Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:35:00 +0000

Despite the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan no one mistakes the rallying cry of today's Starbucks-toting, Hot Topic sporting protesters with the mobilized and systematic protests of the 1960s and 1970s. With not a small touch of nostalgia, those who were there for Vietnam, Civil Rights and Cambodia lament the laziness of present-day youth to fully posit themselves in the movement (as if that responsibility belongs solely to folks without many responsibilities), while young people today tune-out the nagging and lectures of their middle-class, once hippie parents. In much the same way that intergenerational silences ebb and flow through suburbia, urbania, and rural towns alike, Cathy Wilkerson's [Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman]](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583227717?ie=UTF8&tag=feminrevie-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1583227717) details—sometimes in excruciating detail—the rise and fall (and rise) of a former SDS member who, in 1970, survived the accidental bombing of her parents' townhouse, when three others did not. Even Wilkerson, however, fails to carry through the spirit and message of the counterculture of her youth beyond the spectacular flame of '60s and '70s activism.

Wikerson must be credited for her vigilance towards cross-sections of race, socio-economics and gender in her memoir, as well as her attention to the eventual realization that the progression among some activists from peaceful protest to bombings of government and non-government buildings was no different than the operations of Nixon, Kissinger and the like. Wilkerson's meticulous detail of the events of her life, from childhood in New England to her involvement in grassroots activism, gives the prose a meandering style neatly captured by chapter divisions. Wilkerson is a woman trying to find herself in changing era, adrift in relationships, war policy and her white privilege, all of which receive equal weight and importance in the threads of her memoir.

While knowing everything about her early childhood slows down the first portion of the book considerably – not that we don't care but, well, we don't—once Wilkerson hits on personal and political events, the narrative dashes through essential persons, locations, conferences, marches and protests like a "Not For Tourists" guide of the era, losing itself only at the moment when it counts most—connecting the lessons of the past to the present in order to shape the future. Maybe Wilkerson feels she can't speak to activists today because the apparent apathy of youth is so at odds with her own formerly youthful self. Or maybe Wilkerson, who performs her activism through education now, is subtly telling us that of everything accomplished in a turbulent era, those things and people who were lost cannot justify the means. This subtlety doesn't cause the book to flop at the end, but it does sputter and then just stops, standing bewildered among all that remains and how little, after forty years, has really changed.

Written by: Lacey Dunham, October 31st 2007

Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism

admin — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:30:00 +0000

By Michael Albert

Seven Stories Press

The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past. –William Faulkner

Michael Albert writes an in-depth political memoir, offering a formidable defense of the project to change global inequality. Albert is a veteran anti-capitalist and visionary leftist thinker. In his memoir, he retells his past of devotion, commitment and the struggle to bring forth social change, however difficult the journey, a small step at a time.

Albert separates his memoir into five intriguing parts. He begins with his college years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). An aspiring physicist, Albert seemed destined for a career inside laboratories and research facilities until politics seduced him away. Gradually, he began campus organizing, rallying and protesting. His political involvement began to shape his being as he later goes on to fight in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and other vital American movements.

He recounts many tales from his friendship with Noam Chomsky, which has spanned their lifetimes. Chomsky’s personal and professional perspectives, complicated through his belief in the political world, strongly affected Albert’s way of interacting with others.

Albert explores various topics, both personal and professional. Whether commenting on marriage, racism, class, drugs, rock and roll or sexism, he qualifies his opinion with the personal experience to back up his view. Throughout his memoir, he reaches points of evolutionary thought and maturity. For decades, Albert has spent his time not only striving for social change, but also achieving it.

Written by: Mona Lisa Safai, February 17th 2007