Posted by frappyjohn on 2010-01-17 04:12:16:

Finally a rationale for my life of underachievement

I'm currently reading Doing Nothing: A history of loafers, loungers, slackers, and bums in America, by Tom Lutz. It's actually a very interesting book on the nature of work and its relevance, or irrelevance, to living a good life. A lot about how the industrial revolution changed the nature of work, the resulting alienation, and the many political, literary, and philosophical schools since which have rebelled against our work-oriented culture (not just Mr. Marx!).

... (read and comment)

Posted by frappyjohn on 2009-01-07 02:52:24:

January 2009 newsletter from the Cream City Collectives, Milwaukee, WI

January at the Cream City CollectivesGreetings,A lot of exciting things are happening this month at the CCC.  As you may have heard, Off the Grid MKE is starting a book club this month on Where There is No Doctor a book club for those who want to learn to care for each other.  Invaluable medical skills will be discussed by the club over the next few months and all should emerge a little less dependent on the current medical system should it become less reliable.  The first meeting is this Thursday the 8th from 7-9pm. 

Those interested in self-sufficiency should also take note of the newly added container garden workshop.  Lear... (read and comment)

Posted by creativemindsunion on 2008-11-28 05:00:38:

Asset Building or Just Sitting on Our Assets

Ok... We have had an ongoing debate and dialogue which needs to be wide open for every person's consideration and interpretation. At present, there is quite a bit of concern with some folks about fund raising and financial protocol in relation to regular expenses. I am of the mind to say, "Some money is better than no money while Documentation of Money Transactions is essential in the work we do." I am not of the mind to speak for others or to limit the paths by which we invest ourselves and our time as a diverse process of organizing and funds development in door2door outreach, community partnership along with long-range and mid-range program planning/design as a part of grant seeking and project development. The more interactive and informative our outreach and revenue stream vision is the more organic and beneficial it will be as a sustainable resource in hard times.

To make a long story short, there are plenty of solutions to our dilemma of financial stability and regular monetary support which occ... (read and comment)

Posted by creativemindsunion on 2008-08-29 05:27:23:

Where to Begin!?!

If you are interesting in setting up a meeting time to use our facilities regularly or form a collective as a part of pursuing your interest in our mission statement and community outreachg then please join our weekly assembly on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm at least 3 times a month and prepare any proposals or budgets in writing which you feel are necessary for presentation at assembly. Collectives must have one member present at 3 assemblies a month and are strongly recommended to have at least 3 members meeting monthly to be considered a collective.

Find Out More About Our Ideas Regarding Community Organizing

Collectives may not operate as a financial entity of BRYCC House without approval from Assembly and the Board of Directors and report to the Treasurer and Secretary with meeting notes monthly. All members and interested parties should drop in and visit at our monthly potlucks hosted from 2-4pm at 1101 South 2nd Street.

Community members are currently developing a training manual for volunt... (read and comment)

Posted by creativemindsunion on 2008-09-23 22:02:51:

University of Louisville gets the facts from an expert

Ralph Nader speaks... he thinks .... he has done his homework...He is committed to severe punishment for Corporate Criminals, Ending the Endless War, Universal Health Care, as well as Expansively shifting our job market to Alternative Energy Collection as Primary Resources for current combustion and non-renewable Solutions as a form of civic justice or rehab for drug users and life long education infrastructure locally and nationally.

His campaign representative takes time to preface the crowd with the idea that our country is the most demanding nation with regards to ballot accessibility on a state by state basis. He reminds us that $600 will get a candidate on the ballot in Colorado while at least 2 other states demand 50,000 signatures to even allow the candidate on the ballot.

This very Friday evening at UofL we have the pleasure of hearing what we really need to know. Nader steps up and immediately frames the American Public as not having asked enough of their political leaders. He asks, "Are w... (read and comment)

Posted by creativemindsunion on 2008-09-08 15:35:41:

and Voices of Dissent...

Over the years I have looked into the eyes and the ideas of folks who have come to volunteer at the Brick House.... these are the believers who make our mission real. These people ask in good faith, "What can I do and how can I help." Furthermore, these are the people who place their hands upon the wheels of change and drive our commitment to work within a less than perfect scenario of consensus decision-making to reach the mile markers of lasting change within the BRYCC community.

As I work with each of these selfless individuals, it becomes clear that they come to understand the larger value of how we maintain our community and forward the cause of independent learning as direct action. Nearly every volunteer at some point has had to ask ,"How do I do this?" or "Where should I place this when I am done?" or "Does this have to be done regularly?" because our process is all about learning to work together for organizing something larger than ourselves and what we think is right. Some like the idea and... (read and comment)

Posted by frappyjohn on 2008-12-28 03:50:53:

By Henry David Thoreau

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe— "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; fo... (read and comment)

Posted by frappyjohn on 2008-09-07 07:55:49:

By John R. Hicks

This is a time of introspection and anticipation here at the Brick House.

We know that LEO, the local alternative weekly, is doing a story on us, and from the interviews that have been granted and the questions that have been asked, we know this is not going to be just a light fluff piece, but something in depth, probing our demons. Something that may not be terribly flattering.

I suspect the article's theme will be something like: Why does this handful of people keep putting themselves through hell, struggling from month to month, when they should be able to see they're not making any progress and the stress of the struggle is deflecting them from what they're supposed to be about in the first place?

(And the irony of an organization dedicated to self-reliance that itself can't quite seem to attain self-sufficiency is bound to come out somewhere).

So I suspect we all have been brooding, meditating, contemplating: Yeah, just why are we doing this?

Sure there are the base human psychological r... (read and comment)

Posted by frappyjohn on 2008-12-16 13:25:32:

An essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
(Modern language revisions by John R. Hicks, 2008)

"Ne te quaesiveris extra."

"Man is his own star; and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man, Commands all light, all influence, all fate; Nothing to him falls early or too late. Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."            Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune

Cast the bantling on the rocks, Suckle him with the she-wolf's teat; Wintered with the hawk and fox, Power and speed be hands and feet.

Self-Reliance

The other day I read some verses, written by an eminent painter, that were original and not at all conventional. I always hear an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain: To be... (read and comment)

Posted by frappyjohn on 2008-08-25 01:03:08:

The defining document for the idea of a Permanent Autonomous Zone

TAZ-theory tries to concern itself with existing or emerging situations rather than with pure utopianism. All over the world people are leaving or "disappearing" themselves from the Grid of Alienation and seeking ways to restore human contact. An interesting example of this-on the level of "urban folk culture"-can be found in the proliferation of hobby networks and conferences. Recently I discovered the zines of two such groups, Crown Jewels of the Hlgh Wire (devoted to the collection of glass electrical insulators) and a journal on cucurbitology (The Gourd). A vast amount of creativity goes into these obsessions. The various periodic gatherings of fellow-maniacs amount to genuine face-to-face (unmediated) festivals of eccentricity. It's not just the "counter-culture" which seeks its TAZs, its nomad encampments and nights of liberation from the Consensus. Self-organized and autonomous groups are springing up amongst every "class" and "sub-culture". Vast tracts of the Babylonian Empire are now virtually empty,... (read and comment)