Happy Humanukkahmass

      James McColley Eilers

We do not celebrate our feast

to deny a Great Darkness,

winter, pain, or tribulation,

but to triumph at our own behest.

We rest inside, beneath green branches,

and dine with candle suns and ribbon

rainbows; no fields of snow in here 
except on cakes that icing blanches.

In St. Mary's, Chinatown, San Francisco

Click on title to see some of the stained glass windows in old St. Mary's in Chinatown, San Francisco.  Famously, the shell of the church still exists, having survived the 1907 earthquake.

Spathiphyllum

Autumn Abandoned Sofa

Great Gas from the Past

From one of my old storage boxes, the 1968 poster (I cannot find anyone who would like it) for a gathering of poets who supported the San Francisco State Strike:

Winter Solstice, Earth Solace

On Bradley Manning's 24th Birthday

On 17 December 2011, Bradley Manning's 24th birthday, we marched and rallied for Bradley.  Where we paused for speeches, Scott Olson was recovered enough to be able to speak a few words, and I show two photos of him here.  Although I feel I am being intrusive, it seems I should share his look -- worn but surviving -- with the many people who feel concern for him...and for Bradley Manning, the first day of the military's hearings having been the day before, Friday, 16 December 2011.

Peter Martyniak passed along the news that the Welsh are presenting a play about Bradley Manning's years in Wales:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/bradley-manning-play-wales-wikileaks

I am sure I should not be surprised that there are still some people who don't know who Bradley Manning is, or that there are gay men who did not know he was gay until they read it on the placard I carried on my back:

Part TWO of MAKE DRAG NOT WAR

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE for a continuation of photos of this great show -- as described in "Part ONE of MAKE DRAG NOT WAR" -- sponsored by Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War, and directed by Stephen Funk, the first man to refuse to serve in the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.   More of the program will appear later.  Also, after viewing the slide show, check out their website:  http://veteranartists.org/

Part THREE of MAKE DRAG, NOT WAR

Click on title above for slide show.

Part FOUR of MAKE DRAG, NOT WAR

Click on title above for slide show.

Outside "Make Drag, Not War"

Click on title above for photos of some friends outside the production of "Make Drag, Not Love"

Occupy Tree, Occupy Raft

Click on title above to see a slide show about:
The man who has constructed a tree house as part of Occupy Oakland has had his tree house pulled down a second time.  But, in the meantime, there is an Occupy Raft now in Lake Merritt!  Will they sink it?

Part One of MAKE DRAG, NOT WAR

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE so that you won't miss the first part of this great show, sponsored by Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War, and directed by Stephen Funk, the first man to refuse to serve in the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.   More of the program will appear later.  Also, after viewing the slide show, check out their website:  http://veteranartists.org/

Stacking Rocks

For a slide show, hit the title, "Stacking Rocks," above.  But here are seven of the photos (with black and white versions of two of them) of what an Oakland poet is creating in his yard.