Stephen D. Gutierrez

Dec 22, 2016 11:18 AM EST

Thanks for this one, Steve. Needed it for this week of weeks. But I do demand proof of the tarzan costume, one day... Peace and love!

- zac walsh

Dec 22, 2016 12:05 PM EST

Keep 'em coming, big guy. Another lovely read. Yup. Work is work.

- Georgie

Dec 22, 2016 3:32 PM EST

Rich, Steve. I loved reading about your interactions with the old trash man and Wesley. Those little connections mean everything. It reminds me of the payoff of Carver’s “A Small Good Thing.” It reminds me of the Louis Armstrong line from “It’s A Wonderful World” — “I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.” That’s why “small talk” means so much. Peace, brother!

- Jon Sindell

Dec 23, 2016 8:17 AM EST

Nice entry, Steve. Captures something we need this holiday season, that's for sure. Gratitude and friendship.

- Rob Davidson

Dec 23, 2016 5:41 PM EST

Thanks, Steve. Liked it, as I knew I would. Wonder what the trashman will think when the guys and gals he'd like to see get a break don't, in fact, get one when Trump's incoherence makes everything go spur.

- Jake

Dec 06, 2016 4:32 PM EST

You're the best, Steve. Just stay away from the news and you'll be fine. Pumpkin pie and love will conquer evil in all of its present and bizarre manifestations. No doubt about it.

Your pal,

- Mira

Dec 07, 2016 1:27 PM EST

You're a force of nature. You see the best in this mongrel country and I applaud you for it. If we all stay as alert and active as you, we'll weather hear next 4 and more! Love you, Steve.

- Sharon

Dec 11, 2016 8:32 PM EST

Always love reading your jazzy words full of soul. Bless you, Steve, and your huge heart.

- Jon Sindell

Dec 15, 2016 5:35 AM EST

Well, obviously, I'm glad you're okay! I just now read this, after having received it amongs the chaos of seven classes winding down with their requisite handful of whining students attempting to finagle a better grade after the classes ended (it's always those who submit intermittently that whine the loudest at the end, surprised and caught off guard of the reality of their grade actually reflecting the lack of work - the horror. ; )

Anyway, nice work. Favorite bits: "an unmolested janitor" who offers the "sight of shiny floors" (I am a cleaner by nature and have a deep appreciation of shiny floors LOL).

Love the descriptions of the people; their origins and accents - here in my relatively new neighborhood at Lake Merritt, I sit in front of Peets and watch a truly multi-cultural crowd mingle here on Lakeshore; a place that actually reflects the new America and embraces these people of all colors, unlike my years living in Berkeley where the insistent desperation of pretense of said multi-culturism revealed an utter contempt from Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, kale-eating competitively liberal white supremacists with their Whirled Peas bumper stickers. I love Oakland.

Your friend's name is Hazard? Wow. Can't make up something that good.

Not sure if I can hop on board with the appreciation of Dixieland, however; having lived in various parts of the South - my family in Chapel Hill for 35 years, and living in Aiken, South Carolina for a spell, if I never ever go back, I'll be just fine. A discordant section of the country steeped in vicious contrasts of explicit and proud racism at both ends of the spectrum; from gun racks on pickups to stubbornly entitled southeners clinging to gentility. A jarring uncomfortable and sweaty corner of our country. Ugh. Well, except I do love southern barbecue and hush puppies...

I have bookmarked The Last Waltz! Never knew about this! Thanks.

I think we're all "fools for America" really; the problem, I think, is that they all see a different America. It's millions of blind people holding on to elephants, screaming in their righteousness. The America of your grandparents is no longer I fear, and hasn't been evident for a while now, not since, as Robert Reich reminds us nearly daily, the inequality of wealth expanded and erupted since the 90's. Now little people are thrown under the bus of corporate greed. But I applaud your sentiment; that our country "permits expression and requires it" - a new McCarthy era hinting on our heels, let's hope it's beaten back.

A good read with of course, with plenty of Steve-like syntactical percussive results. Your writing is like good jazz in that way - with just enough flow and rhythm spiced with discordant drum beats. Nice piece; I've passed it on if you don't mind.

Thanks for sharing!

- Georgie Ziff

Mar 07, 2017 7:51 AM EST

NO one is calling you crazy now Steve!

You called it... This administration is a complete embarrassment. Excuse my language... a real shit show!

Donny the Con man pulled off the greatest con job in the history of well history.

His followers know we are all f'd but will fly the party flag 'til the end just like the musicians on the Titanic. They knew the ship was sinking but kept on keeping on.

Sad state of affairs. What line in the sand must Donny cross for freedom loving Americans to finally take a stand. Disgusting!

- Miguel F. Ibarra, CSUH '97

Nov 13, 2016 5:21 AM EST

Love you, Steve. And we're terrified too.

- Sara

Nov 13, 2016 6:12 AM EST

I wish I had something cogent and witty to say in response to the election, but even after a week and a lot of alcohol all I can muster is either a gag reflex or an inarticulate splutter of outrage. A friend of twenty-odd years, an elderly woman who has been a Republican all her life and who voted for Trump, tells me his victory is an indication that a lot of people are unhappy with the way things are going in this country. I love her, but I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to demand--how dare you say that Trump is better than what we have now? What is WRONG with you? She's not a racist or a homophobe or a member of any other hateful group, but she's glad he won and I swear to God I DONT UNDERSTAND.

- Charla

Nov 14, 2016 7:23 AM EST

I was trying to think up a worthy response to such an important subject and such a meaningful reckoning you've written, but I have been in a fog of panic, paranoia, despair and then total shutdown since Tuesday. My initial reaction was to flee the US as fast as I could, but as I listen to the shared worry of my sisters and brothers like you, I think, I cannot abandon the ship. I have found a little comfort in the instinct to protect the less safe, less white. There aren't a lot of bright sides to this, but, like you said, solidarity is one. I have never felt closer to so many people. Also, there have been so many white people completely oblivious to racism here. Though I wish they had awakened by some other means, at last, there is no more room for denial. This is a wake-up call for me to step up my game, to think more of who I can help, rather than who I am inclined to fear or hate. Most of all I will pray and meditate and remember no matter what, we are in this together.

- Page

Nov 14, 2016 7:35 AM EST

Thank you for this. Nothing like holding my 9 year old daughter who is inconsolable because she will be a woman some day and the men in the whitehouse don't like women or treat them well

- Monica Michelle

Nov 15, 2016 2:01 PM EST

Bravo, Steve, for your bravery and honesty. A still small voice is all each one of us has got, but together we create a multitude, and a loud one at that.

- Sharon Dolin

Nov 20, 2016 1:22 PM EST

Yesm we are fucked. And it's not at all surprising, Steve, that your impulse is to react from a gut level sense of vulnerability derived from a cultural heritage. In this context of racism, there is no escaping, no "passing", no denying that by mere fact of the color of skin or place of ancestry or determination of gender, we become vulnerable. I often forget I am a woman; it is not the prevailing primary focus of my life regardless of having given birth, but the fact of gender is like the fact of ethnicity; we are reminded of it in the reactions and eyes of others. I am simply a person first, and a woman second, but it's the vulnerability of the latter that is revealed if sitting on Bart in a crowd of no one else but men around me. I have to remember that the fact of my gender places me at risk. That fact pisses me off.So the misogynistic body-controlling archaic policies of the right issuing from trump's cohorts are frightening and disturbing.

But from a number of assaults; the forces behind trump's rise and election are the true manipulators. No surprise that he is just one billionaire among other billionaires who made this happen. Voting rights? Gone. Voter fraud? Nonexistent, but justifiable to strip the voting rolls of thousands who might have tipped the election. Let's fear the idiocy and archaic policies of trump, absolutely, but let's also realize the true menace behind him. He is just the tv star flailing about, arms and hands waving helplessly as he spouts hateful utter nonsense. Just enough nonsense to distract the public from actual manipulations by the Koch Bros. and their ilk who orchestrate the business of being the U.S. All of us are mere pawns with little actual currency or value.

Yes, after 9/11 our national reflex was to suture common ground in a feverish resistance to terrorism. But again, not to don a tinfoil hat here, but the continued complicity of the government with the kingdom of Saud - the actual cuprits of 9/11 - leaves questions unanswered on so many levels. Our patriotism surged, so other than the obligatoroy 9/11 report, in which so many pages were redacted, including the 28 pages still unreleased, our attention was focused on healing the nation.

My point is that here we are, as our country is again being raped through behind-the-scenes manipulation and the infotainment and distraction of this reality tv star. Yes, he is absurdly hateful; cartoonish and cliche. Straight out of Hollywood. It's not the trump himself we should be worried about; it's that massive architecture being constructed around him that is terrifying. Those people - the racists, the science deniers, the misogynists, the Chaneyesque puppet masters - who will lead all of us to the brink of utter economic and perhaps extinction. Yes, I fear this administration is an actual existential threat.

- Georgie Ziff

Nov 20, 2016 7:30 PM EST

Yes, we're fucked. And it's not at all surprising, Steve, that your impulse is to react from a gut level sense of vulnerability derived from a cultural heritage. In this context of racism, there is no escaping, no "passing", no denying that by mere fact of the color of skin or place of ancestry or determination of gender, we become vulnerable. I often forget I am a woman; it is not the prevailing primary focus of my life regardless of having given birth, but the fact of gender is like the fact of ethnicity; we are reminded of it in the reactions and eyes of others. I am simply a person first, and a woman second, but it's the vulnerability of the latter that is revealed if sitting on Bart in a crowd of no one else but men around me. I have to remember that the fact of my gender places me at risk. That fact pisses me off.So the misogynistic body-controlling archaic policies of the right issuing from trump's cohorts are frightening and disturbing.

But from a number of assaults; the forces behind trump's rise and election are the true manipulators. No surprise that he is just one billionaire among other billionaires who made this happen. Voting rights? Gone. Voter fraud? Nonexistent, but justifiable to strip the voting rolls of thousands who might have tipped the election. Let's fear the idiocy and archaic policies of trump, absolutely, but let's also realize the true menace behind him. He is just the tv star flailing about, arms and hands waving helplessly as he spouts hateful utter nonsense. Just enough nonsense to distract the public from actual manipulations by the Koch Bros. and their ilk who orchestrate the business of being the U.S. All of us are mere pawns with little actual currency or value.

Yes, after 9/11 our national reflex was to suture common ground in a feverish resistance to terrorism. But again, not to don a tinfoil hat here, but the continued complicity of the government with the kingdom of Saud - the actual cuprits of 9/11 - leaves questions unanswered on so many levels. Our patriotism surged, so other than the obligatoroy 9/11 report, in which so many pages were redacted, including the 28 pages still unreleased, our attention was focused on healing the nation.

My point is that here we are, as our country is again being raped through behind-the-scenes manipulation and the infotainment and distraction of this reality tv star. Yes, he is absurdly hateful; cartoonish and cliche. Straight out of Hollywood. It's not the trump himself we should be worried about; it's that massive architecture being constructed around him that is terrifying. Those people - the racists, the science deniers, the misogynists, the Chaneyesque puppet masters - who will lead all of us to the brink of utter economic and perhaps extinction. Yes, I fear this administration is an actual existential threat.

- Anonymous

Apr 16, 2015 9:32 PM EDT

Okay, I'm not a stranger. Wish I'd been there, representing our faculty union, standing shoulder to shoulder with workers who really need a raise, a break. Good column. Keep blogging!

- Alvarado O'Brien

Apr 16, 2015 9:58 PM EDT

While I'm not a stranger, I am perhaps your biggest fan. This is a gift. You are a gift. Sharing, widely, thrilled and elated. Moved. So moved.

- Sara

Apr 17, 2015 9:25 AM EDT

Terrific post on a very important topic! To prevent the perpetration of violence by desperate people, I'd add that in addition to raising the minimum wage, we need to have more and better programs in place to ensure that mentally ill people will be able to get treatment easily, but not guns.

- Lucy Day

Apr 17, 2015 11:27 AM EDT

I'm not a stranger either, but my husband's pants are so worn out you can see his underwear, and his shoes are even worse. Even though he works gruelingly hard as a small business owner, there is never any money left after he covers his overhead expenses. And me? I have three graduate degrees, and all I have to show for them is well over a hundred grand in student loan debt and little hope of ever paying it off.

I don't think I'll be getting a gun, but I will admit sometimes I fantasize about getting a pitchfork and heading for the hills.

Another one of your biggest fans,

Mira

- Anonymous

Apr 17, 2015 7:54 PM EDT

I appreciate the commentary and the articulation of that commentary through the highly charged vignette of escalating energies in disparate individuals representing communities who are now finding they have more things in common then they may have realized-- humanity. As always, enjoyed your perspective, voice, sensibility and craft.

- Ali

Apr 17, 2015 7:59 PM EDT

Nor am I a stranger. But, I’m moved to join the conversation.

The world needs more reality-based grit, like I can always count on to come from Steve.

You've spoken so many truths here. What comes to mind, after driving past an elementary school in East Oakland this afternoon, is the absolute inequity that persists within America's education system, beginning with preschool and exponentially rising to the universities. I’m deeply saddened and frustrated by the rich continuing to have access to quality academics, while the poor are discouraged and challenged to access such information.

The boy in Blackhawk has it all, down to being captain of the lacrosse team. The girl in East Oakland. Well, what does she have?

Earlier this week, my students and I were having a discussion on a similar topic. It became clear that those with a certain high school GPA were incredibly supported by their high schools to apply to Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc. Those with “lesser” GPA’s were told to attend a community college, or, if they wished, to apply to a CSU. They might get in, if they tried hard enough.

- Hillary

Apr 18, 2015 7:19 PM EDT

Wow. Spot on. The inequities are blatant, yet ignored. When the Occupy Movement occupied the Civic Center in downtown Oakland/downtown NYC/downtown Anywhere - who cared? The rich turned away, dismissive, unseeing, uncaring. What's the point of occupying those spaces that are disregarded? It's like the riots when the 'hoods are burnt. Why didn't they, say, occupy the Claremont Hotel? The Hamptons? The exclusive enclaves where the "job creators" play? Yes, the gun lies on the seat...silent...waiting.

- gz

Apr 18, 2015 9:30 PM EDT

Are you a stranger, friend? GZ? If so, please contact me so I can fulfill my end of the bargain. My email link is on my homepage. At any rate, thank you for the response!

- Stephen Gutierrez

Apr 19, 2015 12:20 PM EDT

The mark of the good writer is the ability to put into words that which everyone feels but cannot find the words to express. Thanks, Steve, for putting into words exactly how I feel. Freedom, real freedom, takes great sacrifice and a lot of work. Many, myself included, are willing to settle for comfort or the damn-near comfortable. I'm a work in progress, but I will try to get outside of my head and help who I can. That's all we can really do.

- Matt

Apr 19, 2015 3:37 PM EDT

What a searing portrait of the societal suicide pact that is ignoring class inequity. Thank you from another big big fan, who remains in awe of your voice, your urgency, your words--gorgeous and pissed and full of life--reminding us what strong honest words can do.

- Mariah