Issue #3 came out last Thursday. I wrote an editorial about intellectual responsibility.
I've been at a Canadian University Press conference all weekend, and now I'm tired.
I saw the Pocket Dwellers last night. A very tight funk/hiphop/jazz band from Toronto.
Buy www.i-directv.net this it is a wonderful addition to anyones home entertainment system.
Issue #3 came out last Thursday. I wrote an editorial about intellectual responsibility.
I've been at a Canadian University Press conference all weekend, and now I'm tired.
As you may have noticed, I have been completely sucked into diabolical machinations inherent in the structure of the Argosy. (there's a new issue out, by the way.) In addition, I've become equally sucked in to an attempt to read and understand (apprehend, rather) Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, which takes up any time that I might've not been spending on the Argosy. As a result, my web surfing has decreased to almost nil. Thus, postings here will be sparse for some as yet unspecified time (i.e. until I start spending a lot of time reading on the web again).
The first issue of this year's Argosy is online. Yay!
Besides making sure everyone had the right conditions to get their job done, I wrote an editorial about alcohol use and its institutions, and designed the cover.
I started a discussion topic on the WTC Disaster over at the Argosy, and I finally wrote down some thoughts (which are posted there).
Monkeyfist has been churning out some solid thoughts for the past few days.
Yesterday, I ran a meeting for the first time in my life. I turned into Dru the Extrovert, who doesn't think about everything he's going to say before he says it. Dru the Extrovert hadn't made an appearance for some time. Shortly thereafter, I realized in a tangible way that I'm responsible for the 30-odd people on staff at a weekly newspaper. I'm also responsible for the paper itself. That's daunting, and exciting. I have a lot to learn, and I'm going to learn a lot.
The following is an email from the President of George Washington University, in which he outlines the plan to shut down and evacuate GWU for the duration of the IMF/World Bank meetings (and subsequent protests), to "protect the community". They're even giving students money for airfare (!!!!). (thanks to kendall of monkeyfist for forwarding this to me :P)
Sometimes it's nice to start the day off with a nice Chomsky quote.
"People who believe in a better way of life know that the way we live now is criminal. Denial of freedoms, death by starvation and exploitation, denigration of people’s capabilities everywhere. If you see that these outcomes are socially produced, then you understand that every person who dies as a result was effectively murdered. Once you accept the possibility of attaining a humanist alternative, you have to be a terrible hypocrite, coward or cynic to live passively with the contrast beteween what is and what could be."
Check out Singer's stuff on absolute poverty.
However, I don't think you *have* to be a terrible hypocrite, coward, or cynic to live passively etc. etc....*most* of us live that way. Maybe that means that most of use are one of the three, but I think there are more subtle discriminations to be had.
Not of course, for the sake of *justifying* the passivity. But if one is to *combat* it, either in oneself or in others, it helps to better understand it.
Heh, unlike Bij's disinterested comment, I'll take the self-interested route and mention that Monkeyfist's Chomsky Archive loads up a nice Chomsky quote, randomly, everytime you access the front page. (Not that I'm too much a Chomsky pimp, I'm just taking my revenge on Dru for pointing to GWU's scummy prez memo w/out giving me credit for showing it to him. :> )
K.
A few people asked me if I had any pics of my new house, so I snapped a few. (images link to bigger versions).
Our pristine kitchen, from whence many a tasty meal hath come. Usually, this place has some tunes playing and people cooking good food.
Our back porch. Jesse, one of my roommates, is tending a fruitful little garden in buckets and large pots. Tis' the source of many fresh tomatoes, green peppers, and jalapenos. In the background, one can see our fabulous view of the Trans-Canda highway, which, surprisingly enough, isn't very noisy inside the house.
The plant-filled living room. If you look closely, you can see the giant slug I made (out of plaster, burlap, and chicken wire) when I was taking 2nd year sculpture. The implements of music are signs that I live with a band.
Just in case anyone was wondering, yes, we are still doing evil things in Iraq.
Somehow I've been missing KillYourTV.com all this time. Great site, with lots of good links on the sidebar.
I've been spending a lot of time working on the Argosy site (comments/crit welcome), and getting things ready for a year of publication.
The most recent issue of Shift Magazine features a 5000 word article called why technology is failing us [and how we can fix it], by Chris Turner. The following is my response to the article, in which I rant about environmental reform, oil companies, and hip technology magazines. I'm posting it here for feedback (and quite possibly, amusement) before I send it to the folks at Shift.
Good stuff, Dru.
Your are not the only one.
using and, within Mertz.
using and, within Mertz.
XBox", The can is.
Seattle Indymedia has some fairly extensive documentation of what happened at the reclaim the streets (which I mentioned a few days ago), including photos.
"Clashes", indeed.
Looks like some of the violent protesters in Genoa were actually Carabinieri.
SLAPP stands for "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation". It's too bad cops don't handcuff and pepperspray corporate lawyers when they jaywalk.. or worse. (Not that I think cops should beat people at all. If they're going to, though, the punishment should fit the crime, and profiting from others' suffering and silencing dissent is a lot worse than Jaywalking while Anarchist or Driving while Black.)
Re Argosy editorial - it's commendable to develop a sense of responsibility for what you receive, even while receiving it. Even more importantly, passing on the benefits of your priviledge extends it beyond your own exclusive use, supporting the sense of true human community. The other end of this responsibility is to oneself - which hill do you want to die on? Choose well! ( I think you have ... my point is that maybe letters to the Glib and Mail is not your venue anyway, as an extension of your example).