STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
Jim Higgs: In Memoriam
IN MEMORIAM JIM HIGGS, peace activist, Modesto Junior College instructor, writer and Stanislaus Connections editor died peacefully at home on Sunday June 18, 2000. A Memorial Service of Celebration was held on Saturday, July 1 at Modesto’s College Avenue Congregational Church. Here we fondly remember Jim through the thoughtful prose of Gerald Haslam and Jim Knox, and through the prayerful, poetic reflections of Lee Nicholson and Ray Miller. |
By GERALD HASLAM
When he ranged into my office at Sonoma State University that first time in 1967, shaggy to the point of being disheveled, Jim Higgs and I nearly tangled. He was too loud and too pushy and I, tempered by growing up in hardscrabble Oildale, didn’t let people bark at me with impunity.
Fortunately, we soon recognized that our goals were similar even if our styles weren’t, and Jim became my greatest student ally when I, a first-year professor, proposed a community involvement project, an ethnic studies program, and what we called Project Hidden Talent. The two of us actually developed a sort of hard-cop/soft-cop variation: Jim’s demands often made my requests seem reasonable to administrators or faculty committees so most of the things we both really wanted we got.
I’ve never been sure if James Robert Higgs was a product of the time or one of its local inventors…or both. In any case, he seemed its apotheosis at SSU: passionate, opinionated, occasionally reckless….all in the service of his vision for a better America.
I also soon learned that Jim was also one of the finest people I’d ever known; he brought the same deep passion to human relationships that he brought to social issues. Eventually he enrolled in all the ethnic studies classes I taught in the late 1960s, and he managed to be both my strongest student supporter as well as my most vocal student critic, but by then we knew one another well, so no heat was generated.
We were an odd couple during those Vietnam years: Jim as anti-military as one could be, me an army vet’ who mitigated my opposition to the war with support for the troops. What kept us together was respect for one another’s frankness: we might be wrong but we weren’t devious.
After Jim left SSU and began teaching at Modesto Junior College we remained in touch about issues of mutual interest, primarily academic and environmental concerns. Like me, he was outraged that the Central Valley was so often treated as an expendable place full of expendable people. I was especially proud when I learned of his participation in the Central Valley Safe Environment Network and the Modesto Peace-Life Center.
For Jim, activism was not something frozen in the sixties, so he carried that zeal throughout his life. If a democratic republic like ours is to survive, it needs more citizens like him. Only those who genuinely care and are willing to give of themselves — no matter what their political stripe — can vivify America. Indifference is our deepest rot.
The last time Jim and I saw one another he drove over from Modesto to visit me after he heard I was seriously ill. We talked little about that, but discussed music — I was finishing a book on the subject and he had become expert on the blues. Later we ate Mexican food and drank beer and shared laughter. When he departed, we hugged one final time, acknowledging that we might not see one another again, not in this world anyway.
The brutal irony is that while my shaky health steadied, Jim was soon diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Learning last week that he had died, I remembered that our last long hug had been strong, almost like two guys grappling.
(Gerald Haslam, a professor at Sonoma State University is the author of many books about life in the Central Valley)
Jim Higgs: a study in contradictions
By JIM KNOX
This could be the first time I’ve been involved in an event inspired by Jim Higgs which did not involve picket signs.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis once said that "In a democracy, the highest office that one can hold, is that of citizen." I have never known anyone who held that office with as much passion and dedication as Jim.
Jim was one of the first people I met when I moved to Modesto. I was fresh out college and starting my first real job at Ecology Action. We met,—where else—but at the Stanislaus Safe Energy booth at the County Fair. He took me under his wing and soon bestowed upon me the honor of adding me to his "list of the faithful"—the stalwarts who would heed a call to action for whatever progressive cause of the day.
That list made a big impression on me. That there was such a cadre of activists, and that there was someone like Jim to take responsibility for nurturing, maintaining and mobilizing it, was an affirmation that a career in public interest work was both possible and worth the effort.
Jim was a study of contradictions. He was certainly the most pugnacious pacifist I have ever encountered. He was harder on his allies than his adversaries. He held his activist colleagues to high standards. Standards, to his chagrin, we were all too often unable to meet. Standards, to his even greater chagrin, HE was often unable to meet.
But I learned from Jim that political struggles were serious business that took discipline, responsibility and perseverance and that deserved and required no less than your best effort.
Jim’s social and recreational activities were also known to incorporate a heavy dose of communal responsibility. Going through some papers last night I came across this invitation from him Joe and Maureen to one of their backyard summer barbecues. The hand written flier started out:
Come share with us
Friday July 8th (pick what parts appeal)
9-Noon – Co-operative work (weeding, trimming, planting—any extra
transplants that need a sunny home?)
Noon -2 — lunch of gaspacho soup
and fresh oatmeal bread
2-5 relaxing
7 pm until early morning
B-B-Q chicken, beer, wine and ice tea.
Who else but Jim Higgs would invite you over to weed and trim? I don’t remember attending that portion of the festivities. I suspect the burden of that shift fell heavily on Joe & Maureen.
The last time I saw Jim was two months ago when we went to a Giants game at Pac Bell Park. I had been warned not to let him try to drink anything. His body had become so ravaged that it was simply not safe for him to swallow any more.
But in the first inning he disappeared and returned with a beer in hand. I tried to talk him out of it. But who are we kidding? This was Jim Higgs. Who has ever talked him out of anything?
Every half inning he would pour a little beer—probably an amount no more than a couple of teaspoons—into his mouth. And each time, within a few minutes, it would come back up. All over his beard and sweater. I tried everything. Stern looks. Cajoling. Nagging. It all had the same effect. No effect at all.
Finally, at about the 6th inning I said to him "Jim, what makes you think that this sip will end any differently than the last 10?"
He looked at me and flashed that big Jim Higgs grin. He could no longer talk, but I knew just what he was thinking. "I’m at the ballpark. I’m going to have a good time. And part of that is having a beer." And then he took a sip. And then it came up again.
Then it dawned on me. This was the essence of Jim. Aside from being just plain old stubborn, he was determined. He had a clear goal in mind. It did not matter that the odds were against him.
It did not matter that previous efforts were not successful. He was going to continue trying until he had a successful outcome. And if success were beyond his grasp, he’d keep trying anyway.
On the larger issues on which he worked with such dedication—peace, justice and stewardship, Jim is not here to try any more. His absence leaves a void. There is a lot of slack for us to pick up. We all know that Jim would not be satisfied with anything less than our best efforts. Jim’s legacy will be the extent to which we dedicate ourselves to carry on his work. Let’s not let him down.
The author is Executive Director of California Common Cause.
A blessing on his soul
may it be in a better place
& may his spirit be transformed
into new life
that contributes
to the balance, the beauty
& the harmony of nature
in the infinite wisdom of mother earth
father sky
& the Great Spirit.Mitakuye Oyasin / Let it be so
— Ray Miller, aka Jack Random/Gray Hawk
Mr. Miller is the author of Apache Pilgrim,
Ghost Dance Insurrection, Desert Dreams,
and other works.
May this very day fall in folds - careless, silky-
All around your solid, precise shoulders.May the
powers
that be
rename
in your
honor
all the
falls in Yosemite.Be crowned:
Drink cold water from a silver cup.— Lee Nicholson, June 2000
Mr. Nicholson is the author of
Our Common Ground: Selected Poems and Fables.