(no subject)
Tonight I saw Elisa Young, an anti-coal activist from Meigs County, Ohio, lecture and discuss coal power and how it effects her community. Coal power plants are concentrated in poor, vulnerable areas- Elisa has four visible distance away from her family farm and they want to add five more- and then power lined out to faraway, urban, middle income lands. Water in West Virginia is turning to orange and black slush because of Mountain Top removal, and lands are being destroyed and flooded. On Tuesday, there is an Oberlin City Council meeting that is crucial in deciding whether or not Oberlin wants to use and support this new power. I could feel the immediacy of this issue as I listened, the tug and desire to forget everything else and fight Big Power. I can understand why Kyla is committing herself to this fight and to this woman rather than moving to a big city or foreign country- it feels good to me to have something concrete, immediate, and close to work with.
Certain environments tend to make me really engaged and passionate. Learning about coal made me feel that way, and so do urban areas. Over stimulation incites my brain and sparks my sense of adventure. I am working on developing that here in Oberlin, where things can feel dead and academic (while, at the same time, I'm learning so many amazing and exciting things. Queer theory? Gender and sexuality? I cannot get enough).
Last night, Kevin, a friend who is very scientific and career minded, and seems different from me, stumbled into my room to read me his poetry. We read and talked for two hours. While I love his voice as a poet- refined, detail oriented, and classic- that same voice makes his prose trite and inapproachable, and it was interesting to enter a workshop type environment where I was critiquing him and picking apart what I felt his strengths and weaknesses were as a writer. I then read him pieces from my zine, including one about an emotionally abusive relationship and why it eventually led me to stop shaving. Suddenly, I was reading to someone I didn't know overly well something personal and peppered words like "cunt", "cum", and of course . . ."pubes." It was hard for me at first but my goal is to make zines that give myself away to strangers- to share my views and encourage them to tell their own stories- and if I plan on publishing this thing I have to start somewhere. Additionally, tonight my friend Shannon and I talked politics over bad soup for an hour. I really crave that sort of casual exchange exemplified by my contact with these two friends. Conversation and critique is so essential to my functioning.
So, Crimethinc. I was really excited to see that parts of Evasion are on the Environmental Justice Exco syllabus. It's funny how we all pretend we don't want to read those books, but I'm really intrigued. I remember reading An Anarchist's Cookbook (the Crimethinc manual, not the bomb making handbook) in Tim's room in North Salem when I was 16 or 17, totally absorbed. Over fall break this year, I was sneaking peaks at Days of War, Nights of Love in Bluestockings, and Max snuck up behind me. I quickly shut the book and reshelved it. In January, I caught him doing the exact same thing, and he had the same "hide what I'm reading!" reaction. Crimethinc is definitely anarchism's more masturbatory wing, but who doesn't like masturbation?
Speaking of sex analogies, and therefore, sex . . .I've gotten really interested in zine erotica. Does anyone know any erotic/sex zines? I think it would be interesting to put an erotic/sex zine together in a year or two- when my schedule clears up and I have time for new projects.
Certain environments tend to make me really engaged and passionate. Learning about coal made me feel that way, and so do urban areas. Over stimulation incites my brain and sparks my sense of adventure. I am working on developing that here in Oberlin, where things can feel dead and academic (while, at the same time, I'm learning so many amazing and exciting things. Queer theory? Gender and sexuality? I cannot get enough).
Last night, Kevin, a friend who is very scientific and career minded, and seems different from me, stumbled into my room to read me his poetry. We read and talked for two hours. While I love his voice as a poet- refined, detail oriented, and classic- that same voice makes his prose trite and inapproachable, and it was interesting to enter a workshop type environment where I was critiquing him and picking apart what I felt his strengths and weaknesses were as a writer. I then read him pieces from my zine, including one about an emotionally abusive relationship and why it eventually led me to stop shaving. Suddenly, I was reading to someone I didn't know overly well something personal and peppered words like "cunt", "cum", and of course . . ."pubes." It was hard for me at first but my goal is to make zines that give myself away to strangers- to share my views and encourage them to tell their own stories- and if I plan on publishing this thing I have to start somewhere. Additionally, tonight my friend Shannon and I talked politics over bad soup for an hour. I really crave that sort of casual exchange exemplified by my contact with these two friends. Conversation and critique is so essential to my functioning.
So, Crimethinc. I was really excited to see that parts of Evasion are on the Environmental Justice Exco syllabus. It's funny how we all pretend we don't want to read those books, but I'm really intrigued. I remember reading An Anarchist's Cookbook (the Crimethinc manual, not the bomb making handbook) in Tim's room in North Salem when I was 16 or 17, totally absorbed. Over fall break this year, I was sneaking peaks at Days of War, Nights of Love in Bluestockings, and Max snuck up behind me. I quickly shut the book and reshelved it. In January, I caught him doing the exact same thing, and he had the same "hide what I'm reading!" reaction. Crimethinc is definitely anarchism's more masturbatory wing, but who doesn't like masturbation?
Speaking of sex analogies, and therefore, sex . . .I've gotten really interested in zine erotica. Does anyone know any erotic/sex zines? I think it would be interesting to put an erotic/sex zine together in a year or two- when my schedule clears up and I have time for new projects.