy