People Before Profit blog

The Thrill and the Agony

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 06:17:00 +0000

Tour de ‘Fans’: Who’s following Lance?

If you haven’t watched any of the Tour de France on the Outdoor Life Network, how can you call yourself a sports fan? You don’t have to be a cycling nut to enjoy watching. “Au contraire,” as the French say. You simply have to love being a sports fan.

This month-long, multi-stage bicycle race is now celebrating its 100th year. Few professional sports allow fans to get as close to competitors as does the Tour de France. There are swarms of fans lining the road on either side, from the streets of Paris to the Pyrenees Mountains. They part like the Red Sea as the cyclists zoom through. They wave flags from all countries and shout encouragement, “Allez, allez!” (Go! Go!) There are no hecklers – only total enthusiasts.

A few hardcore fanatics occasionally break out of the ranks and sprint alongside of the riders for a few seconds, waving their arms as if to create a tailwind. Frankly, I’ve been surprised that there have not been more collisions between fans and riders. Even the cameras get a little too close – mounted photographers on motorcycles or in minivans, zooming along inches from the bikers’ noses, with telephoto lenses showing us every wrinkle and grimace, every bead of sweat and globule of spit.

There are other things the Tour de France has to offer, of course, like the pure excitement of the race itself. Packs of bikers ride through beautiful flat stretches of the countryside, strain their way up mountains, and smile with the reward of accelerating down the other side. American Lance Armstrong is currently first in the overall standings, with a lead of just more than a minute over German Jan Ullrich.

Lance pulled ahead, in fact, on a day when a fan’s bag caught his handlebars and sent him crashing to the ground. Rather than exploit Armstrong’s misfortune for their own gain, Ullrich and other leaders slowed to wait for him to remount and catch up. Another fan broke out of the ranks and patted Armstrong on the back, as if to apologize for the previous fan’s faux pas (or perhaps to nudge him slightly and help him gain momentum). And then Lance passed everybody on his ascent to the top of Mount Luz-Ardiden.

Armstrong is pedaling to win his fifth straight Tour de France, a feat accomplished by only one other person, Spain’s Miguel Indurain (1991-1995). The final day of riding is Sunday, July 27, so be sure to tune in to the Tour. Lance can hear us cheering from across the Atlantic.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Film review roundup

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 06:11:00 +0000

Immigrants navigate London’s dark side

Dirty Pretty Things, which opened in limited release July 18, is being hailed as a “thriller” but that word is too limiting to describe this intriguing and suspenseful effort by High Fidelity director Stephen Frears.

Starring Amelie’s Audrey Tatou, Dirty Pretty Things does depict horror, but it is the horror of life for immigrants living illegally and doing what’s necessary to survive in London, England.

“It’s really about the underside of London, where people are forced into situations because of their economic circumstances,” Frears has said.

“I think Dirty Pretty Things is a pretty universal story and the problems that it’s dealing with are common to every country,” said Frears, who also directed Dangerous Liaisons and The Grifters.

The story revolves around the Baltic Hotel, where Nigerian refugee Okwe (Amistad’s Chiwetel Ejiofor) works as the night desk clerk. By day, he drives a cab. He has a mysterious past and there are rumors that he is wanted for crimes in his native country, which is why he desperately seeks a new identity on the London black market.

Senay (Tatou), a Turkish national being watched by immigration officials, works the day shift as a maid. She is desperate to get to the United States, where she has a cousin, and will do anything to get there. This has brought her in contact with an underground smugglers’ ring. Sneaky, the hotel manager involved in numerous illegal schemes, actively preys on newly arrived immigrants.

Because of their “illegal” status, both Okwe and Senay try to stay invisible to the authorities and to each other. That’s not so simple with immigration officers hot on their trail and Sneaky backing them into a corner. There seems to be only one way out – or is there?

– Carolyn Rummel (crummel@pww.org)

28 Days questions humanity

I saw 28 Days Later, the latest film by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, on the recommendation of a friend. I was promised the scariest, most brutal movie I’d ever seen, the best zombie movie in years. That’s not what I got.

28 Days Later is a psychological thriller that forces the question of what it means to be human. The lines between good and bad, infected and uninfected, humane and inhumane, are blurred and crossed. At times it reminded me of Apocalypse Now; at other times it was reminiscent of 13 Monkeys.

Don’t listen to the reviews selling this as a “gorefest.” While there are some bloody scenes, it’s a beautifully acted and directed mind game. (Though very similar to a recent British Airways commercial, Boyle’s images of a deserted London are stunning.)

This is a great movie. It’s a dark film that is particularly appropriate in a time of war.

)– Earl J. Anthony (pww@pww.org) )

Pirates is a winner

Johnny Depp has never been much of a drawing card for me to see a movie, even though he’s been in some excellent ones. I no longer have an 8-year-old in the house so a movie based on a Disneyworld ride doesn’t appeal to me either.

However, now that I do have a 15-year-old, I know all the teenage heartthrobs all too well and try to avoid movies starring any of them (Okay, I make an exception for Heath Ledger, but then I’m only human). But, I ignored all of my own rules and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean anyway – and I’m glad I did.

Pirates, which stars Depp, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush, is smart, funny and entertaining from start to finish. Depp is terrific as an eccentric pirate captain, a role that could easily have made him a laughingstock if he hadn’t pulled it off so well. Bloom (Lord of the Rings) breaks a few teenage hearts as a blacksmith in love with the governor’s daughter and Rush “shines” as a buffoonish villain.

You know when the audience applauds at the end of the film it’s a winner and Pirates of the Caribbean is definitely a winner.

– Carolyn Rummel)

Four new CDs are great world music

Fri, 18 Jul 2003 05:17:00 +0000

Music reviews

Remi Bolduc/Kenny Werner, Tchat

Sax player Remi Bolduc and pianist Kenny Werner are a formidable duo, as evidenced by their latest release. They effortlessly navigate the musical intricacies of jazz creating lush, symmetrical and whimsical compositions.

Coral Egan/Alex Cattaneo, The Path of Least Resistance

Coral Egan is one of the most refreshingly talented, yet undiscovered crooners in music today. As her latest release demonstrates, she has a strong, yet soft toned, decisive voice that is comfortable with a wide range of musical genres. For example, while doing an exquisite, stripped down, bluesy cover of Van Morrrison’s “Moondance” she is equally at ease performing lush Bossa classics such as “A Felicidade” and “Insensatez.” This release is a real gem.

Various Artists, Euro Lounge

Euro Lounge is a shining, earbending collection of European chill-out music. The tracks range from excellent dancable hits, such as Italian singer Daniele Silvestri’s fast-paced “Sempre Di Domenica” and Italian group S-Tone Inc’s breezy “Limb,” to the South American/German group Mambotur’s Latinotronic “Salpica,” an exciting computer-generated mambo, son, salsa blend.

“Stojne Bre Mome Kocanasko,” performed by Macedonian folk singer Cnaja Lazarova, is a haunting, ambient-flavored number that evokes the ancient landscape of Eastern Europe. The Italian group Bossa Nostra’s “Jackie” is a lounge-pop imbued bossa beautifully sung by Bruna Loppez. “El Ultimo Habitante Del Planeta” by Spain’s Nacho Mastretta is a quirky, campy number where lounge music meets electronica, jazz and 1970s Italian film music. All in all, Euro Lounge is a stylish, flawless melding of tones and timeless art.

Various Artists, Global Soul

American R&B, soul and hip-hop have spread across the globe, acquiring many followers and inspiring musicians. In many cases these artists simply did not imitate what they heard, but added their own unique grooves. From Tanzania to Italy, Global Soul gives us a taste of some of the most capable R&B, soul and hip-hip performers from around the world.

France’s Melgroove’s “Jí attendrai” is a slick, funky number. Tasha’s “Beyond the Ocean” exhibits the lush, soulful grooves of South Korea.

The CDs best moment is “Ma Peau” by Canada’s Melanie Renaud, an excellent, soul-Quebecois infused creation. Brazil shows a strong knack for soul and hip-hop, as evidenced by Fernanda Abreu’s funky, smooth “Eu Ouero Sol” and Aricia Mess’ rousing “Tentei.”

For fans of R&B, soul and hip-hop, especially those looking for something different, this release is an essential purchase.

– Tim Pelzer (pww@pww.org)

A sons story of survival

Fri, 18 Jul 2003 05:13:00 +0000

An Execution in the Family, by Robert Meeropol, St. Martin’s Press, 288 pp., $25.95

If you’re a regular reader of this newspaper you may think you know Robert Meeropol’s story. Think again.

Meeropol, the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for “stealing the secret of the atomic bomb,” has written An Execution in the Family to tell his story his way.

An earlier book, We Are Your Sons, published in 1987, was really his brother Michael’s story because Robert wrote only 80 of its 470 pages.

“If you want to follow the thread of my thinking,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Easthampton, Mass., “you have to read [An Execution in the Family].”

That’s not just a sales ploy. The book details Meeropol’s personal and political development in a way that may only make sense to some people if they read it in his own words. Once you’ve done that, though, it’s difficult to disagree with him.

The book details the effects of the childhood trauma of his parents’ frame-up and execution during the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s, the brothers’ adoption by Anne and Abel Meeropol, Robert’s early political activism and the personal struggle that ultimately led him to found the Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC).

Robert described An Execution in the Family in a nutshell: “It’s really the story of how I survived what happened to me in my childhood and how ultimately I grew up and … how my entire life experience led to my starting the RFC and what that is all about.” It’s also the story of the evolution of his views on his parents’ case.

“I knew that I would be opening up a can of worms by doing it,” he said, “but what I found is that those who have actually read the book and see it all, see the totality of what I’m saying, they may or may not agree with me … but I think if they have progressive sensibilities, they generally applaud what I’ve done.”

The RFC, which he founded in 1990, is his way of honoring his birth parents while also providing help for children who – because of their parents’ political activities – are going through some of the same suffering he did.

Robert said he doesn’t judge the parents’ guilt or innocence but does consider their motivation when awarding grants.

“I think this comes down to questions of purity,” he said. “If the people we want to support politically have to be pure, then that becomes an argument for disengaging from the political process because no one’s pure.”

The fund has awarded over $1 million in grants so far and plans to give another $250,000 in 2003. The money pays for everything from piano lessons to therapy. A new category provides grants to youth who are targeted because of their own activism.

Meeropol is rightly proud of what the RFC has accomplished in just 13 years of existence. “It took me almost forty years to figure out how to overcome my fear, harness my anger, and transform the destruction that was visited upon my family into something constructive – something to benefit my community,” he writes in the epilogue of An Execution in the Family.

“America today is confronted with a similar challenge. I don’t doubt for an instant that ... we could channel our fear and anger and use our immense power to protect ourselves by spreading economic and social justice throughout the world ... This is the positive way to respond to the murderous impulses that spawned the September 11 attacks. This is the way to find our constructive revenge.”

– Carolyn Rummel (crummel@pww.org) The full interview with Robert Meeropol will appear in the September Political Affairs.

Sports shorts Sports shorts By Chas Walker

Fri, 11 Jul 2003 04:51:00 +0000

Red Sox and Yankees split series

Baseball fans got a close look at the race for the American League East pennant over the past several days, as the Boston Red Sox squared off with the New York Yankees in a four-game series. Boston began the series July 4, four games behind New York, and they hoped to pull even by the close of Monday’s game.

After the first two games, it seemed possible. In the first game, the Sox set off some 4th of July fireworks of their own, bashing seven homers – breaking the Yankees’ franchise record for home runs allowed and falling one short of their club record for home runs hit in a single game. They slammed the Yankees 10-3.

In the second game, even star pitcher Roger Clemens couldn’t escape Boston’s bats. The Sox stroked in eight runs before Clemens was yanked partway through the sixth inning. Meanwhile, on the mound for Boston, Ramiro Mendoza returned from the injured reserve to shut out the Yankees for five innings. Boston glided to another big victory, 10-2, and pulled within two games of the first-place Yankees.

But the next game of the series saw the Bronx Bombers bounce back, beating the Red Sox 7-1. Andy Pettitte pitched eight innings for the Yanks, and held Boston to one run. Boston’s John Burkett gave up two runs in the first, and the Yankees didn’t slow down for the Sox to catch up. Their lead grew as the game progressed – culminating in a big two-run triple by Alfonso Soriano in the seventh inning.

The fourth game, by contrast, brought a face-off of two of the best pitchers in baseball – Pedro Martinez of the Red Sox and Mike Mussina of the Yankees. The pitchers allowed one run each through the ninth inning, when closers were brought in to finish the deal. But in the bottom of the ninth, Red Sox second baseman Todd Walker mishandled a ground ball and let Yankee center-fielder Hideki Matsui slip home, lifting the Yanks to a 2-1 victory.

And the Sox fell back to where they began: trailing the Yankees by four games. The teams face each other again later this month – so get ready for more of the same drama.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Harry Potter and the irresistable read

Fri, 11 Jul 2003 04:03:00 +0000

Review

I admit it – I was lured in by the hype. I can be honest about that, that a woman with a college background in critical literary theory, who has done extensive critical writing on the works of Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, William B. Yeats and Salman Rushdie, was drawn to the new Harry Potter book like a moth to a flame. I even wanted to go to one of the midnight release parties. After talking myself out of that, I walked around on June 21 looking into bookstores, thinking “What if they’ve already sold out?” and “Maybe I should just buy it now, just to be safe.”

I felt surrounded. I went to the drug store around the corner and there it was, down the aisle from the toilet paper. I knew I had to get it. The extensive marketing campaign that started well over a year ago had got me.

I’d read the previous four installments of the Harry Potter series in a somewhat hidden manner. Though they have become some of the highest-selling books of all time, I didn’t want to admit that I was enthralled by the same books that my boyfriend’s 8-year-old cousin was hooked on.

But here I am, out in the open. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix is a good book. I’m guessing that there are a number of readers who have dabbled in the Harry Potter phenomenon. Blame the kids, blame the hype, couch it in whatever excuse you want. They are good books.

Not only are they an entertaining read – although Order is a much less light-hearted affair than the previous books – they also have a political edge. The series is about a kid who finds out that to a community he knew nothing about, he’s famous. He learns that his parents died for the cause, not in a car wreck. He takes up the fight himself, commiting to the struggle against the “Death Eaters” in the name of his family, but also in a desire to see the world be a better place.

In Order we find Harry at 15. The author, J.K. Rowling, can be commended for her ability to capture the frustration we all feel at that age – navigating first dates while feeling that the adults around you must not know anything. On top of all that, Harry also feels the weight of the world on his shoulders – as in the other books, he feels it is his solitary duty to save the world from Lord Voldemort, the leader of the Death Eaters and the dark wizard who killed his parents.

Harry wants to see everything in black and white, good and bad, Order of the Phoenix and Death Eaters. The adults all try to explain that things aren’t that simple, that there’s a grey area to deal with. Harry gets frustrated that the Ministry of Magic doesn’t seem to take his warnings of Voldemort’s return seriously, and that the wizard newspaper is trying to discredit him and his more influential friends and allies.

Weighing in at 857 pages, Order is a remarkably quick read. You get drawn into the politics of the wizarding world – the “Educational Decrees” from the toad-like Ministry of Magic representative, the high-level connections of “war criminals” from the last rise of Voldemort, the predjudice against “mudbloods” and “half-breeds.” You start making the connections to the world we live in, to the similarities and differences between the Fudge administration and the Bush administration.

But at its heart, this isn’t something to read just for the political shadings of it. The books in this series – and perhaps especially this hefty part – are good books, that can be enjoyed, discussed, and – as anyone who knows an 8-year-old can attest to – reread many, many times. If you haven’t delved into the world of Harry Potter – and the movies don’t really count – you should. Make them your summer reading and hold your head high as you tear through the pages of Harry’s first five years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just don’t be surprised if a well-read kid asks what part you’re at and gives you a knowing smile in return.

The author can be reached at jbarnett@pww.org

Sports shorts

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 05:14:00 +0000

Can LeBron James save Cleveland?

Joan of Arc is one of the few teenagers who will ever enjoy a following as big as that of 18-year-old basketball phenomenon, LeBron James.

James is from Akron, Ohio, and he has dominated high school hoops for the last four years. With the size and strength of a forward and the moves and skills of a point guard, James surprised no one when he decided to forgo college and turn professional.

Nor was anyone shocked when James was snatched up as the first pick in the first round of last week’s NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team desperately needs a potential superstar like James – the Cavs haven’t made the playoffs since 1997-98.

And with their last season record of 17 wins and 65 losses, they are having some trouble selling tickets, prompting James to tease that his high school games had better attendance than many Cavaliers games.

But can James save Cleveland as Joan saved France? “I’m not going to guarantee a championship,” he commented. “But we will get better every day. We will be a better team than we were last year.”

For their part, the fans in Cleveland know that it can’t get much worse.

Spurred to victory

Can anybody beat the San Antonio Spurs? Even with David Robinson’s retirement (the classy, top-of-my-game retirement that Michael Jordan tried to pull off the first time), the Spurs line-up is strong. If they acquire Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets, next year might bring another victory for the team.

Let’s just hope that no other Texans get any ideas about a dynasty.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Whats a little grease?

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 05:07:00 +0000

What’s a little grease?

Nine to five? But, what about the overtime? God it is hot in here. And, speaking of headaches. Been a mechanic my whole life. Then there’s the odd jobs. You know, mowing lawns for a little extra cash. Doing this. Doing that. What’s a little grease under your fingernails? A little dirt on your forehead. A little sweat on your cheek. Always been a little tired. A little worried. A little stressed out about the bills. And, oh yah, what about the rent? Been laid off, fired, down sized, canned and – “We just gotta let you go.” But, what about this. And, what about that. Well, I’m still a little tired. A little worried. And a little, “I aint getting no younger.” Nine to five? Well, what about the overtime? The time spent. The jobs done. And don’t forget the headaches. Besides, what’s a little grease under your fingernails?

– Tony Pecinovsky

Hanns Eisler: composer as revolutionary

Fri, 04 Jul 2003 05:00:00 +0000

The cultural worker:

“How necessary music is and how important it can be in the greatest struggles for a new world”

– Hanns Eisler

By his own design, composer Hanns Eisler’s politics were nothing if not obvious. The composer/activist’s artistic output was, as early as the 1920s, already matching the intensity of Bertolt Brecht’s.

Eisler was born in Leipzig on July 6, 1898. As a young man he became a student of the Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg and this prepared him for a lifetime of rebellion through music. He was moved not only by the new music of Europe, but by American jazz and theater music, and the workers’ songs and cabaret music so relevant during the years of the Weimar Republic. In addition to the influence of radical music, his politics were also shaped by brother Gerhard, a noted leader of the German Communist Party (KPD).

Following a period as musical director of the Berlin-based leftist theater company The Red Megaphone and music reviewer of the KPD newspaper, Eisler came to the attention of Brecht. Brecht/Eisler collaborations would go on to include such notable works as “The Measures Taken,” “The Mother,” and a brilliant statement on segregation, “The Round-Heads and the Point-Heads.”

The message of class struggle was unbridled and could be found as clearly in the music of their productions as in the words. Minor-key laments, brash marches, throbbing work songs and harshly discordant cabaret numbers filled their theater works. One could say that Eisler the composer was birthed under Hitler, experienced childhood in view of Kristalnacht, and entered adolescence in spite of both Goebbels’ artistic oppression and the tragedy of genocide. Of this Eisler said, “Our militant art was forbidden by Hitler and all of its supporters were rigorously prosecuted, so that Hitler could rid himself of a dangerous enemy. But revolutionary music cannot be forbidden … the forbidden songs go illegally from mouth to mouth.”

And the songs were, indeed, remembered. They traveled from the KPD to a bevy of Communist and Socialist parties internationally and then became known as the soundtrack to the Spanish Civil War. “The Song of the United Front” is still recalled today as a call for revolt. Some of their other lasting numbers included “The Solidarity Song” and “Song of Supply and Demand.” Eisler’s music worked perfectly in tandem with Brecht’s lyrics: equal parts turbulence and detachment; simply illustrating a revolution was not enough to agitate one. Still, the Nazi assault on the populace became overwhelming. Those who could relocate did.

It was within this appalling setting that Hanns Eisler first came to the United States, a country broken by Depression and boiling with its own radical upsurge. Initially, he toured the country, performing his material for audiences of workers and intellectuals alike.

With local vocalist Mordecai Bauman, he recorded an album of “Songs of the Spanish Civil War,” which was held in high esteem by the left. The recording ensemble that backed the vocalist and composer was dubbed The New Singers, a workers’ chorus led by Communist Party USA musician Lan Adomian and second pianist Marc Blitzstein (a CP member who would go on to his own amazing career). The Communist Party had established itself on the front-line of this cultural workers’ movement. Among the strongest of its arts programs was the Workers’ Music League, the U.S. arm of a larger, global body, the International Music Bureau, itself established in 1932 at the behest of Eisler.

As part of the first wave of anti-Communist witch-hunts in the cultural field, Eisler was called in for questioning by the House Un-American Activities Committee. In an attempt to demonize him they established Eisler’s important position in revolutionary music, calling him “the Karl Marx of Communism in music.” Ironically, nearly all of his radical music was in opposition to the very fascist enemy the USA had just worked to defeat.

Eisler was forced to leave the United States in 1949, but he would not leave quietly. Progressives around the country offered protest and there was a large-scale fundraising party in New York on his behalf. So great was his influence that Woody Guthrie, the radical folksinger, wrote a song for him: “Eisler on the Go.” The song’s simple yet haunting refrain of “I don’t know what I’ll do, I don’t know what I’ll do,” spoke volumes.

Hanns Eisler boarded a ship for East Germany and never returned to the U.S. again. Though he became a respected figure in the GDR (he composed their national anthem), his inner demons allowed him little room for self-satisfaction. His greatest latter-day accomplishment was the completion of his cherished “Deutsche Symphony,” begun during his World War II exile period. Eisler, cultural worker extraordinaire, will always be remembered as one who wielded the mightiest of songs as his weapon.

John Pietaro is a cultural worker in New York City. He can be reached at leftmus@aol.com

Anne Feeney tours Texas

Tue, 01 Jul 2003 09:54:00 +0000

Every Spring, Texas is favored by a whirlwind tour by folk and labor singer Anne Feeney. She travels by car through the state, north to south, to the famous Kerrville Folk Festival. Coming and going, she hits the major cities for impromptu concerts. No venue is too large or small. Feeney particularly likes to perform for union audiences, and has been in most of the hell-holes of American union struggles for many years.

Houston, Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth were favored by Feeney this year. In Fort Worth, she teamed up with folk-rock-rapper Chris Chandler for a jolting performance at the 1919 Hemphill art center in Fort Worth on June 11. Feeney soloed on some of her own songs, but played mostly familiar folk and gospel music as she alternated with Chandler on cutting-edge satire.

Political ears must have sizzled as Chandler and Feeney clarified the current situation in America. No one was safe, but President Bush (“suffering from mad-cowboy disease”) was the butt of most of the jokes. At one point, Feeney stopped long enough to read a few paragraphs about her grandfather’s role as a steelworker in American labor history. She read from William Z. Foster’s account of the Great 1919 Steelworkers’ Strike.

Feeney’s collaboration with Chandler is available on a CD titled “The Wholly Stolen Empire.” Her own songs and some traditional renditions are on other CD’s available through www.annefenney.com. We will play them in Texas until she comes again.

– Jim Lane (pww@pww.org)

The Men of Watergate

Tue, 01 Jul 2003 09:51:00 +0000

My husband was a supporter of the World for practically all his life. He died Nov. 9, 1999.

He wrote poetry. While going through our files, I came across this poem, one I did not know. As I read it, it occurred to me that he was saying something 30 years ago that could be applied to our American scene today.

– Charlotte Podolner

We are the men of Watergate, We aim to have a fascist state, We do not wish to legislate, We only want to exterminate – Freedom Democracy The Constitution

Unrest is growing in our land, We’ve got to make a determined stand. Our areas of exploitation Are growing slimmer, Our future certainly is getting dimmer. We’ve got to stop all the dissent, All this damn radical ferment; We can’t afford to wait, We are the men of Watergate.

Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans and Jews – The concentration camps will air their views. The Indians on the reservations – We’ll show them all Our human relations.

We are State, We are the men of Watergate.

We’ll have no more of these elections, Except our own corporate selections. Protest rallies will be banned, The whole damn Congress will be canned. We’re not sedate – We are the men of Watergate.

Kissinger will fly all over, Our leader Nixon’s appointed rover. Peace is bad – Detente we hate – We are the men of Watergate

– Gil Parker November 1973

4th of July reading: Revolutionary women

Tue, 01 Jul 2003 09:48:00 +0000

Book Review

Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution, by Melissa Lukeman Bohrer, Atria Books, 271 pp., $24

Many of us learned about the American Revolution through the eyes of the Founding Fathers, the “great men” who led 13 struggling colonies to break from English tyranny. Very few of us have learned about the contributions, leadership and sacrifices of women in securing and defending liberty during the American Revolution.

Indeed, very few books have focused exclusively on the role of women in the American Revolution. Melissa Lukeman Bohrer’s Glory, Passion and Principle does just that.

While the book focuses on eight women, the stories of Mercy Otis Warren and Deborah Sampson stand out.

Mercy Otis Warren was born on Sept. 25, 1728, in Barnstable, Mass., the third of 13 children. Like most women, she was denied a formal education. But Warren’s brother James, educated at Harvard, took the “leading role in her education, dissecting political and historical issues with her, helping teach her to write.”

When the American Revolution developed into armed conflict the patriots and loyalists both struggled for the hearts and minds of the people. In response to a play written by a British general that ridiculed the colonial solidiers, Warren wrote The Blockheads; or The Affrighted Officers: A Farce. “Her political satire wove its way straight into the hearts of its readers, with a brilliant realism that caricatured her victims perfectly, thwarting the effect of Burgoyne’s attack,” writes Bohrer. Like Tom Paine’s Common Sense, Warren’s writing roused the spirits of the Boston patriots and helped to mobilize for the war effort.

While Warren wrote political satire within the confines of her Boston home, Deborah Sampson chose a different path, and contributed in the war effort like no other women during the American Revolution.

Born on Dec. 17, 1760, in Plympton, Mass., Sampson was the fifth of eight children. Her father left when she was five and since her mother was unable to care for her, Sampson was given to another family as an indentured servant until the age of 18. “Her days were filled with spinning and weaving, baking and cooking, helping care for the farm animals, helping tend to the babies – all the work expected of a woman and a girl at that time,” Bohrer writes.

At 22, Sampson did something unthinkable at the time – she joined the patriot forces as a male soldier, defying popular conceptions of women as weak and unable to perform in combat as effectively as men.

In many ways she surpassed most men with her drive, ambition, intellect and ability to handle the most trying of circumstances – all the while pretending to be a man.

After being wounded during a sneak attack by British loyalists, Sampson’s identity was found out by a doctor. Fearing for her safety, he kept her secret until she healed.

Sampson was honorably discharged. Her experiences were published years later and she lectured widely, becoming the first woman in the history of the United States to go on a professional lecture circuit.

In addition to Warren and Sampson, Bohrer gives a chapter each to six others, the more well-known Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams and Molly Pitcher, as well as the lesser known Sybil Ludington, Lydia Darragh and Nancy Ward.

Melissa Lukeman Bohrer’s Glory, Passion, and Principle is a welcomed contribution to a neglected subject.

– Tony Pecinovsky (tonypec@pww.org)