Chicago

I think this summer, I am going to live in Chicago at a hostel for one month. I need to leave Southern California, and tryout some other places.

Is Los Angeles like this and I just don't know it? Or, is Chicago just already a better city?

Education About Education

The American educational system, especially California's, is embarrassingly dysfunctional. For some idiosyncratic reason, whenever the state government is having monetary issues, one of the first places to make cutbacks is education. I cannot imagine what the logic behind further dementing our society is, but frankly, it pisses me off. I have several criticisms, predictions and suggestions to make about this.

The current educational system, regardless of effectiveness, is corrupt at the curriculum level. Fundamental skills are important and absolutely necessary. Reading, writing, basic math. These matter, but they are only so stimulating. Additionally, only so much education in each subject is really necessary for the average person, until they decide to become especially capable in some subject area. We learn about as much about the fundamentals as we will ever need to know by the eighth grade level, the end of middle school. High school, then becomes four years of repeating these subjects, making sure we REALLY get it. Though statistically we are not really quite getting it yet. We take the same history and science classes several times. A few useless elective classes here and there. I say useless because generally, specialized topics are offered as one semester classes. For this reason, what is learned in those classes only sustainably impacts a handful of the total students in the class.

Being a public school student myself, the public school system is not about education. For me, the quality of education I think was quite good. However, I lacked any real awareness of my education's significance, as did/do most students. In addition, I felt stagnant relearning so many subjects that I had previously done well in. I cannot imagine what the poor fellows retaking failed classes must have been feeling like.

Obedience seems to be the primary focus of public education, especially at the high school level. Many teachers uninhibitedly refer to their jobs as baby-sitting. School doesn't seem to get serious for most students, myself included, until college. Until you have control of your education, and you are learning about the world at a whole new level. Why isn't high school education like this?

The future will have no choice but to start reinstating those subjects most applicable and useful for real world applications. I think requirements should be considerably more varied and practical. Computer technology is an important skill for the future whose necessity cannot be argued as it is now. I think technology education will become more important as we move into the future. Students will be learning programing and engineering just as they currently learn biology and chemistry. Horticulture will also become necessary for future generations. Considering the mass depletion of agricultural areas in the United States, we will have no choice but to start growing more of our own food in the future (i.e. in our own backyards).

With regard to agriculture: it is a culture. An almost completely lost culture in the United States. What we have replaced it with is what is known as factory farming, a practice already proving to be non-viable. America's lack of realistic perception keeps factory farming alive for now, but when it finally collapses, I would like to hope we know how to at least water tomatoes.

Most importantly, education should be, and will need to be, based around awareness. Self-awareness. Global awareness. Students should be able to coherently explain, even when they are young, why they go to school. Young people need to be mindful of the future, and themselves in its context. Currently, popular culture is mostly mindful of the self and the world as a means to propel oneself. Selfish. Narcissistic. By doing nothing about this, we are only breeding more over-consuming naiveté.

Robert Kennedy, 1968

"We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor the national achievement by the Gross National Product. For the Gross National Product includes air pollution, and ambulances to clear our highways from carnage. It counts special locks for our door and jails for the people who break them. The Gross National Product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads . . . It includes . . . the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.

"And if the Gross National Product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public officials . . . the Gross National Product measures neither our compassion nor our devotion to our county. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America–except whether we are proud to be Americans."

- Robert Kennedy, 1968 (taken from 1968 by Mark Kurlansky)

What invaluable words of wisdom whose pertinence resonates today. . .

Arte Por Arte

Today I was engaged in a dialogue about art. Very quickly I established a position about art that I didn't want to (nor was I able to) defend, making me feel exceptionally pretentious and insincere. Somehow I got into talking about what is and is not art. I have thought about this before, and I know there have been things I do and do not call art, but to summarize and justify my criterion was an entirely different matter. Sure enough, I fumbled all over myself trying to think about it on the spot. By the end of that conversation, I was left unsatisfied with myself. And so, here is what I have come to realize since then.

Art is something relative to people. If an artist or an audience perceives it as that, then it is. For this reason, it is impossible to empirically define art. So for me, I think there is not so much art that is simply not art, but rather there is art I just cannot feel. Only that which nobody can consider art, is not art. This, no one can ever know. You can only pretend to know what is and is not art.

With that said, I think art is these things (and more):

It is action taken because emotion has compelled you to do so.

It is expression of thought that starts in your guts and touches your influence, all you have learnt, before it escapes from you through your skin and becomes beyond you.

It is ideology and vulnerability.

It is subjectivity eating objectivity.

It is being.

It is loving.

It is life's dissonances.

It is life's resolutions.

It is what every living person feels and does.

It is your best guess at what it is.

Democrats Pwn Health Care

I have been researching the current healthcare reform bills, and unfortunately for Republicans, their bill got out. The Congressional Budget office just released their analysis of the GOP's alternative bill this week (here is the link to it). So now, if you want to argue the Democrat's bill is not perfect (here is the CBO's analysis of that), the Republican's just made it look really good. Some important quotes from the analysis of Republican's bill: "By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people without health insurance would be reduced by about 3 million relative to current law, leaving about 52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, roughly in line with the current share. CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the amendment’s insurance coverage provisions would increase deficits by $8 billion over the 2010–2019 period." 3 million? How shameful. That hardly keeps up with population growth. The Democrat's bill, according to CBO, should help about 36 million. From the Effects on Premiums section: "In the large group market, which represents nearly 80 percent of total private premiums, the amendment would lower average insurance premiums in 2016 by zero to 3 percent compared with amounts under current law, according to CBO’s estimates" A nice way to reduce total spending, but hardly a way to say you are making a positive difference. Things are not changing things for a significant majority of the population. I think this is just a fancy way of preserving the status quo. Illustrative Examples When you compare Net Changes in Deficit of both bills, the Republican's is estimated to reduce the deficit by about $68 billion. The Democrats is estimated to reduce is by $104 billion. A considerable difference. So now what? Since by reading this you just became more well informed than most of the population, you should call your local representative and express what you support.

Buy [Non] American!

So, the Cash For Clunkers deal has not been mentioned recently. I am not one to be completely up to date with mainstream media anyhow. But, I was just looking over statistics from the Cash for Clunkers program, which I know has already been considered a success, and found some interesting things. Take a look at this for yourself: http://www.cars.gov/files/official-information/August26PR.pdf.

What stands out to me in these statistics is what they say about the embarrassingly shameless conduct of American corporations, especially in the automotive sector. Note that although GM and Ford both fell in the top three grossers in the program, Toyota still took number one. The most traded in vehicles were American made (all of the top ten most traded-in were American). The most purchased (overall when you cumulate the stats; Toyota and Honda alone outsell GM and Ford) were foreign. GM and Ford garnered large chunks because they have absorbed other companies over the last year. Of the top ten most popular vehicles purchased, two were American made (both Ford at 4th and 10th place).

American companies have shot themselves in the foot, and just found out there insurance won't cover it (health care reform joke... anyone? Anyone?!). What is known now about these American companies is that they intentionally built failure into their vehicles for the purpose of growing their service sectors and insuring future new vehicle purchases. They were overly naive to think consumers would not notice, and they went bankrupt when the people learned American made cars couldn't outlast any other brand.

Entitlement, once again, fails to succeed. When will we learn from history?

Last Train Riders (An Essay in Progress)

I am writing this upon realizing that my generation is emerging as crucially important to the future of all we know. History has arrived at a critical moment, pivotal and vulnerable, at which major changes are on the verge of occurring. We are a group of last train riders, who are going to be the surge of strength that makes it right.

What I mean by last train riders is that we, if socio-economic trends do not change, will be viewed historically as the last generation to grow up with optimal resources of every kind, most importantly, information. We are on the last train of people capable of restoring society. Restore may not be the right word, as that would imply that this has ever been done correctly. We are the last train of people capable of making things good. We are a generation arguably more intelligent than its predecessors. We have grown up with access to more information and tools than every previous generation. Technology and population growth have enabled us with a superior number of intellectuals, artists and creative capable minds. This generation is able to learn the world more efficiently than anyone before us. This is why we are so strong.

We are last train riders that must realize our significance. This does not at all mean, or imply, that we are the only group that is important. It does not mean that we are the only group whose members are capable or responsible. It means that in the end, we will see that this generation will have played a large role in changing the status quo. We have a lot to contribute, and are able to contribute the most of any other separated generation.

Voter turnout in the last presidential election was historic for a number of reasons. One of the most important aspects of this election was participation within the eligible voting population’s youngest brackets. Awareness is high. Education is high. Mobility is high. It is now empirically evident that this generation is powerful.

Generations following us are already suffering. They are already getting the sub-par education due to under-funding that has come from a bankrupt economy; a by-product of the exploitation of the many by the few. Their train does not yet exist. It will not unless things change.

My generation has the capacity to revolt. Corruption is becoming even harder and harder to hide. Education is becoming harder and harder to subdue. The people are becoming more and more anxious for justice. We are aware.

(more to come)

IDK

When people say "I don't know," it is either extremely noble, or extremely weak.

John Vanderslice Again!

So my dreamboat has a new album out this month and it is called Romanian Names. It is pretty sexy so far. I say "so far" because I have only listened to it a few times and if you are like me, you know that albums are singular pieces of art that need to be broken in. Overall, I find the dynamic quality of this album different than previous Vanderslice. There is a very transparent, concise quality to every track, and we do not experience his usual bombardment of compression distorted acoustic guitars and jagged synths. He instead seems to be working in a different medium that includes very accessible song structures and melodies. That is just a fancy way of saying he sounds more mainstream on this album, also evident by the shorter average song lengths. He is working within average human attention spans and sounds more "Popy", and am ok with it. But, I will probably always be ok with whatever he does for as long as we both exist and have ears.
His albums have always had distinct flavors. But dispite that overall flavor, the individual tracks always seem to be quite dissimilar. In the case of this album, the track "Fetal Horses," one of his lead singles, has some very Morrisseyesque vocal melodies in the verses. "C & O Canal" brings in a Lo-Fi two step sound that just reminds me of everything my stereotype of "Indie kids" love. I have to say though that I think my favorite track has been "Too Much Time." There are lots of little surprises in the form of subtle nuance that just make it all sound very right, something he has such a knack for.

It is not my favorite John V. piece yet, but I will still listen to it a lot because it is still new and makes me giddy. His last work, Emerald City, was absolutely brilliant in my view, and Cellar Door may just always be closest to my heart because of how fantastic it is, and how many countless times I have listened to it for days in my car. The best advice I can give JV unawares on this album is: just buy it and worship him with me.

What is compelling?

Today, I think that life is only a fluctuating series of dissonances and resolutions. Tomorrow, I will probably think the same.

Surgery & God

I guess if you make the argument that if humanity has set itself up for a particular problem, lets continue using the example of cancer, then you could claim that the human solution of surgery is not actually going going against god's will, but instead repairing human's damaged by human's. However, if you believe god has willed you to be faced with death, how do you justify going against it and saving yourself? I suppose if you believe in him as an omnipotent being, you say, "Look, if he wanted to kill me, he would just do it." Would he really? Could he really? I don't know now. Arguing about the idea of god and omnipotent entities will only take us in circles forever. I will stop there now. I retract the confidence with which I a made a certain statement regarding god and surgeries in my previous post.

Things That Matter

So, as of late, I have been really reanalyzing what I am concerned with. What I am compelled to achieve, who I am compelled to be.

I study psychology because I like the subject, but I do not really like it that much anymore. I have learned a lot about it, and it has taught me a lot about "people". To pursue a career in psychology, of any sort, I would need substantially more education, higher degrees, and a motivation to help people (I would argue the last for most careers, at least a pretend motivation to help others). But, I am realizing that I do not want to help people the way I used to think was good.

I once thought to help humans live longer and happier was a good thing. It is not. It is grossly inhuman and unnatural to live as long and greedily (at least in America) as we do. I do not want people to live longer; I want people to live humanely. Life-saving surgeries to save of us from mostly problems we have set ourselves up for, like guns, cars, cancers, are just us further becoming god, which no human deserves. If you truly believe in god, it is not his will that you accept treatment to save yourself from cancer when he is trying to kill you. That is fearing him and death, and submitting to a different god: the post-industrial society.

With all of this said, do I support socialized health care? Absolutely yes. Why? Because the I am not convinced that those privileged enough to pay for health insurance are always the most deserving of the treatment. Additionally, I believe we could create more and better jobs because health care providers would not be for profit, therefore, not stingy about hiring. The state could also prevent these businesses from BONUS HORDING CEO ASSHOLES.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

I absolutely love music at night. Lately I have been listening almost exclusively to Romantic and Classical pieces by Verdi, Chopin, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. I do not think I will ever stop listening to Chopin. He is my favorite Romantic piano composer right now. I can never go wrong listening to his Nocturnes, Preludes, or Ballads at night.

I am also beginning to appreciate the Verdi requiem much more now that I am actually listening to it in its full orchestral context. My choir is performing this work next month, and it is long. Mozart's Requiem is still my favorite though, it is too good. I have obtained a number of other composer's Requiem arrangements though, and so I cannot wait to listen to those.

Kelsey did an awesome book project based on Beethoven's "Moonlight" Piano Sonata #14, which I had forgotten about. I got an album of Beethoven Sonatas recorded by pianist Daniel Barenboim, who I very much like, which contained "Moonlight," as well as "Pathétique" Sonata #8, and some others. It is a very good recording of some of my favorite piano sonatas, and I highly recommend it.

I love new music and I love it most at night.

Love in the Time of Cholera

I just finished reading my second novel by the magnificent Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. I loved it. Again, I am appalled by Garcia Marquez's literary genius. Every description and emotion feels real and correct. I do not know another story that more justly conveys the idea of love as an art, with masters like any other. Read this novel!

What did I learn today?

1 - The present subjunctive should be used for expressions of uncertainty, emotion, and opinion.
2 - I am addicted to writing style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
3 - I very much enjoy the musical style of Stanley Clarke!

Blog Reunion

I have absolutely neglected this blog for a long time now...

Work at the Boys & Girls Club has been great lately. I love my kids. As much as I would rather stay home and work on my own projects everyday, once I am there, I am loving it. I love how unconditionally loving some children can be, coming up to my room to do nothing but give me a hug... and play my instruments. More of my students have become very devoted lately, and I am looking forward to watching them develop into beautifully passionate artists. It is a wonderful feeling.

With the new semester came a resurgence of my passion for learning, as is usually the case at the start of the semester. This semester will be absolutely overwhelming, but, I am beginning to understand that such dissonance in my life can be powerfully compelling, driving me to be more and more productive. I have been reading seemingly non-stop the last few days, and I do not feel the least bit of fatigue. I am loving it. Free bus transportation has been somewhat of a saving grace for me, it is absolutely convenient and somewhat inspiring. Riding the cold bus at night lets you think and contemplate in a very open manner. Reading on the bus has been great also.

Writing, politics, music, language, psychology: all on the list for this semester's classes. Almost an all-star lineup of subjects for me. It will be hell, but I am looking forward to it very much.