MLK: Ebenezer Baptist Church, 5 months before his assassination

"I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren't fit to live.

You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You're afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you're afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice."

If you´re a northerner with a free weekend in February, consider attending this.

The Justice Conference is about the nature of justice. Justice as the foundation of human rights. Justice as the expression of equality. Justice as the fabric of freedom. Justice as forgiveness. Justice as reconciliation. Justice as restored relationship between the creator and the created. Justice as the very nature of God.

The Justice Conference is about the location of justice. Justice at work on Monday morning. Justice as driving to the store in the suburbs. Justice as playing soccer on the pavement in the projects. Justice as selling sugar in the slums of Kenya. Justice as brainstorming in the corporate boardroom. Justice as the small decisions made every day. Justice as the shared universal maxim.

The Justice Conference is about the work of justice. Justice as a call. Justice as a commission. Justice as vocation. Justice as worship. Justice as identity. Justice as service. Justice as sacrifice.

"I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about 'Where do we go from here,' that we honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here. And one day we must ask the question, 'Why are there forty million poor people in America?' And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. You see, my friends, when you deal with this, you begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the oil?' You begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?' These are questions that must be asked."

-Martin Luther King, Jr, in his speech Where Do We Go From Here?

East of Eden / Steinbeck

Lee poured a tumbler full of dark liquor from the round stone bottle and sipped it and opened his mouth to get the double taste on the back of his tongue. "No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us. What a great burden of guilt humans have!...and, of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And here I make a rule--a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting--only the deeply personal and familiar."

feather / page france

you stood too close to the sunset
and it finally outgrew you
so now i paint you on my doorpost
like i knew you

i make all of the right noises
but my love they go right through you
i'm as heavy as a feather
hallelujah

...and we will rejoice

the alphabet of grace / frederick buechener

"Maybe the creature under the tree has just been told that if he wants to live, first he has to die, and his mouth is wrenched open with what may be either a roar of great laughter or a wail of despair. What it costs to be a man, he is told, is everything he's got. To be rich, he must be willing to spend himself down to the last nickel. To be happy, he must be willing to let his heart break. To be blessed, he must be willing to live like a damned fool--giving not getting, losing not winning, reaching out into the night for a hand that's not there, dancing a dance that clack-clack is the only music to. The creature under the trees laughs very much like hell or cries like a banshee because of course this is all precisely and definitively what he can neither do nor be. He is not a man; he is a walrus. He is not a hero; he is a pig. His legs are broken."

"And none shall be afraid"

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We Cannot Turn Back

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

For every Iraqi,

for every Palestinian, for every refugee in Darfur, woman in the Congo, child in Zimbabwe:

“The people walking in a land of deep darkness have seen a great light. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, for you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."

For every American, for every terrorist, for every imperialist, for every dictator,
even from your identity as Oppressor, there is freedom.

The one called Peace is coming.

West Hollywood, 12.06.08

Over the Rhine

"is there only one religion
the kind that whispers
when nobody comes around?
the world can wait
the world can wait
i want to drink the water from your well
i want to tell you things i'll never tell..."
-The World Can Wait

cape canaveral

"oh, oh, oh brother totem pole
i saw your legends lined up
& i never felt more natural
apart, i just came apart"

-conor oberst