Jim and James have a sweepstakes going to get people to promise to vote. Check out Vote or Not
And dammit, if you’re eligible, make sure you get out and register to vote. There’s no excuse to not participate.
What a goofy weekend. Last year, i went to Burning Man and left on Friday evening, emotionally destroyed and needing to get off the playa. I decided to finish out my week on the playa. On Wednesday, two of my dearest girlfriends came over and dreaded my hair. On Thursday, i dropped my car off at the shop and picked up a rental, determined not to playafy my car and deal with more breakdowns in Sparks. Ironically, they were out of compacts, economies, standards, intermediates, etc. so they gave me a luxury sedan that looked like a Jaguar. I felt like a pimp. On Friday, i went to the Exploratorium for a great meeting on education and then picked up a bunch of coax cable for friends on the playa and headed east.
I arrived on the playa, dropped off the coax and other supplies that people were craving and wandered into the night. I saw friends, i danced, i checked out cool art projects. More importantly, i saw the best temple i’ve ever seen. Last year’s temple was a joke to me – it felt anything but spiritual. But this year, oh this year. I danced through the night of the Burn, finding new muscles and loving every moment of it. I found peace from last year staring at the burn of the temple. And then there was clean-up. I spent all day Sunday and all morning Monday cleaning up the camp – pulling rebar, lifting boxes, tearing down the shade structure. I spent an hour searching for a member of our camp who failed to show up after the temple burn. And then the drive home. Gotta love when Denny’s is full of playa.
It’s hard to share what Burning Man meant to me this year, but it was very personal and i’m so glad that i went. Of course, i had forgotten that my flight to the east coast was on Tuesday so i was quite startled when Orbitz called to remind me. And now i’m off on the east coast with some friends in an interesting intellectual conversation.
In the discussions on the Friendster firing, someone noted that i do not blog about my work. I found my nose crinkling and i thought i should explore that.
In the last 7 years, i have never signed an agreement with any company or organization that forbids me to blog. Or at least, i do not believe that i have. That said, i have often opted not to blog about the work that i do for companies.
I take contracting gigs in part for the money but in part for the intellectual exercise. I usually respect the companies that i work for and realize that they are working in a competitive market and have hired me to solve a set number of problems, not simply broadcast their strengths and weaknesses to the public.
There are two types of blog posts i typically make about products: rants and theoretical considerations. I still post the theoretical considerations because it’s often possible to generalize them beyond a particular product.
The ranting is usually what i stop doing. Rants provide two roles for me. First, they let me vent my frustration. Second, they give me the false hope that i might affect the product somehow remotely. (Note: Friendster paid absolutely no attention to my critiques, thereby dashing this hope.)
When i work at a company, they give me mechanisms to rant and additional insider knowledge to rant with. Why should i bother to rant to a public unknown audience when i can go straight to the creator’s cube and chew their ear off? The advantage of the public option is to see if others (dis)agree. But seriously, the cube method is far more effective. I think it’s great that people seem to find value from my blog/rants, but the most noticeable impact to me has always been 1-1 anyone.
Once i’ve gotten out a rant, i feel no desire to actually re-articulate it for the public. Note: this is why my publication rate has dropped dramatically as my blogging rate has increased… warning for the other academics out there.
Pay me to speak and i’ll happily craft a theoretical and critical analysis of whatever. But when it comes to blogging, i have no desire to be expected to comment on my work or whatever the latest trend is out there. Nor am i ever remotely amused when people write me emails asking me to comment on their product on my blog or provide free consulting about how to fix some theoretical snaffoo.
I hate being expected to do things because i’ve done them before. Expectations kill the passion. This blog has been the product of passion for 7 years. I can be convinced to operate without passion when other needs are met (like rent money), but it’s not really my preferred way of living.
I almost stopped blogging a few months back because i was tired of the expectations. Seriously, if i could give any feedback to readers, it would be lay off, chill the fuck out and don’t expect/demand things from the writers you’re reading. For me (and many of my friends), blogging is an exercise of love, not an effort to meet an audience’s needs. Having to face expectations every time i go to my blog makes me feel absolutely disgusting, like i’ve become some sort of blogging whore.
School started today. I feel like a giddy girl. I did my hair, i got all dressed up. Yeah yeah, i know that it’s my 21st year of first day, but still. I am such a sucker for the back-to-school rush. There’s something critically crucial about it as a time marker.
One thing is missing though. For the last ?11? years, i’ve travelled back from somewhere to begin school, had a long road trip, returned for some adventure or otherwise had a symbolic break between summer and the school year. I went to work on Monday. I went to school on Tuesday. Felt weird.
So… i decided to go to Burning Man. I’ve already given away all of my gear since i didn’t intend to go but a nice angel bestowed upon me a ticket and i figured that i can survive anything for 3 days as long as i have water and beef jerky. More than anything, i’ll get a mini-road trip, some good dancing and a climate change. That’ll make school feel more real.
Of course, i’m *STOKED* about this semester. I’m taking this wacky “Sociology for Geeks” class that Yuri and i have been plotting. Marx, Engels, Weber, Durkheim… Classics. I’m taking a class on Performance Theory and Method in the Performing Arts department. And i’m taking Lakoff’s seminar on language and politics. That one is particularly strange since there are like 16 of us taking it and 60+ people auditing it. But it’s definitely the time to take the class… and how cool is it to have the NYTimes be required reading?
Anyhow, more will invariably come about this semester. In the meantime, i’m going to do some cleansing activities like take the kittens to the vet, the car to the shop and the danah to the desert.
Her blog. My favorite quote: “it’s especially ironic because Friendster, of course, is a company that is all about getting people to reveal information about themselves…”
Hmm….
“This paper is interesting: it supports the finding that ADD is associated with higher density of dopamine transporter (DAT). It also suggests that nicotine has an effect similar to methylphenidate in patients with high DAT density.”
(Original reference: Lukas)
I abhor 80s culture. Yet, while i lament high heel converse shoes, two aspects of the 80s rival for my complete intolerance: Reagan/Bush administration and cocaine. As Burning Man preparation rushed through San Francisco, i got to overhear lots of shopping lists. In the past, it used to humor me that acid was placed on the same shopping list with gas masks and ballerina skirts. With acid completely gone and ecstasy usually tainted with DXM, it doesn’t surprise me that other drugs are serving as replacements. The psychedelic club scene saw a shift to meth and alcohol. The psychonauts shifted to research chemicals. But why on earth are some Burners shifting to blow?
Filthy nostril hair
Impairs my cocaine habit
I must blow my nose(from 1999 Haiku4Beer camp)
First off, the idea off a Burner trying to snort coke in one of the dustiest BMs ever humors me to bits. Have a line – 2/3 coke, 1/3 playa. But it really breaks my balls to think that some people see Burning Man as an experience that requires ego-enhancement. Gah. Then again, i deplore the people who drink on the desert as well (particularly those whose drunkenness forbids them from comprehending “leave no trace” as they shout misogynistic taunts at the naked women).
Why oh why is cocaine back? I know… it’s about culture and Barlow does a good job of clarifying on his discussion of the Republican Drug:
Once again, one can see clearly what the War on Some Drugs is really about. It’s the culture, stupid. It certainly isn’t about public safety, since coke and booze are the perfect combination for social depravity of all sorts. Instead, it provides a beautiful opportunity to jail the blacks and hippies who prefer the non-Republican drugs. It makes huge bank for one’s wing-tipped colleagues.
I’m an adamant believer in entheogens and the opportunity to explore one’s mind and soul through altered states. There’s nothing empathy building about drugs like cocaine, meth and alcohol. This trio is notorious for an increase in domestic abuse, rape and general violence. They often bring the dissociative power of self-indulgence and cruelty, bringing out the worst of humanity by allowing the psyche to be distanced from the body. I’m still not a fan of bars because it makes me twitch to watch aggression come in bottle form, but i can handle a drunk far better than a meth or coke addict.
But as much as i can intellectually understand that this is a cultural battle, it absolutely boggles my mind that any “compassionate” culture would prefer the wreckage and hatred of meth, coke and alcohol. While i’ve met many people who have found religion and connection through entheogens, i’ve only seen religious and familial carnage emerge as a result of the deadly trio. There’s a reason that MDMA was used in marital therapy, not cocaine. How can a political party be known for family values as well as family-destroying drugs?
::sigh:: Of course, i have to remind myself that life – and especially politics – are ripe with inconsistencies. Still, that doesn’t make me feel better. Can we resurrect the 90s yet? I’ll cope with flannel and cords again.
Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar is an article in the NYTimes today about how teens are using IM and blogs to bully other teens. The whole article focuses on the psychology of teen bullying, about how it’s so much easier to engage in such cruel behavior from a distance.
One thing that caught my eye was the gender differences in bullying: “Online bullying had a particular appeal for girls, who specialize in emotional rather than physical harassment and strive to avoid direct confrontation.”
There’s something about this behavior that is not really explained, something very psychological. The closest explanation we have comes from Milgram’s obedience experiments where he noted that people are more comfortable executing cruel acts when they don’t see the ramifications. But i really want to have a clear psychological explanation for emotional distance and digital behavior. Nothing that i’ve read gives a full explanation for this phenomenon.
That said, i really love NYTimes articles like this that don’t try to explain everything, but just open up a situation and explore it through anecdote.
One purported benefit of industrialization is mobility. With the advent of transportation and communication tools, people became more mobile and were able to move further from the city. My grandfather was involved in the airline industry throughout his career and whenever we’re together, he tells me stories about that aspect of mobility; it always makes me smile to think that my mother was born in Gander, Newfoundland because that’s where planes had to refuel before going on to Europe. Today, i’m able to communicate with anyone in the world instantly and complain when my flight is delayed by 30 minutes.
One thing that makes this globalized world operate is the eerie duplication of chain culture resulting in a Walmart nation. If you look at any town in the States, you will find the same selection of brands, offering their wares in the same layout and with the same feel. Small towns collect chains like they’re going out of style. Aside from the wedding venue, i don’t think i entered a single establishment this week that wasn’t a chain, from the Tuxedo Shop to Jillian’s to the CVS to the McDs. I visited multiple malls and they all contained the same establishments and fit into one of a few possible mall layouts. The smaller the town, the more obvious the key retail establishment becomes: Walmart. It is the one place open 24/7 to serve all of your emergency needs (strappy shoes: $4.83).
When you live in small-city or town culture, mobility means being able to go from one town to the next and get the same services. As long as you stick to the same size town and same socio-economic level, you’re bound to have everything that is always available.
Living in a city is not like that. When people land here, they often ask where one gets one’s groceries, one’s hardware, one’s underwear. There aren’t really shopping centers in cities, or at least nothing compared to Retail Row in Walmart Nation. Things are scattered.
Of course, cities come with their own brands, brands that capitalize on the disdain of city residents to Retail Row. These “lifestyle” brands (from No Logo) help us define ourselves not as bargain consumers, but sophisticated, cultured consumers. A fucking Starbucks latte costs almost as much as my Walmart shoes. No wonder it’s easy to jump from San Francisco to New York to London to Chicago: Starbucks Nation.
Mobility is no longer about transportation or about communication: it’s about consumption and values. Starbucks Nation exists in pockets connected by airplanes while Walmart Nation fills in the rest, negotiated by cars and interstates. It’s the blue nation vs. the red, cemented by lifestyle consumption vs. bargain shopping.
Tehehehe. My baby brother got married yesterday. It brought me such joy to be able to be there with him and his new wife on their day of celebration, especially after such an intense family week.
Don’t get me wrong… i’m still not a huge fan of marriage (::cough::choke::) because of its political, religious and patriarchal legal overtunes. That said, i’m learning a scary lesson as i get older: sometimes, family has to come before politics. Actually, sometimes family just has to come first.
It was definitely a week spent exercising patience and a zen no-comment attitude as i choked down rubbery meat and iceberg salad in Walmart Nation. Damn it’s good to be back in San Francisco.