The Last Cathar: 2015

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Billie Holiday: Price of Success

At a time when most black performers were not even allowed on stage, Billie Holiday was able to pack Carnegie Hall with her singing. But she spent her career fighting racism and was swindled out of her earnings. Even as she lay dying from the effects of alcoholism, she was arrested for possession of narcotics and handcuffed to her hospital bed, with a total of seventy cents in her bank account.

Friday, November 13, 2015

My Mushroom Burial Suit

Dear students: This lady has some good ideas. After you watch the video, comment, below, and tell us what you think about her ides.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Tangi Argentini

Tanghi Argentini is a Danish short film (14 minutes) nominated for an Academy Award in 2007. It has a remarkable plot twist.... You will like it.

PS: The title refers to a dance style that is popular worldwide: the Argentine Tango.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Stop Stopping Me

"Stop Stopping Me" is a short (9 minute) non-fiction film about Sean O'Sullivan, a British plumber who, since converting to Islam, has gotten pulled over and harassed by the police almost daily.
He decided to start filming the episodes, so he mounted a cam on his car and regularly posts his experiences on You Tube.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

American Revolution 1

The French and Indian War (1754 to 1763)

England and France fought a war for possession of North America.
Many Americans were subjects of the British Crown. The Americans did not feel loyal to England, but they were forced to fight for the British.

It was called the French and Indian War because many Indian tribes liked the French and fought on their side against the British.

France was defeated. But the war was so costly, the British decided to tax the Americans, to pay for the war.
Americans were considered inferior to British citizens who lived in England. America was not represented in British Parliament.
The American leaders who fought and won against the French, were not rewarded for their military skill...because they were Americans, and not English.
One of these was George Washington.
Americans did not like paying taxes to England.
"No Taxation Without Representation"
The heavy taxes caused many American businesses to fail. British businesses made all the money.
There were riots against the taxes, and the British were unable to keep the peace.
The taxes were reduced. By 1773, only tea shipped from England was still taxed.
On December 16, 1773, a group of Americans dressed as Indians boarded tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped all the tea overboard. This was called The Boston Tea party.

Monday, July 27, 2015

The Migrant Mother

Text of the video:

Photographer Dorothea Lange was hired by the Federal Government to document and publicize the plight of the rural poor.

On assignment in California, Lange passed a roadside camp of more than a thousand homeless men, women, and children.

She stopped to take a photograph that would become one of the best-known images of the Depression era.

“I didn’t want to stop. Almost without realizing what I was doing, I made a U-turn on the empty highway.”

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother.”

“She said that they had been living on vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed.”

“She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.”

“There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my picture might help her, so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”

“My mother was a strong lady, very proud lady. She believed in, uh, ‘you work for what you get, you’re not gonna get something for nothing.’ And always be honest, and, uh, she loved us children very much. I always considered my mother very, very strong.”

“Looking at her in the picture she doesn’t look like a beautiful woman, but she really was. She was a very strong lady. And we, we really relied on that.”

Within days of Lange’s visit, published photos of the 32 year old widow Florence Thompson, triggered immediate Federal food aid to the hungry migrants, and called national attention to conditions in California’s agricultural valleys.

The NEW National Anthem

Should this be the new National Anthem of the United States?

This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking across a field
I saw a sign that said "No Trespassing."
But on the back side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Wasn't this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. It was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940, but was not published until 1945. It was finally copyrighted in 1951.
In 2002, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. (from Wikipedia)

So...explain why it should or should not be America's National Anthem. What do you think???

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Hack a Banana

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Frida Kahlo: Paloma Negra

Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954) was a famous Mexican painter who lived her entire life in physical pain after an accident when she was young. She painted self-portraits, and in her images she was able to express her thoughts and feelings powerfully.