Classism

Who's missed Jeff's socio-political rants this winter? Well I certainly have and since it has been building up in the back of my skull for the last several months it's time to burst the bubble and allow some of that wonderfully disgruntled ooze to pour out here for my good ol' blog compadres. Today's topic is one that is of great interest to me particularly because it's one of the few prejudices I don't just find disturbing, but that I actually find myself in the middle of fairly often. I'm talking about Classism. What is Classism? It's pretty simple really. If you are of one class and you think of people who are of another class as somehow inferior or wrong or lazy or some other negative adjective that makes you feel better about the way you choose to live your life, you are a Classist. This is not too unlike being a racist, or a sexist, or an ageist, except that we are talking specifically about money and the things money does for your life.

For example, let's say Tommy grew up in a blue-collar family. His Dad was an electrician, his mom worked at the local bakery down the street. Because neither of his parents went to college, they didn't know the first thing about saving for Tommy's college education, or helping Tommy to study the things he would need to get into a good college, or alerting Tommy early enough in his adolescence that every grade he gets from freshman year of high school on matters tremendously with regard to what he can be when he grows up. Mom and Dad can't see past blue-collar society, Tommy can't see past blue-collar society. Not only can they not help out, but once they have some money and things aren't going too badly they start to take a certain pride in the fact that they didn't have to go to college to "make it." Tommy inherits this sense of pride and when he actually does go to college everyone there sounds extremely snotty and care-free compared with the struggles he has known his whole life. On top of school being difficult and expensive, it's also embarrassing to be in a culture of people who unintentionally talk about your family as though they are the scum of society.

On the other hand, Lucy grew up in a family with a Mom who was a nurse and a Dad who works with computer software, both have graduate degrees and began putting money into a fund for Lucy's college the week after Lucy came home from the hospital. They helped Lucy with her studies her whole life and where they couldn't help they hired someone to tutor her. She was punished more severely for bad grades than for certain misbehaviors that Tommy's parents would have smacked him silly for (literally in some cases). There was never a question of whether or not Lucy would go to college, instead the question was always which one and what she would study there. The possibilities of career and lifestyle were limitless.

So, here's where Classism comes into play. It's not cool on any level for any person to judge another person based on what they do for a living. I do it, you do it, we all do it--we don't always say it out loud, but we do it. The mechanic who starts making jokes about the lawyer who doesn't know the first thing about his car engine, the lawyer who in turn goes back to office mocking the mechanic's bad grammar, even things as subtle as talking plainly in mixed company about things that cost a lot of money as though everyone has one or about how glad you are that you don't have to do the job Tommy is doing. There is a huge gap today between the haves and have nots. What some of my relatives consider pretty typical in terms of lifestyle--flat-screen TVs, Tivo, a couple of cars in the driveway, a cupboard full of groceries--a lot of my close friends could never imagine owning with the jobs they work. So here's some of the variables to consider: The Lucys of the world may end up being the lawyers making fun of some guy's accent or philistine behavior at the Jiffy Lube, but without that guy's help they would never get to work on time. Without Lucy Tommy might loose his shop for fixing the wrong part on a guy's car and getting sued. It's not a pretty world out there and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has friends and family on either side of the social spectrum. It's uncomfortable and tricky for either person to be themselves without treading on the pride of the other. I think being aware that these issues are going on helps the situation all around. Tommy--don't act like a tasteless redneck and try to appreciate that school is not easy no matter how much help you receive. Lucy--stop being a pretentious snot and appreciate how hard other people are working for your comfortable life. In general people, just try to show a little common human decency. You're not that special, no matter who you are.

And that concludes today's lecture on Class...

Listen to Wilco on Prairie Home Companion

Haven't heard of Garrison Keillor or "Prairie Home Companion"? You should be somewhat ashamed and go to this site for a listen some evening instead of watching whatever version of people getting mutilated and beautiful scientists discovering who done it. Also, this particular episode of PHC features music by a band who is possibly one of the only bands in America still making quality music: Wilco. Wilco is also a band you should be somewhat ashamed to not listen to if you have never heard of them. For a generation whose only claim to fame is Kurt Cobain--a drugged-out teenager of a poet who couldn't balance his artistic idealism with a little sense of craft and blew his head off at twenty-seven--Wilco is a breath of fresh air. If you're just getting a listen to this band you might want to start at the beginning with their folksy, rock-n-roll, blues stuff and listen to the progression of depth and musical exploration up to their newest, "Sky Blue Sky." If nothing else you will be blown away by Jeff Tweedy's beautifully heart-wrenching lyrics and astute observations of what it means to be human. So take your laptop to the back porch tonight, pour a glass of wine and enjoy an evening outside with these two American delicacies.

http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/phc/2007/05/12_phc

Biking at the state park

Here We Go Again

Hi friends. I'm not sure that anyone even looks at this anymore since I have failed to keep it up to date this winter, but I'm going to try to get back in the habit writing on here. So much new is happening I don't know where to begin. I'll recap first.

It's been a great winter in Bend. It's such an incredibly beautiful area that it's hard to be in a bad mood for long. I have snow-capped mountains right out the back window of my apartment and everyday I drive to a park and ride and ride a bus up to the ski resort that overlooks an entire range of gorgeous mountains. It is the last month of a long season, so I'll try to be upbeat. Those of you who have worked the seasonal life know how exhausting it can be and although it's fun and usually full of interesting people, by the time the season is winding down you are definitely ready for something stable and tolerable on a day to day basis. Which is what I think we have found in Bellingham.

Allison spent most of the winter applying to graduate programs for a Masters in Couseling and was accepted into her first choice in Bellingham, Washington. We went to visit for her interview a couple weeks ago and loved the school and the area. It's about an hour north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver, the campus sits on a hillside with the Puget Sound downhill and mountains with hiking trails on the uphill side of campus. You can walk or bike right out of the parking lot onto mountain trails that will take you all over the area. So, in short, we loved it and we're moving there in month. I've applied to a couple jobs up that way: one as a Residence Hall Director at the University and one with a web-based PR company as an in-house writer. I also have my webpage up and running now (though it's nothing to see just yet) at www.writingyourwrongs.com and will be looking for freelance work this coming year.

My latest writing project idea that I would like to employ your help with is a guide to local coffee cross-country. I'm writing up a proposal for a travel-guide of sorts that will help people traveling on vacation or for business who love coffee as much as I do find local quality shops in the areas they're visiting instead of drinking Star Bucks everywhere they go. They burn their beans, they exploit their farmers, they overuse the land on their plantations and they advertise organic, fair-trade coffee even though they only offer it once a month as a "specialty coffee." And they're the largest whole-saler of coffee in the world. Go somewhere else. They can afford to do a better job and they just won't. They are to good coffee what McDonalds is to a decent meal. It'll all be in the book. However, in order to persuade the publishing companies that this is a book that will sell, I'd like to first start a local coffee blog with reviews of the best coffee shops in your area. It will be coming soon, but if you have an interest in writing a review or providing me with some material to write one that might go in the guide, drop me a line on here or at JeffHardesty@writingyourwrongs.com. I think if I could add a link to this blog in my book proposal and let the publisher see that there is already an interest I would have a better chance at getting a deal. Coffee lovers out there? You interested?

I have some random pictures of this winter that I haven't posted yet, so I'm just going to post them in no particular order. Enjoy! I'd love to hear from people. I feel like I've been so out of touch this winter. This job has really been all-consuming. Between work and trying to get a life in order, I've had very little time for anything but drinking and sleeping otherwise. Let me know what's new.
Much love,
Jeff

My New Business

Great news! I'm starting my own freelancing business called, "Writing Your Wrongs." I'll be doing freelance stories for various publications, editing for businesses and webpages, press releases, and other public relations writing. And of course my oh-so-lucritive true passion, writing fiction. I have met a guy here who has his own advertising business who has done work in almost every form of media imaginable. He has many connections with newspapers and magazines around Oregon and when I told him I was interested in finding some writing work he practically started this business for me. I'm writing a story currently on my good friend and boss Kevin (who hired me at Mt. Bachelor) and the interesting story of how he became a ski coach for the U.S Ski Team and now a top administrator at a ski resort while only having one leg. This new friend of mine is also subcontracting me to write several press releases for clients of his that will go in national publications and has offered to let me write for a local outdoor publication he plans to put out in March. I'm obviously pretty excited about the potential of getting to be my own boss and getting paid for doing what I love, but it's also a little scary to be thrown into this so quickly. I don't know what to say. My confidence lies in my ability to write and I'm just hoping the business end will come with some education and experience. I know I have a few other writer friends out there that read this occationally so if you are interested in doing something similar I'd be happy to send you some links and references for finding freelance work. The greatest part is there's no overhead to start a business like this, you can do it in your free time as much or as little as you like, and you get to write off pretty much everything vaguely related to your office as a business expense. So wish me luck in the upcoming months and if you have good story idea, know of someone opening a new business that needs some PR, or someone who needs a writer or editor send them my way. Thanks!

Oh, I've also had a lot of people ask me what happened with the modeling gig I wrote about a few months back. I'm guessing the guy was a fake. I don't know for sure, but we corresponded for awhile and I kept pressing him to show me a contract before I could fully commit and then I didn't hear from him again. C'est la vie.

Jesus Camp Review

I was finally able to see the documentary "Jesus Camp" that I had previously posted a trailer to and I have to say it was both sickening and reassuring. I say sickening because I think extremism troubles everyone. The things that were said by some of the kids in this movie and the adults that were teaching them were so far out that I can't imagine anyone not thinking, "Wow, I didn't know these people existed." Things such as, "Harry Potter is a warlock and if he were real he'd go straight to hell!" I just wanted to sit this minister lady down and calmly explain to her that Harry Potter is FICTIONAL (do you know what fiction is little girl? That means he only exists in your imagination. BOO!) and that warlocks are no more real than ghosts, goblins, demons or Satan's bogeymen. It's just madness and I can't help but think that the majority of it comes from sheer boredom. The evangelicals in this movie are so angry and so frustrated with the world and what I really want to know is why they think the world is supposed to be a good place. No one ever said it was. There are parts that are. There are parts that aren't. It's just life. Does that mean don't stand up for what you believe in? No. Does it mean tempering what you believe in with facts and evidence based on modern information? Yes, I think it does.

I say that the movie was reassuring because since this movie was produced much of what these radical evangelicals want moderates and liberals to be afraid of is that they have control of the white house, the congress, and the supreme court and we know this isn't the case anymore. Had I watched this a couple of years ago I may have been a little freaked out. "Could people like this that sit around in their small towns brewing over how horrible the world is really have the discipline to take over powerful parts of our government?" And a few years ago I would have had to look at the situation and say, "Yeah, they're doing it right now." Fortunately, most people (arguably all people) know what is too much and recognize when something that in moderation might be considered beneficial, even inspirational, has gone too far and needs to be cut down to size. I think we've seen this with the delusional decisions Bush has made during his time as president and if anything I think he has given a lot of radical, ugly people a platform to show the country how dangerous religious minds can be when unbalanced by logic, moderation and an open-minded education. The polarization in America has to stop. It can't continue. Liberals cannot divorce themselves from conservatives and visa versa. We're stuck with each other. And anyone who has dealt with group dynamics will tell you that what comes as a result is no more divinely inspired than it is controlled by logic and planning. It's just a dynamic. If our two parties were greens and democrats the country would be decidedly more liberal. If they were moderates and republicans, more conservative, but it's not about right and wrong--not to me. It's simply what has come about by throwing several different groups together in a system where they can't trump each other without risking backlash. Conservatives have been trying to trump liberals for the last thirty years. Now it's going the other way. So let's not get melodramatic about it. Sure it's good to learn about who is hanging out on the fringes of your society, but to watch a film like "Jesus Camp" and come away thinking anything other than here is a group of people who are taking a peaceful philosophy and turning it into an angry political tool is being extreme in a reverse fashion. Hollywood loves to jab at middle America because it doesn't understand why people in this country would choose to live such slow, simplistic lives, and middle America loves to jab back because Hollywood seems so whimsical and petty that they can't grasp why these people don't take life more seriously. I've seen the good and bad of both sides in my travels and I have to say we're all more or less the same when you get outside the little boxes we put each other into. Be a human being. Use your brain. You're not one or the other. You don't have to fit in a category to be normal.

MLK Day in the Northwest

It's been a little while since I've written anything, but we're finally moved in and settled here in Bend so I'd like to get back to writing more frequently. One of my favorite things about traveling is getting to see the various colloquialisms that make up the culture of a place. In the U.S. it's particularly interesting because so much of our culture is homogenized. Suburbia in Bend, Oregon is no different from any other city I've ever visited. They have Home Depot and Best Buy and Target like anywhere else, so you have to really speak to the locals to get a feel for what a place is all about. I'm getting worse at picking up on these things as I get older and more content with my views. Where as visiting a new city at age twenty-one was incredibly new and exciting and I was enamored by how different everything was from what I had previously known, now I have other places to compare to--so I've become a little more critical. That is, I can see the pros and cons rather than just blind passion for something new and interesting. It's kind of like dating in that respect. Eventually you start to see the similarities of life no matter where you are (or who you're with) and you start to accept places (and people) for what (who) they are without imposing your own vision on the experience, but at the same time you're more wise to the ways of the world (you're not the naive kid that parks his truck outside a hotel room with all his earthly possessions hidden under a thin tarp in the back to be stolen by homeless vagrants outside of Phoenix. Who does that? Just like you wouldn't give your heart away to any two-bit drunk you meet at the bar).

So with MLK day coming up here comes my one month analysis of racial issues in Bend. Some of what I've experienced here is very similar to other places in the west. The west has this general "cool" feel about it. Even people who are no where close to cool still dress and act the part. For younger people this is just typical behavior. Kids are trying to act cool all over the country, it doesn't matter where you are. But the interesting thing about the west is that even many people who are middle-aged still dress and act in this, "I'm too fucking hip to have a sense of humor about anything, just be cool," sort of manner. It's kind of funny. They get way bent out of shape about things that they really have no idea about. Let's take political correctness for example. First off, there are no black people in Bend...period. I have not seen a single African-American in a month here. Yet, when my ski-students like to yell out, "I'm black, I'm black" as they run for the multi-colored stalls at the ski lifts, or someone says, "Do you do blacks?" (meaning, do you ski black diamond runs) and I chuckle, I get funny looks. For people who grew up in the south or close to the south or anywhere in the Midwest where racial issues are still issues this kind of off-colored (no pun intended) humor is not taken offense to by people on either side. I see this as true equality--black people laugh at white people, white people laugh at black people but they all stay friends and mean no disrespect. In the northwest it's not like this, generally speaking, because minorities are more or less an academic idea. Racism isn't anything these people have ever dealt with so even someone joking ironically about racial issues is in bad taste. Racism is something they learned about in schools and see on Hollywood movies about farm towns in middle America--it doesn't happen a whole lot in Bend. Not like in central Missouri where the people who came to buy our bed before we left told me they were going to, "Jew me down" on the price as though this was just common vernacular for making such a transaction. I'm over uppitiness though. I went through a phase right after college where I took all these new PC ideas to the extreme and wanted the whole world to be this happy little inclusive place where no one's feelings ever get hurt and we all live in peace and harmony. Then I left my pleasant bubble of academia and more or less hated everyone I came in contact with for two years after that. Hating people who hate doesn't help the situation anymore than being radical and uppity about hate issues. Human decency is my new kick. The thing about many of the people I've met who are supposedly the educated protectors of civilization in the U.S. are also some of the biggest assholes I've ever met. They wouldn't throw their best friend a bone if he were starving on their doorstep. "I just don't want the hassle. If I help him now he'll never learn to take care of himself," they'd say. And maybe they'd be right, but they'd still be an asshole.

Part of this whole, "I have a dream" American vision of peace amongst a country of immigrants boils down to basic human decency. Manners. Please and thank you and have a nice day. Even if you don't mean it. It's the social lubricant that keeps things moving in a pleasurable manner when all anyone really wants is to talk about themselves and be left the hell alone to live their life as they please. Engaging people in political, racial, religious discourse has it's time and place--and it isn't in the check-out line at a grocery store. In a college classroom--fine. In a religious institution or political organization--great! But please people, you're not helping by putting on this air of intelligence and chastising people for mocking what they don't understand (that's what blogs are for!). Perhaps they'd like your input. Some people would genuinely like to know if they are saying offensive things. Others would rather you jump off a cliff. The fact of the matter is, not everyone can afford the education and travel that brings with it an open mind and accepting outlook. Some people with very good hearts just don't know that what they are saying is extremely rude and inappropriate. And those people, I promise you, are not going to walk away from a chastising saying to themselves, "Wow, I really get that. I should be more respectful. They're more likely to say, "What a pretentious ass. I shoulda popped him in the nose."

So please try to be civil people and enjoy the long weekend. I will personally be celebrating MLK day by teaching rich white kids how to slide down mountains on really expensive sticks. I hope some of you actually have a more culturally rich experience. Much love, Jeff.

Beauty Issues

Dove Evolution

Perception Askew

The New Office

Where I spend my day 

Pine Marten Chair Lift 

Make a Wedge

"Make a wedge with the tips of your skies, stand up nice and tall, and push your shins against the tongues of your boots." This is what I spend the majority of my day saying to young kids at Mt. Bachelor resort here in Bend, Oregon. Instructing ski lessons is a long day, somtimes rewarding, sometimes very frustrating. Even at ages four and five the difference in athletic ability between these kids is staggering. Some will grasp it immediately and will be ripping around on steep slopes before their lesson ends. Others will spend the entire six hour lesson trying to stay on their feet and make it down an incline the pitch of a roof on a one-story house. It's also not a cheap sport so it is rare to get the appreciative child who is grateful to be there and listening intently. More often I am fighting with kids--who could literally be my own--about whether or not their parent's ski instruction supercedes my own.

I've discovered that although I've skied several seasons as an adult in several different states I had no idea what I was doing until I came to ski school training two weeks ago. My strategy was always to turn my skies downhill, swerve when I started getting out of control, and stop on a dime when about to run into something. This always sufficed in the past. Now I will never make a turn again without analyzing whether or not I could have done it better. "Was I leaning too far forward? Was I sitting back on the pot? Did my skies stay parallel through the turn?" So much to think about. Self-improvement can be annoying as an adult. Sometimes you just want to do something without knowing so much about it. It's part of the fun. Once you know what you're doing, you have to work at it. Bummer. The same used to be true for walking in the woods. I used to like to go out on hikes just to get away from the city and unwind, then I tried to make this leisure my job and had to learn the names of all the plants and trees and animals and the natural cycles that we are all involved in. Next thing I knew I couldn't go for a walk in the woods without analyzing every detail of my surroundings. "Is this grove too overgrown? Should they do a controlled burn here? Why don't they do some trail work on this eroded site, it looks like shit." Even nature has become something for my mind to pick apart and organize. It's exhausting.

I'll stop that thought right there though, because who can honestly complain about working as a ski instructor? It's not an office. There's not a whole lot of responsibility (except not losing your kids somewhere in a snowstorm). It's a fun way to spend the winter and live in a beautiful part of the country. However, life doesn't just stop when one decides to do something like this. There are still bills to pay and food to be purchased and all the same wants and needs as before. So it takes a little sacrifice--like sleeping on a giant blow-up mattress to avoid the cost of yet another bed you won't be able to take with you when you move. Needless to say useless things like cable TV don't make the budget and amazingly if there is money that shows up in the bank account it seems to go effortlessly toward the outdoor gear we get at absurdly low prices. So the culture becomes one of homeless vagabonds with backpacks, skies, and mountain bikes that cost more than some people's cars. It takes a certain kind of crazy to live this way and one I'm finding myself growing out of. Don't get me wrong. I'm having a ball, but at some point the costs start to out-weigh the benefits. You get to the point where you're talking to the parents of these children--who carelessly throw away two-hundred bucks to have their kids get ski lessons from a group of homeless psychotic athletes--and you're thinking, I could do this person's job. I could be on the other end of this transaction...and the dream wanders off to better things.

I have so much more to say about this adventure and so little time to sit down and write about it. I'll try to keep this updated as the winter goes on. Hope everyone had a happy holiday and a happy new year! Welcome 2007.

Crazy-Whack-Funky Day

After two short semesters back in graduate school I have decided that academia needs to throw a giant party at least once a semester in celebration of mental illness! Yea! I mean honestly, some of my professors are interesting as hell but batty as a giraffe on a pogostick. Now let's face it, none of us is perfect. I certainly can't claim to be firing on all cylinders, but if passing a psychological analysis to prove one is free of mental illness was a necessary part of becoming a college professor I know at least the English department would not exist. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; obviously a lot of our most brilliant inventions and ideas have come from very disturbed individuals. Hemingway, Lincoln, Van Gogh, Beethoven, Woolf, Issac Newton, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill...the list goes on forever. These were all great individuals that acknowledged their illness and dealt with it in a manner that allowed them to go on to do great things (well, except Hemingway--he shot himself in the face, and Woolf drown herself--pretty sure Van Gogh was a suicide too, but the point being that they offered a great deal while they were around). As I've been finding out with some of my profs and fellow classmates, there are quite a few crazies out there that wouldn't dream of acknowledging the fact that their certifiably nuts. In fact my own Creative Writing teacher--who is aware that I am bi-polar--confessed to me today that she also has dramatic mood swings but would never think of going to a therapist because she thought it would screw up her writing. I wasn't too surprised as she is the most emotionally fickle teacher I've ever had (and we bi-polar folks have somewhat of a gay-dar for mental illnesses), but I did think it was proposterous that she thought analyzing her life would somehow make her WORSE at writing. It almost seemed a bit hypocritical seeing as how she preaches to me class after class about letting go and going to deeper subconscious places in my writing.

I guess it isn't a huge deal, but I have realized as of late that human beings have a deep-seeded sense of what is right and wrong. This doesn't mean that it gives us a right to judge or to criticize or to set up society in such a way as to presume right and wrong, but honestly, where would laws even begin if we didn't have this internal sense? Or are they just based off of the early settler's Puritan values (because if this is the case we have some serious Church and State issues)? If there is no sense of right and wrong there is no way to argue for innocence or guilt. It's all just one opinion versus another. Why I bring this up is, it seems to me that a huge part of formal education is teaching the brain how to misbehave, right? When we're born we're born with the information we need to survive. If we were fed up to a young age and left in the wild, we would innately begin building shelter and gathering foods in a way that would increase our chances for survival. But in the "real world" it isn't this simple. There are rules and class-lines, gender-lines, racial barriers...hell we won't even give a guy pissing in a glass jar a quarter on our way out of eating a huge meal of junk food. So to survive one must go to school and learn how to appear as far from an original human state as possible. The better you dress, the more "educated" you sound, the more you are able to recite the things academia deems worthy, the better off your life will be. The irony is, as I'm finding out, that the people at the top making the rules are, as I said, batty as a beaver with a bowling ball. They're INSANE! Neurotic! Brilliantly creative, but ultimately living somewhere that is nowhere close to the reality the rest of us experience on a day to day basis, yet they are the ones devising the curriculum that stretches all the way down to elementary school. It's scary shit. Mostly rich white kids--all grown up--who think they have the power to control the world. And again, the irony is that they'll believe just about anything that seems to make sense. I recieved an "A" on a paper last week in a class that I haven't even opened the text for. TOTAL bullshit--and I get comments back like, "You seem to really grasp these concepts." If I do, we're in trouble.

I don't know what else to say, except that it amuses me. Life is just so damn weird and the older I get the more goofy it all seems, yet the more serious everyone seems to get. So I guess a little human decency and an open mind (and a sense of humor) are about all I can recommend. My rules are basically that if it isn't hurting anyone but yourself, knock yourself out. As soon as you start infringing on my freedoms, we're gonna have words, but otherwise...go crazy! Everyone else is.

Forgot to Say, "Hell Yeah!"

I don't know what I've been doing that I forgot to comment on the elections, but I would be remiss if I weren't to say--umm, wow, what an incredible ass kicking the republicans took last week! Seriously. I bet that hurt. I had all but given up on you America. I thought you were really going to keep going on letting these douche bags walk all over you and molest, kill, torture, and steal from anyone and everyone they felt like and just when I was walking away you go and do something like this to redeem yourself. So, well done people. Thanks for rejuvenating my hope in the system. Now--and this is for you DNC--if you f this up I'm seriously moving to Brazil to be a goat herder. I'm not screwing around. We have the House and the Senate and we're in excellent shape to take the presidency in two years--this hasn't happened in thirty years--please, please, please don't fuck this up. We're begging you. Green energy, universal health care, fair trade, livable wage, social justice--we could be like a real civilization that does things to--you know, help its people. It will be fantabulous. I'm so excited I'm starting to wish I had cable (or a TV larger than 10 inches wide) just so I could see the play by play come January. It's like March Madness, except there's only two teams and one of them has one really strong player versus the other that is stacked with a hundred or so whiny sacks that better learn how to play basketball in a hurry (did that make any sense?). Anyway, that's my piece. If you're Republican, umm, sorry, I guess. Better luck screwing up our country next time around. To the rest of the world, you're welcome, and please forgive us. Much love!

Good Intentions

I'd like to ask for everyone's prayers and good intentions over the next few days. My friend Marcus Reynerson's father is having by-pass surgery Tuesday morning and could use your thoughts.
Thanks,
Jeff

What if...?

In case you haven't figured this out from previous blogs I spend a lot of time thinking about how America came to be so messed up and all around an unenjoyable place to live and I came up with this thought that we made a wrong turn when we decided both parents should start working. Now, I realize that sounds sexist, so bare with me. What I mean is that we had a moment in history where, as a country, men were working too hard and not spending time with their families and going off to war and generally obsessed with making money and building shit and drinking themselves to death and whatever...that's great. This obviously caused a rift in the balance of things and women said, "Enough is enough. We want the liberty to take care of ourselves and not depend on these crazy bastards who are all about themselves." From then on women have been moving in a direction of not really needing us for much--even those of us who are all for empowering women. Where has this put us as a nation? Well, let's remove judgement and just look at facts. Less than 50% of adults are married for the first time in history. We have three-fourths of people who have been married who've been divorced at least once. We have mental illness running rampant. Kids are living busy, crazy lives, as are their parents. People are growing up with very serious baggage. Maybe men should have been the ones to slow down rather than women speeding up to compete with the men? Maybe. I don't know.

So, let's untangle this mess and think about an alternate reality. What if, now that men have learned to respect women as equals (well, most of us anyway), we reconsider the way we're doing things. What if we consider that kids need their parents spending time with them so that they grow up to be confident, well-rounded individuals more than they need money being put in a trust fund? What if we consider that competition is great, if the playing field is equal and everyone wants to compete and everyone is on the same page about what we're competing for (which is nowhere near the case), but isn't so great when it puts those who are capable way out of reach and the incapable fighting to get their needs met. What if men and women swallowed their pride and said, "You know what, this is just dumb! We should be spending our afternoons eating meals together and making love instead of calling each other to see who's going to bring home fast food for dinner. We should stop telling ourselves these sad sob stories about how poor we are and how much we deserve and start appreciating that even the poorest of us have more than the wealthiest of other countries could dream of. What if we started putting the focus on relationships and education? What if we were so relaxed that we drank for pleasure instead of compulsively over-drinking to relieve stress? Think of the endless reprecussions of a slower lifestyle for a minute. Could people stay in love longer if they weren't under as much stress? Could kids grow up to be interested in inspiring ideas, art, nature, traveling, music--the things that make life worth living instead of money and judgemental, rigid ideologies? Could we stop thinking of the less capable as lazy and start seeing each other as human beings?

Alright, back to reality. I realize that we can't just scrap the history of America and get everyone to simultaneously start living differently. Nor do I fool myself into thinking everyone wants this. Some of us are seriously addicted to our pain. We identify with it. It's easier than changing. However, I do believe we can subtly start making choices in our day to day lives that will encourage this direction for our children. I'd like to encourage everyone to start looking a little more deeply into their stress and attempt to discover the source. Stop pushing through it and look to remedy it instead. Do you need more sleep? Do you need to eat better? Do you need more excercise? Do you need a new job? Maybe a change in scenery? But Jeff what does this have to do with what you were just talking about? When we're stressed out of our heads all day we make poor choices. We buy compulsively, we become callous to the people in our lives, we eat unhealthily, and on a larger scale, we vote out of hatred for people unlike ourselves instead of out of hope for a better society. We give up, we shut down. So, take care of yourselves this week. Vote consciously tomorrow. Start looking for ways to remedy problems instead of pushing through them. Let's grow up America. Let's take care of our needs. Let's get past this rags to riches story we're telling ourselves (because let's be honest, our history is more like genocide, slavery, and greed) and start a story of getting everyone to a more fulfilling lifestyle. I bet we can't do it by working harder. I bet we do it by living more mindfully. What do you think?

John Stewart Keepin' It Real

Crossfire with Jon Stewart

Oh, I love Johnny.

Beck is Incredible

Beck on SNL

Is there anything this guy can't do?

Scary Camp

Jesus Camp Trailer

This will be out shortly. Go see it. Scary.

This Film is Not Yet Rated

This Film is not yet Rated

I recommend this one.

New Documentaries

Hey all, I have two new documentaries I'm encouraging you all to see. One called,
"This Film is Not Yet Rated" and another called "Jesus Camp." Check out the trailers above.

The first one I just saw and it was pretty interesting. It's about the MPAA (the organization responsible for giving movies their ratings) and who this organization is made up of and how they control what we can and cannot see in movies. It also touches on a bigger issue of who controls media in this country and how powerful they are. My one complaint about this one is that for all the probing they go through to prove the point that this organization is facist and doesn't represent average American parent's best interests they don't interview anyone that represents average America. I guess they alliviate this need by saying that there is no such thing as an "average American parent" but all the people who say this are in the film industry and live in LA (which isn't exactly what most American's lives are like). That being said, it brings up a lot of good points about how childish adults can be about cusswords, sex, and nudity in movies when it's perfectly okay to show horrendous acts of violence and get lower ratings. The biggest issue with these ratings is what falls into NC-17. Basically an R rating and an NC-17 are both meant for adults, however if a movie gets the latter rating many studios won't release it, it can't get TV spots and most chain department stores won't carry it on DVD. So a lot of movies that take artistic risks in trying to do something different get marginalized and virtually unseen by American audiences based on the moral judgement of the MPAA. In my opinion this is just another element in why America is all but devoid of good art.

The second, I have not seen but sounds outrageous. I'm sure it will rile some emotions on either side. It's about fanatical Christian camps that are trying to rival religious fanatics in other parts of the world by teaching their kids to militantly follow Jesus. The trailer is disturbing enough. I'll give a full critique after I see it.

I don't know what kind of outlets you have for seeing these films. I'm guessing most cities have at least one theater that shows more obscure docs and films. Keep an eye out. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks.