Musings from Suck Town

Good bikes should be had by all

2009-03-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

So one of the few people I would ever have gotten a hand made bike from is closing his shop Jonnycycles.com. I've seen a number of his bikes on Fixed Gear Gallery and I must say, I like what he does and I like the way he does it. Sadly not everyone (including me) can afford a custom bike so little guys like him are going out of business. I see this more as a problem with the way our economic system works then anything. It is my personal belief that everyone (I mean last person on the face of the planet) should be able to have a quality bike that will last them a lifetime for a price that is not 2,0000 dollars U.S. for the frame alone. A lot of the people I see riding their bikes for transport can not afford a quality bike, they can afford the walmart special ($150-$200 new and I have a feeling that they aren't buying them new) and the bike is not going to last them. The parts will wear out in a year or so and they'll be forced to keep riding or throw it away and get another.

I remember while I was living in Salt Lake I would generally see the same guy dressed in commercial kitchen garb riding his bike to work each morning. It was an ill fitting walmart special that creaked and groaned as I'd pass him. Both he and I rode year round so I know he was putting some real miles on that bike.

My point is that bikes are a much less expensive form of transport then a car but if you have to go long distances (which more and more working people have to do as our inner cities become gentrified and they can't afford to live and work in the same city) you can buy a cheep car for 500 dollars that will maybe get you to work everyday but the cost of repairs and gas will push that well over the cost of a good bike but because that cost is spread out over months or even years people don't feel it as much as if it all happened at once. So Jonnycycles is closing up because not enough people can buy his product. There are so many reasons why this happens but the main underlying reason is the flaws inherent in capitalism. I would love for some day every city in the Emerica to look like Amsterdam, in regard to bikes anyway... I'd love to see the day when working people can afford to live closer to where they work, they can get there by bike with out fear of being killed by a car and they can do it on a bike that they won't have to replace unless it breaks. Oh well... I know I'll never live to see that day.

Obama won what changed?

2008-11-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

No really, I may be drunk but really what on the fucking lovely beautiful Earth changed? You elected a Black man, you think you ended racism? You need to think twice, you may have made a VERY small step in the right direction but it's not, I repeat NOT enough. I hope for the love of all that is really, really good for all people that he claims to represent. Go fuck your self Obama, you pulled a fast one over the the people. You just perpetuate the hoodwink of the people.

So tomorrow is the "big day"

2008-11-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

And every time I see an Obama button I shiver a little. He claims to be this big man of change and really if you look at his stances and really think about them how much different is he then McCain? Besides his stance on a woman's right to choose there seems to be very little difference.

He says that he wants to "responsibly redeploy" the U.S. imperial forces in Iraq by saying that he can have all troops out in 16 months yet calls for the following:

increase U.S ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines. He has also stated that he will invest in training "special operations forces, civil affairs, information operations, foreign language training and other units and capabilities that remain in chronic short supply" with a focus on "counterinsurgency."

If he plans on pulling the invading forces out of Iraq why then is he increasing the number of troops?

Look at their domestic policies on crime and crime prevention. Both call for increases to the number of police on the streets, the recruitment of young people in to the police force, and more spending to local law enforcement agencies. This has been the same thing since the 1970's and all it's done is put more poor people and people of color behind bars then ever before.

If you really want change why are you voting for the two parties who are funded by the same people. Who do you really think they are going to represent when they get in to office. You or the people who paid to put them there?

Voting is Sucide.

2008-10-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

So you think voting matters? I'm sorry to say but you're wrong. Go to this page, CarterCenter.org and ask yourself, "Why is it that the Carter Center does not watch U.S. elections?" They have looked at First Peoples Nations elections, they've looked at elections in places where we're told that there is no "democracy." Places like Jordan, and parts of South Africa, and South America yet they have NEVER, not once, done a survey of the United States. Why? Perhaps this is why, Carter Center and why they don't watch U.S. elections

The fact of the matter is that by voting you are allowing some old white man who's only interest in you is as a commodity, not as a human being, as paid for a politician to vote for you. You've given your ability to say "Yes" or "No" away. I'm sure some of you will say that by not voting I'm not participating in my community or working for the betterment of society. I say you're doing more then that, you're working to destroy and undermine everything you claim to uphold and love. I spend roughly 10 hours a week working with young men who've been not only pushed aside by society but who have been purposefully handed a shit sandwich and told to eat big bites. When they throw aside what they are given and try (I'll admit in ways that are no better) to make something else for themselves they are locked up and treated as if they were trash. I go and spend 10 hours a week with incarcerated youth. What did you do today? Am I doing enough? I doubt it. In fact I know I'm not, but hey I'm doing more then you ever will on November 4th.

You say voting matters. What happened in 2000 then? Remember that one, the majority of the people who are allowed to vote (another problem all together) voted for one man yet he didn't get in to the White House? Why, I thought your electoral system was about empowerment for the people?

What about Jim Crowe's lesser known grandson? You thought that Women earned the Right to to vote with the 19th amendment? Or People of Color with the passing of the 15th?

You have no idea how many lies you've been told. So when it comes time to "vote" think about what you're really doing and look in to what is really happening when you step in to that little booth.

First Day at Maple Lane School.

2008-10-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

So today marked the first day that my Program went to Maple Lane. Maple Lane is a maximum security school for young men who've some how run afoul of the law. The majority of them are from poor family and are people of color. But they have been lucky enough to be able to participate in the Gateways Program for Incarcerated Youth. Everyone who reads this knows where I came from and where I am so to say that I have a divergent past from them is to say that the Earth is round. The Gateways Program takes young men at Maple Lane School as well as another of the same time and puts them in college classes with students from Evergreen. In order for them to be in the program they must have a G.E.D. a High School Diploma or be close to getting one.

This is my first time speaking to anyone who has spent any time what so ever in a long term lock up. I'm still thinking about what happened today and the world they live in is so totally different then the one I live in that I don't really know what to say.

I can safely say this, in all the time I've been at Evergreen the greatest seminar I've ever had was the one I had today. We discussed a book called "A Peoples History of Sports in the United States" by Dave Zirin. We've yet to even start reading the book but today we discussed what the author could possibly be writing about. Given that the guys I have class with are in jail for something I saw some of the more encouraging and helpful behavior one person could ever exhibit toward another and this from men who society says are no good, trouble and can not on any level be trusted. I met your average 17 and 18 year old men. I'm sure as I digest what happened today I'll be better able to describe what happened but to say the least it was a life changing experience.

So I Heard Back From that Journal I Tried to get Published in.

2008-09-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

They rejected my first draft of my paper. I'm not really up set about it as the reason it was rejected was that I tried to do too much with it. I kinda thought that would happen when I wrote it so it's not too surprising that they turned me down because of that. Now I'm working on doing something different with it and resubmitting it. I'm hopeful, in fact I could submit about three or four papers from what I did last quarter... If only I had the time. :)

Ode to the Dude who Rode to Work With Me the day Before Yesterday

2008-09-05T09:42:00.001-07:00

So the day before yesterday on my way to work, I caught up to this guy on Cooper Point turning on to Evergreen Parkway. He was doin' a fairly good clip (about 30 MPH) when I caught up to him. I passed him with a polite "on your left!" As I rounded the corner on Evergreen Parkway, there was this older dude walking his dog, I slowed down waiting to pass him. About that time I hear an "on your left!" and my bikin buddy pass us. I catch him again as we make the turn on to Overhulst Road, and give him a little "on your left!" and as I go by I say "tag?" we then proceed to leap frog past each other for a little bit until he said he was too tired and we rode the rest of the way to the college chatin'. It was a good way to start my day, and left me in a fantastic mood for the rest of the day. I made me wish that I had someone to ride to work with everyday, because it was so much fun.

It reminds me of the few times Cassie and I rode to work together when I was working at the Law Office and she at the "Job From Hell". I find it a lot more enjoyable to ride with people then by my self.

I also heard back from the Journal I am trying to get published in. They rejected my paper as it was last quarter and I need to do some re-writes... Nothing too major in my mind, they were things that I'd been warned about when I first started on it so I'm not too worried. I'll start to re work it tomorrow.

Holy Shit I Graudate in June

2008-08-25T11:43:00.001-07:00

So I've been reviewing my progress in college and just realized that I graduate in June. I'll need to take a few more credits over the summer or take 20 credit hours for two quarters but I'll graduate in June regardless... It's strange, I've been in college since 2003 and I'm about to finish off my BA... It's exciting but strange at the same time because it means I have to get a grown up job soon... Or go to Law School and put that off for another three years or so.

It's funny because I started to update my resume so that it includes my degree (not that I have it yet but still) and all the wonderful things I've done in college.

It's so strange.

Also Collin spent the weekend up here with me and it made me remember how much I missed him being around. I really don't want him to fly home today.

God I fuckin love you right now.

2008-08-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

I got out of my old apartment and in to a house with five of the most awesome people I know, my brother is visiting me this weekend and I just drank some coffee... Life is fucking good right now!

Shit it's been a long while hasn't it?

2008-07-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

So, here we are... It's been a long time since I post anything, mostly because I don't have Internet at my house... Well I didn't until one of the new neighbors got an unsecured wireless network. Now I just barrow theirs. :)

I started this thing while I was living in the dorms to keep my family and friends in Shit Lick updated as to what I was doing and how I was. Now I talk to them more because I get better phone service here and I don't have to go sit in my car in the parking lot to talk on my phone. I finished my paper for my program last quarter. In fact I finished it more then a month ago, I'm happy with it and as soon as I sort my shit out I'll submit it for publishing. My Faculty from winter quarter really likes it and wants to share it with other educators as a voice from an extraordinary person. I'm very excited about this as that was the whole reason I wrote it, to be used as a voice from my community to the ordinary educational community. Whether or not it's really that good I don't know but I am proud of it so I'd like to get it out there, all that's really left to do on it to be published is talk to a reference librarian about what key words I should use so that the publisher knows how to reference it in the quarterly.

I'm watching "Weeds" while I write this so I'm kinda not paying attention to my writing.... Oh yeah and I need to go pick up Lauren in ten minutes...

Life is a shit sandwhich and some times it has a creamy filling.

2008-06-05T19:09:00.001-07:00

So a whole hell of a lot has happened. First the roommate from hell has been only slightly better then before. She's agreed to do mediation in an effort to get my ass outta her (and I mean ours because legally it's ours but she likes it to be hers.) house. So that was good... I also applied for and got a job as the CARE Network Student Coordinator for next year. That means $12 an hour and about 10-12 hours a week. Not really enough to get by on by it's self but when combined with 7-9 hours at the Housing Office, I'd be golden for money. I'm still living with the bitch from hell and I can't stand her, the other day she left a lovely little note for me that passive-aggressively accused me of tampering with her mail, which I didn't do and have never done. When I confronted her about it she said nothing. So as the title implies life is a shit sandwich but right now I'm taking smaller bites and there is a lovely little cream filled center.

Something Wonderful...

2008-05-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah it's an Arthur C. Clark rip off and I don't care. I'm in a good mood right now (seems to be a rare thing these days) and it seems to be mostly due to Lauren and my bike. I'm in the middle of putting my fixed gear back together after I trashed the bottom bracket and had to replace it as well as the crank. As you all know I'm poor, the joys of being a student and not living with my parents. So it has taken me about two months to spend $100 to replace them, 20 for the bottom bracket and 80 for the crank. All is better now, I need crank arm bolts but there was a kid in a local shop up here that said he had a set he wasn't using and offered them to me. So I'm picking them up tomorrow and I'll have my fixed gear back.

I LOVE riding my road bike but riding fixed really is something else, I just enjoy it so much, no gears, no cables; just me, my legs, the bike and the road... Wow that sounded like chezze to the max but it's true I miss the feeling of always pedaling and not having to use my hands to slow down, I'd just pop a quick skip or skid and scrub off some speed then keep going. Track stands at lights is also really nice, no having to un-clip and clip back in, just standing there waiting for the light.

In the land of Lauren we have her new (to her) Ross that my dad found on the Shit Lick Craigslist. He sent it up here with some extra parts and all it's missing is pedals, seat post, cables and a new chain... Maybe, I forgot that the chain I had on my fixed gear prior to it being a fixed gear was brand new and may not need to be replaced. Oh and brake levers, tires and tubes but other then that it's good to go and will be a good bike for her. Thanks dad, she's really excited about it and can't wait to ride it. The really exciting part for me is I'm not going to put it together, she is. I'm just going to watch and help when she needs it. I love watching people learn about their bikes and the best way to do that is to get your hands dirty. Another plus side to that is it will help her build some confidence in herself and her ability to learn a new skill. I'm really excited about her. Plus when you build your own bike you really learn to love it and it means that much more to you. I'll post some pictures as we put it together and tell you all about it later.

I Hate Feeling Like This

2008-05-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been having roommate issues... To say the least. She's a complete asshole and loves to have power struggles, if she's not the top dog, then she's gonna make you hurt to become the top dog. This has been going on since we moved in, she likes to tell me what to do and how to do it. Last time I checked I had a mother and her name was not the Bitch. Also, I fail to see how if she wants something cleaned, and I didn't make the mess (it was there when we moved in), she was cleaning where the mess was, why I should have to clean it up if she's already about to do it?

So we get in this fight and she starts calling me, among other things, a dead beat. This is one hundred and eighty degrees off what she said when we moved in, which was "you're the best roommate ever." Know what changed? I told her off when she told me to do something that she has no right to tell me to do. Like when she told my girlfriend to tell me to take out the trash in the bathroom because there was a used condom in it that supposedly was hanging off the side... OK if that had happened it would have been fucking gross but IT DIDN'T and do you want to know what else was in the can? No I'm sure you don't but you're going to find out anyway, a bunch of her used tampons. And when I say a bunch, I mean the damn thing was full of blood soaked TP and tampons. Now I don't have a problem with taking out the trash when it's full, even if it's used tampons, because if the trash needs to go out, it goes out. I don't really care what's in it. In fact I took out the trash because it was FULL. What I really have a problem with is her telling me, VIA MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND, that I had to do it because it was gross. Now why this is a problem is that she didn't think about anyone but herself in this matter, she didn't think, 'maybe Aaron has a problem with handling my tampons as much as I have a problem handling a used condom?' The whole thing is about her not thinking about anyone but herself.

There was also the time my Mom and Brother came up to visit about two months after I moved in. She had been offered a washing machine by the dude she just happened to be fucking at the time and TOLD me (see again not asking but TOLD) me we were getting it and that it was fifty bucks and I needed to pay for half. I said OK because at the time I was all "whatever, we could use it and it's cheep." So Mom and Brother come up with a Uhaul, the Bitch says we're going to use it to get the washer, I said we MIGHT be able to use it but it depended on what Mom and Brother and I were going to be doing. I asked her to check with her Fuck Toy when we could come and get it. She said she was free on Monday, Mom and Brother came up on a Friday, but didn't ask when we were free. So Brother and I take the Uhaul back on Saturday because that was the only day we had free. The Bitch wakes up after we take it back and asks where the truck is. I told her we took it back and she yells at me, "Why?! We need to get that washer on Monday." I told her that Saturday was the only day we could do it and that I never said we COULD use it I said we MIGHT be able to use it. She made my Mom so uncomfortable that she checked in to a hotel for the weekend. Brother wanted to spend time with me so she stayed with me but I'm sure it was not as much fun as he had hoped.

So yeah, the next story involves me telling her I'm moving out. I'm required to find a replacement for my half of the lease so I post an ad on craigslist about it. Someone comes by to look at the place and I tell the Bitch after about it. She gets really pissed off and says, "I don't want you finding me a roommate, I'll find my own." and stomps off... Everyone I've ever told that story to was all, "WTF?! She got mad at you for trying to find her a roommate?"

Yep, that's why I'm not calling my friends and family as much as I used to because I'm stressed to fucking hell about dealing with that fucking Asshole roommate. There's more but I'm done with complaining about it for now.

Disability and You.

2008-05-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

So my family and most of my friends up here know what I'm doing this quarter as far as school goes... I'm sure I've mentioned it here as well but I'll do it again and here's the title... "Retarded: The Creation of the Learning Disabled in Contemporary U.S. Educational Culture." I'm enjoying the work I'm doing on it very much as it allows me to really tie in what I learned in the last two quarters, Winter and Fall, in to my understanding of another subject namely me. It's been hard to really... Wait no, it hasn't be hard to write it, in fact it's come easier then a lot of my other writing. I think this is due to the level I studied how people oppress others over the year that I find this so easy. Compared to what I did then this is a cake walk and I've had all quarter to really get in to it. I'm very happy with what I've come up with and I know it will only get better. If I don't get it published in the publication I want then I'll publish it here.

Oh yeah for those of you who don't have Ad Blocker Plus please tell me if there are ads on my blog because if there are then I'll do something about it. thanks.

More Bike Stuff...

2008-05-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

The problem with me working 8 straight hours in an office where I sit on my ass is that I then spend most of that time wishing I was riding around with friends on my bike... But sadly I don't really know anyone up here that likes to ride and two I'm at work...

So I really want (key word here as in I don't NEED) another bike... I'm thinking an old school touring bike... Full fenders, frichion shifters, racks, the whole nine yards. Not that I really have the time to be doing loaded touring but it would be really cool.

I've been looking at sites like Orange Velo, Surly Bikes and a few others wishing I had the money and the need for another bike... I am kinda toying with the idea of getting a Surly Cross Check frame and building it up with some new parts and using it as a winter bike. I'd take the wheels and crank and bottom bracket off my fixed gear now and put them on the surly with full fenders and a front brake and use that in the winter instead of my Nishiki when the weather turns to poo... Then when I have the money building some new wheels for the Cross Check and getting a new BB and crank for it. It'd just be nice to have full fenders and such and the Cross Check is just a good base for that.

Damn Cassie and Her Bike Ridin' Ways!!!

2008-05-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Cassie's been blogging about riding her bike and it's made me sorrowful because I don't really have anyone up here to ride with like I did in Shit Lick. Cassie and I rode the ULECR last summer and it was great, since then I've just not gotten on the bike as much as I'd like, I hate getting wet and it is WET up here. Thanks to my folks this past Godless Christian Holiday #1 I know own a pair of waterproof pants and boy are they waterproof. But it's also hard to get on the bike when it's that wet and that cold and you don't really have to ride to get to work (because at the time I didn't have a job) or school (because I was living on campus). Also when it gets dark at 4:30 PM and the sun doesn't come up until 8:30 or 9:00 AM it's a little hard to ride if you live in the woods like I do...

The good part is that I've been riding almost everyday I work now, save for one or two days last month when I woke up late and just could not bring myself to do it. Another pain in the ass part is that it seems that every time I go out I get a fucking flat because the roads between my house and ANYWHERE are shit and covered in shit that goes right though my gatorskins and puts a big fucking hole in my inertubes. So as soon as I have the money I'm getting some tuffy strips to put in em' so that I don't get as many flats.

God I miss riding with people...

Matts and not as in the name.

2008-04-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

So Lauren and I came back from Spokane with a little friend, his name is Finnigan. He's an orange kittiy kinda like Garfield but a millions times more awesome. He's super sweet and purs if you simply say his name.

So I'm fucking angry about him, Lauren left him in the 'care' of her mother and step father... Care is a funny word, in the six months she has been in Oly Fin some how ended up with most of his back covered in mats. One is so big it almost covers his whole back... We tried to cut some off but the simple fact is that we're going to have to take him in and have him completely shaved to get them off... Yeah, I'm about ready to fucking hit someone....

He's such a wonderful cat, nice, cute, loving, playful, well mannered, FUCKING ADORABLE... If you ever wanted a cat, Fin would be that cat. No, you can't have him, Lauren (and by virtue of dating her me) will never give him up.

He's just great.

It's been so long...

2008-04-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Since I post here. WOW. So yeah... Where to start... Oh, OK. I know.

I have a job! I'm working in the front office in housing at the college, it's 17 hours, two days a week. That means kids I'm working from 8 AM to 5 PM two days a week with two 15 minute paid breaks and one half hour unpaid lunch. I like it, I'm making 9 an hour so I can pay rent and my loan payments but that's about it. I may need a second job.

Also I'm selling my car. All of you know what that means as I used to love that car but I love eating more and I hate the wheels on my LeMond. So if anyone knows anyone who's looking for a 98 GTI 2.0 hook a brother up.

Oh I kinda gave up writing this because I'm looking at riding a century or two and I'm trying to find some in the SPS area.

Happiness is a warm gun...

2008-03-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

OK not really but I like that song. So why am I happy all of a sudden? Well I've got two weeks left in the quarter, I've got myself a lovely young lady who for some reason thinks I'm cute and really nice, as well as my Mom and one of my Brothers are coming up here the end of this week to visit (Collin is staying until Tuesday of next week, my Mom until April sometime but she'll be staying with family in Seattle while Collin stays here).

OK so for the two things that are really making me excited, the pretty lady, who's name is Lauren, and part of my family coming to visit. The first part, yes I have a girlfriend and she is amazing, I'm not kidding when I say that she is by far the best person I've ever dated. She's great, kind, loving, smart, good lookin' (yeah I can be that shallow sometimes), open and honest with me about everything that she's thinking. Really she's the type of person I should have been dating since I started dating women. But sometimes you gotta burn you hand on the stove before you understand why it's not a good idea to touch it when it's hot, 'ya know?

And for the second part of why I'm happier now then I've been since moving up here. I'm getting a real bed... Well that and Mom and Collin are coming up. It's Mom's birthday on Saturday so we're gonna go see George, Lois, Mellisa and Etienne for that. It'll be really good to see them all, I've not had a lot of chances to get up there because of how heavy my work load has been so far this year as well as not having a job for all but maybe two or three weeks... So it'll really good to see them more as well. Collin is planing on getting tattooed and I may spend some money I don't have and do that was well. I'm also going to get him drunk as it's the end of the quarter and I'm all but done, it'll be awesome!

So I've been thinking... AGAIN...

2008-02-18T20:31:00.001-08:00

I just found out a really good friend of mine might be having a relapse of a not so nice condition they have. They read this from time to time and I know it and they'll totally know that I'm talking about them right now but they know how much they mean to me so they'll forgive me this one time.

So because of what happened to them I've started thinking again that I'd like to orginize a crosscountry bike ride to raise funding for research and raise awareness about this condition. I worry about my friend a lot because they really are one of the best people I know and because they mean so much to me, I want to do something in their honor. Besides it'd be a good reason to ride my bike across the country and not have to worry about paying for it. :)

This has been something I've wanted to do for awhile and I think it will be good for many reasons, I might even be able to get credit in school to do it, another plus.

It's Been Awhile...

2008-02-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

So yeah, I've not done this for awhile as I moved and now do not have internet at my new place. So I'm sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Oly and typing this rather then doing my homework.

P.S. Brased Brussle Sprouts are fucking good!

So today sucked but was also very good.

2008-01-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

I got fired today. Yep that's right and this time it was not for doing something bad (that was last time). I truly believe I got fired today because I'm male. It's really fucked up but that's what I think and with out going in to too much detail (I'm thinking about some things and I'd rather keep them to myself) just know that I got fired and it was not right. Very not right.

That was a suck part. The good part is that a friend and I looked at getting an apartment today, we filled out the app and put down a deposit. It's cheaper then living on campus and MUCH nicer. The trick is getting a job to pay for it. I also sent out five resumes basically after I got home from work and after looking at this place. That's right five in one day, in less then two hours. We'll see if any of them catch, I really hope they do.

I said I'd do this, so I am.

2008-01-23T01:09:00.000-08:00

The book I read for last week was Imperialism and Postcolonialism by Barbara Bush. It was a very good read and I enjoyed it much. Here is the paper I wrote for that book. It is a very "heady" book in that it is full of poli-sci jargon and is very abstract so I had a hard time forming the ideas I wanted to say but this is it. Sorry for the uneven paragraphs and page breaks, it didn't translate well to blogger mode.

Imperialism and Postcolonialism (2006) by Barbara Bush is a critical study of what is imperialism, empire, and colonialism both in what is considered the modern sense and the historical sense. She examines the links between these three human experiences and their interplay with capitalism, modernity, culture both globally and locally, and the power relations inherent in them. She starts the book by looking at empire and imperialism in a historical sense while juxtaposing it against the modern incarnation,

“Empires emerged with the great civilizations of antiquity such as Old Babylonia (1800 B.C.), which bequeathed mathematics, science and the written word to future Middle Eastern and European cultures. The Greek Empire (c. 750-550 B.C.) created colonies around the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea and established some of the essential characteristics of later European empires, including an early form of orientalist discourse." (p. 10)

It is in this fashion that Bush lays out for the reader the idea that new builds on old. Just as the Babylonians laid the foundations for later empires, each successive group built on and enhanced the tools and ideas of empire used before them. In the same fashion resistance builds on and learns from both its self and imperialism. In quoting Fowden Bush states, “Antiquity’s contribution to the technique of empire… was the discovery of a ‘non-military… partially political basis for self perpetuation’. This was facilitated by the emergence of monotheism… rooted in the unifying religions of Christianity and Islam that justified the exercise of imperial power and made it more effective” (p. 12). As discussed above the Greeks were some of the first imperialists to use the idea of “othering” in order to bring about the building of their empire. Later other empires would build on this idea as a justification for their own empire building.

Bushs’ focus is on European empire and it’s development. When discussing the difference between European and other non-European forms of empire she states,

… the Renaissance instilled new vigour into Western European society and economy. The reconquista, the expulsion of Islamic influence from the Iberian Peninsula, combined with improvements in navigation, facilitated the Spanish and Portuguese seaborne empires (Boxer, 1969; Scammel, 1989) and the European remapping of the world… The epochal moment was the conquest of the Americas. (p. 13-14)

This idea that technological advancement (European improvements in navigation and seamanship) along with ideological changes (the idea that Europe was the center of the known world ‘remapping’) enhanced European Empire though modernity and much like the Greeks, Romans and many others, an idea of othering, of dehumanization. With the European conquest of the Americas we see the differences between the old imperialism and New Imperialism, the main difference being that of navel power; again this technological advancement by Europe building upon the advancements of other empires.

There is no question that the reason for empire is the exploitation of others in order that the imperial power can obtain the resources controlled by them. It is this that has driven all empires, the need to control resources. A key idea in this is that in each Empire there is the metropolitan center, the base of power for the Empire, and the periphery, the outlying colonies and resource rich areas of the empire that have been invaded and conquered by the armies of the Empire. This is where the reader will see that as Bush tells them, “Informal imperialism can exist without colonialism but colonialism cannot exist without imperialism” (p. 46). This idea of an almost symbiotic relationship between imperialism and colonialism illustrates that the ideas of domination and repression are key to both, yet one requires the other.

When discussing the relationship between colonialism and imperialism Bush reminds the reader that, “Some theories rely too much on mono-causal explanations foe European imperial conquest – for instance, technological and scientific superiority (Headrick, 1981) or the economic determinism of conventional Marxist studies… Arguably, the most plausible explanations of imperialism need to account for the interaction of the economic, political, social and cultural factors operating at both the local (periphery) level and within the metropolitan centre of imperial power” (p.47). This need to have an inclusive framework with which to study imperialism is what led to the use of both Marxist theory and Postmodernism like in Edward Said’s work Orientalism. Like the work of Fanon it is this inclusive understanding of both political/economic and social/cultural impacts that allow for a deeper understanding of the impacts of both colonialism and imperialism.

Bush points out for the reader that, “when evaluating theories and conceptual frameworks, one needs to bear in mind a number of key questions. What definition of imperialism is used? How does this influence the way imperialism was/is conceptualized? What is the purpose of the theory? Is it a conceptual tool of the historian (Robinson and Gallagher, Cain and Hopkins) or linked to political critique and/or activism (Lenin, Chomsky, Hobson)?” (p.48). For Bush the answers to the above questions when asked about colonialism have only enlivened and “enriched controversies” (p.50) about imperialism and reawakened the study of imperial history.

Books Books and More Books!!!... Oh Yeah Let's Not Forget Bikes and Music Too!

2008-01-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

So last weeks book was a complete and total failure on my part. I read MAYBE a third of it; wish I had been able to read more but sadly I had the hardest time sitting still for more then five minutes at one go (I've never really had this problem before but last week really was my WORST week ever, performance wise since I've been at Evergreen).

So this week I resolved to do much better, and I think I am. I was late getting the book for many reasons that really only boil down to I'm a dumbass and didn't take care of the things I should have before going down to Portland last weekend. I feel I've got a good handle on the reading so far and am very impressed with what the author has to say. It's hard to really write about because I've not formalized what I'm thinking just yet. I think what I'll do is post my paper when I'm done with it on Thursday night. That should be interesting for ya'll to see what I do every week. The papers themselves aren't really that hard or strenuous to write; it's a two page (single spaced) paper that summarizes the authors points. The hard part is keeping to the two page limit.

Last quarter was a little different, we had a four page paper that was two pages devoted to the conclusions of the author and two pages responding to the work. I was happier with that format but they have said that we can respond to the work if we so wish. I'd like to do that with this book so what I think I'll do is after the study group meeting tomorrow night, I'll start working on the paper and seeing if I can't get some of the ideas outta my head and on to the metaphorical paper.

Also in other news, my rear light died today which made for a mildly spooky ride home from work, but thanks to the fact we've pasted the winter solstice, the days are getting longer and it has stopped getting dark at 4 PM here. It now waits till 4:45 PM. Which if I leave work at 5 doesn't help much but if I leave a little early, say around 4:30 I get home with enough sunlight to not worry too much.

Again I forgot to say that I've been going in earlier to work lately. On Monday's and Tuesdays when I don't have class, I've gone in at around 9 AM. Thanks to my being in Salt Lick Shitty for almost three weeks there was an enormous backlog of filing to be done, I've almost finished it and hope to have it 95% done by Friday.

In music related news, Chris and I have started work on our Grind project entitled U.S. Marine Corpse. Chris wrote, and totally finished our first song, and we started polishing it up last week. We've also wanted to start a stoner/drone band in addition to the doom/noise/drone that is Breaker of Men. Creatively I've got a lot on my plate what with school, BoM, U.S. Marine Corps and our as yet untitled stoner band, but I'm happier playing music then I am working so I figure it's a trade off. Spend the 30 or so bucks a week to drive down to Portland on Friday and jam then drive home Sunday and still have my homework done for the coming week. Playing music and hanging out with my friends really does make my week all worth it.

Looking for an Apartment...

2008-01-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

So after much hand wringing (not really) and careful planing (not really) I've decided that I kinda fucking hate living the in dorms. It's not for me, really, REALLY not for me. I searched craigslist.org (yay yet another reason why I like them) and emailed some other Greeners that had posted an ad looking for a roommate. It's cheep, about 175 a month and I should have a loan check coming in soon (if not I'm moving back to Salt Lake as I don't have the money for next quarter) and that will help with any deposits that I need to make.

In other CL news, I posted an ad looking for people to play in a stoner/drone band and got a response from a drummer. I emailed him back and hope to start playing in another (the 3rd to be completely truthful) band shortly.

I can't really think of anything else worthy of blog time. Besides I'm swamped with homework (but what else is new). Wow I really love parentheses (see I told you).

You Take Your Car to Work and I'll Take my Bike

2008-01-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

The new quarter is upon me, I've once again been immersed in the scholarly duties of being a student. Yet today finds me listless and unable to sit still for more then a few minutes at a time, which when you're in class from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM can be a problem. I think part of it might be the fact that yesterday found me riding my bike more then I have in the last four months.

I took my fixed gear to work after class which is about a 4 mile ride, then back to campus from work for an EARN meeting (again another 4 mile ride), then downtown for a study group (which had I read the book more I would have been more useful to the others. Oh yeah that's about 6 miles, for a grand total of 14 miles which is about what I used to ride in Shit Lick every day.). Sadly my ride back to campus was not to happen as the rear tire (yet again, fuck that pisses me off) was flat. After 8:00 PM the buses only run every hour so I had about half of that to kill before I could get back to my house. It was raining as well...

Taking the bus ended up being good because once we got close to campus it started snowing. I laughed a little then cried when I remembered that I had done so because my fucking tire was flat... AGAIN.

So now I'm in the midst of writing a paper about Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, and I'm having trouble writing it. I've got a little over half of it done but really I'm fighting tooth and nail to get it down and done.

Going back to class earlier today, we did a workshop review of the fall quarter at the end of which we were to make an artistic representation of what Colonialism means to us. I drew a picture of the Earth on fire. My new faculty asked me about it and I explained that I see Colonialism, Imperialism and Globalization not as problems unto themselves but as examples of a larger problem. When she asked me what I simply told her civilization is the problem. As I've not fully explored this idea I fumbled with it a little but was able to get her to understand my idea for which she told me she wanted me to do that as my final project. I'm excited about it and need to start working on it.

Oh yeah, because of all the riding, which included a very large hill in the rain on a bike with no brake, my ass hurts. Looks like it's time to hit the gym.

If you want to have a good time check craigslist

2008-01-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

So one thing I left out about my trip home from Portland Yesterday was the fact I did a rideshare. For those of you who don't know what this means is I checked Craigslist.org for people who wanted to leave Portland on the same day I did and who wanted to go to Oly. Well I found a person.

It was really nice, I had someone to talk to the way back to Oly and she chipped in on gas (the real reason I did this). All in all it was good, we discussed dogs, cats, shitty roommates, and bad movies. I hope that it will work out in a similar fashion next time.

I'm kinda in love with craigslist at this point. For one I found my current job and two, I got a cool traveling companion outta it.

Oh yeah, so the whole reason I wrote the above is that the person who drove back with me talked about doing a travel log. She talked about driving across the States and writing a book about it. I'm thinking about riding my bike from Oly to Pasadena soon. I thought it could be cool to write about it and maybe try and get it published (as she suggested I do), or just write about it here. We'll see.

For now I'm thinking I'll just ride my happy ass down to Portland in the summer. It's only about 100 miles, which I did no problem last summer. The only thing is last summer I had ridden all year and really didn't take any time off from riding. This year (school year is what I guess I mean) has been more then a little different. So if I want to ride to P-town I need to really start riding more and riding longer. It's just hard to find time what with work and school and tons of homework. Oh well I'll work something out.

Olympia an't just a cheep beer.

2008-01-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

So I got back in to oly about two hours ago. I unloaded all my shit, put my bike back together and took a shower. I left Salt Lake on the 2nd rather then the 3rd because as much as I liked seeing all my friends and family, it was very much time to leave. Marleigh and I left Hate-01 at about 9:30 AM and tore ass across Idaho and eastern Oregon. It was as boring as it sounds until we hit Baker City. In Baker we were blasted by high winds and icy roads and did not have a break from that until we hit Le Grand. From Le Grand to Portland it was rainy but not too bad.

We rolled in to Portland around 11 PM and started drinking with all the lovely people we well, love in Portland. I don't think there was one night while I was in Portland that I wasn't drunk, and one of the first things I did was hug Chris and Lacy and tell them how good it was to be home.

All in all the trip was good, I saw Peter, Charlotte, Cassie, Neda, my Family and got to eat some good food I missed.

I love you all.

Salt Lake City an't just the title of a Dwarves song anymore.

2007-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

That's right kids, I'm flying home tomorrow night. I leave Sea-Tac airport at 4:50 PM and arrive in Shit Lick at 7:50. I'll be there until the 3rd when I drive back to Oly via Portland. Classes start on the 7th and much like last quarter I'm very much looking forward to next quarter. Also I've decided to go to Law School and will start to study for the LSAT this break which I will be taking in the spring.

The three schools I'm looking at are Fordam (thanks Scotty for giving me the idea), Loyola and Seattle University. Fordam and Loyola are both outside of Washington State, Fordam is in New York (Not too excited to go to New York), Loyola is in L.A. (another city I'm not too keen on), and as I'm sure you can tell where Seattle University is. All three are Jesuit schools with a strong social justice program. The really cool part about Evergreen is that 85-90% of the grads get in to their first choice for grad school. So no matter where I decide to go I've got a good chance to get in if I do well on the LSAT's. I'm not too worried about the LSAT because I know if I study for it and take a practice test I've gained a lot of the skills I need to do well on it already, it's just a matter of further developing those skills.

So here I sit for all intents and purpose, with my thumb up my ass.

2007-12-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

That's right, I said it, I've got that wonderful digit that allowed us to use keyboards (see type type type type, I'm using them now) shoved up my ass. What does that mean? Well, now that the quarter has come to an end, I have nothing really to do between the hours of 8 AM, when I generally wake up, and twelve thirty when I go to work, and six PM and one AM when I get home and before I go to bed. Let us not even mention the weekends...

I've been reading On the Road, see, and diggin' it man, diggin' it hard. Damn beat writers. I've been thinking about a lot of things as of late, one of which is how fucking, sexist, racist, classiest, and heterocenterist that book is. Among other things, I've been thinking about growth. I had my Eval on Monday and my Faculty had only good things to say about me and how I did this quarter. My disability did show up to play a little but in the end it played nice and was able to get along well with others. I think the best thing I ever did was come here. I've grown a lot in the way I think about things and how my actions and the actions of other have played in to the condition of the world today.

I got my happy ass on face book and found some long lost friends (and ex's) and it got me thinking more and more about the above. The whole beautiful thing has me reeling and rocking in pure joy and punch drunk with hap-penis.

I'm getting more comfortable with English and I'm starting to play around with sounds a little bit.

Oh yeah, speaking of sounds I got the new Saul Williams album yesterday. For those of you that read this (Cassie) I down loaded it off his website for five bones. It's great and he's coming to Washington in February so Chris, Lacy and I are going to see him. It will be berry berry good.

Quarter is FUCKING OVER!!!!

2007-12-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

So today marked the last day of classes for me for a month. That's right one whole friggin' month. So it looks like I'll be spending two weeks in Salt Lake. From the 17th of this month until just after the first of the new year. Such are the joys of being employed. But on the good side I'll be spending New Years with ya'll. So Now I get to write my self Eval a week from yesterday,then hang the fuck out for the rest week until my flight two weeks from yesterday and that's about it...

Oh yeah and I fucking hate all those god damn Christian $christmas$ movies that are all over the TV right now... FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! I can't even tell you how much I hate them...

Who Said, You Said, I Said, We Said, Edward W. Said.

2007-12-02T01:45:00.000-08:00

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.-Oscar Wilde

I'm thinking about what I want to do for my spring quarter. Some of the students are writing papers this quarter with the intent of trying to get them published next year. I think that is a good idea so I'm thinking about doing an independent study contract along the lines of what we've been studying this year thus far. I'm thinking about maybe writing something about decolonizing the Euro-American mind. Freire said, I'm paraphrasing here so bare with me, that in liberating themselves the oppressed will have to liberate their oppressors along with them because the problem of colonialism, and thus oppression, lies in the fact that oppression happens as an result of a system. While there are very real people that oppress others to unjustly take what is not due them, they are in a way the victim of a parasitic way of thinking that in the end oppresses a very real person or group of people. It also in a way oppresses the oppressor to a degree. This is not to say that the oppressor is a victim the same way that the victim of colonialism or imperialism is because the oppressor does not experience the violence of that oppression. I believe that the best way to think about it is like an alcoholic that beats their family. The alcoholic while on one hand abuses their family members and beats them, they are in their own right the victim of a sickness. In the case of the colonizer, he is a victim of the sickness that is the colonial way of thinking. He is not a victim in the same right as the colonized.

I'm not sure where this line of thought is going so I'll leave it here.

Puntin' bitchs and cuttin' pimps.

2007-11-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

That's right mother fucker, I gots me a J-O-B, job.

Staple Food for the "Holidays"

2007-11-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

OK so my folks are quasi-Christian and my family celebrates Godless Christian Holiday #1 (that's Christmas kids) and every year with out fail my mom makes a Breakfast Casserole that is amazing. Up until the last seven or so years it's not even been vegetarian and only with in the last three almost four it's been vegan. With out further a due, here is the BEST breakfast you'll ever have. I plan on having it for the rest of my life on Godless Christian Holiday #1 even though I don't celebrate that holiday and my folks do. As such until the day, I hate thinking about this 'cuse I love them both dearly, they both die I'll be spending that day with them. After that very sad day when they are no longer with me I'll still make this dish on Godless Christian Holiday #1 as a way to remember my mom and the warm feeling that I get on this day even though I'm a godless heathen.

Vegan Breakfast Casserole.

1 & 1/2 LB. Vegan Soy Ground sausage cooked (Spicy Soysage is best but Smart ground works too)
10-12 slices Vegan Sourdough bread, cubed
5-6 eggs worth Energy Egg replacer
2 & 1.2 cups unsweetened Soy or Rice Milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 & 1/2 pound Vegan Cheddar Soy Cheese grated (Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet or Vegan brand work best)
1 & 1/2 Cups Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup* recipe follows at end*
Earth Balance Margarine enough to grease large baking dish

Mix together the "eggs," mustard and "milk" and set to the side.

Use vegan margarine to grease large oblong baking dish. Put one layer of cubed bread in pan. Crumble over top half of the cooked "sausage." sprinkle over that half of the "cheese." Repeat a second layer using the rest of the bread, "sausage," and "cheese."

Pour the "egg" replacer mixture evenly over the layers. Let it sit until the next morning.

Next morning:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Take Vegan Cream of Mushroom soup and evenly pour over the casserole. Bake covered at 300 degrees F. for one hour. Uncover and cook for 30 minutes more or until crust is crisp on top.

Vegan cream of Mushroom Soup.

one 1/2 lb mushrooms (any kind you like) chopped
4 Cups vegan veggie broth
1 tub Tofutti "Better Then Cream Cheese"
one 1/2 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
one 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in oil until onions are translucent. Add veggie stock and bring to a boil while stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Reduce heat and add cream cheese. Mix on medium low heat until the cream cheese is combined. Blend in blender or food processor and return to pot, add corn starch if needed to thicken.

Two Weeks Left of Class and Three Weeks Left of School for the Quarter.

2007-11-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

That's right, I've got two weeks of class left, that means I have four class meetings left, then one week for evaluations and I'm dun. Yep it's been an intents ten weeks of my first quarter at Evergreen and I'm happy it's over. So for those of you in Salt Lake, you've got three weeks from tomorrow till I'm back for a visit at which point I will expect you all to get me drunk, because I'm broke and you love me.

I'll post again after I have my Eval and tell you all how it went and what the hell that is anyway. I should tell you I DON'T HAVE FINALS... EVER!!!!! hehehehehehehehehehehehe.

Another Native Holocaust Day has come and gone.

2007-11-23T16:56:00.001-08:00

And now we find ourselves on "Black Friday." Yep I hate consumerism and as much as I'd hate to admit it, I find my self wanting things, like another 4x12 for my amp, or a ring-mod kit, or a loop station, or a new guitar, chorus pedal, reverb, tremolo, all sorts of shit I don't really need. All that is something I need to make sounds to express an idea, feeling or picture. If I painted would I only allow myself to use two paint colors? Oh well.

Yep with the coming of "Black Friday" you know that Godless Christian Holiday #1 is just around the corner. My folks hate it when I tell them I don't want anything so this year out of a need to be my self and not acquirer more shit I don't need I asked for my books for next quarter, a set of new tubes for my amp and some nice head-phones. I really hate getting things for GCH#1 for the simple fact that, one, I'm not a "Christian," and two, for me GCH#1 has never been about "things." It's about spending time with my family and getting to relax and see friends. When I think about GCH#1 I think about the feeling of sitting down with my family and eating this fucking AMAZING breakfast my mom makes with out fail and sitting in the living room listening to music and talking. Just being around my family. Then society goes and fucks it up, makes it all about buying shit to "prove" your love. Those that I love don't need me to prove it with useless shit, I do it by telling them and showing them my love for them. I show them by always being there for them, by helping them with what ever they need when I'm able. That is love. That is proving it.

So to those that I love, I love you all more then I'll ever really be able to explain. If you're reading this and feel anything deep down in your chest you know that I'm talking about you, there are so many of you that I can't hope to list them all.

The one I really miss right now is my Aunt Donna. It's been five years now since she died, almost six, and it still hurts when I think about all those wonderful years when she was alive and the impact she had on my life. I know she'd disapprove of the tattoo I have to remind me of her but at the same time she'd never stop accepting me and loving me. Better then any "Grand" parent I ever had. Such a fixture in our home on the holidays the house is never as warm as it was when she was here. On the first of April I'll do another one of these just for her. So that you all that never got to meet her can get a little picture of Donna Enger.

Native Holocaust Day is coming.

2007-11-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

People like to play off "thanksgiving" as this wonderful day when we, which always means white people, get together and celebrate the Indians helping our poor dumb as fucking rocks ancestors survive the winter. The part that is ALWAYS left out of this story is how by the time those dumb as fuck Europeans made it to America most of the the native populations had seen anywhere from 50% to 90% and in some cases 100% population decline. So when you and your family sit down to be thankful for something maybe you should read a book or two, I'll get you started. American Holocaust by David E. Stanard and Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Once you've read those maybe you'll think twice about calling Thanksgiving that. Or National Day of Gluttony for that matter. I find nothing more offencive then this fucking horrible "holiday." Let's at least call it what it is, Native Holocaust Day.

So heres a video from last week.

2007-11-16T01:50:00.000-08:00

Of the Olympia Police beating up peaceful protesters who were opposing the use of the Port of Olympia by the U.S. Military to off load Strykers from Iraq. Notice how they keep shouting "we're peaceful" I wonder why that is... Oh maybe it's because the cops just started beating people and macing children and the elderly. I could be wrong... But I'm not.

So I guess Bush has the brains to read my blog.

2007-11-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

Maybe not...

Second time I've really ridden my bike.

2007-11-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

So ya'll know how much I rode my bike in Salt Lake. I rode all year round; snow, no problem; rain, wouldn't think twice about it; heat, yeah it sucked but I'd still ride. Now on the other hand, I live on campus and I don't have a job. I've not really ridden my bike at all. I've done two rides that were any real distance. One was taking the bus in to downtown Oly and riding back to my house. That's about six or so miles not counting the riding around I did while I was downtown. The second real ride was today when again I took the bus to 5th ave and Capitol Street then rode to Lacey for a job interview. That's about four miles. Most of you know that four miles is about as far as it is from my folks house to the Gateway. Really that's not that far, I've ridden that a lot. I've done that at night, in the middle of the day in the middle of summer, it's not hard. And compared to the ULCER it's nothing, not even a warm up. Oh yeah I wanna ride that again if I'm in town next summer, which I'm thinking I won't be if I get a job. But this time I'd want to ride it on my fixed gear.

One of the many things I dislike about living on campus is having to ride down a big fuckin hill to get in to downtown. Now I've done big hills on my fixed gear (you all should know by now that that I don't have a brake other then my legs on that bike) but not in traffic like here, on streets that are as narrow as they are here. Believe me when I tell you that streets in Salt Lake are WIDE like a hookers nether parts. Streets here are like Hank Hills pee hole .(that TV reference was for Jeremy who's no longer watching TV. Check out his blog when you get a chance it's good. I linked to it for you so it's not that hard people.) Hence why I've been riding the bus in to town then riding around and riding back... Oh yeah and the fact there are not really any street lights on the road leading on to campus doesn't help much to make me feel safe. Yes I've got lights but I can't really see the road and drivers fucking suck anywhere. So all in all the ride was nice, it's made me tired and hungry like I've forgotten it can and missed. I need to ride more... A lot more.

It an't mine and I'd like to keep it that way.

2007-11-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

So Mandy just sent me a link to my ex-girlfriends baby's web page (yes even babies have them now) and low and behold IT AN'T MINE! For those of you that don't know, yes there was a little worry in the back of my mind as to whether or not she lied to me when she told me that it was his. So just to make sure, I compared photos of the kid to photos of me. Nope it's his. With out a question, it's his. I'm not saying the kid is a troll, but if I were a goat I'd stay away... Oh wait I'm think of it's mom... Yeah the kid is good looking, even better looking that it's not mine because I don't ever have to worry about paying for it to go to college and fuck some dude like it's dad, or it's mom for that matter. All in all, it put a good cap on an other wise shit fuck of a day. P.S. I think I have a bacterial infection of the lungs, I'm gonna go see a doc tomorrow after this meeting I have with the Prof.

Yep, I fucking rock. I really hope that for some reason I'm shootin' blanks and NEVER have to worry about having kids... Maybe when I get the money I should reconsider gettin' the ol' tubes tied again. This time there's no Mormon girl gettin' in the way.

Racist Top Raman, Head Colds, Metal and Heavy as Fuck Rain

2007-11-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

So it's been a bit since I updated my blog. As I type this I'm sitting in my kitchen eating the most racist Top Raman ever made, Kimchi and dreading going back out side. Since none of the people that read this now what the weather is like right now I'll tell you. I woke up to the sound of what I can assume to be branches breaking off trees and slamming in to the roof of my house, followed by howling wind and pouring rain. And when I say pouring I mean FUCKING CATS AND MUTHER FUCKING DOGS! Not like that shit in Utah where it rains really hard for like an hour then quits and the sun comes out. I mean It's been raining since last night to the point that I think it's a good 3 to 4 inches every hour. Welcome to the Olympic Rain Forest Aaron, I hope you like having wet feet. So that takes care of the Raman, Rain and Kimchi, now on to the METAL.

So it's been a week since I saw Sunn three days in a row and no matter what Chris tells you I thought the Seattle was the best. He maintains that the best one was in Portland but I disagree, Seattle was the best in my mind. I read in the Stranger (a local weekly from Seattle) where the author said that Jasu was heavier then Sunn and that your ears would bleed... Yeah if you've not seen Jasu (pronounced YAY-sue) you should listen to their albums. While they are heavy there is no way in HELL they are that heavy, and that the author thought they were heavier then Sunn shows just how stupid that person is. If I've not talked to you and Sunn then I'll go in to it a little right now. Sunn is in essence two guys, Steven O'Mally and Greg Anderson. These two guys play though bout 5 amps each with two cabs per amp. That's 20 or so amps on stage at a given time. Then if they have some one play with them you add another rig to that. Think the Who before Pete found kiddie porn. So yeah Sunn will make your ears bleed, Jasu with just fucking rock.

And now for head colds. Yep, I've got one. I've had it since I first when to visit Chris, Lacy and Dinna a month ago. It sucks but the Kimchi seems to have help a lot.

Mandy was right.

2007-10-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

So upon picking up my text books for this quarter Mandy noticed that I was to read Orientalism by Edward Said. She told me I was not really going to like it. Ya' know what? She was right. While Said has some very good points, over all he is long winded and written for a scholarly crowd. This makes his book all but inaccessible to all but the most learned people. I just finished a four page paper on the fist two chapters, of which I only read one, as well as the introduction and forward, most of which I read. The book is very dense and full of jargon that makes it very difficult to read.

Yep I think that is it for now....

Oh wait, how the fuck could I have forgotten?! I'm seeing Sunn 0))) three times this weekend. Once in Olympia, once is Seattle, and once in Portland. For those of you that haven't heard me speak of Sunn (oh which I think there are three people as they are kinda the inspiration for Breaker of Men) they are this amazing Doom/drone band that just fucking eats white babies for breakfast, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and dinner. They are simply amazing. Go to your myspace, I know ya'll have em' save for my folks, and do a music search for Sunn 0))). Listen to IT Took the Night to Believe it's an amazing song but you'll need like 20 minutes to kill it's kinda long. There is no way to ready your self for this so just go do it.

I want one of these

2007-10-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Simply put I want a Gibson Les Paul Studio in Alpine White. Somebody love me enough to spend 1.700 on me and get it. Thanks.

Money bitch!!!!

2007-10-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

I need some. So I guess I need a job. If you know anyone in Olympia that is hiring (yeah right) please let me know.

Thanks,

Management.

Shit is gettin nuts

2007-10-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

Not really. Life is going as it's gone for the last month or so, school, homework, eat, sleep, repeat. I did find Red Dwarf on youtube thanks to my roommate and spent the better part of two days watching that rather then doing homework.

Also I'm sick, and I hate have a head cold. I tried to go for a bike ride yesterday and ended up turning around and coming home after not more then a few miles, thanks to my cough which it seems is trying to bring up my left lung.

I did find this site today thanks to Vice Magazine,

http://www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com/

I know you will enjoy it Cassie as it's right up your alley.

I think that is about it kids. Love ya!

I love people who dun thunk real good...

2007-10-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

So from bottom to top is a message I sent "Greg" via the Myspace, then what he replied with. While I was typing the top most message he changed his settings so that you must be a friend of his to message him. I was sad... :( hehehehehehehehe. :D OK not really but it's funny to think I used all this wit for not!

Oh good, can you reenlist please? Let me guess... Army? Infantry? Oh wait, I'll bet it was the Marines. But not an officer is my guess. Which ever it was, I'm sure you were happy there. Yeah, they tend like you backwoods inbreed white boys as long as you an't givin' the orders. More then likely you're good at following orders, like when Daddy said, "don't put it in your sister's cooch, we don't want no more yungins runnin 'round. Ya hear?!"

Read any good books that weren't tattooed on the small of your mom/sister/aunts back? I know they're all the same for you good 'ol southern boys. I noticed you didn't say anything about that little insult. Ya' know? The one were I implied that you can't read. If you need to look up the meaning for "implied" feel free, I'll wait.

P.S. A lot is two words, not one. Just a little FYI for 'ya.

Oh and while we're at it. BEATNICKS and Hippies are two different sub-cultures, in two different decades. The Beatniks were around from about 1950 to about 1960. The Hippies from 1964 to about 1974. From 1960 to '64 there was a little cross breeding as it were, not inbreeding like how you ended up with a niece/daughter. Just in case you missed that I'm implying (opps there's that word again, sorry) you had the intercourse with your sister and thus produced a daughter who at the same time is your niece. Got it? Good. I just wanted to make sure.

It might be helpful to pick up a dictionary and put down your pud, I mean Bud, before you try to type. It helps. :)

You mean groveling not "grovelling," and nonfunctional as apposed to unfunctional. Like I said, less playing with the little soldier and more using spell check or better yet pick up a dictionary, I'm sure you can find one in your town. They do tend to keep them stocked at the local Library, as well as your computer which should have one in the word processor that you use to type up bulletins for the next Klan rally.

Drink aids... Drink aids... You mean like a beer coozy? Ohhhhhhh. You mean AIDS, the thing that is carried in bodily fluids. Gee I'm sorry, I'm vegan. I don't drink any animal, human or nonhuman, bi-products. But thanks for asking. :)

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Greg
Date: 16 Oct 2007, 21:30

hey beat-nick hippy....heres my scoop...i HAVE done my time in the military..'90-'94....there ya go....as for the movie, i listed it because i LIKED it, douche..yeah, i get the moral..it still contained ALOT of good numbers and facts on illegal immigration, for one thing..plus i like ed norton..that okay with you? and you dont like ann coulter, i take it...good, then shes on the right path...you sportin some grovelling white guilt there, or what? go die....go drink aids from the unfunctional cock of a mexican transvestite..please...then die.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From:Aaron
Date: Oct 16, 2007 11:15 PM

Do you understand the meaning of that movie (Greg listed American History X as one of his favorite movies on his profile) or did you just co-op some racist line that fit with your personal feelings on people of color? If you had really listened to the moral of that film maybe you would have thought twice before posting it on your profile as one of your favorite movies.

I can't help but notice that you have no books listed, why is that?

I'm glad you have guns, it makes me feel safe knowing that most of the deaths caused by guns are because gun owners mistakenly shoot family members... There is hope yet.

I could take the time to tell you why you're wrong on some many, many, many things but I fear it would be lost on you.

Oh one last request. Would you please join the military? You seem so adamant that the military be used to fight terror, why not join them yourself? Maybe you would get something out of it, like shrapnel, or exposer to cultures other then Coulter. It might be good for you to get out of the back woods of Alabama for a while, meet some new people, you might have fun. After all, nothing spells fun like dying for a government, that if you do make it to the end of your tour, won't cover your medical bills nor the mental problems you'll bring back in the form of PTSD.

Then again maybe you'll die for your government and get buried in a nice box in Arlington. There is always hope.

Homework is for suckers II

2007-10-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

So I read the Arrivants. As I said it's a collection of three books by Kamau “Edward” Brathwaite. Yet again it is a book you should check out. I've not read much poetry but I really enjoyed this book. I don't feel like telling you any more about it then that. Oh wait there is this...

2007-10-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Those that know me know I love my mother very much, you also know that if you sent me an email like the one my mother just sent me I'd post it here and lovingly poke fun at you. :D

So it is with that I give you, "A Message From Mom."

Hey Sweetie!! Love from Boston. I couldn't open your blog. I'll try when I get home. We're presenting tomorrow morning so I had entirely too much to drink tonight. Oh well, presenting with a hangover will be a new experience. Talk to you soon!! Love Mom

Subject: New blog thing.
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2007 21:29:04 -0700
From: leeaar17@evergreen.edu
To: annengerlee@hotmail.com; ryryryry@gmail.com
CC: clee@daverobinsonarchitects.com

http://musing-from-suck-town.blogspot.com

Love ya'll

Bear

So yeah chances are if you're reading this you more then likely saw my mom at my going away party, she was a little drunk then too. I'll tell you another story of when my mom was drunk...

But before I do that, I love this part, "We're presenting tomorrow morning so I had entirely too much to drink tonight. Oh well, presenting with a hangover will be a new experience."

The way she says, "We're presenting tomorrow morning so I had entirely too much to drink tonight." reads like every average person would think, "hmmm. I have something important to do tomorrow, what will help me perform better... I know, I'll get drunk tonight!" I love that

Now for the story... It was St. Patties day and Joyce my mothers business partner had invited my family as well as some of my friends over to her and her husbands house for their party. Well I played DD that night and sadly I did not drink right then. Chis did. Lacy did. Leigh did. Charlotte did. Collin did. Mandy did. MOM for sure did!

We, and by we I mean Charlotte, Lacy, Chris, Leigh and I, go back to my folks place because I wanted to drink. About five minutes after we walk in the door Mom, Dad, Collin and Mandy come home and Mom is more then a little gone, OK she's really fuckin' gone. Chris and I are doing beer bongs and Mom tries to show us how it's done. All she does is spray beer on her, the kitchen and Lacy. It was great. By this time I'm too drunk to drive any one home and so are the rest of my family. So what does Mom do? Like any good mom does, she drives them home! No just kidding, she calls them a cab and pays for it. The next day Chris and Lacy fly to San Fransisco still drunk and toting hang overs as well. Chris later told me that when he was packing the next morning (still drunk don't forget) that he leaned over to put something in the suitcase and then ran to the bathroom and tossed cookies. My mom didn't get out of bed till about four in the after noon that day.

Oh yeah and there's that whole thing where they (Mom and Dad) kept me out of jail at the going away party... Don't you wish your folks were like mine? Yeah I know you do. So who wants to get drunk with me, my Mom, Mandy, Collin and maybe Oliver if he's up for it when I come to visit this winter? Dad likes to be DD, and I'm not kidding so he may only get drunk if you really ask him to, but you gotta be really nice.

Homework is for suckers...

2007-10-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, I read this book for class called The Woman Who Watches Over the World and I had to write a paper about it. Well I tried my damnedest to do so but I could not get more then one page out. The book is a memoir about the Author Lind Hogan and I can't for the life of me write about it in a critical fashion (I think I'm just being a fucking baby about the whole thing truthfully.) It's a persons feelings and I just do feel like I can do that. Oh well... So I got a single page of a 4 page paper that has a rough draft due in the morning and a final draft due Tuesday. So basically from the time I'm done with class until I go to bed I'll be doing nothing but writing that fucking paper...

Also the next book we're reading is The Arrivants: a New World Trilogy, Rights of Passage, Islands, Masks which is a collection of poetry form the Caribbean. I'm excited to read it. I'll tell ya'll about it when I'm done.

Oh yeah, mom I'm sending you Linda Hogans book as I think you'll really like it.

First of many I hope...

2007-10-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

So I decided that I wanted to post here rather then on myspace as I'm kinda sick of the way that one works. Enjoy.

Also I'm going to just copy and paste what I've done so far on myspace here so that I can delete that and just do it from here.

For those of you not in the know, which is none of you, I'm at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Just look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_State_College, which does not say much about the reputation that Evergreen, has; that reputation is one of a "drug school", "hippie school" etc. In truth this is the hardest I've ever worked in school. Compared to other higher education intuitions Evergreen is considered "radical", and very left wing.

So this year I'm taking a program called Colonialism and Decolonization. This is a study of the European invasion of Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East and the damage that was done as a result there of. Just to make life easy I'll give you a rough definition of colonialism. Colonialism is the act of one nation forcefully occupying another sovereign nation or nations for the economic, political and military advantage of that occupying nation. Traditionally colonialism is thought to have ended with the removal of British governing over India. This might be thought because those nations that have the power to do so are "civilized" and recognize the right of other sovereign nations to exist with out the interference from other nations. (cough) Yeah, and I'm the Pope. This not academia and I am under no obligation to be "academic" with what I say here.

Jared introduced me to a wonderful musician name K'naan, and for those of you who have not heard what this man has to say listen to the song on mine and his profile then add K'naan as a friend because his is a first hand account of what colonialism has and IS doing to poor people around the world.

Colonialism is not a thing of the past; it is not something that happened a "long, long time ago" It is happening right now. You want to read about it in a historical context? Try Howard Zinns "A Peoples History of the United States" or David E. Stannards' "American Holocaust." I just finished Stannard's book which quotes HEAVILY from the first hand accounts of what white Europeans did in the Americas from 1492 until the early 1900's. First ask your self how many people do were in the western hemisphere prior to European invasion? Then ask your self how many different groups do you think there were prior to 1492. The answer to the first question is somewhere between 60,000,000 (that's sixty MILLION kids) and 100,000,000 (that's ONE HUNDRED MILLION) people prior to 1492. The reason that these are estimates is that we don't know how many people there were. Why don't we know? Well that's simple and it is spelled like this: G-E-N-O-C-I-D-E, now say it with me GENOCIDE (genocide: The systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic, or religious group, or an attempt to do this.) This JUST the Americas, there are hundreds of millions of people killed in other parts of the world for this same reason. Like I said the YEAR LONG focus of this program is about AFRICA, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND THE AMERICAS. This does not cover India, all of Asia, Eastern Europe, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and the rest of the world. In my mind colonialism is one of the biggest defining factors affecting the world today.

So yeah you can understand how I might be a little "cynical" right now. Please do me a favor and read Stannards book the title again is "American Holocaust". It's big, it's upsetting, it's TRUE, and it's more then likely something you've never heard before. So I'll say it again, READ AMERICAN HOLOCAUST BY DAVID E. STANNARD!

So I'm making this about school only from now on.

So, here I am... I was in the shower just now thinking about somethings, mostly the fact that I'm now getting 150.00 bucks a week from the state of Utah because I've been unable to find a job up here. So what do I do with 150.00 a week? well about the only things I have to do are pay the interest on my loan for school and buy food. I've yet to find out what the interest is on my loan, but I'll know soon enough. Food. Yeah that's an important thing to have. But the plus side to being on unemployment is I have no job. Meaning I can travel when ever I feel like it, save I don't impact the first two things I have to pay every month.

Another thing I've been thinking about is the fact I moved my self away from all my friends and my immediate family. So here I am 800 miles away from everything I've known since I was born and for the first time since I've been going to school, I mean ever so this includes k-12 and the last two years the SLCC, I've learned something I really wanted to learn about and in a way that makes sense to me. It sucks ass not having friends but I'm learning a lot and for once I find it useful. Unlike all but maybe two or three classes I took at SLCC.