Swimming with the Current

Grad School, what an incredibly energizing feeling. I am reading a crapload of books right now. And I can tell you way more about celebrity culture than I could three weeks ago. I've read the entirety of 6 books in the last three weeks, and am working on my seventh and eight right now. The other week, we read all about

I think I outed myself as a radical when the professor asked, "Does anyone think its actually possible to eliminate class from society?" She wasn't trying to be reactionary, since she is most definitely a liberal, but was trying to spark a discussion. And I took the bait. I gave the standard Chris Mullen answer, which is "Of the million years or so of human existence, class society has only existed for a fraction of it, for the past few thousand years, and that industrial capitalism with class as we are familiar with has only existed for the past 150 years, and that until the 1600s, the majority of the population of the planet did not live under the rule of a state. So it doesn't have to be this way. We can't go backwards in time, but human society is what we make it."

Another student asked me about the soviet union, and I started to go into the history of the russian revolution before saying, "Uh, lets just say that's a larger conversation."

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Well, I'm officially divorced, now. When I got the letter on Tuesday, I burst into tears, of a long long time of hurt and disappointment that finally led to that moment. I suppose it is some closure, finally.

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I went to the most insane Wooden Shoe meeting last week. I've been to nearly 11 years worth of Wooden Shoe meetings, ranging everywhere from short and sweet, to long and tedious, to medium and intense. This one was more of a "holy shit" meeting, and I can say, it was the absolute worst one I've ever been to. I've never been threatened with violence at a meeting before, and its been a long time since anyone left in tears. But at the end of it, we did the right thing. I just wish it hadn't come to that point.

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My love life: confusing. Yup. 

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Other things in my life:

-Oregon Ave Octopi, our punk/radical softball team which gathers on Sundays at 10am (with beers), has our last gathering this coming to an end next week. 

-I went to the Troublemaker's School on Saturday, tabling for the Shoe. It was great to hang out with Fulvia all day and see Solidarity comrades, and all other sorts of comrades from over the years. I always find those things more useful for networking than anything else.

-The Phillies have won 5 straight NL East Division titles. These are the glory years. I have tickets to Game 1 of the Divional Series, and Game 6 of the Championship Series, and Game 7 of the World Series. Hopefully, I won't need to see the Games of the other two, though it'd be fun.

-Anyone want to see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" with me for my third time?

The sinking feeling

Ah, the sting of rejection. Take the next 10 years and just go to sleep. Another scar, if ya will. Mass disappointment. Not sure what to do, confused. But that's apart of my life that I'm not going to write about here other than being vague.

So I'm a little panicky because I don't have all my books yet. Apparently the professor of my "celebrity culture" class emailed everyone about the books almost two weeks before, but I didn't get it. I checked my Temple email, and I'd forgotten to click "forward" to my regular email. He also specifically didn't order them from the bookstore, as he doesn't like them. Ack. Did I mention two of these books I have to have read by next wednesday? And four of them by two wednesdays from now? I actually think I am capable of doing that. The problem is that I don't have the books yet! So hopefully at least one or two of them arrives by tomorrow. I'll make due.

By the way, the classes I'm taking this semester, if you're curious:

MLA 8120 Topics in Cultural Studies: Race, Class, and Immigration (Mondays 6-8:30PM)
MLA 8011 Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies: Celebrity Culture (Wednesdays, 6-8:30PM)

MLA 8210 Topics in Political Culture: Politics and Fiction (Thursdays, 5:30-8PM)

Staffed the Shoe today. I like having a semi-routine again, it makes staffing a lot less stressful. Like I actually look forward to it. Both my trainees scheduled didn't show, par for the course. When you find a good trainee, who'll someday blossum into a good staffer, and a good member hopefully, I smile largely on the inside. (Though guarded! A lot of people can disappoint you if you raise your expectations too high. And then you might be mean to them. And that's no good. Why am I referring to myself in the 3rd person?)

Calm before the storm.

First Day, Back to the Basics

Today, a new dawn. Matt Dineen, man of infinite energy, dragged my ass up at the crack of dawn (okay, 8:30am, but hey, I've been unemployed the last year!), and we went down to the Gym of the People, Planet Fitness. It was nice, especially since I'd gotten off the gym kick the last two months when I started doing my crazy roadtrip routine. We usually do a half hour of cardio on the elliptical machines, and another half hour of track training (lifting at various machines) and giving teenagers the stink eye when they jump in front of us on the course.

Onward, to the Shoe to look for my car keys. (No luck). Still, being the first person to visit the Shoe after the hurricane was somewhat reassuring. After putting in an order some of my school books at ye ol' Shoe, I headed onto Temple for my first day back...

Kind of a strange feeling, stepping back onto the campus. For one, it really hit me how many kids there were, which I never noticed back when I was undergraduate. Amist 18 or 19 year olds walking around, I suddenly wondered, what was I getting myself into? Was I trying to relieve a past that was forever gone, in my student days? Am I just fresh out of options, so going back to the school the territory of a desperate fool?

Well, I felt a little better after settling into my reading on the hill behind the library where I took many a nap back in the day. And pretty soon, a new aquaintance, Johanna, who is also in grad school (for art education), came by (I was buying her new zine) and we talked about being older students for a while. Also, a mutual hatred of kombucha and banana whips. And fellow Octopi Beth came by, and I knew:

Anyways, after biking back down to Center City, I nervously dicked around before class started. My first grad class, "Race, Class, and the Immigrant Experience", turned out to be decent. We watched a documentary on the Japanese internment camps and had a nice discussion on whether to compare anti-Muslim hysteria.

Also, the professor said to edit the papers we turn in, because she will not grade papers with typos. Eeek. And attendance is mandatory. Okay, I can deal. And there will be a 50 page paper at the end. Wow.

Well, welcome to grad school, James. This is what you signed up for.

I feel pretty good about it. I feel ready to rock n roll with it.

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Phillies report: They won again. 85 wins, and it's still just August. I want another parade.

A new beginning

I used to run a blog, satanscientist.livejournal.com, running from personal topics to ranting and rolling. I did it for nearly 8 years before succombing to the 140 character updates of facebook. Over the last year, I have fallen into a dangerous pattern of ineptitude. Once I finished my book project in February, I have kind of just had a lot of fun, but I have started to get that aimless feeling. Though this summer was fun, its time to get serious again. I went to a lot baseball games, got caught up in love, nd still haven't sorted it all out, and did two major road trips. I also drank some beers and had a whole ton of fun.

Again, though, I've been in a minor rut with the direction of my life. Here's my chance at redirection. Thus, a new blog as well.

So I start Grad School tomorrow at Temple University. I am pursuing a Masters of Liberal Arts, with a plan on focusing on the politics of sports. I want the training to teach and write, which I believe I have in me. I need a little stirring and baking to make them more delicious though.

Here's some basic labels for me:

I am an anarchist (or libertarian socialist, or anarchist-communist, or syndicalist, whatever you prefer). I also have strong feminist influences.

I am a divorcee, all accomplished in my 20s. I've been single for nearly 2 years now and have reached the point where I want to have enough self-respect for myself to not settle for less.

I come from Irish Catholic roots.

I am a long time member of the Wooden Shoe collective, an anarchist infoshop collective, bookstore like since November of 2000.

I am a member of Solidarity, a feminist, anti-racist, socialist organization, joining about a year ago.

I am a major Phillies fan.

I have punk rock influences, the edgy quick ska-ish political kind and less grindy crusty hardcore sort. For a long time, I played a tug of war with my punk roots, at times actively rejected them as I found a variety of elitist ultra hip punk kids, but I've made my peace.

I also enjoy folk and salsa and a bit of hip-hop.

Johnny Cash is my go-to guy in karaoke.

I grew up on a sheep farm in Northeast PA (Susquehanna County), before moving down to the Philadelphia area at 14 (near king of prussia). I lived in DC from 19-20, and have lived in Philly proper since then. I have lived in City Line Ave, West Philly, Fishtown, and currently South Philly.

I tend to get involved with political stuff, as an agitator and a radical.

I helped found a fun punky, radical softball team this summer, the Oregon Ave Octopi, and hope we continue it next year.

I went to George Washington University before transferring in the middle of my sophomore year to Temple University for my undergraduate degree in History and American Studies.

I was a member of the Progressive Student Union at GW, and at Temple, the Outraged Community Coalition and Student Labor Action Project. I worked with United Students Against Sweatshops and served on their national coordinating committee for a spell. I would go on to be a regular volunteer with Philly Jobs with Justice until about a year ago.

I worked in a million shitty jobs when I was a teenager, and overall have been working since I was 10 years old in some manner. I then almost got a career going in libraries, doing 8 years of work in a variety of science and medical libraries as a librarians assistant/technician. I believe I am done with library work, as it sapped my soul the last few years before a messy end.

This is my favorite song:

I am a recovering vegetarian. Meaning, I was a vegetarian for nearly 8 years, and had a 4 year lapse when I encountered a terrible burnout in the summer of 2007 on a lot of political lifestyle. However, thanks to an inspirational friend, I have decided to get back on the vegetarian bandwagon. Maybe I'll flirt with veganism.

I hate it when people act like they're better than other people. No matter who you are or what you're doing.

I have a somewhat low tolerance for bullshit.

I generally like people, though at times I feel antisocial and just enjoy reading.

I enjoy Star Trek related things and am nerdy.

My vision is somewhat poor.

I've been drinking coffee since I was 10.

I homebrew beers.

If you deliver me blueberries or things with blueberries in them, you will forever be in my heart.

So here it goes. Enjoy.