http://www.BeyondChron.org The Voice of the Rest en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 ©2005 Online Newspaper http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.beyondchron.org/news/skins/beyondchron/images/topbar_right.gif http://www.beyondchron.org http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11397 Note: Following is a glimpse into the life of Samuel “Shorty” Legasca, a longtime Tenderloin resident, community volunteer, activist and a disabled Vietnam Veteran. Shorty died last week at his home at the Raman Hotel on Howard Street, which is holding a memorial service for him on May 24 at 3pm. This story is based on two interviews the author did with Shorty in 2008.

The last time I had a long visit with Shorty he was looking gaunt with just a few wisps of gray hair and deep lines in his face. We did community organizing together from 2001 to 2007 in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. We met in his room a couple of times over a one month period. The first time, I remember he sat bent slightly forward on his bed and stroked the back of the large mottled gray cat that was spread indolently across his rumpled sheets. "What's his name?" Shorty echoed my question with a smile that exposed the many gaps where his teeth used to be. After a moment, he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Oh, I don't know... sometimes I call him ‘my son.’” The cat purred noisily and stretched back as Shorty stroked his stomach. "What's important is that he is my number one, and I still have him with me." His voice quivered with emotion as he said this. Shorty’s smile and upbeat demeanor were present as always, but the years had taken their toll. A veteran of the Vietnam war, Shorty was disabled from combat wounds and had a variety of other health ailments brought on by decades of hard living marked by episodes of homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse. His poor health was compounded by the fact that, at the time of our interview, he was almost sixty-five years old. "Lately, the worst thing is my stomach" he told me with a grimace, "Its ulcers, and they are very painful." Despite these problems, Shorty was in high spirits because he felt that recently his luck had changed.
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The public gets it. When asked to identify “the single biggest problem facing this country today,” 40 percent answered “jobs and the economy.” Number two was “budget deficit/national debt,” at six percent.]]> Fri, 24 May 2013 04:04:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11401
Even though the other pieces on “Spellbound” contain no other recordings with this jazz legend, who died in Malaga in Spain in 1995, every single sound on the CD is an expression of Trilok Gurtu's great admiration for the man and musician Don Cherry. After all, it was the American trumpeter who, in the first half of the 1970s, encouraged the young percussionist, freshly arrived in Europe, i.e. Italy, from his homeland of India, to pursue his vision of an intuitive music which is open to the world and embraces the world, and to realize this vision."]]> Fri, 24 May 2013 04:03:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11400
This new version of Medea (renamed Medea Hypothesis) is a startling new version of love gone awry. Of course no matter what the version is "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned!" Let me set the scene. At times the play is Barbaric, Raw and Brilliant. And it does drain you emotionally -- but the gruesome rawness begins to wear thin. But at times it is simply amazing. Medea (EM), as you know is fickle and power hungry. The range of emotions go from volcanic to tenderness. But the tortured interplay of love, desire and revenge, wears out with her crime of passion.
]]> Fri, 24 May 2013 04:03:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11399 Green groups turn away from the political tactics that failed them in the 2009 climate policy fight and join activists voicing opposition in the streets.

As decision day nears on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the environmental movement looks different than it did in 2009—the last time a major climate policy fight took center stage in Washington. Then, the nation's largest green groups were the main engine behind a movement to pass federal climate change legislation. They spent vast quantities of financial and political capital lobbying congressional negotiators and corporations, before the bill failed in 2010.]]> Fri, 24 May 2013 04:02:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11392 long development process at the former site of KGO television studios, the Lofts at Seven is preparing for occupancy. It joins the recently opened Philz Coffee at Larkin and the renovation of the historic YMCA at Leavenworth in the revival of Golden Gate Avenue, whose steep decline in the 1990’s negatively impacted the entire neighborhood. The Lofts at Seven revives the Tenderloin’s historic legacy both by referencing the KGO-7 building and by its cutting-edge architecture, which reflects the area’s unifying of style and grit. The project is one of many that are helping to redefine the Tenderloin as a happening place.]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 04:04:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11395
The 1960s in which Mad Men is set was a different job market than the present in California and the United States. The California unemployment rate was below 5% throughout 1968, going down to 4.1% in December 1968. Our aerospace, banking, shipping and retail trade giants dominated their industries in the 1960s, and were able to offer the stable employment more widespread in the 1950s and 1960s California.
]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 04:02:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11394 Republican Party blocked ratification of this very same treaty in the United States in December 2012, it is great to see the treaty bringing equality to people with disabilities in countries that have recognized the treaty’s value. ]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 04:02:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11396 Hack's 191: Hack Wilson and His Incredible 1930 Season, I realize that baseball’s stat problems well predated the steroid era. As much as I thought I knew about 1920’s and 30’s baseball, I had no idea of the unusual hitting explosion of the 1930 season. And while Chastain wrote his book because he felt Wilson deserved greater acclaim for his ongoing RBI record, he instead proved the opposite. I’m glad that Hack has the record and is in the Hall of Fame, but he and other stars whose hitting stats were unduly embellished by the live ball of 1930 have records as tarnished as the steroid era---though Wilson and his colleagues were not cheating. ]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 04:01:00 -0700 http://www.BeyondChron.org/index.php?itemid=11389 did little to differentiate themselves on major issues like jobs and the city budget”--- the city’s big landlord and realtor groups backed Greuel while tenant groups like the Coalition for Economic Survival supported Garcetti. Greuel pledged to decimate the city’s vastly improved housing code enforcement program, while Garcetti has long backed tenants and affordable housing. I wrote on April 3 that Greuel faced an “uphill battle,” and that New York City’s Christine Quinn, another real estate backed moderate woman candidate, had a greater chance of success. Quinn’s chances still look good, particularly because she does not face an opponent as strong as Garcetti. ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 04:04:00 -0700