Brad Will was shot and killed by right wing thugs in Oaxaca, Mexico a couple days ago. He was a tall guy with glasses and bib overalls. When I saw him, he often had a guitar in his hand. He split his time between boxcars, land occupations, protests, and bike messengering. He let me sleep on his floor quite a few times, and I'm pretty sure he slept ( Read more... )

Dear Dan ( Read more... )

There's been so much in the last few weeks that I've wanted to document, and I keep forgetting ( Read more... )

I went for a walk after dinner. I saw B. She has cancer. I've been meaning to visit her, but it's complicated visiting her with intruding into a moment she can't take it. She gave me a tour when I first move to the neighborhood, and we always feel good to run into each other. But we don't normally don't see each other that much ( Read more... )

I was running downtown on the streets for the union election. It's kind of depressing though. Three years ago I was part-organizer of a rank and file insurgency installing a radical leader into office against overwhelming odds. Now I'm just trying to show off and stop the megalocal from wanting to take away anything more ( Read more... )

My first job in Philly was working door. I was a substitute above McGlinchy's on 15th Street. McGlinchy's is a great old man bar with a mixed crowd that sells more Yuengling Porter than Pottsville and is cheaper than drinking at home. One whole wall is covered with a blownup technicolor photo of a man in a flannel shirt setting a duck decoy, which ( Read more... )

Today was block cleanup. It was the last one of the year. I'm getting better at it, and also we've improved the system of boards we use to spread the hydrant water across the street. I mostly weeded at first. I was out there just after 8 when Andrew the block captain started shouting up for people to get up and move their cars. I sweated out all ( Read more... )

My aunt's in town. She's here for the breastfeeding conference. She comes home and we tell union grievance horror stories to each other. She tells me the latest research on depression. They've discovered that it's an inflamation of the brain that's best treated by Omega-3 and exercise. Often the inflamation comes from abusive childhood trauma. I ( Read more... )

One of the dealers on my block got murdered last night. Around the corner on Linmore, they dumped his body and shot into the air. The older homeowners have been keeping court at Cheyenne's porch all day talking about how they were waiting for this to happen. People aren't so much afraid. It's very clear what the context was of what happened. But ( Read more... )

Yesterday, B. and his girlfriend took me to Lancaster County to have lunch at the home of a Mennonite family. His girlfriend had done this once before. You can call the Amish/Mennonite tourism industry offices or you can ask a bed and breakfast proprietor. They call around and you end up with an appointment. There was another couple from California ( Read more... )