Reflections on Chicago, or a Precocious Teenager Travels 1,000 + Miles and Writes About It.
Back at high school after the protests, everything is the same. The kids act as if nothing has happened, because, to them, nothing has. To them, the only things different about you are the bruises on your legs and the awful hoarseness in your voice. They talk about prom and the end of the year, while you remember.
You get quick flashes. You feel your body being wedged in between two strangers, your arms stretched and linked with your friends, unaware of where they are. Your only assurance that they are okay is the crook of their elbow lodged in yours. You see the mouthpiece of the megaphone as you clutch it yelling, your voice a raw tool of your dissent. You smell the downpour of rain on asphalt as you sit on the ground in a peace circle before springing up moments later in a spontaneous embrace with your comrades.
You read somewhere in a magazine article by a woman who had been to Tahrir Square that she spent 90 percent of her time sitting in coffee shops and talking. That knowledge, the knowledge that not every moment in a revolutionary’s life is filled with meaningful moments is the only thing that gets you through the lunch period.
This is a thing I wrote that you should read if you want.
5:30 pm • 28 May 2012
when all the cool radical kids I follow are posting about NATO protests and it is like, ‘that’s me! I was there!’
1:25 pm • 27 May 2012
grandejouissance:
As Mario Tronti put it, “Nineteen sixty-eight was born in Berkeley and baptized in Paris.”
(Source: inritus)
8:27 pm • 23 May 2012 • 297 notes
camerabum:
Vermin Supreme outside the Art Institute against the police line.
This guy. Probably the best protester there. He let out a constant stream of witty and sometimes very helpful quips through his megaphone. At one point he suggested we all sit down, we did, and the police flipped the fuck out so we stood up.
3:38 pm • 23 May 2012 • 8 notes
someone please kill theon greyjoy: Here's a friendly reminder:
caffeinatedfeminist:
-You cannot be sexist toward men. Sexism is based on a system of oppression. You CAN be discriminatory, rude, inconsiderate, and/or prejudiced against men but you CANNOT be sexist toward them.
-You cannot be racist towards white people. Racism is based on a system of…
Actually, James, I’m gonna call bullshit on you here.
The thing is pulling out the dictionary definition is pretty silly because dictionary definitions rarely tell the whole story. For instance, the dictionary definition of love is “An intense feeling of deep affection”, but a lot of people would call that definition a little lacking.
(I’m going to be talking about these definitions as it relates to us and probably the majority of people reading this, as in white as ghost teenagers living in the U.S.)
The thing is, sexism and racism are deeply ingrained prejudices against women and non-white races that have deep roots in our country’s history. People that call women out as being “sexist” against men and “racist” against white people are, at best, misguided, but usually use it to perpetuate their own prejudices. The fact of the matter is that even if guys generally have to pay for the first couple of dates, in the long run their advantages far outweigh the downsides.
That isn’t to say that our patriarchal society doesn’t adversely affect men. It does. It tells them they can’t be weak or show emotion. It stifles them and tells them the exact kind of things they must desire or be “less of a man.” But these things are all used to perpetuate their dominance at the expense of women.
People that use dictionary definitions to pretend that they can be oppressed too often (inadvertently in your case, I’m pretty sure) used to prop up and excuse sexist and racist attitudes. Sexism and racism are not just dictionary terms, they are terms that have rich and complex definitions that can only be fully understood (not saying I *fully* understand them) with not only a reading of the dictionary but also a careful look at history and current gender and racial dynamics.
PS: Hope this doesn’t come off as angry or mean. Only calling you out on this because I think you’ll genuinely listen and are not actually a sexist racist bigot.
11:14 pm • 17 May 2012 • 11,030 notes
ziggystarbucks asked: Good luck with Infinite Jest. I hope you enjoy it!
Hey thanks a ton! I hope I finish it…
2:01 pm • 16 May 2012
