I’ve been receiving calls and emails lately from friends who think I should get back to the US and participate in the Occupy movements. I am very excited about the Occupy movements, but I am not excited to participate. I’ve done some thinking about why, talked about these issues with those same friends, and recognize [...]
Jan 252012
Jan 062012
In early 2010 we’d been living in Argentina for a few months and I developed a cough. I wasn’t sick, I felt fine (anyway when you’re drinking that much yerba mate you don’t feel anything). But the cough was loud and deep and persistent. And our Argentine friends started suggesting, and then insisting, that I [...]
Already exhausted from along and awkward night, as my guests exclaimed about my fruit tart, I cast about for conversation. Turning to my friend’s Russian mail-order bride, an aspiring interior designer, I asked lamely “and how’s the fruit in Russia?” “Well when I was a child it was very good. We had to stand in [...]
Sep 142011
At the pretty University I sometimes walk through, I pass one of the campus’ three gyms, noticing its advertising for membership. I’ve heard students describing the membership system to friends. A “gold” membership gets you into all three gyms, while a “bronze” membership only gets you one of them… I suppose the students who don’t [...]
I grew up on the phone. My mom, a sole proprietor, expected me to help with whatever was on. The San Francisco phone book was nearly 10cm thick and I knew how to use it. “I need 8 dozen beeswax candles and the color has to match.” Yellow pages. Candles. Rotary dial. I called every [...]
I haven’t been on a university campus in a long time. But I just moved near one, and my daily rounds often take it across it. I have been noticing the faces of the students. I see two things. One a reminder of why I avoid these places. The other a reminder of something else. [...]
Jan 072011
As usual there was a righteous hubbub when the terms of service changed. And as usual both the analysts and those who routinely trivialized their concerns went right on using their accounts. In truth both believed that the expression of outrage was a mix of self-satisfied geek intellectualism and effective boundary patrol by “the user [...]
…The German government’s “official submission” to the Oscars… / “official story” of this period. On general principle, it’s probably not a good idea to go see movies generously funded by the state purporting to tell the history of anarchists. But it was a film festival… (A friend has pointed out that since the German film [...]
Jan 282009
I simply MUST tell you (as if anyone can tell anyone anything anyway) about a recent BREAKTHROUGH I have birthed in my work life – with help, as is usually required, but not always taken best advantage of… Long ago (like at least two years ago), the ever-vigilant B.D. and I, upon returning from our [...]
No one existed for them who could not be governed by their intentions, Patricia Wiliams, The Alchemy of Race & Rights M.I.T. has recently discovered third world poverty. A number of institutional projects have emerged which endeavor to put M.I.T.’s considerable resources to use in service of poverty alleviation and development. In 2007 and 2008 [...]
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