Standing On The Right Side Of History: Lawrence Ferlingetti And City Lights Books
A prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti (image, above, 1959) has written poetry, translations, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. An accomplished painter, his paintings have been shown at galleries around the world.
Founded in San Francisco in 1953 by Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin (who left two years later), City Lights, named after the 1931 Charlie Chaplain film, is one of the truly great independent bookstores in the United States. Originally a little one-room, pie-shaped bookstore. Martin and Ferlinghetti began by selling new quality paperbacks and early alternative newspapers and magazines. Out front on the sidewalk there were used books in Parisian-style book-racks with lids that could be closed at night (like quayside kiosks in Paris). They had started the store with $500 each, and never dreamed they would take in as much as $50 a day selling paperbacks
Although it has been more than fifty years since tour buses with passengers eager to sight “beatniks” began pulling up in front of City Lights, the Beats’ legacy of anti-authoritarian politics and insurgent thinking continues to be a strong influence in the store, most evident in the selection of titles.
The nation’s first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights Booksellers has expanded several times. The store features an extensive and in-depth selection of poetry, fiction, translations, politics, history, philosophy, music and spirituality along with other titles and a staff whose special book interests in many fields contribute to the hand-picked quality on the shelves. The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals.
Two years after its founding, Ferlinghetti started City Lights Publishers. With nearly 200 books in print, it is renown for cutting-edge fiction, poetry, memoirs, literary translations and books on vital social and political issues.
City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an “international, dissident ferment.” His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl And Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges; the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him Poet laureate in 1998. ”In Plato’s republic, poets were considered subversive, a danger to the republic,” Ferlinghetti said, standing beside the Mayor. ”I kind of relish that role. So I see my present role as a gadfly, to use as a soapbox to promote my various ideas and obsessions.” In 2003 he was awarded the Robert Frost Memorial Medal, the Author’s Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Among the titles City Lights has issued recently are I Must Resist and Robert Duncan in San Francisco. Published on the centennial of his birth, and in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, I Must Resist was edited by Michael G Long.
Here is Rustin in his own words in a collection of over 150 of his letters; his correspondents include the major progressives of his day — for example, Eleanor Holmes Norton, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Ella Baker, and of course, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bayard Rustin, called the “lost prophet” of the civil rights movement, is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement and played a deeply influential role in the life of Martin Luther King. He was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era.
READ: Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Gay Strategist, Deserves Better
A newly expanded edition of the classic, Robert Duncan in San Francisco by Michael Rumaker is both a portrait of the premier poet of the SF Renaissance and a fascinating account of gay life in late 1950s America:
Following his graduation from Black Mountain College, Rumaker made his way to the post-Howl, pre-Stonewall gay literary milieu of San Francisco. It was an era of police persecution of a largely clandestine gay community struggling to survive in the otherwise “open city” of San Francisco.
And just released, The End of San Francisco, according to City Lights’ website, “breaks apart the conventions of memoir to reveal the passions and perils of a life that refuses to conform to the rules of straight or gay normalcy. A budding queer activist escapes to San Francisco, in search of a world more politically charged, sexually saturated, and ethically consistent—this is the person who evolves into the author, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, infamous radical queer troublemaker, organizer and agitator, community builder, and anti-assimilationist commentator. Part memoir, part social history, and part elegy, The End of San Francisco explores and explodes the dream of a radical queer community and the mythical city that was supposed to nurture it.”
READ: ‘The End of San Francisco’ Author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore In Seattle Tonight
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s reads from her book in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Olympia and Seattle in April, May and June.
City Lights continues to be a mecca for intellectuals in San Francisco. The ongoing series of readings and events, usually at least one or two each week, are almost always free.
In 2001, City Lights was made an official historic landmark – a singular honor for a business.
With this bookstore-publisher combination, “it is as if,” says Ferlinghetti, “the public were being invited, in person and in books, to participate in that ‘great conversation’ between authors of all ages, ancient and modern.” City Lights has become world-famous, but it has retained an intimate, casual charm. It’s a completely unique San Francisco experience, and a must for anyone who appreciates good books.
City Lights Bookstore celebrates its 60th anniversary on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 with a birthday party open house at the bookstore — mark your calendars now, and start planning your trip to San Francisco!
In addition to the Anniversary Open House in June, in July, they’ll partner with the Contemporary Jewish Museum — host to a traveling exhibit of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs — for an event about the continued struggle against forces of conservatism and censorship, focusing on Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s successful defense of Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL And Other Poems.
Also in July, San Francisco Poet Laureate Alejandro Murguia will host a gathering of writers in Jack Kerouac Alley, next to the bookstore. In August, some of the fine contemporary poets in the new City Lights Spotlight Series come together for a group reading to celebrate the series, while in September the current and past poet laureates of San Francisco read and celebrate City Lights’ Poet Laureate Series at the new SF Jazz Center.
November will be the time to focus on Surrealism with an evening that will include surrealist games and activities. In addition, they are sponsoring a series of Sunday afternoon happenings all summer long, casual literary readings and musical entertainment outdoors in Jack Kerouac Alley, next to the bookstore.
If you can’t make it in person, you can join in the celebration online. Throughout the year they’’ll be featuring historical photos, stories, reminiscences and more on on the City Lights Blog. Follow them on Facebook, Pinterest, and check out their Twitter feed, for up-to-the-minute news on events and postings.
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti in Front of City Lights, 2013
Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights standing firmly on the Right Side of History since 1953.
All images courtesy of City Lights
City Lights Bookstore is located at 261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
phone: (415) 362-8193Â Open daily 10 am to midnight.
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Stuart Wilber believes that living life openly as a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Allied person is the most powerful kind of activism. Shortly after meeting his husband in Chicago in 1977, he opened a gallery named In a Plain Brown Wrapper, where he exhibited cutting edge work by leading artists; art that dealt with sexuality and gender identification. (Photo by Mathew Ryan Williams)
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With little more than six months until Election Day, Donald Trump is preparing for an “authoritarian” presidency, and a massive, multi-million dollar operation called Project 2025, organized by The Heritage Foundation and headed by a former top Trump White House official, is proposing what it would like to be his agenda. In its 920-page policy manual the word “abortion” appears, by NCRM’s count, nearly 200 times.
Trump appears to hold a more narrow grasp of the issue of abortion, and is holding on to the framing he recently settled on, which he hoped would end debate on the issue after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. One day before the Arizona Supreme Court ruled an 1864 law banning abortion was still legal and enforceable, Trump declared states have total control over abortion and can do whatever they like.
Despite the results of that framing, Trump is sticking with that policy.
In a set of interviews with TIME‘s Eric Cortellessa, published Tuesday, the four-times indicted ex-president said he would not stop states from monitoring all pregnancies within their borders and prosecuting anyone who violates any abortion ban, if he were to again become president. He also refused to weigh in on a nationwide abortion ban or on medication abortion.
READ MORE: ‘Won’t Stop Him’: Judge Threatens Trump With Jail for Gag Order Breach
Recently, Trump backed away from endorsing a nationwide abortion ban, but in the past he has said there should be “punishment” for women who have abortions. The group effectively creating what could become his polices, The Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025, fully support a ban on abortion.
The scope of the TIME interviews was extensive.
“What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world,” Cortellessa writes in his article.
“To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding.”
TIME’s Cortellessa also notes that Trump “is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.”
READ MORE: ‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say
On abortion, Trump has repeatedly bragged he personally ended Roe v. Wade, which was a nearly 50-year old landmark Supreme Court ruling that found women have a constitutional right to abortion, and by extension, bodily autonomy.
But Trump has also “sought to defuse a potent campaign issue for the Democrats by saying he wouldn’t sign a federal ban. In our interview at Mar-a-Lago, he declines to commit to vetoing any additional federal restrictions if they came to his desk. More than 20 states now have full or partial abortion bans, and Trump says those policies should be left to the states to do what they want, including monitoring women’s pregnancies. ‘I think they might do that,’ he says.”
“When I ask whether he would be comfortable with states prosecuting women for having abortions beyond the point the laws permit, he says, ‘It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.’ President Biden has said he would fight state anti-abortion measures in court and with regulation,” Cortellessa adds.
Trump in his TIME interview continued to hold on to the convenient claim as president he would have absolutely nothing to do with abortion.
But “Trump’s allies don’t plan to be passive on abortion if he returns to power. The Heritage Foundation has called for enforcement of a 19th century statute that would outlaw the mailing of abortion pills. The Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes more than 80% of the House GOP conference, included in its 2025 budget proposal the Life at Conception Act, which says the right to life extends to ‘the moment of fertilization.’ I ask Trump if he would veto that bill if it came to his desk. ‘I don’t have to do anything about vetoes,’ Trump says, ‘because we now have it back in the states.'”
That’s inaccurate, if a national abortion ban, or any legislation on women’s reproductive rights, comes to his desk. And they will, if there’s a Republican majority in the House and Senate.
READ MORE: Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
Brooke Goren, Deputy Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) writes, “In the same interview, Trump:
– Repeatedly refuses to say he wouldn’t sign a national ban
– Left the door open to signing legislation that could ban IVF
– Stood by his allies, who are making plans to unilaterally ban medication abortion nationwide if he’s elected.”
Cortellessa ends his piece with this thought: “Whether or not he was kidding about bringing a tyrannical end to our 248-year experiment in democracy, I ask him, Don’t you see why many Americans see such talk of dictatorship as contrary to our most cherished principles? Trump says no. Quite the opposite, he insists. ‘I think a lot of people like it.'”
The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol, once a hard-core conservative Republican, now a Democrat as of 2020, served up this take on TIME’s Trump interview and overview of a second Trump reign.
“Some of us: A second term really would be far more dangerous than his first, it would be real authoritarianism–with more than a touch of fascism.
Trump apologists: No way, calm down.
Trump: Yup, authoritarianism all the way!”
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan found Donald Trump in criminal contempt of court for nine violations of his gag order, and served up a threat of time behind bars if he continues down that path. Some legal experts say Merchan’s punishment could have been broader or stronger, while others called it a “smart move.”
Justice Merchan fined Trump $1000 per violation, the maximum allowed under New York law, and warned the ex-president he could face time in jail if he continues to violate the order.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Justice Merchan wrote.
Merchan also gave Trump until 2:15 PM to remove the nine social media and campaign website posts that violated his gag order.
READ MORE: ‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say
“Trump will see Justice Merchan’s $9,000 fine for violating the gag order as a reasonable cost for the ability to continue attacking the judge, court and rule of law. It won’t stop him,” warned Bloomberg Opinion executive editor Tim O’Brien, who is the author of a 2005 book on Trump.
Calling the opinion “well-reasoned” and “balanced,” professor of law Ryan Goodman, a former Special Counsel for the U.S. Dept. of Defense, made a point of noting its historic nature:
On this day in history:
A former president of the United States was held to be in Criminal Contempt for “willful disobedience of a court’s lawful mandate” by attacking witnesses and jurors in a criminal proceeding.
Court’s finding based on beyond a reasonable doubt.
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) April 30, 2024
Professor of law and former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann lamented Justice Merchan’s missed opportunity.
“Judge missed an opportunity to impose a monitor over his social media posts and to suggest the penalty will be considered at end of trial.”
But national security attorney Brad Moss praised the punishment in Merchan’s contempt finding.
“Smart move by Merchan. This is the first criminal contempt finding. It’s a warning to Trump that the games won’t be tolerated. If he does it again, and Merchan does have to cross the rubicon and jail him, it strengthens Merchan’s argument on appeal.”
READ MORE: Peter Navarro’s Latest Attempt to Get Out of Jail Smacked Down by SCOTUS
South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem‘s bragging about dragging her 14-month old puppy into a gravel pit and shooting her to death because she “hated” the dog is likely the end of her political career, right-wing pundits are now saying.
On Friday when The Guardian broke the news in a preview of Noem’s upcoming book, outrage on the left was immediate, but outrage on the right trickled in, then increased. Even with Noem doubling down, declaring her killing of the puppy (and a goat that same day, same way) happened 20 years ago, people on the right are expressing anger.
A Democratic pollster says 81% of Americans oppose Noem killing her puppy, The Guardian later reported.
“After learning about Gov. Noem’s actions, only 14% consider her to be a good choice for vice president on the Republican ticket. By a 2:1 margin, even Republicans say the governor would not be a good choice (42% vs. 21%),” the pollster, New River Strategies, stated.
READ MORE: Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
Noem’s book, “No Going Back,” to be released May 7, has a number one ranking at Amazon. Publisher Center Street, a Hachette Book Group imprint, also publishes other right-wing politicians including Ben Carson, Newt Gingrich, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Endorsing the book are other right-wingers, including Donald Trump, Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy, athlete and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, and anti-LGBTQ extremist group creator Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok.
On Monday, as Mediaite reported, two Fox News pundits had had it.
Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP Congressman, said, “she just destroyed her political career. I don’t think there’s anybody on any side of the aisle, any human being that thinks it’s acceptable to go to a gravel pit and shoot a dog in the face and kill it when it’s 14 months old. That’s. I mean, that’s just hideous. So she’s done politically, and I’m a friend of hers. I served with her, but politically, there’s no recovering from this.”
Fox News media analyst Joe Concha said, “as a dog owner my whole life,” the story of Noem shooting her dog “absolutely makes my blood boil.”
RELATED: Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’
“How utterly heartless do you have to be to shoot a 14-month-old dog in the face? Because look, if it wasn’t doing its job on the farm, or is attacking chicken or people, okay, you’re a public figure, or at least you have a platform in some way, shape, or form. Even if you’re a private citizen, you very easily could have posted somewhere, ‘I’m putting my dog up for adoption because maybe it’s not working out here on the ranch,’ and I can guarantee you many people would have raised their hand to take that dog in,” Concha said, adding, “she just destroyed any chance she had of being Donald Trump’s vice president, if she had any chance at all. There’s no going back from this.”
Right wing talk show host Megyn Kelly said Trump is “too smart” to “pick somebody who’s managed to do the impossible and unite Democrats and Republicans alike in their anger for this woman who shot her puppy in the face.”
At the right wing National Review, Jeffrey Blehar writes: “Let’s Get a Warrant for Kristi Noem’s Backyard.”
“I guess I just don’t like people who boast about shooting puppies,” Blehar adds on social media. “And goats. And horses. And who knows what else, until cops have done an aerial scan of the property and gotten a backhoe out to excavate the suspicious piles of dirt.”
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