Saturday, May 5, 2012
Who Built the Bomb (That Blew Oklahoma City Down)
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Mike And Gerard (First Edition)
(This was my Philosophy project this semester. I’m going to take what my teacher wrote on it and try to improve upon it, or at least incorporate what he talked about in his comments. I wanted to post the original and then the second edition when I get it written:)
Gerard: You know, Mike, I understand you're smart, you've always had a knack for Lit and Philosophy and all the critical thinking stuff, but don't you think you come off as stuck - up to those of us just trying to live life?
Michael: Stuck - up? For being proud of my intellect? But you know, Gerard, you bring up an interesting ponderance, namely "Why are we here?"
Gerard: In my kitchen?
Michael: No, no, I mean, why are we as individuals here, what is the reason each individual exists, individually?
Gerard: Well, I never really thought of it too much, but I would reckon it'd be to live good Christian lives.
Michael: What is entailed in a 'Good Christian Life' my friend?
Gerard: Well you know, doing right by your family, your neighbors, and even to strangers if you can. Doing good, productive work; making, growing or building something, ya know? Never being too mean, or judgmental or hateful towards other people.
Michael: That all seems simple enough, be as good and as productive a person as you can be, you're saying?
Gerard: That would be right.
Michael: Well, let me put this to you, my friend. Imagine for me, if you will, a woman about the age of thirty. She has three kids, two jobs, one bathroom and countless bills, so much so that she turns to the government and the community for extra assistance. Now, her jobs are both service industry, catering to other people and not making anything, are you saying she isn't fulfilling her purpose in life?
Gerard: Well, I don't know if she should've went off and had all them kids anyway, Mike, it's just doesn't make any sense, especially if there ain't going to be no daddys to stick around. But, she is doing right by her family, I'd have to say, even if she isn't being productive.
Michael: But those children will more then likely grow up in poverty, and in the process of them growing up in poverty, she's not just being a nuisance to the community and the government in the short term, but rather in the long term.
Gerard: Well, I never thought of it that way, Mike.
Michael: So did she divert from her purpose in life? From living the 'Good Christian Life'?
Gerard: Well I wouldn't chastise her, but I ain't gonna ask her to be my preacher anytime soon.
Michael: What if I told you that these children were triplets conceived by rape that she decided to carry to term.
Gerard: Well, I'm not so sure. I'd reckon you could say that'd make her a good person, self-sacrificing like that.
Michael: Has she fulfilled her purpose in life?
Gerard: I'd have to say yes, she did something selfless and good.
Michael: But it was reckless. She brought three children into an already over populated planet. We don't have enough room to produce enough food to feed the seven billion people we have now.
Gerard: Are you saying she should have aborted them?
Michael: Well, if we are here to be productive, as you have said, I think so. It seems destructive, or counterintuitive, to do otherwise, especially since she's condemning them to a life of poverty. And I emphasize she, because we're looking at her, and not them or the chance that they may, as it is said, 'Pull themselves up by their bootstraps."
Gerard: I guess it makes sense Mike, maybe we aren't here to live good Christian lives. Why do you think we're here?
Michael: To live.
Gerard: To live? Well Mike, I'm simple, but come on, that's over simplifying it.
Michael: I meant like to live, hedonistically.
Gerard: You mean to over - indulge, how can that be why we're here?
Michael: We create and destroy by nature, so neither can be why we are here, can they? One does not seem to out weigh the other, a woman gives birth to a child and a man murders a stranger at a convenient store.
Gerard: What about farmers?
Michael: For every farmer there is an agribusiness that pollutes and poisons our foods with hormones, preservatives and pesticides, which leads us faster and faster toward death.
Gerard: What about manufacturing plants?
Michael: Like the ones in the orient where men, women and children are over worked and underpaid in sweatshops? While the rest of the world can't get decent paying jobs because the multi-national corporations want to increase their profit margin?
Gerard: So, as a race, we create as much as we destroy?
Micheal: And as individuals! We drive cars, smoke cigarettes, forget to recycle, litter! All signs of our hedonism. Why are we here? To indulge in hedonism at whatever extreme we desire until we kill ourselves or someone else.
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
American Middle Class Women As Portrayed In American 20th Century Drama
(Something I wrote in-class for my English final)
The plays Trifles, Fences and The Death of a Salesman are all completely different plays, written by different people with different experiences. All three plays focus on the American middle class, spanning over the course of a decade, from the setting of Trifles to the setting of The Death of a Salesman. In two of the Tree plays, women are treated as supporting characters, but all women in all three plays are treated merely as playing supporting roles to the men in their lives.
In Trifles, the play where women play a lead role and men play a supporting role, the characters the women portray are not treated with any kind of fairness. The men, while fumbling around trying to solve a murder, often mock the women who seem to be coming up with what could be evidence to convict the lady they have in custody. "Here a lady's been drug off to jail for killing her husband and their worried about her fruit." One of the male characters said.
"Have you figured out how she stitched it?" Another teased.
The women of this play, while intelligent and insightful, were not taken seriously.
In Fences we see Rose, who is written as a strong, take-no-nonsense kind of woman, still, she is the border between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale in Trifles and Linda in The Death of a Salesman. She seems to demand a certain level of respect, but she still listens when Troy tells her to go and make something to eat. She also takes no courage in standing up for Cory against Troy on the issue of playing football. Troy treats her subpar, and even when he has a baby with another woman, she still stands by him, to his death and beyond.
Lastly there is Linda, the timid peace keeper in The Death of A Saleman. She is so afraid to question her husband that she doesn't even address the fact that he's trying to kill himself, let alone address the fact that he's never been the salesperson he's built himself up to be. She just serves him, cares for him, tries to make and keep him happy and well. Both in writing and in the way she is treated by her husband and other men, she is the most subservient of all the women.
All three women in all three plays exemplify what the patriarchal American society wanted women to be like, but they were not all the same. Linda, written by a whit man in the 1950's, is the most submissive and timid, but not the most taken advantage of, not on a conscious level, anyway. Rose, written by an African American man in the early to mid 1900's, is submissive, dedicated, timid AND is taken advantage of with her complete consent. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale written by a white woman in the 1900's, are often talked down to, like one talking to a child, but are portrayed as intelligent and independent minded, though also timid.
The plays Trifles, Fences and The Death of a Salesman are all completely different plays, written by different people with different experiences. All three plays focus on the American middle class, spanning over the course of a decade, from the setting of Trifles to the setting of The Death of a Salesman. In two of the Tree plays, women are treated as supporting characters, but all women in all three plays are treated merely as playing supporting roles to the men in their lives.
In Trifles, the play where women play a lead role and men play a supporting role, the characters the women portray are not treated with any kind of fairness. The men, while fumbling around trying to solve a murder, often mock the women who seem to be coming up with what could be evidence to convict the lady they have in custody. "Here a lady's been drug off to jail for killing her husband and their worried about her fruit." One of the male characters said.
"Have you figured out how she stitched it?" Another teased.
The women of this play, while intelligent and insightful, were not taken seriously.
In Fences we see Rose, who is written as a strong, take-no-nonsense kind of woman, still, she is the border between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale in Trifles and Linda in The Death of a Salesman. She seems to demand a certain level of respect, but she still listens when Troy tells her to go and make something to eat. She also takes no courage in standing up for Cory against Troy on the issue of playing football. Troy treats her subpar, and even when he has a baby with another woman, she still stands by him, to his death and beyond.
Lastly there is Linda, the timid peace keeper in The Death of A Saleman. She is so afraid to question her husband that she doesn't even address the fact that he's trying to kill himself, let alone address the fact that he's never been the salesperson he's built himself up to be. She just serves him, cares for him, tries to make and keep him happy and well. Both in writing and in the way she is treated by her husband and other men, she is the most subservient of all the women.
All three women in all three plays exemplify what the patriarchal American society wanted women to be like, but they were not all the same. Linda, written by a whit man in the 1950's, is the most submissive and timid, but not the most taken advantage of, not on a conscious level, anyway. Rose, written by an African American man in the early to mid 1900's, is submissive, dedicated, timid AND is taken advantage of with her complete consent. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale written by a white woman in the 1900's, are often talked down to, like one talking to a child, but are portrayed as intelligent and independent minded, though also timid.
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Monday, April 30, 2012
"My Last Campaign"
This was in the subject line of an email I got from OFA (Obama for America) this morning. Seems like your regular fundraising email, right? They want some money, their swing has been for three bucks and the current winner of this contribution lottery may have the chance to meet both the current sitting president and George Clooney.
So what? The candidate is campaigning, he's asking for campaign funds, isn't that okay? Isn't that what candidates for elected office have been doing for countless years?
I could go on the typical "Why is the sitting president campaigning when we have people out of jobs, without healthcare or places to stay or food to eat?" rant, but I won't. Don't get me wrong, it is an important point and it SHOULD be made, in fact, I have made it, but today, I have a completely different focus.
Three words. My. Last. Campaign.
Is there a law that says he isn't allowed to run for office again? We can assume, based on his resume, that he believes in the power of elected office to affect change, right? So why not go back to Chicago and run for the Senate, the House Of Representatives, the state assembly of Illinois?
We all know the answer to this. It isn't about you and I. It won't be about the people of Chicago or the people of Illinois. It's about him, the DNC, all of his corporate givers. He wants this second term as president and he wants it to be his last campaign. Which can be prophetic if he loses. The American people he cares for so much, the American people he feels he's best for, don't deserve a second term out of him if it isn't consecutive?
It isn't profitable if it isn't consecutive.
Only a true lover of their country would run un-consecutively.
Mr. President, I am saddened that this will be your last campaign, not because I admire you as a politician or a leader, not because I do or don't agree that you are good for me or anyone else in the media/blogging world.
I am saddened to learn that this will be your last campaign based solely on the principle of the matter.
It's another sure sign that it's all about the damn money. Mr. President? Why don't you just come out and admit it.
Please?
Because I'm going to feel compelled to go to the voting booth in November and I'd like at least a little honesty on which to base my vote.
Sincerely,
J.A. Fisher
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
So what? The candidate is campaigning, he's asking for campaign funds, isn't that okay? Isn't that what candidates for elected office have been doing for countless years?
I could go on the typical "Why is the sitting president campaigning when we have people out of jobs, without healthcare or places to stay or food to eat?" rant, but I won't. Don't get me wrong, it is an important point and it SHOULD be made, in fact, I have made it, but today, I have a completely different focus.
Three words. My. Last. Campaign.
Is there a law that says he isn't allowed to run for office again? We can assume, based on his resume, that he believes in the power of elected office to affect change, right? So why not go back to Chicago and run for the Senate, the House Of Representatives, the state assembly of Illinois?
We all know the answer to this. It isn't about you and I. It won't be about the people of Chicago or the people of Illinois. It's about him, the DNC, all of his corporate givers. He wants this second term as president and he wants it to be his last campaign. Which can be prophetic if he loses. The American people he cares for so much, the American people he feels he's best for, don't deserve a second term out of him if it isn't consecutive?
It isn't profitable if it isn't consecutive.
Only a true lover of their country would run un-consecutively.
Mr. President, I am saddened that this will be your last campaign, not because I admire you as a politician or a leader, not because I do or don't agree that you are good for me or anyone else in the media/blogging world.
I am saddened to learn that this will be your last campaign based solely on the principle of the matter.
It's another sure sign that it's all about the damn money. Mr. President? Why don't you just come out and admit it.
Please?
Because I'm going to feel compelled to go to the voting booth in November and I'd like at least a little honesty on which to base my vote.
Sincerely,
J.A. Fisher
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Friday, April 27, 2012
Punk and Poetry
Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripeed Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
- Wilfred Owen
(Dulce et Decorm est Pro patria mori: It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.)
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Summer Metal Tours
All across the globe, there are metal festivals, and if you live close enough to one, you may have the fortune of going. But what if you don't? Then what are your options? As of now I know of two, two on two completely different sides of the Metal spectrum.
First is Mayhem Festival 2012
Personally, I'm kind of torn about the line up. It seems pretty eclectic, and I think it's guaranteed to bring in some tons of money from the hardcore fans of all these big name bands they've gotten this year.
You have Slipknot for starters, Slayer, Motorhead and Anthrax as your headliners. But as if this won't bring in a lot of metalheads of all ages and styles, they still have something for the kids.
Kevin Lyman has also gotten, on the exact same tour (we haven't switched over to Warped Tour or Taste of Chaos here) As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, Whitechapel, High on Fire, Upon a Burning Body, I the Breather and Dirtfedd.
This is eclectic. Though it doesn't bring in your Death Metallers, your hardcore punkers (though Motorhead may bring in some punkers) and as always, fans of Black Metal are left out in the cold. (If there are any festivals, tours, concerts, etc with Black Metal bands and/or Hardcore Punk bands, please feel free to share them.)
In full disclosure, I was (and still am) tempted to go to this for Slayer, Slipknot and Whitechapel.
But then there's the Summer Slaughter Tour. I feel like all I have to say here is Cannibal Corpse, the tours headliners, but let's look at who else they got to do this amazing tour this summer. Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, Job For A Cowboy, Goatwhore, Exhumed and Cerebral Bore!
If I only get to see one show this year, this will HAVE to be that show, easily. And for me it's because of Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Exhumed and Cerebral Bore.
Anyway, those are two shows that are going down this summer for all of you Metalheads out there.
Now for my fellow punkers. I don't know of anything in particular (though that won't stop me from looking) but Anti Flag is going to be on Warped Tour, which means if I have/had the money, I would definitely be going to that.
I guess that's the good thing about Mayhem and Warped Tour. If I wake up on the morning of the tour and have enough money to go, then I can go, because I know that they don't sell out.
But now your Summer Slaughter can sell out, so be looking for those tickets. At my local venue to get them online their like 30 bucks (that's once I've added in all the extra charges from Livenation) and totally worth every penny, so get them fast before their gone!
Alexander Fisher
First is Mayhem Festival 2012
Personally, I'm kind of torn about the line up. It seems pretty eclectic, and I think it's guaranteed to bring in some tons of money from the hardcore fans of all these big name bands they've gotten this year.
You have Slipknot for starters, Slayer, Motorhead and Anthrax as your headliners. But as if this won't bring in a lot of metalheads of all ages and styles, they still have something for the kids.
Kevin Lyman has also gotten, on the exact same tour (we haven't switched over to Warped Tour or Taste of Chaos here) As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, Whitechapel, High on Fire, Upon a Burning Body, I the Breather and Dirtfedd.
This is eclectic. Though it doesn't bring in your Death Metallers, your hardcore punkers (though Motorhead may bring in some punkers) and as always, fans of Black Metal are left out in the cold. (If there are any festivals, tours, concerts, etc with Black Metal bands and/or Hardcore Punk bands, please feel free to share them.)
In full disclosure, I was (and still am) tempted to go to this for Slayer, Slipknot and Whitechapel.
But then there's the Summer Slaughter Tour. I feel like all I have to say here is Cannibal Corpse, the tours headliners, but let's look at who else they got to do this amazing tour this summer. Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, Job For A Cowboy, Goatwhore, Exhumed and Cerebral Bore!
If I only get to see one show this year, this will HAVE to be that show, easily. And for me it's because of Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Exhumed and Cerebral Bore.
Anyway, those are two shows that are going down this summer for all of you Metalheads out there.
Now for my fellow punkers. I don't know of anything in particular (though that won't stop me from looking) but Anti Flag is going to be on Warped Tour, which means if I have/had the money, I would definitely be going to that.
I guess that's the good thing about Mayhem and Warped Tour. If I wake up on the morning of the tour and have enough money to go, then I can go, because I know that they don't sell out.
But now your Summer Slaughter can sell out, so be looking for those tickets. At my local venue to get them online their like 30 bucks (that's once I've added in all the extra charges from Livenation) and totally worth every penny, so get them fast before their gone!
Alexander Fisher
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Friday, April 6, 2012
Every Morning Sun Sets
And now the sun has risen, it is beating down on me. Like an anvil, the pressure of the dry heat beats down on me. Nothing is as calm and soft and beautiful as it was. The birds have quit singing, all the animals have ceased to talk to one another. They are off now to feed and hunt and kill. Now my back is burnt and I'm bent in my toils with the harsh Earth. The dirt makes my hands tough and as I kick around in my feeble human manner, the dust stings my eyes and dries my throat. There is no water. All I have are my toils. I continue to work the Earth and it continues to buck me.
Now it is night and I go inside to rest. The air is still and heavy. I move now to sleep. The truth is you will not come back to me. Tonight is a forever night. I will live forever in this night. Forever this hot, still, stubborn air will attempt to suffocate me. I am a slave to this night. I will die in this night. Your morning beauty will never again grace me, you will never come to me, you will never be mine. As this is true, I will let the night and your memory consume me. I am nothing but your slave, a slave to a mistress who has cast me aside and forgotten me. My heart is to you a broken thing in a trash can you've thrown away.
And why shouldn't I be her thing? What am I but a thing? Skin and cells and blood and hair. The only thing that makes me more is an inflated sense of ego that is universally present in the entire race, but isn't found in me. I am shit, and less than. Why are humans so conceited? We are lazy beings who gorge ourselves on our ability to steal what other things have created. The only creators among us are women. We abuse them. Mentally, emotionally, physically. You are weak. Why must you assert your 'dominance'? Because you are weak, and you refuse to accept it. You are shit. We are all shit.
Now it is night and I go inside to rest. The air is still and heavy. I move now to sleep. The truth is you will not come back to me. Tonight is a forever night. I will live forever in this night. Forever this hot, still, stubborn air will attempt to suffocate me. I am a slave to this night. I will die in this night. Your morning beauty will never again grace me, you will never come to me, you will never be mine. As this is true, I will let the night and your memory consume me. I am nothing but your slave, a slave to a mistress who has cast me aside and forgotten me. My heart is to you a broken thing in a trash can you've thrown away.
And why shouldn't I be her thing? What am I but a thing? Skin and cells and blood and hair. The only thing that makes me more is an inflated sense of ego that is universally present in the entire race, but isn't found in me. I am shit, and less than. Why are humans so conceited? We are lazy beings who gorge ourselves on our ability to steal what other things have created. The only creators among us are women. We abuse them. Mentally, emotionally, physically. You are weak. Why must you assert your 'dominance'? Because you are weak, and you refuse to accept it. You are shit. We are all shit.
"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)