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reddawn
1) Your sense of humor could be described as a bit (ahem) dry and sarcastic. Don't you hate it when people just don't get it?
I kinda love it when people just don’t get it. I’ve written previously as a retail worker about lying to customers on purpose just to make the day go by faster. I would count that as just a part of my "dry" and "sarcastic" humor. Weirdly, I’m a terrible liar but I can fool anyone who has no sense of humor.
However, I can’t stand being around anyone with no sense of humor for long.
2) Name your favorite record to fuck to? To make love to?
Is the fuck/make love duality similar to the porn/erotica one? I going to ignore the distinction.
But to answer the question, it depends on the person. It can be meaningful or totally random, but if I hear an album while fooling around, it becomes kinda a theme and I wouldn’t listen to the same one with anyone else if I could help it. * I hate listening to the radio because of the commercials and I’m not too fond of metal though Rob Zombie was kinda special once. Other records that have been special in the past: Jonathon Richman – pretty much anything, Dead Milk men – "Bucky Fellini", Fela – "Black President", X – "Wild Gift", Dr Dre – "2000". You can see I don’t have just one "makeout" mix tape or anything.
If we ever fool around RD, it will definitely be to the Feederz, ok? Or maybe a tape of the MRR radio show circa 1984 or so. I know you’ve got the semi-old school fetish going on.
*If I could help it means that I wouldn’t likely say in the heat of the moment, "Oh turn this off, It reminds me too much of XXXXXX.
3) What quirky trait ofjactitation's are you going to miss the most once she moves out? What annoying habit are you (not-so)secretly glad you'll no longer have to deal with?
I will miss so many quirky things about Jactitation that it is hard to pick just one. The way she will start speaking French and not stop until I start guessing how to respond through context. The way she remembers what TV, movies and soap operas all the bit actors did previously. Her bringing home good books to read. Disagreeing about word meanings and origins with her until finally one of us would look it up in the dictionary (and then I’d find out she’d be right 90% of the time). And those are just the shallow ones, there are many, many deeper reasons why I’ll miss her but I’m going to stop before it makes me sad.
What I won’t miss is her obsession with "Friends". And the way she says, "You know what would be great right now? Cigarettes!" every night even though she hasn’t smoked regularly in about ten years.
And then there’s the way she obsesses about a current hit like "The Thong Song" or "My Milkshake" and plays it over and over and over for weeks.
Oh, that’s me, isn’t it ….
4) So, considering the tensions you've mentioned about identifying as an anarchist, how have your views on worker co-ops changed over the past nine years at Rainbow?
The perfectly thought out co-op won’t work. It’s all about organic compromise* between individuals who come from different backgrounds and places. The pure co-op only breeds purists and purists are hateful, humorless, and annoying. Plus they usually can’t run businesses in the capitalist world so unless someone with a trust fund or rich relatives is secretly keeping someplace afloat, cough …AK Press … cough, having a realistic business plan is kinda a necessary evil.
The co-op world spans the radically political and the status quo capitalist world. Worker control is revolutionary. Being business partners isn’t. Most co-ops are somewhere in between and have a lot to offer radical movements about realism, hope, compromise and being serious about what one is doing. Radical movements supply (some) consumers and a vision for co-ops about what they should strive to become, when more radical possibilities are realistic. Co-ops can also easily ape traditional business models if they (or a portion of their members) don’t keep this vision alive. As Malatesta wrote (and I’m paraphrasing) co-ops can train people in essential skills and show them that they don’t need bosses to order them around in order to function, but they need to guard against the "shopkeeper mentality" that can turn a community-aware organization into a parasitical one.
". . . In my opinion, co-operatives and trade unions under the capitalist regime do not naturally, or by reasons of their intrinsic value, lead to human emancipation, but can be producers of good and evil; today organs of (conservatism) OR social transformation, tomorrow serving the forces of reaction OR revolution. All depends on whether they limit themselves to functioning as defenders of the immediate interests of their members or are animated and influenced by the anarchist spirit, which makes the ideals stronger than sectional interests."
In my years of working at a co-op and with many others politically, I feel like I just agree with this more and have a deeper understanding of what Malatesta means.
*I’m not implying that I think these compromises can be accomplished somehow outside of the societal structures we’ve all grown up with, but that compromises are necessary and that different ones make sense at different times.
5) As a big zine dork and a livejournal superstar you're used to (and obviously enjoy) writing for a Public, and being at least partially aware of their expectations of you as the Author. In contrast, the anonymity of graffiti can provide an avenue for both liberation and cowardice. Assuming you hadn't been scared straight after your last graf spree, what would you write anonymously to the world on a darkened underpass?
Well, actually it did scare me straight. But, if I was to graffiti again, it would depend on my mood:
A year ago – a simple "Fuck Your War!"
10 years ago but maybe now again – "Bush, you liar, we’ll set your ass on fire" because it’s catchier than it seems.
For the Old School -- "What vision is left and is anyone asking?"
For you – "WOLVERINES!"
But likely I’d go for my old standby – "Smash the state and have a nice day" with the anarcho smiley face symbol.
Weirdly, I’ve never been good at slogans so this was the hardest question for me to answer.
THE RULES:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond and I'll ask you five questions. At least, I will until too many people ask and I’ll give up with no warning and a few apologies.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
reddawn1) Your sense of humor could be described as a bit (ahem) dry and sarcastic. Don't you hate it when people just don't get it?
I kinda love it when people just don’t get it. I’ve written previously as a retail worker about lying to customers on purpose just to make the day go by faster. I would count that as just a part of my "dry" and "sarcastic" humor. Weirdly, I’m a terrible liar but I can fool anyone who has no sense of humor.
However, I can’t stand being around anyone with no sense of humor for long.
2) Name your favorite record to fuck to? To make love to?
Is the fuck/make love duality similar to the porn/erotica one? I going to ignore the distinction.
But to answer the question, it depends on the person. It can be meaningful or totally random, but if I hear an album while fooling around, it becomes kinda a theme and I wouldn’t listen to the same one with anyone else if I could help it. * I hate listening to the radio because of the commercials and I’m not too fond of metal though Rob Zombie was kinda special once. Other records that have been special in the past: Jonathon Richman – pretty much anything, Dead Milk men – "Bucky Fellini", Fela – "Black President", X – "Wild Gift", Dr Dre – "2000". You can see I don’t have just one "makeout" mix tape or anything.
If we ever fool around RD, it will definitely be to the Feederz, ok? Or maybe a tape of the MRR radio show circa 1984 or so. I know you’ve got the semi-old school fetish going on.
*If I could help it means that I wouldn’t likely say in the heat of the moment, "Oh turn this off, It reminds me too much of XXXXXX.
3) What quirky trait of
jactitation's are you going to miss the most once she moves out? What annoying habit are you (not-so)secretly glad you'll no longer have to deal with?I will miss so many quirky things about Jactitation that it is hard to pick just one. The way she will start speaking French and not stop until I start guessing how to respond through context. The way she remembers what TV, movies and soap operas all the bit actors did previously. Her bringing home good books to read. Disagreeing about word meanings and origins with her until finally one of us would look it up in the dictionary (and then I’d find out she’d be right 90% of the time). And those are just the shallow ones, there are many, many deeper reasons why I’ll miss her but I’m going to stop before it makes me sad.
What I won’t miss is her obsession with "Friends". And the way she says, "You know what would be great right now? Cigarettes!" every night even though she hasn’t smoked regularly in about ten years.
And then there’s the way she obsesses about a current hit like "The Thong Song" or "My Milkshake" and plays it over and over and over for weeks.
Oh, that’s me, isn’t it ….
4) So, considering the tensions you've mentioned about identifying as an anarchist, how have your views on worker co-ops changed over the past nine years at Rainbow?
The perfectly thought out co-op won’t work. It’s all about organic compromise* between individuals who come from different backgrounds and places. The pure co-op only breeds purists and purists are hateful, humorless, and annoying. Plus they usually can’t run businesses in the capitalist world so unless someone with a trust fund or rich relatives is secretly keeping someplace afloat, cough …AK Press … cough, having a realistic business plan is kinda a necessary evil.
The co-op world spans the radically political and the status quo capitalist world. Worker control is revolutionary. Being business partners isn’t. Most co-ops are somewhere in between and have a lot to offer radical movements about realism, hope, compromise and being serious about what one is doing. Radical movements supply (some) consumers and a vision for co-ops about what they should strive to become, when more radical possibilities are realistic. Co-ops can also easily ape traditional business models if they (or a portion of their members) don’t keep this vision alive. As Malatesta wrote (and I’m paraphrasing) co-ops can train people in essential skills and show them that they don’t need bosses to order them around in order to function, but they need to guard against the "shopkeeper mentality" that can turn a community-aware organization into a parasitical one.
". . . In my opinion, co-operatives and trade unions under the capitalist regime do not naturally, or by reasons of their intrinsic value, lead to human emancipation, but can be producers of good and evil; today organs of (conservatism) OR social transformation, tomorrow serving the forces of reaction OR revolution. All depends on whether they limit themselves to functioning as defenders of the immediate interests of their members or are animated and influenced by the anarchist spirit, which makes the ideals stronger than sectional interests."
In my years of working at a co-op and with many others politically, I feel like I just agree with this more and have a deeper understanding of what Malatesta means.
*I’m not implying that I think these compromises can be accomplished somehow outside of the societal structures we’ve all grown up with, but that compromises are necessary and that different ones make sense at different times.
5) As a big zine dork and a livejournal superstar you're used to (and obviously enjoy) writing for a Public, and being at least partially aware of their expectations of you as the Author. In contrast, the anonymity of graffiti can provide an avenue for both liberation and cowardice. Assuming you hadn't been scared straight after your last graf spree, what would you write anonymously to the world on a darkened underpass?
Well, actually it did scare me straight. But, if I was to graffiti again, it would depend on my mood:
A year ago – a simple "Fuck Your War!"
10 years ago but maybe now again – "Bush, you liar, we’ll set your ass on fire" because it’s catchier than it seems.
For the Old School -- "What vision is left and is anyone asking?"
For you – "WOLVERINES!"
But likely I’d go for my old standby – "Smash the state and have a nice day" with the anarcho smiley face symbol.
Weirdly, I’ve never been good at slogans so this was the hardest question for me to answer.
THE RULES:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond and I'll ask you five questions. At least, I will until too many people ask and I’ll give up with no warning and a few apologies.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 11:14 am (UTC)Since I like your writing and you have a viewpoint that is both radical and non-dogmatic, I'd appreciate it if you were to post links to where you talk about identifying as an anarchist.
Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 11:33 am (UTC)Ideally, sub-culturally,* and ideologically, I'm an anarchist. I resisted the label during my high school years but started using it at the 1988 Anarchist conference in Toronto because I was moved by the community I found there. I appreciate the analysis of power and coercion and find it most useful to my political work and my life. But I pay taxes, vote, and generally submit to the will of the state until such time as there is a viable alternative. I find the anarchist community alternatively inspiring and embarrassing, but it was there for me in my formative years when I needed it. I recognize that others need it too. But I'm not going to be working out battlefield tactics with the Black Bloc as my main source of political outlet.
So how did you find my journal? Are you a member of any law enforcement agency? Give me a brief bio of things that are important or demographic about you. Can you use a pen name so I know when you comment that it's the same person?
*in that ex-punk rocker kind of way.
Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 01:21 pm (UTC)You would probably call me an aging metalhead. I'm not working right now but I expect to be going to graduate school for computer science next fall or the following spring. For now I live in a housing co-op.
We work via consensus in the co-op, which has been a mixed bag. I like the idealism behind it, but I think that consensus based decision making has a form of ideology that can be problematic. There is a belief behind it that says that *any* conflict can be solved with enough discussion. Therefore, if you have a problem with somebody's behavior, you just haven't talked with him or her enough. There's a guy who lives here who is practically the prototype of the passive aggressive left liberal control freak. (Another good example of this kind of this kind of personality, Richard Stallman, can be seen here: http://www.jwz.org/doc/lemacs.html) We seem to be completely unable to hold him accountable for his chicken-shit behavior like turning off a computer in public space that had a document being edited that he didn't like. (And as many times before, he pulled this on a woman.) There are many other examples that I could name, but the point is that it has left me feeling unsure of what would be the ideal way of organizing society. I don't trust hierarchical power structures at all, but I definitely don't want to be controlled by this kind of domineering and sniveling little shit either.
Since I happen to be listening to an "Over the Edge" mp3 right now, I'll go ahead and call myself...
Crosley Bendix
Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 10:15 pm (UTC)Thanks for the reply. Do you use consensus? Or consensus minus one? Always go for consensus minus one! I'm a firm believer in tossing out people who derail and annoy from any group I'm in. Life's to short to hang out with manipulators and wingnuts.
You might find this amusing I don't know how long you've been reading.
Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-27 03:16 pm (UTC)We work via consensus here. I haven't heard of the consensus minus one approach before. Do you have any suggested reading material on how how to make consensus based decision making practical?
That story you linked to was right on the money. Hippies suck so much. (I'm going to read your archives.) You might want to consider the possible influence of Alcoholics Anonymous in the situations you described. AA has a philosophy that says that anger is inherently bad (http://www.aadeprogramming.com/reclaim/forbidden3.html) and promotes forgiveness where it may not be deserved. (http://www.aadeprogramming.com/reclaim/forgiveness.html) I think that AA has had a big influence on the New Age movement and has promoted muddleheaded thinking in general. Someone accused me of being angry at the guy that I mentioned and I said that, yes indeed, I was angry at him. She was shocked!
Crosley Bendix
Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 03:57 pm (UTC)Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-26 04:14 pm (UTC)Re: Anarchist or not?
Date: 2004-01-27 03:08 pm (UTC)I was busy being the youngest ever subscriber to Off Our Backs at 13, but other than that, I cane make few claims of extreme activity for the late 80s.