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"CONGRATS CLASS OF 2021!"

That was the message spelled on more than 20 large posters tied to the metal fence on Hopkins Street when MLK Middle School hosted its open-air commencement ceremony in June.

Today, only seven of the posters still remain tethered to the fence. But a close look at these remains reveals a hidden treasure—scores of messages scrawled on the posters by students who left an array of ink-pen scribbles, Sharpie jots, and penciled thoughts. Here are some of those fading remarks, sun-bleached quotes, and wind-whipped wisecracks left behind by the class of '21.

"Facebook is just Instagram for boomers." "Dating is Temporary: Duel Stats are Eternal [unless you get wired]." "Copeharder." "Work hard and be kind. Be kind to yourself. Always!" "It's better to be pissed off than pissed on." — Ben Franklin. "Hit kids, not vapes" — Albert Einstien. "The once infamous now famous man once said: 'When in doubt, whip it out!'" — Christopher Whistopher. "Make the best of the moment." — Sam. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." — Pablo. "I hope that 9^th grade is good." — Mitra. "Drink water." — Ambrose. "Keep your friends close" — Isol. "Ava: Surround yourself with people that like you for you." "Wishing you ALL the best in high school — So much to look forward to!— Ms. Puckett."

There was one special sight that I was looking forward to photographing—a beautifully executed pencil sketch in Japanese manga format. But when I returned to the field, that poster was no longer to be seen.

On a hunch, I approached a nearby trashcan and—after a bit of digging— discovered the crumpled remains of the missing poster, along with the penciled image—rescued from the landfill. 

The March Forth of July 

Revolution Books celebrated Independence Day with posters inviting the proletariat to an Anti-4th of July screening of David Zeiger's anti-war film, Sir! No Sir! 

"There is nothing to celebrate about this blood-soaked country, its wars of empire, its destruction of the environment, its murderous police and all the suffering it has caused people here and around the world," the poster proclaimed. "Let's get down to the basics. We need a revolution—nothing less." 

The poster extended an invitation to "everyone who is sickened by the US government and what it has done to people all over the planet and to people here, everyone who refuses to join in the orgy of July 4 flag-waving and patriotism." 

Here's the trailer for the film. (If you'd like to watch an extended 16-minute excerpt, click here.) 

Americans Sure Know How to Celebrate the Fourth 

I haven't seen any figures on how many tons of illegal fireworks were exploded in America's neighborhoods over the course of the Independence Day celebrations, but The Gun Violence Archive recently filed its annual report on how many Americans (and unfortunate bystanders) were gunned down during the July 3-5 celebration of our gun-totting, red-blooded (and blood-splattered) freedoms. According to the GVA, more than 540 holiday shoot-outs (many involving multiple victims) left 189 people dead and 516 injured. The youngest victim was an 8-year-old girl, who was shot and killed in Georgia. 

Tax Titan Trump Now Finds Taxes Taxing 

Just about every Sunday, a lively soccer match convenes at the MLK field on Hopkins. While jogging around the track that surrounds the field, it's easy to conclude that the members of the contending pick-up teams are not competing at Olympic levels. The give-away is in the shouted banter as the ball bounces this way and that—only infrequently finding its way to a member of the same team. During my latest two-mile trot, the three most commonly overheard shouts from the pitch were: (1) "Oops!" (2) "Sorry!" and (3) "Oops, so sorry!" 

Of course it's tricky trying to pass a ball to a teammate when everyone on the field is wearing a different-colored jersey. 

Berkeley Group Blocks US Plot to Fumigate Mexico 

Last year, Mexico called for a ban on glyphosate pesticides and genetically engineered corn. This angered Bayer—a chemical company that worked with IG Farben during Germany's Nazi era and which, today, owns a factory that occupies several blocks in West Berkeley. 

Bayer gained control over glyphosate's profits when it absorbed Monsanto and took over the production of Roundup, Monsanto's highly profitable, cancer-causing herbicide. 

Bayer immediately enlisted the Trump administration, which responded by threatening Mexico with the loss of it's prized "bilateral relationship" with the US. But Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador resisted, vowing to protect Mexico's "food sovereignty and security." 

Now, Bayer and CropLife America (a powerful industry trade association) are pressing Joe Biden's USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to run roughshod over Mexican sovereignty for the sake of Big Ag and Big Chem profits. 

That's when Mexican farmers and environmentalists reached out to the Berkeley-based Pesticide Action Network North America. Working from its headquarters on University Avenue, PAN produced a letter to Vilsack signed by 80 US corporations opposing US attempts to prolong the use of glyphosate and GE seeds. PAN followed up with another letter signed by nearly 7,000 Americans supporting the protection of Mexico's rights over the pursuit of corporate profits. 

Kristin Schafer, PAN's executive director, declared it was "completely unacceptable for US public agencies to be doing the bidding of pesticide corporations like Bayer, who are solely concerned with maintaining their bottom line profits." 

Fashion Plates Worth Pronouncing 

Out on the open road, I recently spotted a van with a license plate that read "BOP BOP." (Is that a shout-out to INNA's sexy YouTube video or just the sound your vehicle makes after you've blown a tire?) 

A few days later, I found myself driving behind a Mercedes SLS with an onomatopoeic plate that proclaimed "MMMWWWM"—clearly the sound the engine makes when you step on the gas. 

Global Warming: Charlie Sheen Tried to Warn Us in 1996 

In 1996, a film called The Arrival swept across America's movie screens. You could tell it was science fiction because it starred Charlie Sheen as a nerdy, tech-savvy radio astronomer named Zane Zaminski. 

The film begins with a breathtaking look at the Earth from high above the Arctic. The camera then zooms in on a biologist crouching on her knees as the ice around her melts. She leans over a small patch of springtime flowers that is just beginning to sprout and asks in amazement: "What are you doing here?" 

In the course of this creepy, inventive film (written and directed by David Twohy), these two scientists meet and uncover an alien plot to cook the Earth. 

Sheen eventually unmasks the alien life forms that have secretly settled on planet Earth to establish a new colony. Having found the warming planet to be a good candidate for colonization, the aliens had donned human forms (as politicians and government officials) and set about increasing the production of greenhouse gases to heat the world to more comfortable alien standards. 

Was the film prophetic? To answer that question, check out the TV news weather map that appears at 1:16 minutes in the film clip below. 

When Sheen confronts one of the aliens about this despicable plot to "terraform" the planet, the invader replies: "If you people can't learn to take care of your own planet, it's time for you to step aside." 

Pressing for Freedom 

In April, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) published its 2021 Press Freedom Index with rankings for 180 countries around the world. The Top Ten were: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Costa Rica, Netherlands, Jamaica, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland. The US was way down the list in spot #44, judged to have less press freedom than (among others) South Korea, Botswana, Slovakia, Samoa, Uruguay, and Estonia. 

In 2015, under Barack Obama, the US was ranked 49^th out of 180 countries. In 2016, the US managed a significant improvement, moving up to #41. But the toxic impact of Donald Trump—with his hectoring attacks on the media as "the enemy of the people"—sent the US' ranking on a nosedive. By 2019, the US was back to #48. 

Reporters Without Borders gave Trump due credit in the following assessment:
… many chronic, underlying conditions—from the disappearance of local news to the ongoing and widespread distrust of mainstream media—remain. In fact, the situation worsened considerably during President Donald J. Trump’s final year in-office, which saw nearly 400 journalists assaulted and more than 130 detained—unprecedented numbers according to the US Press Freedom Tracker.  

Many of 2020’s attacks and arrests of members of the media took place as they tried to cover the nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality towards people of color.  

Trump himself vilified bonafide news outfits as “fake news” and qualified award-winning journalists as the “enemy of the people,” feeding the type of threatening behavior—including violence and the destruction of equipment—that journalists faced during the uprising against the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021.  

As dozens of alleged insurrectionists face serious jail time for federal crimes, the erosion of trust in the American media and unchecked conspiracy theories that continue to flourish online will require a concerted effort by all—the public sector and private companies alike—to ensure that press freedom in the US runs more than just skin deep. 

But all is not well in post-Trump Washington. After praising the Biden Administration for a return to media openness and accountability, RWB notes: 

The Biden Department of Justice's decision to pursue an appeal against the extradition decision by a UK court in the case of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange resulted in his continued detention in high-security Belmarsh prison, where his mental and physical health remain at risk. If the US government appeal is successful, Assange could face a possible lifetime in a US prison for publishing information in the public interest. 

Rediscovering a Lost Film Featuring "The Committee" 

This report comes courtesy of legendary Bay Area photographer Jeffrey Blankfort, who writes:
Given the attention to the pursuit of a vaccine that will protect humans, deserving and undeserving, from Covid-19, I thought back to yesteryear, 1963 to be exact, when all the counties in the Bay Area participated over three Saturdays in the administering of the Albert Sabin anti-polio vaccine to over 90% of the people in the Bay Area—for only a quarter donation, if they so choose. 

All of the proceeds went to the various county medical societies to use as they saw fit. 

It so happened that I was the lay executive of the Marin Medical Society and, with the money we took in, we decided to make a satire on tobacco advertising called "Too Tough to Care." We were fortunate to have leading members of SF's famed improv comic team, The Committee—Scott Beach, Larry Hankin, Hamilton Camp, Richard Stahl, and Gary Goodrow—volunteer their acting skills with my secretary and some other friends taking other roles. 

Of all The Committee folks in "Too Tough to Care," Larry Hankin—now silver-haired and 83 and living in LA, last I heard—is the last one left alive. 

An official of the California Medical Association (which had contributed to the making of "Too Tough to Care") thought we were too hard on the tobacco companies and advertising, in general, and asked that the CMA's name be removed from the film. 

I replied that I would only do so if he sent me a letter formally requesting it, which he was wise enough not to do. 

The local chapter of the American Cancer Society wanted nothing to do with it. When I was asked to show it at the office of McCann Erickson Advertising—which had prided itself on refusing to take on any more tobacco clients—the office staff had laughed loudly in the darkened office as the film rolled by. 

When the lights went back on, it was clear that the office manager was not pleased. 

"That film is not just against tobacco advertising," he blurted, "it's against all advertising!" 

"Well, if the shoe fits..." I replied and packed up and left. 

I just discovered last night that the film, just under 19 minutes, is available on YouTube—the original color having become sepia and the production credited to someone named Sid Davis who had nothing to do with the making of the film, of which I thought I had the only existing color print. 

Here is the complete version of "Too Tough to Care," starring The Committee: