Reblogged from danharmon
The Art of Self-Proclaimed Solitude Takes a Break
Mishmash of other blogs, ideas, quotes, pictures, and anything that catches my general fancy...
Kids:
A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because…
If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? It’s the first thought that came to mind after consuming Ferlinghetti’s “The Poetic City that Was”. In this short (three page,) narrative, the writer uses an anecdote of a typical painter arriving to San Francisco in the nineteen-sixties as a metaphor to pose the question: are drastic changes in the economic composition of San Francisco affecting the historical temperament of the city’s genre and the artistically inclined citizenry? While this is a compelling subject matter; with the passive arguments peppered throughout this piece, it begs the question if anyone outside of the target audience would be given a chance to puzzle the parameters.
Knowing the history of Ferlinghetti’s contribution to the artistic community within San Francisco assists in understanding his credibility, and much of the information I can relate is readily available on Internet sites such as Wikipedia.com. Ferlinghetti has been fighting for social change within the San Francisco community since the sixties. He co-founded the popular Beat generation outlet, City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. He’s an author of works that have sold copies well into the millions. Unfortunately, for those unfamiliar with the author’s works, the source speaking on his credibility is that this narrative is found in a collective of poetry from a San Francisco poet laureate (which implies that the writer is familiar with San Francisco, and that he is a well-regarded writer for the encompassing community.) However, this does not speak to the extent of the writer’s inundation in this subject matter. This piece reads as a mildly informed anecdote, with a political undercurrent instead of an apt metaphor for the vast changes in a struggling community that once thrived and helped build the beauty and reputation of a great city.
The form of this piece aids in speaking to the discourse community it inhabits, the intended audience being voracious bohemians within the artistic community of San Francisco. However, it’s unlikely anyone with a dissenting opinion, or under-molded concept of the city’s state would stumble upon this piece which is well hidden in the third chapter of a book of the author’s poetry. The author conveys his message in the perfect language for his intended audience, using flowering metaphors, and a sweeping poetic sentiment set to entertain. He describes the scene in San Francisco’s North Beach in the sixties as “a whole new world of poets”, and “pioneering artists” that were “dancing on the edge of the world” in the “last frontier”(Ferlinghetti 26.) This same drawing element for Ferlinghetti fans may be the exact element that sinks the argument for outsiders, though. Poetry uses language that flows off the tongue, and tends to be heavy on description of imagery and metaphor. As an example, the painter in this anecdote “had no inclination to return to the heartless stone canyons of Manhattan”(Ferlinghetti 23,) he “stood on the deck (of a ferry to San Francisco) and saw a small shining white city” (Ferlinghetti 24,)but then “awoke one morning like Rip Van Winkle…(and) corporate monoculture had wiped out any unique sense of place, turning the ‘island city’ into an artistic theme-park, without artists” (Ferlinghetti 26.) The pathos speaks to the romantic, but does not readily provide the evidence for the purely rational reader. The descriptions can at times dance around the topic, and thus weaken the argumentative factor.
There is heavy reliance on assumptions with this piece. The overall concept of the writing is that artists should continue to thrive over the vastly approaching “corporate monoculture” (Ferlinghetti 26.) As a capitalist nation this does somewhat go against the credo and concept of how San Franciscans are evolving culturally. While this country started with a melting-pot of immigrants creating small businesses, the goal was always growth. The American dream implies that each citizen may have the ability to grow their business into what appears to be the corporate enemy of this piece of writing, or as Ferlinghetti would describe them, the “faceless investors with venture capitol” who were the “new owners of his old flat” (Ferlinghetti 26.) The only quoted outside source in this article was by Henry Miller (another writer within Ferlinghetti’s genre,) who says in TheAirConditionedNightmare, “Another breed of men has taken over,” this is used by Ferlinghetti to imply that the “inner self” was under attack by a “ravenous consumer society(,)” resulting in “poets and artists in America (who) saw themselves as expatriates in their own country” (Ferlinghetti 24.) These are assumed conditions, and while it helps to have this stated to better understand the viewpoint behind the argument, these assumptions once again may not be the reality to some poets, artists, or even readers. Another assumption is a comparison between the price of living 50 years ago ($65.00 a month for the rented flat, and $29.00 a month for a painting studio,) versus today (today being when this piece was written which was nearly twelve years ago.) Though after some basic research, the prices Ferlinghetti quotes for the modern rental amounts are similar to today’s market pricing for a rented North Beach flat ($2500) and art studio ($3000.) (According to Craigslist.org, and apartments.com, listing prices vary between about $1500-6500 depending on the size of the flat.) The inflated worth of the U.S. dollar is never mentioned in this argument, despite that it would lend more credibility to the piece. The specific dollar amounts do however help to add an analytical element to the piece that would be lacking otherwise.
The optimal question here is, if a writer poses an argument to an audience of devoted followers, does the argument carry any weight? It is challenging to assume Ferlinghetti achieves his goal in convincing the reader that the changes faced by San Francisco artists are dramatically affecting a culture. What assists Ferlinghetti is that this article was most likely well-received by the targeted audience. Thus, the argument does achieve the goal of entertaining his defined audience. The argument does not achieve of the goal of changing new minds based on specified facts. So, it depends on the reader’s definition of an argumentative piece, and the collective purpose. The argument may carry extreme weight for those immersed in the artistic scene, while it may be a passing trifle to someone who will logically dissect the work on its own merit. Poets are set to evoke and entertain in different ways than essayists, and thus, the optimal question can only be answered by the perception of the reader.
Works Cited.
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. San Francisco Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Foundation, 2001.
The Best Four Years of Your Life
My first math test this semester woke me up to a new conceptual contract between college professors, and college students. The teacher returned our tests with an answer key so that we could compare our responses against the correct ones, and then gave us a disclaimer. He told us that if we were to question his method of grading that when he determined our final grades for the course, we would not be able to benefit as a borderline case (a student within 2% of the next higher grade, who receives the higher grade as incentive for leaving the teacher alone.) This concept evoked absolute distaste, mistrust, and frustration for me. I have always struggled in math, and often needed further explanation to help me understand the standards a teacher might use for grading. Apparently, however, this is becoming a normative circumstance for young people today facing grading scales in the collegiate realm. The film “Declining by Degrees” does an excellent job of explaining the phenomena I experienced: “There is an unspoken social contract… ‘You don’t bother me, I won’t bother you. I won’t ask much of you, you don’t ask much of me.’ And that’s exactly what happens.” (Richard Hersh.) This example is one piece of a progressively cascading climate for educators and students alike who are facing new challenges in a society with rapidly changing morals, and concepts of accountability. A contemporary education now transforms a student into an excellent lemming, but this neither serves the collegiate goals of the institution or the individual. The most alarming prospect of this new social contract is that without understanding the ramifications, students are cheating themselves out of an education they have paid for, and disenchanted educators are letting them.
“Declining by Degrees” has numerous goals as an academic documentary. The primary goal of the film is to allude to the declining worth of the American college degree in the face of a consumer-driven system of values. The film succeeded in utilizing primary sources to illustrate an environment of lackluster teaching practices, under-developed student habits, and school leadership whom are struggling with balancing evaporating finances. The message is an apt lesson on the destruction of worth whilst trying to form education into a marketable product driven by reputation. Richard Hersh even mentions that you can not measure efficiencies of a college like you do with a product. With the loss of major funding, colleges are no longer able to afford to educate, and must recruit, or seek corporate sponsorship through non-academic sources (such as sports,) to “raise the cool-factor” and bring in new enrollment. Despite the lengthy interviews with subjects of the film, a more truncated version may not have been able to reach the goal of eliciting an emotional response from the intended audience, because the film is heavily reliant on an ethos-based peek into the contemporary realities students, teachers and administrators are facing. Overall, “Declining By Degrees” was well-crafted in that the argument is clear that there is an environment of change in this country when it comes to the collegiate domain, and students and educators alike will need to work to improve this declining atmosphere.
The film discussed students who were not engaged in classes. Students are cheating themselves out of an education because the long-standing marketable product of college value would dictate that these are the best years of their lives. There are a host of comedic college movies that have changed the landscape of student expectations. One example is the tag line to a popular film that made its debut in 2002, Van Wilder: “If you’re going for an advanced degree in partying…Why graduate?” It seems that many college entrants are entering school not for the learning atmosphere, or the prospect of bettering their lives, but for what is promised to be the best four years of their lives. For instance, Robin Bhalla, a student attending the University of Arizona indicates: “I’m 22, I’m in college… I don’t want to be 40, 50, looking back, you know, I wish I’d… partied then, because I can’t do it now..” It’s almost as if young people now believe the Hollywood myth that when you age, your life becomes routine. What they don’t realize is that education is the key to avoiding a life of malaise and exhaustion. It gives people the tools to finance great excursions, to work in a job that is sustainable, and possibly enjoyable, as well. Bhalla also indicates that the lack of role-taking by college professors, and the proximity of parental guidance is too far away to keep the modern college student in check. This is a student who openly expresses that he does not study often, he parties “four nights a week,” and he cheats off of other students quizzes in order to pass. The film goes on to reveal that this young man was able to graduate, and find a job despite having no accountability for his education. Bhalla felt that he was “manipulating the system,” but was sadly deluded into believing his goals were attained. He basically paid for an education that he didn’t receive. If I dined at an establishment, and they forgot the bulk of my meal, I would seek a refund. Unfortunately, since an education is not overtly measurable, it has become about the experience you take away, rather than the meat and potatoes: refinement of the mind.
The unwillingness of students to take accountability for their education has caused educators to loosen their expectations of what a student can now accomplish. George Kuh with the National Survey of Student Engagement posits that students choosing large universities sometimes will make that decision in order to remain anonymous, which allows them to “put forth relatively little effort in their studies (because)… they know how the system works.” Richard Hersh seems to agree with this concept indicating that it’s not a matter of sink or swim, but sink, swim or tread water. However, he furthers this by explaining that this behavior, when placed into the wide forum of a lecture class can give the “appearance of movement” despite those students remaining “functionally… in place.” But I would argue that this may not be altogether true, because it seems like educators are well-aware of, and sometimes enforce this behavior. Paulette Kurzer, a professor at University of Arizona has noticed these substandard conditions, but is unwilling to go the extra mile to shape students into better writers and thinkers based on her rate of pay, and her limited circle of influence. In response to John Merrow’s question “(i)f not you, then who?” Kurzer responds that it is not her “task in life to give (students) the skills…they should have been taught years ago…(because she is) a political scientist…not a writing composition expert.” The frustration of an inadequate system of preparation has caused this teacher to lower her standards. She sarcastically addresses the social contract as a “pact… an agreement. (They) don’t place demands on (her), and (she does not) place demands on (them.) And we have kind of a peace there.” The way this information is delivered by Kurzer however, belies her frustration with the ethics of a system she does not have the tools to correct, but is a victim to. Part of the problem is that students are coming in to college unprepared, they are not taught to hold themselves accountable, but to settle for a state of neutral repetition, wherein, knowledge is neither retained or utilized. John Merrow asks a University of Arizona student about their G.P.A. in one interview, and the student replies 2.98. Upon asking if this is acceptable, the student replies in the affirmative. This same student openly admits they are not prepared for the discussion class they are attending. George Kuh asks “if students get by… we’re back to this… faculty issue. Who’s holding this person accountable? What is the standard?” And these are great questions. But it is a question we should be asking on a broader scope. It is not the student’s job to know when they are failing themselves, and it is not the teacher’s job to teach what a student should already have learned, it is society’s job to work to find a balance between the two. Americans are no longer accountable for their actions, it is a constant blame-game. This film presents a push and pull between students and teachers, but nobody is willing to take accountability.
It’s difficult to determine whether the changing student climate is causing teachers to become more stringent with their curriculum, but it is clear that students are becoming less motivated by the goodness of their actions, and the historically valiant goal of working to gain an education. Christine Johnson indicates towards the end of the film that “America has always been about opportunity and promise, and hope. And that was the agreement between generations,” to which John Merrow asks “(a)re you saying we’re breaking it?” And Christine Johnson replies in the affirmative. This conversation is an apt metaphor for the entire education system. The agreement between generations regarding how an education will be applied is being destroyed by a blasé system of teachers who are exhausted with trying to meet unimportant deadlines, and a new generation of students who have been told by Rodney Dangerfield, Will Ferrell, and the slew of folks from the Animal House movies that college will be the best years of their lives. Unfortunately, the professors aren’t getting paid enough to snap those kids to the reality that there’s a whole world of employment that is getting more competitive every day, and as soon as the four years are up, that world comes on fast. This is a broken system. There are many changes that could improve this: better high school preparation, or even encouraging young students to be patient in their decision-making. The biggest affectation could be made on the forefront of the American people, though. Take accountability. If we stop making films about college partying, if we enforce education for learning’s sake, and everyday take responsibility for ourselves, this could vastly improve the decline of our educational system.
Works Cited
Declining By Degrees: Higher Education at Risk. Dir. N/A. Narr. John Merrow. PBS, 2005. Film.
“National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.” - Wikiquote. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/National_Lampoon’s_Van_Wilder>.
To maintain my figure, I eat only half portions of any food, always arranging it on my plate in the shape of a semicolon. For exercise, at least once a day I approach a total stranger and slap him. And late each afternoon I read a paragraph of any work of acclaimed American literary fiction, which makes me vomit.
As for family life, Americans are far too concerned with a child’s self-esteem and accomplishments. The French woman knows that to build a child’s inner strength it is best either to completely ignore the child or to belittle him. As I was giving birth to my daughter, I refused to put down my copy of French Vogue. When it was over, I turned to my husband and remarked, “I have just had an unusually large bowel movement that will never be as attractive as me.” During my son’s thirteenth-birthday party, I ordered him to remove all his clothing, and I told the assembled guests, “You see? That is why we raised him as a girl.” My wisdom can be traced to the influence of my own mother. When I was five years old, I asked her, “What is love?” She took my small, flowerlike face in her slender hands and replied, “What do I look like, Yoda?”
Although we French are renowned for our sophistication in matters of romance, French men have a reputation for being cads. Americans will point a finger at Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is indeed a portly, repugnant fellow and a man who has been accused of assaulting women. When asked about Strauss-Kahn’s participation in orgies, his lawyer stated that Strauss-Kahn may have been unaware that the women involved were prostitutes because they were naked. Yet Strauss-Kahn’s wife has stood by him, for a simple reason: because she has married a French man, at least she will never have to say, “My name is Mrs. Newt Gingrich.”
The French woman is known for being effortlessly chic. I have, in fact, offered tutorials on elegance to American women. I will hand an American an Hermès scarf and ask her to tie it somewhere on her body, anywhere but around her neck. A French woman might use the scarf to secure a ponytail, or she’ll knot it loosely around the strap of her Chanel handbag. Sadly, most of my American pupils either use the scarf as a makeshift sling or eat it. I have attempted to counsel many American women against overdressing. I told one woman, “I’m going to turn my back, and I want you to take off three things.” A moment later, when I faced her, the woman had removed her teeth, one of her eyes, and an Ace bandage.
French culture remains unmatched. Our films include rollicking farces, searing documentaries, and quietly explosive investigations of family life. In these films, to avoid vulgarity, nothing happens, and none of the actors’ faces ever move. French filmmaking has recently reached a peak with the almost entirely silent Oscar-winning movie “The Artist.” True cinéastes say that the ultimate French film will be a still photograph of a dead mime.
The French woman has given so much to the world. Marie Antoinette alone has inspired books, movies, operas, and the hair style and perspective of Donald Trump. Our current First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is not only a role model but an ex-model. But the most glorious and eternal symbol of French womanhood is, of course, Joan of Arc, because she was a cigarette. ♦
By Paul Rudnick
The New Yorker
A large group of friends and I traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for a weekend of drunken debauch and we were accosted by a bizarre happenstance. Children. Las Vegas, Nevada is crawling with children. Now, it’s never in my life crossed my mind that Vegas was a family-friendly place. The streets are littered with Disney characters for sure, but they are primarily drunk and wielding bottles of Vodka. The malls are filled with adult shops, there’s public drinking, and every few steps some short greasy fella is handing you a card with a naked woman on it.
This simply does not define family-friendly to me. While riding in a cab, we noticed Elmo holding a small child close to his crotch while the parents snapped pictures in bizarre glee. In a casino I saw a girl of about twelve jutting her hip out seductively at a greying man at a slot machine. And once while trying to catch the show at Treasure Island, I witnessed a women grab her stroller full of babies and maneuver it into oncoming traffic so that she could get around the crowd.
It really makes me question the state of the human race. It seems like at some point we should accept responsibility for our selfish ways and leave the kids with a babysitter, or simply take the kids to a child’s venue. When you make the choice to have children, it has to be borne out of an unselfish place. You have to be ready to take responsibility. That’s why I get so heated when I see these politicians making choices about contraception and abortion. The folks bringing their children to the Vegas strip have no skills to raise children. We need to allow women an out if their not ready for this responsibility, and it shouldn’t mean that they cannot have a sexual life.
The human race needs to learn about responsibility. It is something that has been lost in translation.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/rstj6/who_here_actually_support_rick_santorum_i_want_to/
Reddit breaks it down in regards to Santorum:
On birth control: “I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women. I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young. And I think we’ve seen very, very harmful longterm consequences to our society. Birth control to me enables that, and I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for our country.”
On CNN’s John King USA, 2/9/2012, regarding whether he supports women in combat: “I don’t - you know, look, I - I want to create every opportunity for women to be able to serve this country. And - and they do so in an amazing and wonderful way. And they’re a great addition to the - and have been for - for a long time - to the - to the armed services of our country. But I - I have - I do have concerns about women in front line combat. I think that could be a - a very compromising situation where - where people naturally, you know, may do things that may not be in the interests of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved.” (broken because it’s from a direct transcript, not cleaned up for pauses)
On his opposition to abortion even in cases of rape or incest: “And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.”
While framing his opposition to “radical feminism”: “Radical feminists have been making the pitch that justice demands that men and women be given an equal opportunity to make it to the top in the workplace.” (It Takes A Family)
On unmarried mothers: “The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong.” (It Takes A Family)
These are just the few big kickers that I recall being stated or quoted that jumped out to me and were still vivid enough for me to google for the original quotes. His misogyny in the name of Christianity and “traditional values” is glaringly obvious, and deleterious at best.
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None of those views are misogynistic, in that favoring traditional gender roles does not mean “hating” women. Issue by issue:
I do not see anything factually incorrect with that statement. You may disagree with what it is being used to argue, but I do not think all two-parent working households need both sources of income (even if most do), and I do think, by definition, that women working is subversive to traditional gender roles.
This is again a moral position. I do not approve of promiscuity, whether male or female. Birth control enables consequence-free promiscuity.
I do not agree with this.
I fail to see why rape justifies murder.
Haven’t they? What’s the issue here?
It is. Trade schools, such as nursing, would be far more effective than attempting to finance a four year degree as a single mother.
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First of all, birth control often has nothing to do with sex or promiscuity. I take birth control because ovarian cysts run in my family. Birth control keeps me from having horribly painful, and expensive surgeries. I had cancer cells extracted once before I went on birth control, and well, to put it in terms you fellas will understand, imagine for two weeks after peeing blood and little burned black bits, and barely being able to sit. Oh and the test for that was beautiful, they shoved this long metal rod up inside me and scraped cells out for biopsy. Also, it was accompanied with a colonoscopy, just to rule out any other issues. I’m sure all of you guys would welcome this exciting experience. Second, what really drives me nuts about this rape= gift bullshit is this: I am not having children. I hate children. I would be an awful parent, and I would be liable for that child’s welfare if I got raped. It would end my life. I would have to drop out of college, and go back to working in retail or fast food, because you know a man who rapes a woman is not taking care of the child. Yes those funds come from the woman directly… (kinda kills that man works, while the woman stays home ideal, doesn’t it?) Rape= murder. Murder of the women who would be forced to have that child. Rape is about control, not sex, and then on top of that, under Santorum’s 50’s-based philosophy, it would mean losing control of your life too. Rape IS murder. I was raped a few years ago, and luckily did not become pregnant, but I remember contemplating suicide afterwards. If I would’ve been pregnant, I certainly wouldn’t have had the tools to care for that child, I made minimum wage at a retail job. To have the ability to abort before that child becomes a child, and another ruined human being, is a good thing. The conceptual focus of “murder is wrong” is a great mindset until you have to realistically deal with the situation or consequences. Santorum will never be raped and have to decide whether to keep the child. This will never happen to him. Thus, he has no concept of the parameters of this argument. Also, I really don’t think we should be forming policies based on what an old book written by a bunch of patriarchs says. Christianity is not the only religion, and we need to stop pretending that it is.
”As the spirit wanes, the form appears.” -Charles Bukowski. Over the passed few years, this has been a mantra that has disappeared and reappeared when I needed it the most. Loss, as painful as it is, helps you become what you must be.
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[9:41:43 AM] B A: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/16-bit-intel-8088-chip/
[9:42:21 AM] B A: bukowski was a fucking nerd
[9:42:29 AM] B A: :D
[9:43:30 AM] Dwarfstarzero: yes i know
[9:43:37 AM] Dwarfstarzero: a man after my own heart
[9:45:37 AM]dwarfstarzero: bukowski didn’t rhyme for rhyming sake, he wrote about everything he could think of, and unrepetantly about EVERYTHING he could think of… he was a total dick, outwardly… and he drank oodles of whiskey… every day i strive to be closer to the truth that is bukowski…
Don’t Be a Waffler on International Waffle Day
While most of the food-based holidays we celebrate are cut-and-dry affairs — with whatever cloak-based committee deciding on a day and sticking with it — there’s a bit of a mini-controversy surrounding the celebration of waffles. You see, there’s two completely separate holidays for the delicious tic-tac-toe-shaped piece of dough. America celebrates National Waffle Day on August 24th, but the International version — wherein the entire world comes together to chow down on waffles — was yesterday, March 25th. So today, a day late, we give you a gallery of the most delectable waffles we could find.
See more waffles here!
(via katherinespiers)
So I’m going to Vegas next week, and it has occurred to me: it’s like I’ve been shopping for Vegas all my life… How does anyone own a day-glo orange jacket, AND a ruffled green velvet jacket, orange feather earrings, leopard print sweater, pin-up heels, giant bracelets, 2 flapper dresses, hunter thompson’s visor and cigarette holder… seriously… it’s like i’m still ten and i’m playing a lifelong game of dress-up…
