From: jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us (Julia Stein)
Subject: Re: Mario Savio memorial
Lynne Hollander, Mario Savio's widow, is asking "that people who have
personal rembrances of Mario bring them to the memorial" which will be on
the UC Berkeley campus on noon December 8th. If anyone can't attend, they
can send personal remembrances to the Mario Savio
website--www.hooked.net/~Anya. The Mario Savio website has some wonderful
accounts & memories of Mario.
Julia Stein
Julia Stein
jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us
_________________________
[2]
From: Julia Stein <jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us>
Subject: Re: Mario Savio Memorial
Lynne Hollander, Mario Savio's widow, is asking people who have personal
remembrances of Mario Savio to bring them to the Mario Savio memorial on
the UC Berkeley campus on December 8th at noon.
Also, Anya has established a Mario Savio web page---www.hooked.net/~anya.
If anyone can't come to the memorial, they are invited to send their
personal remembrances of Mario to the website. The web page already has a
number of personal remembrances but welcomes more.
Julia Stein
Julia Stein
jstein@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us
___________________
[3]
From: Michael Rossman <mrossman@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Savio Memorial plans updated
1741 Virginia St. mrossman@igc.org
Berkeley, CA 94703
20 November 1996 510-849-1154
Dear Friends,
By now, you must know that Mario is gone. A sudden heart
attack on November 2 left his brain without oxygen for too long; his
consciousness was fled irretrievably, and his body died quickly and
peacefully when life-support was reduced four days later.
That day I had gone to help Mario and Lynne move into the home
they had finally just barely been able to afford -- a modest but lovely
place, with a fine view and a room with its own entrance below for
Daniel, now 15. Their old place was a chaos, half-packed. While we
schlepped boxes awkwardly around him, Mario sat at the kitchen table,
his body cramped in apology for not helping, even after he turned his
mind again to the maze of legal papers. For two months, he'd been
pushing to help organize resistance to Prop. 209, and to the coming
regimen of student fee hikes in the state college system, being tested
first at his own campus, Sonoma State. Opposition was growing, he felt
there was a real chance; he was working against a deadline, to file a
lawsuit challenging the adminstration's manipulation of a student
election. I was too bent on carting stuff into my wagon, and too
respectful of his focus, to have the sense even to hug him; by the time
I got back from the third load to head home, he had gone, to deliver
his brief to the lawyers.
This done, Mario unwound. He drove with Lynne to Sausalito, to
meet in the flesh an artist whose cherished landscape had guided their
questing along the coast of Italy. It was a warm evening, with the
sweet feel that couples know in times of concord. They got back to
their own pastoral landscape in Sebastapol in time to help Daniel take
his musical gear to a party. Mario was carrying his amp to the car,
set it down gently as he crumpled to the gravel. He had long been
afflicted with a heart-valve problem, and had been four times
hospitalized with bacterial infection; but this danger was not taken to
portend a heart attack. Even so, he knew something more, for he had
mentioned months before, with quiet factuality, that his heart was
fragile and could go at any time. One might see him, in this last
cameo, as a political hero who died in the saddle of overcommittment;
but his heart might as well have stopped while hiking. He was a man
who died of life, while striving to live it fully.
A small private service was held in the garden of their new
home that Saturday, attended by family members and close friends.
Between the Tibetan Buddhist chant, the rabbinical prayer, and "We
Shall Overcome," many thoughtful and tender things were said, some
sharply-edged, of the sorts that all who knew Mario will be saying, and
that we hope to sound in public. The one that struck me most was the
briefest, from one who said simply that Mario's passing left her more
afraid, not of the world outside, but of herself and of us all to each
other, for it feels somehow even harder to be a good person with him gone.
*******
There will be a public memorial service in Berkeley on Sunday,
December 8, in Pauley Ballroom in the Student Union on campus, adjacent
to Sproul Plaza. The memorial will begin at noon. Its planned program
will probably run for two hours or a bit more; some part will be
conducted from Sproul Steps, depending on the weather. A second
segment, probably also in Pauley, will invite further remembrance and
reflection about Mario from the community gathered in his memory,
through a well-moderated "open mike" process; we can't predict its
length. The planned program is still being developed, by Bettina
Apthecker, Lynne Hollander, Michael Rossman, and Reggie Zelnik, in
consultation with many others. We expect that music will play a vital
role; and that those speaking will have known Mario well in many ways,
and will speak of him as a (political) person rather than a political
object. The speakers will probably include the four of us and others
from the FSM; other members of Mario's family; colleagues and students
from his academic life at San Francisco and Sonoma State Universities
and his recent political engagements; and an activist from the Berkeley
campus, along with the ASUC President, who will announce its Senate's
resolution to rename Sproul Steps after Mario.
There will probably be more private gatherings for FSM people
later, and perhaps the night before, but nothing has been arranged
yet. We have as little idea of how many will want this, as of the
public attendance to expect. There is no organized "we" to do things,
only a loose net of friends routinely overstrained in life, able
perhaps to form Mario's public memorial, but needing help even in
publicizing this to those who may want to attend. We hope that those
who care to come together will find ways and open places. At the
memorial, you'll hear about whatever may be happening afterwards among
us. Such details as we have about this, and to update what's below,
will be available on my message machine (510-849-1154); please access
it sparingly, as this thin pipeline is overstrained. If you're coming
from afar, need lodging, and can't find an old friend, Paul Cotton
(eternity@sirius.com 652-2666) may be able to help you, if those who
have space to offer contact him.
As for Mario's family, Lynne and Daniel are left with a
mortgage way too large for her single income, and college coming on.
Jack Kurzweil (510-548-7645, jkurz@igc.org) and Barbara Epstein
(510-548-3348, bepstein@nature.berkeley.edu) are organizing a
fund-raising drive, and would welcome assistance. Contributions to
the Mario Savio Family Fund should be sent to I.L.E. Program, Sonoma
State University, 1801 E. Cotati, Rohnert Park, CA 94928. A letter
announcing the drive is enclosed; your help in distributing it further
would be appreciated.
Suzanne Goldberg and others in Washington D.C. are setting up a
nonprofit (501-C3) organization to establish a lecture series at UC
Berkeley in Mario's memory. A grant would be be given each year to
someone of stature, chosen by a board established for this purpose, to
speak on issues related to free speech, civil rights and justice.
Contributions to the endowment fund would be tax deductible. If you
want to contribute, to assist, or to learn more about this project as
it develops, please send a note to her at goldberg@essential.org; or
to Savio Memorial Lectures, 1833 Mintwood Place NW, Washington, D.C.
20009, with a SASE to expedite reply. Those who respond will be
notified of where to send contributions as soon as the endowment fund
is legally established.
Anya has set up a web-site for Mario, at www.hooked.net/~anya.
The site features her fine tribute to Mario, with links to thoughtful
obituaries and others' personal reflections. She invites further
contributions via anya@mail.hooked.net. Updates on what's happening
may be posted there.
An hour-long, professionally-produced video film about FSM
veterans, built around a long and delightful interview with Mario
during the last reunion, has just been completed by Ron Dexter and
Douglas Gilles (Concensus Designs, 3756 Torino Dr., Santa Barbara, CA
93105; 805-682-7033.) We expect to schedule its first screening(s) on
the memorial weekend, if help can be found to carry this through;
details will be posted on the web-site, and may be available by phone
(see above.) Copies of the VHS videotape may be ordered for $40,
payable to MCLI-FSM, from FSM Video, 1741 Virginia St., Berkeley, CA
94703. It might make a meaningful holiday gift. Our half of the
proceeds will go to the Savio Family Fund. As the film is meant for
educational markets, its makers would welcome help in promoting it,
from any of us connected with schools or other appropriate audiences.
Please note that it is offered here at special discount for FSM vets
and associates; the public price will be higher, particularly for
institutions.
Lynne Hollander hopes to produce a book, and perhaps tapes,
from Mario's talks and writings. She would welcome correspondence (at
7300 Fircrest Ave., Sebastapol, CA 95472) from anyone having written,
taped, or filmed material that she may not know about or have. She
will need help with the practical tasks, from transcription and
text-entry to editing.
Barbara Stack has resumed her remarkable tending of the FSM
mailing-list, after the heroic effort by Marilyn Noble and Thom Irwin
to update it and distribute it to the 150 of us who had asked for it.
All corrections and changes, particularly in added email addresses,
should be sent to FSM Mailing-list, c/o Stack, 2629 Benvenue, Berkeley,
CA 94704. If you attend the memorial, please check the copies of the
list available there to make sure that the your own details are full
and accurate. It may be ordered from Barbara for $4, payable to
MCLI-FSM; the e-mail list will be available soon to those on it. We're
still searching for many who should be on the list; the names of some
are included here separately. This mailing cost $600, besides the
human energy; your help in offsetting this and other costs of Mario's
memorial will be appreciated. The mailing-list is important to
maintain, as a functional form that connects us; please take Barbara's
separate note seriously.
Lynne and his sons Daniel, Nadav, and Stephan hope particularly
to receive stories and reminiscences about Mario, in written form, at
the memorial or subsequently; this would be a kind condolence. We wish
you comfort in the solidarity of feeling, in this time of grief for our
departed brother, who lit our lives.
Michael Rossman, for many
**************************************************************************
Dear Friends --
To many of you, this text will arrive in the mail in a few days, along
with some relevant enclosures.
Some updates and emendations to it:
- KPFA in Berkeley and KPFK in LA will broadcast the first (planned)
segment of the memorial live; they're still deciding about the second.
- Jack and Barbara would appreciate leads/targets for the Savio Family
Fund drive.
- Re gatherings for FSM people: Folks coming from afar may well
prefer Saturday night and be unable to stay for Sunday gatherings, as
may many local folks; the problem is how to communicate them. I'll
post whatever is known about both on my answering-machine, for what
that's worth; but the problem is how to know (and coordinate) what's
happening. So here's my proposal: If you or someone you know is
willing to host a gathering, email the details of time/place/capacity
to me with the header "potential gathering place"; I'll concatenate all
such messages and send the bunch to each sender; the potential hosts
will communicate among themselves, decide what's happening, and tell
me; I'll put the info on my machine and inform others as I can. If you
or others you know will be here and would like to know about
gatherings, email me to ask with the header "where gatherings?"; I'll
either concatenate these messages and pass them to the host(s) to
answer, or do so myself in a group message two days before the event.
(I'll try, but cannot promise, to post the info to the whole FSM email
list, 155 people.) If each of you on email will contact a few friends
who aren't, whether or not you're coming or are interested in such
gatherings, the word will get around fairly well.
- The note about the FSM mailing-list neglects a vital subject. The
list is available to any of the 1200 people on it; 150 have requested
it so far. Any of them may send vital news, crank manifestos, worthy
proposals, fund-pitches, and poems to us all. I trust that its uses
will be more interesting than annoying; expect that they will be
sparse; and hope to facilitate its constructive employment. I myself
would like to use it to tell people about the political poster archive
I've been working on for twenty years. I'd like to advertise its
11,000 posters, slide-sets, and coming CD-ROMs as a resource; and to
ask people to send me any posters they can, to extend the archive's
sparse coverage of past and present movements. Thirty years on, we're
a bunch of interesting people; I know there are a good many others
among us with concerns as peculiar and reasons as pertinent as mine, to
offer to and ask of us all. The trouble is, it costs $450 to send a
one-sheet enclosure to the whole list (and not greatly less with a
nonprofit permit.) So I propose this: People who want to mail to the
mailing-list, and hope for partners to share the cost, may send brief
descriptions of their proposed mailings, including the time-frames
desired or tolerable, to FSM Mailinglist Cooperation at my street
address, or with this header to my e-mail. After I coordinate a shared
mailing, I will continue as the central to connect people who want to
cooperate in this way. (They will of course be enabled to choose with
whom.) As this proposal is circulating now only among the 150 of us
with known e-mail addresses, and can't be circulated to the whole list
until another mass-mailing occurs, whatever you can do to make it more
widely known among us would be welcome. About offering it to
strangers, I'm not so sure; my instinct is to shield us from arbitrary
exploitive bombardment. Now that the list's public among us, its use
is uncontrollable. All I can say is, choose the company you keep.
----- End of Forwarded message -----