Real Hartford

Cleaning Up the Library

Finally, a sensible solution to the eternal problem of unsavory characters using the Hartford Public Library.

“For the last time, don’t share your toys with your brother!”

My ancestors might have been illegal immigrants. I have no reason to suspect that they were, nor any reason to believe that everything was on the up and up. We are not a family of scrapbooking types, so if there ever were immigration papers, they would have been lost, destroyed, or stuffed in an unmarked box in the dank corner of someone’s basement long ago. What I do know is that there have never been any claims of American Indian heritage in my family, so basically, we are guilty of being part of the problem. We come from Russia, Germany, Poland (when it was part of Russia), Ireland, Canada, and France. Maybe elsewhere. My Russian family had our name changed by dolts who could not pronounce or spell anything other than strictly Anglo words. The result: a Russian last name that was –almost ironically–converted to one that looks Hispanic and is often pronounced as such. That part of the family came through legal means, I suppose, in the late 19th century. As for the rest of my family, who knows? It’s plausible that the French-Canadian ones crossed over to Vermont through the woods at night. Others ended up in the state after being routed through Indiana and Wisconsin. At any rate, we have not been here for terribly long.

I was born in the U.S., as were my parents. I can’t vouch for my father’s parents. How far back must one prove legal entrance before the current surge of nativists are content with offering us non-Mayflower arrivals “services” or “privileges?” Because I am white and speak without an accent (beyond the occasional regional inflection) I have not once been questioned by anyone in government or law enforcement about my immigration status or right to be here. It’s assumed that I belong. When I have called the police in past years to report various crimes (drug-related activity, fights/altercations), I was never asked to prove my identity. There was not even a check of my driver’s license.

I can not get away from the irony that exists in the immigration “debate.” For starters, many opponents of sharing the land claim religiosity of the Judeo-Christian persuasion, yet have no attention span about the tenets of their religions. Like many other parts of American life, they have gone the route of picking and choosing what seems most convenient in their religion/laws to suit their personal prejudices. In the Ten Commandments, we are directed not to steal, murder, or cheat. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are urged to love our neighbors, our brothers. Although not an expert, I’ve read the Bible a few times independently, and don’t recall ever seeing a suggestion that God urged people to take up arms, sit by borders, and pick off fellow humans as they attempted to cross without filing paperwork.

As for picking and choosing, some nativists like to talk about how their ancestors did everything by the book, and so they are rightfully here and now entitled to prohibit others from coming. The Edge of the American West addresses this in Eric’s article, “Inventing Illegal Immigration.” Likewise, an overview of immigration history on the Ellis Island website shows that immigration laws and restrictions have been in flux, and at times, there were no laws regarding this issue. Continue reading “For the last time, don’t share your toys with your brother!”…

How to Build Community (Against All Odds): Part Two

This is a continuation from Part One:

Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels: Although La Paloma Sabanera closed in December 2007, there are still many places in the city to explore other cultures through literature– the Hartford Public Library (main and branches), The Jumping Frog, and the Catholic Bookstore are just a few places where books can be found. There’s also several free book tables/carts in 56 Arbor Street.

The literature is just one place to begin.

Listen to music you don’t understand*Dance to it: The Artists Collective has dance and musical workshops for youth. Last year, one of my students gave a presentation about his involvement in The Artists Collective while growing up in Hartford, and after listening, not a person in the classroom could even entertain doubts that this young man was profoundly and positively affected by his experience.

The Charter Oak Cultural Center is home to many musical, theatrical, and other cultural events, ranging from Punk shows to Juneteenth commemorations. Continue reading How to Build Community (Against All Odds): Part Two…

How to Build Community (Against All Odds): Part One

The Syracuse Cultural Workers created a poster which I’m sure many readers have seen before, but which I feel compelled to discuss regardless. The items in bold are on their list of ways to build community, and my comments are in a regular font.

Think of no one as “them”: Creating categories based on difference allows individuals to more easily justify the unjustifiable, to excuse the inexcusable. The result? When some kind of crime or wrongdoing occurs in an certain area or to a person who belongs to a different group (race, class, sexuality, ability, gender, religion, political affiliation, you name it…), it is not thought of as something that might concern all in society. Thus, it’s remains to be addressed in a productive way. The “answer” goes something like this: “avoid Hartford,” “bulldoze it and start over,” “more prisons,” “send criminals/undesirables to Springfield.” Those sentiments are not productive by any stretch of the imagination.

Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety: In my walks to work, I have felt discomfort. In my old neighborhood, I would pass a homeless shelter and park where people who were basically up to no good, or had no other place to go, would congregate. Even with the verbal street harassment which made the trip sometimes irritating, I never felt unsafe. Continue reading How to Build Community (Against All Odds): Part One…

Reflection on Rachel’s Words

I was born the same year as Rachel Corrie, the dead woman whose letters home I read at the Quaker Meeting House tonight. I am thinking a lot about parallel lives these days. Maybe parallel is not the right word for it, but I can’t think of a better one. When I watched Persepolis, I thought about how Marjane, only a few years older than me, grew up in a war zone. What I feel about this cannot be described as guilt. It’s more like awe. There are some overlaps between us, despite what would otherwise be lives defined by opposite sides of the planet. The punk scene seemed to interestingly save and alienate us both. Being headstrong and vocal got us both into trouble. Yet her adolescence was wrought with gender-based oppression, bombs, and just a generally stifling and dangerous environment. My run-ins with peers at school over pieces of my own identity were nothing in comparison. I never had to fear imprisonment for speaking out. Continue reading Reflection on Rachel’s Words…

Media Complicity in Violence

CROSS-POSTED TO UNDERCURRENTS

As Josh reported, we have just returned from a press conference held on 2550 Main Street. The behavior of the media covering the event was just as telling as some of what was said by Cornell Lewis, Francis Davila, and Jerimarie Liesegang.Hartford Independent Media Center journalists overheard a WTNH employee ask the community activists to delay the press conference because his reporter was running late. Then, while waiting for things to start, the WFSB and WTNH photographers told each other that they were planning on taking a similar approach to covering the story because they could not figure out how else to deal with the absence of a speaker’s podium. Just as the conference was starting, Moses Price, an NBC 30 photographer, plowed into me, pushing me out of his way, as if he had more of a right to be in that space than I did. He apologized, but still, it’s unprofessional to do that, and I did not see him treat his mainstream media colleagues in that fashion.

NECN and FOX 61 reporters showed up much later than the 10am start time. Rush hour traffic had thinned long before and the location was easy to find. That only two news outlets (we are included in one of those two) bothered to arrive on time spoke loudly about how low of a priority this issue is to them.

Rev. Cornell Lewis did most of the talking, emphasizing to the media that this conference was happening to put out the message that “all life has value.” He said that when tragedy strikes the elite, it is viewed differently from when tragedy strikes the poor, people of color, and people in Hartford. Lewis said that when violence affects the non-elite, the response from society (including media and government) is to look at the victim’s environment to explain away why such a crime could happen.

Continue reading Media Complicity in Violence…

Everything is Politics

While I don’t agree with what Healy expresses in his post, I’m not finding anything wrong with it either. Speculating on where the legislative session will go is not much different from publicly declaring one’s support for the death penalty in response to the murders in Cheshire. In a kinder world, the family would be given time to mourn– the media wouldn’t print lurid details about the case that the public simply does not need to know. (Gratuitously divulging such information actually creates problems for the justice system, as we’re seeing in the Shefelbine case right now). In a perfect world, the family would not have been given reason to mourn.

But to pretend like politics isn’t remotely involved in crime is to boldly ignore the nature of violence. It’s not something created in a vacuum.

Fortunately, some people are speaking out about this.  Too bad the mainstream media ignores this.

Protest? Not in My Backyard!

He talked about the hypocrisy people embody when they can step over the dying alcoholic sprawled outside their front door on their way to the newsstand where they buy a paper and become horrified at a printed photograph of a starving ethiopian.

from Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration by David Wojnarowicz- page 178.

1. it’s noble to want this world to change. why not? people are starving. aids is still a killer. there’re civil wars and genocide.
2. all of those things are happening right here, in the united states, in hartford.
3. the hungry go to soup kitchens, or find a meal with food not bombs on the weekends.
4. aids is thought of, it seems, by this up & coming generation as a treatable virus, as something you have to take medicine for. the medical advancements are good and bad. people don’t die right away. but people don’t die right away, making it not seem so serious. and for especially young people, if a bad outcome is not immediate, then it falls off the radar far too frequently.
5. there are civil wars being fought here, sometimes with guns, sometimes in other ways. there’s gang violence. stray bullets.
6. genocide can be systematic and horrific without machetes. a lack of quality healthcare means that the working poor are often screwed. it means dying from treatable illnesses.
7. people still picket the war. good. but there’s another split. there’s not much crossover between the peace community and those working on domestic issues. those who would drop everything to take a bus down to an anti-war march in dc are rarely at the anti-violence rallies in hartford.
8. it’s like the problems here are invisible in consciousness. sure, the tv blathers incessantly about people being shot in the north end or frog hollow, and people stay away from the north end or frog hollow, but they don’t get blood boiling over our teens right here being hauled away in body bags, so to speak, just about every other week.
9. i’ve heard people wonder why the anti-war movement, at least here in connecticut, is overwhelmingly white. i would throw out a few guesses, starting with an essay by bob jensen.

An Indictment

Here is a thought that I’ll finish later:

He talked about the hypocrisy people embody when they can step over the dying alcoholic sprawled outside their front door on their way to the newsstand where they buy a paper and become horrified at a printed photograph of a starving ethiopian.

from Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration by David Wojnarowicz- page 178.

Living Under Rocks

Anyone who thinks Connecticut is a liberal hotbed hasn’t tried bringing up the issue of civil rights lately.

The Courant describes it as Transgender Rights Bill Loses Momentum, but it seems more like people with no imagination putting on the brakes.

“Our classrooms have to provide the best educational opportunity for our students,” said Republican Rep. Kevin Witkos, a police sergeant from Canton. “Do you honestly think young people will be able to concentrate in the classroom if their teacher is dressed in clothing of their opposite sex? I think not.”

Do you honestly think young people concentrate on anything in schools these days?

But seriously, when those of us who can be role models start behaving as such, schoolchildren will not feel inspired to act like assholes toward transgender teachers. That idea can be applied to other cases too. Parents can start teaching their children to accept and respect others who might be gay or female (and when I stop hearing “pussy” used as a slur, I’ll believe we’ve reached that point). I don’t believe that Brown vs. Board of Education made people automatically accepting of integration, but the law and society had to work together. When the people with the power to change laws are too cowardly to do so, I must question the part of the anthem that says, “home of the brave.”

But wait, there’s more:

State Rep. Arthur J. O’Neill, R-Southbury, questioned how the provision might be applied in cases where students come to school dressed in clothing of the opposite sex and in cases where a boy might want to play on the school’s girls’ basketball team.

“Would the school district be obligated to let the student go to school dressed in that way?” O’Neill asked. “Where would the boy shower?”

Didn’t Title IX clear all of that up?

That “boy” would shower where every teenager or child who was feeling awkward about his/her body anyway would shower– in the empty stall way before or after everyone else. I’m really thinking back to junior high and high school on this one, but I personally never shared a shower or changed directly in front of anyone else. I know a lot of others would change in bathroom stalls to avoid being seen. Maybe the guy’s locker room is a different place, but I’m guessing that a male-to-female transperson might not be totally identifying with machismo culture to begin with here–just a guess.

Sounds like some people need to get educated.