Pittsburgh-based activist, hellraiser & unionmaid Anne Feeney's monthly email news... and your feedback! Please leave your comments. Feel free to widely forward anything you see here. Thanks for dropping in.
College pal Shirley Myers decorates her daughter Hannah's 18th birthday cake
My son Daniel Berlin, my husband, Julie Leonardsson, and the fabulous Susan Lewis
Me with Julie!
Adam Moss arrives fiddle-in-hand -- ready to play!
My nephew Casey goes for the big one from the dock!
Janet Stecher enjoying the natural beauty
Weldon cousins enjoying a day with us....
My sister Kate got in the vacation spirit immediately!
Kimberly is about to give Whitey Bulger a swimming lesson!
Where did my grandson get these gorgeous blue eyes?
Saoirse, Erin and Evan
Hannah's 18th birthday!
Nice undies, Leila!
Chatting on the porch!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain!
Sweethearts Amy Berlin and Mike Meadows
Leila Rovics broke hearts all week!
Music in the big room nightly....
14 July 2011
Portland, OR
Woody Guthrie's Hundredth Birthday/Bastille Day...
Well, it looks like I'm doing a summer 2011 issue of the Fellow Travelers' Advisory... It's too late to call this the July issue... and by the end of the month I'll be driving across the northern tier of the US back to Pittsburgh to start a new round of radiation treatments. They've found another brain tumor and suspect that there are many more getting ready to hatch. I asked them what would happen if I skipped this round of radiation and they said I'd probably be dead in two months. It's hard to believe that when I look and feel so good. But they say I've been overly fearful of the side effects of this treatment, and that if I get this radiation that I will feel good and last a good while longer... They are still talking about a cure, and haven't used the words "palliative" or "hospice" yet, so I'm happy for now. I will lose my hair again (dammit!) ... I've been coming up with more reasons that it's good to be bald...
1. That's not *my* hair in the salad!
2. Less hair in the hot tub filter
3. No "bed-head"
4. Lighter pack - no comb, brush, hair care products...
5. Hats fit better, stay on...
6. More places to kiss..
Feel free to send me your top ten reasons that it's good to be bald...
The rainbow photo at the top of this was taken outside of Costco where we stocked up before heading up to my big birthday party celebration..
The view from the deck at our cottage....
What a serene and beautiful spot... and just off to the right was a babbling waterfall that fed into the lake!
My niece Kimberly enjoying a rare few days off from her hi-tech job at Bloomberg in New Jersey
Saoirse gives some mandolin tips to Sebastian....
My dear dear old friends Bill Deegan and Rosanna Lane preparing to fish off our dock...
Saoirse loved the baby pool!
David Rovics joined us all week providing great music and documenting it, too!
Jan Boyd and her husband Bill Erickson enjoying the music!
Amy and her dad, Ron Berlin, stalking the wily bass!
Now I'm on the west coast until the end of the month. I was thrilled to see my friends Harry and Holly at the Oregon Country Fair...
Harry and Holly Stamper - Oregon Country Fair 2011
Brian QTN, me, Amy and Mike
After Fair we went to Pyx - my favorite Portland dessert spot!
I set off from Pittsburgh on the 4th of July with my pal Jimmy Kelly (on the right) and we spent our first night on the road in St Louis with Doug and Sandy Riggs and their wonderful family. Doug's had an interesting adventure lately... He and Sandy discovered two honey bee nests inside the walls of their homes. If you want a glimpse of what 20,000 bees in your walls might look like http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/263576/3/20000-bees-invade-Kirkwood-home
Just before I left I was treated to a lovely birthday season kick-off dinner hosted by my friends Irene and Bob McTiernan. They gifted me with these lovely wind chimes, which adorn my deck now.
July/August Birthdays & Family News...
Birthday Girl, Monique Murad - July 23rd
Belated happy birthdays to Suzanne Beers (July 3), Michael Grefenstette (July 8), Kristen Grefenstette (July 9), Judy Lane McCahill (July 10th.. Happy happy birthday to the Duncan triplets (July 16th) and Erin Grefenstette Henninger (July 18th) and Emily DeFerrari (July 18th), Hilary Chiz (July 23rd), Jim McCahill AND Karen McCahill (July 25) - I know Joanne Metcalfe is in there somewhere... just not sure of the date ... Susan Lewis (July 27th) and Marlo Mary Henninger (July 30th). Then in August - Happy Birthday to Jeanne Clark (August 4), Steffi Domike (August 4), Cathy Weldon (August 7), Judy Wolfson (August 10), Janet Stecher (August 12), Gun Magnusson Forsberg (August 16th), Windy Cooler (August 28th), and Jonas Engstrom (August 31st).
I was saddened to learn of the passing of Curt DeBor, who died suddenly and too young at the end of May. He was a very talented actor in Pittsburgh, and a friend for almost 50 years. Also, my pal Laurie Postans from Victoria, BC passed quietly in his sleep on Sunday, July 10th. He and his wife, Nell, joined me on the first tour of Ireland that I led.in 2009. He was a very charming man, and he'll be missed by all who knew him.
Dan and Monique and Sebastian leave for Zimbabwe on August 9th from New York. They'll be with me a couple days in Pittsburgh before they go. I've sure gotten used to our near-daily visits. We're already starting to plan a "Christmas in Zimbabwe" adventure.
My sister Kathleen has sold her house in New Jersey and she'll be hanging with me for a while in Pittsburgh. I'm so happy and excited. This also means I get Whitey Bulger the wonderdog in residence too!
Breaking medical news will appear at http://caringbridge.org/visit/annefeeney
You can buy my CDs and download full albums or single songs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid
No smashed cars or broken bones this month. I had a great week at the Kerrville Folk Festival visiting my daughter and her wonderful new beau, Mike Meadows ... as well as hundreds of cherished friends, staffers and performers that I've met there over the past 23 years. The drought in the TX hill country is devastating. I'm so afraid that the wonderful sycamore tree we planted beside the Threadgill Theater in memory of Al Grierson won't make it through this season. I'm haunted by environmentalist David Suzuki's moving speech at the Ontario Public Sector Employee Union's convention a few years ago - "Every day we read about this drought, that tsunami, this monsoon, that earthquake as if these events are unrelated." It seems like weather extremes make the front page of the paper almost daily now. Even as I began to worry about the environment in the 70's, I always assumed I would be long gone before the catastrophic consequences of our waste, greed and poor stewardship of the planet made themselves manifest. I think anyone my age can testify to dramatic changes in the weather since our childhood. We used to have fireflies by the thousands when we were kids. I haven't seen a field of fireflies in almost twenty years.
....... well, now it's June 9th and I'm back on the ground and at home in Pittsburgh with my son, Dan, his wife Monique, and the oh-so-big Sebastian! (now nine months old with three teeth and very cute ...) My daughter Amy arrived last night. We're all together to celebrate my upcoming 60th birthday. I hope you're planning to come for some part of the festivities. Please call Amy (503-737-8490) or email her (amysueberlin@yahoo.com) or me (anne@annefeeney.com) and let us know when you're coming and how long you can stay!
I've got a ton of doctor appointments and tests this month... including another PET scan and brain MRI... Swedes don't cross their fingers for luck, they hold their thumbs. I must say that either technique makes typing difficult.
Thank you so much for your kindness, generosity, love and support. My docs think I'm "amazing." I know that it's your love that has lifted me.
Solidarity forever!
Anne
MY BIRTHDAY BASH
I'm really hoping that a lot of my dear friends and family that I haven't heard from yet are still planning to visit me in western Maryland at Deep Creek Lake June 25-July 2nd. It looks like we'll be crowded on the 1st of July, but the early part of the week will be mellow, joyous, filled with music and good food. There is virtually no humidity, it's warm (c. 80) but not scorching hot, and the evenings are cool and star-filled. We have beautiful lakefront homes rented for your comfort. Sheets and towels are provided, as well as beautiful well-appointed kitchens, and each cottage has a hot tub. Come join me and my family as we celebrate together! call Amy at 503-737-8490 or email her - amysueberlin@yahoo.com or me anne@annefeeney.com and let us know if you'll be able to join us for some part of the week.
PETE SEEGER/PETER YARROW CONCERT
Some of the best pictures from the fabulous New York benefit concert were taken by Joel Simpson and can be viewed at this link. It was a breathtakingly wonderful evening. Bev Grant did a fantastic job of organizing the event with lots of help from the Brooklyn Women's Chorus, George Mann and Chris Owens and Felicity Frizbie - http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=61&user_id=23878&action=viewalbum&event=837772
Pete was in fabulous form, and I got to sing "If I Had A Hammer" with Pete Seeger and Peter Yarrow! Woo HOO!! Peter Yarrow hung around for the after-party where he graciously autographed programs and sat through countless photo ops before heading upstairs to the music room, where he socialized with us for another hour or so!! There we enjoyed great music by Four Shillings Short (http://www.art.net/~4ss/index.html), Pam Parker, Doug Gauss and the Enablers, Born In A Cent, Colleen Kattau and so many other wonderful performers.
GREAT LABOR ARTS EXCHANGE/CONFERENCE ON CREATIVE ORGANIZING
Since 1988 I have made this wonderful annual event a "must" on my calendar. Labor culture enthusiasts and cultural workers of all persuasions converge on the National Labor College again this year to write, sing, dance, make puppets, discuss organizing strategies and campaigns and to honor my wonderful friend Jon Fromer with the Joe Hill Award. Jon was a founder of the Freedom Song Network, the Bolshevik Cafe, the Western Workers Labor Heritage Festival - and has also produced Emmy award winning television for KQED in the Bay Area. He's a magnificent songwriter and performer, too. Longtime AFSCME activist and New York City Labor Chorus founder Bobbi Rabinowitz will also be honored. There is still time to register for this wonderful conference, to be held June 16-18 at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD... http://laborheritage.org - See you there!
GOOD NEWS ABOUT JUDY ANCEL - THANKS FOR SIGNING THE PETITION!
Last month I asked you to consider signing a petition to support my friend, labor educator Judy Ancel. She and her colleague, Don Giljum , were "Breitbarted" by that scurrilous pseudo-journalist. Hundreds of you signed the petition, and I'm pleased to report that Judy's university backed her up and protected her, and her colleague received an apology and an invitation to apply for an adjunct teaching position.
It was so nourishing to get three days with my union sisters and brothers at the Highlander Center last month. We planned for the future of our union and worked and sang together at that inspiring and historic location. We were joined by union sister Bernice Johnson Reagon (MacArthur Fellow, SNCC singer, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, mother of Toshi and total legend). Here's a link to a video of her leading a song at breakfast the last morning.
When I thanked Bernice from the bottom of my heart for sharing her wisdom, wit and song with us for three days she replied - "You are the fiercest, most bad-ass person I have met in a long time!" I told her I'd be quoting her. She's definitely one of my s/heros.
FAMILY NEWS
Julie's wonderful daughter Sara and her partner David are expecting a baby soon! I become a "plastic grandma" again! Sara celebrated her birthday on June 4th - belated gratulera po din fodelsdag, karaste!
And Happy Anniversary to Dan and Monique on June 16th - also Erin Grefenstette and Mark Henninger!
The next newsletter will be coming to you direct from my weeklong birthday party at Deep Creek Lake!
Thank you so much for your interest in this concert!! We have stopped website sales. There may still be a few tickets left. Call Bev Grant at 718-788-3741 to check on "will call" availability.
If you prefer, you may email Bev at BEVGRANT1@aol.com. Also, we will be putting any unclaimed seats for the show on sale (or re-sale) at 8PM, and forming a waiting list, first-come-first-served, the night of the show beginning at 7:15PM.
If you are unable to get tickets, we hope you will consider supporting the event by making a donation using the button on the right sidebar.
New York City
Newmarket, TN
Kerrville Folk Festival
Chicago, IL
You can buy my CDs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid
You can get the latest health updates on my cancer battle at http://caringbridge.org/visit/annefeeney
You can help me through this prolonged stretch of involuntary unemployment by click on the "Donate" button to the right of this message, or by sending a check to:
Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
IN THIS ISSUE:
Rock, Paper, Scissors .... 18-Wheeler
Medical Stuff
California Visit
Please Sign this Petition to Support Academic Freedom and Labor Education!
Family News/Birthdays
Fabulous Benefit Concert
Hi all!
It's not much of a May newsletter if I don't get it out today, so it'll be short and sweet. Spring is finally here, and my wisteria is in fragrant bloom! I begin my seventh year of monthly newsletters to you with this issue. Thanks for tuning in, and especially for writing back.
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS... 18-WHEELER
As many of you know, it turns out that I broke my right wrist on April 8th when I totalled my sweet 2009 Chevy Malibu on the PA turnpike... this is *not* the view you want through your windshield ...
All in all I did about $16,000 damage to my car. The 18 wheeler I collided with caught something on my right front wheel and just about ripped off the front end of my car. I bounced off him like a pinball and began spinning all over the turnpike... hitting the truck three or four more times before I was able to control the car and get it to the side of the road. Needless to say, I had to get a new car. Now I've got a 2008 Ford Taurus with 32,000 miles on it. I love it. And I'm looking forward to driving it a lot this year... once my cast comes off.
MEDICAL STUFF
Turns out I was a little premature with the good news on my PET scan. The brain MRI showed a 7mm tumor in the back of my head. I have decided it's a weasel turd. I had it zapped with a gamma gun a week ago, and we almost certainly got rid of it. We'll repeat the brain MRI at the end of June and see what we see.
In the meantime, a consult with a new infectious disease specialist reveals that I may never have had the awful MAC infection that I've been treating with massive doses of antibiotics for the past nine months!! A few days ago I had a CT-guided lung biopsy to see just what this is in the upper right lobe of my lung. The results of the different tests and cultures will come in over the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. But in the meantime, I'm off those awful antibiotics and my stomach is quickly returning to normal! YES!
VISIT TO CALIFORNIA
The newspaper is gone, but the Tribune's clock lives on as an Oakland landmark....
I got a chance to go out and visit Chris Chandler (http://chrischandler.org) and his fiancee Jen Delyth in Oakland. I got to see their wonderful new house, with a real bird of paradise blooming in their front yard! I got to see two of my high school pals, Maureen Carney Barnato and Kay Magill - great fun. We had dinner with dear pal Shelley Kessler, wonderful Seattle labor chorus singer and tradeswoman Aspen Swartz, and 95 year old folk treasure Faith Petric. Another night ex-pat Pittsburgher Jimmy Kelly, who lives in Oakland now, took me on a tour of Jack London Square. And I got to hang out at the "Women Build California and the Nation" conference.
Another absolute highlight of the trip was getting to Vukani Mawethu's 25th anniversary at the new and greatly improved Freight and Salvage. Vukani Mawethu is a singing ensemble that specializes in South African freedom songs. They have raised thousands of dollars for HIV/AIDs relief for African children and many other worthwhile causes. On their 25th anniversary they presented a lifetime achievement award to my oh-so-talented friend and companero, Jon Fromer. I've recorded three of his songs, but this video features him singing a Malvina Reynolds song - "I Cannot Sleep" with Aileen Vance during the "Sing Out for Single Payer Roadshow" in 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQiOEYPutk)
Jon was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer. He's got an uphill fight ahead of him, and I know he'd love to hear from you on his 65th birthday on May 11th.. Send him a card @
Jon Fromer
28 Morning Sun
Mill Valley, CA 94941
or email him at
mjfromer@gmail.com
He's a real true heart and class conscious warrior... a regular at the School of the Americas, a founder of the Bolshevik Cafe and the Freedom Song Network, an emmy award winning film producer, producer of the acclaimed "We Do the Work" series on KQED, member of AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians. Send him some love...
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!!
My friend Judy Ancel is a labor educator at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. She is brilliant, tireless, fearless and a *great* teacher. The scurrilous pseudo-journalist Andrew Breitbart has set his sights on Judy and her colleague Don Giljium.
Breitbart is the slime who circulated the outrageously deceptive video that led to Congress de-funding ACORN before Breibart's treachery could be fully exposed. Breitbart then turned his attention to USDA official Shirley Sherrod - nearly ruining her career before the NAACP and the Obama administration viewed his slanderous video and the actual speech from which Breitbart had cut and pasted his misleading and inflammatory garbage.
Now Breitbart thinks he can end the careers of these two dedicated labor educators, and ultimately end labor education itself. This attack on academic freedom and labor education is unconscionable..
Being a Mom is one of the best decisions I ever made. My kids are an endless source of joy to me. If you're looking for something for your Mom (still) try this site - http://www.organicbouquet.com/
They have beautiful organic fair-trade flowers and you can even donate to your mom's favorite charity while you're buying them. Here's the wreath that my daughter Amy sent me last year for Mother's Day... It's still gorgeous!
There are lots of cousins and dear friends that I hope are planning to come to my 60th birthday weeklong celebration at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. If you'd like details about the festivities - which run from June 25-July 2nd - please contact my daughter Amy Berlin - amysueberlin@yahoo.com
May Birthdays... Jim Tremmel - May 2nd, Kathleen Feeney - May 3rd, Antonito Blanco - May 3rd, Pete Seeger - May 3rd, Alex Bagwell - May 7th, Paul Eric Grefenstette - May 10th, Bill Deegan - May 10th, Jon Fromer - May 11th, Jeanne Jasperse - May 11th, Eleanor Walden - May 11th, Utah Phillips (presente!) - May 15th, Kevin McCahill - May 15th, Tony Mumphrey - May 15th, Terry Donovan - May 23rd, Charlie King - May 27
Manny Fried - RIP
My friend Manny Fried died in Buffalo on February 25th. He and I met at the 1990 Great Labor Arts Exchange, when he came to receive the Joe Hill Award. He was born on March 1, 1913, and died just a few days short of his 98th birthday. He led a very active life. He and I stayed in regular touch and I frequently stayed with him when my travels took me through Buffalo. He was a great actor. The last time I hung out with him he was joking about the film role he had coming up. Manny was to play a corpse in a casket in the film. He said "It's a little too close to my next big role." Here's a nice article about Manny from the Buffalo arts newspaper. http://blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/2011/02/25/manny-fried-finally-retires/
The fantastic benefit concert that's being organized for me in NYC is almost sold out! (no wonder, such a lineup!!) Folks are coming in from Wisconsin, Florida, Seattle, Maryland, DC, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas... It'll be a great reunion. If you want to try your luck at getting a ticket visit my website - http://annefeeney.com or call Bev Grant 718-788-3741.
From there, I'm headed to a retreat for members of my union at the legendary Highlander Center in Newmarket, TN. I'll also spend a week under the Texas stars visiting friends at the Kerrville Folk Festival. I'll be there from 25th of May until June 1st. From there I'm going on to the Regina Polk Institute for Union Women. It's a great gathering of women from all over IL and the midwest. This year I'll be a registered participant instead of the "minister of culture." It's my amazing friend Helena Worthen's last year organizing this conference, and I really wanted to be there... AND Judy Ancel is on the faculty!! double bonus!
Last month was action-packed and it sure was a refreshing change from being housebound except for doctor visits.
March 1st I celebrated my dear friend Shirley Shultz Myers' birthday with her in Washington, DC, joined by my friends Karen Newman and Elise Bryant. On the 2nd, Elise and I headed down the highway in my car, and we didn't stop until we hit Savannah. The 3rd we headed to Ft. Lauderdale, where the wonderful Bob and Patty Bender had prepared a great dinner for us. On the 4th Elise flew back to Washington, DC and I flew to the Bahamas to visit Charlotte Andrews and Susan Nicholson at their cozy beach house. All you veterans of the 2009 Ireland adventure will remember them fondly. I spent a great week with them, but ended up feeling pretty puny on my return to Ft Lauderdale on the 10th. Bob and Patty had arranged a lovely dinner party with lots of my South FL friends visiting. I had a fever and couldn't quite enjoy everyone as much as I would have liked. And it was super to re-connect with my old friend Oak that night. I hadn't seen her since 1986. Patty was a super nurse and companion. And Vicki Ryder brought me the cutest little stuffed weasel ever. He was my trip mascot and rode along on the dashboard for the whole month.
From the 11th-13th I visited my old ex-pat Pittsburgh buddy Michael Deegan at his beautiful place in Key West. His hospitality was outstanding in every way and it was great to catch up a little. From there I went for a too-brief visit with the wonderful performer Amy Carol Webb http://amycarolwebb.com and her partner Brook Bell. They are dear friends and incomparable hosts.
On the 16th I headed across the state to Naples to visit my high school sweetheart, Bill Deegan, and his wife and my best friend, Rosanna Lane. I stayed with them for St Patrick's Day. Then on to visit Ed & Marlene Sadlowski in Estero. Ed was in Wisconsin (where I would have gladly been, but I keep spiking these fevers every time I get cold), but Marlene and I had a great visit.
On the 20th I stopped in St Pete to visit my pal Phil Keyes. Phil has some major health issues too. He looks terrific though, and we talked about everything except our health. While I was there, he and I went to visit Cleveland-to-Tampa transplant Marilyn Albert who was helping the National Nurses' Organizing Committee. She had a staffer and a nurse stop over and I helped them to rehearse "Your Nursing Heart," which Kelly and Rebekah delivered with great panache at a rally later that week. I'm hoping to see them both - and you- at the Great Labor Arts Exchange/Conference on Creative Organizing in Washington, DC June 16-18th ... http://www.laborheritage.org/?p=1309
Kelly sings superbly!
Rebekah rocks!
On the 21st I had a great visit in Gainesville with Joe Courter and Jenny Brown's mom, Joy (who made biscuits for me!). On the 22nd I visited Brother Stan the Union Man on his radio show in Jacksonville, and spent the night with Ken and Cee Cee Severn. Ken and Cee Cee and I posted the 2011 high score in his local trivia bar, too.
On the 23rd I visited the remarkable Stetson Kennedy http://stetsonkennedy.com and his wife Sandra Parks. Stetson is hoping to have another "Southern Exposure" festival in October, and he invited me to come and receive an award.
Then I had a late lunch with Candice Carter, who just adopted two Peruvian pre-teenagers. I met her beautiful daughter, but her son was still at school. These two kids were raised on the streets until their mom dropped them off at an orphanage when her daughter was seven and her son was three. They had been in the orphanage for years and were soon to be turned loose on the streets to fend for themselves. What an adventure Candice and her new family are beginning!
On the evening of the 23rd I spent the night at my cousin Ed and Terry's house. Their son Ryan is in the FL National Guard and about to be deployed to Iraq. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We all had dinner with my cousins Joe and Rhonda. Their son Justin will graduate from the University of FL on April 13th. Their son Jon is in Africa doing development work very similar to what my son's wife Monique does.
And it's definite - Monique and Dan are moving to Zimbabwe - probably in July. If anyone can help me to get an injunction to keep Sebastian here with me, respond to this email. Seriously, I wish them every success in Zimbabwe and I know they'll be doing important work. I'm sure going to miss them, though.
Then on the 25th I went to the Galapagos Islands for eight days with Monique and Dan and Sebastian. It was a terrific trip. We saw blue-footed boobies do a mating dance. We saw the male frigate birds inflate the large red sac on their chests, attracting a mate. We saw giant tortoises mating. I guess spring is in the air. I hope you are enjoying it.
On the last day of the trip someone ran off with my purse containing $350, my iPhone, all my ID, my passport, my credit cards ... what a drag. I've replaced everything but the credit cards. A lackluster end to a spectacular trip. Dan and Monique were able to get someone to come open the US embassy in Quito to get me an emergency passport last Friday night, or I might still be in Guayaquil. Thanks, Tristan!
I got to see Eric Schwartz in concert on April 2nd, and enjoy the sumptuous hospitality of Ellen Bukstel and Brian Wolfsohn, On April 3rd I picked up my Pittsburgh pal, Briget Shields, in Miami and we headed str aight to Tallahassee. When we got there, my uber-hosts Ward Brodersen and Rebecca Miles had invited Doug Gauss and the Enablers to come serenade me. Laurel Lemley took some great photos that evening. If you're on facebook you can see them on my page or Doug Gauss's page.
Our last night on the road was after driving through the TN tornado all day April 4th. Mary Bryan and Marty Rosen were most gracious hosts to me and Briget in Louisville. Briget, besides being the ultimate co-pilot, is a tireless activist on fracking. If you don't know what fracking is, rent GASLAND on Netflix. http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/about-the-film The gas industry targeted this Academy Award nominee, and tried to strip it of its nomination. Hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, is a wildly unsafe practice of obtaining natural gas that threatens aquifers and water quality everywhere.
4614 miles later, I'm home safe and sound. I've got most of my missing documents replaced, and I've -seen lots of doctors. My PET scan indicated that I am still cancer-free. Unfortunately, it also indicated that my lung infection is MUCH worse. It's still all in the upper right lobe, which is good, but it's twice the size it was three months ago, despite 6 months of intensive antibiotic treatment.
I'm looking forward to the fabulous benefit concert coming up in New York city on Friday, May 13th.
Featuring
Pete Seeger
Peter Yarrow
There are only 199 tickets left, and I'm sure they'll sell very quickly. If you're thinking about coming, don't hesitate. Get your tickets online today at http://annefeeney.com
My friend Karen Newman wrote a lovely article about me that was published in the ATU International News "In Transit." You can read it at http://www.atu.org/content/viewer/8219
You can buy my CDs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid or call 1-800-
You can unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.
Please follow my health news at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annefeeney - Please don't call me to discuss my health. I don't think it's good for me. Feel free to call, but let's talk about other things, ok?
APRIL & EARLY MAY BIRTHDAYS
Guy Zahller - Apr 9th, David Rovics - Apr 10th, Laura Daniels - Apr 12, Joyce Kornbluh - Apr 16th, Joey Only - Apr 17th Karen Newman and Rosanna Lane - Apr 19th, Jim Tremmel - May 2nd, Kathleen Feeney, Pete Seeger and Antonito Blanco on May 3rd
MANY THANKS
Once again, I don't know how to thank you all for your financial support during this prolonged period of unemployment. If you are facing hard times yourself, PLEASE don't worry about my finances. I know that even in this awful economy that I have enough friends doing okay to sustain me during this time without work. There's a Paypal donate button on the front page of http://annefeeney.com and your cards, letters and donations to
Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15218
mean more to me than I can say during this difficult time.
And many thanks to power-driver Elise Bryant and ultimate co-pilot Briget Shields.
That's all the news for this month... Next stop, MADISON!!
After that miserable Pittsburgh winter and being confined to the house for so many months, I am most pleased to report that I'm writing to you from Charlotte and Susan's wonderful winter home in the Bahamas. Charlotte and Susan and I go way back, and we had a great trip to Ireland together two years ago. When they invited me to leave frozen Pittsburgh behind to come visit them for a week - I didn't have to mull that invitation over for long!
March has been a great month so far. I drove down to DC on March 1st to celebrate my friend Shirley's birthday with her. Elise and Karen were able to join us for dinner, so it was a festive party indeed. On March 2nd power-driver Elise drove from DC to Savannah, where we spent the night. The next day, Elise drove straight to Bob and Patty's house in Deerfield Beach, FL. We had a great night of food and song at Bob and Patty's and the next morning Elise returned to the National Labor College in DC and I landed here. Woo hoo!
The rest of the month will be pretty exciting, too ... when I get back to FL I'm planning to visit all my Sunshine State friends and at the end of the month I'll fly from Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador to meet Dan and Monique and Sebastian. Quito is out of the question for me while my lungs are so compromsed. It's 10,000 feet above sea level... not enough oxygen to suit me. But Guayaquil is on the coast, and from there we are traveling together to the Galapagos for a week. Dan rented us a cottage. That is a 'bucket list' destination of mine, and has been ever since I read the LIFE magazine special on the Galapagos when I was about 7 years old. I'm feeling very lonesome for the world's cutest grandbaby, too!
There is a very good chance that Dan and Monique will be going next to Zimbabwe next... a destination that I will have to be much stronger than I am now to visit. So I've got to get these Sebastian visits in while I can!
You can probably tell that I'm feeling much better and stronger. It's a wonderful thing. I'm hoping to get in better shape now that I'm in good weather where I can walk and swim every day. My stamina is about 20% of what it was. But I'm optimistic that this month of good weather is going to do me a world of good.
In this issue you'll see some of my favorite news from Wisonsin, some photos from the Oscars dinner, a link to my friend Michael's wonderful guest house in Key West (he rents it out, too, if you want to stay there!), two exciting save-the-date
announcements, March birthdays and family news.
On Wisconsin!
My friends here in the Bahamas were stunned to learn that Scott Walker actually had a substantial budget surplus when he took office. Wisconsin's "economic crisis" is the direct result of a bunch of corporate tax breaks that Walker passed on to his biggest contributors after winning the governorship.
They've banned musical instruments from the Capitol in Madison. There have been some lively cultural moments in Madison.. Here are a few of my favorites: http://vimeo.com/search/videos/search:lou%20peter%20berryman%20/97fb8bdc
The link above is to Two Traditional Songs tweaked and performed by Lou and Peter Berryman
and sung with thousands of gallant protesters at Madison's Capitol rally, Feb. 18, 2011. I've added the words below in case you can't make them all out in the video...
BRING BACK WISCONSIN TO ME To My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (traditional)
Wisconsin whose motto was "Forward"
Was populist as it could be
But now the new motto is "Backward"
Oh bring back Wisconsin to me
CHORUS: Bring back, bring back
Oh bring back Wisconsin to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh bring back Wisconsin to me
Tho we may be"God's frozen people"
We bask in the warmth of our plea
Don't bury my rights in a snowbank
Oh bring back Wisconsin to me (CHORUS)
They're trying to stifle our voices
They're trying to keep us derailed
They'll find it's not easy to do tho
McCarthy once tried and he failed (CHORUS)
-----------------------------------
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED (traditional), with new verses for today's rally
CHORUS: We shall not, we shall not be moved (x2)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We'll keep this rally rolling, we shall not be moved
Altho we could be bowling, We shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved.
For the teachers who have taught us,
For the folks who drive the school bus, We shall not be moved...
We are teens and tweens and geezers
Like a deer tick in the tweezers, We shall not be moved...
/ Until things get much better
Like a two ton block of cheddar, We shall not be moved...
and Peter Yarrow sang my song at a rally on February 26th....
Chicago songwriter Kristin Lems penned this fine song
Scott Walker was booed and kicked out of a Madison tavern - what was he thinking??
Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria, Libya
It's very exciting to watch these democratic movements emerging, but like all of you, I'm holding my breath until they resolve into stable democracies. We need a UN Peacekeeping force in Libya...
The song that keeps playing in my head as I watch these huge demonstrations is Tommy Makems:
The Winds are Singing Freedom
In the [G] battered [D] streets of [G] Belfast
You can hear the [D] people [G] cry
For [C] justice [D] long [G] denied [Em] them
And their [C] cry will [Am] fill the [D] sky
But the [G] winds of [C] change are [G] blowing
Bringing hope from [C] dark [G] despair
A [C] new [D] day is [G] dawn[Em]ing
You can [C] feel it [D] in the [G] air.
[chorus]
The winds are singing freedom
They sing it everywhere
They sing it on the mountainside
And in the city square
They sing of a new day dawning
When our people shall be free
Come and join the song of freedom
Let it ring from sea to sea.
Too long our people suffered
In misery and tears
And foreign rulers used our land
For about eight hundred years
It's a long road has no turning
And I know that soon will be
A day of justice dawning
When our people shall be free.
There's a time laid out for laughing
And there's a time laid aout to weep
There's a time laid out for sowing
And a time laid out to reap
There's a time to love your brother
There's a time for hate to cease
If we sow the seeds of justice
We can reap the fruits of peace.
Regina Polk Conference - Chicago, June 1-4
This midwest conference for trade union women is a fantastic opportunity for women seeking to be come more active/more effective in their unions. Contact Helena Worthern hworthen@uiuc.edu for more information.
New York City - May 13th - Save the Date!!
My fabulous New York colleagues are putting together a benefit concert for my unemployment fund. The concert is Friday, May 13th - and Pete Seeger is performing!!! Also Bev Grant, George Mann and more tba.
Local 1199's Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium
310 W. 43rd Street
New York, NY
Oscars Party Photos...
It was a big year for lost hands in the movies. Here's an eggplant pate for 127 hours.
I'm serving the "Inception" appetizer. Potato with sour cream and caviar that looks like a cookie.
Laura and Irene brought fabulous "Social Network" fondues!
The McTiernan bloc routed us in the Oscars pool. Irene won for the second year in a row!!
New-this-year guest Rosemary conferring with Sarah...
Doug serves the salmon mousse
We couldn't all fit in the photo... here's our best effort!
Eric came decked out as Woody from Toy Story and serenaded me with a lovely version of "You've Got a Friend in Me," from Toy Story One
Three of my four cherished caregivers - Hilary, Jeanne and Jan!
Daniel decked out from "The Social Network."
Mary - straight out of "True Grit." Wish we had a photo of the trifle she made for "The King's Speech," not to mention Irene's stunning ballerina cake from "The Black Swan."
Sharing hints for the Oscars pool...
Briget's baked beans doubled for "True Grit" and "Gasland!"
Another hand mold... this time salmon mousse... could have been for 127 hours, or Winter's Bone or True Grit... and that doesn't count all the 2011 nominees where hands were injured!
Bill is enjoying Jim and L.Louise's organic salad from "The Kids are All Right."
MARCH BIRTHDAYS
Wendyl Jay Mar 10th,Griffin Lane McCahil Mar 13th, Rob Shepherd Mar 14th, Ron Berlin Mar 15th, Tom Weldon and Suzie Edkins Mar 17th, John Cunningham Mar 20th, Bette Jacobson Godfrey Mar 26th, Martha Shunn Mar 27th, Mary Weldon Mar 29th, Kelly Grefenstette Mar 31st
Looks like Dan and Monique will be headed for Harare, Zimbabwe this summer. Oy, I will miss them sooooooo much! And, to add insult to injury, they're taking my grandbaby with them!
Sometimes I wonder if you read this monthly news, but I got enough emails wanting to know if everything was okay that I guess I should start off with an apology for being 5 days late. I wasn't in Egypt, as some of you suspected (much as I would love to be.)
Thanks to your generosity, I've been able to complete the most urgent home repairs, and my house - which I always consdered the dumpiest stop on my hectic tour schedule for the last four years - is now genuinely cozy and warm.
This is nonetheless the winter of my discontent. I try to feel constant gratitude that my recovery is progressing as well as it is. The truth is that I can't help feeling trapped here in this Pittsburgh winter. I don't adjust well to fatigue and weakness. And I can't stand being unable to work. I'm glad to be mostly able to take care of the house, prepare my meals, do the food shopping. And slowly but surely I am organizing my office a little in preparation for research and writing about my grandfather. And slowly but surely, my hair is returning! It looks to be the same color and it's starting to curl.... woo hoo!
I'm very excited to be planning a trip to Florida in March. I'm going to drive down, so if you're in between Pittsburgh and Jacksonville and you'd welcome an overnight guest, send me an email. And, my dear Florida friends - if you're going to be out of town or have a house full of snowbirds in March, let me know when, so I can plan my route to see as many of you as possible. I won't be able to work on this Florida visit, but I hope to see as many of you as possible.
I really love to hear from you. Reply to this, or send me a Facebook message, or send me a card or letter:
Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
Events in Tunisia and Egypt may make this a pivotal era in the earth's history. A great opportunity. I hope the forces for a secular democracy prevail.
I'm going to go ahead and try cardioversion for my irregular heartbeat. Cardioversion is when they break out the paddles and yell "Clear!" and administer an electrical shock to the heart. Sometimes it puts the heart back into a regular sinus rhythm on the first try. Sometimes it takes two or three tries. Sometimes it doesn't work at all. I'm hoping it works for me, and that I have more energy when it's over. That will probably happen in the first week in April, which is also when I get the next PET scan.
My radiation oncologist says that he would put the chances of the cancer returning at 60% now that I've had one clean PET scan. Sometimes I think they make these numbers up. But it's always nice to get good news. He's going to do regular brain MRIs for the next two years. I declined prophylactic global cranial radiation. It's known to cause confusion and memory loss - two things I'm more afraid of than cancer.
I'll be really glad when "medical news" is no longer a regular feature of my monthly news.
THANKS TO THE WESTERN WORKERS' LABOR HERITAGE FESTIVAL
My beloved Western Workers' Labor Heritage Festival, where I've spent so many happy Martin Luther King weekends in the Bay Area, designated me as the "Worker in Need," this year. It's the first time they've ever picked an individual to be the beneficiary of their generosity. Chris Chandler wrote and performed a moving new piece at the Sunday night concert that was all about me, him, our friendship and our work. Janet Stecher, Jon Fromer and Steve Jones performed a medley of my songs. My friend Karen Newman did the fundraising pitch... and the generous festival-goers ponied up $2000 to help me with expenses while I'm laid up.
OSCARS 2011
This was a pretty bleak movie year, despite offering three terrific movies - "The King's Speech," "True Grit" and "The Fighter." I can only hope the Academy was blushing at trying to pick ten nominees for best picture.
And it was a dreadful year for food in the movies - between that and my health problems I was ready to cancel my annual Oscars dinner. But my creative friends are coming up with great ideas, and we're going to go ahead with dinner... And I'm presenting our 2011 menu to perhaps inspire some of you to have an Oscars dinner of your own.
Here's the menu (and some of my mini reviews of the films...)
The Social Network - (I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. It certainly doesn't deserve a "Best Picture" nomination any more than Zuckerberg deserved to be Time's "Person of the Year" in a field that included Julian Assange.. but the overall cinematic field was pretty weak this year.)
Laura and Irene will be serving a very social cheese fondue in honor of "The Social Network."
Now that we have 10 films, we can have more hors d'ouvres, so...
The Fighter - (This was a fabulous fabulous film. Fantastic performances from everyone. Christian Bale and Melissa Leo turn in superb performances. I have NO idea how they could have passed over Barbara Hershey for supporting actress in "The Black Swan." She was the sole saving grace of this hackneyed self-important film. But back to "The Fighter," my only complaint is that every time Hollywood tries to portray the working class, everyone smokes and eats pizza. Surely we're more complex than that!)
But it did make the hors d'ouvres selection easier. Little mini-pizzas.
Inception - (I don't mind working hard to follow a film, but Inception wore me out and it didn't give me much in return. Oh, the spawn of Memento! Nothing has come close to catching its cleverness, despite the many progeny.)
This seemed like a good opportunity to break out an appetizer I had quit serving because it doesn't look like what it is. People always thought this appetizer was some kind of cookie. They'd pop it into their mouths only to mush-mouth mumble "What is this??" When I told them it was half a baby redskin potato boiled, topped with sour cream and caviar most of them went ahead to swallow what I consider a delightful appetizer.
127 Hours - (I'll confess I haven't seen this one and probably won't. What are the odds of having three of the ten Best Picture nominees feature protagonists who lose a hand/arm? I know James Franco is nominated for Best Actor as well, but if Colin Firth doesn't win Best Actor this year there is no justice. He was so robbed last year for his amazing performance in "A Single Man." He's even better this year in "The King's Speech.")
My friend Jeanne has a mold of a human hand, which Barbara will use for a liver pate and a vegetarian pate.
The Kids Are All Right - (This very intelligent film's fatal flaw is having one of the lesbian protagonists "jump the fence" to have an affair with the father of her children. Annette Bening is terrific in this film - actually the very talented cast makes the whole preposterous story line pretty credible. And thank goodness - one movie that loves food!)
Organic salad for everyone from Joni and Llouise!
True Grit - (The Coen brothers deliver another terrific film. A wonderful cast breathes new life into what will be seen as the definitive portrait of Rooster Cogburn. I still don't get the gratuitous sadistic spanking at the beginning of the film, but this was a very satisfying film.)
Hominy and baked beans from Briget and Joni ... mmmmmm
Winter's Bone - (Here's an interesting film that will get well-deserved attention by virture of its nomination. As my pals Jan and Hilary and I speculated after the film... What is 'Winter's Bone'? If spring's bone is leg of lamb, and summer's bone is spare ribs... "Winter's Bone" must be standing rib...)
Entree: Standing rib roast by Anne and Hilary
The Black Swan - (How many hackneyed dancers' cliches can be squeezed into one film? If it weren't for Barbara Hershey's performance, this move would be a complete waste of time.)
Still, it's inspired my friend Irene to bake a ballerina cake.
The King's Speech - (a brilliant, perfect film that will move into my all-time top 20 movies. Flawless performances all around. Any film that leaves me feeling compassion and sympathy for the plight of royals is pretty remarkable! It was a good 15 minutes after the film ended before I could say "off with their heads!" with conviction).
My friend Mary is making her very first trifle for "The King's Speech."
Okay, that's only 9 courses. We're going to have Buzz Lightyear action figures as party favors. Toy Story 3
makes me very happy to be a grandmother. I look forward to seeing more films like it in the coming years.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to go see "Biutiful." Pittsburgh is a tough town to catch the foreign films and documentaries. But if there's anyway at all for you to see "Gasland," you'll know what we in the Marcellus Shale region are up against. If there's no hydraulic fracturing - aka "fracking" - going on near you, there very likely will be soon. We couldn't be more thrilled at the Oscar nomination for this important documentary.
So, let me know what you think of my movie reviews and menus.
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS/FAMILY NEWS
Belated Happy Birthdays to Lianna Kennedy - Feb 2, and Kevin Weldon - Feb 3.
Happy Birthday to Ryan Grefenstette - Feb 7, Joe McCahill - Feb 15, Benjamin McCahill - Feb 21,
Anabel Blanco - Feb 22, Ross Chapman - Feb 24, Barney McElhone - Feb 26, and,
in case I'm this late next month - Mary McCahill Madera and Shirley Shultz Myers
March 1st!
Dan and Monique are vacationing in Colombia. They've invited me to come to the Galapagos Islands with them in April. I sure hope I can do that. I get so lonesome for little Sebastian I can hardly stand it. He's rolling over now, and he had his first bowl of cereal last weekend. By May, they'll have left Ecuador for a new destination. They could end up in Morocco, or Zimbabwe or Kazakhstan
Amy's pipes are frozen in San Marcos, TX. I guess we exported our Pittsburgh weather to Texas for the Super Bowl. I'll be glad when it's over. I've gotten used to being the only person in the room - the store, the theater, the restaurant, the mall - who isn't wearing black and gold.
Julie is back in Sweden. His back went out just before he left. When I asked him what the doctor said, he told me "She has prescribed sick gymnastics. Do you say so?" I said, "I think we say 'physical therapy,' but I like 'sick gymnastics' a lot." He's feeling better now, and I hope he continues to improve.
My cousin Karen McCahill is coming to Pittsburgh at the end of the month to help me with the Oscars dinner
I'm a traveling folksinger/agitator from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For almost 40 years I've been performing and occasionally writing songs for people in struggle. Each month I report here on where I've been and where I'm going. Always try to check with a venue before heading off for one of my concerts - details also continuously update at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html Sign up now to get my hard-to-find news for activists in the labor, peace, feminist, social justice and environmental movements.
In August 2010 I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. I have a 20% chance of surviving this. In the meantime, I'm sidelined at home and unable to work. I've got some health insurance, so many of my medical expenses are covered. Still, if you're in a position to send some $$ my way, I could sure use it. It's scary being out of work.
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