"I am the 1%" - Peter Schiff vs. Cornell West

Financial CEO Peter Schiff tries to play the blame game against Professor Cornell West on AC360.

This is Cinemetropolis by the Blue Scholars. I was reminded of this song during Wednesday's lecture when we discussed commercial culture in relation to Dharma Bums. The song touches on the same topic but talks about movies rather than commercials. The title of the song and album is a combination of the words cinema and metropolis and through the title it already expresses how intertwined movies are in today's society. It also touches on the phrase "something out of a movie" and discusses that people have been conditioned to watch movies.

-Peter

America . . . Why OWS?

The 99%

Occupy Wall Street

1st Amendmet:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

. . ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S880UldxB1o&feature=share

Occupy Oakland

http://www.facebook.com/OccupySD/posts/211476955589293

Do Americans understand OWS or are they unsure/uninformed?

-decide for yourself . . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20125515-503544/poll-43-percent-agree-with-views-of-occupy-wall-street/

-Loren

Asmaa Mahfouz: A Profile of Courage

Asmaa Mahfouz, the 26-year-old Egyptian woman largely credited with spurring the January 25th movement in Tahrir Square, that ultimately led to the forced resignation of Hosni Mubarack, arrived in NY today to join the Occupy Wall Street Movement.  If nothing else, watch the beginning of video which shows her first self-made YouTube clip, calling on her countrymen to stand with her against the Mubarack regime and try to imagine the possible consequences of such an action . . . truly inspiring.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/25/from_tahrir_to_wall_street_egyptian 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Cool Writing Tips from Jack Kerouac

Many contemporaries of Kerouac, and even writers of later generations, asked how Kerouac did what he did, writing in a manner that almost reflects the stream of consciousness. I know I've asked myself. So Kerouac responded with 30 "essentials" in what he called "Belief and Technique For Modern Prose." He gives tips that we, the reader(s)/aspiring writer(s) may, or may not understand. I guess that is just Kerouac's character...some of these tips especially capture the essence of beatitude found in his novels (for instance #6, #20, #27).

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
4. Be in love with yr life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

-Karina G

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day: Just in case you missed it . . .

Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Chris Felver answering questions on "Ferlinghetti" film.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti at Del Mar Theater in Santa Cruz on Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day. Looking strong at age 92!

PART 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9mn2ojKbA8

PART 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ziK42fTZ4

-Loren

Missing the Point

NY couple tries to trademark "Occupy Wall St."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/25/us/new-york-occupy-trademark/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Dharma bums: the real meat of the work?

When reading Dharma bums, I find that little proverbial phrases that Kerouac provides in some ways have more significance than the actual events of the novel. These brief utterances are concise, very observant and do more for me than any analysis of symbols or other more abstract forms within the prose:

"...get a friendly smart sensitive human-being gal who don't give a shit for martinis every night and all that dumb white machinery in the kitchen." (pg 102)

"Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree." (pg 123)

" 'Where'd you learn to do all these funny things?' he laughed. 'And you know I say funny but there's sumpthin so durned sensible about 'em. Here I am killin myself driving this rig back and forth from Ohio to L.A. and I make more money than you ever had in your whole life as a hobo, but you're the one who enjoys life and not only that but you do it without workin or a whole lot of money. Now who's smart, you or me?' And he had a nice home in Ohio with wife, daughter, Christmas tree, two cars, garage, lawn, lawnmower, but he couldn't enjoy any of it because he really wasn't free." (pg 129)

" 'Yep,' I thought, ' you pay through the nose for shortlived shows...' " (pg 135)

"...nothing can be lost, on a well-worn path." (pg 141)

"The world as it is, is Heaven..." (pg 141)

"...the final sin, the worst, is righteousness." (pg 149)

"...I'd explain a little Buddhism to them, specifically karma, reincarnation... 'You mean other chances to come back and try again?' asked the poor little Mexican, who was all bandaged from a fight in Juarez the night before.

'That's what they say'

'Well goddammit next time I be born I hope I ain't who I am now' " (pg 159)

To sum up the two basic themes I see within Kerouac's quotable lines, they're either about his Dharma, religious views or having to do with critiques of capitalist lifestyle.

-Julian

Rage Against the Moloch Machine

Michael Moore & Cornell West discuss OWS and more with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/24/michael_moore_cornel_west_on_ows

RATM's "Sleep Now in the Fire" - directed by Michael Moore

Gary Snyder (Japhy Ryder)

In Dharma Bums, the character Japhy Ryder is Jack Keruoac's version of Gary Snyder who was also a Beat. Gary Snyder was a Pulitzer-Prize winning poet. Here is a link of him reading his poetry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48IGO4g2Y4. After listening to a lot of Keruoac's poetry, it was nice to look at another Beat poet whose poetry is somewhat different.

-Jessica

REXROTH

I saw this on some earlier posts about the connection between the beats and jazz music. I like how an idea can be manipulated and transposed into different mediums. I thought the musical interpretations caring forth the beat ideal were very sincere and the freedom that sometimes is restricted in writing is better translated musically. I thought it interesting that some of the beats tried there hand at this interpretation. From watching the Ferlinghetti movie in class, I was made aware of this correlation by Ken Rexroth and Ferlinghetti mixing their poetry with the syncopations of jazz at some spot in North Beach. I came across some Rexroth on youtube with him humming about the "married blues," accompanied by some lazy jazz horns in the background. Its got some early distinctions for other future kinds of music. Anyways I thought it was cool. Incase the link up top doesn't work heres another one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Krt-T3UTs

Jesus Christ for President

A little beattitude for the ballot box, by Billy Bragg:

Jesus Christ, Republican Candidate:

More Lecture Notes . . .

Part 2 -

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=11H53XufWJ65lz59wxI48p5UCeClqfqHqQzpeVD4MO91p3gQ0akeIvsRMjREv&hl=en

Part 3 -

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1WZZT0hfAq7olEl3ZwykWoaIC9wKbFdWwQVlZ5UevvFBgn_IwpszEfzF28Obs&hl=en

Ballad of the Skeletons

For Rob (and Michael Dyne) -

A Ginsberg song that doesn't suck (having Paul McCartney onboard never hurts).  Enjoy.

New Yorker: Dylan, Ginsberg, & The Beat Generation

Excellent contextual article I found while doing work for another course
(of course).

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/08/sean-wilentz-bob-dylan-in-america.html

Ginsbeg, Orlovsky, & Dylan backstage, Jersey '64

Dharma Today

As Rob has mentioned in lecture a few times already, what's relevant for us today about what we're learning is the post-Beat aspect of the Beat Movement. We can ask ourselves what we can do in order to keep its roots alive.

We can start by looking at what Dharma means for us today. According to Marilynne Chophel, " 'Dharma' is a Sanskrit word that means teaching, truth, that which supports, sustains, and upholds. The truth of things as they are, it is likened to the ground one stands on. Dharma is that which remedies, alleviates, heals, and restores. To align with dharma puts an end to conflicts and brings about unity and harmony. It helps us to untie all and develop love and interconnectedness. It is the underlying truth of all spiritual traditions."

We all have a spirit of Dharma within ourselves but it is often difficult to recognize it. Throughout Dharma Bums, Ray and Japhy are able to awaken their spirt of dharma by means of writing/poetry, traveling, backpacking, hiking, meditating, Zen and even drinking. What can we do? Can we do the same?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz5v-xP1xQI

^climbing the Sierra Nevadas is one way :)

-Monica (group A)

Cross-Medium Influence of the Beats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svPfu9rwwo8&feature=related

One over arching theme of this documentary clip (I recommend watching all parts) that I find particularly interesting and pertinent in my life is how closely connected the changes in music were with the experimentation going on in the world of literature. The beats, sitting up in their San Francisco apartments listening to LPs by the likes of Monk, Mingus, Davis, Coltrane, Rollins, and so many others, were shown a side of expression that freed up that central focus of audience expectation. This new expression could diverge to wherever the creator felt necessary. As these freedom yells unfolded in a particular piece of music, a truth was reflected that mirrored the harshness of city life. While reading Howl or Dharma Bums this free expression can be felt and heard in the rhythms of the language. Parts of On the Road seem to move so fast that they almost echo Coltrane's walls of sound, his chromatic arpeggio madness. This madness is so cool and calculated though, both in the music and the literature, that it moves beyond madness and becomes a whole new art. It captures a real human confusion/nostalgia/paranoia that earlier art forms seem to overlook.

W.S. Burroughs connection to the Beats

One of the most prominent figures who emerged out of the Beat Generation was William S. Burroughs, who is most famous for his novel Naked Lunch, which, as Dr. Wilson has said, received its title via Jack Kerouac's suggestion. Much of Burroughs’ work draws on his own life. In Naked Lunch, published in 1959, one year after The Dharma Bums, Burroughs writes about his opium, morphine, heroin, hash, etc. use, as well as his homosexual relations with young Moroccans in Tangiers.

Burroughs' poem, "A Thanksgiving Prayer," is extremely similar to Ginsberg's "America," both stylistically and in content. The poem was written by Burroughs on Thanksgiving in 1986, echoing bitter, ironic sentiments such as Ginsberg, but in an evenmore direct way. Burroughs was an expatriate/dharma bum of sorts (perhaps dharma of Epicurean ideals) for much of his life.

---

"A Thanksgiving Prayer"

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.
Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.
Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.
Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.
Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin’ lawmen, feelin’ their notches.
For decent church-goin’ women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.
Thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
Thanks for a country where nobody’s allowed to mind the own business.
Thanks for a nation of finks.
Yes, thanks for all the memories— all right let’s see your arms!
You always were a headache and you always were a bore.
Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

The other week Rob mentioned something about Michael McClure, one of the prominent beat poets, reading and roaring at lions. So, I looked it up. While McClure comes off as fairly pretentious, he has this to say about his work:

"I want a writing of the emotions, intellect, and physiology. A direct emotional statement from the body, from the organs, and from the energy of movement."

This concept, through various means of expression, has been a standard treatise throughout the Beat movement, from Kerouac's long sessions of writing out an entire book over three weeks on telegraph paper to Ginsberg's 'first thought best thought' mantra and auto-poesis, to Gary Snyder's search through Zen Buddhism for a more meaningful account of life, and his spontaneous poetry about what he directly observed.

-Karl

American Dream Turned Nightmare?

“Is life literally a dream? And, if so, when will we truly wake?” –L. Ferlinghetti

Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America examines the eviscerating effects of Americanization, capitalism and modernity as experienced by those on the margins, or periphery, of society. In the text, the narrator takes the audience on a journey in search of the ideal trout stream, but, instead, encounters environmental destruction, a violent commodification of natural resources, and the tarnished American Frontier Dream. Whether the narrator is forced to leave a campsite due to the large crowds of people, or observes the mass depletion of fish even after the failed attempts of the Fish & Game workers to replenish the stream, it seems certain that the ideal creek, river, stream, or dream is not within his reach (...unless he is willing to pay money for it).

In one vignette, the narrator quips that America is “often only a place in the mind” (72). On one hand, this seems to suggest that America is an ungraspable ideal. On the other hand, this gestures to the idea that one can transmute the physical reality of America in ones’ mind into something less unendurable. In short, one can create their own “Kool-Aid Reality,” not unlike the young boy from the narrator’s childhood, even if the physical, tangible conditions are less than ideal. In a way, the narrator does this, too. Perhaps, like Ferlinghetti’s poems, this is an attempt to urge writers to create a vision for a better tomorrow by recognizing the bleakness of today.

On a slightly different note, in “Great American Waterfront Poem” Ferlinghetti writes that San Francisco is the “End of land and land of beginning” (55). I wonder, can we essentially “begin” again? If so, what would that look like? In James Brook’s essay in Reclaiming San Francisco a change for the better seems to be a real possibility. He writes that the “impermanence of the land, city, and people gives cause for hope” (135) to transform, or reform, current conditions. In his understanding, the historical ‘newness’ of San Francisco opens up a possibility for change that may not be found in other places. At the end of his essay he writes, “The self-destruction of the city may turn out to be the molting of the phoenix” (135). I couldn't hope for anything more; it is time to wake up from the nightmare...

Links (on the Bay Area & environmental concerns):

"Garbage Island" - a shift from Brautigan's 1960's streams to today's Pacific Ocean. Viable solutions? Or, are we (and other generations) shackled to this existence?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7rNYzSH-BA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xATLe901zE8

Green Scare

Maybe you've heard of the Green Scare, maybe not, but it's very akin to the Red Scare, and it's happening here and now. The U.S. Government has labeled all illegal direct action done by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front as "eco-terrorist acts" bringing into being to a new genre of terrorism. Review the cases of Rod Coronado, Jeff Luers, or Eric McDavid (who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for what some call "thought crime"). I encourage you to look at supporteric.org to review his case in connection to others and in great detail.

Durring the Red Scare the U.S. sought to imprison Communist thinkers, now they seek to imprison Anarchist thinkers.

"The SHAC7 are 6 activists and a corporation, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty [or SHAC] USA Inc., that have been found guilty of multiple federal felonies for their alleged role in simply campaigning to close down the notorious animal testing lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences. Five of the individuals are currently in federal prison (the sixth, Darius Fullmer, has been released, after completing his one year sentence). They are not accused of actually smashing windows, liberating animals or even attending demonstrations, rather reporting on and encouraging others to engage in legal demonstrations and supporting the ideology of direct action."

-Quoted from www.shac7.com

"Eric McDavid is a political prisoner, currently serving a 20 year sentence in federal prison for “thought crime.” He was arrested in January 2006 (as part of the government's ongoing "Green Scare" campaign against environmental and animal rights activists) after being targeted by an undercover informant who formulated a crime and entrapped Eric in it. Eric was targeted by the state for his political beliefs, and his case is important for everyone who dares to stand up."

quoted from supporteric.com

Trout fishing in America and contemporary SF subculture

Sorting through the first 100 pages of Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, I began to notice several repeating characters, symbols and identities. These significant constructions are woven together through the novels erratic and disjointed manner of storytelling, which jumps from topic to topic with the turn of a couple pages. All characters and events are examined through their relation to "Trout Fishing in America" which at times is the literal act of fishing for trout, and at other times is something more abstract and fabricated, such as the "Trout Fishing in America" hotel or the "Trout Fishing in America" cookbook. If one sifts through the complexities of this stream of conscience prose, repeating characters become more developed. There is "Trout Fishing in America" Shorty, who from his description, seems to be a mentally unstable vagrant. Additionally, there is the small family unit, of the fisherman (presumed to be Brautigan), his wife and their baby, whose stories of camping and travel in what seem t0 be post war America show up again and again. This comprises the greatest sense of a narrative within the work. Combined with the many other fishing stories, a philosophical outlook is created through the examination of a simple activity; trout fishing.

I also wanted to point out some of the other independent activities that take place in SF that are a bit more core than raving and love fest.

This is a video of Frank Gerwer and Julien Stranger. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duEQ2SQcDoQ

Here's a video of Jake Phelps talking about Embarcadero and what went down there in 1993. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fqqf1XyCU0&feature=channel_video_title

This is a video of Brandon Westgate, 50% of the clips are in SF. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3bMVNvoL7c

Allen Ginsberg and ‘his’ “America”

Referring to what was said on the poem “America,” written by Allen Ginsberg, during the last week’s section and yesterday’s lecture, let me suggest two more (probably rather theoretical) perspectives on the work.

The first aspect to be pointed out concerns the ostensible link of the lines to Ginsberg’s life and the depiction of ‘America.’ Whereas (auto-)biographical as well as political references seem to be found in the poem, re-thinking representation characteristics in certain genres has been necessary at least since the linguistic turn, in the 1970s, that brought into focus the obliterate differences between ‘factistic’ reproduction of the reality/realities, as biographies have intended to yield, and fiction (cf. Spits 2008, 21; https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/12931/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 [Sorry, found only a German/Dutch version…]). From this point of view, one could indeed claim that the ‘America’ as outlined in the poem is not a mirror image, a mimesis, of the country which we mean to live in, but rather a fictional interpretation of the author; and this might be true for the portrayal of his life, too. (cf. also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imitating_art).

In this context, also the role of the author needs to be examined carefully. Were the ‘America’ depicted not the ‘real’ one, and if, likewise, the author does not reflect his own ‘actual’ life, whose voice, then, is speaking, expressing themselves as “I”? In 1968, Roland Barthes, a French philosopher, declared “The Death of the Author” (http://www.tbook.constantvzw.org/wp-content/death_authorbarthes.pdf). Following his argumentation, the author—in a nutshell—is replaced by a “scriptor” who is born simultaneously with the act of reading, or uttering, his or her text. Since it is the reader who is exerting this act—as a performative—, the “writer” (“scriptor”) is merely a (subjective) someone existing in their mind. As a consequence of this idea that a “text is eternally written here and now,” it is necessarily not (only) Ginsberg to powerfully articulate in a political sphere, but it is each of us readers as well!

Patrick Kuehmstedt

Honest to Goodness

Ginsberg has said that he originally wrote Howl solely for himself, so that he would have complete freedom to put his unfiltered thoughts on the page. I think that is important to know when reading Ginsberg’s poetry. He is truly not holding back, and I’ve always admired his honesty. In the poems Howl and America especially, Ginsberg brings attention to his communist ties, his avid drug use, his queer identity, and many other topics that most people are uncomfortable merely discussing. It is this honesty that gives him credibility as both a writer and a social activist. Here is kind of a funny, seemingly unrelated clip that I enjoyed…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tLNoAFaoA

Michael Dhyne

Occupy Wall St. . . . too big to fail?

"We are winning and Wall Street is afraid," protester Kira Moyer-Sims said in a written statement distributed by the group. "This movement is gaining momentum and is too big to fail."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/15/world/occupy-goes-global/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Beat Attitudes on FB

"Beat Attitude:  World Becomings" site/group on FB, you can request to add or join it and whoever uses it will find more info, links, contexts, and much more that might improve your SF work and your lives as such. Up to you, not at all required:


http://www.facebook.com/groups/265482983471155/

Cassidy & Kerouac

Updated Syllabus

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1lA59986VkuJH5gFQGQAxMd62u7EXW9LnjSzTkrpXSr2e2IcKZ4YOVnfYg-Er&hl=en_US

Ginsberg BBC Interview '94

Moloch

'Don't you know that God is Pooh Bear?'

This is an edited clip of Kerouac on the Steve Allen Show, circa '59.  Notice the inflection of his voice as he reads... the way he wants his own words to be read... what Ginsberg called 'spontaneous bop prosody.'  

Ginsberg's 'America'

"Jesus Stuff"

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News can be considered a modern commercial mouth of Mammon or Moloch, the worship of money and materialism.  The ongoing 'Occupy Wall Street' movement is an example of beatitude being reborn in the down-trodden working-class.

http://front.moveon.org/best-takedown-of-a-fox-news-producer-ever/

SF Beat?

Lecture Notes, Week 1/2

Trouble taking notes in class? . . . Here's a link to Rob's personal lecture notes, enjoy :)

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1zmi4toC5Ch1MPWSuRPe51iuY0lg8ZjL4D_oAHa452BZWuIRByoa1PyUrsB6z&hl=en

San Francisco Scene

October in the Railroad Earth