It’s been awhile since the last Eclectique Interview. This will be the second interview with a poet. That’s Sarah Browning, director of D.C. Poets Against the War and Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Sarah is also author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden (The Word Works, 2007), and co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the [...]
President Bill Clinton’s compromise for LGBT persons serving in the armed forces has officially ended under President Barack Obama’s watch. For some reason, I don’t recall the word “cave” or “weak” splashed across the headlines when Clinton was tackling this issue back in ’93. Or maybe I wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe Al Gore hadn’t [...]
Tonight network and cable television launch the new fall season of comedies, dramas, and [faux] reality. I chose to go to the vault this evening and watch a documentary produced by “then” National Educational Television aka KQED, San Francisco’s public television station (PBS). “Take This Hammer” documents writer James Baldwin‘s visit to San Francisco. These [...]
Over a year ago, I asked several women combat soldiers who appeared in the documentary “Lioness” whether they were able to sleep without medication since their tours of duty in Iraq. They all replied “no.” Some mentioned Benadryl as a sure thing sleep aid at least until veteran doctors prescribed another drug. A goodnight sleep [...]
From Alex at Servicemembers United. I met Alex at the “Ask Not” events for Community Cinema in 2009. Dear DADT Repeal Supporter, We wanted to share some exciting news with you before we even speak to the media about this new development. After relentless pressure, the White House and the Pentagon have finally changed their [...]
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
SYMPOSIUM: Cuba in the World: Literature, Politics, Performance Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Ariel Fernandez at the Future of Music Policy Summit. Ariel’s working on a new documentary “Hip-Hop in Cuba: a Revolution Within the Revolution.” He sent me an email to let me know that he’s in DC this week [...]
Last week, at the end of our Q&A for the Community Cinema screening of ASK NOT (a documentary by Johnny Symons that explores the effects of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy from 1993 to the present), I asked all the people in the room who’ve served in the U.S. military to stand so [...]
I’m looking forward to meeting Alex Nicholson next weekend. So far we’ve only conversed by email. Alex knows five languages. [I'm jealous.] And he is an Arabic linguist. Alex served in the U.S. Army during the height of 9-11 and its fall out wars in Iraq and Afgahanistan. But Alex was discharged in 2006 because…he [...]
The free “We Are One” Sunday concert on the Mall during the Inaugural weekend began with an opening prayer by Bishop Gene Robinson. I missed it live and on the HBO replay. My sister emailed the following message with the prayer text. Millions of people heard Rev. Rick Warren deliver the Invocation at the inauguration [...]
