Author Archive
Thor and Pandora
by Peter Molenaar To the ancient observer, the approaching cumulonimbus cloud appeared as a giant hammer from which lightning bolts penetrated the earth. Hence, the hammer-wielding Viking god associated with thunder storms and destruction, but also healing and renewal, was born in the people”'s mind. Thor was his name. In the modern world, Thor”'s considerable legacy is honored once a week (“Thor”'s day”). But what redemption might he bestow upon the suffering people of Japan? Curiously, there is a chemical element which also bears his name. Thorium, atomic number 90, has emerged as the alternative to uranium. (more…)
MLK Author of A Memoir of Injustice Mayday Bookstore on May 13th 7 PM
Martin Luther King, Jr. was felled by an assassin”'s bullet on April 4, 1968 in Tennessee. The lone gunman, escaped fugitive James Earl Ray, was arrested for the crime and spent the rest of his life behind bars. Case closed. Except for one problem: he was innocent, and even King”'s wife and son agree. A Memoir of Injustice, by investigative journalist Tamara Carter, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the life of Ray, as told to her by Jerry Ray, his younger sibling. As Jerry freely admits, the Ray family was very dysfunctional from the word go. Many members spent time in prison, including the father, and the Ray brothers frequently found themselves in the Federal pen for any number of crimes. The book goes on to tell what it was like to be dirt poor, always on the run and is populated with all the nefarious characters that inhabit that world. The elder Ray had rented a room in Bessie”'s Flophouse on the orders of a mysterious drug smuggler he had met named [...]
Elizabeth Taylor, February 27, 1932 ”“ March 23, 2011
On July 22, 2010, Elizabeth Taylor tweeted “Hold your horses world. I”'ve been hearing all kinds of rumors about someone being cast to play me in a film about Richard and myself...No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor herself...Not at least until I”'m dead, and at the moment I”'m having too much fun being alive...and I plan on staying that way. Happiness to all.” Arguably was my favorite living actress, ironically she starred in the movie “Giant”(1956) with Rock Hudson and Dennis Hopper, with George Steven”'s direction. Likewise this outstanding actress and beauty became a giant in her own right. Lustrous, glamorous for sure, her life was “spirited”' or “controversial”, if for no other reason than she had eight marriages. But, largely because of her beauty, for the life of me, critics had to wonder if someone so beautiful could be talented. There always had been [...]
