I’ve been brewing some other posts here for a while, lengthy essays about structural oppression and narrative responsibility and perceptual bias and all that shit, but fuck it: it’s just one of those days where your friends get tear-gassed and you try to fall asleep to the surveilling thwap-thwap of police helicopters, and I’ve gotRead moreRead more

Just a thought I had, watching video of the Occupy Wall Street protests – and accompanying police brutality – while also reading responses to the targeted killing of US citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki:   These are connected.   I’ve lived in Oakland for two years now, and in nowhere else I’ve ever called home does policeRead moreRead more

TV!!!!   The television season has begun again, and I am blissin’ out to the return of “Parks & Recreation” and “Community.”  I also checked out some of the new stuff, and have – of course – opinions to share.   FOX’s “New Girl” has gotten a lot of buzz.  Zooey Deschanel!  Written by LizRead moreRead more

I haven’t been posting very much lately for lack of a personal computer, which should be remedied this weekend – at which point my regular lengthy, frequent posting can recommence.  Until then, though, a few things have been bubbling in my head; not particularly coherent or uplifting thoughts but rather a kind of submission toRead moreRead more

I know I keep talking a good game about this Harry Potter post and then going on about other things instead, but I promise, it’ll show up before 2011 runs its course.   In the meantime: this piece by Diane Ravitch, who should team up with Elizabeth Warren and run for president of the universe,Read moreRead more

  I was really moved by the video above (if it doesn’t display correctly, you can follow the link and watch it here).  One thing I’ve been contemplating a lot lately, both on this blog and in life (and in the Harry Potter megapost, which is coming someday soon, I promise!), are questions of narrativeRead moreRead more

A fascinating article on the ballooning administrative costs which have been highly correlated to rising tuition at colleges and universities – really worth a read.

At rise: Kelly is making fun of people who carry around books that they never actually read.   Isa: I dunno, I’ve been carrying around this book about Cesar Chavez for a couple months.   Kelly: Why haven’t you read it? You can find out about how he tried to kill your grandfather!   (Long pause.) Isa: Um… youRead moreRead more

Last night I received a wonderful gift.   Deanne and Irv Bayer lived across the street from my parents when I was born; we moved away a couple years later and then, four years after that, returned to the same street.  They were still there, and my mom still called Deanne her Jewish mother.  IRead moreRead more

A little bit of a follow-up to my last post: this essay offers a lovely discussion of the ways in which our perception of a place (in this case, Cleveland) can blind us to lived reality.