My old Hippie friend, Christine Wandel, was delighted to call me a “Snowflake” when we first talked after Trump won. I was appalled to learn she was all for him. It was hard to be her friend after that due to her gloating. The last time we talked was a month ago. I gave her good advice on how to sell a little bell that fell off Janis Joplin’s bracelet backstage at the Fillmore. She wouldn’t pick up for me for almost a week. I assumed she found a buyer and didn’t want to give me a cut. I didn’t want one.
Since my sister drowned in 1994, I never realized a dime from this family tragedy. I have given away several books – for free! I own a newspaper, but, never got a dime from the thousands of hours I put into it – in search of the truth! The truth is my reward. Anyone who takes from this newspaper-blog, for the purpose of realizing a profit, will know my wrath. After agreeing I would author a small book on Christine’s relationship with Stefan Eins, that he was once agreeable to, she gave every indication she found someone to write that story – for a profit! After seeing what I got, and what I can do, they both wanted to can it, and make money off words. They are not writers, or reporters.
Jamal Khashoggi was a writer. After he was beheaded and cut to pieces with a saw, Jared Kushner gave The Prince advice on how to weather the snowstorm. Was this free advice?
Today, Christine Wandel, is my enemy. She has thoroughly enjoyed the completely fucked reality the Trumps brought into the world, while reaching deep into The Hippie Bag. She believes she is now the Queen of the Hippies thanks to Donald. He raised her up!
“How the mighty have fallen!”
With this song, I drum Christine Wandel out of Hippiedom. A hard snow is going to come down on the Trump Dynasty. These Princes of New York, are going to be LOCKED UP for using the Office of the President of the United States to realize fantastic profits with anyone they damn please! Not one Trump has served in the Armed Forces. They know how to shoot a gun, and kill innocent animals. Khashoggi was not given a fighting chance. They hunted him down. Ten men lured him into their trap. KILLERS!
They invited a news reporter to a Hammer Fight, and didn’t have the guts to give him a hammer. Twice, poor young American Men from Midwest farms put on a uniform to go over there to put down killers who were hammering on unarmed people. This is the American Way. This is what made America – great! That greatness now lie in a pool of blood, next to a bone saw. Next to that pool of blood, is a lake of blood, shed by American Soldiers who thought fighting and dying for Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of the Press, was the greatest opportunity in the known world.
“I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’”
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw…
President Trump‘s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reportedly offered advice to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about how to “weather the storm” after the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Kushner and the crown prince, who have long been known to have an informal relationship, continued to chat after Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, despite formal White House procedures for contacts with foreign leaders.
American officials and a Saudi briefed on the conversations told the newspaper that the two men were on a first-name basis in their texts and calls.
One Saudi said that Kushner offered “advice about how to weather the storm, urging him to resolve his conflicts around the region and avoid further embarrassments,” according to the Times.
Sir Thomas Culpeper6 will of 1428: “The manor of Bernet in Leghe, Penserst, Bitteberg and Tonbregge, with the mill of Greenerssh and lands called Scottegrove in Asshe, Gatewicke mede in Otteford, and rents and farms in Sele and Sevenoaks, to Thomas my son and his heirs, remainder to Nicholas his brother, remainder to the heirs of me and Joyce lately my wife, remainder to my right heirs.”
Alley’s lover is EXPOSED by what appears to be……….?. Of what sex, I’m not sure. Did Alley come to Rhyd’s defence, and they put a Gang Spell on the both of them? Is this why they fled to France, to get out of range, and, seek out an ancient Pagan Counter Spell Caster? This is a very rigid generation, that pretends to be tolerant. The Kimites thought they had the perfect predator in me, the fuck that went after ten year old Red Riding Hood. Good thing there was no violence, and the lynch mob, went home. How will Sue Haffner explain all this to her minister? What is “cissplained”.
“He’s also cissplained to me on several occasions (at least one of which is in the comments on this blog), as if I’m supposed to take this seriously, because he’s the big burly manly cis Man homosexual man, and I’m just the effete trans fag (though vaguely bi-, If I’m being totally honest — like a K5) with more skirts than Eddie Izzard. ”
I believe Alley Valkyrie read this blog before Belle called me for a meeting. Finding it contained many things they hated, I was targeted. The Alley Tribe was looking for a fight. They used the homeless to drive home their anti-capitalist agenda. They saw downtown merchants and the Kesey family as capitalists exploiters. Alley’s partner, Rhyd, is raked over the coals. I am going to propose a movie…..’Network 2′. Dog-piling is all the craze.
“There are times I’ve admired her fierce loyalty to those she considers friends and who she’s taken on as Family — but I have a gut reaction against dog-piling on people, as I’ve been on the receiving end of that as a bullying tactic, and I have legit PTSD from that shit. While I certainly understand her reasoning behind at least some instances I’ve seen as such, even seen them as just (again, at times), I’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with this being a go-to reaction of hers when she has a disagreement with someone.”
My series will be the new ‘Perils of Pauline’ . A New Jersey Teen runs away to Eugene, and meets one weirdo after another. She keeps picking fights with the wrong people. In France, a yellow vest is slapped on her, and she is dragged off to the riot where French People are dying – for real! This is The Big Dog Pile!
“Hey! Wait a minute. I don’t want to die. I just want to protest!”
“You Americans make me laugh. You’re in Europe. We used to paint ourselves blue and attack Roman Legions! Our great grandparents died by the thousands! Millions of us roasted Jews and Jehovah Witnesses in ovens, and thought it was a great idea.
The “yellow vest” protests have been “a catastrophe” for the French economy, the finance minister says.
France has seen four consecutive weekends of demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs, and other issues.
About 125,000 protesters took to the streets on Saturday, with more than 1,700 people arrested.
Several tourist sites, including the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum, are closed this weekend.
“He’s got an established record of sexism and misogyny. I’ve been told several accounts -both first-hand and eye-witness (or at least the Internet equivalent of)- and seen many of the “receipts” of his tendencies to just outright dismiss the concerns of women so he can tell them that they should care more about how the real problem is Capitalism, as if ending Capitalism is just suddenly supposed to end sexism with Anarchist Magic — I don’t know what gender studies histories he’s read, but sexism long pre-dates Capitalism, ergo, ending Capitalism won’t end sexism, no matter what Rhyd seems to want his readers think. (As a quick example off the top of my head: The Cyrenaics and Cynics were regarded as fucking oddball schools of philosophy, as women were held in just as much regard as the men in those schools — and that’s just the Hellenic world. There are countless examples of how sexism reigned long before the institution of Capitalism, and how fucking revolutionary proto-feminism has always been.) That pretty much is just Marx verbatim, when he pulls that shit — it might make sense in print, but it betrays a gross ignorance of the history of misogyny, and since Marx was talking from a position of male privilege, it obviously didn’t occur to him that ending Capitalism won’t magically make sexism disappear.
Anarchism, Paganism, and Resistance: An Interview with Rhyd Wildermuth
Brenan Daniels I Spirituality & Religion I Interview I May 10th, 2017
Below is a recent interview I had with Rhyd Wildermuth, the editor of the website Gods & Radicals, where we discuss the origins of the organization, paganism, and religion in anarchism.
What led to the creation and found of Gods and Radicals? How did the entire group get together?
Gods & Radicals was started by myself and my friend Alley Valkyrie two years ago. We’re both anarchists, the self-educated ‘street-variety’ as it were, living much of our lives working with homeless and other mostly-invisible victims of capitalism. And we also talked to other mostly-invisible things, like trees and dead people and land spirits and gods. So we were the self-educated street-variety of Pagans, too.
For us, our anti-capitalism and our Paganism seem to flow into each other seamlessly. Our desire to protect the natural world and our desire to protect the vulnerable were both rooted in the same soil. And we knew lots of other Pagans who were also anarchists, and lots of other anarchists who were also Pagans, but noticed that few were ever talking about what seemed pretty self-evident to all us. Because of the overwhelming response we got after a presentation together at a Pagan conference in California, we realized there was massive desire to talk more about this. So we started the site, named it after the presentation we gave, and put out a call for writers, and we got flooded pretty quickly with offers to help. It was pretty amazing.
Tell us about the journal A Beautiful Resistance. What led to its founding and what is the goal of the journal?
Gods & Radicals is both a website and a non-profit publisher, and A Beautiful Resistance is one of our publications. The idea behind the name is pretty simple: we tend to forget what we’re resisting for in the midst of all thing things we’re resisting against. Resistance can be ugly, exhausting, full of sorrow and misery and pain. It can also be beautiful, and should be, because we’re not just struggling against capitalism, against patriarchy, against racism, and against authority. Instead, we’re resisting for something, for ideas and for people and for ways of being that are beautiful.
Also, we wanted to challenge an unchallenged idea in both anarchist and Pagan publishing: we wanted to pay all our writers, to re-establish writing and art as labor that must be compensated. With A Beautiful Resistance and our other publications, we split all the revenue after costs 50% with all the contributors, with the other half going back into the organization to start new publishing projects. We’ve been pretty successful so far on this.
How did you personally come to paganism and what exactly is paganism as it doesn’t seem to be well understood in the general culture?
I can’t and won’t define Paganism for everyone, but I’ll happily tell you how I define it for myself.
Paganism is the moment I lose my words at the sight of wildflowers breaking through sidewalk cracks in the poor areas of a city; the resurgence of the wild into the disciplined misery of the oppressed. It’s the body that doesn’t fit into the machine, the dream of buried rivers and streams under pavement. It’s the tears I shed and the rage I feel when I see a river poisoned by an oil spill or see a mountain blown to bits to get at the coal underneath.
For me, it’s all about relation to not just the human-world but the other-than-human world. The mountain that gets blown apart so industrialized capitalism can grind on, the river that gets poisoned so people can have cars-I’m in relationship with them. Just like when a trans friend is harassed or a Muslim neighbor is terrorized, I cannot stand by and accept that violence, because we are related, we relate to each other, and our existence is all bound up together.
I’ve always been like this, I think, but I didn’t always identify the way I relate with the world as “Pagan.” Animism and witchcraft also describe it just as well. The words matter less to me than the worlds of meaning they attempt to describe.
Many anarchists reject any religion, especially organized religion. How do you square your anarchist political beliefs with your paganism?
I’ve always wanted to answer this question. More often than not, the question I am asked is how I square my pagan beliefs with generally atheistic anarchist political theory.
First off, I-and Gods & Radicals-strongly rejects clericalism. Anyone who sets themselves up as a mediator between humans and the world is trying to control people. In fact, most of our political systems derive from earlier religious-authority forms, evolving from priestly-control of society to king- or politician-control with the advent of monotheism. What both secular Liberal Democracy and theocratic empires have in common is authority: that others (priests, kings, politicians, bosses) can and do have the authority to define the world for you. We reject that in all its forms.
Traditionally, atheist anarchism and Marxism make the mistake of defining non-European, non-white, and indigenous spiritualities as ‘superstitious’ or even primitive. Post-colonialists like Dipesh Chakrabarty have helped unravel that as European exceptionalism, the continued notion that mostly-white leftists are somehow more superior in their atheist views because they’ve progressed past religion. They’re enlightened, the rest of the world is not, and all that.
So I see the insistence that leftists must always be atheists to be little more than that same European exceptionalism that led to colonial suppression of indigenous beliefs in the Americas and Africa. Re-embracing our own spiritual existences-and our ability to create new ways of being outside Capital and the state-is a key to our own liberation and also ongoing anti-colonialist efforts around the world. Otherwise, we’re no different from the French in Haiti who tried to suppress indigenous African beliefs so the Blacks would make better slaves, or the Spanish and English who tried to wipe out First Nation’s beliefs to ‘civilize’ them.
To use an anarchist term, we’re expropriating our meaning back, or in Marxist terms, we’re seizing the means of the “production” of meaning.
In what way does Gods and Radicals create and change the narrative surrounding paganism, as a religious belief, and anarchism as a political belief? What are the unique/new ideas or ways of thinking that G&R brings to the table?
Our primary influence has thus far been within Paganism, and it’s also where we get the majority of our critics. There are racist elements in American Paganism particularly that don’t like us. Also, our anti-clerical stance has made us a few enemies with the plastic-shaman, media-hungry elements that see us as a threat to their greed. And we’ve helped expose a few charlatans and leaders sympathetic to fascism and the alt-right. So, lots of enemies, but even more friends: we get emails weekly from people who thought they were maybe the only Pagan anarchists around. I like those emails a lot.
I think the way we change the anarchist narrative is precisely in what I mentioned earlier: we are undermining the European exceptionalism that crept into anarchism, and reminding people we can all create our own meaning.
One thinks of the way anti-Enclosure resistance movements in England and Wales adopted Pagan language and mysticism in their resistance: the Luddites, for instance, claimed to be led by a ghostly ‘captain’ who lived under a hill in a forest. That’s a land spirit. Likewise, the Whiteboys in Ireland gave eviction notices to landlords in the name of an ancient land-goddess, and the Rebeccas claimed to have gotten their costumes from an ancient crone in the mountains. The narrative of those resistance movements is remarkably similar to the spiritual stories of indigenous and slave resistance in the Americas. Likewise, the ritual to Erzuli Dantor at Bois Cayman which sparked the Haitian Revolution, or the women’s resistance to factory owners in Cambodia through possession by land spirits call the Neak Ta-resistance to oppression has very often been spiritual as well as physical.
By telling those stories, and by telling our own, we open up more space for these kinds of resistances, and also challenge the insistence that European-secular atheism is the natural, final evolution of humanity.
Such a view also helps us navigate away from the appropriative nature of Western spirituality. The capitalist creation of whiteness stripped people of their relationship to land and culture. “Hurt people hurt people,” as they say, and that whiteness manifests now in a voracious theft of the culture and spiritual expressions of others. Dismantling that whiteness and healing the damage that was done (and that it does) will require creating new relationships to land and culture in which everyone engages in their own meaning-making.
Also, we’re trying to provide a bulwark against the alt/new/fascist right. They gain power significantly by playing to that lost sense of meaning; they’ve been able to make so much headway on this precisely because many leftists demean spiritual expression. We’re trying to fix that.
How can people support G&R and are there orgs/groups that G&R is allied with?
A few ways. First, we are always excited to meet new writers and artists. We pay for writing on our site now, and welcome as many diverse voices as want to write with us. Secondly, we are a non-profit and accept donations to help us pay our writers. Buying our books helps a lot as well-that’s how we pay our print writers. And sharing our stuff, of course, is always really helpful, especially now that most social media sites throttle views in order to get their users to buy advertizing.
Other groups that we work with but aren’t affiliated with directly, groups that might be of great interest to others, are Heathens United Against Racism and Appalachian Pagan Ministry, both of which are doing a lot of work to fight fascist organizing within Heathenry. And we have great relationships with quite a few Pagan communities elsewhere in the world fighting these same struggles, particularly against fascists.
Let’s Talk About: Rhyd Wildermuth
Posted on
Rhyd has always been one of those people who I felt like, maybe I should like him more than I actually do. He and I are far closer on the political spectrum than Galina Krasskova and myself, but in the last year or so, I have discovered problem, after problem, after problem with him.
Until a couple years ago, especially noticeable before the launch of Gods & Radicals, he wrote a lot of more mystical stuff, bardic, poetic,… It wasn’t really my thing, for the most part, but it was inspired and original and -most importantly- interesting. Then, whatever the hell happened, his calling got upended and he’s since been rehashing Marxism For Dummies and a Cliff’s Notes of Starhawk, and it’s been trite and boring. If you find this “inspiring,” I highly recommend that you actually read The Communist Manifesto and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, and pretty much any of Starhawk’s works, because they’ve both actually addressed all of the issues Rhyd’s been talking for the last couple years in a concise manner, and better-written, and they actually come closer to offering viable solutions than anything Rhyd’s said…
…but then, when someone actually tells him that he’s all theory and no solution, he just hand-waves about being a philosopher, as if that actually addresses the fairly justified critiques. I mean, hell, can’t he just Cliff’s Notes Marx’s solutions, or Guevara’s, or Starhawk’s, and so on — or would that just make it all the more obvious that he hasn’t had an original thought in his head for the last two years?
Yeah, probably….
Then there’s his social justice problems.
Yes, he’s been regarded as “SJW” for a few years, now, but here’s the thing (aside from the fact that the term has become as meaningless as “politically correct” has been since the 1990s): He’s about as terrible as Tumblr thinks many male film stars are, when it comes to intersectional issues.
He’s got an established record of sexism and misogyny. I’ve been told several accounts -both first-hand and eye-witness (or at least the Internet equivalent of)- and seen many of the “receipts” of his tendencies to just outright dismiss the concerns of women so he can tell them that they should care more about how the real problem is Capitalism, as if ending Capitalism is just suddenly supposed to end sexism with Anarchist Magic — I don’t know what gender studies histories he’s read, but sexism long pre-dates Capitalism, ergo, ending Capitalism won’t end sexism, no matter what Rhyd seems to want his readers think. (As a quick example off the top of my head: The Cyrenaics and Cynics were regarded as fucking oddball schools of philosophy, as women were held in just as much regard as the men in those schools — and that’s just the Hellenic world. There are countless examples of how sexism reigned long before the institution of Capitalism, and how fucking revolutionary proto-feminism has always been.) That pretty much is just Marx verbatim, when he pulls that shit — it might make sense in print, but it betrays a gross ignorance of the history of misogyny, and since Marx was talking from a position of male privilege, it obviously didn’t occur to him that ending Capitalism won’t magically make sexism disappear.
Stemming from his misogyny is his implicit femphobia. If you think he hasn’t committed this, I ask that you consider:
The fact that he has, on several occasion, gone on and on and fucking on about how he’s gone out of his way to craft a burly, especially masculine/butch physique and image. Shit, I’ve seen him go on about his own stench with more zeal than most trans guys marvel at their own after only several months on HRT — at least with trans guys, there’s the excuse that they’re basically going through puberty again, only a biologically “male” one, this time around, and they find the difference interesting and fascinating. With Rhyd, it’s like he’s inviting us all to read some autoerotic fetish, cos he’s older than me, and the only other guys I see go on like that as in spank-chats. This alone isn’t necessarily damning, but he frequently takes a tone implying this is far favourable to effeminacy — this is especially clear when he goes on about the folly of “identity politics” and his rejection of a “gay” identity in the fact of his clear homosexual inclinations.
Oh, yeah, and he’s also made a point to remind practically everyone that he’s only interested in guys as burly and smelly as himself. These have been public Facebook posts that, like I said, read like the text profiles of dudes looking for cybersex and hook-ups. This is mirrored in countless “No fats, no fems” Grindr profiles and Craigslist “casual encounters” listings. Again, in and of itself, this isn’t necessarily bad, but our preferences don’t develop in a vacuum, meaning his rejection of effeminacy and the effeminate comes from somewhere.
Oh, yeah, and he basically admits that “faggot,” a word that is consistently used as a slur against specifically effeminate men, and especially against gay-identified effeminate men (and remember, he rejects the idea that his homosexual inclinations necessarily make him “gay”) and we see this language of “faggot” reinforced in LGBT+ spaces, in mixed spaces, and especially in any heteronormative spaces — shit, we see this in the 1984 film Purple Rain, as Morris Day calls Prince’s The Kid character, who is as effete as Prince, himself, a “long-haired faggot,” in spite of the character being heterosexual. This is not a word that has been used against him — but he’s going to appropriate it, anyway, cos that’s just what white cis men do, is appropriate experiences that are not theirs to reclaim. Guess that’s what unexamined privilege does to a person.
He’s also cissplained to me on several occasions (at least one of which is in the comments on this blog), as if I’m supposed to take this seriously, because he’s the big burly manly cis Man homosexual man, and I’m just the effete trans fag (though vaguely bi-, If I’m being totally honest — like a K5) with more skirts than Eddie Izzard. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I were to eventually learn, some day in the hypothetical future, that he doesn’t actually take my male gender identity seriously for the simple fact that I embrace effeminacy while “real” trans men look like Buck Angel and Jameson Green and Chaz Bono and other masculine manly MAN men, and not like Boy George or Rozz Williams or Marc Bolan — transgressing cisnormativity is fine for cis men, but trans men gotta be Manly MAN Men, y’know? I suspect he’d go there because I’ve heard this shit from literally every butch cis homosexual I’ve encountered, and a lot of the trans ones, for sure…. Sure, this specific thought is speculative, but it sure as hell wouldn’t surprise me, if it were true.
Now let’s get more personal for a mo’….
So, I’m not going to out this person publicly (they can do that, themself, if they wish to), but Rhyd has told at least one person, knowing full well they were going through a depressive period at the time, that you know, maybe they should just kill themself, cos there really isn’t anything else he can offer as advice. Thankfully, this person didn’t take Rhyd’s advice, but there are just some lines a decent person never crosses, and I think that’s one of them.
The same person I also trust enough when they told me that Rhyd did, in fact, go out of his way to start shit with Galina and Sannion &co (which is probably, I suspect, what drove Galina into a knee-jerk reaction toward the AltRight — to be fair, her politics have always been fairly far to the right by anyone’s standards, but she’d been considerably more tempered in expressing this, and far less willing to turn a blind eye to some things before this last year and change) to boost hits toward the then-barely-past-inaugural Gods & Radicals e-zine. This has been corborrated by two other people who were close-enough to the situation, at the time it was happening. See, prior that, Rhyd was practically Galina’s golden boy, and even though she didn’t agree with his politics, she thought very highly of his work and of him personally, and often cited his mystical posts on his old blog, though I think Sannion referred to Rhyd’s blog from his own, far more often.
Now, as I said the other day, I made the choice to quietly distance myself from Galina &co over political reasons. Though there was some misunderstanding last year when I mentioned something about it on someone else’s Facebook comments, I’ve really not gone out of my way to be a jackass about it; even my post from the other day, I spent a significant portion of the piece listing everything I still admire about Galina, even though I ultimately concluded that it’s better for myself to maintain some distance. I never went out of my way to mischaracterize her snarky comments as an “endorsement” of Neonazi groups like the AFA and Stormfront (she and I were never all that close, but I’d certainly read her blog long enough to be able to tell when she’s being snarky and when she’s being serious). I never decided to pick fights in public and through private emails, and then proclaim it was a “crusade against me.”
That’s another thing that seems to give away, no matter how much he plays around in Europe, how pitifully American Rhyd is: Literally even the most constructive critiques of his words and deeds suddenly becomes, in Rhyd’s own words, a “crusade against [him],” which is painting any disagreement as an outright Holy War. He and others may snarkily call Galina &co “the Piety Posse,” but Galina has a tendency to paint these disagreements as actions of disrespect against the gods, spirits, and revered dead — not against her person. When someone calls out Rhyd for bad behavior, it’s not just a personal attack, it’s an all-out Crusade against him! Even if you 100% believe that Galina’s talk about how everyone is disrespecting the gods to the point of practical atheism is all “performative” and she’s just ego-tripping, fine, but she at least has the decency to frame it as a defense of something other than herself she’s concerned about (my personal opinion? Unlike some, I’ve met Galina, and I have witnessed the clear passion she has for her religion, which has literally brought her to tears — it’s humbling to see someone that devoted, and while I don’t like how fervently she goes after every perceived slight she sees against the Gods, I don’t for a second doubt her passionate devotion being anything less than 100% sincere.) Rhyd makes no such pretentions — he wants you to know that any criticism will be taken as literally a “crusade against him.”
Now let’s go back to my comment about how he’s playing around Europe: I really can’t take any of his talk about “revolution” seriously after he went expat. At least when James Baldwin and Josephine Baker took off for France, they did so to escape the outright crippling homophobia and racism that held back their vocations. Rhyd has a stable income through several avenues, so his ability to do what he loves has not been impeded; hell, even without taking his book money and other sources into account, he’s making enough on Patreon so as to exceed my SSDI cheque, alone, before the added Social Security Survivor’s Benefits that allow me to live on my own, and this income is, as best as I can tell, just for being Rhyd Wildermuth.
…but I digress: He’s made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he’s written off the States as a “sinking ship,” and that’s why he’s left the country — what this translates as, to me, is “I’m privileged enough to bail after I got mine, and I know the current administration is going to literally kill people, but oh well, I got bored with my old job as a social worker, where I could have at least tried. I’d rather get paid to buy the hype about myself and climb up Druid Mountains and then make callous remarks about how the disabled just, well, have to die, cos I’m not afraid to die, and if you got paid hundreds of dollars a month to gallivant about Europe, you too can have these spiritual epiphanies and be fine! Ah well…. Good luck, and thanks for all the fish!”
His most recent bullshit catching him hell from a steadily increasing number of people on Facebook really reminds me of every bourgie uni student who goes on a spiritual tourism of South America or parts of Asia or Africa, and then bores you to death with stories of their exploitative “spiritual awakenings” — you know, the kinds of people he likes to snark on cos of their unexamined Colonialism, and while he doesn’t really seem to express that specific characteristic in his recent rodomontades, his arrogance and pretentions are about on-par with those kids back-packing across the slums of Southeast Asia on Daddy’s dime.
Again, he and I are mostly on the same page, politically, but I just never really liked the guy, and the more I learn about him, the more justified I feel in this. He’s like the anti-Galina, in this sense — I never really liked him all that much, even though we’re generally in agreement on politics, while I like her on a person-to-person level, but I just ran out of spoons to deal with her politics and the toxic alliances she’s formed since this falling-out with Rhyd (which, as I’ve assessed from those who were close-enough to the situation to know more, was completely of Rhyd’s design and intent to create). In simplest terms, to call Rhyd “a real asshole” is one of the nicer things I could say about him, and generally speaking, the more I think about him, the angrier I get — makes me glad I’m not Bruce Banner, I have too many nice clothes and irreplaceable concert t-shirts.
[This post had some typos corrected and a few relatively minor revisions for clarity on 2017-06-30 @02.07]
I declare myself the Custodian of Kesey Square ‘The Home of Freedom of Speech’. There has long been talk about changing the name. May I suggest ‘Khashoggi Square’. If Ken ‘The Writer’ were alive, he would second my suggestion.
No one has fought so hard for a plot of land in Oregon, as I did. I refused to cave in to the “threats” of Alley Valkyie. I told her I owe it to my peers to tell her;
“Go fuck yourself!”
Sean Penn is filming a movie about Khashoggi. I will invite him to Eugene. Perhaps we will got together before the Eugene City Council with a proposal? When we get – real change – we will hold a ceremony in ‘Khashoggi Square’ and broadcast Mario’s speech on the brick wall.
On January 25, 2016, a entertaining and dedicated group of Citizens of Eugene marched to Wayne Morris Free Speech Plaza where we signed up to speak before the Mayor and City Council. Zane Kesey made an impassioned appeal to keep the Square, and the discussion about its fate, open. I go FURTHER than that. I declare it a done deal! History itself claims the Square. They can not take away OUR HISTORY!
“As revitalization continues to reshape its surroundings, the area in downtown Eugene that the future city’s earliest settlers platted as its town square remains a place that time has by and large forgotten.”
After undergoing numerous transformations during its first century, the Park Blocks — the four corners of public space bisected by Eighth Avenue and Oak Street — have seen little meaningful change in the past half-century or so.”
Allow me to introduce George Melville Miller ‘The Prophet of Lane County’ and the brother of Joaquin Miller, who went to the University of Oregon after it was founded, and was the editor of Eugene’s first newspaper. George platted Florence and Fairmont, a city that was consumed by the City of Eugene, that sold a entire block to the UofO that tore down the cottage Ken Kesey lived in while attending the UofO. Jon Ruiz was on T.V. saying these cottages might be saved. I sent him the history of the Miller family, along with the video I made of their lost graves. I got this response;
Our alleged City Planners have rendered all the Citizens of Eugene – BEGGARS – when it comes to our traditional culture. In truth, Joaquin Miller put us on the World Map when it comes to Literature and Art – as did Ken Kesey! English History speaks well of our Native Poet, while we……..know him not!
City officials are planning to improve the area, which Eugene’s earlier settlers, including city founder Eugene Skinner, donated for civic use in 1853, to serve a 21st century populace.”
Joaquin Miller was a founder of the Bohemian Club and was part of the City Beautiful Movement. George married into the Cogswell family who are kin to the Campbell family, who owned the Register Guard.
As an advocate for the Homeless, I can say there is no cure for Homelesness, just as there is no cure for Alcoholism, this is why I am working on a Twelve Step program for the homeless. My childhood friend, Nancy, who gave her grandmother’s recipe for yogurt to the Kesey family, was at my graduation from the New Hope program at Serenity Lane in 1987. She got me on The Bus in the Eugene Celebration Parade. We found the artists who rendered the image of the lost Creamery mural. I failed to save Ken’s cottage.
We do not live forever. This is why we have History. Our Mayor is not running again. Look at the Big Picture – and grow strong! I beg you to cast aside your tunnel vision when it comes to the homeless at Kesey Square, and grab all the history I have compiled – and make it yours! From there – we can do wonders! Everyone wants to do wonders!
My health is failing. This history may be lost. I am handing you the history of the Pre-Raphaelites who Joaquin Miller had dinner with. This movement came to America, and can find a home in Eugene. There can be Hand Across the Water, and a real miracle of Civic Responsibility! I know Ken would embrace the Miller Brothers – with joy – because he would know he was not ever alone!
Until we establish the People’s Board of Caretakers, I am History’s Sheriff. We were just invaded by the Bundy Brothers who took over our history and historic artifacts – for a little while! Let it be known, that I will place under citizen’s arrest anyone who vandalizes our Sacred History! Is there a call for a Oregon People’s Board of Caretakers. Mayor Kitty Piercy thinks so and that is why she spoke at the Old Federal Building about EVICTING the Bundyites from property in our State, and leaving the Citizens of Burns, in peace! Isn’t she out of her Jurisdiction? How generous of her to consider the plight of the Burnites!
The Park Blocks are best known as the home of the Lane County Farmers Market, the Eugene Saturday Market and the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza.
But after the crowds disperse from those events and gatherings on weekends, city officials say, the Park Blocks are largely ignored by the community, as the aging 1950s era design may be uninviting and the presence of transients may be concerning. Few of the surrounding businesses even open their front doors to the historic public space.
“We have literally turned our backs on the Park Blocks, commercially as well as in terms of activity,” Councilor Chris Pryor said during a City Council work session on Monday evening, after city staff had briefed the elected body on its early work on the project.
“That’s just really unfortunate. We have almost two large full blocks that for the larger part have been ignored for decades. It’s not malicious. It’s just we’ve kind of forgotten.”
Added Councilor Alan Zelenka: “It’s really well-used during the weekends and dramatically underused during the weekdays. It kind of has two lives to it.”
Councilors indicated they want to get the public’s ideas on what they want to see from a revitalized Park Blocks, but they also appeared to struggle with how any new design and uses will fit within its transforming surroundings.
There are several other public spaces in downtown either in line for or under consideration for makeovers. They include Broadway Plaza, also known as Kesey Square; the Hult Center plaza; the new City Hall plaza; and the future riverfront park on the Eugene Water & Electric Board’s surplus land.
Councilors did say the area could benefit from more openness, more benches to sit on, and more green grass.
The area has been home to an early city hall, early county courthouses, a jail and a firehouse.
The Park Blocks’ current configuration was designed in 1958 as construction of the current Lane County courthouse was nearing. Since that time, there have been comestic changes to the public space but the design has been preserved.
A 2006 master plan for the Park Blocks called for numerous improvements. They include drawing traffic on non-market days by, as examples, offering food carts, interactive play and theater and musical performances; increasing connectivity between the public space and downtown; and reclaiming the northwest quadrant by razing the two-level “butterfly” parking lot. (The name originates from its shape.)
The planning, however, has brought only minor revisions. It’s unclear what guidance that master plan will provide as the city works to update the Park Blocks.
“Overall, I think the space has great bones, so to speak, but could use a new look,” Councilor Claire Syrett said
Yesterday, while looking for my play ‘Daughter Dead’ I found this card sent out by Stacey Pierrot, who was sold the Rosamond Estate for ten years. At the end of this contract, the entirety of the estate goes to my two nieces, Shannon Rosamond, and Drew Benton. This is my kin. Pierrot is not related to them. She is not, and never was the Custodian of these human beings that are found in our amazing family tree – I am the custodian of. Because Mark Presco resigned and disappeared himself from our family, I am now the head of our family. This includes Heather and Tyler Hanson.
What I haven’t been able to ascertain, is whether Shannon and Drew got royalties from the sale of Snyder’s biography. If so, then they are part of any movie deal Pierrot makes. Executor, Sydney Morris, backed the idea of a book and movie in order to increase sales out of the Rosamond gallery, that Pierrot closed. My nieces are not happy with her. I will contest all attempts to author another book, or make a movie about Christine Rosamond Benton. There are too many lies that have all but destroyed my family. We are seeing what lying does to a family in regards to the President’s family.
While receiving 0nly $750 dollars a month, I have maintained a Family Owned Creative Legacy – that has bloomed – in spite of the chaos outsiders brought to our table. Last night I watched the series ‘A French Garden’. Empress Josephine’s love of rose gardens was discussed. “What is in a name?”
Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie;
Only one person owned the name Mary Magdalene Rosamond. My grandmother married a man born of two Rose Names. Royal and Mary had four beautiful daughter, who owned the name that means ‘Rose of the World’. I have traced the ancestors of these Roses to royalty, and Shakespeare. I did this for free. I never realized a dime. I did it – for love of my roses! Only one born of the Rose Bloodline can be a Custodian or our Family Tree.
Lately I have been exchanging memories with Tim O’Connor who my mother, Rosemary Rosamond, took in, when his famous father threw him out of his house. We talked about our mutual friends, Peter Shapiro, Christine Wandel, and Keith Purvis, who I suspect is alive. I had another dream about him two nights ago. If found, I know he would be happy to contribute his memories. At the opening of the Mayor’s Show, Marilyn Reed gave me an envelope containing one of her memories of Christine that will be published in my book. Also, I have lengthy conversation with Larry Sidel and his daughter Shannon, on facebook messenger. Larry is very supportive of my book. Pierrot should never have been sold our Family Literary Legacy that I revived, and took care of, before Christine died. I know I have the complete approval from Christine, Rosemary, Mary, and Royal, to be the Rightful Custodian of our Creative Legacy.
Christine Rosamond married two actors, Rick Partlow, and Garth Benton. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor is our second cousin. Our ancestors came from Ireland. Below are four beautiful Irish Roses. This title has never been applied to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor. Liz is an ‘Irish Rose’ akin to Mary Magdalene Rosamond.
Anyone who wants any of our fragrant history, must respectively ask my permission.
My grandfather founded Gem Publishing because no one would publish his books. He taught himself how to write. He went back to his roots in the Ozarks and wrote about ‘His People’. He considered his writing – art. He taught Erl Stanley Gardner how to write and type in the Rosamond home in Ventura California. I keep encountering rude folks in Springtucky who think they are the Salt of the Earth Rednecks, and just may kill a man to prove what liars they are.
In Mr. Sydney Morris’s Report of the Administration he says on page 4 line 10;
“Petitioner hired Stacey Pierrot, who had been assistant manager of the gallery during Decedent’s lifetime, to run the gallery and prepare and execute a marketing plan. The gallery was run by the estate until March 1996 when the gallery was sold to Ms. Pierrot through a contract approved by this Court. During the time that the estate operated the gallery, aggressive marketing efforts were made in an attempt to stir interest in Decedent’s work and increase the potential market for her work. In spite of these efforts, interest in Decedent’s work continued to wane.”
On page six, Mr. Morris explains why there was a delay in the closing of the estate;
“By September 2000, however, plans were underway for a biography of Decedent, which Petitioner hoped might create interest in her work. The book was published in 2002. Although the book did not spur the hoped-for interest in Decedent’s life and work, efforts continued to market the concept of a screenplay based upon Decedent’s life. Petitioner hoping that this might be brought to fruition, elected to keep the estate open. However, it is the Petitioner’s belief the likelihood of an increased interest in Decedents work is negligible, and the time has come to close the estate.”
Steve looked at me and said , “The Hippies Were Right” then he asked me to write a song about that.
I did. for years its been “a hit” with my countless (small time) live audiences…I can’t change the name.
However you thinking like that, is proof your one of the originals…I remember on 13th street, Keith and you
were both in agreement about not liking that term…I reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle had a Big regular
column in that paper…in early 1967 (just before the summer of Love) he wrote an article and used that Phrase,
Term…we were trying our best to be free spirits, and didn’t want to be labeled…
though for lack of better terms…to describe those times and the people of the early first movement…for lack
of better ones, that (simple universal) term stuck!! its hip to be hip…old musician terms…underground.
Tim O’Connor <timoconnor@hitchhiki
To:John Ambrose
Nov 10 at 2:48 AM
Hi Buddy.
Hope this finds you Happy & Healthy!
I’ve been really busy with the boat, sorry I’m so pooped!
Friday a friend drove me to the Yanmar Motor dealership
in Rotterdam to pick up the redone valve block, and gaskets!
Brand new valve springs and valves for the boats motor.
My mechanic friend will come soon Sunday, Monday?
To help me put the motor back together. When we can
start it, run it awhile. Then I have to put the antifreeze
coolant in and have it ready for the winter finally (at last)
just in time.
I did check out the link below last night, heavy stuff my friend,
terrible how people are regarding money, especially with family.
I’m with you Pal! I must say I love the old photos of Christine and
You!!!! So special, thanks for sending them. Christine was so Beautiful!!!
I’m a Big fan of her Art work too!!! The eyes are the windows of the
soul, and she was so good at that.
I love your Mom too!!! When I ran away from home (long time ago),
Rosemary was so nice and helpful, very supportive!!!! I don’t forget it.
I’ll always be very grateful indeed!!!! I’m lucky to Know (Blessed) I’ve
learned from real experiences, that we are all spirits, that the other side
truly exists, call it what you like…the astral plane, heaven? Its real.
They are in a Very Good place, reunited with their loved ones…
and on the other side, you don’t need toilet paper any more!!!
What did Alley Valkyrie do with the money people gave her when she held her fake Art Be-In for her Tribe? Alley’s lover connects me to three black men who were accused of rape. Hard to believe, but one old friend grew distant. A innocent cat and Ken’s image, was drafted into their cause. They want passerby’s to think they were connected with Kesey. Belle Burch knew I had been ‘On the Bus’. I suspect her tribe were after my blog and credentials so they stay in this Prime Begging Spot.
The Alley Cult places a sign around Ken’s neck (to the displeasure of Zane Kesey) promoting anti-capitalism. I suspect Alley threatened me because someone was going to donate $400,000 dollars to a homeless group to buy land. The Alley Cult tricked artists to take part. I need to dedicate a book to the modern Dickens tale.
““His desire to demonstrate his superior masculinity is linked to obvious male socialization patters. Cf. Oregon Duck rape scandal(s).”
How is Monroe protecting Belle Burch, making her feel safe. The three black men sought revenge! The word “PREDATORY” is hung around Ken’s neck. I suspect Belle showed Alley this blog, and she saw a PERFECT VICTIM to hang her sign on. I mention my kinship to the Getty family. The rich always like to “demonstrate his superior masculinity”. The best move I ever made was to cancel my modeling session with Belle when I found out she belonged to a Cult. Would she, and her tribe, have blackmailed me – for money?
My friend Tim would go on the warpath if someone hung such a sign on the monument to his famous father.
“Former Oregon basketball players Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson, dismissed by UO in May 2014 after being accused, but never charged, of raping a fellow student at an off-campus party two months earlier, have filed a lawsuit against the university seeking $10 million for each player.
Attorney Alex Spiro, who represents Artis and Dotson, called the suit “a matter of principle” in a brief phone interview Tuesday.
“The University of Oregon failed Mr. Artis and Mr. Dotson — two remarkable student-athletes — and must be held responsible,” Spiro wrote in a statement.”
“His desire to demonstrate his superior masculinity is linked to obvious male socialization patters. Cf. Oregon Duck rape scandal(s).”
The quote above was written by John Monroe a close friend of Alley Valkyrie, Belle Burch, Anbrose Heltham-Keatley, and other SLEEPS advocates. John was arrested with Belle. John and Alley were instrumental in the ‘Kesey Square Revival’ that Alley said was over, but, it looks like I innocently stumbled into a clandestine revival led by Belle Burch. This is why she tried to incorporate my blog and book in their hidden agenda. Note the chalk on the m ground, the woman hiding her face from me, and the woman wearing a OCCUPY slogan on her hat. It appears that after their arrest this revival was rehashed in order to keep these anarchists visible. How many knew Belle was going to give me a call and set up a meeting? This is why she kept her people a secret from me.
“We brought tables and chairs, played board games and read books, handed out organic produce and created murals throughout the square with sidewalk chalk.”
This is why Belle wanted this video removed, and her subversive clandestine gang. These slanderers and extortionists were not protecting Belle, they were protecting their covert agenda. They needed me to fear for my life, lest I continue my investigation into why they went after me when I discovered Belle Burch had been arrested with members of the Kesey Square Revival. It appears there was a new plan just underway. I did not know I was the monkey wrench in the works. Belle and her backers, did. This is why they tried to destroy my reputation. They went too far when they attacked my mother and my family, and lumped me in with the Duck football players who were accused of rape.
I was an innocent citien enjoying the square. I made a vieo that CAPTURED HELL. I will make sure the Kesey family is aware of these radicals who denied me freedom of the press. Note the woman who is hiding her face from my lens. Belle waves off her concern, but, comes over to check me out. When I tell her my blog if for the promoting and preserving the Bohemians and their lifestyle, she can’t believe what she heard and asks me for my number.
I will now be contacting several attorneys in order to restore my reputation and make sure my Civil Rights are not violated again.
Here is the truth about the homeless downtown. This is Alley Valkyries’ tribe and extended family who she invited to stay – then she moves to France! I lost a couple of good friends who did not want to be linked to this terrorism via me and my blog. I suspect these witches contact my facebook friends.
In modern-day downtown Eugene, accountant Michelle Gall told city councilors recently that she uses the term with co-workers as she prepares to walk the one-block stretch of West Broadway between Willamette and Olive streets.
“That’s truly what it feels like,” said Gall, whose three children attend day care in the area.
The homeless men loitering along the block call out with “derogatory and vulgar words and phrases that no woman should have to hear and, more importantly, no child should have to hear directed at their mother,” she said.
Now, Gall and other downtown merchants, employees and residents are loudly urging political leaders to clean up an area they say is becoming increasingly hostile and unsafe.
During a recent City Council meeting, nearly 40 downtown advocates, as part of an ongoing campaign, asked city councilors to acknowledge the problems and find a solution before the crowds of loiterers further harm downtown renewal.
IF YOU GO
What: Eugene City Council discussion on downtown and neighborhood public safety
When: Noon Wednesday
Where: Harris Hall, Public Service Building, 125 E. Eighth Ave.
