Lady and the Scamp

I have been asked to reflect on my experiences dealing with a young lady named Julia Rose, who first caught my attention on Facebook a couple years ago. She has a Facebook tribute page dedicated to preserving and distributing the works, and highlighting the memories, of Peter McWilliams.

The Lady

Here is Julia speaking about Peter in a public YouTube video taken at one of the many rallies, conventions or speaking (and singing!) venues she attends.

The Scamp

The many uplifting stories of Peter, as well as his accompanying trials and tribulations, are too broad to relate here. I know I would feel blessed to have my own wikipedia page, let alone a youthful cheerleader like Julia, so long after my ashes are scattered. FWIW, I have chosen to honor my personal memories of Peter by ending all my correspondences with Enjoy. But I digress. Let us move on to my personal account of this energetic young lady.

Getting to Know Her

The first time I spoke with Juila was when she contacted me thru Facebook after seeing my New Year’s tribute to Peter here in this blog. She indicated that she was in contact with Peter’s mother who had inherited a great deal of Peter’s literary memorabilia, some of which she was letting Julia share on the web.

We chatted on Skype a couple times times after that. We communed over the ghost of Peter, his legacy and his works. She probed my calcifying neurons for first person recollections and stories from my calls and correspondence with Peter, the majority of which (sadly) came during the hectic months of his arrest and deprivations under the thumb of America’s fascist drug warriors.

Julia shared with me that Peter’s mom was reluctant to publicize the more risqué or controversial aspects of Peter’s political life. Julia’s main interest in honoring Peter was his poetry and self-help writings.

All that touchy-feely emotional hoodoo is just fine by me (and the 32.4% of me that is gay), but the rest of me negotiated stridently with Julia for a much more prominent emphasis on the politics of the subject that cost Peter his life. She agreed and promised to discuss the issue with Peter’s mom.

She seemed a rather shy and reluctant spokesperson at first, but as the last couple years have shown, her message and music have bounced to one event or the other all over the planet (or at least a tri-country area).

She’s some kind of a hippie-chick rock goddess guru within the medical marijuana community these days now that she’s embraced my early mentoring. I’m too old to even keep up with her frenetic pace on Facebook, but I proudly point her out as a protege and someone I knew before they got famous.

Enjoy.

What Friends Are For

The following is the text of an email I sent to Micaela McGuane (Twitter, Facebook public and personal, blog).  She works for MassCann (Facebook) and has some sway in regard to the speaker selection at this years Boston Freedom Rally.

Julia Rose, who runs Peter’s Page, a tribute site for Peter McWilliams asked me to send Micaela a personal endorsement on her behalf, in her attempt to secure a speaking spot at the Freedom Rally, and I thought I’d share it with the web, since I am fully supportive of the efforts of both these energetic young social activists.  I follow them both through social media and would encourage anyone who supports a change in the status quo of an intolerable, expensive and abusive American marijuana prohibition policy that’s long overdue for change.  It’s a cause I shared a common communion with Peter before he was administratively and physically strangled to death by the implementation thereof.

I’ve been requested to speak up on behalf of Julia Rose, a young lady I initially met on Facebook as a result of our mutual interest in preserving and honoring the memory of Peter McWilliams.  Peter is a man I consider one of the more eminent martyrs in the American drug war; a war that’s morphed into an assault on individual rights and basic human decency.  By now, I’m pretty sure others have emailed you on Julia’s behalf so I’ll assume you have some familiarity with the subject.

Julia noticed my New Year’s tribute to Peter, posted Jan 2010.  She sent me an invite to her newly created Facebook tribute page.  I have followed the fervor and devotion she has thrown into preserving the many causes, as well as the personal sufferings, of Peter McWilliams.    I’ve also had the pleasure of a few personal chat sessions with Julia, so I know she’s a skilled communicator.  I’ve since discovered she is also a singer and songwriter.  She’s written and recorded a tribute song to Peter McWilliams that’s received favorable reviews and airplay as well.

When Julia personally messaged me to remind me she’s got her heart set on speaking in the Boston Freedom Rally, it was an easy call for me to sit down and take the few moments necessary to offer support to a young lady who’s doing great work on behalf of the memory of Peter.  Knowing Julia, you’ll find her easy to work with as well as someone the freedom loving people of Boston would be lucky to meet.

Enjoy.