The Blues...

Jazz

In a cruel world

That laughs when you sing the blues

You might as well laugh

Play the Blues Away...

Cesar Chavez – Union

The Tiger

I’ve never understood the hatred of Unions in modern society and my reading of Cesar Chavez’s writings have helped strengthen my appreciation of the role of unions. He was a civil rights and Union activist who helped found the National Farm Workers Association and is one of the patron saints of the labor movement. 

A lot of the gains he helped win are being slowly rolled back, however, which is a timely reminder that it is not always enough to win, you must also sustain.

Greatest quote:

From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength

Radical

Saul Alinsky

Organize

A great thinker and activist whose book ‘The Rules for Radicals’ remains one of my mantras. He was a great community organizer and stood with and for the legion of oppressed peoples everywhere. His treatises on how to organize down-trodden communities and gain power from an oppressor are still relevant even today. It’s no surprise that he influenced such powerful luminaries as President Obama, Secretary Clinton and Former President Clinton.

Greatest quotes:

Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. 

Levitate

Locomotion

Kill me if you will

I’ll keep myself on this train

Till the end of days

On a cushion of air

Float on, like a modest mouse

Tools of the Trade

bell hooks

Formerly known as Gloria Jean Watkins

She was a great feminist and anti-racist thinker, who has been a quiet influence on me since I first discovered her as a 17-year old.

Greatest quote:

“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.”

Carbon Copy

Pressure

A touch of pressure

And time immemorial

Forms a diamond

Precious