vicissitude
i've been trying to restructure my life so as to be more consistent with my convictions about what constitutes, in the socratic tradition, the good life. this is not an easy thing to do. it is easy to think things and to have grandiose visions about what life ought to be like, both at home and on a global scale, but it is another thing entirely to put those thoughts into action.
1) in december i bought a new car. my old car was beginning to come apart at the seams, and i was driving a fair amount for work and travel. with gas prices continuing to rise and the globe continuing to warm, i bought a used jetta diesel. 40mpg's around town, closer to 50 on the highway, and it'll run on biodeisel. old, proven technology that ought to last for 300k+ miles. no spark plugs, and oil only needs to be changed every 15k miles.
2) if, as a nation, we are going to make a gradual transition away from oil towards green fuels, and it seem as though we certainly should for a number of reasons, then a new problem arises. where is all of this grain going to come from, and at what cost? the price of corn has already begun to rise due to the increase in demand. how can we possibly produce enough to fuel our cars and to feed ourselves? given that most of our grain feeds cattle and not humans, an incredibly inefficent process, the solution is a simple one really. and so i've quit eating meat. i've been convinced for some time that eating meat was unethical (i'll spare you the arguments), but was never motivated to put my money where my mouth was (or to take the meat out of it anyway). if my car can run on veggies, then so can i.
3) i canceled my cable. mindless drivel. since i only work 18 hours a week during the academic year (less, if at all, in the summer), i have a lot of freetime, a large portion of which was filled watching television. no more. instead, i'm reading more. i got a subscription to the nation and to harper's. i've taken an interest in what's going on in the world and how my actions indirectly (or directly) affect the state of things. besides, i can pick up hdtv for free with a ten dollar antenna and watch the rest on itunes. google video is opening up new worlds to me. further, the indianapolis public library has an incredible selection of movies and music. i'd much rather watch a documentary than mtv. blasphemy to generation y, but we live in a sick culture, and antideppresents are not the answer. we continually drug ourselves with pop culture fixes while ignoring the important issues. besides, the media is a joke. american propaganda is of the worst sort. we actually think we have free choice, free elections, and are willing to kill others to protect it. ha. i'll stop short of a manifesto here, but the more i remove myself from the mainstream, the more ashamed i am of being an american. from the genocide of the native americans to the slaughter of millions of iraqis (from 1990-present, including the results of unjust sanctions during the clinton years), our history is embarassing to anyone that gives a damn about the value of human life. make no mistake, we are the new rome.
4) i'm moving. no, not out of the u.s. (this would be ideal, but i am not a rich man. as an interesting project, do some research about renouncing your citizenship. next to impossible). i turned down a full time tenure track philosophy gig in el paso, texas (i don't know that i could have stomached living in w's homeland), and accepted a full time gig in yakima, washington. 140 miles se of seattle, 180 miles from portland. i've always wanted to see the nw, and now i'll be living there. and if jeb should ever become president, i'll be close to canada. and so in august, i'll be leaving indiana, where i've spent almost my entire life.
5) in the spirit of removing myself from what i believe to be an unhealthy culture and beginning to create one that makes sense to me, on my own terms, the next step is to quit watching sports. i've always been a sports junky. nd football, iu basketball, the colts and pacers. giving it up will be easier moving out of the midwest and without cable. not that i think sports are inherently evil, in fact far from it. rather, it's the absurd amounts of money involved while millions live in poverty. as a small example, indianapolis is spending $675,000,000 on a new stadium to keep the colts. it will have a retractable roof. a refuckingtractable roof. how many people have no roof at all? as a people, we are in desperate need of an economic bill of rights. capitalism and free trade ought to be the cuss words of the working class. as in "go capitalism yourself." it could not be any more vulgar.
6) with my new job, assuming that i don't get fired (or poisoned) for corrupting the youth, i will be financially stable. i'll have health insurance for the first time in over five years. i will not be a rich man, but i will (and am now) amongst the turely privilaged. i don't know what it's like to go hungry or to not have a warm place to sleep. i have clean water to drink. in fact, i have so much i piss in it. i've seen and done things billions can't even fathom. i have a college degree. two of them. i've been to europe. just for fun. i've thrown away food because i was so full i couldn't finish it. i don't mean to have an apologetic tone, but i don't want to forget this either.
1) in december i bought a new car. my old car was beginning to come apart at the seams, and i was driving a fair amount for work and travel. with gas prices continuing to rise and the globe continuing to warm, i bought a used jetta diesel. 40mpg's around town, closer to 50 on the highway, and it'll run on biodeisel. old, proven technology that ought to last for 300k+ miles. no spark plugs, and oil only needs to be changed every 15k miles.
2) if, as a nation, we are going to make a gradual transition away from oil towards green fuels, and it seem as though we certainly should for a number of reasons, then a new problem arises. where is all of this grain going to come from, and at what cost? the price of corn has already begun to rise due to the increase in demand. how can we possibly produce enough to fuel our cars and to feed ourselves? given that most of our grain feeds cattle and not humans, an incredibly inefficent process, the solution is a simple one really. and so i've quit eating meat. i've been convinced for some time that eating meat was unethical (i'll spare you the arguments), but was never motivated to put my money where my mouth was (or to take the meat out of it anyway). if my car can run on veggies, then so can i.
3) i canceled my cable. mindless drivel. since i only work 18 hours a week during the academic year (less, if at all, in the summer), i have a lot of freetime, a large portion of which was filled watching television. no more. instead, i'm reading more. i got a subscription to the nation and to harper's. i've taken an interest in what's going on in the world and how my actions indirectly (or directly) affect the state of things. besides, i can pick up hdtv for free with a ten dollar antenna and watch the rest on itunes. google video is opening up new worlds to me. further, the indianapolis public library has an incredible selection of movies and music. i'd much rather watch a documentary than mtv. blasphemy to generation y, but we live in a sick culture, and antideppresents are not the answer. we continually drug ourselves with pop culture fixes while ignoring the important issues. besides, the media is a joke. american propaganda is of the worst sort. we actually think we have free choice, free elections, and are willing to kill others to protect it. ha. i'll stop short of a manifesto here, but the more i remove myself from the mainstream, the more ashamed i am of being an american. from the genocide of the native americans to the slaughter of millions of iraqis (from 1990-present, including the results of unjust sanctions during the clinton years), our history is embarassing to anyone that gives a damn about the value of human life. make no mistake, we are the new rome.
4) i'm moving. no, not out of the u.s. (this would be ideal, but i am not a rich man. as an interesting project, do some research about renouncing your citizenship. next to impossible). i turned down a full time tenure track philosophy gig in el paso, texas (i don't know that i could have stomached living in w's homeland), and accepted a full time gig in yakima, washington. 140 miles se of seattle, 180 miles from portland. i've always wanted to see the nw, and now i'll be living there. and if jeb should ever become president, i'll be close to canada. and so in august, i'll be leaving indiana, where i've spent almost my entire life.
5) in the spirit of removing myself from what i believe to be an unhealthy culture and beginning to create one that makes sense to me, on my own terms, the next step is to quit watching sports. i've always been a sports junky. nd football, iu basketball, the colts and pacers. giving it up will be easier moving out of the midwest and without cable. not that i think sports are inherently evil, in fact far from it. rather, it's the absurd amounts of money involved while millions live in poverty. as a small example, indianapolis is spending $675,000,000 on a new stadium to keep the colts. it will have a retractable roof. a refuckingtractable roof. how many people have no roof at all? as a people, we are in desperate need of an economic bill of rights. capitalism and free trade ought to be the cuss words of the working class. as in "go capitalism yourself." it could not be any more vulgar.
6) with my new job, assuming that i don't get fired (or poisoned) for corrupting the youth, i will be financially stable. i'll have health insurance for the first time in over five years. i will not be a rich man, but i will (and am now) amongst the turely privilaged. i don't know what it's like to go hungry or to not have a warm place to sleep. i have clean water to drink. in fact, i have so much i piss in it. i've seen and done things billions can't even fathom. i have a college degree. two of them. i've been to europe. just for fun. i've thrown away food because i was so full i couldn't finish it. i don't mean to have an apologetic tone, but i don't want to forget this either.