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This poem was performed on March 18, 2011, when Hamilton High School students staged a walk-out in protest of budget cuts.
Hamilton High School
What does your love look like?
Tell me
Does it look like Genesis
When the world exploded at the seams with fire
And named its passions volcanoes
Hamilton is your love like oceans?
So obsessed that it covers a marble in the universe with 70 percent of its body?
What is the name of your love Hamilton?
Is it Marching Band?
Is it Drama?
Is it Choir?
Do you call it dance or musical?
Do you hold her close like the world’s last cello?
Or offer him your best lung through a flute?
Hamilton?
Are you in love with your education?
Are you in love with your art?
Tell me Hamilton
When we came back to school this September
And our class sizes were so large not everyone could be seated at a desk
Did we not beg for mercy then?
When our janitors went missing
And our electives were dismissed
When our teachers took more furlough then their households could carry
And when seniors looked to a college counselor
And found her office vacant
Did we not pray then?
Hamilton
Have we not suffered enough in love?
Are we tired enough of begging Sacramento for mercy yet?
When they threatened to severe
The part of your heart that sings the loudest
What did you do?
When they stuck up our directors and teachers with pink slips
And shot bullets through our younger siblings aspirations
What did you do Hamilton?
Tell me of the martyr you discovered in yourself
The revolutionaries we raised out of Facebook pages
I want to know how many letters, emails and phone calls we fired back
We went to war for love didn’t we Hamilton?
Tell me what you did
So I can repeat it loud and clear for the Republicans in Sacramento
Who don’t believe in us
The ones who are more interested in investing money in state prisons than in education
The ones who said cutting correction funding would lead to local sheriffs
Releasing inmates just for the hell of it
As if the same thing won’t happen to high school diplomas
As if high school dropout rates don’t project how many prison cells need to be built in the FIRST place
But then again they have never had children that attended public schools
So why on earth would they care about what happens to us?
Hamilton
We care about what happens to us
We care about the generation behind us
Because we know that art sustains a society in the midst of turmoil
We have attended enough History classes to know
What pain birthed the Harlem renaissance, hip-hop, country, blues and rock
We are the most diverse school in the county
We are in furious love Hamilton
Because we know that art and education
Is the only thing that makes Los Angeles’s School District Unified
The Fight does not stop here Hamilton
We will keep fighting this weekend
Republicans are gone on their convention
That means they’re going to be pressured from every side NOT to put tax-extensions on the ballot
And that means
That we will keep emailing and calling so that when they come back on Monday
They will know that we weren’t sleeping all weekend
It is not convenient for us to be here on a Friday
We are not here because it is convenient
We are here because we care
They believe we are a tragedy
We are not a tragedy
We are America’s LAST hope for opportunity
Let them know

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Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked the key question when explaining the administration’s Libyan military intervention decision — the secretary of State on Sunday morning news shows, the president on Monday night in his nationally televised speech.
So far, among the various critics on all sides of the spectrum, no one has yet answered the question:
Just suppose that Gaddafi had slaughtered tens of thousands of people in Benghazi and hundreds of thousands had fled over the border to Egypt, destabilizing Egypt and creating a humanitarian crisis — and we had done nothing. Would the critics have criticized the administration?
My answer: The human-rights/humanitarian-values left and the political right who supported President George W. Bush’s take out of Saddam Hussein would have united in outrage and finger-pointing at the Obama administration’s “paralysis” or “indifference” to slaughter of

“Good enough is no longer enough.”
These were the words delivered just two weeks ago, by the CEO of the Syria Trust for Development, the NGO started by the First Lady of Syria, Asma al-Assad during a panel discussion – “The New Voice: Civil Society and the Arab World” – I had organized in Damascus on March 17. In fact, the overall conference the panel was a part of was held under the ‘patronage’ of the First Lady but the words of the participants apparently fell on deaf ears. When I asked her about the free exchange of ideas and the obstacles to that in Syria itself, she defensively began a treatise about how change needed to be rooted in what she termed Syrian ‘identity.’ It was disappointing to see such a lack of responsiveness in the midst of historic change in the region. That encounter was one day before four demonstrators were killed in the southern city of Daraa, which unleashed what has been two weeks of instability in the

Let’s assume for a moment that the corporate news media could try to pull the wool over our eyes with stories that just weren’t true. Hm. Wait a minute, that didn’t come out quite right. Let’s assume they could be completely irresponsible and play fast and loose with the

Here we go again.
In the wake of turmoil in the Middle East and the nuclear accident in Japan, we’re hearing pleas for national energy policies to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and make America energy secure. As President Obama observed today, every leader since President Nixon has said he was going to do something about our energy challenges. And yet here we are once

A legislative storm is brewing in Washington right now. Three Senatorshaveproposedamendments to the Senate’s SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 bill–commonly referred to as the “Small Business Bill”–that could undermine the Clean Air Act.
If you would like to curb global warming, prevent more asthma attacks, and preserve America’s best tool for making our air safer to breathe, I urge you to tell your lawmakers not to support these amendments. This is a law that touches all Americans. I remember going to elementary school in Kentucky next to an oil

“Come with me to Patmos,” he urged me. “I’ve bought a house on the island and you’ll be the first to see it. Spend August with me.”
I snuggled close to him and closed my eyes. I knew he was dangerous but I wanted to be with

One of the first things you hear when attending a political seminar at the USC Unruh Institute of Politics or at something like the American Associated of Political Consultants Annual Conference — as I have in past years — is that political people are the abnormal ones. The average Angeleno does not live, eat and breathe politics. They have lives to live, practices to take their kids to and friends to hang out with during GOTV (Get Out The Vote) weekends. Partisanship is the last thing on their minds, and it is probably easy to understand why the political duopoly of Democrats and Republicans is crumbling in California while registration for independents or DTS (Decline to State) voters climbs.
At a recent Coro CrossTalk at Los Angeles City Hall, veteran Republican pundit and California Target Book publisher Allan Hoffenblum noted that the biggest 2010 game-changer was the passage of Open Primaries because of its potential to dilute the power of the political

Photo by Pamela Roberson
“The croak of the raven is not heard,
And the lion does not devour, the wolf does not rend the lamb,
The dove does not mourn, there is no widow, no sickness,
No old age, no lamentation.”
~ Anonymous description of the island “30 double hours south of Babylona, in the midst of the sea of the rising sun,” third millennium B.C.
It was a place of legend called Dilmun.
The Sumerians, who hailed from what is today southern Iraq, described the island of Dilmun as the Garden of Eden, the lush plot where innocence was forever lost. On a hot June in 1932, a steel bit pierced a layer of blue shale 2000 feet down, and a jet-black torrent erupted. It was the first oil discovered in the Middle East, the beginning of an age. And, for some, there was a sense that that moment marked the beginning of an end.
Tonight the situation seems a nightmare from 1001 Arabian

Born in the foaling stall at The Meadow in Doswell, Virginia, at 2:10 a.m. on March 30, 1969, by all accounts Secretariat was promising from the start.
Shepherded through his legendary career by Penny Chenery Tweedy, trainer Lucien Laurin, jockey Ron Turcotte and groom Eddie Sweat, Secretariat was not just a Triple Crown-winning racehorse, but an icon of hope and determination in troubled times.
Over the 42 years since Secretariat’s birth, his story is undiminished. Indeed, his fable has

While the number of planned layoffs did fall in March in the US, the rate of joblessness is still alarming. When jobs are scarce and hopelessness is rife, what can you do in a down economy where you cannot see any obvious options for return to work? How does brain science and psychology research help us deal with this?
A person who has just lost a job feels shocked, alarmed and depressed. This is understandable and to a certain extent conventional psychology teaches us that this grief reaction to loss is normal. The problem arises when the grief is prolonged due to not seeing any obvious

If the Western military intervention in Libya is really being driven by oil, maybe it’s time to think again. History says regime change is never bullish for oil production in the Middle East and even less so for oil exports.
Iran and Iraq, two of the larger producers in the region, are cases in point.
While no one misses the Shah’s regime, Iran and the rest of the world still miss the oil production and the oil exports his regime once produced. At the height of the Shah’s power, Iran was pumping out six million barrels a day. Today, 32 years after the Iranian revolution sent Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his cronies packing, Iran barely produces four million barrels a

With so many Americans out of work, working part-time or temp jobs that barely make ends meet, and in danger of having their homes foreclosed on, you would think that the Republicans in the House would have better things to do than erupt in outrage over whether something is “advice” or a “recommendation.” But Reps. Spencer Bachus and Shelley Moore Capito are all worked up over this pressing matter. In one of the most ridiculous examples of a phony brouhaha I have ever witnessed (and I have worked in politics for more than 30 years), Bachus and Capito wrote a letter asking Elizabeth Warren to clarify whether she had merely offered advice and expertise, or whether she actually had the temerity to make recommendations on the state AGs-big banks talks.
Our very democracy clearly hangs in the balance.
Just because this incident made me curious, I looked up the definition of the two words. It turns out that the Merriam-Webster definition of “advice” is a “recommendation regarding a decision or course of conduct.” Wow, that is a big

Another South By Southwest here and gone.
And while it’s the second year that the number of registrants for Interactive exceeded those for Music, the insurgence of music fans into Austin reached record highs.
To those unfamiliar, every March this great city is overtaken by some sort of twisted family reunion colored with amazing music, food and an exorbitant amount of free booze. Having been in attendance at least a half dozen times now I can assure you its an absolute blast, however there’s been a growing conversation amongst peers to have something more substantive take place during the festival to balance out the week-long party.
As it was hard to ignore the elephant in the room that was the Japan Tsunami, 2011 became the year that these talks manifested into something more tangible than ever before.
Spawned during Interactive and then carried into Music by activist and musician Peter Griesar and the group Hanson, SXSW4Japan.org was

We typically think of the technological world as something completely different from the natural world, even diametrically opposed. But sometimes, technology can become better by following nature’s lead. For this week’s Animal Oddity, here are three animals that science has mimicked to create new technologies.
1. Woodpeckers
By any account, woodpeckers are remarkable

A current debate about higher education seems actually to be an old one: practical science training vs. general education in the liberal arts. The contrast persists in the public mind even though the sciences are part of the liberal arts, and even though the best science education usually includes the arts and humanities. Now two heavyweights, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, are embodying the

Last week, I had the privilege of joining a distinguished bi-partisan audience at the Kennedy Center to celebrate the life of President George H.W. Bush and his work to renew our nation’s national appeal for volunteerism through his Points of Light Institute organization. This week, I am at Oxford University, attending the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. These events, occurring within a week of each other share a common theme; they celebrate the accomplishments of people who see an intractable problem, and refuse to accept that solutions are

Hope is not a method. For those who face seemingly invincible dictatorships, even the most inspirational bravery on its own is rarely enough. Strategy, planning and discipline are crucial. But where can you learn the best of these disciplines from the masters of theory and practice in non-violent political liberation? The lineage is a great one from the genius of Gandhi against the British, to Jim Lawson and John Lewis in America’s civil rights struggle, the seminal work of Gene Sharp, the United Democratic Front during apartheid South Africa, the Otpor movement against Milosevic in Serbia and the April 6th Youth Movement that organized a lot of the action in Egypt — to name but a few.
A core principle taught by these professors and practitioners of political defiance is that the currency of power is

How often are you asked to sign something? I don’t mean autographs or birthday cards, but documents that are legally and financially binding. It could be something as simple as signing a sales receipt or endorsing a check, or a life-altering action like buying a house. Either way, they are all contracts.
You’ve heard this advice many times but it still rings true: always read the fine print and consider the consequences before signing anything. After all, you wouldn’t be asked to sign a document or form — or click “yes” on a website — unless somebody thought it was important, so shouldn’t you think so as well?
In broad terms, contracts are mutually binding agreements between two or more parties to do — or not do —

“I think part of the reason I’ve never gotten mugged here,” Rachel tells us, “is that I don’t stay out late. And on the rare occasions I do, I never walk.”
I nod. “I don’t walk around at night in the States, so I’m used to it.”
“Really?” Anna asks, head cocked in surprise. “I don’t ever worry about being out late in Australia.”
We’re sitting at a back table of the cafe, eating dumplings under the cool breeze of the

It reads like the plot of a Hollywood movie. On August 19, 2010 Walid Makled Garcia, a Venezuelan national of Syrian origin was arrested in the Colombian border down of Cucuta by Colombian intelligence agents supported by the DEA.
Makled, either 41, 43 or 47 years of age, was born to a family of poor Syrian immigrants in the small town of Tinaco, in Cojedes state in the interior of Venezuela. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to the important city of Valencia, capital of Carabobo