Elizabeth Spreen is a writer, a director, and an actor - currently finishing her Masters degree at San Jose State. She was the Founder and Joint Artistic Director of Paducah Mining Company, an award-winning San Francisco-based ensemble. Her work includes directing Nickel and Dimed, participating in the development process of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s 2006 summer show, God Fellas, and devising and directing This World Is Not My Home which premiered at Dell' Arte International’s 2003 Mad River Festival, and writing and producing 611 $upreme, which earned Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Direction, Original Writing, and Production.
How do you think America was changed by the events of 1968?
Here's two quotes that say it best for me:
I think an era ended with Robert Kennedy's death and Martin Luther King. An era when we could have accomplished great things working together and doomed us for some time to come, and we may still be in that time, to be shattered and fragmented and less than the people we could be. - Frank Mankiewicz
I think there's a mountain of bitterness and animosity that our generation is going to carry to its grave. - Pat Buchanan
Both quotes come from this PBS special.
This loss of hope - as much as I make fun of the idealism of the sixties - that generation suffered a significant blow and that loss has transferred on to other generations. Combine that with Watergate - when I first became politically aware - and you have a recipe for cynicism and distrust. People went inward to find personal solutions for political problems - which gave us the human potential movement, new age, etc. You can see how this paved the way for the excess of the 70's and the greed of the 80's.
What lessons do you think Americans still have to learn from that year?
People tend to forget about the corruption in the Democratic party then and now.
What kind of effect has Dr. King's activism had on your life? I met two people who were directly involved both with Dr. King and were activists themselves. Ira Sandperl who marched with Dr. King at Selma and went around the midwest and south with him as well. Mr.Sandperl quiet dignity and intellectual vigor has inspired me since I met him in the late 80's when I hung out in the bookstore where he worked. Here's a website where you can read more about him: http://www.irasandperl.org/
The next person is Anne Braden. She and her husband Carl were charged with sedition for buying a house for a black family in a Louisville suburb. I worked with Anne when I was in college. She would send me out to canvas the projects registering people to vote and teaching them about the various local and nation issues. I also marched with Anne and I learned about strength and standing up for other people. She was a tiny southern woman who never stopped working for racial justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Braden
These two people, affected by the work of Dr. King, had a huge impact on my life and formation of values.
Do you think the Democratic Party could have prevented the riots from happening?
Yes. To the extent that they could have controlled Richard Daley. To the extent that they could have tried to resolve the tensions within the party and the convention.
Here's two quotes that say it best for me:
I think an era ended with Robert Kennedy's death and Martin Luther King. An era when we could have accomplished great things working together and doomed us for some time to come, and we may still be in that time, to be shattered and fragmented and less than the people we could be. - Frank Mankiewicz
I think there's a mountain of bitterness and animosity that our generation is going to carry to its grave. - Pat Buchanan
Both quotes come from this PBS special.
This loss of hope - as much as I make fun of the idealism of the sixties - that generation suffered a significant blow and that loss has transferred on to other generations. Combine that with Watergate - when I first became politically aware - and you have a recipe for cynicism and distrust. People went inward to find personal solutions for political problems - which gave us the human potential movement, new age, etc. You can see how this paved the way for the excess of the 70's and the greed of the 80's.
What lessons do you think Americans still have to learn from that year?
People tend to forget about the corruption in the Democratic party then and now.
What kind of effect has Dr. King's activism had on your life? I met two people who were directly involved both with Dr. King and were activists themselves. Ira Sandperl who marched with Dr. King at Selma and went around the midwest and south with him as well. Mr.Sandperl quiet dignity and intellectual vigor has inspired me since I met him in the late 80's when I hung out in the bookstore where he worked. Here's a website where you can read more about him: http://www.irasandperl.org/
The next person is Anne Braden. She and her husband Carl were charged with sedition for buying a house for a black family in a Louisville suburb. I worked with Anne when I was in college. She would send me out to canvas the projects registering people to vote and teaching them about the various local and nation issues. I also marched with Anne and I learned about strength and standing up for other people. She was a tiny southern woman who never stopped working for racial justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Braden
These two people, affected by the work of Dr. King, had a huge impact on my life and formation of values.
Do you think the Democratic Party could have prevented the riots from happening?
Yes. To the extent that they could have controlled Richard Daley. To the extent that they could have tried to resolve the tensions within the party and the convention.
