Vertago

Media Yah-Yah

      My first brush with the media was a zoning issue. In Cambridge, Mass this
  can be a big event. The cambridge school board had voted to build a school
  for underprivilidge children on Huntington Avenue. This was near the house
  of Julia Child and the president of PBS. Well, nobody in that neighborhood
  wanted poor inner city kids running around. The school was nixed.
  I thought this was hypocritical. I had intergrated myself with many girls
  from the Freshpond Towers.. in my puberty. I guess it was section 8 housing,
  but it looked very comfortable.

    Another big issue in my neighborhood were trees. You couldn't cut down a
  tree without a permit from the city zoning commitee. Mr. Cohin did. He owned
  a rental house on Upland Road and wanted to put an under ground garage in.
  There were neighbors picketing outside his house. The idea that Mr. Cohin
  cut down a tree on his property without a permit and then increased the number
  of cars at his rental house was ... worth protesting. Karen Wild was arrested for
  protesting topless. She was a feminist and believed that if men could be topless
  so could she. It was a pleasure to see her excersise her freedom. There were
  press snapping pictures at Karen, not the hundred year old ginko stump.
  Mr. Cohin was a very important member of the zoning board and got his way.

    Right up the street a wealthy East Indian couple purchased a colonial house.
  The house was protected by the Cambridge Historical Society. The East Indian
  couple painted the house pink. There was a protest. The house stuck out like
  a pink elephant. The attorney for the East Indians, successfully argued that many
  colonial houses were painted pink. Karen Wild did not bare her breasts for that one.
  I, however, recieved a ticket for spray painting on the sidewalk. I called it art.
  It was a drawing of a butterfly with breasts.

    Saint Peter's Church was protested. Many church goers wanted to allow girls to
  be alter boys. I was an alter boy. I would have welcomed girl alter boys. Instead,
  Fr. Ducette gave us a lecture on "Why women sould be subvervient to men."
  Fr. Ducette told me that Maura was in Hell, "She had murdered herself."
  I didn't accept that. Let it be written I like Jesus. But, his followers can be a-holes.
  There's a book somewhere in my jumbled library; JOSHUA. It's the story of a
  Christ like man in a religious town. And the town folk do not like Joshua.
  I'll see if I can get a picture of it...

  Here's some fun pics!