Disaboom Wolfspirit Blog

OFF TOPIC: The FINM Art Project

John H. Pieper — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:07:00 GMT

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FINM Project

Hello All,

I may have asked before, but I'm starting an art project called, "Friends I've Never Met".

What I plan on doing is a series of black and white portraits. I am asking that those friends who are interested in this would email me a picture at least 3" x 5" in JPEG format. By 31 July 2008. I'm hoping to put them side by side in a show. Then, I hope to put them here online.

Please email them with the heading, "FINM Project" to me at

jhpieper@care2.com (cut and paste this).

Afte this is all done, I'm hoping to have enough $$ to be able to mail the portraits to those in the show, and to those not in the show.

Peace,

John

Prayers for my Dad

John H. Pieper — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:53:00 GMT

While I was out of town this weekend, my dad went into the hopital. He's been falling down due to his legs hurting. He thought ir was Gout. Turns out to be worse.

The medicos have found a baterial infection in his blood. My dad is on a Morphine drip and broad-spectrum antibiotic until they can isolate the little bastard in a culture an get a specific determination of what will kill it.

I'm asking everyone for healing and prayers for him. He's never been a man to be still and be patient. It's been rough on him and he pretty wiped out at this point.

Thank you all very much for your consideration!

Peace,

John

"Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73"

John H. Pieper — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:47:00 GMT

Nevada City, California:

Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers.
Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

Phillips served as an Army private during the Korea War, an experience he would later refer to as the turning point of his life. Deeply affected by the devastation and human misery he had witnessed, upon his return to the United States he began drifting, riding freight trains around the country. His struggle would be familiar today, when the difficulties of returning combat veterans are more widely understood, but in the late fifties Phillips was left to work them out for himself. Destitute and drinking, Phillips got off a freight train in Salt Lake City and wound up at the Joe Hill House, a homeless shelter operated by the anarchist Ammon Hennacy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement and associate of Dorothy Day.

Phillips credited Hennacy and other social reformers he referred to as his "elders" with having provided a philosophical framework around which he later constructed songs and stories he intended as a template his audiences could employ to understand their own political and working lives. They were often hilarious, sometimes sad, but never shallow.

"He made me understand that music must be more than cotton candy for the ears," said John McCutcheon, a nationally-known folksinger and close friend. In the creation of his performing persona and work, Phillips drew from influences as diverse as Borscht Belt comedian Myron Cohen, folksingers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and Country stars Hank Williams and T. Texas Tyler.

A stint as an archivist for the State of Utah in the 1960s taught Phillips the discipline of historical research; beneath the simplest and most folksy of his songs was a rigorous attention to detail and a strong and carefully-crafted narrative structure. He was a voracious reader in a surprising variety of fields.
Meanwhile, Phillips was working at Hennacy's Joe Hill house. In 1968 he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. The race was won by a Republican candidate, and Phillips was seen by some Democrats as having split the vote. He subsequently lost his job with the State of Utah, a process he described as "blacklisting. "

Phillips left Utah for Saratoga Springs, New York, where he was welcomed into a lively community of folk performers centered at the Caffé Lena, operated by Lena Spencer. "It was the coffeehouse, the place to perform. Everybody went there. She fed everybody," said John "Che" Greenwood, a fellow performer and friend. Over the span of the nearly four decades that followed, Phillips worked in what he referred to as "the Trade," developing an audience of hundreds of thousands and performing in large and small cities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. His performing partners included Rosalie Sorrels, Kate Wolf, John McCutcheon and Ani DiFranco.

"He was like an alchemist," said Sorrels, "He took the stories of working people and railroad bums and he built them into work that was influenced by writers like Thomas Wolfe, but then he gave it back, he put it in language so the people whom the songs and stories were about still had them, still owned them. He didn't believe in stealing culture from the people it was about."

A single from Phillips's first record, "Moose Turd Pie," a rollicking story about working on a railroad track gang, saw extensive airplay in 1973. From then on, Phillips had work on the road. His extensive writing and recording career included two albums with Ani DiFranco which earned a Grammy nomination. Phillips's songs were performed and recorded by Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Tom Waits, Joe Ely and others. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Folk Alliance in 1997.

Phillips, something of a perfectionist, claimed that he never lost his stage fright before performances. He didn't want to lose it, he said; it kept him improving. Phillips began suffering from the effects of chronic heart disease in 2004, and as his illness kept him off the road at times, he started a nationally syndicated folk-music radio show, "Loafer's Glory," produced at KVMR-FM and started a homeless shelter in his rural home county, where down-on-their- luck men and women were sleeping under the manzanita brush at the edge of town. Hospitality House opened in 2005 and continues to house 25 to 30 guests a night. In this way, Phillips returned to the work of his mentor Hennacy in the last four years of his life.

Phillips died at home, in bed, in his sleep, next to his wife. He is survived by his son Duncan and daughter-in- law Bobette of Salt Lake City, son Brendan of Olympia, Washington; daughter Morrigan Belle of Washington, D.C.; stepson Nicholas Tomb of Monterrey, California; stepson and daughter-in- law Ian Durfee and Mary Creasey of Davis, California;
brothers David Phillips of Fairfield, California, Ed Phillips of Cleveland, Ohio and Stuart Cohen of Los Angeles; sister Deborah Cohen of Lisbon, Portugal; and a grandchild, Brendan. He was preceded in death by his father Edwin Phillips and mother Kathleen, and his stepfather, Syd Cohen.

The family requests memorial donations to
Hospitality House, P.O. Box
3223, Grass Valley, California 95945 (530)
271-7144
http://www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org

Jordan Fisher Smith and Molly Fisk

------------ --------- --

Molly Fisk, 530.277.4686 molly@mollyfisk. com
Jordan
Fisher Smith 530.277.3087 jordanfs@gv. net

Word document here:
http://www.utahphil lips.org/ utahphillipsdead at73.doc
PDF version:
http://www.utahphil lips.org/ utahphillipsdead at73.pdf
http://www.utahphil lips.org

"Feed the people! Stop the killing! Do it NOW! "
Julian Beck

Quandry

John H. Pieper — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:48:00 GMT

The 2008 Old Arizona production of "THE BROKEN BRAIN SUMMIT" has now been put to bed and with a great momentum for a call to do the road show. As a man who had never thought I'd ever do something in professional theater, I was and still am suprised at the critical praise for my work as Dr. Dendrite and the work of my fellow actors in the company. But I feel a disquiet about it all..

What do you say to people about Tramatic Brain Injury when you already have a hard time describing the ways that a person feels when it seems like I used to know stuff and now can't recall. I sometimes feel as if I am the janitor character in "Flowers for Algernon". I've done back to full-time work three times and failed to meet job expectations, and told not to come back until I was "fixed".

So now I'm liking where I am at with Interact Center with some caveats. I don't "Look" disabled and sometimes the visual and performing arts staff get a bit miffed that visitors may differ to me for information rather than them. I feel as if the other program artist/actors treat me as "too healthy"(their words) and the staff treat me as if I should be somewhere else or working with the administration..

On my really good days I don't even need the cane to walk. On the bad days, well...let's just say those are the days I am grudgingly grateful for Depends.

Illegal Police Occupation in South Dakota

John H. Pieper — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:56:00 GMT

Illegal Police Occupation in South Dakota

Yankton, South Dakota
UPDATE - YANKTON, SOUTH DAKOTA

http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=rmRLkGPwW_0

PRESS RELEASE
Selma, AL – Wagner, SD – Bull Conner Lives On!

Sheriff Ray Westindorf, Sheriff of Charles Mix County in South Dakota and the SD Highway Patrol has initiated a police occupation of Indian Land on the Yankton Reservation. An out of state Hog Farm Corporation has set up shop on the Reservation against the wishes of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, local farmers and community members. The Hog Farm is surrounded by Reservation land and the only access road is under the jurisdiction of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs.

On April 15th Yankton Sioux Tribal Members began a peaceful protest against the Hog Farm and were met immediately with illegal law enforcement presence and arrest. To date twenty-two people have been arrested on trumped up charges and there has been a total over reaction of law enforcement numbering up to 52 SD Highway Patrol Cars with 22 more Highway Patrol cars waiting in reserve. Some patrol cars from as far away as the state of Iowa. The Highway Patrol has set up snipers with rifles on top of two command posts they have established near the scene. The State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction on Indian land and the highway leading to the Hog Farm is Indian Land where Tribal members and others have been arrested while peacefully protesting. This amount of law enforcement presence is unprecedented for a peaceful protest and violates the legal Jurisdiction of the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

Sheriff Westindorf is carrying on the Spirit of Bull Conner in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights era of the nineteen sixties. The Sheriff's son was awarded the electrical contract for the building of the Hog Farm. Is law enforcement now being used to protect out of state corporate interests and family members of the Sheriff in the State of South Dakota? Corporate Hog Farms have been outlawed in many states in the US. How many Highway Patrol cars have been dispatched to White Peoples' protests in South Dakota? Racism is alive and well in South Dakota! The Peace and Justice Center has been notified and has dispatched observers to the scene with Catholic Nuns vowing to protest and be arrested if necessary to bring attention to the violation of Human Rights of the Yankton Sioux Tribal Members.

The Dakota American Indian Movement has observers at the scene and if the community decides to invite the National American Indian Movement to the reservation to protect the People from the SD Highway Patrol we will respond with a call to all of our members in the Upper Midwest to travel to Yankton to help the community in any way possible.

The International Indian Treaty Council has dispatched attorneys to the scene to document the Human Rights Violations which will be presented to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting, beginning in New York on Monday April 21, 2008.

Contact numbers for the American Indian Movement are:

Clyde Bellecourt, National AIM 612- 251-5836

Dennis Banks, National AIM 763- 242-4242

Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council 612- 386-4030

BROKEN BRAIN SUMMIT

John H. Pieper — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:43:00 GMT

BROKEN BRAIN SUMMIT
April 3-26 | Tickets $8-$16 |Reservations: 651.334.3888

Heads will roll (and sing) when renegade researcher Dr. Dendrite gathers a motley crew of brain experts for a midnight meeting. Inspired by the true stories of actors who have experienced brain trauma, and scripted by Fringe favorite Amy Salloway and Interact. A show filled with metal heads, talking plants, memory loss, anger management plans and a whole lot more!

PERFORMANCES AT OLD ARIZONA
2821 Nicollet Ave S | FREE PARKING ACROSS STREET
Opening night Saturday, Apr 5 @ 7:30 | $20
ASL Apr 10 & 26 at 7:30pm; audio described Apr 25 @ 7:30 & 26 @ 3:00
To purchase on-line go to www.ticketturtle.com

Special late night showings of Circumference, Amy Salloway’s hit comedy that the Pioneer Press calls, "A must see: poignant, sensitive and hysterically funny."
April 4, 5, 11, & 12 at 9:30pm | Reservations: 651.334.3888
Tickets $12 ($10 with Broken Brain ticket or Fringe button)

Theology of Redemptive Suffering

John H. Pieper — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:51:00 GMT

One suffers. But a person shouldn't suffer needlessly. I could sit here and bitch about pain, but the only one who feels it is me. Friends and family long learned that helples and hopeless feeling of how inadequate we can be as active healers. But the one thing those around me do that they do not fully comprehend is just how much and how important it is for me for them just to simply be there and be present.

Sometimes, the support given silently is worth every bit of precious gold in the world.

An Answer to Disabled Gentlemen and the women they date.

John H. Pieper — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:33:00 GMT

I'm Male, Straight, Single and Disabled.. Been dating before and after becoming disabled. Was Married 15 years when the ex bailed because she couldn't handle my being disabled. Got the Divorce papers served to me in the Hospital after the second surgery. Yeah, it sucked. The marriage was anulled by the Church so I'm able to marry again in the Catholic Church.

I suffer from Chronic Pain Syndrome secondary to Spinal Fracture and Stenosis in C4-6. Spinal Lamenectomies, Fusions , and Debreedments have eliminated some, but not all of the various neuropathies.

I can walk short distances with the aid of a four-pronged cane. Minnesota at 15 below can be tricky on the ice.

I'm currently single and dating.

I've been in relationships with both "abled" and disabled women.

I try to explain that this may be an issue and usually bring a Depends along with. An extra change of undergarments is in the night bag if staying at her place. And don't forget that gentlemen always practice safe sex. Which means pack the condoms in with the extra Depends. If your doctor approves you for Viagra, more power to you.

Just relax and be yourself. This relationship thing can be easy or it can be hard. You get to choose. I had to remember who I was and get my head in the right place for myself. I was a healthy man before I became disabled. Now I'm a healthier man who happens to have a disability. My experience with disability has deepened my soul, not lessened my desire. Dress well and for success. --and within your comfort level and financial means.

I lived with my parents for a bit. I had to basically have "the Talk" with them in reverse. What I mean is, "I'm an adult, I choose my life, I make mistakes, I learn, I get my heart broke, and hope for the best for the next time.

I am now in my own place and they are happy about that too. If you can, it's always a better thing, in my humble opinion, to be out and being on my own. Besides, unless it's a group home situation, living with your parents is a turn-off for most women; and this goes for all men regardless of their ability status.

The first girlfriend I had was way back in High School. Geez, the dinosaur I rode back then is extinct now......

Activists Promote Restoration of Americans with Disabilities Act

John H. Pieper — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:27:00 GMT

I got this fro another site

.
..>..>

Why You Should Care

We Need Your Help

..> ..>..>..>

Join the Fight.
Make a Difference.

Related Links

..> ..>..>..>

More on the ADA Restoration Act
More on disability

Adriana Schubmehl
civilrights.org

January 23, 2008

At a January 8 briefing hosted by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, advocates and legal experts spoke on the need for Congress to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Restoration Act of 2007 to reinstate "a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability."

Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 with the intention of preventing unfair treatment toward people with current, past, or perceived disabilities, defined as "physical or mental impairments that substantially limit a major life activity."

However, over the past 17 years, advocates say that the Supreme Court has weakened the ADA's effectiveness by enforcing an unduly narrow interpretation of this definition. Under current rulings, a plaintiff must prove that he or she is "disabled enough" to be protected by the ADA before the courts will hear the discrimination claim. This has allowed courts to dismiss cases, such as Sutton v. United Airlines, by arguing that the plaintiffs' conditions do not constitute disabilities.

Chai Feldblum, a Professor of Law and the Director of the Federal Legislation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, says that the ADA Restoration Act will re-establish coverage of individuals whom Congress originally intended to protect from discrimination by amending the definition of the term "disability."

This change would help ensure that the courts focus on the alleged employer discrimination, rather than on whether an individual can meet the rigorous standards to qualify as "disabled."

While some members of the business community worry that this more inclusive definition will lead to a surplus of frivolous discrimination lawsuits, lawyer Joseph Sellers, head of the Civil Rights and Employment practice group at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, says that the burden still rests on the plaintiff, who must prove both that he/she qualifies for a job and that he/she was discriminated against because of a disability.

Along with 238 cosponsors, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D. Md., and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R. Wis., introduced the ADA Restoration Act into the House on July 26, 2007, where it has received wide bipartisan support. Activists hope that a House vote, which may occur as early as late January or early February, will encourage the Senate to pass the bill quickly.