Glory and remembrance

On Memorial Day in 1897, a work of art was unveiled to the public at the edge of the Boston Common, across from the State House. It was a bronze bas-relief by the American master Augustus Saint-Gaudens commemorating the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and its leader, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The 54th was one of the first units composed of black soldiers to fight in the Civil War, and Shaw was from a Boston abolitionist family.

Considered by many to be the finest piece of public art in Boston, as well as one of Saint-Gaudens' masterpieces, the work depicts the 54th on May 28, 1863, marching down Beacon Street and off to war, with Shaw on horseback and an angel floating above. Shaw and 29 of his men died in South Carolina less than two months later, but throughout the war, the 54th fought with distinction. The regiment was portrayed in the Oscar-winning 1989 film Glory.

From doctor to artist

If you were a pediatric patient at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center from the 1970s into the 2000s you know Dr. Peter Stringham. The good doctor retired three years ago and now he's creating graphic novels. The story is here.

Photo courtesy of WickedLocal.com.

For art's sake

The front of the Metro section in today's Globe has a story with the sub-head, "East Boston blossoming into arts community of note." One local artist says that the neighborhood "is really accepting of the artists from other neighborhoods." Another says that Eastie is "the last unspoiled bastion of Boston for artists."

Art for kids on Common

There are free art projects for kids at the Boston Common's Frog Pond on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The activities are sponsored by ArtStreet, a group founded by local street artist Sidewalk Sam. Art student Allison Myers, an East Boston native, is involved in the program, and Sam himself will be there for chalk drawings on Aug. 28.

Darkness visible

Burning with fever and on the run from enemies real and perceived, Michelangelo Merisi collapsed near the Italian coastal town of Porto Ercole and died soon after on this day in 1610. He was just 38 years old, but his artistic brilliance had already produced some of the greatest paintings in Western art.

Known by the name of the town outside of Milan that he hailed from -- Caravaggio -- the artist was, by the start of the 17th century, known as the most famous painter in Rome, as much for his reputation of drunken outbursts, street brawls and habit of chasing women of various social strata as for his dark and wonderful canvases.

I've seen some of Caravaggio's work in Rome and at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and I may get to see more in Naples this year. I haven't seen in person his masterpiece The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (image above from Wikipedia), but it is has some of the features that one expects in his work -- darkness, imminent violence and some of the grit of real life.

An American classic

Fifty years ago today, Americans were introduced to Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch, as well as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, in the pages of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Today it is one of the most widely read, widely taught and widely loved books ever written. The 1962 film, with Gregory Peck (in photo, with Mary Badham as Scout) as Atticus -- the upstanding small-town Southern lawyer who defends an innocent but sure-to-be-convicted black man -- has also gone a long way toward ensuring the story's enduring popularity.

I was assigned Mockingbird as a freshman in high school, and it was the first time I'd read something where I wanted desperately to meet the characters. It also was the first time that I'd read faster and faster in the middle of the novel -- because I was so interested in the story -- but then slowed down toward the final pages, as I didn't want the magic to end. Mockingbird made me want to write.

Harper Lee, now 84, never wrote another novel, and published only a few small items in the last five decades. Someone -- I can't find the quote now -- once commented on the Pulitzer Prize winner's dearth of writing after her wildly successful debut, saying that Lee put the truth so clearly and absolutely on the page that she never needed to write another word. Here is one piece of that truth, as Atticus speaks to his children: "...before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

Spotlight on Eastie

Boston.com toasts some of East Boston's charms with a story in the Boston Visitors' Guide section that's focused on the neighborhood's active artists' community and a half-dozen local eateries. The piece says, "East Boston has yet to be declared chic — or even bohemian — but its art community has been putting down roots for the last decade." There's also a small slide show.

Photo from Boston.com.

Alive with the sound of music

The Boston Phoenix has a story (and photo, at right) on the firehouse turned music space on Sumner Street that Zumix revamped and opened just recently. I drove past there today and from the outside the building looks fantastic.

Get yourself a cup of Jolt

The newest rendition of The Eastie Jolt is up, featuring lyrics from the young people of ZUMIX and a remembrance of the fabled East Boston Community News, which published its last issue 20 years ago.
You'll also find poetry, fiction, photography and an essay on why its important to stick together in tough economic times.

The Jolt is an outlet for creativity in East Boston. Those who live and work here are invited to contribute to the site. To submit material, send along an idea or offer feedback, email editor@eastiejolt.com.

Marking time in style

Local artists Ejay Khan and Chris Murray have put together a calendar featuring photographs taken all over East Boston, and many of the images are striking.

The calendar, along with many other cool items is available at their shop Images by Khan and Murray at 6 Bremen Street, just around the corner from Maverick Square.

For art's sake

Atlantic Works is hosting an exhibition of the work of Valentina Oppezzo, "a young Italian photographer now living in Cambridge." The subject of the photos include toys, food and Italian landscapes. The exhibit, sponsored by Italia Unita, runs through Oct. 31, with a cocktail reception next Thursday.

The gallery is also hosting "Phallic Confessions and Flaccid Truth" -- new work by Laura Torres and Samantha Marder -- through Oct. 24.

Fill your weekend with art

Local artists in East Boston open their doors to the public this weekend. Check here for the details.

Jolting the neighborhood

The Eastie Jolt is here. It's a magazine-style web site for writing and photographs by East Boston residents and/or about the neighborhood. The first edition will contain a pair of essays in which two women reflect on what they find most attractive about East Boston; some poetry and a short story; a feature story on a music label headquartered in Eastie; and photographs of the work of two local artists.

This, I believe, just touches on the surface of the ideas, creativity and talent of the people of our neighborhood. I hope that those who've been writing quietly or taking photographs for years will take advantage of the chance to publish their work for a local audience and that those who haven't done anything creative will be inspired to do so.

Check it out here -- The Eastie Jolt -- and let me know what you think.

Coming soon

Soon I hope to debut an online magazine-style outlet for creative writing and visual art by residents of East Boston. It's an idea that struck me this summer, and since then I have solicited some contributions and purchased a web site. The difficult part for me has been the technical side -- actually setting up the site -- and that is delaying an announcement of the first "edition" of the 'zine. (If anyone has some HTML skill or knows someone who'd do a small bit of "pro bono" work, let me know.)

Stay tuned to the blog for more details on the site and its debut, and contact me if you are from Eastie and interested in submitting fiction, poetry, photography, essays and/or feature stories.

Safe cracking

In a move that would make the Taliban smile, a group of Christian conservatives in Wisconsin is demanding that a young adult book be publicly burned. How long before they're calling for another Inquisition?

The book, Baby Be-Bop, by award-winning writer Francesca Lia Block, is about "a young man's discovery that he's gay," according to Salon.com. The Christian Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the West Bend Public Library, alleging that displaying the book has caused mental anguish to people.

The group that initiated this ridiculous imbroglio is called West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, which is the part that makes me angry. Libraries should not be, must not be, "safe" -- not in line with the usage of the word in this context: non-controversial; bleached of ideas; espousing only viewpoints in line with conservatives.

No! Libraries, books, words, ideas, art -- all of these things are dangerous. They threaten those in power; they make people think; they attack the status quo. That is the point. The concept of a "safe library" sounds like an Orwellian term. It's where the tortured citizenry goes to be reeducated in the beliefs of a totalitarian regime.

I don't want safe libraries, or safe books, or safe art. Freedom, justice, equality, compassion, tolerance and truth depend on unsafe ideas being spread as widely as possible.

Hub of the Hub

Did you know that one of the world's leading political activists works out of his home here in East Boston? Or that a foreign country has its local consulate in this neighborhood? I recently started taking note of some of the regional, national and even international organizations located in Eastie and here is what I found:

*The Albert Einstein Institution, led by Dr. Gene Sharp, advises political movements around the world from his office in Eastie. The mailing address for the organization is AEI, P.O. Box 455, East Boston, MA, 02128.

*The El Salvadoran Consulate for New England is located at 143 Border Street.

*Project Bread, the group that organizes the annual Walk for Hunger, has its headquarters at 145 Border Street.

*Hip hop record label Amalgam Digital operates out of 2 Neptune Road.

*The New England Gallery of Latin American Art opened last year at 184 Cottage Street.

*The Militant Labor Forum Hall hosts speakers and films on workers' issues and human rights on the second floor at 13 Bennington Street.

Those of us who live here, of course, have always known that Eastie is the center of the world.

"Something wicked this way comes"

Consider, for a moment, a noble warrior who becomes consumed with ambition to the point that he casts aside the values he once believed in; when he senses that he is in reach of the seat of power he abandons all restraint and does whatever it will take to eliminate his enemies and to solidify his control. Consider, also, a scheming, amoral woman at his side.

Who is it that you see? William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth just over 400 years ago, and it is arguably his most frightening work. The Scottish general who lusts after the throne becomes ever-more consumed with naked ambition as his wife encourages his terrible deeds.

It occurs to me that there are clear parallels between the play and the actions of John McCain. Of course, there are no blood-filled scenes, but "the Thane of Arizona" has clearly sacrificed principles that he seemed to embody back when George W. Bush was doing the smearing and lying. One can imagine a rendezvous with three witches who told McCain that they've seen the future and he can be president -- but only if he is willing to do whatever it takes.

Meanwhile, central casting appears to have been a bit unsatisfied with Lady McCain in her role, so they sent us Sarah Palin, who we can easily imagine grabbing a bloody dagger to finish what her partner began -- just as though she were gutting a moose. In Shakespeare's work, however, guilt consumes Lady Macbeth. Palin does not seem to possess a conscience, and therefore will likely never feel remorse.

History through art

The large mural charting the history of immigrants in East Boston is 10 years old in October, and the Globe has a story today about artist Chris Tauson and how the painting came to be.

The mural, which covers more than 3,000 square feet, is on an East Boston Neighborhood Health Center building that faces a small parking lot on Gove Street. It tells the story of nine different immigrant groups that have lived in the community, starting with Native Americans.

Tauson, who has lived in Eastie for 22 years, has also painted some other murals in the community.

Dark days and knights

Batman has come a long way since I used to watch reruns after school of the campy, short-lived 1960s TV series and even farther from its creation as a comics series in 1939. I saw the most recent incarnation this week, Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight, on an IMAX screen in Reading, and the movie is breaking box office records.

While there were a number of things I liked in the film, there were also some drawbacks to it. I recently read an entry in the Globe's MovieNation blog in which critic Ty Burr tells of being at a family event and having a number of teens and twentysomethings come up to him and ask if The Dark Knight is the best film ever. It seems the more cleverly violent and destructive a movie is, the more young people like it, but -- call me "a bleeding-heart liberal wuss" (and some have) -- that doesn't motivate or excite me as a moviegoer. I can appreciate special effects, stunts and celluloid trickery to just a small degree, but then it quickly turns me off.

I like stories about people and their struggles with life, their ethical dilemmas, their subtle epiphanies. I like long shots, few cuts and wide landscapes. I like witty dialogue, intelligent characters and smart plots. For me, The Dark Knight was a spectacle, and a cool one, but it's not likely to be the best film I've seen this year. In fact, it's already not.

There were, in the somewhat convoluted and hard-to-follow plot, a number of ethical questions addressed by the movie, and most of them relate to the path America has taken in this post 9/11 world: Does an increase in resources and tactics applied to an enemy increase the atmosphere of disorder? Is it acceptable to spy on everyone to keep tabs on the bad guys? Should torture be used to elicit information? Is it necessary and acceptable to violate one's moral code in order to subdue an enemy who seems not to possess such a code of their own?

The Dark Knight cannot really be discussed without mentioning Heath Ledger's role as the Joker. It is one of the most captivating cinematic performances I've ever seen, but some of that is certainly due to our knowledge of his death not long after filming was completed. Still, he is very good and worthy of an Oscar nomination. Whether he wins or not, however, should be based on the strength of his performance as compared to the other nominees (if you agree that such awards have any sensical rubric) and not out of pity because he is gone.

The movie is good -- dark in tone and filled with non-stop action. It is also physically dark, and -- as a review in The New Yorker pointed out -- after Christian Bale, who plays Batman, trained for months in martial arts, it's impossible to follow what he is doing in any of the fight scenes because they are so fast, close and dark. The same effect happens in other scenes and plot elements, causing some confusion as to what is going on.

What is really unfortunate is that Hollywood has wasted and will continue to waste untold millions on movies with violence and explosions that take on none of the ethical quandaries that The Dark Knight does, and our young people -- who have had their ability to appreciate art that has depth and meaning destroyed by our watered down, mass market culture -- will continue to give the studios a reason to do so by accepting all the artless crap they are sold every day.

Cover story

There's quite a little firestorm that's been unleashed over The New Yorker magazine's cover illustration on the issue dated July 21, which depicts Barack Obama and his wife as though they are the insidious America-haters that some have ridiculously made them out to be.

I've been reading The New Yorker for 25 years. There are many wonderful periodicals and I try to read interesting stories from wherever I can online, but The New Yorker is the only one that I subscribe to and have for years. The writing is exceptional and the wit is brilliant. This particular cover, said Art Spiegelman -- a former New Yorker cartoonist himself who was commenting on an NPR broadcast this afternoon -- holds a mirror up to some of the rumors that are floating around out there so that we can see how outrageous they are. He's right.

There are some who worry that such a depiction may hurt Obama in the presidential campaign because some voters may believe that he and his wife want to destroy the country from the inside (as if that hasn't been happening for the past seven years anyway), but that is not The New Yorker's problem. We cannot and should not declare humor, satire and irony off limits because some Americans don't get it, and I am glad that The New Yorker felt no obligation to hold its tongue -- even though most of the readership is college-educated with incomes above $40,000, a group that is backing Obama big time.

If nothing else, the cover has initiated a discussion that shouldn't be shied away from: the right is trying to destroy Obama's candidacy with wild, baseless rumor and innuendo that should not be allowed to fester. I still believe, as a critic once wrote, that The New Yorker is "the best magazine in the world."