Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Here I Stand
by Erica Goldson
(The following speech was delivered by top of the class student Erica Goldson during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010)
Here I stand
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."
This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contend that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States."
To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking?" Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!
Via
Video of Speech
(The following speech was delivered by top of the class student Erica Goldson during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010)
Here I stand
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."
This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contend that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States."
To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking?" Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!
Via
Video of Speech
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Quarter Life Crisis
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn't know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.
You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.
You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.
You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while wining the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.
Via Caltech
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.
You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.
You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.
You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while wining the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.
Via Caltech
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
"You dont have patience or cant wait bounce find something else"
To a lot of people how we live is a “lifestyle”, this thing this goal this big dream some reason they moved to the big city to get there. Whatever city you are in, miami, paris, la or who basically started this shit here new york. People always ask me “how is the scene dances how have things changed in new york?” I dont know what people are talking about. I made it work for me. The clubs people want to go to that a lot can’t get into I’m there cool whatever. Find me at Le Bain in shorts a trouble and bass t shirt and jordans cool. Find me at a rave with sparkly margiela shoes cool. And it’s like how did you get in there how did you get to this point? I’m at no point no moment of career success there is no nightlife success no totem pole. Whether it’s a club its a bar its a house party with no music. No matter who’s at the door. Sometimes you get in. Sometimes you don’t. Lots of times it will work with patience. You dont have patience or cant wait bounce find something else. You are not missing anything. Find something else. A dope brazilian spot to eat maybe a rando show. You can only see anything really ill really hot if you just stop caring stop worrying about nightlife or a scene and just do you. And as im writing this im doing it in my living room alone away from my friends and my girlfriend who I was supposed to hang out with today. Instead what im going to do is catch a movie turn my phone off and at 12 when i get out of the theater turn it on and see what twitter tells me and go away from what im supposed to do.
Via Frog @ Last Night's Party
Via Frog @ Last Night's Party
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Norman Reedus
Spotted this guy on Grand Street in SoHo. Would have said hi but he was with his son. Seems like a cool dude.
Monday, June 28, 2010
"Losing Andrew Carnegie"
"Carnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory."
Is there a typical large corporation working today that still believes this?
Most organizations now have it backwards. The factory, the infrastructure, the systems, the patents, the process, the manual... that's king. In fact, shareholders demand it.
It turns out that success is coming from the atypical organizations, the ones that can get back to embracing irreplaceable people, the linchpins, the ones that make a difference. Anything else can be replicated cheaper by someone else."
Via - Seth Godin
Is there a typical large corporation working today that still believes this?
Most organizations now have it backwards. The factory, the infrastructure, the systems, the patents, the process, the manual... that's king. In fact, shareholders demand it.
It turns out that success is coming from the atypical organizations, the ones that can get back to embracing irreplaceable people, the linchpins, the ones that make a difference. Anything else can be replicated cheaper by someone else."
Via - Seth Godin
Friday, June 25, 2010
Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand - he gets it.
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. he simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both." - Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Friedrich Nietzsche with 40 quick points to jar you
1. People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.
2. He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
3. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
4. There are no facts, only interpretations.
5. Morality is but the herd-instinct in the individual.
6. No one talks more passionately about his rights than he who in the depths of his soul doubts whether he has any.
7. Without music, life would be a mistake.
8. Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t.
9. In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.
10. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
11. A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
12. We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.
13. No victor believes in chance.
14. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.
15. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
16. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
17. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
18. The future influences the present just as much as the past.
19. The most common lie is that which one tells himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.
20. I counsel you, my friends: Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
21. Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, is what makes someone a friend.
22. God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.
23. Success has always been a great liar.
24. Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.
25. What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.
26. Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.
27. When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.
28. When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.
29. Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.
30. All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
31. What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.
32. Fear is the mother of morality.
33. A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies.
34. Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell.
35. There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.
36. The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.
37. The Kingdom of Heaven is a condition of the heart — not something that comes upon the earth or after death.
38. What is the mark of liberation? No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.
39. Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you.
40. We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
2. He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
3. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
4. There are no facts, only interpretations.
5. Morality is but the herd-instinct in the individual.
6. No one talks more passionately about his rights than he who in the depths of his soul doubts whether he has any.
7. Without music, life would be a mistake.
8. Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t.
9. In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.
10. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
11. A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
12. We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.
13. No victor believes in chance.
14. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.
15. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
16. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
17. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
18. The future influences the present just as much as the past.
19. The most common lie is that which one tells himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.
20. I counsel you, my friends: Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
21. Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, is what makes someone a friend.
22. God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.
23. Success has always been a great liar.
24. Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.
25. What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.
26. Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.
27. When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.
28. When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.
29. Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.
30. All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
31. What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.
32. Fear is the mother of morality.
33. A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies.
34. Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell.
35. There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.
36. The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.
37. The Kingdom of Heaven is a condition of the heart — not something that comes upon the earth or after death.
38. What is the mark of liberation? No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.
39. Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you.
40. We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Live deliberately. You are free.
The world is meaningless, there is no God or gods, there are no morals, the universe is not moving inexorably towards any higher purpose. All meaning is man-made, so make your own, and make it well. Do not treat life as a way to pass the time until you die.
Do not try to \"find yourself\", you must make yourself. Choose what you want to find meaningful and live, create, love, hate, cry, destroy, fight and die for it. Do not let your life and your values and you actions slip easily into any mold, other that that which you create for yourself, and say with conviction, \"This is who I make myself\".
Do not give in to hope. Remember that nothing you do has any significance beyond that with which imbue it. Whatever you do, do it for its own sake. When the universe looks on with indifference, laugh, and shout back, \"Fuck You!\". Rembember that to fight meaninglessness is futile, but fight anyway, in spite of and because of its futility.
The world may be empty of meaning, but it is a blank canvas on which to paint meanings of your own. Live deliberately. You are free.
http://www.writesomething.net/post/1260672/
Do not try to \"find yourself\", you must make yourself. Choose what you want to find meaningful and live, create, love, hate, cry, destroy, fight and die for it. Do not let your life and your values and you actions slip easily into any mold, other that that which you create for yourself, and say with conviction, \"This is who I make myself\".
Do not give in to hope. Remember that nothing you do has any significance beyond that with which imbue it. Whatever you do, do it for its own sake. When the universe looks on with indifference, laugh, and shout back, \"Fuck You!\". Rembember that to fight meaninglessness is futile, but fight anyway, in spite of and because of its futility.
The world may be empty of meaning, but it is a blank canvas on which to paint meanings of your own. Live deliberately. You are free.
http://www.writesomething.net/post/1260672/
Monday, January 4, 2010
Your Money or your life
Artist sells life or last 8 years of it
I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand there is the challenge to live longer than 8 years, and taking steps towards a healthier life.
On the other you are giving up your being. Your privacy. Your sense of self. It will now be you and the camera and not just you. You will double think every action. An actor on a stage until you die.
I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand there is the challenge to live longer than 8 years, and taking steps towards a healthier life.
On the other you are giving up your being. Your privacy. Your sense of self. It will now be you and the camera and not just you. You will double think every action. An actor on a stage until you die.
Monday, August 31, 2009
LUNCH PEOPLE!
My other blog, which i also slack on, but has some spots you should check out when you are in my neck of the woods. .
SoHo Lunch
SoHo Lunch
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
What about the Other 10?
As my friend Erin was saying. . What about the 10 most unsuccessful stoners? How funny would that list be.
Ten most Successful Article
Ten most Successful Article
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Idaho Everywhere
After being expelled Freshman year of High School in Mountain View, California, I kind of knew that I was in for a change. I did not really know what to expect, although I knew things were going to change, there was no way my parents were going to just let me be done with High School. I was seeing different educational consultants and my shrinks (plural because i would get a new one every month or so). I actually had one shrink that was Mark Hamill's brother Greg. . I would ask him about Star Wars the whole time and then he dismissed me and moved me along to my next one. The educational consultants were "cool" in my book at the time, because they would let me smoke cigs after taking different tests to determine what kind of "school" would be best for me. Of course "schools" really translated to "programs and institutions".
First stop was 9 weeks in a program based out of Loa, Utah - Aspen Achievement Academy. .
2nd stop was a 30 month Program in Northern Idaho, Affectionately known as RMA which closed and no longer operates. . It left me with a very unique perspective. And although i am grateful for the friends and relationships i was able to come away with from it I get dejavu all over the place all the time, and internet ads are even getting in on it.
"Letting go of fear"
One of the final (there are hundreds) "tools" at RMA was - "love is letting go of fear" and after the program they even gave us books about this written by one Gerald G. Jampolsky.
I mean this is a positive thing, but to be reminded of this all over the place and all the time is getting out of hand. Almost anything triggers dejavu or a memory of what i and others went through there. And if i had a classmate next to me to spill to it would be different, but to just be at work and want to just rattle off a million thoughts sucks.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I swear
I do work. Check me out in this pic getting hella stuff done. I'm basically a plow horse, throwing my full weight into the harness every day and dragging a 400 pound plow through bedrock. I'm laying the foundation for a prosperous summer and fall harvest like old mules of the 19th century.Someone has to find pictures and sites to forward to coworkers and others. And everyone here is busy altering plans or designing buildings, so rather than let the chore of stumbling through the internet for morale boosting funny pics fall through the cracks. I pick up that burden. I hoist it on my shoulders and i wield the full weight of that responsibility. At times i doubt my efforts, but i remind myself to be strong. Did David turn and run from Goliath? No he used his intuition and mustered up the best damn plan he could. Did Iron Maiden just play cities they knew well? No they threw all their gear and crew on a plane and BD flew them all over the damn world. In some countries turning out the biggest concerts that they had ever hosted. Did Don Quixote let that windmill get the best of him? No fucking way.
I start getting pumped at 6 a.m. every morning so that by the time i take my post at 9 a.m. the adrenaline is flowing and i can grapple this massive burden onto my tired tired shoulders. Do i bear this burden alone? For the most part yes. But i find inspiration within the fabric of this interwoven web of pictures and videos. Faithfully doing my duty for my fellow man.
IT'S TIME TO TAKE UP THAT BURDEN ONCE AGAIN FOR THE INFINTE TIME
Monday, April 20, 2009
Subway Fare Hike YES!!!
The "L" train is always undergoing "maintenance and track repair" on the weekends it seems. And then they are finished working and you think that everything will go back to "normal", they are at it again in a month making sure i can't get home from Manhattan after midnight. My 12 minute ride, becomes a 25 minute wait for a 20 minute ride.I am all for track repair. I definitely don't want to be run off the tracks under the East River, but it is hard to take the MTA seriously when all i really see is a dozen overweight guys carrying lamps and sitting on their asses. Are they just looking at tracks with their flashlights? Do they actually "repair" anything? The other night one guy was just sweeping water down the middle of the tracks. The water was barely a half inch deep and he was sweeping it the way it was already going. And in order to support this guy's hard work the monthly subway pass jumps $20?
How many people ride the subway every day?
Well on weekdays a paltry 5 million people ride the subway.
Saturdays 2.9 million
Sundays 2.2 million people.
You figure that everyone when they ride the train they go round trip. . So $4 a person at the minumum right? Unless you are one of those sneaky riders who buys an unlimited pass!
So the old/current price is $81 for the 30 day pass so instead of paying $4 a day to ride it twice or $120 a month you are paying $40 less.. and when it goes up to $103. . you will be saving a monster $17 a month. . For less staff and less service. .
WIKI WIKI
IMA DOW DA DOW DOW DOWN!
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