Treadmill. Stretching. Blink.
Q.U.E.E.N. – Janelle Monáe, feat. Erykah Badu
No – Shakira
Control – Janet Jackson
Say Her Name – Bear Fox
Break the Chain – One Billion Rising
One Woman: A Song for UN Women – Various
Confident – Demi Lovato
You’ve Got to Run – Buffy Sainte-Marie & Tanya Tagaq
Sit Still, Look Pretty – Daya
Red Dress – Amanda Rheaume, feat. Chantal Kreviazuk
Follow Your Arrow – Kacey Musgraves
Fight Like a Girl – Kalie Shorr
I Get Out – Lauryn Hill
We Are Rising – Taína Asili
My Revolution Lives in This Body – Rosario Dawson
Category Archives: Current Events
25 November 2019
Filed under Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights, Music, New York, playlist, United Nations
Stop the execution of Rodney Reed
This is urgent. On November 20th, Texas is scheduled to execute Rodney Reed for the rape and murder of Stacey Stites. Horrible crimes. Crimes that Rodney Reed most likely did not commit.
Mountains of evidence exonerates Rodney Reed. All of that evidence was kept from the all white jury that convicted him. Instead, the evidence implicates the victim’s fiancé – local police officer Jimmy Fennell – who has a history of violence against women, including being convicted for kidnapping and sexual assault soon after Rodney was wrongly sent to prison.
Governor Greg Abbott has stopped an execution before. He can again. A huge public uproar right now could force Abbott to free Rodney Reed and stop this execution. Sign the petition today!
Gov. Abbott should stop this execution because a significant amount of evidence points to Rodney Reed’s innocence. Executions are irreversible. There can be no do-overs. The lack of absolute certainty (which exists in many cases) should give significant pause before the state carries out this or any execution.
Let’s suppose, just suppose that Rodney Reed committed these crimes. That seems highly unlikely, but let’s suppose. Sound reasons still exist for halting this and every execution:
Executing people to keep people from committing crimes has proven ineffectual.
Execution lowers us to the level of those who kill.
The violence of an execution feeds violence.
Thou shall not kill.
We are better than this.
Filed under Capital Punishment, Current Events, Death Penalty, Human Rights
17 October 2019
In honor of Congressman Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, sharecropper’s son and a giant for justice. Assembled this morning, this playlist features songs about Baltimore, songs from artist with connections to Baltimore, and songs by Fannie Lou Hamer – a sharecropper’s daughter, a sharecropper, and a giant for justice.
Walk. Morningside Gardens.
On Being a Sharecropper – Fannie Lou Hamer
Run Mourner, Run – Fannie Lou Hamer
Streets of Baltimore – Gram Parsons
Silver – Rik Ocasek
Raining in Baltimore – Counting Crows
You Think You’re a Man – Divine
Baltimore – Audra McDonald
Precious Lord – Fannie Lou Hamer
Baltimore – Nina Simone
This Little Light of Mine – Fannie Lou Hamer
Baltimore – Lyle Lovett
Road to Hell – André De Shields
Baltimore – Randy Newman
Baltimore Fire – Charlie Poole
Baltimore – Prince
I Know Where I’ve Been – Queen Latifah
Amazing Grace – Fannie Lou Hamer
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Exercise, Music, New York, playlist
Andy Henriquez – #CLOSErikers
We honor the memory of Andy Henriquez, 19 years old. He begged for medical attention in solitary confinement on Rikers Island. He died there due to neglect in 2013.
From time to time, I have had the honor to stand with the community working to close the jail complex on Rikers Island and replace the jails with smaller justice centers based in four of the New York City boroughs. People directly affected by the Rikers jails led this effort.
Today the New York City Council voted on a proposal. I joined the community for a rally in the time before the vote. Participants were invited to read brief statements honoring individuals who had died on Rikers.
I read the words about Andy Henriquez. He was arrested for participating in a heinous crime. He was held for three years without a trial. He was held in solitary confinement. He complained of pain and called for medical attention as did others held near him.
He needed to be held accountable for his role in that crime. But that would have involved a speedy trial. And it would not have involved dying alone in a cell. Whatever he did, whatever he did not do, as a child of God, he deserved better. So did Mohamed Jollah for whose brutal murder Andy Henriquez was arrested. So do all people.
May today’s New York City Council vote mark steps on the journey to a criminal justice system that emphasizes restoration and rebuilding community.
Justice giant
Sharecropper’s son,
Baltimore’s own,
justice giant.
Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
January 18, 1951 – October 17, 2019
Filed under Current Events, Six Word Story
“I am a man”
In 1879, Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca people successfully argued that Native Americans are “persons within the meaning of the law” with the right of habeas corpus. The result of case, held in a U.S. District Court in Omaha, meant that Chief Standing Bear became the first Native American judicially granted civil rights under U.S. law.
Nebraska recently unveiled a statue of Chief Standing Bear in the U.S. Capitol. A recent story about the statue and Standing Bear in The Washington Post story quotes Standing Bear’s affirmation of common humanity during his trial:
On the second day, Chief Standing Bear was called to testify, becoming the first Native American to do so. He raised his right hand and, through an interpreter, said: “My hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. The same god made us both. I am a man.”
“I am a man.” – Sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennesse.
“Ain’t I a woman,” – Sojourner Truth.
“I am a person. I am a human being.” – Countless people in countless situations.
Again and again, people have had to make that assertion as they struggle for civil rights and human rights in the face of oppression, discrimination, and prejudice. The struggle continues today. It is shared across all social identities as structures grant privilege to some but not to all. Key to creating and maintaining that privilege is denying the humanity of other people. When will we ever learn that everyone – everyone – is a human being entitled to basic human rights? When will we ever learn to treat one another with respect and love?
For Chief Standing Bear and Sojourner Truth and the sanitation workers of Memphis, may we renew our efforts to eviscerate, in the word of the CoInspire Conference, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, and all systems of privilege and oppression.
Learn more about Chief Standing Bear:
The Trial of Standing Bear – a PBS film
Chief Standing Bear: The Trail Ahead
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, National Park
World Communion Sunday 2019
One of my favorite days of the year. The First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone celebrated communion today. The Rev. Immanuel Bae officiated with me. Thanks to Anne Marie Russo for the photo.
26 September 2019
This one is for the young people who challenge us to care for the planet. Special thanks to abby and to Nicole whose examples and work and action suggestions encourage me to be more involved.
Slow jog / walk. Morningside Gardens. For the first time in this new effort, more jogging than walking occurred. Hence the switch in order.
Strength work. Stretching. Gym at the Shire.
Opening Song for the Maker – Joy Harjo
There Is a Garden – Archie Roach
Ring around the Moon – Elephant Revival
Ain’t Gonna Drown – Elle King
Dragonfly – Ziggy Marley
Ideoteque – Radiohead
Agolo – Angelique Kidjo
Hermana Tierra – Laura Pausini
When Elephants Cry – Mayuka Thais
Tangaroa Whatamautai – Maisey Rika
Young People Marching – Raffi
all the good girls go to hell – Billie Eilish
Earth – Lil Dicky
Who’s Gonna Stand Up? – Neil Young
The Seed – Aurora
Globe All Warming – Niyorah
Earth Spirit – R. Carlos Nakai
Filed under Current Events, Exercise, Friends, Human Rights, Music, playlist
25 September 2019
In memory of Aleyah Elaine Toscano and all the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Walk/slow jog. Morningside Heights.
Stretching. Gym at the Shire.
Nikki Shawana – Sister Round Dance Song (MMIW Honour Song)
Song for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – Jayda Gadwa
Qiksaaktuq – Tanya Tagaq andToronto Symphony Orchestra
The Highway – N’we Jinan Artists, Kitsumkalum First Nation, BC.
Run Sister Run – Cass McCombs
Inspired by the run of Métis activist and athlete Tracie Leost to raise awareness about Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women
Performance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – music by A Tribe Called Red
Red Dress – Amanda Rheaume, feat. Chantal Kreviazuk
Indian City – Through the Flood
Blackbird – Emma Stevens (in Mi’kmaq)
I wore the red I have. The hat is from the University of New Mexico.
Filed under Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights, Music, New York, playlist
6 August 2019
Walking. Morningside Gardens.
Stretching. Gym at the Shire.
A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall – Leon Russell
I Come and Stand at Every Door – Anne Hills
Hiroshima-Nagasaki – Ozymandias
Nuclear War (Version 1) – Yo La Tengo
No Nuclear War – Peter Tosh
Twenty Years Ago – Eric Bogle
Where Do We Go from Here – Yoko Ono
Enola Gay – Utah Phillips
A Thousand Paper Cranes – MONO
Nagasaki no Kane – Meisterbrass Quartet & Yumi Aikawa
Sadako – The Sands Family
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream – Simon & Garfunkel
Filed under Current Events, Exercise, Music, playlist
Along the Graybeard Trail 