notes from my readings

“Discussion of terrorism is full of moral outrage and fear because it is cloaked in secrecy and attacks either ordinary citizens or political leaders.  Yet it is hard to see what is more outrageous or frightening about a bomb placed under a car or in a bus, than a missile that comes out of the sky.  War is hell when it strikes, regardless of how it strikes.”

                                                            --The Penguin Atlas of War and Peace Dan Smith

This is why I do not understand the dividing of who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter, democracy-bringer, etc.

this is the new frontier

When I was living in Iowa I had to video a speech rudy giuliani gave. I was just doing some editing with the clip and recent events caused me to find particular importance to his ideas on health care. I guess he is often asked to recommend hospitals to individuals going through prostate cancer, which he survived.  He talked about no one ever calling him up for references to Cuban hospitals or English hospitals- or any country with a nationalized health care system.  People always want American ones. He thinks therefore a privately owned system is better, disregarding the fact that Cuba does have the best health care system of the developing world.  The reason that they are not as good as the United States is not because the system in nationalized but because they must make due under the strain of our sanctions against them.  one of the guys I was working with in Iowa is in Cuba right now doing a project on the health care system. I look forward to his findings.

crash

i have great timing for physical destruction. i was born right after the 87 collapse. i went into the hospital in 89 for treatments while san francisco burned (i was living near LA). and i bash my head and break my neck the day the stock market bottoms out. i miss all the great news because every time im in the hospital.

hear the rush of the mighty engine hear the lonesome hobos call

I was watching "Catching Out," a film about travelers who train hop around the country. It reminded me of a girl I ran into once who had survived two years crisscrossing the U.S. by freights. She stopped when she wanted to and would connect in various cities with other freegans. She talked a lot about the stricter laws about hopping, as was mentioned in the film. Quite a fascinating character.

edu

There needs to be a wide re-education of the population against their (our) long lasting ideas and ignorant abusive beliefs. Liberation in education.

do away with everything that enslaves you

There needs to be more of an emphasis on the destruction of the backings of capitalism. If capitalism is destroyed there exists still the structure to reconstruct an abusive system. This includes what you  believe.

education should be about learning HOW to learn not what to learn.

crass said it right

Most true statement yet:

"Yes that’s right, punk is dead, it’s just another cheap product for
the consumer’s head. Bubblegum rock on plastic transistors,
schoolboy sedition backed by big time promoters. CBS promote
the Clash, but it ain’t for revolution, it’s just for cash. Punk
became a fashion just like hippy used to be and it ain’t got a
thing to do with you or me."

Individualgroupism

In life we are taught not to be individuals, we are taught to adjust our selves to the group. We are told to be and to act as individuals but the officials suppress our individualism.  Why does society say we are all individuals?  We are all individual-groupies. 

1% Free

I am not a fan of hippies or of the hippy culture. However, there was a group I admire that formed out of the 1960s hippy counter-culture.  Personally, I would believe them to be early punks, but that does not matter. They called themselves Diggers after the English group which I wrote about in the below post.

The re-formed group expanded the ideology of not owning land and encouraged the communities to live as socially conscience and uncapitalisticly as possible.

For a long time I have admired one of the San Francisco group's founders, Emmett Grogan. He opposed the sell-out culture that became of the alternative movement. The way to truly live what you believe is to act the way you believe even when there are not critics or is not a crowd.

The Diggers performed street theatre of plays written by the community, often about relevant social and political issues. They created free stores where people could bring items they did not need so those who did could take them.  One of the most successful contributions to the Bay Area was distributing free food in Golden Gate Park.

Obviously there are issues that arise from creating a new and not totally separate society. The group to payed to rent the Free Store building and the free food usually was made by volunteers but the ingredients bought. I have many conflicting views on the benefit of living within a system you despise. Not everyone should agree to live the same way, so smaller communities of people that follow similar ideologies should live separately and connect to other societies for things they lack. I am ignoring individuals who are too selfish or ignorant to explore who they are (whether or not they actually live it)

And now you have the power of the land in your hand

The Diggers formed in the late 1600's in the aftermath of the English Civil War and in reatcion to the suffering of the working class. Their underlying belief was that no person should participate in the slavery of property ownership. Each Digger community was formed without a hierarchy or systems of class.

A prominent Digger, Gerard Winstanley, wrote the pamphlet "The Law of Freedom in a Platform. " (The pamphlet can be read here: http://www.bilderberg.org/land/lawofree.htm) The writing was directed to Oliver Cromwell -the General of the Commonwealth's Army. Winstanley called for "the free possession of the land and liberties be put into the hands of the oppressed commoners of England."

Rather easily Cromwell destroyed the Diggers. Though, temporarally there was a surviving branch called the Levellers but my interest in them is not great, yet.

labels

How can one call themselves one belief system? I agree with points of many philosophies and ideas, but to put myself in one category is not particularly favorable.  There is however, one label that I am comfortable placing on myself and that is Freegan. That is not all I am though. If I were asked "Are you a Anarchist?" I would not respond "no, I am indeed a Freegan." Far too many such ideas overlap.  

Alliberi allotjament per a totes les persones

*Read the post below before this one*

Park Güell's origins represents all that squatting opposes. It was created the early 1900s as a place wealthy Catalans could escape to.  A place they could forget the poverty and pollution of the city- where the impoverished and overworked proletariat lived.  How could (can) one justify buying fresh air for private use?

The Park is now public and is often frequented by squatters. 

The photo above I took during an art show in which some of the squatting community took part in.   

101 Walterton Road

Much of my day was spent in the darkroom sniffing chemicals and developing photos I should have printed months ago.

I am fully aware that wet photography is vanishing and that the future is all digital. Until I am unable to find or pay for supplies, the spare moments of my life will be spent alone in the dark.

The negatives I worked with were mainly ones I took in Barcelona. Looking at the images is such a thrill because this is the first time I have seen them since I framed each in my lens.  

The photo above is of a well known squatting community in Barcelona. Squat and Resist. This is where most of my NYC squatting friends have stayed at some time.  The location of this squat is ideal. It is located right on El Carmel hill which is also the home of Park Güell. 

This will have to be continued in a new post because I seem to only be able to post one photo at a time.

polly want a cracker?

I was having an argument with my friend earlier today about the idea of owning pets. Ideologically I do not condone such actions of ownership, however I happen to own one of the most horrific animals to captivate. By horrific I mean on my part to claim it as my possession. Charlie is a yellow parakeet and I have had her/he/it for about four years.  My friend has two dogs that he takes running everyday, that is more justifiable than having an animal whose existence revolves around flight-something we unfortunately cannot do together. To make up for that, Charlie takes frequent flights around my apartment. Though not nearly as freeing and right as if the bird were in its natural habitat, I cannot just dump it down in Australia and expect survival.  I can however refrain from obtaining any other animals. 

I suppose this is another of my half thought out philosophies that should stay in my head because I cannot live them out.

A disclaimer: I am not a crazy animal rights activist, I do not agree with organizations that think animals are equal or better than humans (nor am I saying that humans are better than animals), and there are always times to amend ones beliefs. Especially when the writer has no idea what she believes. 

A murderer would never parade his crime in front of an open window.

Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window” would have been more dramatic if he had made it in black and white.  Black and white films tend to be more suspenseful and mysterious, and they heighten abnormality because of the use of shadows and value.  When watching a black and white film, the audience pays more attention to the symbolism of light and dark, which is a key element in mystery and suspense. As I read the short story by Woolrich, I imagined the main character, Hal Jeffries, as a man shrouded in the darkness of his apartment, because the story takes place mostly at night, with the lights off so that Jeffries can see the man in the opposite window.  Another part I thought would have benefited from being shot in black and white is what Jeffries sees in the opposite window, in the home of Lars Thorwald, the murderer.  In Woolrich’s story, Jeffries watches Thorwald pace back and forth in front of his window, which I pictured to be more dramatic than Hitchcock made it.  I would have shot the scene in the darkness with only Thorwald’s shadow visible as he walks past the window.  That conveys to the viewer, as darkness traditionally does, that he is evil or is doing something wrong. I would have never shown his full face in the film; he would always be partly in the shadows, as though he had something to hide.           

Hitchcock, however, chose to use color. In a film, color can be a distraction, as it makes the audience feel safe and comfortable because it is normal and familiar.  In “Rear Window” color can take away from the evil of Thorwald because of the lack of drastic contrast in color that black and white give.  Perhaps, though, Hitchcock chose to film in color because he had added a romantic subplot with Lisa.  Color is an effective way in which to convey romance.  One of the most memorable scenes in the film is that of Lisa’s face as she leans to kiss Jeffries.  Her face fills the camera lens, representing what Jeffries sees, and the vibrant colors of her full lips, covered in red lipstick and her vivid blue eyes are beautiful -- yet distracting from the danger and evil of the main plot.

R.I.P.

I was reading Thomas Peacock and Marlene Wisuri’s Ojibwe; Waasa Inaabidaa, and began to think about the contrasts of our two cultures. 

I found it interesting especially, the contrast of our respect for the dead and the Ojibwe’s.  In our society, the only time that we really respect dead is at their funeral when they are buried, then we forget them.

We have dug up so many slave and Indian burial grounds to make way for supermarkets, parking lots and office buildings.  We would even dig up our own parents’ grave to make way for “progress.”  This is not how the Ojibwe teach their children to treat the area in which their dead lie: “They need to know their roles in protecting the area from any future development and of their responsibility to work to have the area forever set aside as a place to honor the Lake Superior Ojibwe,” (Peacock and Wisuri p. 41).

I like the awareness and respect that is carried from generation to generation in the Ojibwe culture for the people that have passed away.  There is a great effort to remember them.

past effects

Art often subconsciously reveals pain and misery suffered by an artist in their early life that the artist has tried to repress and hide from their thoughts.   No matter how hard we attempt to stifle and ignore the disturbing experiences of our past, psychologist Sigmund Freud argues they are continually altering our behavior.

The surreal piece “The Garden of Earthy Delights” by Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch, reveals his fear of the wide spread earthly devastation and the end of the world.  This fear was fueled by the discernment that every one, even the Pope, is a sinner; there is no escape from the final judgment. The overbearingness of religion in the lives of individuals and the corruption of the Church are also influence in this painting.

cashmere or kashmir

I was reading some BBC news about the situation in Kashmir and decided that I significantly lack knowledge of that region. So I've been reading up on the history.

After India received independence form Britain in 1947, the ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, had to decide whether to join with Pakistan or India.  He could not decide and wanted to be sovereign.  He signed an agreement with Pakistan, but not India, that services between countries like trade and travel would not be stopped.  Tribesmen from Northwest Pakistan started attacking and raiding people in Kashmir.  In October of 1947 they invaded again and Maharaja Hari Singh called for help from India.  India said that it would be safer if Kashmir were to temporarily become part of India.  Pakistan was obviously angry and claimed that Maharaja Hari Singh was not in charge of Kashmir anymore because he had fled the country.

            This decision to accede to India sparked the following decades of violence.  There has also been a growing movement in Kashmir, since 1989, against Indian rule.  There is fear around the world that the fight over Kashmir could spark a nuclear war, as both Pakistan and India claim to have nuclear weapons.  

jus ad bellum

The idea of a "just" war can only be acknowledged as truth or possibility by one who has not suffered the horror or known the indiscriminate nature of war. Though it has been.

I also do not mean this to suggest that I condemn all forms of war. But I would never consider them "just." 

There needs to be some balance

The modernization theory is also known as the development theory.  The theory is the idea that the more developed and modern a country becomes, the more possibilities for progress there can be.  A problem arises in that “developing” the people, for example in Latin America, often causes the abandonment of their traditions, culture, and customs. 

don't deconstruct

            I was reading some art history book I found in the library about the Marxist analysis of art and became rather carried away. Here it goes:

Karl Marx wanted equality between the ruling and working class.  He argued that this would come about through communism when the proletariat realized that they controlled production and turned against the owners of the funds for production.  The Marxist approach to critiquing art is inspired by his economic philosophies; looking at a piece of art in the context of who created it, who funded its creation and who profited from it. Not understanding the context during which an artwork was created leaves the viewer at a great disadvantage.  They see the piece only through aspects of color, composition, and their interpretation of the situation.

Gothic art was an art style originating in Western Europe that had to do mainly with churches and the religious world.  The construction of Gothic art structures is filled with class-based injustices, religion often playing a significant role in such repressions. Religion kept the peasants below the ruling class by twistedly claiming that service to the wealthy was their God-given duty, in return they were to be given protection.  It is basic knowledge that none of this is the truth, and that the serfs were treated abysmally.

Many of the church’s monks and Abbots were creators of the religious art.  Like French Abbot Suger, whose religious architectural advancements included pointed arches, high windows that light could emanate through, and stained glass panels.

What happened in the Middle Ages to the middle class was that in their attempt to free themselves from the landed nobility’s grip, they fell further into the control of the church.  They built their own communities and started to govern themselves, but continued to construct cathedrals commissioned by the hierarchy of the church.

Often the working class was hired to create and carve the door jam statues of cathedrals.  The west façade of the Chartres Cathedral is of four Hebrew scripture figures and though their bodies are stiff and stylized though their faces start to look more realistic and less like the religious art before that feared any similarities to humanity.

In their creations the carvers followed the dictates of the church leaders who requested the pieces.  There was however, introduction of some traits significant to the carvers’ economic status: materialism, humanism, and individualism.