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Anna and I are also very excited to hear abou...
September 30, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
Anna and I are also very excited to hear about Seraph's grades her first semester at school. That kind of performance while being who you are, Seraph, is just amazing. It means only that you are a determined mother and a very talented artist.
I'm working with the student service council to set up a service week at the end of October, and nearly have all of the coordination/set-up work finished. Now is the advertising campaign- convincing college administrators and professors to get their pictures taken saying "I want YOU to volunteer at Caretaker Farm," and get said administrator to go with them. I've already got one, and I think Rick, my supervisor and spiritual guide/chaplain to the college, will also help out. I think the colorful posters will improve our luck getting students to volunteer.
I'm also getting college musicians to run short, informal clinics with high school students. So far I have an African dance group, a singer/songwriter, and a film maker. The high school musicians will also be performing with Williams students at the Benefit Concert, which will benefit the Williamstown and North Adams PTOs.
Now, convincing a dorm room to help with Pownal Elementary School's haunted house...
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The hurricane has inched its way to our weste...
September 28, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
The hurricane has inched its way to our western weather, and it's rained all day- not the Oregon mist, but the torrential, Eastern kind of rain.
I had a meeting with an English as a Second Language assistant at the local middle school. She was so overwhelmed that she laughed histerically at her own predicament throughout the meeting. I've sent out my emails, made my calls, and while I think I'll be able to equip her with a couple of Spanish-speaking Williams students, it's so hard to see that kind of unmet need. But it's equally rewarding when our resources come together. And I think that's what's about to happen.
I think I'm going to see Howard Dean tonight. That means I'll have seen three of the Democratic hopefuls- Kucunich, Mosely Braun, and Dean. I feel so involved.
Much love.
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An interesting bit emailed to me by Anna abou...
September 24, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
An interesting bit emailed to me by Anna about the "Little Guantanamo" set up on Pier 57 during the RNC in New York. Our friend Rishi was held there for 8 hours while peacefully protesting, if standing in the wrong place at the wrong time can be called protest.
The now-famous Pier 57 in New York, used as the jail facility for holding protestors arrested during the Republican National Convention, was leased by the Republican National Committee, according to the Certificate of Occupancy and the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate for the pier.
The implications of the Republican National Committee leasing the pier, and arranging for the NYPD to then use the pier as a detention facility for people protesting the RNC, are quite startling. The ramifications for both the Republican Party and for the City of New York (for entering into a partnership with an organization essentially operating a private jail facility), both legally and politically, could be serious indeed.
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Guesss who I hate?
U
September 22, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
Guesss who I hate?
U.S. Seeks Cuts in Housing Aid to Urban Poor
September 22, 2004 By DAVID W. CHEN
The Bush administration has proposed reducing the value of
subsidized-housing vouchers given to poor residents in New
York City next year, with even bigger cuts planned for some
urban areas in New England. The proposal is based on a
disputed new formula that averages higher rents in big
cities with those of suburban areas, which tend to have lower costs.
The proposals could have a "significantly detrimental impact" in some areas by forcing poor families to pay hundreds of extra dollars per month in rent, according to United States Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican. That extra burden could be too much
for thousands of tenants, "potentially leaving them
homeless," Mr. Shays wrote in a recent letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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I registered in Williamstown today, though I ...
September 20, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I registered in Williamstown today, though I still have a rapport with Northampton politics and will miss voting there. Remarkably, this week has calmed down a bit, and I have the time to breathe, clean off my desk, and start on a few new projects.
This weekend Anna and I will be driving to Providence, RI to roast a pig and drink home brew with my old friend Alan Bergland. Good times for a lovely fall.
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I'm on my second cup of coffee and feeling wo...
September 10, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I'm on my second cup of coffee and feeling wonderful. I get to break in eleven new first-year tutors this evening as practice for my big info session next week. They work with me as work study students. That makes them *officially* my minions for social justice. My empire comes together...
On another note, Anna is bringing my couch and kitchen table up tonight. I'm not moving anything until the new studio can be fung shui-ed by my friend Taneya. After the last place, I need to some serious Chi realignment.
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While walking to work this morning, a little ...
September 08, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
While walking to work this morning, a little too near to sunrise for my taste, the air was so Eugene crisply perfect. I came to the east coast for a little Robert Frost romance with nature, but I'm too wary of the weather to enjoy myself. The people are great and I like the rural bumped up against the culturally cultivated, but the weather... One can trust the weather in Eugene. One knows what to expect and the rain gods do not dissapoint. The east coast gives rain with humidity! Snow with bitter wind! Eugene would never do these things. Oh, how one grows to love Home when it's far away.
Work is like getting in a wave pool for eight hours without a floatation device, getting out, sleeping, and getting back in the next morning. Communist utopias call to me... Abandon your academic oppression, Sadie, Live naked in a tepee...
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Thanks to Leon, Anna's dad, for this great ar...
September 07, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
Thanks to Leon, Anna's dad, for this great article on fascism, my personal favorite topic du jour.
Fascism Anyone?
Laurence W. Britt
[F]ascism's principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for. The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.
We are two-and-a-half generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, although constant reminders jog the consciousness. German and Italian fascism form the historical models that define this twisted political worldview. Although they no longer exist, this worldview and the characteristics of these models have been imitated by protofascist regimes at various times in the twentieth century. Both the original German and Italian models and the later protofascist regimes show remarkably similar characteristics. Although many scholars question any direct connection among these regimes, few can dispute their visual similarities.
Beyond the visual, even a cursory study of these fascist and Protofascist regimes reveals the absolutely striking convergence of their modus operandi. This, of course, is not a revelation to the informed political observer, But it is sometimes useful in the interests of perspective to restate Obvious facts and in so doing shed needed light on current circumstances.
For the purpose of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes:
Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia. To be sure, they constitute a mixed bag of national identities, cultures, developmental levels, and history. But they all followed the fascist or protofascist model in obtaining, expanding, and maintaining power. Further, all these regimes have been overthrown, so a more or less complete Picture of their basic characteristics and abuses is possible.
Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that Link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share at least some level of similarity.
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people's attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice-relentless propaganda and disinformation-were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite "spontaneous" acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and "terrorists." Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and
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September 03, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
1. i am writing this one-handed from my desk, eating lunch before going through logistics with all the orientation leaders.
2. i successfully moved into my beautiful new apartment.
3. i am gearing up for a busy four days of first-year orientation (140 first-years, 28 leaders).
4. all the amazing students had meetings with me this morning, and man, am i going to be busy for more than the next four days.
5. i love my job.
6. i miss all of you, esp. imagining the camping trip fun that's going to happen this weekend.
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