John Denver - What a beautiful legacy he has left us. I will write more on this one soon. Edward R. Murrow http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/murrowedwar/murrowedwar.htm The most distinguished and renowned figure in the history of American broadcast journalism. He was a seminal force in the creation and development of electronic newsgathering as both a craft and a profession. He operated with courage, integrity, social responsibility, and journalistic excellence, emblematic of the highest ideals of both broadcast news and the television industry in general. This is not the state of the industry today. One has to look to the alternative media sources to feel again the Murrow sensibilities. Next is one of if not the most famous of his speeches: http://www.rtnda.org/resources/speeches/murrow.shtml A couple of quotes from it: "Sometimes there is a clash between the public interest and the corporate interest.... [T]elevision in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us..." "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box . . ."
Edgar Allen Poe
Poe deserves more credit
than any other writer for the transformation of the short story from anecdote to art. He virtually created the detective story and perfected the psychological thriller. He also produced some of the most influential literary criticism of his time--important theoretical statements on poetry and the short story--and has had a worldwide influence on literature.
http://www.allpoe.com/ They say that All Poe
is written only by experts with advanced degrees. That their guide is bigger, more complete, and better-researched than any other study guide available. The easy design
means you can navigate between essays, criticism, summaries, character analysis and more with the click of a mouse. Enjoy the world's largest and most complete source for the study of Poe. Next try
Mahatma Ghandi http://www.mkgandhi.org Just about everything that pertains
Ghandi. This URL is a
space to learn about Gandhi, his life, work & philosophy. This comprehensive site is regularly updated & maintained by non-profit Gandhian Research Organizations in India & has a wealth of information & material for researchers, students, activists & anyone interested in Gandhi.
Paul Robeson
http://iupjournals.org/blackren/brn2-1.html
Practically a book in itself! One very long excellent, intimate, and passionate page about Paul Robeson.
Written by Amiri Baraka.
Jackie Robinson
http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/jackie/
The official Website - He broke the color barrier in Baseball but his courage and commitment to a better life for all people have inspired multitudes including myself. "The right of
every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time." -- Jackie Robinson
Joseph Campbell http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC12/Campbell.htm Mythic Reflections - Thoughts on myth, spirit, and our times - an interview with Joseph Campbell, by Tom Collins
Bob Marley
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/marley_b.html
Bob Marley in context - this is why I wanted you to know about him. His and any other role models beauty, even magnificence is
reflective of our own, yours and min. Metaphysically speaking, Bob is another aspect of ourselves. We are all related. http://www.bobmarley.com
Bob Marley - The Official Bob Marley site - Beautifully designed. Plenty of information. Next:
http://www.bobmarley.com/life/ The story of his life.
A quote: "Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny."
Tom Laughlin/Billy Jack
http://www.oscarworld.net/awardlobby_read.asp?LobbyId=483
Howard Zinn http://www.progressive.org/webex/wxzinn091401.html His writing:
Violence Doesn't Work. Next: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/zinn-chap16.html "A People's War?" Chapter 16 of
A People's History of the United States : 1492 - Present
Sidney Poitier - Actor - http://www.preciousonline.co.uk/arts/march02/Sidney.html is A profile of Sidney Poitier put online by the Carribean Hall Of Fame. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/poitier_s.html His biography and more.
Michael Moore http://www.michaelmoore.com Social critic - He doesn't appear to be so sophisticated but the points that he drives home so well in his writings and movies are well made in that they are topical and to our benefit if we make use of them. He is another we all have pointing the way for us. We only need recognize and realize his insights and that he in fact pointing the way towards our growth and evolvement.
Ralph Nader http://www.ralphnader.org As a consumer rights advocate Mr. Nader has been a champion for the people (we the People) his entire public life, which is considerable. Well spoken, I think of him as as akin to Noam Chomsky only in another related arena.We all ought to be thankful for him and his work on our behalf.
Buckminster Fuller http://www.bfi.org The man associated with the word "geometry" when I first took notice of the word. I don't know enough about him to say more at this time. I just know he is important.
Bill Cosby http://www.delafont.com/comedians/Bill-Cosby.htm Here is a site with which you can get a good view of why I hold Bill in high esteem. Bill Cosby has time and time again showed us that we can produce intelligent, loving, funny and psychologically atute positive programming on television. He has modeled it for us. His programs show that shows can be made wherein the viewer grows as a person by participation in viewing. Television as a teacher, another place to go to study, learn and grow in conscious awareness. Television, its not just for entertainment anymore.
Werner Erhard A
man who gave very much of himself to us all but today gets little attention (so far as I know) though he is to my knowledge still here physically. I participated in his works for many years (around 10 to 12) and got so
very mush out of it. I worked on myself a lot via my participation. It was rigorous often and that was part of its value for many of us. He is the most influential man I have had in my life other than my father.
Now I understand that I and everyone else make a differfence here, I understand that impeccability makes a difference, that there are no accidents and that most anything is possible. Thanks to him I got to know the
magnificence lies within me. Thank You Werner!
Nicola Tesla As an inventor myself I wonder over this manand his uniqueness. Able to design and build his inventions all in their entirety mentally
prior to having them built physically. That I find astonishing. Plus the fact that he was so damn brilliant period. In certain respects I feel he was a clear channel relative to certain types of information. Likely his
abilities here were similar to ones enjoyed in other lives and thus it came easier for him here. Plus we need to count in what purposes and intents he may of come here with or generated after being born. Tesla said
"Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity." Here is how he explained his creative process:
Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as certainly as though I had made the actual drawings. It is immaterial to me whether I run my machine in my mind or test it in my shop. The inventions I have conceived in this way have always worked. In thirty years there has not been a single exception. My first electric motor, the vacuum wireless light, my turbine engine and many other devices have all been developed in exactly this way.
Mumia Abu Jamal Here is a man whose situation symbolizes the struggle of many men and women in prison, and in a way of all of the rest of use too. People of worth, falsely imprisoned and not being freed. We've only touched the top of the iceberg here. Many a wrong must be put back right. Believe it or not there are many in America who are institutionalized for policital reasons in this country. Mumia is but one. Highly intelligent, and aware Mumia is very eloquent as he expresses the plight he and the rest of us are in. Now its not just him over there that is in this situation. An aspect of ourselves is over there in him and people like him. The opportunity before us, just as with say a homeless person or a starving person for instance is to learn to identify ourselves in them. This so that we can treat them appropiately and well and Be just and compassionate with them and others. He is an opportunity to open to love and not shrink back from any person labeled a criminal, in fear. Fear is not the ultimate object of our intent. Love is. Personally I think that the white elitists don't want to have to deal with another Martin Luther King type. Thus, their intent occurs to me to be to keep him and his messages in the dark as much as possile. The following URL is to Amnesty international and to their perspective on whats so with him and his case. http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/reports/mumia After many years of monitoring Mumia Abu-Jamal's case and a thorough study of the original documents, including the entire trial transcripts, Amnesty International has concluded that the proceedings used to convict and sentence Mumia Abu-Jamal to death were in violation of minimum international standards that govern fair trial procedures and the use of the death penalty. Amnesty International believes that the interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. Ok, Thats is something but it doesn't go far enough in my opinion. He needs to be honored and set free. Next is Dennis Bernsteins excellent and easily navigable site offering probably everything Mumia has written. This may not actually have all his writings however, there is a lot here if you want to read up on who Mumia is and what he is about http://www.flashpoints.net/MumiaLibrary.html Next is the Official Mumia Abu Jamal website put up by the International concerned citizens and family of Mumia - Chock full of information on him as well as links to major organizational supporters of his/our freedom fight. Aside from his writings this site also has his legal archives, news archives and downloads with which you can support this cause of all of ours. Everything you would likely want to know about this man can be found here. http://www.afrikan.i-dentity.com/freedom.now/
Deepak Chopra http://www.spiritwalk.org/chopra.htm a pretty comprehensive site about him.
Pete Seeger http://home.earthlink.net/~jimcapaldi/ A nice site with a variety of information on Pete Seeger. In addition to being America's best-loved folksinger and an untiring environmentalist, Pete Seeger is a national treasure. He has been at the forefront of the labor movement, the struggle for Civil Rights, the peace and anti-war movements, and the fight for a clean world. This Web site has been put together by Jim Capaldi, a long-time admirer, as a tribute to Pete and his many accomplishments, and as a resource for the type of folk music that Pete Seeger has played for over sixty years. It is by no means an "official" Web site.
Cat Stevens Deserves to be listed here because of the stands he has taken and lived from since virtually giving up performing
musically publicly. He found his spiritual path and went for it. He is one who is committed to living from his truth. No matter its unpopularity with record moguls or audience. He is a man who knows he makes a
difference, like yours truly and who is about contributing his gifts as he experiences them. Yes I have missed his musical contributions of the popular kind yet I would have him live the life he loves rather than the
one I might of wished for. If you hear him out in his interviews you find that he still in essence is the same loving, expressive, beautiful human being now that he was in his hey day as a
popular music artist. To this day he still functions as an inspiration to many. http://catstevens.com/index.html
The Official Cat Stevens Website - This is a very comprehensive website.
Chat rooms, audio files, discography, articles written about him, bulletin boards, lyrics to the songs, downloads and more.
Timothy Leary http://www.leary.com/
Noam Chomsky http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/index.cfm One of America's most prominent political dissidents. A renowned professor of linguistics at MIT, he has authored over 30 political books dissecting such issues as U.S. interventionism in the developing world, the political economy of human rights and the propaganda role of corporate media. Next, "The Bad News" is a Noam Chomsky Archive that is a grassroots, unofficial supplement to the larger, older Noam Chomsky Archive mentioned above. This one contains articles, interviews, essays, and other materials related to American dissident Noam Chomsky. As a member of various popular movements, and a long-time professor of linguistics at MIT, Chomsky writes and speaks frequently on a variety of social and political issues, most often on U.S. foreign policy. This next URL http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/chomsky.htm is a very nice site that has a lot of information on Chomsky's life and works. This site even has pieces by people critical of Chomsky and those very same works. Lastly, this URL http://cognet.mit.edu/Books/chomsky/ is another excellent site on Mr. Chomsky. This one even has filters with which you can look specifically at Noam Politically, Philosophically, Linguistically or Personally. The site explores the life and work of Noam Chomsky, investigating the political, philosophical and linguistic worlds within which we live, and about which he writes.
Helen Keller - I was very inspired by her. I read and urge you to read her book "The Story Of My Life". I
also read the book that Annie Sullivan wrote about her expereince with Helen Keller. It was great too! While I don't agree with everything Helen wrote or all her views, I did find many a moment of prescient clarity in
her works and thus refer her to you. She was/is a great person, like the rest of us.
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/17_01/kell171.shtml Great page that gives us
"The truth about Helen Keller". Tells of her great social-justice activism. Takes us beyond her
childhood dramas and triumphs. Takes us out of the myths about her to who she really was which is often left out of most peoples works. Great addition to read about her. Another book of note by Helen Keller is her
autobiography "Midstream, My Later Life" in which she cover that very subject of who she was and what she was up to as an adult. This next URL is to The American Foundation for the Blind's Helen Keller
Archive has many of not only her writings but also has a lot of pictures (for those who can see). Nice resource. http://www.afb.org/info_documents.asp?collectionid=1 The next and
last URL takes you to Know of some Notable Individuals
I might want to include on this page?
|