A Website of the Radical Imagination
A friend of First‘s emailed us this note earlier in March. A Citizen in Wisconsin Drove up to Madison last Saturday. Me and about 70,000 other people were there. It is, but shouldn’t be, a somewhat revelatory moment when you experience the range of people who can come together when the organizing principle is economic … Read more
Barack Obama went back to (the black) church during his Tucson speech as he brought good news about Gabby Giffords – “She opened her eyes! She opened her eyes! She opened her eyes!” His little improvisation reminded me of Al Sharpton’s gospel triad at Michael Jackson’s funeral – “Michael never stopped! Michael never stopped! Michael … Read more
“Violet Sacks” originally posted this critique of “progressive” reactions to the shootings in Tucson at her website, www.reclusiveleftist.com. The past week has been full of bizarre responses to the Arizona shooting, and if I weren’t so tired and depressed I’d grace you all with a 10,000 word essay on the subject. But I am tired … Read more
Greil Marcus posted the following piece at Powells’ blog during the run-up to the midterm election. My nightmare headline for November 3: OBAMA RESIGNS AFTER GOP SWEEP Admits Kenyan birth, Muslim Faith A book I published this month with Public Affairs, Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus, Writings 1968-2010, begins with the story of a rumor … Read more
After eight years of life under a president whose power was exercised partly through the denuding and crippling of language, to the point where once familiar words lost their meaning (Clear Skies meant more pollution, Enhanced Interrogation Techniques meant throwing the Geneva Conventions out the window, etc.), the excitement is still high over having a … Read more
Jan Frel – an editor at AlterNet – interviewed historian Lawrence Goodwyn right before the midtern elections. First is honored to reprint their discussion of “Obama, the larger currents in our political life, and the possibility of a rebirth in our democratic culture.” Jan Frel: It seems there’s quite a bit of disagreement about what … Read more
Thirty-five years ago last December, Sam Cooke, the legal father of Soul, was shot to death by an L.A. hotel manager. In a time when pop stars died clean martyr deaths in plane or car crashes, the circumstances were sordid: the married Cooke, near-naked when he died, had been at the motel with a Eurasian … Read more