Stitched Portraits: Savion Glover

(b. Nov. 19, 1973) More than anything else, I always knew I wanted to be an entertainer. Dancing was a part of it that came naturally. And it made me feel really cool (whether or not this was felt by others is debatable). But I've also always enjoyed eating food - a lot. This, mixed with a relatively slow metabolism and an interest in sewing/drawing/crafting gave me pause when considering a career in dance (Fat man in a tutu?). That being said, I incorporate my dance skills into every day life now, even if my daughter doesn't like it ("Daddy stop dancing").

And those early years of adolescence, with the dance in me? Savion Glover was there - sharing tap moves on Sesame Street and performing in his own Broadway show. And HE looked cool doing it! Now, Savion dedicates his life to educating others. Maybe I'll take tap dancing lessons with him some day...

Savion Glover (stoic):

Stitched Portraits: Jeff Buckley

(b. Nov. 17, 1966) Made Grace. A listening of which can purge pain for me, always. My wife shares this ability too. Jeff Buckley was a preordained portrait choice. (And I'm pretty sure I already know who gets to have this one...)

Sadly, before he made a follow-up, he drowned while swimming in Wolf River Harbor.

Jeff Buckley (album pose):

Stitched Portraits: Ol' Dirty Bastard

(b. Nov. 15, 1968) Russell Tyrone Jones went by the name Ol' Dirty Bastard - a moniker given to him by his fellow Wu-Tang member, Method Man (he said there was "no father to his style"). And if he wasn't part of such a prominent rap group, ODB would have been an obscure outsider artist. Listening to him is a test of earful patience and this has always been the reason why he is my favorite Wu.

There is also his blatant disregard for authority, characterized most egregiously in the MTV profile where he picks up his welfare check with his family, in a limo (you know, at the same time he had a platinum album out). The absurdity of an act like this is one that polarized him, but it spoke to some deep issues that we continue to discuss today. Because really, we talk about welfare as free money gifts from the government. "THEY didn't EARN that!" is a common epithet (That, and "I'M a HARD worker"). To this I say: Let people do whatever they want with their welfare checks - it's only going to have the same effect that wasting money has on anyone. And the lives we lead based on our actions - We all earn that.

Ol' Dirty (Grill, prominently displayed):

Stitched Portraits: Kurt Vonnegut

(b. Nov. 11, 1922) I'm sure many young people have called Vonnegut their favorite author of all time, and they would be making a good choice. He was definitely mine. Growing up in a waspy suburb, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle told me of greater social issues far beyond the comfort of soccer and school dances. His columns that he wrote for In These Times helped to get me through college as well. As a writer he always managed to be both sophmorically funny and bitingly satirical.

Kurt Vonnegut (classic pose):

Stitched Portraits: Hedy Lamarr

(b. Nov. 9, 1913) Quite possibly the most striking star of MGM's Golden age was also a progressive genius. Hedy Lamarr. Known for her sexually charged and liberating role in the film Ecstasy (1933), she went on to star in many Hollywood films. At the same time she was working with the avant-garde composer, George Antheil, on a system of frequency-hopping as a means of secret communication. We now refer to this technology as "cell phones" and have Lamarr to thank.

A renaissance woman, Hedy Lamarr:

Stitched Portraits: Dorothy Day

(b. November 8, 1897) A Catholic Anarchist who has been up for sainthood since 1983. She established The Catholic Worker (which still sells for a penny). She was a fighter for social justice. She considered Lenin and Marx to be secular saints. She celebrated Castro for his social reforms.

Once she began her mission in the thirties to fight for the rights of the underprivileged, nothing would sway her conviction.

Dorothy Day (always a piercing stare):

Stitched Portraits: Eugene V. Debs

Happy Election Day, America!

Yesterday, was the birthday of Eugene V. Debs (b. Nov. 5, 1855). On the eve of an historic election, I could not have had a better choice. Who is Debs, you ask? Well, early in his political career, he formed the American Railway Union and went to jail after leading a strike to quell the pay cuts facing the workers. While imprisoned he read Karl Marx and once released, created the Socialist Democratic Party, running for President a number of times - the last from a prison cell (Convict No. 9653 For President ran in 1920 and actually took 3.2% of the popular vote - nearly a million votes). Passionate about his cause, he lived to serve it, even spending out the last of his days in a sanitarium.

He famously quipped, "Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Eugene V. Debs (looking up):

Stitched Portraits: Walter Cronkite

"The most trusted man in America" (b. Nov. 4, 1916)

He famously delivered some of the most important news of our time throughout his career as a news anchor. After retirement he sought for political campaign finance reform by arguing that candidates should be given free televised airtime as they do in all European Democracies.

On this eve before election, give Walter Cronkite a birthday present, and remember to go vote tomorrow.

That's the way it is: