Monthly Archives: July 2012

The More Things Change, The More Things Change

July 14, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

It’s hard to knock the French. What with their incredible baguettes and that nifty decision to call potatoes the apples of the earth. But they got it wrong when it comes to change. From where I’m sitting their expression ought to be: “The more things change, the more things change.”

Have You Been Keeping Up With The Kardashians - E Television

Because I see change. I feel change. I experience change. Everywhere.

Like the words we use. Over time, some of them slip away. They die.

In the hustle and bustle that is life today, we don’t have time for complicated words. Especially words that describe things, but don’t sell them.

That came to me this morning as I was thinking about Bob B. Bob, a retired teacher and street performer, loves to read. He reads poetry. Pretty much every morning he brings a poetry book to Fuel. You just won’t find as many poetry readers today as you would fifty years ago, when many a young person would carry a dog-earred copy of Gary Snyder around, or Ferlinghetti, and some were brave enough to tackle Ezra Pound.

Aside from those slightly snooty literary critics, does any ordinary person know what the heck Ezra Pound was talking about? Or why?
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I’m Bringing It Home

June 21, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

I’m bringing it home. That’s what Bob calls finishing the song or the gig.

I’ve been doing what I said I wouldn’t ever do again. Making a film. When my friend Beth began her film about Bob Dorough, she wanted me to come down and shoot Bob singing in a small New York jazz club.

Bob Dorough - Blue Note Records

I couldn’t do it. I was burnt to the core. Making my film, “World On Fire,” the story of John F., one young soldier’s Iraq War, had sent me on an exhausting journey. His war was real, physical, three-dimensional. My war was internal. The willing suspension of disbelief times ten. The only way I could do justice to John was to do my all to understand.

I listened day and night to radio reports; spent hours looking at photographs. Iraq must have been the most photographed war ever fought: most soldiers had small video cameras. If they weren’t making videos they were blogging. The Defense Department couldn’t crack down on these soldiers fast enough.

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Going, going, gone

June 7, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

Things are different since Vladimir left. Now when I rant, mutter, or converse in more measured tones, there’s nobody listening.

Vladimir responded in his own unique Quaker Parrot way and most of it went over my head. What I could understand was his laugh.

And I could use more laughter. These are difficult times. Several of my favorite TV shows are going away. And I’m not talking hibernation. The usual end-of-season-fadeway only to reappear in the fall.

Goodbye Jason Isaacs. Thanks for "Awake."

We’re talking going, going, gone. Cancellation. Kaput.

Unfortunately, I’m hooked. Hooked on the characters and hooked on their stories. Like a junkie with no junk and worst of all, no connection.
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Losing My Grip

May 19, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

Do you remember when people would say “he’s losing his grip on reality” about someone who seemed not quite there? When an expert on something or other would announce on TV that some adamant, outspoken, overly-passionate woman had “lost her grip on reality?”

Avocadoes

A scary thing. But now I can relate. I’m having a hard time with reality. Quite frankly, between you and me, I’m not even sure I could recognize reality if I saw it.

In my world there are now several realities.

Let’s start with the here and now reality. I’ve got one of those red plastic baskets with the little metal handle and I’m trying to find two ripe avocados at the Big Y. Two for three dollars. I’m doing great because I have a back-up plan. I know if I can’t find the perfect two with my name on them, there’s always Guidos. And I can always use a half-pound of Marketplace turkey. That’s my everyday reality.

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An online newsmagazine based in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, Red Crow News covers what's happening and what we hope will happen.

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“A Red Family: Junius, Gladys & Barbara Scales” by Mickey Friedman

"An extraordinary set of reminiscences, beautifully put together by an extremely sensitive, even gifted interviewer. It is a jewel." --Glenda Gilmore, author of Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950

"Junius Scales is a fascinating character whose experiences tell us so much about his period, and Friedman's family approach opens up new angles on the story." --James R. Barrett, author of William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism

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