Media coverage of election campaigns: the fatal attraction

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Last night’s Iowa caucus was one for the ages. Mitt Romney edged out the surging Rick Santorum by only 8 votes. 8 freaking votes. That margin of victory is normally reserved for small town council races or student elections, not for Presidential nominating contests. The muddled results from last night don’t alter the fundamental element of this years nominating contest: It’s still Mitt Romney vs. everyone, and he will still prevail. His path to the nomination got a little bumpier though. Lets take a look at what last night’s results mean and where we go from here….

—David Tharp: What Iowa means: Post caucus analysis

Photo by Jim Wilson, courtesy of the New York Times

If the New Hampshire primary goes as widely expected, Mitt Romney should emerge the winner among the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. For weeks, polls in the state have shown him with a commanding lead.

—Frank James, National Public Radio: What GOP Candidates Need From New Hampshire

This is election season. Iowa held the first presidential caucus recently; New Hampshire holds its today, January 10, 2012. As expected, the media covers the campaign extensively, I’d say obsessively. Yes, elections reveal national moods, but are they any more significant than the moods of sports fans, who roots for which team? One might compare enthusiasm for elections with enthusiasm for sports. Who wins becomes the main question—how they win, the process, statistics, ratings, polls, statements, interpretations, and predictions all endlessly fascinate a wide population. Is this another form “opiate of the people” that Karl Marx claimed religion to be?

Extreme coverage of election campaigns masks a broader question: what is the system the elections are embedded in? The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr will arrive soon, and in the context of King’s work and thinking we might ask, why so much media attention to the election campaigns, do they really warrant such minute scrutiny? Yes, the freedom movement King and others led often centered on voting rights, and yes, the right to vote is crucial, but now that those rights are more widespread (altho under constant attack), the questions of governance system, power structure, and actual sources of influence are critical. Rather than relentlessly examining campaigns, strategies, scandals, and voting results the media could investigate the larger system, the system of corporate dominance, congressional corruption, money in politics, and the iron grip militarism has on our country—MLK’s triplet of militarism, consumerism, and racism.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives, and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

King with President LB Johnson, signing the Voting Rights’ Act, 1965

In the Dexter Avenue King Baptist Church, Montgomery Alabama,
photo by Skip Schiel, 1998

I believe the Occupy Movement is struggling with the issue of systems, as are some of the Arab uprisings, especially Egypt. The dictator Mubarak is gone, yet the old military system survives and apparently controls the country. Egypt is undergoing its second phase of revolution where the controlling personalities are often identifiable, cloaked, but identifiable. In the United States those personalities are less apparent. During the reign of Bush the Junior, Bush, Chaney, Pearle, Wolfowitz, and the neo cons and others of the administration and congress consort with corporations, most notably the energy, financial, and military industries. Under Obama the personalities and links are less clear. However, to assay the influence and control trail, trace the money. Contrary to myth, the major money sources of Obama’s presidential campaign were not the little person like me but the big guys, financial, pharmaceutical, energy, and military. Looks like the same pattern will prevail in this year’s election.

Consider the Israel Lobby. If we were to peel back the layers of campaign activities to the money core, we would have a fairly clear explanation of why the US congress and administration unequivocally, slavishly, shamefully support Israel. Who wins a particular election matters less than how that campaign was financed and which lobbyists were heard.

President Obama at AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee

I call on the media to shift a large share of its attention from the minutia of the campaigns to the panorama of the system: campaign financing, corporate power, lobbying, vested interests, and perhaps even turn an eye on itself: corporate-controlled media.

Recently Occupy Boston held a forum on campaign finance reform with special attention to the Citizens United decision which grants person status to corporations. The movement to produce a constitutional amendment to overturn this insane and noxious Supreme Court decision is underway. Yes, to popular resistance! How often does commercial media cover this topic, compared to its coverage of the campaigns themselves?

Occupy Portland calls for a day of non-violent direct action to reclaim our voices and challenge our society’s obsession with profit and greed by shutting down the corporations. We are rejecting a society that does not allow us control of our future. We will reclaim our ability to shape our world in a democratic, cooperative, just and sustainable direction.

We call on the Occupy Movement and everyone seeking freedom and justice to join us in this day of action.

There has been a theft by the 1% of our democratic ability to shape and form the society in which we live and our society is steered toward the destructive pursuit of consumption, profit and greed at the expense of all else.

We call on people to target corporations that are part of the American Legislative Exchange Council which is a prime example of the way corporations buy off legislators and craft legislation that serves the interests of corporations and not people. They used it to create the anti-labor legislation in Wisconsin and the racist bill SB 1070 in Arizona among so many others. They use ALEC to spread these corporate laws around the country.

In doing this we begin to recreate our democracy. In doing this we begin to create a society that is organized to meet human needs and sustain life.

On February 29th, we will reclaim our future from the 1%. We will shut down the corporations and recreate our democracy.Join us! Leap into action! Reclaim our future! Shut down the corporations!

*This action received unanimous consensus from the Portland General Assembly on Sunday January 1st, 2012.

—#F29 – Occupy Portland National Call To Action To Shut Down the Corporations

LINKS

“The Iowa Elections: ‘GAME ON:’ Our Media Fostered Political Circles Move North,” by Danny Schechter

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Spreading images of Palestine & Israel to the West Coast of the United States—A Travel Journal—5

More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Letter from the Birmingham City Jail

From my journal while on the road, 6 weeks in October and November 2008, Alaska to California and back to Portland Oregon, then home to Cambridge Massachusetts—with 3 new slide shows about Palestine/Israel, “My Trip to Gaza,”, “Bethlehem the Holy,” and “The Hydropolitics of Israel-Palestine.” In early December and again in February 2009 I’ll be touring with these and other shows in the southeast section of the US. You can find more information here.

Photos

Juneau Alaska, part 5:

Bob ambled into my room yesterday morning to talk to me about the impending economic collapse. (As big as Mt Roberts behind Juneau, I note.) He’d been reading stock market reports; they are dire; he claims he and Elaine have lost a significant portion of their stock value overnight. “I hope I’m wrong,” he said, “but this is big, bigger than anything in our lives to date.”

And I do hope he’s wrong. Even tho I have no stocks, virtually no savings, little in the way of retirement cushions (only a paltry life insurance policy), I will be affected dearly if the market should collapse. Fewer students, fewer grants, fewer donations. Yet others with wealth in stocks and bonds—and real estate—could be ruined. Analysts are writing that the $700 billion rescue may not be enough. I suspect no one knows what will be enough. Or exactly why this is happening.

My savings, my wealth are in my work—what I’ve done, who I am. As far as I know, this is secure. I harvest and invest my talents, my compulsions, and pray what I lay up for the hereafter—the mounds of photos in my basement, on my website—might last awhile after I’m departed for richer grounds, might serve others in some small way.

Could the financial crisis be yet another harbinger signaling to us the fallacy of our economic system? Time for a massive change, not merely a bailout or rescue (possibly benefiting the perpetrators more than the victims)? As the nuclear fear has provoked some positive turn, the environmental fear might also; perhaps this economic fear is part of what Joanna Macy calls “The Great Turning.” It might also be part of “The End of the US Empire.”

Yesterday was sunny and cold, inspiring Elaine and me to walk downtown, pick up Eve, eat lunch in the Wharf complex. A dull breakfast burrito for me, huge pancake for Elaine, minimal conversation with Eve, which is par, animated conversation with Elaine about Ireland and the upcoming Irish music family, Tommy Sands with his daughter and son, who we will host on their tour.

Elaine and I are so close, growing closer on each visit. I appreciate her flamboyance, chutzpah, verve and vigor. Some might find her overbearing, I don’t. Perhaps we share this energy (and reactions to it).

On our walk home we discussed our respective survival techniques when faced with disappointment, rejection, loss, despair, suffering. For Elaine they amount to her Buddhist practice: meditation, teachings, the half smile she’s learned from Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh), service (especially for those nearby, immediately, as with M who had breast surgery, as well as longer term, as thru her therapist practice), magnanimity, wishing the best for others even if jealous at what they have. In Elaine’s case envy arises when hearing about the success of others’ kids, comparing her kids to them. Ah, yes, I know this well, since when I hear about the success couples have in loving forever, I am envious and prone to dejection.

For me, I could also say Buddhism is a major factor. As is walking, journaling, photographing, and community. I meditate, I exercise, I try to do for others as I’d wish they do for me.

~A plane is landing thru the perfectly clear sky, odd timing since it is only 6:55 am and I thought the first plane in or out of Juneau was at 7:3.~

Steady editing of Hydro, at the phase of filling it out and needing to trim it down. Lots of attention to the current drought. Inserting Israeli perspectives as best I can. Adding the recent photos from 2007-08. Wondering how can I scale this down? Finding the answer is: don’t, until absolutely required. That is, let it expand to its natural length, then show segments of it according to audience and time slot. Thanks to the jump technique I can easily do this. With film it might have been more complicated.

Eating crab last night, the crab Nathan caught, I photographed, completing the series on crabbing by photographing Elaine eating. Now to add this to the earlier photos and install them on my website.

(Photos of crabbing)

~It is now 6:26 am, Tues, the SW sky slightly illuminating. So lovely, soft, gradual, encouraging. No matter what my mood, the sun rises, even if I can’t see it directly. This is hopeful. Why despair?~

—October 7, 2008, Tuesday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home

A night of dreams, a morning of forgetfulness, nothing recalled. How mysterious.

A morning of rain and wind. Plus chatting with Nadia Hijab who arrived yesterday for her Juneau World Affairs talk this afternoon. She’s asked me if I’d be willing to coordinate some of the activities in the US on Gaza that would strategically raise awareness and inspire action about this gross human rights violation within the broader Israel-Palestine conflict. Perhaps she, Nancy M, and I would either have a conference call or Nadia might meet us in Boston for an initial discussion of a call to action, something that would inspire the formation of this group. I feel honored.

Born in Lebanon of Palestinian parents (father from Nablus, mother from the Triangle) she is maybe in her mid 40s, dark skinned, with black curly hair, and slim build. Currently she serves as senior fellow of the Institute for Palestinian Studies, while writing and speaking.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a working friendship.

Yesterday began sunny, an unusually clear morning sky, so I could observe the waxing light as I wrote. Clouds appeared, so by 1 pm it was overcast, and by 3 pm rain fell, and seemed to continue thru the night. Bob, Elaine and I made use of the early clear weather by walking in the wetlands before picking up Nadia from the airport.

Juneau wetlands

My radio interview with Billy D (or Eddy D or Danny D, I forget) went well enough, a jolly fellow, relatively interested in my topic. Before we began he asked me if I had any questions I’d like to be asked. I responded, “Please surprise me, challenge me, let’s have some fun.” He asked about danger, troubles about entering Israel, whether I use digital, and read the quote I’ve used in my blurb from Martin Luther King Jr, that those with nothing they’re willing to die for are not fit to live. I did not expand on this theme, simply happy he referred to it.

Nadia followed me. Elaine and Bob and I sat in the studio with her. She spoke about conditions and possible solutions. I photographed.

The 3rd presidential debate was utterly boring, and it turned out far fewer Juneauites than the first 2. Unfortunately and even tho the producers changed the format to town meeting, showing the audience, slightly encouraging interaction between participants and between them and the audience, the messages were familiar. We’ve heard all this before. Obama and McCain simply rehashed their earlier messages: change, competence, experience, blah blah blah. A definite turnoff. I feel badly for PBS who organized this, creating a dud.

Nadia and I noticed McCain looked wizened, injured, puffed up, limping. Not the image of an excellent candidate for the long haul position of president. Bob wrote a humorous Op Ed about McCain’s age and physical condition, examining the rate of death in office among presidents, some 10%.

—October 8, 2008, Wednesday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home

A metaphor occurred to me about the economic collapse: swirling ocean currents, over an irregular ocean floor, the tides and the major currents interact in ways impossible to predict. First the flow seems to be going westward, then southward, then eastward, and eventually northward. Or, like the conveyor belt of water, the warming Atlantic Current that prevents apocalyptic cooling of the Northern Hemisphere. At some unfathomable moment that conveyor belt might reverse, plunging North America into the next ice age. Do we head toward total economic collapse?

I’ve already made a few sunrise photos—a sunrise such as a Juneau-in-October sunrise might be, occluded, little sign of sun. Being so near the water in Juneau—and now on a ferry as I write this—my long held passion for water is reawakened: I can imagine myself a 28 year old.  I’m a Chief Petty Officer on board a destroyer in the Pacific, heading out to meet the slant-eyed enemy. Will we survive, prevail, will American values remain supreme? So I might have thought in my young adult years. Different now.

We’ve dropped off Nadia at the airport, Elaine asked me my opinion of her, “Well Skip, what do you think?” My opinion of her character and personality: honest, authentic, compassionate, caring, intelligent, dedicated to Palestine rights, hard worker, geo-rootless (meaning minimal strong connection with any homeland, including Palestine), without much active family (altho Elaine and Bob have heard her talk about siblings on the east coast), probably single. I can imagine working with her. Stops there. Most likely, but who knows?

Nadia asked me to photograph her for promotional purposes, I gladly acceded, wondering how this might work, since: I detect chemistry and electricity by photographing potential close friends. After a series of trials I’d say it worked well, shifting clothing, backgrounds, frames, expressions. She seemed pleased, even tho complaining from time to time, “I don’t photograph well, I’m not photogenic.”

Nadia Hijab

On a walk we took with Bob up the first part of the Perseverance Trail, she mentioned how I might spice up my offerings. Answer: pair with someone like an Israeli.

I’m not sure. Earlier she’d confided that she also is having problems finding venues. She wrote to the national World Affairs Council, heard only from Juneau, and only thru her suggestion did they offer Anchorage. She’s suggested I present at the next national conference of the US Campaign to End the Occupation. Another good suggestion, because thru such presentations I become more known and perhaps sought.

This is just the sort of interaction I seek with a potential partner, as I had to a great extent with Louise—mutual suggestions, support, dedication to similar objectives. Never really had this with L1, did with Louise (which proved not sufficient to sustain a relationship), thought once in my innocent period I’d have with F, and doubtful that I’d ever have with M.

The Unitarian Universalists have canceled the Bethlehem show scheduled for next Wednesday because the time line for public relations is too short. I have no idea what to expert in Tenakee Springs concerning my shows, since Linda is now incapacitated due to her auto accident.

Meanwhile, my little life as a photographer creeps along, now more as editor of 1000s of images into some sort of coherent visual story. I bear down on one theme at a time, most recently Gaza, since the Gaza show is next on the list, first on the list for this tour. I’ve added the tunnel section, a piece about Belal’s depression, and the international FreeGaza boating excursion.

I continue to wonder about the assumed time limit for such shows, 60 minutes max for a presentation, 30 more minutes for discussion. Whereas concerts, plays, films usually run between 1 and 2.5 hours. Some say, “Well, who will listen to someone speaking for more than 1 hour?” Of course, some might linger on long past that limit if the speaker is ML King, or Malcolm, or Castro. Can I ever interest a crowd to sit beyond 1 hour?

Furthermore, I’m not giving talks, I’m giving a multi media presentation.

Nadia’s talk went well, some 15 showing up at the KTOO studio, the show recorded for later broadcast and her use (this is my task, to follow up on the copy), her theme what the next president can do to foster peace in Israel-Palestine. She cogently laid out the history of peace efforts, along with the development of the occupation, spoke to several factors impeding peace making, and then offered a few points or suggestions about what the president can do.

“Which of the 2 candidates do you think is more likely to foster peace?” someone asked.

“Obama, of course, but only if the populace maintains pressure on him.”

“What does Palin’s remark during the debate about siting the US embassy in Jerusalem mean (Bob’s question)?”

“Recognition of the annexation.”

“How do you suggest we deal with the fear factor? Many Jews, such as the ultra orthodox, fear their personal and societal annihilation, and some Palestinians, such as Hamas, believe Israelis will, if given the chance, wipe out all Palestinians (my question)”

“Build in safeguards, consider an international peace keeping force.”

Which led me to think: fear is a major wrecker of any peace process. Fear drives the soul, eats the soul. And without a concomitant growth in international security, equivalent to what happens when warring parties form greater entities, coalitions, city states, confederations, such as the USA and the EU, all peace plans are doomed. This growth could come in a strengthened or renovated or scrapped and rebuilt UN, the international court system gaining more credibility so no nation can opt out of accountability, more awareness that all is inter-related, all connected, and an interlinked economic system which adds self-serving motivation to the mix.

Perhaps the current financial problems will help encourage some of this development, at least in the economic sphere. Nadia just published an Op Ed that suggests if the markets continue to fall and credit is reduced, and the US has less money available for international aid, Israel might be among the first to feel the cut.

Reading Nadia Abu el-Haj’s book, Facts on the Ground, (not this Nadia), the last section about the rise of the ultra orthodox and their resistance to archeological work, I’m reminded of the strong role played by the extremist groups in Palestine/Israel. The radical Jewish group Orthodox Union can block excavation of burial sites, such as at French hill and Mamilla, with the argument that these are sacred sites: the body is intimately related to the soul, we’d no more dig up or destroy a soul than we would a body. A reasonable argument, but what are its consequences? These excavations are often sought to further science, history, and infrastructure construction such as roads.

Extremists drive policy not only in Israel-Palestine but elsewhere, including the US. How to deal with this, understand it, accommodate some of the more worthy objectives of these groups? After all, if American Indians had more power, they too would strive to protect their sacred sites, burial sites, the Black Hills, various monuments.

—October 9, 2008, Thursday, near Juneau, on the ferry to Tenakee Springs

Links:

Orthodox Union

Institute for Palestine Studies

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

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Spreading images of Palestine & Israel to the West Coast of the United States—A Travel Journal—4

Sometimes with one I love, I fill myself with rage, for fear I effuse unreturn’d love;

But now I think there is no unreturn’d love—the pay is certain, one way or another;
(I loved a certain person ardently, and my love was not return’d;
Yet out of that, I have written these songs.)

—Walt Whitman

From my journal while on the road, 6 weeks in October and November 2008, Alaska to California and back to Portland Oregon, then home to Cambridge Massachusetts—with 3 new slide shows about Palestine/Israel, “My Trip to Gaza,”, “Bethlehem the Holy,” and “The Hydropolitics of Israel-Palestine.” In early December and again in February 2009 I’ll be touring with these and other shows in the southeast section of the US. You can find more information here.

Photos of Obamarama rally

Photos of crabbing

Juneau Alaska, part 4, “seeking synergy”:

Contrasting with nights of plentitudinous dreaming, last night was spare: one that I recall, a potent one. I observed someone with breast cancer; someone, maybe two people, were holding her was a healer. The healer was reluctant to grasp the woman’s breast. Someone, maybe me, encouraged this act and finally she did it, grasping firmly, thru her clothing, what was left of the 2 breasts. Watching this, I was aroused.

The hit art show for me was at the canvas art center where I’d inquired about teaching. This exhibit was based on loss—the artist’s grandmother and husband. She cared for a loving grandma in her last days, while she, the artist, suffered separation from her husband. I understand this well, this very basic emotion. Perhaps my feelings hover around loss at this moment, loss of marriage (dating back 20 yrs), loss of parents (dating back 30 yrs), recent loss of Louise (dating back about 20 yrs), dwindling of relation with F, loss of last summer’s interlude with L3, and perhaps a stillborn relationship with M. I know the feeling well. Am I effectively working with it in my art?

I intend to return to this exhibit, since we yanked ourselves away to get to the movie, Roman de Gar, which also was about loss—loss and find. The suffering exhibit consisted of many small whimsical paintings, often with words, revealing just enough about the artist to feel a live presence, but not gushing with emotion. It’s a balance I’d like to demonstrate in my own work, writing, photos, major photo projects.

This morning’s meditation helped, the 4 thoughts that lead the mind to Buddha. I began with the last, suffering and desire, remembering that M had pointed out to me many years ago that desire comes in 2 distinct forms, selfish and altruistic. The first are the quotidian desires such as coffee, beer, cheese, and the profound desires such as love, recognition, power. The teaching shows us that these desires inevitably increase suffering. And sure enough, desiring a letter from M or F increases my suffering exponentially. Whereas the second type of desire, altruistic, such as environmental integrity, justice with peace in Palestine, security for Israel, etc, either have no effect on suffering or relieve it.

My desire for M, for F, for the ultimate woman, the partner, the lover, is of the first category. It may be understandable, it may be normal, it may be human, but it increases my suffering. Why can’t I know this and move past the problem?

Elaine and Bob told me about some of S’s habits, changing plans heedless of other’s feelings and their plans. We surmised that this sort of pattern, which I might share, correlates with singlehood. That those in community, especially those in a couple, have learned to moderate their solo desires to accommodate the other or the group. I observe this with Elaine and Bob. Have I become a solo actor, heedless of the needs and feelings of others? Thus destined to remain single. Is this what I wish? Once again comparing myself to Z, the ultimate solo driver.

~As I write a fog is enveloping Juneau. When I began writing this morning one hour ago at about 6 am, the sky was clear, I could see stars, while a thick fog blanket bespeckled parts of Juneau. It had been a cold night, nearly to freezing. It is now 36 F, with a low last night of 34. Rain is forecast.~

I took a deep breath and plunged back into planning the tour, mainly reminding once interested folks that I’m still searching. Where is Dave G, and his possible offer of a venue and hospitality? Where are the folks in Portland and Seattle that expressed interest? Where is the series that I thought Allan S was putting together?

I thank Dan, Emily, Louise, Allan, Elizabeth and a few others who have come thru splendidly.

Organizing this tour is frustrating. I’m inclined to find another modus operandi for my work. This search for venues has to be one of the main problems I face. Little audience. Here I have failed miserably.

I should add that Linda is lining something up in Tenakee for our trip there next week, in the school and one public venue. I appreciate this. If it happens.

Checking in with my once living housemate, and continuing influence, Jim Harney, I can’t quite determine if he is still walking. A message from Nancy, written mid August, claimed the walk is over. But later messages indicated he continued to walk. Where is he now? Is he on the road? I must admit his frustration probably exceeds mine. He is lame, he is dying, he has limited time left, and he has no organization to put together his walk.

Why do I complain?

I’m tempted to revert to my blog to digest and purvey some of my experiences. But how honest can I be? Would I write about M? Hardly. About not finding venues? Maybe. I should give it a try.

—October 4, 2008, Saturday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home

So to the quotidian—there was the Obamarama rally which drew nearly 200 people, mainly to write postcards to folks in different parts of the country, advising them to vote for Obama and that the author is from Alaska. I helped by stamping. We flew out the door and into the streets, in what may have been a spontaneous march thru downtown Juneau. Exuberant, yelling when the numerous drivers honked in approval, the crowd was unusual for its youth.

Native Alaskans for Obama

I learned later that the organizer, Sarah (another Sarah, not Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska) is a single mother in her mid twenties, inspired by the need for local support for Obama and Biden. She flung herself into the job, and garnered the support of hundreds. She walks at the head of the line, the other “Sarah” her brother, the baby he carries hers.

Writing postcards to out-of-state voters, recommending they vote for Barack Obama

D, the ferryboat captain: we met while writing postcards. When he left to be with his 4-year-old daughter, E, Elaine told me he was recently promoted to tugboat captain, escorting barges. For this he is paid some $250,000 annually, and works 4 months, the summer months. His previous pay as ferryboat pilot was about $100,000.

My nephew, Nathan, took me out on the boat—is it a skiff?—to check the traps for crabs. He cruised us out into the center of the channel looking for whales. Look there, Skip, a whale! I looked, saw only open water, land behind cloaked in fog and cloud. Now there, the blow! Nothing. The fin! Nothing. Until finally, about 100 yards in front of us, about 3 feet of black fin appeared and slowly disappeared beneath the water. Not close enough or large enough to photograph.

We pulled up two pots, found about 10 crabs, threw back those too small (he used a plastic calipers to measure), the females, and one that had just molted and would have little meat (he detected this condition by feeling the shell, soft.) I photographed all this, adding to my Alaskan lore.

Resisting the temptation to ask him while we were so far from the shore, the air cold and windy, the water frigid, once we docked I asked, Do whales ever capsize small boats?

He replied, Oh, occasionally, not deliberately because they have sonar which alerts them to objects above them, but from time to time this might happen, an accident.

What then, how would you survive? Grab the boat? I asked.

The boat would probably continue on unless the driver thought to throw it into reverse.

So there we might have been, dunked, fully clothed, no boat to clasp to, having to swim a long distance thru freezing waters. Would we survive?

And a few calls trying to solidify the tour. Without much response. An attempt to call Joan B who is now short one colon, no luck reaching her. Try again. It was the Francis Day celebration back home at Agape, and I often thought of folks there, missing them. On the road, I miss so many. And wonder, are they thinking about me? Why don’t they write? Any of them, more than the most cryptic messages. Hey, I remind myself, would I be any different when my beloveds are on the road?

The day, once again, rises dark and foggy, fog painting patterns on the mountains. Slowly, rapidly shifting moment to moment, an every changing panorama out my front window as I write.

—October 5, 2008, Monday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home

Looking over yesterday’s journal entry I can only utter: poor guy, poor guy, so lonely, so desperate. But he-I manage. Whitman managed. I can manage.

This dream:

I alternated between walking on a ridge strewn with shiny smooth black rocks and watching others leap about on this ridge. I stood with a friend, we were at Birzeit University in the West Bank, outside, next to a food stall serving a food I loved, a sort of chicken veggie  combo wrapped in dough, deep-fried or boiled. I recommended it to my friend, hungered for some myself, but upon awakening have no idea what it was, certainly not my favorite Palestinian food, chicken or turkey shuwarma. I also desired coffee. A dream of unrelieved desires?

My Sunday was highlighted by a visit to Juneau Friends meeting, making peace among those who’ve turned me down for a public show sponsored by them. All were congenial, I invited them to the Gaza show next Sunday, thanking Amy and the peace and justice organization she and my sister are active in first. Next I asked if they’d like to hear from me about Quakers in Israel-Palestine. They mostly nodded their heads in approval, one, P, asking if this was the topic of my last slide show to them. It was.

The meeting itself was completely silent. When we broke, standing hand in hand, we had a little discussion, a combination of quotidian details about who’s doing what and something from P, who seems among the most publicly thoughtful. Last week she mentioned the importance of the moment.

Sitting during the potluck with Linda who’d brought the meaty chili that I devoured, we discussed linkage with the Unitarian Universalist congregation  here, and the fact that at Friends Meeting Cambridge, my home meeting,  numbers of people and dollars are declining. She asked why I thought this might be. I’d just received the clerks’ meeting report which dealt partly with this. I might extend this topic later here.

The message brewing for me during the silent session was related to the decline of Quakers, namely the absence of witness. I coined a few phrases that I was tempted to speak: no teach, no reach. Meaning those who have nothing to teach will not be able to reach out to others. Another expression, something I’ve heard before, Quakers typically stand up to be counted and sit down to not be noticed. I might have thought, those not standing up for something cannot expect others to sit with them. In short, we need more than a tradition of supporting individual witness, we need to be witnesses, together.

Maybe linking with the UU’s will help Juneau friends.

Yesterday’s photo offering to the world—obamarama photos—finally gained a few remarks.

From Lynn,

Fantastic! What a spirited crowd – this makes my day – thanks for doing this!

Previously she’d written me a relatively long letter about herself, rare in our transitioned relationship.

And Katy writing,

Great pictures! I am getting suspicious that you might actually like Obama. Could a vote be in the cards?

I replied to Katy with this:

i doubt it, Katy, i’m just going with the local flow. i’m still partial to cynthia mckinney. reason: prudence, suspicion and conscience.

prudence because this choice looks to the future, a vision, when we’ve radically altered the election system to free it of monied interests.

suspicion because let’s follow the money, see who funds mr o and what debts he incurs, with what consequences.

conscience because he is a declared ardent supporter of israel, war to solve conflict, and from what i can discern has a basic belief in the capitalist system.

try this for confirmation about israel:

http://www.jews4change.com/ObamaVideo.php

i wish i could join you and many others in your enthusiasm. i admire the man, as i remain wary of the system.

love,

–dad

And from Rick,

looks like a bunch a radical to me.

I am chagrined at how dependent I am on response, not necessary positive response, any response, any indication that someone, anyone, looked.

Of course I can overlook the responses that folks did offer and concentrate on the absent responses, notably from M who’s not written in nearly 1 week. Maybe I scared her off with my seriousness, my prying, my question about her essence, my disclosure about mine. Too much too fast? Am I now in the same position with her as I was with F, longing, yearning, craving words back?

For some time I’ve argued that Quakers need a radical witness, at least matching that of early friends, early Christians, Christ, Woolman, Fox, Mott, Cuffe, Rustin, Germantown meeting in their pronouncement—their teaching—about slavery. Quakers participated in the underground railroad, Levi Coffin notably, among the examples of many others in our long lineage. Supporting individual witness is fine, I myself feel supported, loved, respected, honored, but is it sufficient? I doubt it. More is needed.

Consider the role of the churches in the civil rights movement, the black churches. And the absence of church activity during Vietnam. Pivotal factors in outcomes. No teach, no reach: teach, reach. Reach to others who can then become part of the synergy. No collective witness, mission, teaching (other than the soft form, our testimonies are important but they need concrete instances) then no result greater than the simple sum of the parts.

~at 6:42 am, the sky is starting to lighten, sky appears, clouds have definition, for how long? No color, all smoky grey.~

Perhaps this wish or call for unified witness mirrors my wish or call for a compatible partner, one with whom I make love, with whom I make projects, but above all with whom we synergize. I miss the synergy I’ve experienced in the past, especially with L. And so the absence of communication with M represents to me lost opportunities, a delay or truncation in what I thought might be a partnership building process. Toward synergy. Not to happen, once again?

I feel at times I’m an untapped resource, an agent meant to be with others for completion. “Seeking synergy” might be my slogan. Is this an erroneous point of view, blowing up my own importance? Whitman thru his words about love not matched writes that from this arose his songs. How true.

—October 6, 2008, Monday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home

Elaine Schroeder, “Sarah Palin,” Skip Schiel

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Spreading images of Palestine & Israel to the West Coast of the United States—A Travel Journal—1

Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

From my journal while on the road, 6 weeks, Alaska to California and back to Portland Oregon, then home to Cambridge Massachusetts—with 3 new slide shows about Palestine/Israel, “My Trip to Gaza,”, “Bethlehem the Holy,” and “The Hydropolitics of Israel-Palestine.”

Photos

Juneau Alaska, part 1:

Here I sit, again, 20 years visiting my beloved sister Elaine and my beloved brother-in-law, Bob, at the front room table, gazing out on the Gastineau Channel, the sun slowly rising (at 6:30 am), the sky relatively clear, the air cold and dry, slightly windy, E and B blissfully sleeping (I presume), no one else living here currently (their grown children Eve in her apt, Nathan in his, both in Juneau, Vu down south near Seattle), a batch of new messages from M, with a slue of slide show dreams to relate:

In one dream I was with Rob examining a new auto slide projector that had amazing remote controls. We weren’t sure how to get it all to work; we were setting up for one of my shows. Mixing in with this was showing a new slideshow about dance, maybe to a preview audience, and the show was clearly failing. Another about Bethlehem seemed in the same camp. One dreary experience after another. Lightening the effect somewhat was discovering two women who quoted passages I’d used. They came up especially for this event from some far away place, honoring me.

At about 4 am, my traditional Hour of the Wolf moment (a Swedish folk story about shape changing and altered consciousness in the early morning hours), I awoke, fitfully sleeping for the next 2 hours. I realized this is partially jet lag—dear body tells me it is 8 am, time to rise. It is also legitimate anxiety—it is also that I have to revise those shows to make them showable. Especially Bethlehem with all its cricks and jarring spots and the lack of continuing sound. Musing thus, I thought, I should just remain in Juneau for the 3 assigned weeks, not try to get to Atlin BC for shows or teaching, make use of this down time to edit the shows, visit E and B, catch up on reading and writing, process and put up more photos, etc. A sort of working vacation.

Laying over in Seattle provided ample time to do much of this, including editing, processing, and preparing to upload more photo batches. Riversing, Boston Research Center event about mortality, family photos etc, all grist for the grinding post production mill. Also posting on my blog my vows, resulting from the BRC mortality session. I thought this a fitting going away remark. How timely, should I die.

Seattle

So once I’m finished with this journal entry, once I’ve breakfasted and sat with E and B, I shall proceed further on my beloved work. There is nothing I’d rather be doing than what I’m doing.

Last evening thru the darkness, 8 pm to about 10, I flew up the coast to Juneau from Seattle. The sky was mostly clear, I do not have sufficient camera sensitivity to make usable photos. However, over the continental USA, full daylight for the most part, and even with varying skies, I managed to photograph the Boston Harbor islands as the sun was rising, the plains with its myriad land patterns, mountains, the Columbia River, and Seattle as we pierced thru the haze and fog to land. Not a bad set and all before I’d even arrived in Juneau.

—September 26, 2008, Friday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home, front table

Columbia River

I dreamt I was retelling a tale known to my audience but doing it in what I thought was a novel, nuanced, elongated manner. They were not happy with my retelling, they were impatient, restive, unaccommodating. They wanted me to hurry along, get to the punch line. I tarried, inserted something about the Catholic Worker movement that I thought would delight them—no way. I also tried to keep the end firmly in mind, knowing how often I forget the punch line, the climax, the denouement.

As I sit this morning writing, light appears slowly, subtly, gradually in the sky to my left, which would be, if my compass reckoning is at all accurate, southwest, not quite the correct direction for a sunrise.

Last evening we watched the first of this campaign’s presidential debates, watching at the public TV station, KTOO, because Elaine and Bob do not have a TV. Walking in late, entering a room stuffed with some 25 people, in the dark, I had little sense of communal experience. An occasional guffaw, as when McCain mentioned his “maverick” running mate, one or two bouts of applause, always for Obama, a few groans, mostly in reaction to McCain, especially when he reiterated the line, “Senator Obama just doesn’t understand…” or the “fundamentals of …”  or “my friends…”

During our postmortem B and E and I agreed that both did well, neither seemed to have the edge. We observed that McCain never looked at Obama whereas Obama frequently looked at McCain (this despite the moderator, Tom Lehrer, trying over and over to persuade them talk to each other). Obama frequently said he agreed with his running mate, and we were undecided about whether this tactic hurt or aided Obama (I felt aided because it demonstrated his ability and willingness to talk with adversaries, demonstrating also McCain’s relative rigidity). Nothing about the environment, global warming, little challenge to the military, mention only by Obama about the health care system, nothing from either about art and culture.

Elaine Schroeder & Skip Schiel, photo by Linda Buckley, Juneau

Both proved knowledgeable about the economy and foreign affairs. Did it influence how I will vote? I’m not sure. I’m so stretched between voting for Obama, even tho my home state of Massachusetts will probably overwhelmingly go for Obama and my vote will have zero effect, and either not voting or voting for McKinney or Nader, knowing this is both a throw away ballot and a vote from conscience.

Did the debate affect voting patterns nationally? Yet to be determined. The next debate will be between vice presidential candidates. B told us he’d recently read a book about the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The format was radically different: apparently questions known in advance, each had one hour for discourse, followed by less but ample time for rebuttal, most or all wrote in advance, and they read from speeches. Media was not expected to be neutral.

How far back does presidential debating go in this country? And how has its influence on the election changed?

Around dinner last night—a late dinner of beef BBQ brisket, too sweet for my tastes, a salad by me, rudimentary and hastily crafted, white rice (why don’t they use brown?), while freshly caught Dungeness crab simmered in the pot, the poor creatures slowly dying as we ate and chatted—I argued that the election, when about candidates, usually has marginal effects historically. But if the election were about party platforms or governance systems the effects might be more significant. B granted that historic forces operate which might subsume individuals. But, using the Lincoln election as an example, some elections matter greatly, individuals can change the course of history.

~As I write a second plane now glides in, otherwise Juneau is blessed with relatively silent skies, an anomaly for someone like me used to city noise.~

I asked, what was the role of money in the election then, and how powerful were the corporations (did they even exist?), the fledgling military industrial complex (Lincoln warned about this even then), and the media? These factors are significant and help explain the true forces of governance, independent for the most part of individuals, who we elect, who governs.

Or so I believe, and I realize I am in a tiny minority.

I’m searching for a metaphor or analogy to describe what I sense is the reality—the election sham. Contenders: commercial sports, commercial media, Carroll’s Tweedily Dee and Tweedily Dumb.

One may root for the Yankees or the Red Sox, the Cubs or the White Sox (I made my choice early, felt passionately about the Chicago Cubs). One may follow and trust the NY Times over the Washington Post. Or one might think this is all out of Carroll, Tweedily Dee and Tweedily Dumb. What does it matter?

Another analogy is Israel with respect to leaders and the growth or curtailment of settlements. History shows: didn’t matter who ruled. Even during Oslo, even during Rabin, the settlements grew. During each of the so-called peace processes, there was little change in the settlement patterns.

Or recent US history, the Clinton years. They brought us a curtailment of anti poverty programs if  not decimation, huge growth in income and wealth disparities, expansion of the military budget and system, and nearly 10 destructive years of sanctions on Iraq with frequent attacks. In short, the movement toward empire (and likely empire dissolution) continued unabated, despite the campaign promises, despite the rhetoric, despite the charisma of Clinton.

Another entry point to the meaning of elections and governance is an investigation of the assassinations of the Kennedy’s, and Martin and Malcolm. Is the same force operating in each case that eliminated those courageous leaders—not necessarily a highly organized conspiracy, but a showing of force, a demonstration of who truly rules?

Another metaphor might be earth forces, such as tectonic plate shifts. Consider an earthquake-prone region, such as Oakland California. No matter what the urban planners suggest, regardless of how the communities are developed, an over riding force exists: potential earthquakes caused by tectonic plate shifts. They are the true governing forces. They operate despite the plans, the various modes of forming communities or reinforcing structures.

After lunch with Eve I walked home, along the water for the most part, happy to be in Juneau, feeling like it is a form of home. So much is familiar, so much evokes memories: daughters Katy and Joey each independently living here when they were in their early teens, Jo’s connection with a burrito bar, Katy with the thrift shop as a meeting ground for those in the punk rock movement, the Glory Hole hospitality center for homeless folks, and John, the director then, and my work there as a volunteer photographer helping them make a slide show to raise money. Also the library and cruise ships, a huge one currently docked, some 10 stories high, 5 wide, a square hulk offensive in its size and shapelessness. This is claimed to be the last tour ship of the season. Some say, thank god. And the marina, stuffed with working fishing boats.

I spotted a long billed bird dashing its bill into the ocean for food. Maybe a heron, maybe an egret. One photo of it.

—September 27, 2008, Saturday, Juneau, Elaine & Bob’s home, front table

Super Tuesday, Barack Obama, and Israel, by Skip Schiel

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A test of vision

With the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert

With the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas

With the foreign minister of Israel, Tzipi Livni

In Sderot, examining the remains of a rocket fired from Gaza

Let’s take a close look at the following set.

Barak Obama in Israel and Palestine, the photos in Ha’aretz

How many photos show Obama in Palestine, vs Israel? Who does he touch, smile with? Where does he lay a wreath and where does he not lay a wreath? What city does he visit afflicted by violence and which does he not visit? Where does he greet people on the street and where is he not shown doing such greeting? What munitions is he shown and which not? Where does he look most troubled? Even prayerful? In which pictures is he shown wearing clothing of devotion? Where else does he don clothing that indicates sympathy?

Suppose one photo showed him wearing a kaffiyeh, the scarf usually indicating solidarity with Palestinians? Or laying a wreath at the tomb of Arafat in Ramallah?

What can we conclude about Obama’s positions relative to the two peoples? What can we conclude about most future US administration’s positions about the two peoples?

Not shown: time with the two peoples: according the Sherif Fam on his WZBC radio broadcast, 45 minutes with the Palestinian president, Abu Mazen, some 30 hours in Israel.

Yes, he did visit Ramallah; McCain refused to meet with Palestinians. Is this progress, does it support a belief that anything significant will change with a new US administration?

—Skip

(Thanks to eagled-eyed Ken Barney)

“What Obama missed in the Middle East”
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 24 July 2008

“Beating plowshares into swords: Where does Obama’s foreign policy take us?”

By Kory Bardash and Abraham Katsman

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