July 14, 2005
Two Years In
Pinky has been here with just the right comment to put my inquiry back on track (as pinky so often is).
Control? was the question.
"PRODUCE", pinky said, is
A WORD THAT SHOWS
THE SELF'S LIMITS
BOTH WAYS
MUCH MORE CLEARLY
THE SELF'S LIMITS
AND ITS FREEDOM OF ACTION
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Puts it back in the frame, don't it.
And yet I wonder if he understands just what I meant
by the question?
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Production and consumption.
between them commercial society.
The necessaries of life -- produced, yes,
but also consumed. As consumables, they
must be controlled.
Produced, yes, but also monopolized.
This is why I speak in terms of control, as
uncomfortable as the word is.
Control, dangerous, echoed footsteps
of the Golem. Like ambition and nationalism.
But at the same time, clarifying, necessary.
I'm telling you, days were the cart was so
hard, so heavy to pick up. If there is no
hope of calming the storm, of making the
earth yield up to us, of finding a spot where
blind compulsion cannot override your core being,
--------------
If there is that quicksilver marrow
inside me
what when it aches and tries
to run out my eyes,
what when it wants
to burst
or finding its burden
so heavy
wishes to flee?
Should I let it
explode me
cut me
and run away
with my feet?
Can we be enemies?
"In life the body suffers greatly"
do I then side with the sufferer?
(Deluze & Guatarri would have me do)
do I side with him by
suffering also, at his side,
or by suffering my own
pains, but enduring them
nobly and savoring their
greatness?
Or does he become
taken into my ambition,
my hope for the world?
.
When I speak of control,
I mean it in this sense.
the quicksilver at the heart
of humankind can never be tamed.
Neither controlled or controllable.
Nature, to, is beyond the control
of mankind.
But is it not my ambition to
have food for myself, is it
not my ambition to have shelter
for myself and my family.
To have comfort.
To have security.
How could I not be moved to
remedy my body's suffering?
By Molly's suffering?
Therefore it is taken into
my ambition, and can be worked
for without direct contact
with the suffering itself.
The notion of control in this
way functions as a kind of anasthetic.
Administered upon us so that we
may be operated upon,
it is necessarily odious.
But what of the operations
we must perform on ourselves?
Just the right amount of anasthetic
to do the job with a minimum
of gore,
not enough to numb
the hands and the mind.
Not enough to wrap
the quicksilver in a
gauzy coccoon,
for there will never
be enough anasthetic
to stop its
larval aching.
like a larva
Posted by Sam on
10:32 AM
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July 08, 2005
hipsters vs. professionals
showcase showdown part 11
I've been thinking a bit about the "hipster" tag again recently.
My standing theory was "hipsters are a bogey" -- that since "hipsters" doesn't refer to a coherent social group, the concept was more driven by social angst and fear of exclusion than anything else.
Moreover, though, I have come to understand the way the concept divides "hipsters" from another, unstated group. This group is the "professionals", pictured here as an office worker.
So is "hipsters" a way of negotiating the realities of service work? Of feeling both connected and repelled by the people who wait on you?
It functions like that, yes, but also people use it with affection. This young man once said to me at the cart: "there should be more carts like this, you know, hipster carts!"
Posted by Sam on
05:04 AM
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December 15, 2004
THE MINIMUM DWELLING, Foreward
excerpts from The Minimum Dwelling, by Karel Teige
FOREWARD
Continue reading "THE MINIMUM DWELLING, Foreward"
Posted by Sam on
10:36 AM
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December 10, 2004
Smart Growth
Urban Land Institute
"Smart Growth on the Fringe"
http://research.uli.org/Content/Reports/PolicyPapers/POF_686.pdf
"Participants agreed that a significant portion of all new development will occur on the fringe and that alternatives such as infill development, while important and valid, will not absorb enough growth to lessen the pressure on out-lying suburban areas."
"It is also a place where citizens expect a high quality of life, initially defined as family-oriented communities with private houses on large lots."
"But through a series of initiatives aimed at better guiding growth -- from strict concurrency infrastructure rules to a growth zone with density bonuses and a no-growth zone with disincentives -- significant advances toward smart growth has been made."
"Participants agreed that smart growth on the fringe has the same characteristics as smart growth anywhere -- including connectivity, walkability, a mix of uses in proximity, housing and trasportation choices, a deemphasized use of the automobile, a mix of income and age groups, and access to recreation and green space."
"Because the fringe is connected to a metropolitan region, smart growth practices aim to allow a balanced rate of growth between communities in a region. furthermore, new growth is planned in accordance with existing or planned infrastructure and transportation availability. Multimodal transportation systmes should be integrated where feasible, and road networks should be logical and interconnected. Transportation corridors should be well maintained in terms of design and capacity."
"As a basic premise, forum participants concluded that smart growth principles are the same whether they are applied to urban infill or fringe areas."
"The Role of the Private Sector is to Implement the Vision. The private sector needs to take the lead in implementing the vision, realizing that this is actually harder than the planning itself. At the same time, however, the public sector needs to provide incentives for smart growth." (!)
also: "Smart Growth: Myth and Fact" http://research.uli.org/Content/Reports/PolicyPapers/PUB_S50.pdf
Posted by Sam on
01:10 AM
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November 30, 2004
Rent Study 1
quotes are from Volume 3 of Capital
Part VI. Transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground-Rent
Chapter 37. Introduction
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch37.htm
Continue reading "Rent Study 1"
Posted by Sam on
06:13 AM
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September 15, 2004
Word Virus: Motivation
Yesterday
riding the subway,
I remembered how I felt
riding the subway.
Near people
nonetheless
unreachably
far away.
Continue reading "Word Virus: Motivation"
Posted by Sam on
06:27 AM
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July 24, 2004
Hypercity
On any block in the city, look down the street and you can see the traces of a million passages.
The city, by its nature, is the product of countless people. Through the intentional conflux of labor, or the unintentional overlapping of living spaces, the city is changed and shaped to better suit us, to form a more perfect ground of our interaction.
Layer by layer, the city is assembled. Layers of construction, layers of relationships, chains of production, chains of objects. You pass down the street/ I pass down the street. What do we have in common?
How can this complexity be comprehended? Where can one find a place in this megasystem?
Of course, it is possible to try to stay entirely within one layer -- follow in line, in conformity with the established system. But is this really life in the city?
Hypercity is an attempt to jump between layers; to give consistancy to that jump. It is a local affair -- every jump is different, so Hypercity must use specifics. Each section tries to deal with one volume
Posted by Sam on
06:54 AM
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push you
The push-you-pull-you over anorexia
part one: "do don't do"
I reading a particularly vile article
in Teen Vogue
the other day.
It was called
"competitive dieting: is your circle doing it?"
or some such, cutting it
razor fine
on that thin line
between
hand-wringing
and instructions.
Continue reading "push you"
Posted by Sam on
06:29 AM
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notes
food is more better and more powerful than any illegal drug. The effects are awesome (although results may vary), OD'ing is almost impossible. And kicking is a bitch, so I'd advise staying with the habit.
hard body -- sucking it in. the body is expressive or it is nothing, a cold rock in dead space. The hard body, the sheath -- naked comes from the Greek for sheath. The automata of arousal, without arousal. nudity without nakedness.
The factors of our lives are fundamentally out of our control.
http://www.space-invaders.com
http://www.space-invaders.com/ny4.html
Clothes ornament the expressiveness of the soft body, bob and oscillate, or they form the shell of the hard body
The rebel -- naked blade. But unsheath the knife judiciously. "Sanity is a haircloth sheath/ with a jewel underneath" -- Lao Tsu
Posted by Sam on
06:28 AM
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i have a mouth
I have a mouth
that
connects
to a stomach
I have a jaw
and a knot in my throat
Continue reading "i have a mouth"
Posted by Sam on
06:26 AM
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Hypercity: about
What is the hypercity project?
A city is more than a collection of buildings, it is the sediment of our work and lives. Even the simplest stroll leaves a trace, if only a scuff on the sidewalk, and the terrain of the city is layered with the traces of those who have been there, who are there every day.
Continue reading "Hypercity: about"
Posted by Sam on
06:24 AM
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GrrAnimal
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will fall frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
D.H. Lawrence, quoted in G.I. Jane
This quote came into my mind the other day and suddenly it struck me as absolutely phony. An animal can't survive nearly the hardship that a person can, exacly because it can't feel sorry for itself. Self-pity projects. self pity protects. a person who can no longer construct the worth of their own lives has recourse, for as long as they need, as long as the shelter holds.
Looking for this quote I also had to look through a good amount of D.H. Lawrence's stuff, and it all seems to suffer from this same confusion. People don't hide unless they need to. When they have the tools to overcome the things that threaten them, coming out of hiding is easy. To simply thrust yourself out of hiding -- that's just another version of the confidence trick. You get hurt.
Now, I was raised in many ways to just throw myself out in the world. So, like, you can do it, it just has alot of hidden consequences...
Posted by Sam on
06:23 AM
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eating notes
"You tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you can do."
the philosophy of "common sense eating" is worthless if it ignores what is commonly held.
America wields the most powerful food production machine the world has ever known. Are we really going to bet that the family farm can overcome it?
Continue reading "eating notes"
Posted by Sam on
06:08 AM
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test draft
test draft
Posted by Sam on
03:36 AM
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