Benjamin Maurice Melançon the First, A.D.H.D. variously known as BMM Inc., the Maurice Institute Library, and the godfather of CATSUP, is quite possibly a figment of his own imagination.

1928 – 2007

Tue, 2007/05/29 - 12:37am — Benjamin Melançon

John C. Melançon, born circa 1928, lived a full life – of work, of solidarity, of travel, of love, of learning, but his death May 29 came too soon. He leaves his former wife Evelyn; three sons, Jakob Alfred, Benjamin Maurice, and Daniel Eugene; Daniel's wife Eva Marie, and two grandchildren by Eva and Daniel, Cassidy James and Xavier Elijah.

An orphan, John made his own living starting from a young age in New Orleans. He never went to school, let alone graduated high school or college. A lifelong student of life by reading and direct experience, his intelligence and depth and breadth of historical knowledge far surpassed that from any university education.

Before his marriage, John traveled and worked in other parts of the world, including Latin America, England, Europe, and Israel. With his wife and sons he traveled and camped through 47 of our 50 states.

He helped support his family as assistant manager of the Weston Golf Club, as owner of J&F Variety in downtown Natick, delivering pizza at Pizza Plus, and working receiving at Sears. Seriously physically compromised by emphysema in his last years, he kept a sharp eye on politics, and world affairs, and the Boston Celtics and Red Sox.

He considered the most meaningful part of his life, prior to his family, the time he spent in an intentional community in Georgia that supported the Southern civil rights movement as well as directly working with, and providing work for, the local poor white community.

A radical his entire life, he never accepted the inequality, racism, or unfairness of society, and never quite lost his belief in our ability to change the world.

Sometimes hidden, he had a deep and abiding love of humanity.

Ye Olde Front Page

These are links to the original content of this site. It will be slowly incorporated into the excellent open source free software content management system known as Drupal.

Note in particular that the "beMWeb makes web sites" link has been utterly superseded by the Agaric Design Collective (web development and graphic design).

Links: my best bookmarks.

beMWeb makes web sites.

CATSUP: Corporation for the Advancement of Totally Stupid and Useless Projects.

Library: books and knowledge at the Maurice Institute.

Publishing: BMM Publishing Company publishes original material.

Information about how to do things.

Issues: making the world better to live in.

Résumé: I’m ready for many things.  Hire me.

Enterprises: divisions of Melançon Enterprises from BMM Labs to Obi-Wan Productions.

Benjamin Maurice Melançon am I, and vice versa

About this site: steal my style sheets and insult my design

If Drugs Were Legal, My Friend Would Be Alive Today

Wed, 2012/01/25 - 10:19am — Benjamin Melançon

If drugs were legal, my friend Andrew would not have died Sunday night.

This was not my first reaction. My first reaction was unfocused rage (which itself seems to be a coping method when faced with overwhelming sadness).

Andrew Judson Grice (1969-2012) obituary draft

Tue, 2012/01/24 - 11:41pm — Benjamin Melançon

I write today in honor of a man who is a better writer than i will ever be. A man who I have to thank for most of the good things in my life. From his role in rejuvenating NarcoNews.com and making me a part of it.

He had so many more stories to tell, from his life lived so far and all the life he had yet to live, stories that i will never be able to tell as well as he did, stories that could be amazing in themselves or purely in his ability to tell them.

It is thanks to him that i know Stefan, my close colleague and anchor at Agaric, and dozens of others i have varying contact with.

Figuring out the real story is part of life, just to get over the indignity of being lied to all the time

Sun, 2012/01/08 - 6:29pm — Benjamin Melançon

"I don’t really do research in order to write. Finding out about things, figuring out the real story—what you call research—is part of life now for some of us. Mostly just to get over the indignity of living in a pool of propaganda, of being lied to all the time, if nothing else."

-- Arundhati Roy, http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/2356/roy_2_15_11/

(hat tip to Shreya Sanghani)

It's the day before Yom Kippur and i've had two pretzels.

Fri, 2011/10/07 - 5:19pm — Benjamin Melançon

Plan? Plan!

Oh, and wine. Celebrating that http://daniel-libeskind.com is live!!!

The Uncertainties of the Aftermath of Genocide: The New York Times Makes the Case for Passivity

Sun, 2011/09/18 - 7:56am — Benjamin Melançon

Like its dictator-nailing subtitle, “Granito” often feels in its certitude like an inversion of vintage neoconservatism.

GRANITO

How to Nail a Dictator

Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Directed by Pamela Yates; edited by Peter Kinoy; produced by Paco de Onís; released by Skylight Pictures. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. This film is not rated.

Hero you haven't heard of to be sent to jail

Fri, 2011/06/17 - 6:36am — Benjamin Melançon

Tim DeChristopher put in the winning bid in a federal auction of oil and gas on 150,000 acres of public lands. Without any money. “I wasn’t motivated to protect land. I wouldn’t go to jail to protect land. I’m primarily motivated to protect human beings. This is about climate justice. We must move away from fossil fuels and create a world with clean energy for sure, but not continue corporate exploitation through the banner of green energy, a world where people have the power, not corporations. It is about equality and justice.”

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