[Full Moon Night-Christ Jesus is looking a little pissed up there, don'tcha think? The greatest story never told.]


LOVE is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SBs0g7qF-s

so ALIVE....



"The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you,
not knowing
how blind that I was

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere
They're in each other all along."

-rumi age



(in the seventh dream ....at this twilight of empire)


"The [Foiled] Plot Against Liberal America" by Thomas Frank from The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, 2008 - head on over at http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11040/

"Twilight of Academic Freedom" in America from How the University Works. Where to be frank and challenging to one's students puts one in "a fundamentally schizophrenic situation" and climate of fear.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4KSV8LoPc0

"As a result of the multiple delusions professional ideology has installed in us, some of us have believed the academic job system needs but modest adjustments at the margins, while others have been certain the system would in time repair itself, and still others of us have believed it requires drastic reform. Part of what Bousquet is arguing throughout this book is that the job system is functioning exactly as it has evolved to function--delivering cheap instructional labor precisely when it is needed, disposing of experienced instructional labor when it becomes more expensive, breeding compliance in all its participants.

As Marc analyzes it, the new PhD is the predictable waste product of a system that is in no way dysfunctional. The system is immoral and degrading, but perfectly efficient. And indeed most of us do everything necessary to keep it working, including maintaining the fiction of a "job market," when in fact we all know most PhDs for decades have been systematically destined for radical proletarianization or the scrap heap."

--from the preface by Cary Nelson to How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low Wage Nation by Marc Bosquet, 2008

Hmmm....HMO mentalities and the corporate university: http://www.nyupress.org/webchapters/9780814799741_Bousquet_intro.pdf


Little Hitlers Everywhere: Caught up in the "Game":

"...Massy’s game is a budgeting simulation. It draws upon two prominent strains of thought in contemporary university management, the “cybernetic systems” model of university leadership developed by Robert Birnbaum and resource allocation theory, specifically the principles of Revenue Center Management (RCM), of which Massy is a leading proponent.

It is also signally influenced by the Hong Kong design team selected by Massy and the Sloan Foundation, Hong Kong’s Trevor Chan. Massy and the Sloan Foundation specifically selected Chan for his prior success with the PC game Capitalism (”The Ultimate Strategy Game of Money, Power, and Wealth,” reviewed by PC Gamer as “good enough to make a convert out of Karl Marx himself”). Massy and Sloane felt Chan’s game represented a “good match” with their “similar” vision of management strategy, and the code underlying Chan’s Capitalism 2 serves as the base for many of the modules in Massy’s game.

There is only one viewpoint possible in Massy’s “Virtual U.” Players can choose to be the president of several different kinds of institutions, but presidency is the only possible relationship to the campus.

One cannot choose to play Massy’s budget game as a student, faculty member, taxpayer, employer, parent, alumnus, or nonacademic staff. The reasons for this design decision are abundantly clear and profoundly ideological. To the audience Massy addresses, only administrators are “decision makers.” Only the presidency offers a viewpoint from which to “view the whole institution.” As a result, every other standpoint in the game has reality only insofar as it represents a “challenge” to presidential leadership.

Faculty, students, staff, and all other constituents are treated in the game as “inputs” to the managerial perspective. The players have the power to “adjust the mix” of tenure-track and nontenurable faculty, as part of their overall powers to “allocate resources as they see fit.”

The ease with which nontenurable faculty can be dismissed is accurately modeled. Storing hundreds of faculty “performance profiles,” the simulation permits university presidents to troll through the records-including photographs-of faculty in all ranks in every department. As in real life, presidents may terminate the employment of the nontenurable with a keystroke-advancing a great variety of their presidential policy goals with relative ease.

What is actually being taught here? Players have to fire adjunct faculty while looking at their photographs. One thing that’s being taught is the exercise of power in the face of sentiment: players quickly learn that you can’t have an omelette without breaking eggs.

By contrast, the tenured faculty are represented as a much more difficult “leadership challenge.” They cannot be easily dismissed-so many leadership priorities could be swiftly reached if only all of the funds tied up in tenurable faculty were released! But the tenured have to be offered expensive retirement packages to free money for other “strategic purposes.” And as in so many other ways, the faculty tend to act irrationally in response to retirement incentives.

While the tenured faculty may represent a headache for the player-president, they do not represent any real opposition in the world of the game. There are no unions. In fact, as bored gameplayers frequently reported, the game is almost impossible for the player-president to “lose,” because no one else has any meaningful power.

This is particularly significant because it successfully models the virtually unchallengeable legal - political - financial - cultural supremacy underwriting contemporary management domination (in the U.S. model). The only question is: How much victory can one administrator stomach over ten years?..."

from http://howtheuniversityworks.com/wordpress/managements-dashboard-william-massys-virtual-u

(that's strange, because just last fall - after just 13 years - local corporate-chancellor just had a hole bust her stomach wide open: just ulcerous it was. had to retire. just out of the blue, too...)


Free Lunch-Profit for Whom?

I read an article by a conservative columnist today grumbling about the skyrocketing costs of "free lunch" and that taxpayers are subsidizing "poor people" families who make a whopping $38,000.00 a year.

Why is it that what he doesn't go deeper in recognizing how, thanks to "corporate privatization" of all the school lunches, cheap or "free," they are now prepared elsewhere by many Republican - conservative - owned corporations and trucked in over absurdly long distances, with taxpayers now actually subsidizing the "corporations" (and not the "poor" families) as they jack up the prices of not-so-cheap or free, and increasingly, skimpy lunches.

No one notices this ripoff (funneling the taxpayer's money back into the same corporate hands at a pretty profit) as the conservative media continues to hide this no small fact (of ready made corporate welfare socialism) while it "blames the poor," an ever growing majority, with outmoded arguments that no longer, and actually never did, actually apply - yet cleverly hide this new privatized form of corporate exploitation.

(And just what in hell does the Dept. of Defense have to do with those privatized school lunch programs, is what I'm asking?)

A "free lunch" heist is what it is.



And speaking of missing worker bees...
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/19/11070/


Viva las vega...revolucion, comrades!

NEVER give up: a reprise (hug version b)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06q-PYm1Alg&feature=related



...And her soul walks beside her
An army stands behind her...

And her face full of grace
Two worlds collide around her
The truth lies deep inside her...

And the stars look down upon her
This darkness settles on her...

Who's to know what's in the future
We hope we will be with her
We have all our love to give her...

-kate bush



Can I keep my eyes out on the road
When I'm so tired, and you told me half a mile ago to stop?
Let the highway lead us to some tiny town
That has a hill that we can climb together to the top.
Because I know how to travel
And I know how to leave.
Maybe I ought to stay until I'm Home.

If you would forgive me, God,
You’ve never been a friend of mine,
But I believe you listen more than some.
Heaven help the wayward soul who travels toward becoming whole,
But never gets to see the kingdom come.
There was somewhere I was going
From the nowhere I have been
Maybe I will remember when I'm Home.

Are you sleeping? Am I the only one awake?
Because I feel you are a thousand miles away.
Are you sleeping? Do you remember where we've been?
Will we end up finding somewhere to begin?

I am not afraid to die before my time
As long as I'm not dead inside the life I'm here to live.
Something has to happen, and if I get hurt
Then maybe I'll be grateful I have something to forgive.
There's the road I have taken. And the path I've outgrown.
There's a place here inside me, almost Home.

Are you sleeping? Am I the only one awake?
Because I feel you are a thousand miles away.
Are you sleeping? Do you remember where we've been?
Will we end up finding somewhere to begin?

I'm not afraid more than you think of emptiness,
I feel you take me to the brink of happiness
Where do we go beginning here or anywhere
You circle back where you began to find me there.

Are you sleeping? Am I the only one awake?
Because I feel you are a thousand miles away.
Are you sleeping? Do you remember where we've been?
Will we end up finding somewhere to begin?

Are you sleeping? Am I the only one awake?
Because I feel you are a thousand miles away.
Are you sleeping? Do you remember where we've been?
Will we end up finding somewhere to begin?

(voice whispers)

Hush, little baby, don't say a word.
When the bough breaks, you'll sing like a bird
When the sky falls, you will learn how to fly
And down will come...

but You...and I.

- julie flanders
http://www.myspace.com/julieflanders




"....Earth and Moon probably started out as conjoined twins. In fact they must be still conjoined twins in some mysterious way as there is definitely a push-me pull-you relationship between them. There's some dance in which the two are for ever coordinated and where one could not exist without the other....

Both Cloud and Wind are children of Tawhiri Matea who is the Great Coordinator of elements - wind, rain, storms, tornadoes, snowflakes, whirlwinds, thunder, sleet, hail -- the whole orchestra. He too is a most ancient and venerable ancestor, though is of a later generation than Earth and Moon. He is subject to Moon's pull and has to mind his p's and k's when it comes to her.

In the days before the separation of his Earth and Sky parents, TM was only a whistle of stagnant breath squeaking about between their crushing bodies. However, he went from strength to strength after their separation and the coming of light. No one messes with TM. He can uproot whole forests, flatten houses, buildings, towns, cities and whip sea waves up to a fury. He's a scrapper from way back and you disrespect him and his offspring at your peril. Everyone knows that.

Anyway, no one with any sense vilifies those on whom their own existence depends....

It is often the case that conjoined twins are not equally endowed at birth, one being more favoured by circumstances than the other, and Earth had come out better off than Moon in many respects. Unlike Earth, Moon had no adornments to distract her, no offspring to amuse her, no light of her own, and she bathed only in reflected glory. But she had her own mana and didn't mind."

- "moon story" by patricia grace
from small holes in the silence



New corporate-military university corporate-military chancellor gives speech:

Mentions "research" 14 times, i.e. "metropolitan research university" was a frequent phrase.


A "How the University Works" Call and Response:

the call:

"We will leverage existing and emerging strengths in the sciences, education, business and the allied health professions to expand our research portfolio in selected areas in which our faculty is likely to have a significant impact," new corporate military chancellor said. (Note: she seems to have a very narrow and limited "definition" for what counts as "the humanities" too. strange....)

and, the response:

"Go stand on someone's neck while you take him
Cut into somebody's throat as you put
For every dream and scheme, depending on whether
All through the storm
You've kept it warm
That nickel under your foot."

From "Nickel Under the Foot" by Marc Blitzstein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0AXs5pBnJk
...and, the cradle WILL rock....for Bert Brecht



Now, among the above mentioned majority of "silenced faculty" and working, and not working, public "in the know" across the country (jillies not included), let's let everyone else in on the code:

"research university," metropolitan or otherwise = "corporate 'approved' research that does not question the corporate system. code word for "corporate control" backed by corporate dept. of defense. ahem.

"research to serve the 'community impact' needs" i.e. "corporate needs at expense of community and the people therein. furthermore "partnership" = code for "corporate partners" NOT community, unless you happen to run one of the corporations, be paid off by them, or on their obsolete shell game bankroll.

code word for "corporate university compliance owned by corporations."

code word for "more research funded exclusively for 'socks manufacturing'"

i.e. to put a sock in the mouth of all academic freedom....and ANY research that may involve critical questioning of the corporate-military system and any and all dissent.

(And just what in hell does the Dept. of Defense have to do with the new "Corporate University", is what I'm asking?

Are we back in Germany in the early 30's or what?

"...Brother, can you spare a dime?")





Meanwhile, the real upstager, show stopper, and show stealer!

HOPE AND CHANGE, and a foot in the door...lest we do tarry to "unscrew the locks from the doors! unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!"

http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/08/20/article/obama_visits_greensboro_today


To passively accept that we just simply live in a fixed, unchanging "capitalist world" is not only cowardice, but a failure of the human imagination. An imagination that has been and IS being purposely shut down via corporate schooling - public and private, of which many of our current "marketed" and "marketing" generation of conservative, pseudo-robotized-mechanical hipsters with braces on their brains serve as the prime lending rate example. "This is particularly significant because it successfully models the virtually unchallengeable legal - political - financial - cultural supremacy underwriting contemporary management domination (in the U.S. model)." - Bouquet

"Our basic claim is this: Though institutions are certainly powerful, they are not monoliths; they are rhetorically constructed human designs (whose power is reinforced by buildings, laws, traditions and knowledge-making practices) AND SO ARE CHANGEABLE. In other words, we made 'em, we can fix 'em. Institutions R Us. Further, for those of you who think such optimism is politically naive and hopelessly liberal and romantic, we believe that we (and you, too) have to commit to this hypothesis anyway, the alternative - political despair - being worse."

-James Porter et al., "Institutional Critique," 2000




"Composers must come out into the open; they must fight the battle with other workers"
Marc Blitzstein, 1936



"Okay. We're pressing on..." - June Carter Cash

"Uh-huh. Yes ma'am, I think we can..." - Johnny Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99V4XCE-DI&feature=related

Hey an da row....where'd ya go???

just saying "HI"

My girls start school today....already It's going to be awful quiet around here...

Hope you are good...

love to ya
me

the differences between the crowds. But also between the places where we are. The Adler theatre was a lot more comfortable and easy to interact with the band, to be with them. Tonight, we were a large part of us on the main floor. Often interupted in our "engaged sight" by people changing of place or by taller people, we have to go up on our toes, seek the best point of view. And the vibrant floor makes us more instable and less confortable to dance and move. It was my architectural report.

So, I wonder how the band feel all that.

I'm going to bed. Good night.

of the second show. What a beautiful trip! The show and mine.

In my souvenir, I didn't see Smashing Pumpkins so into
i t So full of energy. Giving this energy to the audience. After the show, an after party was announced. I went ... and danced. If I well saw, it was Eve the DJ. She is an ancient model coming from Montreal. I recognized her by her tattoo on her head. It was her mark as model. It was very fun to dance. But alone, it's less fun.

I left after a moment to find some new friends waiting for a cab. I met them at the door of my hotel waiting for a cab to go for the show. We were six persons in four groups without knowing each other. Like there's no cab here also (it was the same at Davenport) we were late and we took the same cab to go. After the show two of them was outside waiting and I was very happy to see them. And we knew eachother better. We had time since it took at least one hour to have our cab.

It's fun to hear about others loving Smashing Pumpkins. They are passionate and loving.

And I just LOVE the end of the show. It's so cool to see them one beside the others, kazooing one after the other, and relaxed, smiling. Again, they transmit their emotions to the crowd. The people leave happy. Like the show is heavy, the end smoothe. All the comments heard was very good.

I LOVED this trip!

you three?what doo you mean

For your wishes.

there is this lit up penis like thing here and i thought well i'll be...so i drove around and around it thinking maybe it was a god sign...no beelee

im starting to appreciate the mcdonalds and tacobells on everycorner at home...this place closes at 10pm...its craaaayzee...i can see b'z hotel from here im assuming he is staying at the only nice one...it is taking everything i have to not bombard the place...hope you are having greatness yo

of leaps...of like the of faith sort...im like fukin hopscotch campion when it comes to those...dios mio what am i doing here

hmm...i went all crazy and threw all my stuff all over the room cause i dont have to clean it...ootwoot...hmm til saturday anyway...its like a fukin girlypajamapartyexplosion heheea how stupid

im trying to think like a bee...he is probly uh hmm

penis...lol jk shit we have one of those things in kc too...hmm i need to take a showa now and go paint the town periwinkle or something lol

?...penis?