Bird on a wire: A raven speaks out on the blue angels and other things
By Revolutionary Worker Scholar
Note: I was lucky to encounter the raven after many weeks of trying. I endured its laughter while trying to coax it from its wire with breadcrumbs. After 2 weeks of this, the raven finally granted me a much-coveted interview about the Blue Angels.
Q: What do you think of the blue angels?
A: I don’t stay up nights thinking about them
Q: Why not?
A: They don’t show me nothing. They’re gentrifying the sky. They want to convince people that they’ve been up there forever. Hell, I’ve been flying before those guys were in diapers. They make too much noise up there, dipping and diving and maneuvering. They’re basically showing their asses. They’re knocking themselves out trying to do what I do naturally…things I can do with my eyes closed. They’ve poured a lot of money into those wings but those wings ain’t as beautiful as my wings.
Q: You think so?
A: What kind of question is that? You sure you ain’t C.W. Nevius? Of course I think so. There are many people out there that agree with me.
Q: Who are they?
A: The people in the neighborhoods
Q: Which neighborhoods?
A: The TL…Bayview, Fillmore, some parts of the Mission. They look at my wings and they say, man…now those are some wings. Sometimes they just watch me and hum a little tune and on that tune, I fly higher. It’s hard to explain. But the blue angels ain’t really blue, you know? Do they really know the blues? If they did they’d be down here and not making all that noise. I can’t hear my jazz when they’re up there. But some of these crowds really eat it up.
Q: I sense some hostility on your part towards the blue angels
A: You’re perceptive
Q: Where do you spend most of your time?
A: Ocean Beach lately. I’m always on the lookout for food. All the stuff I get are scraps that are loaded down with sodium and fat. My blood pressure is soaring. But sometimes I get something good, like that whale that washed up a few weeks ago. That was good. It held me over for a few days. I get good stuff out here.
Q: What’s in store for you?
A: To hang loose and go with the flow. To share my laughter up there on those wires. Humanity is a laugh, you know?
Q: Any last words for our audience
A: Well, you know, fleet week, they make a big display of it. Anyway, I flew out there just to check it out. The folks were walking around in knit sport shirts and dockers. Jeeze…won’t someone tell those guys what their shirt sizes are? Nothing but gut and more gut. One of ‘em threw me a pizza crust so I guess he was ok. But still, you’ll never catch me dead in one of those awful shirts. I flew around the ships and I saw all those guys in military uniforms just looking into the sky. I thought they were possibly looking at the clouds or at my brethren. I hovered closely then landed on a nearby plank. I looked at one of the uniformed guys. His nametag read: Breedlove.
Q: Did he give you any?
A: Any what?
Q: Love
A: Are you kidding? He was breeding something but it sure wasn’t love. I laughed that mocking laugh of mine and he flicked a cigarette butt at me. I took off into the air but it was being invaded by the blue angels, scraping across the sky, my sky. But their wings still ain’t as beautiful as mine. Don’t you agree?