Tag Archives: MLK

Is Star Trek good for girls?

By Mark | June 28, 2014

At some point, about a year ago, Clementine and I got out of the habit of reading together every night. It might have had something to do with the fact that Arlo had come along, and was demanding more of my time, but I suspect she’d also gotten to an age where our interests were […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Pop Culture, Uncategorized | Also tagged 1966, Captain Kirk, Clementine, Gene Roddenberry, it's complicated, Majel Barrett, Martin Luther King, Nichelle Nichols, sexism, Star Trek, teachable moments, Uhura, women's rights | 10 Comments

If you’re going to be compared to a terrorist, it might as well be a brilliant one

By Mark | September 30, 2013

On Sunday afternoon, I was standing in the rain in Ann Arbor, by myself, with a half-eaten cupcake in my hand, when a friend approached me, and greeted me with a question that I’d never been asked before. “How’d you like being compared to the Unabomber?” Having no idea what in the hell he was […]

Posted in Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged A2GastroBoy, activism, Alan Haber, Barenaked Ladies, Boots Riley, cupcake, Derrick Jensen, doppelgänger, injuries that Mark has suffered, isolation, James V. McConnell, Jeffrey Dahmer, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., meet a blogger, Miss Piggy, non-violence, Omari Rush, people Mark looks like, people who look kind of like Mark, SDS, Steve Page, technology, Ted Kaczynski, terrorism, the human condition, threat of violence, Unabomber, University of Michigan, violence, violence vs non-violence | 15 Comments

We’ve always known that the day would come when Kerry Bentivolio would embarrass us… Well, that day is today

By Mark | August 28, 2013

Our favorite disgraced-local-teacher-turned-Santa-Claus-impersonator-turned-Congressman, the “mentally unbalanced” Kerry Bentivolio, finally made the big-time, scoring not only a feature story in yesterday’s New York Times, but a significant mention in columnists Maureen Dowd’s piece on the implosion of Republican party. Apparently, when you come out right before the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have […]

Posted in Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Congress, I have a Dream, impeachment, Kerry Bentivolio, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Jr., Maureen Dowd, racism, Santa Clause impersonator, Syed Taj, tea party | 19 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Vikram Bastian

By Mark | March 20, 2013

Next Thursday, assuming I can keep the panic attacks at bay, I’ll be conducting live exit interviews in front of a raucous, beer-swilling crowd at Conor O’Neills, as part of Concentrate Media’s moderately-distinguished speaker series. (It’s free, and open to the public, but, if you’d like to attend, you need to register in advance.) Here, […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Special Projects, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Adrienne Berry, alcoholism, American exceptionalism, Ann Arbor Free School, Ann Arbor Public Library, Anthony Meza Wilson, big banks, binge drinking, Bitchpork, brown people, Canadian shame, Canadians, Casa Jezebel, conservative parents, cooperatives, counterculture, credit unions, Davy Rothbart, Degrassi Jr High, Degrassi Junior High, depression, dumpster diving, edifice complex, Eric Stephenson, Eric Sturgis, Erin Brockavitch, Evan Bicker Williams, exit interviews, Far House, Forest Juziuk, Freaks, Fred Thomas, free school, geeks, haircuts that destroyed families, hedonism, Hotel Midwest, house shows, houses with names, hubris, Ian Fulcher, illegal alien, India, Jambo, Jambo Man, Jef Porkins, John Roos, John Rowland, Joseph Bollinger, Katherine Scott, Kayj, Kiran Nigam, KKK, Logan Schaedig, Manufacturing Consent, Michael Firn, Michelle Winkfield, Mississauga, moderates, music scenes, Noam Chomsky, Oakland, Ontario, Our New Library, Patrick Elkins, Pitchfork, Protect Our Library, punks, race, Raphael Brim, sadism, San Francisco, Sasha Kimel, Shelly Salant, Socialism, Steffanie Stauffer, Sumangala Kailasapathy, The Found House, Thom Elliott, undocumented resident, undocumented worker, University of Michigan, urban planning, Vikram Bastian, Water Street, web development, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews | 48 Comments

The subject of poverty finally makes its way into the presidential campaign

By Mark | September 15, 2012

As I’ve mentioned before, I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, the day before Robert Kennedy arrived there to begin his tour of Appalachia. I don’t know that it explains why, over the course of my life, I’ve been so drawn to Kennedy, but it’s an odd coincidence, I think, and I find it hard to […]