The Vancouver Connection

So there's this great guy based in Vancouver, Justin Ritchie, who runs a website called Extraenvironmentalist, and these folks did an interview with me a few weeks ago that just got put into a podcast. It's kind of long, but I think they did an excellent job of editing it:

http://www.extraenvironmentalist.com/episode-34-america-failed/

For those of you in the Vancouver area, please note that I'm going to be up there March 18-19, doing some lectures. I think one is going to be at the People's Co-op Bookstore (1391 Commercial Dr.) the evening of March 18; then another (although I might wind up giving the same lecture, I'm not sure) at the U of British Columbia at around noon on March 19, Woodward Hall, Room 1.

From there I'm going to drop down to San Francisco, March 21-22, although I haven't yet worked out the bookstore scene there. In any case, I'll do another post ca. March 1st, giving my travel details, so those of you within striking distance can attend these events, if you want.

Enjoy...mb

Entrevista con Gandhi

Relax, amigos; it wasn't an interview with the Mahatma, who died when I was a kid. No, Gandhi also refers to a major bookstore in Mexico, and they interviewed me at the Feria Internacional de Libros in Guadalajara on November 26 of last year. The video just got posted online a few days ago; it's fairly short. I was also relieved that they didn't show my shoes and socks, since that occasioned such a firestorm of criticism when I posted the link for the TV Azteca video (below). As for my T-shirt (also the subject of some discussion last time), it says: "Nadar Te Da Vida"--swimming gives you life. Clearly, good advice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_oTAS0OSR8

Interview on TV Azteca

OK, amigos: for all you hispanohablantes out there, here is the interview I did with Sabina Berman (no relation) on TV Azteca. Azteca taped it in Guadalajara on November 27, and it aired on Mexican television last night. Disfrutala!

http://www.tvazteca.com/capitulos/shalala/88195/el-pensador-morris-berman

The Only Life There Is

As 2011 draws to a close, here's a little something to reflect on, in terms of a group purpose for all you NMIs and Wafers.

Remember that 1990 Kevin Costner film, "Dances With Wolves"? In it, the Sioux holy man, Kicking Bird, says to Costner (whose Sioux name is Dances With Wolves), "The path that matters most is the path of a true human being." I know everyone here, in their own way, is struggling to follow that path; and I'm hoping that collectively, we've created some sort of refuge here, to support each other in doing that. The context, as we all know, doesn't make it easy: not just having a president who has no problem signing into law a bill that makes it possible for him to snatch up anyone he doesn't like and throw him or her into a black hole forever; but having a populace who couldn't care less about that, or about anything, really, except the next dollar and the next electronic toy. Rejecting mainstream American values in favor of those of a true human being is not easy in these times; but as all of you know, What else is there? For those of us here, this is the only life there is.

May the Great Spirit bless you all.

mb

The Poetry of Kurt Vonnegut

A few years back, when he was still alive (obviously), Kurt Vonnegut published the following poem in the New Yorker, a tribute to his lifelong friend Joseph Heller. Here it is:

JOE HELLER

True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, "Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel 'Catch-22'
has earned in its entire history?"
And Joe said, "I've got something he can never have."
And I said, "What on earth could that be, Joe?"
And Joe said, "The knowledge that I've got enough."
Not bad! Rest in peace!

Interview With Suzi Weissman

This was a short interview held yesterday (Dec. 9) with KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, Pacifica Radio. The program is called "Beneath the Surface," and the part that features yours truly begins about 43 minutes into the show. Link as follows:

http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/index.php

Go to Friday, December 9, 2011, 5:00 p.m., and click on 'play'.