News Items, damamma, and links

Pentagon policy changes and Harvard's Green Initiative

Two news items caught my eye, although they may not seem related to most people. I could call them "doing well by doing good."

The Pentagon (Globe, July 28, page 1) has decided to change to "soft power" after having "learned the limits of force" in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. OK. This is like having Machiavelli go on "Oprah" and decide to read "The New Earth" or some other new age book. Are they changing to humanitarian policies (which will be used "on a par with combat") like medical clinics because it's the right thing to do? No. They are doing it because killing civilians as they burst into homes and stop cars all over Iraq is not working. ("Gee, they don't seem to love us when we kill their grandmothers! How strange.")

I can snark onward, but the point is that the US went into these nations completely unprepared culturally. They did not study religious taboos, the language, the history of these countries, and therefore they easily saw these funnily dressed people as Other. Makes it easier to shoot them. I believe that most soldiers believe they are doing the right thing; my anger is at the policy makers. And now, after so many civilian deaths, they decide that being nice is better stragegy. Pardon me for not saying, "Awwwwwww."

Source: Boston GlobeDate: Jul 28, 2008By: Bryan Bender
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/07/28/pentagon_flexes_its_altruism_muscle

And then there's my benevolent plantation, Harvard, where President Drew Faust has emphasized that Harvard will reduce its carbon footprint and continue its "top green schools" status. Are we doing this because it's the right thing to do? No, we are doing this because kids today like green schools. If they all of a sudden up and decided to like purple buildings, would we paint all our buildings purple? Probably. Recruitment is always a concern, even for Harvard. Again, I won't snark on, but I do find it funny that the young capitalist entrepreneurs who believe they are doing well by doing good are motivated by other reasons than my contemporaries. If they stop doing well, they will do less good. As Brecht wrote in Kurt Weill's musical "Mahagonny": "First feed the face, and then talk right and wrong/For even honest folks may act like sinners/unless they've had their customary dinners!").

My generation had had our dinners and were "idealistic." But there was a difference between our motives and young entrepreneurs who are doing well and also doing good. Pampered and immature and idealistic as we were, we were concerned for the people who were left out. We did not do market surveys. We had empathy (a la Golden Rule) for those without power and who were not at fault. Many of us lived a bit above poverty level, but we felt useful and happy.

Let's just tell it like it is: Harvard is saying "Whatever the kids want today, we'll do it!"

Source: Boston GlobeDate: Jul 29, 2008By: Tracy Jan
www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2008/07/29/not_to_be_out_greened

Elizabeth Soutter's Visit

She was a bundle of energy! I enjoyed hearing how the nuts & bolts of blogs work. I was disappointed in two areas. I must admit some envy that someone "controls everything" because they can afford to not get income from her blog. I'm glad to have my baby blog (my "Blagh") for now and I hope I can expand it into a lean green PR machine. To be fair, she did and does work, selling her good writing to magazines and other sources.

I also admired her motives--to have fun and say something worth saying. But I disagreed with the "Fat Bastard" story simply because I was a fat kid and I was mercilessly taunted. "Genetic" or not, fat kids can't help eating. They have an itch that other kids don't have. And my family loved and accepted me, yes, but no one at school asked me to dance. I felt deep shame for years over something I could not help. I think she's off about this one and I was touched that she reconsidered it when it hurt her friend.

My downfall as a serious news journalist may be that I value others' feelings more than I value my writer ego. Doesn't mean I can't do profiles and features, but I will not hurt people (even my--uh--challenging family!) by my writing.

Some links: I co-published a book in 1976 and got 5,000 copies printed and probably $500 advance. We three authors chose Diana (a two woman feminist press) over Random House so we could "support women's culture." We sold them at concerts and I made a bit of money until women who ran Diana Press broke up. The company lost all its money, and although the 5,000 copies were sold and are out there somewhere, it's out of print. It is available on Amazon, used. I have the printers' plates in my basement, but no one seems to want to reprint an academic women's songbook of traditional and contemporary (meaning 1975!) feminist folk songs. And even if they did (or if I self published), it would take tons of work for permissions and updates and I'm not sure I am interested that much now.

http://www.sugartreebooks.com/si/706776.html


My friend is, however, Here's the link to my friend's memoir. If you want to hear our old band's music, it's on the site. Her book isn't awful, it's just not in a voice that I would want to use.

http://staging.anurja.com/radicalpassions/media.html