Saturday, May 26, 2001 :::
 
In response to Kevin's post below - Cody's webpage says this:

CAROL POLSGROVE examines DIVIDED MINDS: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement. This is a remarkable new look at the story of the civil right movement in America, of the ways in which various fears permitted orchestration in the public discourse on the great moral challenge of racial equality. Polsgrove's independent political vision illuminates the failures of the fifties and what that means today. In a fiery postscript she asks, How well do intellectuals face up to the challenges of their own time - to continuing racism; environmental destruction; economic inequities; political repression; and violent conflicts around the globe. Drawing on primary documents and personal interviews, Polsgrove, a historian of American culture who teaches at Indiana University, draws a portrait of a generation of intellectuals who responded to the civil right movement with peculiar ambivalence, "silence, censorship and self censorship, waffling, and cowardice," while writers who would have spoken more forcefully were held in check.

Anyway, ah yes, Journalism for Social Change, where I first encountered the brilliant and loveable Mr. Seal, as well as ideas that were anathema to the rest of the j-school. Imagine, it took til the end of my jr year to find a class in that building that I actually enjoyed and gained something useful from. When Holly was asking for funding to continue the course the next year, Kevin and I immediately sent letters of support to the committee (from Berkeley and D.C., respectively), but to no avail. Apparently they don't want students learning about advocacy journalism (as opposed to the current journalism, which advocates for corporations and is financially dependent on them). It might upset the status quo! Better to teach kids advertising theory and "balanced" writing (i.e., make the issue binary, unquestioningly use an equal number of quotes from both sides, no matter how ignorant or outright false they may be).

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 10:30 AM

 
WOW. Wow on that O'Neill interview.

For Bay Area cats -- Laura and I met in a journalism class. The one truly great class that the conservative, third-rate Indiana J-school offered: Journalism for Social Change. Of course, the course is no longer a part of the curriculum.

Anyhow, the two teachers were Holly Stocking and Carol Polsgrove, and they became the only two professors from that school with whom Alura and I keep in contact. (And, egads, both of them would hack that sentence to shreds.)

Carol Polsgrove just published a book titled Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement, and she's reading at Cody's in Berkeley on Tuesday, June 19th at 7:30pm.

::: posted by kevin seal at 4:05 AM

Friday, May 25, 2001 :::
 
Paul O'Neill is our treasury secretary (better: THEIR treasury secretary. Allow me to list some of his c.v.: Chairman & CEO of Alcoa Corp. since 1987, Budget Examiner in the Nixon and Ford Administrations, sits on the corporate boards of the Rand Corp., American Enterprise Institute, and Lucent Technologies; also, he is our fellow IU alum.) In a recent interview/opinion piece published by the Financial Times (and picked up by no one but Brian Lehrer - NYC NPR talk show host) he suggested: abolishing all taxes on corporations, abolishing social security, and abolishing all capital gains taxes.

So, is this the full extent of the previously unarticulated Bush agenda?

::: posted by the boot at 8:32 AM

Thursday, May 24, 2001 :::
 
Col. K shows scheduled?
Yes.

Here in the Bay Area?
No.

Welcome back, Jen and Trish! See you in July.

::: posted by kevin seal at 5:13 PM

 
Awwww, sniffle..."No friends till June." What am I, chopped liver? :)

Let's get together sometime soon, (as soon as I get over jet lag). I definitely need some fun to help me cope with the piles of work that are greeting me on my return to the states. Any Col. K shows scheduled?

::: posted by Jen Silver at 5:10 PM

 
After wondering why Trish wasn't answering her work e-mail or phone, despite supposedly returning from Europe on Tues, I called her at home and she regaled me with stories of beautiful Italy and being blitzed for days in Amsterdam. But guess what? While she was there, she got an e-mail that her company had folded. So she's unemployed for the first time ever. I'm blogging this because I doubt she'll be online before leaving for Indy tomorrow morning for 1.5 wks. Then she's immediately going to Portland when she gets back. Hell, between her being gone, Zarbet going to Italy, and Slippery Seal going on tour for a month, I'm gonna have no friends around in June. *sob* But, in July elissarita is visiting (little does she know we're going to kidnap her and steal her return ticket) and Butch will be wasting university money here for many weeks! Yay!

In other good news, my brother arrived today. He's currently napping at a friend's house in Berkeley, he'll be splitting time between us for a few days. Maybe I'll get to play tourist for a bit.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 4:25 PM

 
Alura didn't find this as funny as I did, but maybe you will: Journey Tribute. WWJD = What Would Journey Do?

::: posted by kevin seal at 12:42 PM

 
Here they are: the words of the man himself. Just read this - we gotta send this guy a card.

::: posted by the boot at 10:17 AM

 

But whatever the logistics of a transfer of power, the outcome would provide Democrats with a formal platform to advance their agenda — from a patients' bill of rights to an increased minimum wage to campaign-finance reform — and the opportunity to delay or kill virtually every piece of legislation sought by President Bush.

Don't know about you, but despite the tax plan being passed yesterday, I'm giddier and more hopeful than I was last week. Am I being naive? I have SO much respect for this mystery man from Vermont; brave act. I want to polish his shoes and wax his car.

::: posted by the boot at 10:08 AM

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 :::
 
1. No, it was more asking what the restrictions on the funds were, you absurd little thing. But if you're still concerned, you can lend her yours, or at least a verisimilitude.

2. I don't think my mother misses the winters in Buffalo either.

3. No. :p (Eliza: "You are being a bit negative.")

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 4:32 PM

 
Q: Does Trish have a penis? (see Tuesday, 5:23 pm)

Q: Does the fact that Buffalo fostered Ani DiFranco and Vincent Gallo lift that particular rust-belt city above the status of "festering, frost-bitten hellhole"? (I'm paraphrasing my mother, who grew up in Buffalo.)

Q: When I want to avoid answering a question, can I resort to Eliza's stock response? (Which is: "Does that question interest you?")

::: posted by kevin seal at 4:12 PM

 
sic transit gloria mundi Indeed. Is it just me, or is the Shutdown Phenomenon not limited only to websites lately? I can't get too many people to respond to emails or phonecalls these days. Seems there's something in the air and in our water that's made us all take a smoke break from our wired lives for a little while.

Anyway, it's a great day outside.


::: posted by N T at 3:21 PM

 
Wow, the ICQ logs from f*cked company eFront.com make for interesting reading! Nasty.

And yes, Laura, I would speculate that bopping someone in the nads is pretty universally aggressive for anyone of our species! Hell, that goes beyond cultural/species boundaries to the point that I bet it works for most mammals! tee hee

::: posted by Zarbet Rabbit at 1:48 PM

 
Need a new friend ? Or a new toy? Or maybe just a new snack?

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 11:38 AM

 
The problem with Santa Fe is that it's too expensive. Same with Maui. The problem with being a full time not(yet)-commercially-successful artist is that so many of the best places to live are pricey. However, the rainy side of the big island of Hawaii is supposed to be relatively cheap.

I also hear that certain rust belt cities have unusually large underground art scenes. A bargain, if you can take the winters.

::: posted by Mark Gabel at 9:09 AM

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 :::
 
Reading the appalling stuff on paying poor women to pick a penis, any penis, and marry it for some measly bucks. I'm broke, can I marry Trish? Sergio, can we take the money and move to Europe?

Anyway, my alarms went off as soon as I saw the name Wade Horn in that article as a possible presidential appointee. He's head of the National Fatherhood Initiative, i.e. a father's rightist -- men who are hysterical about feminists and the bitches who had the nerve to divorce their sorry asses. Really it's about not paying child support and getting revenge on the woman, in my opinion. Fathers who love and want to stay involved with their kids probably don't need a right-wing organization to help them do it.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 5:23 PM

 
Yeah, remember when all those Hollywood stars said they'd take off if Bush was elected? They're all still here, last I heard. Alec Baldwin even went back on his statements and is now claiming he loves this country and gets all *snif*choked up when he hears the national anthem.

Anyway, how about an artists' commune in Santa Fe? Will and I went there in high school on an art field trip. Very pretty, if somewhat touristy.

Speaking of artists, I feel compelled to mention that my grandpa's cousin Elmer Taflinger, who died when I was little, was a (somewhat-known around Indy) crazy artist. He wrote an enormous autobiography, never published and currently sitting in some archive (as well as in my grandparents' basement), titled "Revolting Hoosier." I really shall have to appropriate that phrase sometime for one of my creative pursuits.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 3:35 PM

 
Europe with Charlie Sheen and Robert Altman? Perhaps Australia with Nicole Kidman. I still lean toward Canada with Naomi Klein, but it sounds like the Great White North might be a bit chilly for some of our sun-addicted companions.

Much as I have a love-hate relationship with Entertainment Weekly, they do occasionally make good Web recommendations: I submit, as an example, Jesus Christ Superstore.

::: posted by kevin seal at 3:30 PM

 
Yet another reason I don't like the Bush Administration, this story in the Boston Globe, suggests that the goverment will pay for the poor to marry and have children. (Not that it's that much different from current Welfare pay scale problems, but I digress). Is anyone else planning on moving to Europe with Charlie Sheen?

::: posted by Rogue Designer at 3:15 PM

 
Mark Gabel's recommendation: Slapping the Shit out of George W. Bush

::: posted by kevin seal at 2:04 PM

 
Was sitting on the bus this morning and an Asian father and daughter (around 5, I think) sat near me. The girl was seriously pouting that she couldn't sit in the front of the bus, and he was explaining that the front seats were for "old people, like grandpa" and she kept whining and finally smacked him on the hand. He started chastising her (in Chinese, I think) and her whine continued, in Chinese! Same vocal tones, same universal whine, just in another language. That's always fascinated me, how whining always sounds the same in non-English-speaking kids. I wonder how that evolved linguistically...I mean, is it really effective? Screaming babies get the attention they need, but whining toddlers just get adults irritated, right? In a related note, I've read that the "nyeah-nyeah nyeah-nyeah boo-boo" tone progression is global among kids. My dad noticed in Bolivia that the young boys found great glee in kicking each other in the nards, like American boys. I like knowing what connects us all. ;)

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 10:10 AM

Monday, May 21, 2001 :::
 
So I bought 2 pairs of rave-type pants yesterday, and had on the basic khaki acceptable-at-work pair today. A coworker looks at the ankles, which have an adjustable elastic cord that can pull them in, and informs me that they're the leading cause of death on escalators.

HUH?

She says the elastic loops get caught in escalators. She read it in Reader's Digest.

I'm sorry, but how many people die on escalators each year? I can see why elastic ankle cords would be the leading cause of, say, torn pants on escalators, but death?

Anyway, my sweeties, our creative commune must be somewhere warrrrrrrm. At least for half the year. Can I ask for that much? I of course would prefer to get the hell out of the U.S., somewhere centrally located and somewhat urban (we gotta have shit to do and places to make money) so we can zip around the EU on weekends. "Spend those Eurodollars / all the way from Washington to Tokyo..."

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 10:13 PM

 
So are we all talking about moving somewhere and starting a creative commune? That's what I'm hearing.

McGrew and Kimo are pushing hard for Maui, but hell if I can afford it. I've been suggesting Scandinavia for quite a while -- Stockholm, maybe -- but they don't accept many immigrants, and seasonal-affective types would be screwed.

My suggestion is Toronto. Canada has great health insurance and generous public funding for artists. Toronto is not a smoke-filled and over-run with homeless people as Vancouver, and it's the city that brought us Kids in the Hall, SCTV, Shift magazine, the Maya animation software, Naomi Klein, and Joni Mitchell.

I interviewed some folks from Montreal today, and they were cool, but I still prefer Toronto, I think. Anybody with me?

::: posted by kevin seal at 5:37 PM

Sunday, May 20, 2001 :::
 
OK, chocolissa, more self-promotion...Lee-Ann (with bat) e-mailed me today and said that she was doing research for a paper and this link came up first on google.

Sly, I'm loving that kaycee crap. Gak, as if anyone wouldn't be suspicious based on that sappy-ass writing. You're right, the fact that people got all weepy about it was bizarre, an example of netheads' emotional disconnect with real life and real people and experiences. It's really hard for me to believe in general that one could work up a serious level of feeling for someone one has never met, never seen their body language, heard their voice, smelled their scent, experienced on a real level -- the felt-energy and chemistry that goes on in personal interaction. Net interaction may amuse and interest you intellectually, but there's a million other VITAL things that can't be conveyed that way, things necessary to make your body/mind respond with true emotion. (I'm saying this about people one hasn't met...e-mails can certainly make me physically gush with warmth or make me see red, but that's only because I know the person already and have a pre-existing level of emotion associated with them). Anyway, just my opinion.

Been thinking a lot lately about creativity and intelligence and community. Was reading Anais Nin and Valerie Solanas last week and was surprised at the confluence of a few ideas, that people are happiest when creating, either individually or together, and that the best kind of community of people is made up of exactly that, because that's what leads to deep friendship, emotionally/mentally satisfying interactions and creation with like-minded others. Still fantasizing about a European commune with my friends. iMac laptop/Airport-enabled, everyone coming and going with exciting things to do and share.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 4:16 PM

 
New web trifle at podgehodge.com: 9 Selections. It's an exhibit of 8 pieces of paper and 1 piece of aluminum from my voluminous file folders and collected correspondence. I decided not to optimize the hell out of the scans, so they clock in between 30 and 130 k - be forwarned. I included the original note that I quoted here a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

::: posted by the boot at 2:44 PM

 
Okay, here's the tearful admission! And, another . So crazy these people. I think I need to run, not walk, away from the web forever. People are just insane, that's the only thing I think I can bank on. No matter what, no matter when. People are nutty. If you're like, this is stupid. Remember this hoax went on for 2 YEARS! And all these people are freaking out about how they were manipulated. It's a real web-gem.

::: posted by sly squiggle at 12:57 PM

 
Alright, I'm completely hooked. This Kaycee person, who had a weblog detailing her leukemia for two years, who I had never heard of until three days ago was an elaborate hoax. The discussion on Metafilter is totally fascinating. It's emotions, anger, distrust, fraud and lies all rolled into the insanity of the Internet. As an up and coming journo, I find this completely compelling and totally sick. Like a car crash.

::: posted by sly squiggle at 12:29 PM

 
Hey, j-school boys (2.5 of you, right?) - someone on metafilter calls Poison Kitchen a "Fucked Company-style site for journalists."

I just made a new blog for the Col.K boys so they can have a tour diary. Yes, Mark, ye who hates this blogger-generated template, I made it conform to my design! (to match the rest of the Col.K site that I did but which is still in hiding) Pain in the arse, it was. You'll see everything very soon, and be able to unleash totally new criticism then. :p

Finally got around to watching Charlie's Angels tonight. It was so cute! Perfect for my brain-dead state. (as for what I did today, Mr. Squiggle, I did video and graphic stuff for and with the Col.K boys for far too many hours. Hence why it was nice to have an evening alone on the couch. They got some cute costumes, though, to match their identities. Here's a toss-off surveillance shot that's not gonna be used for anything.) Sleepytime now.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 1:40 AM