FOR MY NEW FRIEND, GENE.
I had a meeting with on Wednesday with a well-known member of the acting/writing community and it went well. I hope to be able to help in terms of broadening this artist's audience base in a meaningful (read: more financially successful) way. Afterwards, I was going to meet with lovely local SAG actress, Yolanda Asher, and visit The High Museum with her. I had a bit of time before we were to meet, so I decided to look around, to walk through a small part of the exhibit which explores the ugly memory of racism and bigotry that the South, unfortunately, still carries as legacy. I was not prepared for the enormity of what I would witness. I saw frame after frame of young black people, old black people, all being threatened, or physically accosted at the hands of whites--and many of those whites wore uniforms--police uniforms, sheriff uniforms, firefighter uniforms...
I had to turn away, so heavy were the tears, so hard the hurt. A docent who was nearby, noticed and asked, "Are you okay?" I responded with a quick, "Well, this is so hard to look at..." My voice trailed off, and the docent who told me his name was Gene, smiled a faraway wistful smile...We talked about our stories--as a young child, he visited a store which would not allow him to order from the same area as the whites. There was a small restaurant in that same store, and curtains were provided so that patrons(all white, of course) could roll them down to block the white person's ability to see any black people waiting in line. I told of my MLK moment, which I detailed on this blog, back in April. If you missed that post, just go to the original page,and scroll down to April 3rd, and read it, and watch a video I posted there, too:
http://lisananetteallender.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-05-24T09%3A48%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=20

I had moments when I cried again. Pal Yolanda was obviously upset too, and in the end, we agreed to return to the museum a few more times, and try to take this all in, slowly.
God Bless the heroes/sheroes of the Civil Rights movement. We are a better nation for their leadership, their compassion, their call to(and FOR!) justice...

And now for something that will cause your lips to curl up into a grin:

George W. Bush Sewage Plant plan is on ballot
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco voters will be asked to decide whether to name a city sewage plant in honor of President Bush, after a satiric measure qualified for the November ballot Thursday.
Backers of the measure, who for several months circulated a petition to place the measure on the ballot, turned in more than 12,000 signatures on July 7, said organizer Brian McConnell. The Department of Elections on Thursday informed those supporters, the self-proclaimed Presidential Memorial Commission, that they had enough valid signatures - a minimum of 7,168 registered San Francisco voters - to qualify for the November ballot.
McConnell, who came up with the idea over beers with friends, often donned an Uncle Sam outfit to drum up support for the petition. The all-volunteer group of signature gatherers often carried around an American flag and blasted patriotic music from a boom box to attract attention. He said the campaign to pass the measure will be an equally grassroots effort.
The measure, if passed, would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. McConnell said the intent is to remember the Bush administration and what the group sees as the president's mistakes, including the war in Iraq.
Some people aren't laughing, including the San Francisco Republican Party, which sees the measure as an embarrassment, even to this famously liberal city. Chairman Howard Epstein has vowed to fight the measure with all means available to him.
A White House spokeswoman, when asked about the measure several weeks ago, refused to comment.
E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/17/BA7A11QU1S.DTL
It's either laugh or cry, kids.
Peace, kids. Peace.