My Isocratean Project

For my CMN 415 class, I am to write two 500+ word responses each week.  They are to pertain to anything in my life, BUT HERE’s THE CATCH…

Never too late to break out of comfort zone, meet new people (March 29, 2011)

Finding the right career path, money issues and developing relationships occupy my mind most of the time, and I think these can apply to a lot of undergraduates out there.

Many people like trying new things and making lasting impressions. That’s the way I was brought up, and this mentality has made my life a pretty fun adventure. However, it would be shortsighted to assume this mindset is self-evident.

New York Times online to charge for content

The New York Times took an entire page in today’s edition of the newspaper to notify readers that their plan to charge for online content is now in effect. The letter’s momentous impact will surely be felt in the midst of the Internet’s revolutionary shifts to the way we share information.

A similar letter was sent via email to NYTimes online subscribers on March 18. Here it is, with the major changes bulleted:

Seasick Steve

I think I appreciate Jack White’s propensity towards this Seasick Steve.  Jack likes to bop around the upper echelon of rock and blues greatness because, I think, he believes that in order to be great, you have to surround yourself with greatness.

Steve…well, Steve moved to Paris in the ’70s with $10 to his name.  He’s been homeless, he’s seen some depths, and now he’s met fame.  Steve’s best quality: He’d rather look you right in the eye than stare upon you from the mountaintops.  He’s the same character today as he was forty years ago.

I think Jack sees in him a passionate musician who is happy with – or doesn’t give a shit about – his circumstances.

rsefer.com is correct, though.  His La Blogotheque footage is much cooler.

Parisian Invasion

I’ve been dipping into the French honey pot a lot lately.

We’ve seen Daft Punk and Phoenix do quite well in recent years, including headline gigs at Lollapalooza in 2007 and 2010, respectively (and this collaboration at MSG).  Justice and Underground Railroad have made some (mostly good) noise, as well.  They also have Freedom for King Kong, who made this one really…cool…Okay, okay, I found a list of French artists online and thought the name sounded fun.  ANWAYS I’m interested to see what else The Land of Human Rights/Frogs has to offer.

One group that’s recently made an impression on me is Jamaica — and I think the bold-italics combo is the only way they’d want it.  Antoine Hilaire and Flo Lyonnet play ear-splitting guitar riffs, catchy beats, and exuberant themes, making them my Favorite French Band of the Moment.  Their debut album, ‘NO PROBLEM’, released in August 2010 and was produced by Xavier de Rosnay of Justice.  Despite being signed to electro-pop record label Ed Banger Records, the album was created with a “no synth” rule.

The playfully sardonic video to ‘I Think I Like U 2‘ features, as the band explains on their myspace site, “extremely impressive technologies like photography, drawing and such.”  Check it out!

You can also visit this music download site for free downloads of remixes done by Buffalo Bunch and…(look down)…

BREAKBOT.  Also signed by Ed Banger Records, DJ Thibaut Berland can make a beat.  Though he’s mostly into remixing others’ works, ‘Baby I’m Yours’ is an original sure to make you want to boogie (whatever that really means).  Please, please watch the video, too…it’s an experience!

While these bands haven’t yet earned much recognition in the US or UK,  Pony Pony Run Run is doing a lot in other European lands to make a name for themselves.  Coming out of Nantes in western France, this power-pop trio’s aptly-named 2008 album, ‘You Need Pony Pony Run Run’,  reached #78 in the French albums chart and is currently touring throughout northern continental Europe.  Be sure to listen to ‘Hey You’ at their myspace site.

Another trio of go-getters in the Beatles-inspired Revolver out of Paris.  Their music is mostly simple, but the band brings a host of influences together to create ‘chamber pop’.  While it’s difficult for them to sing in English, their site explains, “[Our] songs speak the international language of melody and wonder.’  All this band needs is some touring experience and time to hone their melodies before they make it big.  Music and band information can be found here.

Oh, you noticed that I used the French colors for the band names?  Actually, those are American colors.

Artocracy in Tunisia

While at the Cannes Film Festival last May, I had the unbelievable pleasure of witnessing JR’s documentary Women Are Heroes with friends Meetch, Kyle, and KP.  I didn’t even realize that it was JR‘s film; I just saw this crazy-looking French guy with faces on his hoodie who was getting really excited about his work.  I was more worried about the “shoody-shoo-shoo” nut vendor on the beach, but I wish I’d known that I was in the presence of a pretty cool guy.

The view at the Cannes outdoor showing of 'Women Are Heroes'

About a month ago, I was reading about some of the more influential people who’ve worked with TED.com when a unique image caught my eye.  I recognized the black-and-white picture of a woman on a wall from Women Are Heroes and realized it was JR (winner of the 2011 TED Prize).  “This guy’s doing big things,” I thought, and I decided to keep a tab on him.

Back to the present now, I just received an email from JR telling how he’s moving on to another moveable project — this one in the conflict-ridden Tunisian Republic.  He’s taken hundreds of photographs of ‘normal’ Tunisian citizens and he’s posting them up throughout the country to give a face to the oppressed.  My freshman year, my Global Studies teacher taught me that an important part of curbing tyranny is establishing a human connection between the tyrant and those he’s hurting.  I think that JR is trying to do just this with his portraits of human emotion.

Here’s a snippet from JR’s email:

“There is nothing better to understand the weight of traditions and the willingness to change than to post big portraits in the symbolic places of the popular districts and try to explain the concept to people nearby…”

Some of the pictures included:

I hope his plan works and the oppression ends quickly.

Future of US depends on schools, not wars

We all know that the United States is in serious trouble when it comes to balancing the budget. Our roughly $14.2 trillion deficit may be the most pressing issue of our time, as it affects all United States policy. Mistakes were made — and not completely unaccounted for — and we’re now fighting to keep our collective head above water.

We don’t yet know which strategies will guarantee us a way out of this mess. I do think, however, that spending nearly $700 billion on the military is not going to help chip away at our monumental budget shortcomings. With more military bases abroad than the rest of the world has combined and a budget twice as big as the EU’s (27 members combined), the United States needs to reassess its priorities.

We’re able to provide support when countries need it most, as is the case with our current involvement in Japan. Plenty of good comes from U.S. military aid, but we too often force our hand because of our ubiquitous presence abroad.

We already have two wars going on, and with our track record for escalating “air support” into full-out war (we’re at 100 percent), we cannot afford to get involved with the conflicts in Libya. I understand that there is gross injustice going on there, but there are incredibly pressing issues that need attention to the homefront as well.

George Washington, the American paradigm of an armed forces commander, said we should be wary of involving ourselves in foreign matters. With an infrastructure at home so dilapidated, how can we continue to venture into other countries’ internal affairs?

Another founding father, James Madison, forecast that perennial militarism would be our downfall. Look what happened to Rome, the greatest empire the world had ever seen. In its ambition to pursue increasing control in the world, it forgot to take care of its people’s basic needs. What started as a model example of democracy ended up a fallen house of cards.

The taboo subjects of unemployment, poverty and homelessness leave an immense number of Americans disenfranchised. Many struggle to sleep easily enough to even envision the American dream.

However, I’d rather focus on the direction of the education system. I’m bewildered by the way education funding has been targeted as the way to make the budget solvent. It’s hypocritical to say we want to become the global leader in education when we continue to cut its spending. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and education professor and historian Diane Ravitch are at the forefront of reform discussions. Both argue that the teacher evaluation process is flawed, but Christie is misguided in his proposal for widespread firings. As author Donna Foote said, “Let’s train (educators), support them, hold them accountable and compensate them well.” David Coleman, for instance, has proposed “common core” standards by which students and, consequently, teachers can be evaluated. Equality in learning opportunity and evaluation is the foundation of a thriving education system.

Good teachers and administrators are at the core of the country’s success. As Democratic Rep. Clyde Kersey of Indiana said, “The problem is that we need to put more money in (low-income) schools. You cannot compare that school with a school in a high-income area that we’ve been doing for a long time.” President Obama’s 2012 Department of Education budget falls short of giving all students an opportunity to get a good education.

It’s a shame that we have to compromise education because we’re overwhelmed by our foreign agenda. We first must ensure prosperity at home before implementing our ideologies abroad. Education is the crux of human expansion. I would like to see our nation’s leadership truly embrace it as such.

see The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries for more

Brene Brown makes it seem simple

She dances a little at first, but she shows that she’s one of a kind towards the middle.  There’s little I can say to give her research and speech justice.  It encompasses so many topics that I feel are at the core OF ALL EXISTENCE AND YOU SHOULD REALLY LOVE THIS VIDEO AS MUCH AS I DO.  Really though it’s good.

The Strokes

The coolest band on campus

I can’t wait to see what happens with Casablancas, Moretti, Hammond, Valensi, and Fraiture.  I’m hopeful that this enigmatic group of ‘Fuck-offs’ will be around as they’ve been one of the few bands who’ve had a major influence on music fans for over a decade.

Westboro Baptist highlights same-sex issues with bigotry

My blood boils when I hear about people protesting outside funeral processions. Could you imagine losing a loved one — especially one who gave his life for our safety — and hearing people shouting at the funeral that his was a wasted life?

The Westboro Baptist Church is a group of Christian-based radicals who have taken extreme political and religious stances. In a case from 2006 that just concluded, Albert Snyder, the father of a fallen soldier, filed suit against the group for using his son’s funeral as a pulpit for its hateful messages. While most people are sympathetic towards Snyder, eight of nine Supreme Court Justices upheld the church’s First Amendment rights to free speech.

Headed by Pastor Fred Phelps, based in Topeka, Kansas and comprised mostly of Phelps’ family, Westboro is a model of ignorance. And because they’re such overt ignorami, it’s become hard for many to take them seriously. Phelps’ messages of hatred are spread in God’s name, which creates such fallacious logic that their whole mission has become ludicrous. The man literally cannot understand certain questions — “they’re just too dumb” for him.

They think that if someone’s opinion isn’t the same as theirs, it’s not important. It’s unbelievable!

It would bother me much less if these people realized the impact that they’re having in other peoples’ lives. With no irony or self-awareness at all, Phelps claims that anyone with an opposing viewpoint is wrong.

It doesn’t take a rhetoric major to realize how silly this mind-set is.

We’ve all encountered situations somewhat like this: Someone acts frustratingly specious, and there’s no rationalizing with him. It feels like it would take years of Socratic discussion to help alter his reasoning.

We don’t always have the time to argue, though. People can be so stubborn in their all-knowing mentalities. It’s a problem that Radiohead accurately addresses with their song “I Might Be Wrong.” The idea is that maybe (just maybe!) YOU are that immovable object.

Obstinacy can be so harmful to relationships. Questioning your own argument’s fallibility and entertaining others’ perspectives is a marked sign of maturity.

The Supreme Court’s decision in favor of Phelps’ movement is justified by the results: Ironically, the opposite of Westboro’s mission is being realized. In their hate-ridden drive to end the world’s ‘homosexuality problem,’ they’ve incited pain, but also unity in their opposition. Albert Snyder did not win his battle, but look at the strides that have been made in spite of Phelps and others like him: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been seriously questioned on many fronts, and President Obama recently told the Justice Department to quit defending the Defense of Marriage Act. People of all sexual orientations have come together to fight back with tremendous courage.

The American principle of unabridged, robust debate will always allow for offensive behavior. It’s important to understand the simple truth that people are different. It’s okay to be upset with the Westboro wackjobs; don’t fall into their trap of derogatory bigotry, though. Every idea demands a hearing.

There will always be closed-mindedness in the world, and it’s going to take some thick skin to grow together in understanding.

This case has stirred people in ways that would make neoliberal justices’ temples burst. There are emotion-filled discussions spreading all across the country because of Phelps’ widespread disdain. I’m not saying that I’m happy about what these idiots are doing, but would same-sex issues have been at the forefront of current debate without the extremist banter thrusting it into the limelight?