The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him. - Leo Tolstoy

C-Span recently aired the Tribute to Howard Zinn that took place on Febuary 15th.

Friends of Howard Zinn gathered at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC to pay tribute to the historian and political activist who died on January 27, 2010. The speakers included Ralph Nader, Marian Wright Edelman, Amy Goodman, Dave Zirin, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Phyllis Bennis, Geoffrey Millard, Richard Rubenstein, and Busboys and Poets' owner Andy Shallal. The program also included music by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Emma's Revolution, readings from Howard Zinn's books

Watch it here

Sherman Alexie reads "Ode to My Sharona"

http://boingboing.net/

http://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contrary/Sherman_Alexie_Sharona.html

Evan Bayh's farewell: Self-serving, smarmy and false

Evan Bayh's farewell: Self-serving, smarmy and false

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Howard Zinn on CSPAN this weekend

Politics

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress

Howard Zinn

About the Program

Howard Zinn discussed his latest collection of essays at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. "A Power Governments Cannot Suppress" critiques America's response to 9/11, examines the current state of democracy and government responsibility in America and cites examples of when government has overstepped throughout American history. Howard Zinn died on January 27, 2010, at the age of 87.

Future Airings

• Sunday, January 31st at 10:45am (ET)

I give you thanks for receiving, it's my privilege

One little song has become my Spiritual path.

It is totally complete, nothing else needed.

Pure Zen.

Quite challenging work for a guy who has many times in his life experienced the self inflicted pain of jealously. As the young Stewart, I was always searching for that one person to complete me. Once I began to love myself, I was rewarded with the gift of the first requirement for loving others. Wow! No one is needed to complete Stewart but Stewart . This self acceptance enabled me share Stewart with another. This has worked out so much better, making the second half of my life journey so much more fun and rewarding than the first.

Alanis Morissette

sang on her album

Under Rug Swept

that

You Owe Me Nothing In Return

I'll give you countless amounts of outright acceptance if you

want it

I will give you encouragement to choose the path that you want

if you need it

You can speak of anger and doubts your fears and freak outs and

I'll hold it

You can share your so-called shame filled accounts of times in

your life and I won't judge it

(and there are no strings attached to it)

You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give

You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have

I give you thanks for receiving it's my privilege

And you owe me nothing in return

You can ask for space for yourself and only yourself and I'll

grant it

You can ask for freedom as well or time to travel and you'll

have it

You can ask to live by yourself or love someone else and I'll

support it

You can ask for anything you want anything at all and I'll

understand it

(and there are no strings attached to it)

You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give

You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have

I give you thanks for receiving it's my privilege

And you owe me nothing in return

I bet you're wondering when the next payback shoe will

eventually drop

I bet you're wondering when my conditional police will force

you to cough up

I bet wonder how far you have now danced you way back into

debt

This is the only kind of love as I understand it that there

really is

You can express your deepest of truths even if it means I'll

lose you and I'll hear it

You can fall into the abyss on your way to your bliss I'll

empathize with

You can say that you have to skip town to chase your passion

I'll hear it

You can even hit rock bottom have a mid-life crisis and I'll

hold it

(and there are no strings attached)

You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give

You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have

I give you thanks for receiving it's my privilege

And you owe me nothing in return

I have long wondered what inspired her to write this song. Mitch Schneider a former Rolling Stone writer quotes Alanis Morissette on his Publicity Firms website:

"The heart of that song is about the real definition of what love is. And what love is to me is wanting for someone that you love what they want for themselves. And at the same time not sacrificing my own life and my thoughts and my own beliefs. Supporting someone in their choices and at the same time being able to express what mine are, even if they differ, is the ultimate healthy, loving interaction. And there were a few lyrics that I changed in the song because it was kind of hinting at myself sacrificially, loving someone at the cost of myself, which is definitely not the case and really not the sentiment that I was trying to get across in the song. So, having changed some of the lines that were kind of hinting at that, the song finally addressed what I was trying to communicate, which is: the highest form of love is to really listen to someone and honor them and accept them and have my own version and definition of who it is that I am. And if they can both cohabitate or spend time together or feel compatible, great. And if they don't, that's okay too--there's still a lotta love--but maybe the form of the relationship would change."

http://www.msopr.com/mso/morissette-cutbycut.html

http://www.msopr.com/?q=aboutus

Howard Zinn

1922-January 27, 2010

I just got the news today, thank you Amanda

"Dear Rethinking Schools friends,
As many of you know, Howard Zinn died of a heart attack on Wednesday in California. His passing is an enormous loss for everyone who cares about justice and equality. Historian, professor, lecturer, playwright, and most recently a filmmaker, Howard Zinn was many things. But above all, he was an activist -- a socialist, a pacifist, an antiracist, who never strayed from his conviction that humanity was capable of making this a much better world.
Throughout his long life, Howard Zinn had seen enough of the world's horrors that it would have been understandable had he become a cynic. But if there is one word that should be forever associated with him, it's hope.
When George Bush launched his endless war on terror after 9/11, Rethinking Schools looked for a quote that could sum up our belief that it was not ridiculous to still be hopeful. We turned to the final paragraphs of Howard Zinn's autobiography, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train":
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
"What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
"And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
Howard Zinn lived a politically engaged life of joy and solidarity. His life was indeed a marvelous victory.
Bill Bigelow
for the Rethinking Schools staff and editors

P.S. Last week, I interviewed Howard Zinn for the Zinn Education Project, posing questions that we had collected from teachers around the country. To listen to the interview, go to
www.zinnedproject.org/news
and click on the "Authors on Air" icon."

http://howardzinn.org/default/

Daniel Ellsberg writes in the Consortium News about Howard Zinn:

"On Wednesday morning, before I learned that my friend Howard Zinn had died, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently."

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http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/012910b.html

Michael Honey writes of "Howard Zinn's Disputed Legacy" on the History News Website.

"Rick Shenkman and Michael Kazin, writing six years apart, criticized Howard Zinn's historical method, and there is much to criticize. It's true we have seen many, many instances of people at the bottom or in the middle, the masses of people, going along with those in power or even leading the charge in the wrong direction. History is full of people rooting against their own class interests. We see a lot of that today.........But Zinn did not argue that the people are pure. In fact, he suggests that most people stumble around not really knowing what is going on. People are not very well informed about current events or history when they are digging ditches or unemployed and trying to feed families. Zinn's insight, growing out of his own working-class and activist experience, is that occasionally the truth bursts through and people in various situations organize, and that they can create movements that change history. That's a needed insight."

http://www.hnn.us/articles/122760.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn