regard
The ReEducation of Thanksgiving
Here’s a Thanksgiving recipe for you that’s just in time and sure to pack a punch: Get a warm pumpkin pie and some delicious turkey and gravy. Sprinkle in some laughter from kindred spirits and glaze it over with a slathering of Manifest Destiny. (Try the easy to come by flavor: “indoctrinated denial” of racial, [...]
The Stigma
Nobody wants to say outright that victims of domestic violence are socially shameful and completely unacceptable, but the conviction is still there. Having your personal growth and perception of the world twisted like a rag at the hands of a sociopath is a popular taboo. It’s a stigma by which victims live with every single [...]
Seven, Thanks to You!
Another month has been spent, living, learning, laughing, lollygagging and here we are. Issue 7 has materialized and I’m amazed, as usual, at just what a group of passionate individuals can put together when they decide to join forces. From last month to this month, that has been the lesson. That when you have a [...]
Survival Story
Every once in a while, you stumble across something that’s going to change your life in a million wonderful ways you cannot predict. As we pulled out of a WI grocery store parking lot in 2008, a song came on the radio that my kids instantly loved. The hook went, “I can ride my bike [...]
Will Fellows: Shall Not Be Recognized co-creator —part III
Will Fellows is the author of Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest, A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture, and the forthcoming Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s. Producing a heartfelt written compliment to Jeff Pearcy’s powerful photography, Will completed the gay-straight [...]
Six Months of Life After Hate
When I was about a year and a half old, my parents were building an addition to the plainish 1950s ranch house they had just bought. The structure my mother designed involved almost doubling the size of the house, and raising the roof to about 18′ to accommodate the cathedral ceilings and full-length picture windows [...]
A comparative review of Skinhead Confessions and Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
In 2007 I sat down and started writing a memoir of my own. It started with a jot of a sentence. A jot of a memory. Line by line, and not necessarily in chronological order—just things that happened. As one-line memories started to add-up to pages, I tried to flesh-out the glimpses of experience into [...]
Parents, Don't Let Your Children Fight Violence with Violence
My good friend posted a link to an article that was published on JS Online last week and urged me to read it. It was about Hmong and gang violence. My initial reaction after reading the article in its entirety was disappointment because I am not a proponent of any type of violence for any [...]
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, DO THINK!
Believe it or not, there has been some type of prohibition of homosexuals and homosexual behavior in the military going back to Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In 1778, Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin faced a court-martial for attempting to commit Sodomy, found guilty, and was literally “drummed out of Camp.” During World War II, [...]
¡Bienvenidos a la Vida despues de odio: numero cinco!
In the past 30 days, we’ve celebrated Earth Day and then Mother’s Day. Both holidays pay homage to the being who brought us into being, and both have interesting stories of how they were brought about. Earth Day was founded by Environmentalist and Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. Since then, Earth-conscious people worldwide have [...]
Sammy Rangel “FOURBEARS: Myths of Forgiveness”
FourBears: The Myth of Forgiveness: isn't a simple memoir; it is a graphically illustrated guide from tortured child, to remorseless beast, to healing and change. This book is about helping others find their way out of their history and into the here and now. Proof that what once held you down can now hold you up. After the book reflects on a horrific upbringing it looks to offer key and ground breaking insights of the inner workings of the mind of a victim and later a perpetrator of hate and violence. Service providers working in treatment centers and institutional settings would greatly benefit from this work. Anyone facing issues with forgiveness and change might find a process toward healing and recovery.
Recommended Reading
Frank Meeink—Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
TJ Leyden—Skinhead Confessions
Arno Michaels—My Life After HateMusic
Wizard Fingaz & Soul Sathe embarked on a collaborative project known as Tribal Sorcery · deep conscious hip-hop
