Odd Ball and Ad Hoc

pigeon tracks
pigeon tracks. Photo by Roman
rebar prison
rebar prison. Photo by Roman
dangling
dangling participial. Photo by Roman

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Bayard and Me

The story of Bayard Rustin and Walter Naegle.

Bayard Rustin has gotten a great deal of posthumous love and, IMHO, he deserves it. After all, this is someone who played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement, almost entirely behind the scenes. And he was restricted to that role only because he was gay. This short video memoir by the love of Rustin’s life, Walter Naegle, compliments that aspect of Rustin’s life.

Rustin was a rather more complicated character, however, and many of us lefties regarded his later career as being something of a sell-out. But, like Rustin himself, it’s complicated.

If you’re interested in learning more about Bayard Rustin, I’d recommend John D’emilio’s biography Lost Prophet. You can also listen to a 35 minute interview with author D’emilio on Rustin on Episode 14 (March 10, 2012) of Chicago DSA’s Talkin’ Socialism:

 

Artists of the Wall 2018

For about a quarter century each June, a block-long concrete retaining wall / bench in Chicago’s Loyola Park has been the canvass for a festival of Rogers Park muralists: the annual Artists of the Wall festival. Each year the previous year’s work is removed, the wall subdivided, and the artists go at it.

The general quality of this year’s work was not as good as 2017, but there was still a lot of worthwhile detail. Here are some I’d like to share. Click on an image to enlarge it:

All the photos by Roman.

The Spirit of 1970

It wasn’t all Peace & Love, alas.

1970
Anti-war planning meeting at the University of Illinois at Chicago, circa 1970. Photographer unknown.

I don’t recall who took this photo. I want to say an acquaintance from college, Paul Chen, but it may have been someone with the Illinois Institute of Technology student newspaper. Or someone else altogether. I’ve had the print since sometime shortly after the meeting. It accurately captures the spirit of some of the folks involved in lefty politics at the time.