S T A F F Oo-publishers Julie Ristau, Lenny Dee Editorial Board Lenny Dee, Diane Hellekson, David Morris, Julie Ristau, Karen Starr, Charlie Sugnet, Jay Walljasper Pacific Northwest Editor David Milholland Precious Metal Detector Lucinda Anderson Art Direction Lenny Dee Cover Design Connie Baker Designers Connie Baker, Julie Baugnet, Diana Boyer, Jezac, Kim Klein, Gail Swanlund, Eric Walljasper Contributing Artists Barbara Bloy, Lee Clapsdale, JonMarc Edwards, Frank Gaard, Seitu Jones, Polly Kiesel, Barbara Kreft, Ann Morgan, Stuart Mead, Denise Monaghan, Marsala Snow Gallery Curator Diane Hellekson Cover Photographer Gus Gustafson Proofreader Ann Laughlin Account Representative Barbara Nelson Typesetting Jezac Typesetting Tertulia Referee Karen Lehman Spiritual Advisor Camille Gage Windy City Beat Lynda J. Barry Thanks to thee Stephanie Ericsson, Jennifer Gage, Bill Herbst, Pegatha Hughes, Rick LeBarkeen, B.J. & Paul Loeb, Randi Lyders, Denise Mayotte, Tom Morgan, Pat Mulligan, Reva Rasmussen, Judi Ray, COMPAS ON THE COVER This is a self-portrait of Beth Upton, who also made the image on the cover. Subscriptions $10 a year. 212 3rd Ave. N., Suite 300 Minneapolis, MN 55401 The Twin Cities edition is published by the Clinton St. Quarterly, 212 3rd Avenue N., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401—(612) 338-0782. Unless otherwise noted, all contents copyright ©1989 Clinton St. Quarterly. We encouraae your comments, articles and art. All material should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A look at the ’90s from the irrepressible Mr. Vidal. Muslim Dopebusters— Dr. Alim Muhammed The brightest point of light in Bush’s America may come from the Nation of Islam. The New Materialism David Morris Managing Minnesota’s materials as if matter matters. HONESTY ISTHE BEST POLICY In the stultifying world of politics it is rare to find anything remotely inspiring. But Eastern Europeans’ recent surge to freedom has hit the Richter scale with such force as to make the California quake seem like a minor rumble. Only a hardened cynic could resist cheering the triumph of these oppressed people. Equally inspiring—though with far fewer photo opportunities—has been the USSR’s recent admission that its military presence in Afghanistan has violated Soviet law as well as international standards of conduct. How often since the invention of the modern nation state has a country come forth with such a frank confession? Imagine how different things would be now if the U.S. government had admitted that its military presence in Vietnam had violated U.S. law and international standards of conduct. If that had happened then maybe today we wouldn’t be involved in yet more butchery in El Salvador. The same spirit of candor might make us look at our domestic life differently. We presently are engaged in a crack, pot, war on drugs that we can’t win. Such flaming radicals as George Shultz, Milton Friedman, and William F. Buckley have admitted as much. Addiction is a social and psychological, not a chemical, disease. We ought to be confronting the spiri13 Responses to The New Materialism State officials add to the dialogue. Clinton St. Gallery— Polly Kiesel, Denise Monaghan, Marsala Snow, Barbara Bloy Four Twin Cities artists explore the family. Hell No, I Won’t Go— Ellen Willis You can’t win a Crack, Pot, War. tual, emotional, and economic deprivation that causes addiction. That means providing all people with meaningful employment, low cost housing, and a chance to restore a sense of community to their lives. Between August 1 and September 13, the three television networks combined with the New York Times and Washington Post to produce 347 pieces of reporting on the “ drug crisis.” Few if any of these reports told you that 50% of our crack users are suburbanites. No one told you that 9 out of 10 first time cigarette smokers become addicted as compared to 1 out of 6 first time cocaine users. Jn 1988, American hosp ita ls counted 3,308 deaths attributed to cocaine, as opposed to 390,000 deaths in some way attributed to the use of tobacco and 100,000 deaths directly related to the excessive use of alcohol. If drugs are a scourge, then alcohol and tobacco must be nothing short of a full-scale plague. The jingoistic tone of reporting about the war on drugs comes at a time when our national religion is coming unraveled. Seventy percent of Americans define ourselves as anticommunists, far more than any other common binding characteristic. In comparison only 49% define ourselves as religious. A drug-crazed apocalypse, supposedly emanating from the black inner city, is fast becoming our new national religion. Global Ecology at the Brink— Lester Brown The state of the planet as seen by one of America’s most far-sighted observers. 26 The Day We Discovered We Were Black— Davida Kilgore It wasn’t really Jo-Jo’s fault. That Francis Scott Key man started the whole thing. 28 From Words to Silence— Kerry Hansen A tale too manyof uswill have to tell. Fifty-five percent of us support mandatory drug testing for all Americans. Eighty-two percent are for enlisting the military in the war on drugs, and 83% favor reporting suspected drug users to the police even if it ’s their own families. An Orwellian hysteria of frightening proportions is underway. The Germans flooding west are looking for, and many will certainly find, political freedom and economic opportunity. Yet behind the alluring portrait of capitalist society painted by the media lies a spiritual vacuum that is at the heart of our substance abuse. A culture that places material rewards above all others is unable to find the will to make the dream all inclusive. The materialist culture creates a poverty of the spirit. Shop 'til you drop is not a motto to build your community around. We are 4% of the globe’s population yet we produce 25% of its pollutants and 30% of its garbage. The planet would be a science fiction nightmare if the rest of the world adopted our habits. If we aspire to matching the Russians’ candor we’d better ’fess up to an environmental felony and begin to use the ingenuity that put a man on the moon to build an environmentally sound economy that doesn’t leave anyone out of the picture. Once down that path we’d find many other walls come tumbling down. —Lenny Dee Clinton St. Quarterly—Winter, 1989-90 3
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