Nobelity
When all is said and done, the ’60s turn out not to be so catastrophic after all.
Look, a ’60s anti-war activist (Bill Clinton) became a two-term president, a civil rights leader (Martin Luther King) won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Nike sold its shoes in TV ads with the Beatles’ “Revolution” in the background, a mixed-race child born in 1961 is the current two-term president, TV viewers went gaga over Mad Men, the Chicano movement began the Latino “normalization” process in this holy land, 1969’s Stonewall riots were the starting gun for the race to LGBTQ rights, the Prague Spring’s Václav Havel eventually became the leader of Czechoslovakia, and now, Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Oh, and marijuana is now legal in several states with the rest of the nation sure to follow in dribs and drabs over the next few years.
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The dying-off old Right would have us believe the 1960s brought us nothing but junkies, welfare queens, abortion clinics in every McDonald’s, and jack-booted regulators “protecting” us from silly things like exploding gas tanks and lead in our water.
The 1960s were hellish in a lot of ways. Riots. Assassinations. Nuclear brinksmanship. Mass starvations. Vietnam. George Wallace. Sheesh, this holy land was essentially on the verge of a civil war or a race war — or both. But the decade was as heavenly as it was hellish. Bob Dylan was one of its angels.
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Betsy Talk
Tune in this afternoon to WFHB‘s Daily Local News for my interview with Betsy Stirratt, director of IU’s Grunwald Gallery of Art. She’s busy as a beetle this week, mounting the exhibit “(Re)Imagining Science,” opening tomorrow night, 6-8pm, at the Grunwald. It’s features artworks created by teams of IU research scientists and visual artists. Stirratt herself is one of the participating artists. She discusses the differences — and similarities — between scientists and artists. As always, I’ll be posting a link to WFHB’s podcast of the show as well as one for Stirratt’s Big Track, an almost-unedited, fairly full-length version of the original interview after air time.
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Ritz Bits
Longtime local Democratic Party mover and shaker Pat Murphy and Hopscotch coffeehouse are sponsoring a fundraiser for the Glenda Ritz‘s re-election campaign. Ritz, the state’s Superintendent of Schools, has gone toe to toe against outgoing IN guv Mike Pence, now chief abettor to the Republican Candidate for President, over education policy and her role in implementing same.
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She’s a shoo-in for re-election even after her quixotic run for governor earlier this year. Still, pols in this day and age of Citizens United and TV politicking need to pay for printing jobs, pizzas, pens & pencils, and other such sundries when they run or re-run for office.
So, load up a burlap bag or two full of cash — USD, s’il vous plaît — and drop in to Hopscotch, 235 W. Dodds St., Monday, Oct 24, at 7pm. Or write a check for ten bucks, either way.
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