June 2010508 #117: Half-marathon
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican.
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Flag Day
On June 14, 1969, I won a prize for an essay called “What the Flag Means to Me.” Years in the Boy Scouts informed me of the symbolism in the American flag and taught me flag etiquette. I knew red stood for the blood of American patriots, white stood for the purity of American ideals, while blue stood for the glory of her achievements. I knew you should not fly the flag in the rain or at night, as well as how to fold it smartly into a triangle. I saluted it daily in school and believed that it must never touch the ground or be held in a parade at a lower level than another flag. I had seen enough movies to know that the Stars and Stripes coming over the horizon meant rescue from harm and the restoration of justice. I was proud to wear an American flag patch on the shoulder of my scout uniform.
I was confused by newspaper images of Old Glory being flown upside down (a sign of distress) outside the crown of the Statue of Liberty by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I was no fan of Abbie Hoffman’s American flag shirt or Peter Fonda’s American flag helmet in Easy Rider. I saw these things as disrespectful.
Then, in 1975, I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and learned how, in 1864, six hundred Cheyenne, two thirds of them women and children, were massacred, after they sought protection under an American and white flag. When American troops questioned orders to kill even the infants, the commanding officer, Colonel John Chivington, said, “Nits make lice.”
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24 torture activists beat unlawful assembly charge
Saying that “In my opinion, the defendants were not properly charged in this case,” D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell Canan today acquitted 24 activists of unlawful assembly in connection with civil disobedience this past January 21 at the U.S. Capitol.
Happy defendants Mark Colville and Paul Thorson
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508 #116: I’m going to have a great summer
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican, Gabe Rollins, and Cha-Cha Connor.
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Patrick Duffy is awesome
My confirmation sponsoree Patrick Duffy is all over the news this week.
This weekend he’s competing in the 2010 USRowing Youth National Championships, June 11-13, 2010, Cincinnati, Ohio. Here’s him and Evan on cable access talking about it:
Also, there’s an article in today’s Worcester paper about him graduating high school and getting into Harvard. I am so proud of this kid.
(Pat’s parents are Scott and Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, who founded Worcester’s SS. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker and occasionally post to P&C.)
Some verse
Becoming ‘British’
is not about
passing a test, saying some pledge,
getting that passport.
It is about
picking a side for yourself
in that old, drawn-out war
they call ‘civil’.
Then around you,
the ever-cumulous skies,
the revolting lands,
the tumultuous seas,
cannot even decide on their own names.
But oddly,
you know exactly
who you are,
where you stand.
508 #115: Troubadours
508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Raianne Richards, Mark Mandeville, Jenny Jade Albert, and Chris Bell stop in Worcester and perform a show, as part of a walking tour across Massachusetts.
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