Concord, Massachusetts

The American Dissident
A Journal of Literature, Democracy & Dissidence
In the Samizdat Tradition of Writing against the Machine
A Forum for Examining the Dark Side of the Academic/Literary Established-Order Milieu

Concord, Massachusetts

Home of Revolutionary Patriots & Dissident Writers Thoreau & Emerson
Alas, Today It's a Whole Different Story

The photo on the right is of a Concord town clerk examining The American Dissident flyer. She is looking for vocabulary, sex, and/or who knows what else. Such pre-approved speech is not free speech at all. It is approved speech, which encourages self-censorship. Flyers must be pre-approved prior to being posted at the Town Hall and at the Milldam bulletin board, which used to be a free-speech bulletin board, until Van C. Smick, president of the Concord Chamber of Commerce, had it replaced with a new lock-and-key display case, which seems to summarize the reality of Concord today.

It has been a long, continuous uphill battle for The American Dissident in the Town of Concord. Rejection after rejection has been the norm. For example, the Concord Museum, Concord Chamber of Commerce (owner of the Concord Visitor's Center), Concord Cultural Council (and Massachusetts Cultural Council), Concord Festival of Authors, Concord Town Manager, Concord Bookstore, Thoreau Institute, and Concord Poetry Center have all rejected the journal (see Open Letters to Henry David Thoreau).

However, dogged persistence over more than a decade has resulted in a few positive outcomes. The Concord Free Public Library, Lincoln Public Library, and Gleason Public Library have all subscribed, whereas Bedford, Acton, Groton, and Maynard refuse. Thoreau Society has finally permitted The American Dissident to be stocked in its Shop at Walden boutique and even allowed the journal to set up a display as part of its exhibit on Civil Disobedience at the Tsongas Gallery (February, 2008). Moreover, the Concord Free Public Library is permitting me to put up a display of highly dissident watercolors in its Art Gallery for the month of August, 2008. CTV, Concord's public television, has interviewed me several times. The Concord Journal has published several of my commentaries, as well as press releases for The American Dissident. For those open-minded organizations, the editor is grateful and even hopeful.

Examine the following links for detailed accounts:

Concord Bookstore once stocked The American Dissident (copies were sold!), then decided to reject it, probably due to the complaint of a patron or two.
Concord Chamber of Commerce (A watercolor of its president will be in the Art Gallery and eventually on this site)
Concord Cultural Council
Concord Journal
Concord Poetry Center
Concord Town Hall (A watercolor of its manager, Chris Whalen, will be in the Art Gallery and eventually on this site)
Friends of the Concord Free Public Library Refuse to respond to my queries regarding the criteria they use for choosing their invited poets & writers.

Thoreau Society (This page will eventually include my correspondence with the society over the years.)
Thoreau Institute refuses to respond with regards my simple request to stock American Dissident flyers on its premises.
Walden Pond State Reservation (This page includes an account of my arrest and incarceration in Concord as a result of a non-violent argument with a park ranger, subsequent harassment by state and city police on Reservation grounds, and a statement by a constitutional lawyer that the public park legally must permit me to place a flyer on its premises.)