VARIETY . SPICE . LIFE

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, THE HISTORY CHANNEL
This Sunday, Howard Zinn’s “The People Speak“-the documentary inspired by his legendary book A People’s History of the United States will be broadcast on the History Channel at 8:00pm EST. The History Channel is best-known for WWII documentaries, which has earned it the nickname “the Hitler channel.” “The People Speak” made it onto this unlikely site apparently because of the irresistible actors who appear in the documentary, including Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei, Morgan Freeman, and Sandra Oh, along with music by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Eddie Vedder, among many others.

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Jan. 27 2010

Damn, just heard that Howard Zinn has died. I suppose if we thought about it we knew he was in his late 80s, but it never really registered. So glad he got to see the film based on his People’s History; to see Obama elected. Just plain glad Howard Zinn Lived in this world.

Random memories at the moment:

We taught at BU at the same time, way back when. I moved on; he stayed of course and raised righteous hell as the occasion required.

I first met him in the ’70s. Howard was all over the anti-war movement and he and his family opened their home to meetings, parties, legal strategy sessions.

When UMass/Boston was shafting a few of us who taught there, students took over the administrative offices. Howard came and spoke at a rally. Angela Davis was smuggled in one night and encouraged the occupiers. The school eventually had them arrested. Another faculty member and I went to visit our students in jail. Turned out the guard in charge was my former student as well – – so our students got decent treatment under the circs.

Years later there was an evening when Howard, Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Charlie and I went to hear Sweet Honey In The Rock at the Strand Theater in Dorchester. A splendid time.

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