(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Sister Boom Boom Descends from the Attic [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-01 I found an old poster in the attic recently, and I’ve just had it framed. I need to find the right place to hang it. It should see the light of day — but not so much as to fade it. It’s a campaign poster from the 1982 county supervisor’s election for the City and County of San Francisco. It portrays a man in an old-school nun’s habit flying a broom over the dome of San Francisco City Hall while sky-writing the word SURRENDER DIANNE (Feinstein) behind him in purple smoke. The display text reads: SISTER BOOM BOOM FOR SUPERVISOR. I lived in San Francisco in ’82. I really, really miss that place and time. People’s culture and counterculture and street activism and everyday creativity still had a strong foothold in the city. The city wasn’t yet only for the rich and corporate. The horror of AIDS had not yet asserted itself widely. Though it soon would. No group of people were less corporate or establishment than The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The sisters of this “order” were a performance group of gay men dressed in old-school nun’s habits who showed up at public events, or at their own live events and theatricals (and still do, though the Sisters apparently embrace several genders now). The Sisters are about satire of cultural wrongs; call it performance art, call it politics: the Sisters are a statement all on their own. In their way they are about love and justice: accept everyone just as they are, give everyone what they need. Sometimes those are revolutionary statements, especially these days. I’d run into them at street fairs, just being friendly and hanging out and greeting people. Everyone seemed glad to see them. Each “Sister” takes an imaginative and provocative name for herself: early members included Sister Missionary Position, Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch (the order’s founder) and of course Sister Boom Boom — aka Sister Mary Boom Boom, aka Sister Rose of the Bloody Stains of the Sacred Robes of Jesus. But everybody called her Sister Boom Boom. She was a gay rights and AIDs activist named Jack Fertig who was active on the political scene as well. Diane Feinstein was mayor of San Francisco then. Call Feinstein “original centrist,” because inside the city that’s how she was seen: moderate, friendly to business interests and less friendly to their opponents; permissive of individual rights but even more protective of the monied interests and of the San Franciscans who owned their piece. A friend to the gay community — but not when it cost too much. Which is why Jack Fertig ran for Supervisor. A quirk of the San Francisco election code allowed candidates to run for public office under any name they chose. In ’79 punk rocker Eric Reed Boucher ran for mayor under his stage name “Jello Biafra.” (With the slogan “There’s always room for Jello!”) Running as Sister Boom Boom was a no-brainer for Fertig; the publicity was priceless. But the campaign was no joke. Fertig thought it was time for change. Only, it wasn’t. Sister Boom Boom lost, though she did tolerably well. A year later in ’83, some old-school radical street activists started a Feinstein recall effort that didn’t get much traction at first. Until Feinstein vetoed a city ordinance that would have extended city health benefits to domestic partners — which was very important to gay couples. Much of the gay community came on board with the recall and helped push the recall election to reality. In the recall, Sister Boom Boom ran with Feinstein as her opponent: but she ran as Jack Fertig, not Sister Boom Boom. Before the election the board of supervisors passed an ordinance requiring candidates to use only their legal names on the ballot. Of course people knew why: everybody knew Sister Boom Boom, but would they know Jack Fertig? Forever after, that ordinance has been known as the “Sister Boom Boom Law.” Feinstein won easily in any case. She went on to another term and in ’87 was proclaimed the best mayor in America by somebody. From the mayoral seat she ascended to many years in the U.S. Senate, where she serves to this day. The Sisters also continue to this day; check them out on the web. Sister Boom Boom left the group in ’85 to pursue other interests. And, as Jack Fertig, died a few years ago. His passing was well noted by regional media. Who was there who doesn’t remember Sister Boom Boom? As for me, I picked up this poster at a San Francisco apartment sale in the ‘80s and took it with me to.a hippie beach/college town down the coast. My new home was a lot more like San Francisco used to be, and warmer. Bought a house and everything. It was pretty doable then. And like San Francisco, my hippie beach town became wealthier and more exclusive: moderate. One might even say centrist. Real equity and home equity don’t seem to co-exist too well. Most of the old hippies and free thinkers are gone or assimilated unless they bought in somewhere secure when it was cheap — just as in San Francisco. You can’t buy a house here for under a million now — and that doesn’t buy much house. As a university town, it still loves individual rights and liberties. But not so much rent control or high-density housing for workers. (And it’s lost its sense of humor. “Sister Boom Boom” just wouldn’t fly here these days: too insensitive, too sexist, too something.) Economically, many or most well-off California Democrats are largely centrist in my opinion. They benefit from things as they are: which is why Feinstein was elected and reelected and reelected. This town is typical in that regard. After 30 years here I retired and took it upon myself to clean out the attic over the garage. You remember the replicant Roy Batty’s line from Blade Runner? “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.” There were things up there that I never knew existed. And others that I’d forgotten. Like this poster. It’s 41 years on, and Dianne is finally surrendering: reluctantly, to cognitive issues brought by old age. She won’t run for reelection, though some even question whether she’s fit to serve out her term. I suppose that her staff will hold it together. I don’t mean to be unkind, but I won’t miss her. During the worst of the run-up to the Iraq War, when Congress was caving to the Bush administration’s pressure for war, I got just one email from her: about her successful efforts toward California coastal conservation. I sent Feinstein a written letter with my comments and received no answer. The world is changing; problems swept under the rug for 40 years will not stay there much longer. Suffering is great and will increase. Rabble rousers and charlatans attempt to mesmerize the county but long-term they cannot, because they cannot solve any real problems. They invent fantasy, nativist problems instead while serving shadowy oligarchs; but “solving” fantasy problems does not bring a safe, fair, and prosperous country for all. And “all” needs it badly. The fantasies will fail, though not without causing much more human misery fist. I have hope, and though I’m old I want to see the other side. And when I do perhaps a dark shape will arrow across the sky trailing purple smoke and breaking the sound barrier with a boom. And then another boom. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/1/2161565/-Sister-Boom-Boom-Descends-from-the-Attic Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/