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Gene Bluestein-
Poem for Gene

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Gene Bluestein-
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Gene Bluestein

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Bad Old Times at Fresno State

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Bad Old Times at Fresno State

Recent article by
Gene Bluestein
Sex as a Literary Theme: Is Whitman the Good, Gay Poet?

Gene's Last Book
The Life and Death of a Polish Shtetl

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Ellie & Gene's 50th Anniversary

Gene's Certificate of Recognition

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I first saw Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. At a Lutheran church in St.
Paul, Mn. During the late 50s. It was an audience of predominantly
white faces, and he preached about love. That was a time when many black
leaders had become cynical and tired of waiting for white people to give
them equal rights and were calling for separation and independence. When
Malcolm X came to the Michigan State campus around that time he refused
to allow white people in the audience. But Reverend King never advocated
separation or hatred. Even when the black children were bombed in the
church, or when civil rights workers were killed, he called for non
violence, love and peace. He included all people in his struggles for
education, health care, jobs with decent pay and for peace. He knew he
would not live to see what he had struggled for so consistently and
uncompromisingly, and he sacrificed his life for us all. I am inspired
by him and grateful to him every day of my life. It is incredible to me
that you have honored me with this award in his name. I thank you for
this opportunity to pay tribute to him, and Id like to quote some words
of his that are especially appropriate at this time.

A final problem mankind must solve is finding an alternative to war and
human destruction. Recent events have vividly reminded us that nations
are not reducing but rather increasing their arsenals of weapons of mass
destruction...

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we
arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful
means. How much longer must we play at deadly war games before we heed
the plaintive pleas of the un-numbered dead and maimed of past wars.
Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete....It is
not enough to say, We must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace
and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the eradication
of war but on the affirmation of peace...We must shift the arms race
into a peace race. If we have the will and determination to mount such
a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope
and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism.

Quotes taken from his book, Where Do We Go From Here?