Monday, we biked in the rain, past activists at the Russian embassy, memorials for coup plotters who sacrificed everything in the 1930, 40s, ghost bikes for cyclists killed by cars, tree huggers in East River Park, back home, Alice Salomon’s social work, fired before she left, making her way to the USA, countless stories at a museum of such gestures:
"The GERMAN RESISTANCE MEMORIAL CENTER
a site of remembrance, political studies, active learning, documentation, and research…resistance ….individual persons and groups took action against the National Socialist dictatorship from 1933 to 1945 and made use of what freedom of action they had."
Stories of the coup plotters,
"Stauffenberg and the Assassination Attempt of July 20, 1944..." in the very building of the museum.
“Georg Elser and the Assassination Attempt of November 8, 1939” by himself.
Attempt after attempt foiled by luck until the cataclysm resolved itself.
Still regular people, scientists, entertainers, jazz musicians and fans, social workers spoke out.
One conflict after another, said a friend, looking at German history... Really since the 30 Year War, that was the worst.
The ideas bubble throughout my mind.
Hellos. Goodbyes.
An afternoon exploring it all, from Kreutzberg in the rain to Dada at Berlische Gallery.
Dada reminding us.
Dadi is anti Dodi.
Dada has never asked you about work.
The teenager leaving on a jetliner.
The wild one showing up from parts unknown ...
Arriving, departing...
New ideas, from the East village to LA, to Berlin to Budapest and back, all of us passengers.
Clashes reverberating.
We watched the votes in the House during social movements class on Friday, thinking of ways to frame and assess...
"Some groups will gain while others will lose... So growing political conflict is inevitable ..." say Hix and Holland.
It's a mild winter here. The predictions of a hard Berlin winter are not bearing out.
But things are heating in the USA and Brazil, riots and fights, blackmail and threats.
It's gonna be a strange one. Is conflict inevitable? Or is there another road ahead?
Watching friends depart.
RIP ALICIA.... Message from Lilith.
With sadness and respect and love, we mark the passing of Doña Alicia Torres, the guardian and protector of the long-remembered Esperanza Garden, where the great Coqui faced down Giuliani and changed the City. Doña Alicia welcomed us with open arms and gave us her blessing to make a stand in this beloved green jewel. We hooked up a telephone line to her kitchen, and every morning she greeted us and asked if we were ok. She was a fighter and a healer. She left us on Wednesday, two days ago and just days shy of her 99th birthday. The funeral will be this Tuesday 1/10, 4-8 at Ortiz Funeral Home, 22 First Ave close to Houston St.
For those of us who remember with deep gratitude and fondness the warmth and beauty of her spirit, please join us if you're in town, or think of her and the family if you're not.
Lilith
Riding the bike in the Rain, off to dance at Berghain, techno panorama,
“Live From Earth showcase at Panorama Bar this Sunday.”
Wandering through a maze of half dressed bodies, boys with no shirts, girls in almost nothing, shaking, smoking, heads, hands, hips moving, all of us together.
I can’t believe it's real.
No phones to distract.
Everyone cheers for the DJ and themselves, shaking.
Off to the end of Caroline's show.
FINISSAGE: 8 January 2023
You Know That You Are Human
@ POINTS of RESISTANCE V
4 December 2022 – 7 January 2023
At Zionskirchplatz, 10119 Berlin Mitte
Caroline and friends speaking about images of resistance.
Women pushing, Iranians marching, Suffrages agitating, stories of alternatives, other ways of living and thinking, infoshops and libraries spurring revolutions at Zionskirche
Before our party back home.
Friends gathering.
A haunting, playful gig from Moto Flower Club ... bards and pop.
Poems and blues, mixed,
A night of lights and colors.
A trip to a cemetery.
Thinking about Marlene Dietrich and her glamor.
Legend growing.
She was recruited to support the German war effort, before she left for Hollywood.
When she returned to Berlin in the 60's, she was booed.
She was always a friend.
Buried in Berlin.
We wanted to support her, to thank her, to revere her.
Who can forget that scene in Morocco with the hat, that kiss, another gesture of resistance.
Thinking of it all.
Marlene's hat.
A sex kino.
Federico’s poem.
Tea dancers at Berghain,
Dancing and screaming.
Cuddling and laughing.
Suffragette fists.
Georg’s eyes after they found him/
plotters’ eyes bruised.
Schad’s Sonja.
Tree supporters in East River Park.
Iranian defiance.
Bodies trampled.
Remembered.
And a trip to Marelene’s grave.
Cheering for that kiss in the Cabaret.
Marlene’s hat in Morocco.
Images of life, of existence, of pleasure, alive together. The best days of our lives.
CONTACT: Eileen Myles, 917-439-3235, eileen.myles@gmail.com, Alice O’Malley, 917-548-2119, alice.omalley@me.com IG @1000people1000trees Twitter @1000treesNYCWHO: Mathilde, an 83-year-old London Plane Tree with 1000people1000treesWHERE: At the southeast corner of the southernmost grassy field in East River Park,just off the Houston Street entranceWHEN: Tuesday, 9AM, January 10, 2023PRESS CONFERENCE FOR A TREEThis is a gathering of media, local politicians and educators, artists, communitymembers, environmentalists and activists to underline the scorch and burn approachtaken by the DDC, City Planning, The Parks Department, the City Council and twomayors over the past twelve months in the name of Climate Resiliency, wreaking havocon the abundant biodiversity of East River Park, home to 120 varieties of birds, squirrelsand endangered bumblebees, offering to people of all ages access to green space, riverviews, sports, relaxation and health.Mathilde is an 83-year-old London Plane, recognizable in the neighborhood for hersolitary stance at the southern end of the largest field in East River Park. People,since the half-razing of the park, come to hug and be near her. There’s a new nest ather top and by state law it is illegal to cut this tree down. One local resident has taken aphoto of Mathilde every day for the last 2 years. We call attention to this tree because ofthe violent uprooting of 700 trees before this one; trees are speechless, and we gain somuch from their life-giving powers. A sewer is now being built in the park and with theenormous resources of our city we are demanding an alternative approach to cuttingdown this tree and ask the broader question of how to protect the five hundred and fivetrees that remain north of this tree. New York City Parks Dept. is proud of their intentionto expand our city’s tree canopy. By cutting down trees that are seven and eightdecades old, one by one? Is that the way forward?London planes live for 200-300 years. Mathilde was originally accompanied by sevenother London Planes, all blown down during Sandy, but Mathilde survived. The day afterSandy, the field she resides in was mostly dry and so this tree stands as an exemplar oftrue storm and flood water mitigation. She protects us. In 2013 the Parks Dept. planteda row of saplings and this tree was an elder to them, entangling roots and exchangingnutrients and info with the new family. And those trees were torn out when the citybegan its demolition of this park last December under the auspices of a non-environmentally friendly and deeply unpopular flood protection plan (ESCR). We want tobegin a broader conversation by talking about just one elder tree. The destruction of thispark has often been explained by the city as done in response to an overriding need toprotect the residents of the NYCHA housing across the street. It’s been recentlyrevealed that there are high levels of arsenic in the drinking water of the same publichousing and even one fatality and it is not being treated like a crisis. We say it is all acrisis and we know we can do better.
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