life and how we live it
So my new blog title is from one of my favorite sayings coming out of the Situationist movement of the 1960s: “Live without dead time”. It sounds simple but it’s a lot harder to actually practice a life without dead time, to use every minute to its fullest in whatever way that may be for the given situation. Reading it reminds me to remains fully engaged in my surroundings and that there’s no excuse to live a life of boredom in exchange for “security” or to act as a willing participant in a system which requires exploitation and imperialism in order to survive. And every excuse to use our resources to recreate the system, to strengthen our own small communities of friends and family, to keep working cooperatively, to unlearn the most basic elements of what we’re taught spells happiness…in short, to really live. Yep.
Appreciation
So, family time this year was actually pretty fun and fulfilling. Probably the combination of my grandmother (I love her so much) and Jacob being around, allowed me to move ahead through tolerance and into appreciation. We made our little vegan feast on Thursday and brought it over to my parents’ and no one so much as questioned us beyond “what is that”? Probably they didn’t want to get into it, which is fine.
Got to hang out with my sister and her boyfriend and see my parents’ Italy pictures — really, really, beautiful. I forget how aesthetically pleasing Europe can be…like the awesome revolutionary bars and lack of strip malls. They had stopped over in Switzerland in the town where I lived six years ago and everything looked comfortingly exactly the same. And last night I slept in my old room which brought back wild child memories galore, kind of like finding your old high school yearbook and re-reading the signings. “…and never forget the warehouse — what! xoxo–Sharon…”
So I kind of want to erase that other blog with me dreading the fam…but then that would be cheating. There must be protection in numbers, Jacob, cause this is the first year I haven’t felt completely alone at a holiday gathering.
I have a Mystery Package Ecuador from Amy. Actually I know what it is but don’t want to open it yet (not being the kind of girl who ever opened xmas presents on the sly); I like suspense. Hope every one of y’all had great family time and friend time this week.
Love,
Aramie
i’ve visited 4% of the world!
As we approach this National Day of Mourning it is interesting to think about the big world out there, and borders (or lack thereof) and the struggles going on within those borders…how interconnected everything is…and Nick had a neat little trick on his LJ that got me all excited bout exploring the world forever. Check it out, it’s fun.
http://greennick.livejournal.com/9861.html?view=23429#t23429
family. family.
oh my god…my grandparents are at the airport and are on their way here. I just don’t think I can do this. Moved home two days ago and now weird family types are descending on the house like a swarm. Will be all alone for days. Actually, would love to be alone for days, and that’s precisely what won’t happen. Am no good at this kind of stuff. I’m better with other people’s families than my own, which is probably why Amy suggested I spend Thanksgiving with her parents (or at least sleep at their house down the street).
Thanksgiving…Day of Mourning…endlessly being asked to justify my life to family….
Keri just called from Hawaii. I love her. Oh, screw it. What kind of woman falls apart at a time like this? No one will be well-served by me disappearing halfway through the evening with a drink and a book. anarchist self-help 101: I will not go into hiding this year, I will be reckoned with!
water worries (fluoride)
Since returning from E KY, where even city tap water can make people sick, I’ve been fairly obsessed with researching the water we live with. There’s a lot of scary stuff to plow through in this kind of research, some of it inconclusive, but one problem is water fluoridation.
Just exposure to fluoride the way we receive it in our Louisville drinking and bathing water – without any additional fluoride from dentists, toothpaste, etc – is clearly linked to fluorosis (look for inconsistencies and transparencies in tooth color) and certain cancers affecting young men. There is growing evidence of links to alzheimers and dementia at higher levels. It accumulates in the pineal gland and the bones, and is absorbed through the skin while bathing. It causes environmental damage as a toxic substance…just think about all the fluoridated water going down our drains every day.
“The fluoride chemical added to water is an unprocessed, industrial-waste product; from the pollution scrubbers of the phosphate fertilizer industry.”
This is from the Fluoride Action Network, the best site I’ve found so far.
home on the range…of the city…
yes, indeed, I am moved back to Louisville. Last night took some acclimation, we actually went to the Falls of the Ohio to see the city at night which was upsetting at first and then somehow weirdly comforting. Slept for forever today and am spending all night getting used to having the internet at home again, watching movies, and reading the zines I picked up at the new Wildcat Infoshop in Lexington.
Staying in Lexington, incidentally, was amazing and not strange or hard to adjust to at all. Jessi and Todd had some people over and we watched these old jukebox pre-music-video videos (just about the best party activity ever!!). Jessi and I did all the things I can’t do in Whitesburg…however enamored I may be with that town, it was nice to go thriftin’ and eat vegan in a restaurant. Found a bunch of new scarves which will prove useful when Jacob decides he needs a buddy at 2 in the morning on the porch — as happens frequently — not that I mind but damn it’s cold out there!
Louisville’s all right. I’m feelin good.
possible voter fraud in the E KY
So last night I headed to a gathering about “the future of Letcher County” post-disastrous elections. Sick or not, I just had to be there for something so momentous! And it was amazing. Walked into a room of at least 35 folks at the Cowan Community Center being all “We, the people! Our community! We decide what happens!” Hell yeah we do. People giving testimonies, talking about the issues.
So then we start hearing about people demanding recounts because the election was so close. And it transpires that all this shadiness went on…most notably when folks showed up to the voting stations and no one was allowed in right away and when they looked up, there were black garbage bags over the voting station cameras so no one could view footage of the info-gathering process even if they wanted to. The bags were over the cameras during the recount! See the election was lost over about 300 votes. I also learned that it is legal in KY to hand out up to $50 at a time for rides to the polls. The candidate who won spent over 100 times the money that his opponent did on this race…hmm. The winner has the power to undo about 12 years of hard-won work in the region.
And people here are fired up. The community has already organized a time to meet again, this time at the fiscal court, and organized how to have presence at every single court meeting. Appalshop will be there and document. People want to bring all this shit out in the open cause it’s about more than this one election, it’s about the whole history of unhindered corruption, again, being overlooked. And the thing everyone was saying though was that they need more guidance on how to effectively deal with voter fraud issues cause around here it always happens that official folks are like “Yes, it was very corrupt what happened” and then it goes no further. Well everyone tonight wants to make it go further. Jason told me about Black Box, which may prove very useful, and Patty and I are having a meeting later today about it. Also: scores of folks who say they had to vote twice as they were told their first vote “didn’t count”.
Oh and then! Carroll Smith (our 8 year county judge) gets up and starts telling the story of the magistrate who told me he was gonna shut KFTC down for good, and about the vandalism of our door lock…and Patty’s lookin at me and I’m lookin at her but neither of us had said a word about it to Carroll. Word just travels, you know? But I never in a million years thought that that 45 minute exchange would be some rallying point for the progressive community of Appalachia.
Looks like we’ll be back here on December 11th with a crew from the city.
cheddar cheese is on sale for, like, 2 cents
The radio here (WMMT, out of Appalshop here in Whitesburg) is playing some incredible old time gospel and fiddle and reading from “The Way We Were, 1956″. Old time bluegrass, folk, roots, gospel, gossip…god I am going to miss this place. (And I never got to quilt!!) Tomorrow I’ma go back to the radio station and record some PSAs with Jim. Hopefully my voice is listenable by then or else I’ll just sound like a down-on-my-luck old-school Waits impersonator.
“Bumblebee in a Jug”! A tune with a title like that almost doesn’t even need the fiddle to make it happen.
out of my mind,
quarantined — I am sicky! I actually could feel it coming on. Last night, out of nowhere, my throat began hurting and my head was all cloudy. And my parents were here, so this morning I shivered out of bed, whimpering, and cooked a tofu scramble that was probably pretty good but I can’t taste a thing. This wouldn’t be so bad except my roommate, Patty, has a very weak immune system and I am terrified of getting her sick (last time she had a “cold” and was totally out of commission for days) so it’s either my little room/box or this chilly office for me. I don’t even want to tell her I’m sick. It might be bad for her morale.
Took my parents up to Pine Mountain and Little Shepherd’s Trail. It’s amazing how different those places seem depending on who I’m with.
Oh, well, back to the volatile conconction of ginger tea and cayenne. Anyone wanna come over and be entertaining? Amy Vlazny, get your ass back to the US right now – I miss you so much! I need the most ridiculous, hilarious story you can find.
In memory…
Someone close to me just experienced a personal tragedy. Jacob got the news on Thursday that his friend, Dylan, fell to his death from a high dorm room window at Western KY U. I’m here in Louisville offering support in whatever way possible. Everyone is so amazing. Instead of going the get drunk and destructive route, everyone is just together…talking, laughing, affirming friendships, strength, and the act of being alive. I don’t know…there’s nothing more I can authentically say. It’s hard to write this post. It felt good to write this post.
