April 1, 2015:

20th century history of
PETS in America

To all pet owners and lover of animals – this program is dedicated to you. 

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated:.  Gandhi.  And another quote by Immanuel Kant, philosopher:  “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.  We can judge the heart of a man byhis treatment of animals”.  And finally” A righteous man knows the soul of his animal – Jewish Proverbs 12:10.

October 22, 2014:

Stereotypes of Gay Masculinity:  from femme sissy to uber manliness (1^st hour)
and Interview with Will Fellows:  Wisconsin writer and author

WE all use generalizations or profiles about other persons or groups.  It may simply be human nature to categorize or store such types of information in our brain especially during these times of data overload.  As we expand our experiences and connections with individuals of a particular collective profile we, theoretically broaden our views.  On the downside newcomers are often demonized or stereotyped as a threat – sometimes stereotypes create more obstacles for all of us to “simply get along” with each other.

A stereotype adopted about specific types of individuals may or may not accurately reflect reality.  For example since the 1970s and the increasing visibility of the homosexual male, a stereotype of gay men ranges from the emasculated femme sissy to the uber manliness of extreme. Gay masculinity attributes, behaviors, and roles are socially constructed of both socially-defined and biologically-created factors. Such traits associated with female or male characteristics vary depending on location, context, and a variety of social and cultural factors.

______________

Will Fellows is the author of three books:

• > Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest (1996)
• > A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture (2004)
• > Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s (2010)

Farm Boys and A Passion to Preserve were finalists for the Lambda Literary Award.

Will’s writing has appeared in a variety of publications and he has provided editorial and publishing assistance to many other writers. His current projects include collaborating in creating a stage play inspired by the Gay Bar book, and assisting in the publication of a book by Ray Rigoglioso, founder of Gay Men of Wisdom.

Will Fellows grew up on a Wisconsin farm. After completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human nutrition at Cornell University, he worked for 20 years as a nutrition educator. He lives in Milwaukee, where he and his life partner, Bronze Quinton, operate a retail eyewear business.

 

 

 

 

 

March 18, 2015:

“Irish Migration to America”

“In the 1840s Ireland, when starvation and related diseases claimed as many as a million lives, approximately 500,000 Irish persons immigrated to the United States, where they accounted for more than half of all immigrants. Between 1820 and 1975, 4.7 million Irish settled in America.

TODAY about 33.3 million Americans—10.5% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2013 A.C. Survey conducted by the U.S.Census Bureau. Three million people separately identified as Scotch-Irish, whose ancestors were Ulster Scots who emigrated from Ireland to the United States.”

Wednesday at 12noon-2pm PST, March 25, 2015  tune in to KGGV’s history and music series Beneath the Waves with host Gerry Takano .

Streaming live globally at kggv.blogspot.com

KGGV is a community, non-commercial radio station based in Guerneville, Russian River valley, Sonoma County, California USA

 

March 18, 2015:

from Victimization to New Roles:  Interview with writer Ray Rigoglioso

Today it may appear that being glbt, open and out front, is as easy as being a heterosexual person free of self-hatred, doubt, or denial.  after centuries of abuse, persecution, and discrimination (still occurring today) collective critical mass for political and social change” is possible; long, arduous efforts and perseverance have resulted in a new time.  But what happens after the “struggle”, after the change?  This program addresses the transition forward.  Part 1 is a brief history of glbt victimization; Part 2 is an interview with Ray Rigoglioso, author of Gay Men and the Move Forward.

Interview: 

In the recently published book, Gay Men and “The New Way Forward”, author Ray Rigoglioso takes a fresh and open-hearted look at the critical roles that gay men play in the world. The “New Way Forward” shows how gay men have emerged from a history dominated by victimization to become teachers for humanity. 

 

 

  

March 11, 2015:

I AM:  Libertarians and Objectivists

In Ayn Rand’s book and later movie, Fountainhead, starring Gary Cooper, as Howard Roark as the protagonist of the book, Roark is an aspiring architect who firmly believes that a person must be a "prime mover" to achieve pure art, not subject to councils or committees of individuals which lead to compromise and mediocrity and a "watering down" of a prime mover's completed vision. Howard Roark represents the triumph of individualism over the slow stagnation of collectivism. He is eventually arrested for dynamiting a building he designed, the design of which was compromised by other architects brought in to negate his vision of the project. During his trial, Roark delivers a speech condemning "second-handers" and declaring the superiority of prime movers; he prevails and is vindicated by the juryThe character of Roark was at least partly inspired by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Rand described the inspiration as limited to "some of his architectural ideas [and] the pattern of his career".  Author Ayn Rand denied that Wright had anything to do with the philosophy expressed by Roark or the events of the plot.  

  

February 25. 2015:

Part 3:  Images of Hawaii 1950-60s, Interview with William Bixler

I reconnected with William Bixler, my special guest in the 2^nd half of the program, after discovered a photo of my public Maemae Elementary School class on Flickr.  The image conjured good memories of a not-so-long-ago past one dominated by the casual, innocent life growing up in Nu’uanu Valley, Honolulu, Hawaii.  Would we have ever imagined that a student from Hawaii, though from the private school world of Punahou Academy, would someday become President of the US?  I glanced at the Maemae class photo -- would these classmates prosper, fail, move on, aspire to non-conformist adventures, or simply vanish?  The power of a historical photograph to engage our memory in terms of place, time and history is extraordinary.

Being back in contact with William Bixler is exciting for we have so many years in-between that May Day photo session with barefeet and white shirts for our performance and today. 

To remember a place like Hawaii is more than nostalgia or cheap sentiment.  It is to document a past that has been transformed and altered to a radically different place.  William and I, and hopefully other classmates, share a framed part of Hawaii’s territorial and Statehood history of the 1950-60s.

 

  

February 18, 2015:

Bohemian Grove, Monte Rio, California

Situated 75 miles north of San Francisco (and but a few miles from Guerneville), the Bohemian Grove covers 2,700 acres. As of 2007, there were 118 camps, distributed around the site’s central feature: a man-made lake, watched over by a towering Owl Shrine, where a “Cremation of Care” ceremony is held at the beginning of each encampment.

From Bohemian Tragedy by Alex Shoumatoff, 2009: "Conspiracy theorists believe the Bohemian Grove’s idyllic grounds, in northern California, are host to right-wing, old-boy machinations about the New World Order. Honorary member Richard Nixon, meanwhile, called it “the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine.” … common to all reports from the two-week-long gathering of the country’s rich and powerful old guard—members have included every Republican president since Coolidge—from the club’s founding, in 1872, to today."
.
The last Bohemian Grove encampment took place in July 2008.

  

March 4, 2015:

Buddhism in the West

“OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!” Rudyard Kipling

The world is often viewed, with little exploration or detail, in stark dichotomy – that is black or white, good vs evil, believers and non-believers, and so on.  We can be polarized and separated without understand that it is not either or – but both.  A balance, a totality, an intergrated world is diminished into conflicts and warfare of what is us and and them.

The East-West dichotomy is a philosophical concept of ancient origin which claims that the two cultural hemispheres, East and West, developed diametrically opposed, one from the particular to the universal and the other from the universal to the particular; the East is more inductive while the West is more deductive. Together they form an equilibrium.

 

February 11, 2015:

early 20^th Century Monopolies & Power

To better understand the riveting story of US monopolies and trusts during the early 1900s step back and consider the philosophies and concepts, moral or otherwise, of the time: 

First, American exceptionalism as a term dates to the 1830s and was widely used in the early part of the 20^th century referring to the country’s abundant natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions".

Second, Charles Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest.   "The survival of the fittest" theory in biology was interpreted by late 19th century capitalists as "an ethical precept that sanctioned cut-throat economic competition" and led to the advent of the theory of "social Darwinism" which was used to justify laissez-faire economics, war and racism. However, these ideas predate and commonly contradict Darwin's ideas, and indeed their proponents rarely invoked Darwin in support, while commonly claiming justification from religion and Horatio Alger mythology.

Third Individualism emphasizes the moral worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance and advocate that interests of the individual should achieve precedence over the state or a social group, while opposing external interference upon one's own interests by society or institutions such as the government.^[3]

Individualism makes the individual its focus^[1] and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importanc.  This philosophy, when combined with an elite sense of privilege and status, would reinstate the divisions between the haves and have nots, the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong.  The mythology of equality for all under the US Constitution was brewing.
 

 

February 4, 2015:

Agatha Christie:  Deduction, Evidence and Intrigue

IN a BBC special David Suchet, who plays Agatha Christie’s  Poirot, travels throughout England and beyond to, the landscapes that inspired her.  From living an idyllic childhood in Devon, to becoming a master of the sinister world of poisons and murder,  to exploring exotic mysteries of the East, Suchet uncovers clues to her vivid construction of character, place and dramatic moral complexities of her books to millions of international readers.  Within this brief time on Beneath the Waves we explore further the links between Christie’s extraordinary life and her work – the story is about a woman from a small sea side town who becomes the bestselling murder mystery writer in history.

  

January 28, 2015:

Diversity and Anarchism:  Interview with writer Terence Kissack

Anarchism is a multi-faceted political philosophy unfortunately stereotyped and equated with violence and chaos.  This is a misconception -- anarchism is a truly diverse way of thinking, one which cannot be characterized by simple, logos, slogans or party lines. No one has, in my opinion, adequately summarized the term to encompass all of its many branches and subsets. Anarchism, however, defined as a way of life that encompasses political, pragmatic and personal aspects.

Interview

1.  Tell us about your background -- where were you were born, school, family environ, early influences especially as a gay man in a culture dominated by consumerism and competitive behavior.

2.  What inspired you to explore and research "anarchism" and its relationship to the glbt struggle?

3.  What was the basis for your book?  How was the book received in various circles?

4.  When did you begin working with the GLBT Historical Society -- tell us about your presentations on the subject.  What is the primary importance of documenting glbt history and anarchism?

5.  From your perspective how is our current post-industrial global post-modernist society related to theories of anarchism.

6.  Any writings and projects that you are currently working on? 

7.  Other thoughts...

 

 

 

 

January 21, 2015:

Gentrification

Gentrification is the result of an urban pattern usually triggered by good intentions to boost, economically, a perceived disenfranchised neighborhood or area.  In a society and system such as in the United States, private ownership of land and the concept of “best use and value” for your investment are key factors.  To understand gentrification it’s also important to revisit the US government’s urban renewal and development policies in the 1950s and onward.

My first personal introduction to urban renewal, before my architectural education and subsequent architectural and planning work, was in the City and County of Honolulu’s model city program funded by the federal government.  I worked under a city planner named Leonard Moffett, a free-thinker within the statist and rigid bureaucratic system -- Moffett believed in reducing the destruction of older buildings on smaller parcels and promoting in-fill housing and commercial uses for vacant spaces.  He was critical of the consolidation of lots into larger parcels for massive scaled development.  Essential he was anti-modernism and reacted against modernism’s vision for compartmentalized, de-humanized trends.  At an early age, decades ago, I was made aware of the impact of governmental, private and economic mandates on places defined as “blighted”.  This experience influenced later professional years while working on projects with redevelopment agencies in Boston, Cambridge, Massachusetts and even San Francisco. 

I have no idea where Leonard Moffat is today but this program is dedicated to his early awareness of complex urban changes and socio-cultural implications.  Clearly the debate over gentrification is not new to the early 21^st century.

I

January 7, 2015

EST:  the Promise of Transformation

I have not taken EST.  this program is not a criticism of Erhard or those who believe EST any other types of Human Potential or self-help program have been beneficial or helpful.  This is, however, more about the early 1970s – a brief period after the turmoil of the suburban exodus, after the divisive Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, civil strife, faux-revolution or the failure collective, utopian communities -- a time of the self, individual and me, me, me --  the rise of culture aspirations such narcissism, "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" by those who considered such awareness far more important than social responsibility. "In life, understanding is the booby prize." -- Werner Erhard   Werner Erhard's est [Erhard Seminar Training and Latin for "it is"], was one of the more successful entrants in the human potential movement -- a large group awareness training program.

December 12, 2014:

New Years Traditions

A summary of all 2014 Beneath the Waves programs.

December 24, 2014:

Christmas in the 20^th century

Since at least 2005, religious conservative groups and media in the United States such as the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel and Fox News have called for boycotts of various prominent secular organizations, particularly retail giants, demanding that they use the term "Christmas" rather, than solely "holiday" in their print, TV, online, and in-store marketing and advertising. This was also seen by some as containing a hidden anti-Jewish message. All of the major retailers named denied the charges

November 11, 2009, the AFA called for a "limited two-month boycott" of Gap, Inc over what they claimed was the "company's censorship of the word 'Christmas.'" In an advertising campaign launched by Gap on November 12, the term "Christmas" was both spoken and printed on their website at least once, and was part of a television ad campaign sung as: "Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa, Go solstice... go Christmas, go Hanukkah, go whatever holiday you Wannakuh".On November 17, AFA responded to this campaign by condemning the ads for references to the "pagan holiday" of solstice, and declined to call off the boycott. On November 24, Gap responded to AFA's initial boycott, stating that they would launch a new television commercial on Thanksgiving weekend that would have a "very strong Christmas theme". The AFA then ended their boycott of Gap.

Celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pagan, pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving, Christmas music and caroling, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and Christkind, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore.  Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. (text from various sources)