Surreality

Time is very peculiar. But what is much more “disturbing” (lacking a better word right now) is the passing of it. No matter how fast it passes, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, truth is, it’s really neither quick or irrelevant. I’m proof.

Yesterday I received a package sent to me by my case manager (when I required such a service, of course). In it was the file she kept concerning me. Reports, progress, goals, etc. What a trip it was for me to be reading through it all these years later. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t remember that time in  my life, but I had forgotten how difficult a lot of what I did, or tried to do, was on me.

Honestly it was a brush with surreality. It gives my journey a context I didn’t have previous to last night. And it’s kind of nice…

5 Reasons For Covering Your Face

Last week I, as a “Friend of AK Press,” received a DVD, titled “Shutdown: The Rise and Fall of Direct Action to Stop the War;”

“On March 20, 2003—the day after the war started—San Francisco was brought to a grinding halt by thousands of activists who occupied the streets to oppose the war. It was a mass uprising that forced the police to declare the financial district “shut down.” The planning and outreach coordinated by Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), filled downtown San Francisco with approximately 15,000 people clogging traffic, stopping business as usual, communicating with passersby, and creating a pandemonium that lasted for several days. But neither DASW nor the mass resistance outlasted Iraq’s occupation. […] Created by organizers involved with DASW, Shutdown combines detailed information on organizing for a mass action, critical interviews on organizing pitfalls, and the wisdom of hindsight. It is a must-see film for those engaged in the continuous struggle toward social justice.”

A thought provoking piece. What has any protest really changed? A very interesting question. One for which I haven’t a quick answer. But I’m convinced the more relevant question is what has any protest prevented?

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Our Collective ‘De-Evolution’

In Thursday’s first post I mentioned two things. First my little buddy’s 34th birthday (no, I wasn’t referring to my dink, “his” birthday strangely falls on my birthday). Then the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth.

Anyway I was just “chatting” up that same little buddy, who I suppose is a “dink” in his own right, over on Facebook’s Instant Messaging feature about a number of things. But what was most significant, and what nicely fits in with said post, is something we arrived at.

He mentioned how discouraged he is that we, as a species, are truly “going no-where.” To which I responded “we aren’t going nowhere,” we are way too busy “going backwards…”

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What’s Wrong With Humanity?

I can’t say too much more than I’m quite sure you’d think after reading this article, appearing over at the Des Moines Register, titled “Company Accused of Exploiting Disabled; State Closes Home;”

“Henry’s paid the men a ‘handicap wage’ that is about half the typical salary of other employees. That reflects that these men, at least in theory, are not as productive as their nonhandicapped co-workers. It’s a controversial, but legal, process: With the permission of the U.S. Department of Labor, a company can pay subminimum wages to disabled workers who would otherwise not be employable.”

What? “Legal?” Seriously?

Continue reading What’s Wrong With Humanity?