 |
Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
"I'm so angry with my country"
This Storytelling Saturday starts with a pair of boxing gloves.
Once upon a time...
I was at the gym about to exercise when I got the urge to exorcise some stress by hitting the heavy bag. Typically, I’d bring my own boxing gloves (to avoid that moist community glove experience) but since I hadn’t, I walked over to the main desk to borrow a pair. To my surprise (and joy), the young girl working there was holding a copy of Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America...an excellent, eye-opening book by Juan Gonzalez, one of the few radical journalists working in the mainstream media (New York Daily News).
Normally, I don’t like to chit-chat at the gym (especially about politics) but this was too perfect an opportunity to spread the word, as it were. “It’s a great book,” I ventured. “Juan Gonzalez is someone worth reading.” The girl seemed stunned that I knew of the book and she took the bait. “Yeah, I’m reading it for my Ethnic Studies class,” she began. “What I wanna know is why I never learned any of this stuff before.” She took a dramatic pause before adding: “I’m so angry with my country.”
Before taking the boxing gloves and jump rope, I gave her some reading suggestions, some websites, and told her that Gonzalez could be heard regularly by tuning in to Democracy Now on WBAI here in NYC.
Needless to say, I had a better-than-usual workout…
(Post your story in the comments section)
Who's Online
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
