From La Playa Books
Join us at La Playa Books as we welcome OB Rag journalist Frank Gormlie and his book ‘The May 1970 Rebellion’. Frank will be in-store signing copies of his book.
The book explores-in narrative form–the first week of the May 1970 explosion of student protests and the historic National Student Strike, all in response to President Richard Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia and the subsequent government repression. Drawn from the original archives of student newspapers and strike newsletters, the book uncovers the burial for half a century of one of the greatest unreported stories of our times.
Frank Gormlie was a student activist during May 1970 at the University of California San Diego. After years of grassroots activism and working in non-profits, he went to law school and practiced for 20 years in San Diego. Upon retiring Frank created an online version of the “underground” newspaper he founded, the OB Rag, which he still edits.
Exciting!! I’ll be there. Just the other day, I figured out that kids my age grew up fearful of dying in a war related event for a solid ten years. The fear started with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the possibility of a nuclear missile attack on the East Coast in Oct 1963 and then Vietnam conflict heated up, our fears materialized, many died, the disastrous 1968 TET offensive.
congrats on your book Frank! It’s quite an accomplishment. I wish I could make the event but I’ve got something going on. Where/how can I buy a copy?
It’s available as either an ebook or print-on-demand paperback at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
Anyone who is truly interested in a detailed accurate account of an historic event should stop by and get a copy. There is something in the book for everyone who lived through those days.
Congratulations! Very cool and important.
Frank:
I tried to buy your two volumes today at Barnes & Noble, and hit the Paypal link that I’ve had for years and years. And the B&N computer won’t let me ‘submit’ my order to Paypal (which popped my address up on their website page) until I ‘fix’ the unacceptable shipping name and phone number…which then will not be accepted when I submit it to Paypal because this is what is in their records.
I spent the next 20 minutes with the B&N operator trying to get through to him that it IS a valid name. Told him that even eBay has had no problem shipping with it since 2004! Kept saying I should contact my bank for authorization… He finally realized that I was still on THEIR damn page (Barnes & Noble across the top) unable to hit the Submit tab that sends it to Paypal…and kept putting me on hold while he talked with supervisors about the obvious problem with their stupid computers. “Clear my browser” they said, no I don’t use Edge or Chrome I have Mozilla/Firefox…it’s YOUR computer that won’t accept what Paypal sent them!
I ate a peanut butter cookie and listened to water drip off my roof.
They finally decided that maybe I should go back and start all over and use a debit or credit card instead. Well, I don’t use debit cards but do have credit cards, so I told him to go eat lunch and remember to do something fun after work today and he chuckled.
The frustration mounts.
Because I then tried to pay with a Visa I’ve had since 2000 and ran into the same stupid shit computer crap on the B&N site as it did with my Paypal account. It refused to accept a credit card WITHOUT having a valid mobile number included (my 20 yr. landline shop/home phone number didn’t work) so they could send me a ‘text’ to validate that I’m trying to buy your two books.
This is the country that just elected an ignorant Fascistic dictator rapist convicted felon for president. Is there a systemic problem in this country or what?
Can I just send you a freaking check for the two books before I blow a gasket? That way you can sign them, too.
Let me know!
I’m going to go chainsaw some wood before it starts raining/snowing again.
sealintheSelkirks
Mailing me a check won’t work either. Sorry, dude; we’ve got to figure out something. You just got hit didn’t you with the ‘bomb cyclone’?
Thanks, I want to read the two books because I was there though only as a 16 yr old anti-war protester broken-home surfer kid. Was kicked out of two high schools that year…Mission Bay in summer school and asked not to return to La Jolla at Christmas.
___
Yep, on the N/E side of the swirling blob, and it’s really fricking wet outside though much worse at my brother’s on the coast in Ft. Bragg on the coast where he’s getting the hit from the atmospheric river being sucked in. Damn thing has stalled, too, so it’s gathering even more water from the ocean to use.
Bomb cyclone is an apt term though I know Geoff doesn’t like it. Every added 1’C heat to the atmosphere adds 7% more water to it, and we are actually over the 2’C limit starting from the real 1750 baseline at the beginning of the Industrial Age, and that is according to some very top-notch climate scientists. There is SO much more water above our heads than back when we were young.
What Hurricane Helene did to North Carolina still takes my breath away…My youngest half-brother was living there but I think I already said that. The amount of water that fell was just astounding.
Best go get that wood cut…
sealintheSelkirks
Might be time to get a smart phone and move up with the times a bit. Otherwise expect (and accept) issues like this are the way things will remain.
Congratulations Frank, does it come with crayons that set the mood for you communist drivel.
I was born in 1958, too young to be a student activist, but not too young to appreciate groups like the SDS when watching them on the news. Their spirit lives on today, tomorrow, forever!
Had a great book-signing – and actually sold out! Thanks to Marianne and Amy of La Playa Books for providing the opportunity and space, and thank you to all my friends and new acquaintances that showed up. (So for the moment, La Playa does not have any of my books — and I’ve got to get them more copies.)
My book is available as a Print On Demand or ebook at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, other sites and at the OB Library.
Just skimmed through the book(s), before sending one set to our old friend, Bill Ritter, in NYC, who will very much appreciate your personalizing this gift with your note and autograph. Will deliver the other set to Vince Campagnone, and of course keep one myself. You have made an important contribution to our shared history of that pivotal month in 1970, and we’re indebted to you for all the time and effort you’ve taken to create a lasting record of those events.
Thank you and coming from you it means a lot.