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Levees Made of Lies: Rage, Grief, and the Chimera of the American Dream
by Phil Rockstroh, October 2005
"But an unwashed, unruly mob of sticklers for constitutional process got lucky, that round, and they brought Nixon down. And, for our anti-American sins of self-doubt, we received Jimmy Carter, who delivered cardigan-draped bromides of thrift and Sunday school sermons of self-restraint and personal sacrifice ... and that sort of thing drove people to cocaine and disco."
My 500-Plus-Word Essay on How This Experience Has Effected My Life
by Luis Rivas, September 2005
"I showed up four minutes late for my first AA meeting from trying to find parking on a Saturday night at 10 pm on Ventura Blvd, red-eyed from lack of sleep the night before and with a three-day old beard. I looked as if I belonged. It was the facial uniform for the men."
Stuck in the Middle with You
by Jonathan Penton, September 2005
"The cops clearly felt that we had the right to protest and weren't going to sweat any small breaches of the criminal code, provided we didn't riot or otherwise make asses of ourselves. Having been raised in Atlanta, I wondered if these guys felt about us the same way that many Georgian police departments feel about the Klan."
Creative Commons Licensing: How Much, For How Long, Who, and Why?
by Tim Hadley, August 2005
"The Creative Commons website invites copyright holders to offer their web sites or other creations under Creative Commons licenses by displaying the Creative Commons trademark along with a hyperlink to the specific license the author has chosen. Numerous web site operators have done this, but some have then shown confusion about just what that means."
Medicating the Dead
by Phil Rockstroh, August 2005
"But Christ on a crack pipe, how long do we Americans believe we can go on like this, benumbed to the point of stupefaction, waddling about, cooing at all the shiny consumer goods, here, in our infantilized, corporate dystopia -- The United States of Teletubbies ..."
Narcissism in the Boardroom
by Sam Vaknin, August 2005
"The narcissist cares only about appearances. What matters to him are the facade of wealth and its attendant social status and narcissistic supply. Witness the travestied extravagance of Tyco's Denis Kozlowski. Media attention only exacerbates the narcissist's addiction and makes it incumbent on him to go to ever-wilder extremes to secure uninterrupted supply from this source."
An Abdicated King Recrowned
by Marshall Smith, July 2005
'Having traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, I can say with some assurance that it is a perfectly conventional practice for a man to take a younger man into his bed, in many instances, more natural than even a woman. Middle easterners engaging in such customs will cite various reasons for this, ranging from, "Women are dirty and for breeding only," to "I'm not gay. I don't catch."'
Moloch in the Mirror
by Phil Rockstroh, July 2005
"So we have a habitual need for distraction from the unease and emptiness - that persistent feeling that something is missing - that the garnering of more ... of something - anything ... is needed to fill the void ... that maybe we'll find it in a mall, in a catalog, order it online, find it on a restaurant menu, get a prescription for it, or bomb somebody in some far away place until feelings of safety, satiety, and well-being are bestowed upon us ..."
Free Jazz: The Jazz Revolution of the 60's
by Robert Levin, July 2005
"Four musicians (a saxophonist, trumpeter, bassist and drummer) abruptly began to play—with an apoplectic intensity and at a bone-rattling volume—four simultaneous solos that had no perceptible shared references or point of departure. Even unto themselves the solos, to the extent that they could be isolated as such in the density of sound that was being produced, were without any fixed melodic or rhythmic structure."
On Objectifying the Enemy: An Evolution through American Conflicts
by Marshall Smith, June 2005
"...this piece will only discuss slurring in military engagements of the 20th and 21st century. All readers looking for interesting slang used against the redcoats, the yanks or the confederates may stop reading now. Those wishing to hear me slander the hell out of the Germans, Italians, Japanese, Russians, Vietnamese, Middle Easterners of various creeds, and nearly all other cultured populations of the Earth are encouraged to continue."
The Power of Positive Thinking
by Bitter Pie, June 2005
'The daily activities were bearable, but the seminars were excruciating to sit through. The leader, spouting off about numerous success stories based solely on material possessions, the racially discriminating remarks about how "even black people can grasp this", the denigration of scientific thought and how "theories that try to prove we humans are descendants of apes is blasphemy", that education is "a waste of time because it takes attention away from what really matters: making money", and not to attend any sort of college institution because "all college professors are lesbians and fags".'
The Myth of the Right to Life
by Sam Vaknin, June 2005
'Generations of malleable Israeli children are brought up on the story of the misnamed Jewish settlement Tel-Hai ("Mount of Life"), Israel's Alamo. There, among the picturesque valleys of the Galilee, a one-armed hero named Joseph Trumpeldor is said to have died, eight decades ago, from an Arab stray bullet, mumbling: "It is good to die for our country."'
The Rucksack Letters: September 10, 2001—The Jersey Shore
by Steve McAllister, reprinted May 2005
"This was the moment - that manifestation of principles that the pot smoker dreams of with dread and fervor. I've often considered how I would react when questioned about my possession of this plant deemed illegal by my government but adored by me. For me, it's become a question of civil liberty. Does the government have the right to limit my levels of consciousness?"
The Zillion Dollar Misunderstanding
by Anntelope, May 2005
"Just like I cannot comprehend what bizarre and savage sensations compel an individual suffering from Tourette's Syndrome to spasm uncontrollably and bark and growl and utter profanities at the most awkward of moments, neither do I believe that a normal person can understand the unrelenting and insidious discomfort that drives someone like myself to narcotics."
Racing Down: Eugenics and the Future of the Human Species
by Sam Vaknin, May 2005
""When the jurist Karl Binding and the psychiatrist Alfred Hoche published their tract The Permission to Destroy Life that is Not Worth Living in 1920 ... their motive was to rid society of the 'human ballast and enormous economic burden' of care for the mentally ill, the handicapped, retarded and deformed children, and the incurably ill."
A Sense of No Place
by Tom Bradley, May 2005
'...my particular Bethlehem and its accompanying "sense of place" are bound up with my own premature death, and with the destruction of the human race at large. I was born downwind in Utah in the heat of the aboveground hydrogen bomb test era. There's a projected mass die-off of Utahns my exact age, of thyroid cancer, due to commence any day now.'
The Aesthetic of Griping
by Marshall Smith, April 2005
"An Open Letter to the Media, The President of the United States, and Mr. Michael Moore:
Dear Fuckos,
Please stop exploiting me.
Very respectfully,
SGT Marshall Smith"
The Traitor
by Jonathan Penton, April 2005
As you might know, the United States Transportation Security Administration maintains two security lists. The first is a list of people who are not allowed to fly on U.S. flights, the "no-fly" list. The second is a list of people who are to be searched every time they fly, the "selectee" list. I can now say with some certainty that I am on the selectee list, and have been there since at least December '04.
Iraq, the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and the Couch Potato's Burden:
a Muscular Centrist Attack on the Pro-War Position by Dan Schneider, April 2005
"Yet, I fell for it, along with many cautious skeptics, with the proviso, if wrong we would acknowledge it. History proves our intelligence was wrong. There were no WMDs, and surprise, surprise- the UN inspections, ongoing until the war- were actually working!"
Photo ID
by Julie Ann Keller, April 2005
"You pass a government regulation with the best of intentions. But by the time it wends its way to implementation, it undergoes so many subjective permutations, it is hardly recognizable at the end and virtually never serves its original purpose. Which is one reason most people hate, or at least mistrust, government."
Right Wing Media and the Propaganda of Facists
by Mavi Gözler, February 2005
"A real match would pit two opponents with either equal ability or debating conditions. FNC instead fixes the fight however. The mission of the network is to have the opinion on the right to be victorious or at least seen that way. One way that FNC can do this is by strait-jacketing or handcuffing the well-spoken member of the left."
Serial Killers as a Cultural Construct
by Sam Vaknin, February 2005
"Cases like Barothy's give the lie to the assumption that serial killers are a modern - or even post-modern - phenomenon, a cultural-societal construct, a by-product of urban alienation, Althusserian interpellation, and media glamorization. Serial killers are, indeed, largely made, not born. But they are spawned by every culture and society, molded by the idiosyncrasies of every period as well as by their personal circumstances and genetic makeup."
A History of Fruitcakes
by Rania Zada, February 2005
'"Old Souls don't brag about being Old Souls," I point out, which throws her off for about a minute, then gets her rolling in another direction... to convince my younger siblings that their father is half alien (not the hostile kind). My dad swallows his food and looks around the table with an amused smile; well, at least he's being entertained. The kids, accustomed by now to my mother's dinner diatribes, respond with a blank but unsurprised stare.'
From Liberty Cabbage to Freedom Fries: The Ethical Crisis of the Contemporary American Left
by Matthew Flaming, January 2005
"In the face of this dilemma, what's a liberal to do? The understanding and appreciation for difference that relativism provides is too important ignore; relativism cannot simply be discarded. At the same time, it is important to remember that positivism and intervention are also part of the tradition of liberalism....leftist intellectuals and artists from around the world took up both metaphorical and literal arms against Franco in the name of civil rights.
Philosophy of Nonviolence
by David McReynolds, January 2005
'We write and talk about nonviolence as if it were simply a technique. I believe it is much more, that it is a "one-edged philosphy" which cannot easily be used to defend or advance injustice, and which is of value only if tested in the real world.'
from The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
by Djeff Babcock, remixed by Aryan Kaganof, January 2005
'I think about my last meeting with my friend Ace Phale in the Ville de Bruxelles. Ace was silent for a long time, then he said "You know the nineteenth century was the time of morality. Dostoyevsky, for example. Then the twentieth century, that was the time of politics. The world wars, the rise of communism, the 60s, etc." He looked around the smoky French barroom a bit. "And today it's the time of business."'
The Dismal Mind: Economics as a Pretension to Science
by Sam Vaknin, January 2005
'Economics is not an exact science, nor can it ever be. This is because its "raw material" (humans and their behaviour as individuals and en masse) is not exact. It will never yield natural laws or universal constants (like physics). Rather, it is a branch of the psychology of masses. It deals with the decisions humans make.'
The Hammer: Notes on the election in outline form
by Alan Sondheim, December 2004
"Since the early 70s, when I taught a course called "The Year 3000," I always knew Kerry would lose. This is why."
Welcome to the West Side
by Ginger Hamilton Caudill, December 2004
"Gina sells pot. Gina hooks. She has learned she cannot take care of her son and herself on minimum wage. There was a stream of men coming and going from her apartment at any given time of day or night. At least once a month there would be three or even more police cars parked wildly in front of her door. Eventually, the state took Donte from her and placed him with Gina's mother."
from a Quest among the Bewildered
by Wulf Zendik, November 2004
"Come… listen to the dreamer, the idealist, the impractical unrealistic one; with ideas unworkable in this modern world. Ideas and ideals certain to lead you to chaos and dissension, turmoil and conflict—or heaven. Yes, heaven, if such a thing has been, is, or could be, then it is here and now; not on some gold-plated, thick-carpeted, air-conditioned cloud city with excellent plumbing—a place mortally unattainable, unknowable."
The Rucksack Letters: November 27, 2001—Asheville, NC - Knoxville, TN
by Steve McAllister, reprinted November 2004
"I spent the other night at a commune called Zendik Farm, which touts, among their philosophies, an idea called 'Creavolution,' an amalgam of creativity and evolution whereby those who live the ideal have greater control of the person they become. I'd thought much about this idea before I even knew there was a name for it, and upon hearing more about the commune's founder, Wulf Zendik, the more interested I became."
Building the U.S. Elections Issue
by Jonathan Penton, October 2004
"Poets shouldn't keep the same opinions throughout their lifetimes. Philosophers and pundits become boxed in; they often, hopefully inaccurately, believe that a serious shift in opinion will be taken as betrayal by their fans. Poets are allegedly wordsmiths. A poet's fans might appreciate his thoughts, but rarely consider it important to agree with the poetry they read."
Beyond Belief: Notes from the Trough of a Late-Night, Pre-Election Funk
by Ann Keller, October 2004
"Is there any such thing as an ‘unsophisticated' voter? Any factory worker who dropped out of 9th grade knows his kids don't have health insurance and he knows why. The poorest person in the meanest slum in the county knows that he's unemployed and that his kid's in Iraq. If these people had someone to vote FOR, they would. But they don't. What they hear, instead, are speeches about stem cell research, the perils of gay marriage, capital gains taxes, Social Security, and foreign threats."
Why I Won't Be Submitting to Jonathan's U.S. Elections Issue
by Tom Bradley, October 2004
"In the past seven years I have read enough theosophy and esoteric Buddhism to get a fair understanding of the concepts of racial, tribal and national karma, and to realize what I suspected all along: anything, such as elections and war, that influences the lives of whole shitloads of people, is to be treated as a mere spectacle for the soul."
On Why I Won't Be Voting for John Kerry, or Why John Kerry Looks Like a Pencil, or Why John Edwards Just Wants Pussy
by Shane Jones, October 2004
"Well, it's been made official by symbolism. Patriotic balloons fell from the rafters, John Mellancamp placed one foot in the career grave, dozens of thumbs up and fist pumps, and John Kerry arrived by boat with as much class and sophistication as Dolly Parton entering a chicken wing eating contest. It's party time at the Democratic Convention!"
Election Day Predictions
by Greg Cannon, October 2004
"Neither Bush or Kerry will bring the troops home from Iraq or Afghanistan in the next four years. If by some chance I'm wrong and the troops do come home, they won't stay long. Bush will send the troops to more countries, where they'll have lots of adventures to tell their grandkids. It's possible Kerry might do that too, but not as likely. "
What I'll Be Doin' on Election Day
by Randall Karlen Rogers, October 2004
"What will I be doing on election day, November 2, 2004? Probably sitting in front of my computer, drinking coffee or tea, smoking, maybe typing some odd short story or academic paper, thinking about my upcoming death, thinking about all those guys getting their heads chopped off in Iraq, watching the Chinese TV movie channel (I can't understand what they are saying so the noise doesn't bother me)..."
Election 2004: They All Want Our Fear So Be Fearless
by Luke Buckham, October 2004
"...the world abounds with articles entitled "Why Do Americans Hate Politics?" and "Why Americans Hate Politics". We have been given just enough freedom and leisure time to make us cranky about spending our time in the voting booth. Why go voting when you can go bowling, or eat out at Taco Bell, or read about how Oprah's latest weight-loss, without being penalized?"
Citizenship
by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, October 2004
"I am not eligible to serve jury duty. However, in my profession for the county agency I work for, I have been a court deputy, many times representing clients in court for my department. It is strange how I can write a court report to a judge and affect people's lives, but I cannot serve on a jury."
Dancing With the Beast in a Slow Year: What I will do on election day
by C. Derick Varn
"I am voting this year for civic duty reasons, for reasons of righteous indignation, and for an excuse to skip a poetry workshop with its endless rambling about enjambment. I have been tempted to vote for Mad King Dubya just to spite the other liberal poets who expect me to always vote for racial politics, truth, and NEA."
