RAIN, BEAUTIFUL RAIN, 1996

Rain? Again?? Ah, It's raining again. And Gloomy. Oscar the Grouch and I both love it.
Greetings and benedictions,

This year has been an uphill struggle, but it seems to be ending at least 5% better than last year, so let's be grateful for small goodnesses. The plan for the letter is to go from gloomy to ebullient. Will I succeed?

Karma!

Shortly after last year's letter, karmic breakdowns blasted me out the back end of '95. In December, Boeing was out on strike, I blew up at work at a "property rights Republican" (thinks that corporations should be paid not to pollute, and whose likes will bring us a dead planet in a generation), alas within earshot of the boss, and was "encouraged" to take up "anger management." Note how disagreements with the ruling class are posed as "personal problems" to be "overcome." We're just one big happy violent-greedy corporate family.... The car, and computer died, the "certified" roof sprung a leak, and I discovered drywall where ducts should have been in my basement. At the new year's eve party, a reveler in his cups took my shoes and I had to get home in stocking feet!

Luckily, things have gotten a little bit better. I was able to relax a little bit more at work, I didn't get a pay cut like last year (a raise that is less than inflation is a cut; don't they know math?). I got a hand- me-down laptop, and bought a new Saturn in February. The engine starts when you turn the key. The car moves when you press on the gas. It gets me from place to place. It hasn't broken down yet. A friend said I should write ad copy for them, so effusive am I in their praise.

The house karma got settled in June but not very well, when I took the seller to court. I got about a quarter of what I asked, about a tenth of what the repairs cost me, but at least that part's over. The house has proved to be much more a sink of money, time, attention, and energy than I predicted. At least another year of major projects lies ahead. A deck and windows, and maybe some landscaping. On the other hand, I have an elegant brick fence that lifts the values in the neighborhood. The projects next door are struggling to be crime-free.

Alas, two friends, Gryphon Blackswan and Trapper Traherne, passed away of AIDS, both black gay men. The rate is slowing, but not stopped. The good news is that some men are showing wonderful remissions on protease inhibitors.

Work!

Work has been okay, although the silence of Boeing's executive suite on human rights in China is stifling to me. Making lots of money for the stockholders is an excuse for political prisons, murder, torture. The company does not represent me, much as they would claim to politicians. On the other hand, I am not obliged to work on military projects, and I fought a long time for that. Technically, I got to deal with a lot of "bleeding edge" software for moving three-dimensional geometry over the Internet: Virtual Reality Modeling Language, for which I'm on a conference committee for '97. Good working grips to New Orleans for SIGGRAPH (and good food) and San Francisco Visualization '96 (and visits with friends).

National Politics!

Politics was a slight improvement. Clinton continues to disappoint: the "salvage rider" that he signed doomed large tracts of the remaining ancient forest to extinction. His "Communications Decency act" enacted censorship and a $40 Billion giveaway of free bandwidth to existing players that could have been sold at market rates for $40 Billion. NAFTA and GATT continue to spread poverty and starvation in Mexico, but the few billionaires that live of their blood and hunger are well-connected to the US establishment. Of the two Republicans who ran for President, Clinton was the more moderate. Clinton is anti-gay, anti-labor, anti-environmental protections, anti-civil-liberties, and anti-poor. Zero for five of the five issues I care about. But Dole was worse on all of them. Clinton was so far ahead on the West coast that I could vote my conscience: for Ralph Nader. I wish he had taken campaigning more seriously: his critique of corporate corruption of the democratic process was right on the money, to coin a phrase [Stop! Stop the puns!]

Confirmed to be true: what we knew all along, the U.S. teaches techniques of murder and torture to future Latin American death squads and dictators at the "School of the Americas" at Ft. Benning Georgia. The murders of four Americans in El Salvador were trained there. The training, and the CIA connection, continues.

Gay Marriage?

marriages going around? My colleagues at work were for gay marriage: "David, you too should have the opportunity to buy a house every seven years for someone you don't like!" The political maneuvers were dumb and dumber. Better we could have gotten employment nondiscrimination, which came within one vote of passing the Republican Senate and enjoys wide backing in the polls. But no, we got a lot of posturing...

Activism!

Speaking of activism. Clinton is bribing a Mr. Charles Hurwitz not to log the ancient redwoods of the Headwaters Forest. This same Hurwitz, who raped before and will rape the forests again, also raided his employees' pension under a raygun-era "reform." He deserves a lifetime in prison, not a hundred million dollar bribe. Call Clinton at 202.456.1111 and tell him just to protect the redwoods, and dispense with the bribe!

Don't Buy Borders Books (except in Chicago)

Borders is the second largest chain in the country, with revenues of $1.7Billion. They are also Brentano's, Walden, and Planet Music. They pay poverty wages ($5.50 an hour, rising to $6.25, never higher) to college graduates. Borders' two top execs take in $790,000 a year, and own stock worth $28 Million. Read all about it in "Downsize This!," recommended reading by Michael Moore. But you won't find it at Borders: they refuse to distribute pro-union books.

They are fighting against a union organization with tactics from the 19th century: Spying on employees off hours, intimidating workers in one-to-one sessions, threatening workers who attend union meetings (in clear violation of the law), and promising a vendetta against the Chicago store that did unionize. Six months ago they fired organizer Miriam Fried. Write or call Richard Flanagan, President, 311 Maynard St., Ann Arbor MI 48104 tel: 1-800-644-7733. An injury to one is an injury to all!

State & Local Politics!

State and local races fared better. Washington tossed out a "Christian" right-winger out on her ear. These folks are not Christians. Jesus preached love, forgiveness, and mercy. Ellen Craswell preached punishment for those who disagree with her Old Testament agenda. Good riddance to Randy Tate, whose two years too long in Congress were dedicated to abolishing the minimum wage and vast giveaways to corporations. The other good result was an initiative in the state of Maine to limit campaign spending. Nearly $2 Billion, over 90% of it corporate soft funds, corrupted Campaign'96.

This summer saw a great uproar over the "Defense of marriage act." As if there were not enough A good result in California, legalizing marijuana for AIDS and chemotherapy patients who need it for controlling nausea. I could use a toke myself, when I read too much about U.S. politics. Unfortunately, California voted against affirmative action (the only reason we are starting to see women in top jobs) and has taken to scapegoating legal immigrants, the same way my ancestors were abused a century ago.

Kultchah!

The year was a good one for culture. Probably my favorite singer was Ben Heppner as Andrea Chenier at Seattle Opera. A couple of concerts I missed but would have seen: Howard HansonŐs Merrymount at Seattle Symphony, and Michael Tilson Thomas and members of the Grateful Dead playing an improv, Cage., and Cowell in San Francisco. Perhaps the prologue of the twentieth century "Ich fuehl ein Luft von Anderen Planeten" (Stephan Georg "Litanei" in Schoenberg 2nd String Quartet 1910) found its coda at that concert of otherworldly music.

Seattle Pro Musica, for whom I sing, did a wonderful concert of "Music of the Americas" in June, including some rarities from South America, and a scary version of Samuel Barber's "Reincarnations." At the end of this week we'll be singing Josquin DesPrez "Missa Ave Maris Stella." This will be my 25th anniversary with Josquin: I sang his Missa Pange Lingua on a South American Tour with Princeton and Smith Colleges in 1971. Next spring, they will do the Poulenc "Gloria", thirty years after I did it in college. Among all the Sturm and Drang of home repair, I did manage to plant a tiny garden of tomatoes, and share a few of them with friends in the fall. Nice connection to the earth in my back yard. Backyard was occasion for a number of parties, the best of which was in honor of Harry Hay, the grandfather of gay liberation in the US., in Seattle promoting his new book. Would that I had a book coming out in my 84th year!

I have been gratified to work on a Radical Faerie mailing list on the Internet. A mixed bag, truly, but an occasional lift makes it worthwhile. Plus some neat new keypals. I attended a gathering for the first time in four or five years. Perhaps that is often enough. I met some wonderful men, but was repelled by the looksist attitudes some men brought with them.

Wonderfulness!

Personal life has been a splendid contrast! I am still seeing the same man after a year, Read, an ex-Bostonian activist, and good cook , who will (sigh) return to Boston at the end of next summer when he finished naturopath school. Good times at dinners, concerts, and weekend getaways. Yes! The presence of a loving relationship does much to counterbalance the otherwise fecal-encrusted state of the world!

Kudos!

Love me, I'm a liberal, (and not a "neo.")
(signed)

David Kerlick return to David Kerlick Personal Page