05 December 2007
Hey Y'all
I'm supposed to be at a Decemberists' concert in Portland tonight and tomorrow night. But the tour is canceled.... le sad....
26 April 2007
UM Arabic teacher brings Palestinian culture to students
April 12, 2007
MISSOULA – “Howdy; what neck of the woods are you from?” Colloquial greetings were some of the first parts of American culture that Palestinian-born Samir Bitar picked up when he moved to Havre, from Jerusalem in September, 1974.
He noticed the friendly nature of Montanans and appreciated the cultural similarities he found to exist in his new and old homes.
“I’m from a culture that greets,” Bitar said.
Bitar is the adjunct professor of Arabic at the University of Montana. He teaches first year Arabic with distance lecturer Dr. Nabil Abdelfattah and second year Arabic by himself.
Bitar uses his loves of language and culture to teach each one more effectively. Through his teaching he tries to make his students understand what it means to be Palestinian.
“I always say I teach language and culture,” Bitar said “Language is culture.”
Bitar sets aside time in his language classes to teach purely about Arabic culture. In some classes Birtar shows newscasts or clips of popular Middle Eastern TV shows such as “Star Academy”, the Middle East’s version of “American Idol.”
Bitar said that these shows show students something they won’t see on their local TV stations, or American television at all. He said they allow students to see a variety of Arabs and hear a variety of Arabic dialects.
“A Lebanese is nothing like a Saudi; Arabs are diverse,” Bitar said.
Teaching students Arabic culture gives them context for learning the language and lets them relate to the language. Bitar said that culture makes learning language more than just a process of memorizing. He said that students can recall the cultural context of the language and this helps them learn.
Jacob Childers, a 22-year-old UM junior is in first year Arabic. He has applied to study at the Rothberg International School in Jerusalem. He said that learning about culture helps him better understand Arabic, especially words that don’t have a direct translation to English.
“A lot of words that are used every day in Arabic make a lot more sense now,” Childers said.
One of the ways Bitar gives context to his students it to share stories about growing up Palestinian in Jerusalem such as being in the Boy Scouts and having meals with his family.
Bitar said that he feels the American media is not concerned with Palestinian culture. What they do show, they get wrong. Bitar wants to provide a real life experience that his students can relate to. “Not just sound bites,” he said.
One of Bitar’s concerns is that the media don’t show real Palestinian people. When he poses the question, many people say that have seen Palestinian refugees and terrorists in movies and on TV, but few to none recall seeing a Palestinian father with his wife and children.
“That would be too human,” Bitar said.
Bitar tells stories about being a kid growing up with the reminders of war and occupation all around him. One day he told his class about how his childhood house was bombed in the Six Day War.
Bitar described how his family and neighbors crowded in to the safest room in the house and covered the windows with sandbags. He believes that the sandbags his neighbor brought saved their lives.
Although those sandbags lessened the force of the blasts, shrapnel from an explosion hit Bitar.
He was taken to a nearby hospital and stayed overnight, but had to be moved the next day. “They burned the hospital,” Bitar said.
“I love listening to his personal stories,” said Emma Young, 23, a first year Arabic student.
Young said that learning about Palestinian culture has reinforced her belief that “certain aspects of culture are universal.”
Students often ask Bitar why there is so much conflict in the Middle East and about the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“Most Arabs feel that they’re living under governments that were put in place by colonial powers,” he said.
Bitar said that he believes one of the main problems is that Palestinians, along with many other Arabs don’t feel like their governments are a part of a progression of their own history, but rather that government is imposed on them.
This past December and January Bitar spent UM’s winter break in Jerusalem visiting his family. He dedicated several class periods to telling stories, reading from his diary, and showing pictures from the trip.
Bitar told the class about visiting two of his aunts who live in Jerusalem.
“I used to run from one house to the other when I was a little kid,” he said. Now this is impossible because of the wall Israel is building to separate its self from the Palestinian territories.
Bitar said his sister told him it would take about an hour to get to the aunt’s house inside the wall, but several hours to get back because of security checkpoints.
“It changed all aspects of life,” Bitar said. “Now all the shop keeper’s customers live on the other side of the wall.”
More than anything Bitar wants people to actively seek more knowledge about Palestine and to make up their own minds about the Palestine-Israel conflict rather than listen to the media.
“One thing I try to stress when I speak to the young is to encourage them to use critical thinking,” Bitar said, “As Americans they can. My job is to share my experience and they need to make up their own mind. The old should know that. Democracy is an activity and if we aren’t all involved it won’t work. That’s why we have what we have now.”
Bitar said that many Americans today don’t have time to be informed because, “they’re too busy trying to keep up with the Joneses, trying to make a living.”
If Americans could know one thing about Palestinians Bitar said, “They need to understand what Palestine means to the Palestinians. They know what Israel means to the Jews.”
Only this will help lead to the long-term solution of peace and coexistence, Bitar said.
MISSOULA – “Howdy; what neck of the woods are you from?” Colloquial greetings were some of the first parts of American culture that Palestinian-born Samir Bitar picked up when he moved to Havre, from Jerusalem in September, 1974.
He noticed the friendly nature of Montanans and appreciated the cultural similarities he found to exist in his new and old homes.
“I’m from a culture that greets,” Bitar said.
Bitar is the adjunct professor of Arabic at the University of Montana. He teaches first year Arabic with distance lecturer Dr. Nabil Abdelfattah and second year Arabic by himself.
Bitar uses his loves of language and culture to teach each one more effectively. Through his teaching he tries to make his students understand what it means to be Palestinian.
“I always say I teach language and culture,” Bitar said “Language is culture.”
Bitar sets aside time in his language classes to teach purely about Arabic culture. In some classes Birtar shows newscasts or clips of popular Middle Eastern TV shows such as “Star Academy”, the Middle East’s version of “American Idol.”
Bitar said that these shows show students something they won’t see on their local TV stations, or American television at all. He said they allow students to see a variety of Arabs and hear a variety of Arabic dialects.
“A Lebanese is nothing like a Saudi; Arabs are diverse,” Bitar said.
Teaching students Arabic culture gives them context for learning the language and lets them relate to the language. Bitar said that culture makes learning language more than just a process of memorizing. He said that students can recall the cultural context of the language and this helps them learn.
Jacob Childers, a 22-year-old UM junior is in first year Arabic. He has applied to study at the Rothberg International School in Jerusalem. He said that learning about culture helps him better understand Arabic, especially words that don’t have a direct translation to English.
“A lot of words that are used every day in Arabic make a lot more sense now,” Childers said.
One of the ways Bitar gives context to his students it to share stories about growing up Palestinian in Jerusalem such as being in the Boy Scouts and having meals with his family.
Bitar said that he feels the American media is not concerned with Palestinian culture. What they do show, they get wrong. Bitar wants to provide a real life experience that his students can relate to. “Not just sound bites,” he said.
One of Bitar’s concerns is that the media don’t show real Palestinian people. When he poses the question, many people say that have seen Palestinian refugees and terrorists in movies and on TV, but few to none recall seeing a Palestinian father with his wife and children.
“That would be too human,” Bitar said.
Bitar tells stories about being a kid growing up with the reminders of war and occupation all around him. One day he told his class about how his childhood house was bombed in the Six Day War.
Bitar described how his family and neighbors crowded in to the safest room in the house and covered the windows with sandbags. He believes that the sandbags his neighbor brought saved their lives.
Although those sandbags lessened the force of the blasts, shrapnel from an explosion hit Bitar.
He was taken to a nearby hospital and stayed overnight, but had to be moved the next day. “They burned the hospital,” Bitar said.
“I love listening to his personal stories,” said Emma Young, 23, a first year Arabic student.
Young said that learning about Palestinian culture has reinforced her belief that “certain aspects of culture are universal.”
Students often ask Bitar why there is so much conflict in the Middle East and about the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“Most Arabs feel that they’re living under governments that were put in place by colonial powers,” he said.
Bitar said that he believes one of the main problems is that Palestinians, along with many other Arabs don’t feel like their governments are a part of a progression of their own history, but rather that government is imposed on them.
This past December and January Bitar spent UM’s winter break in Jerusalem visiting his family. He dedicated several class periods to telling stories, reading from his diary, and showing pictures from the trip.
Bitar told the class about visiting two of his aunts who live in Jerusalem.
“I used to run from one house to the other when I was a little kid,” he said. Now this is impossible because of the wall Israel is building to separate its self from the Palestinian territories.
Bitar said his sister told him it would take about an hour to get to the aunt’s house inside the wall, but several hours to get back because of security checkpoints.
“It changed all aspects of life,” Bitar said. “Now all the shop keeper’s customers live on the other side of the wall.”
More than anything Bitar wants people to actively seek more knowledge about Palestine and to make up their own minds about the Palestine-Israel conflict rather than listen to the media.
“One thing I try to stress when I speak to the young is to encourage them to use critical thinking,” Bitar said, “As Americans they can. My job is to share my experience and they need to make up their own mind. The old should know that. Democracy is an activity and if we aren’t all involved it won’t work. That’s why we have what we have now.”
Bitar said that many Americans today don’t have time to be informed because, “they’re too busy trying to keep up with the Joneses, trying to make a living.”
If Americans could know one thing about Palestinians Bitar said, “They need to understand what Palestine means to the Palestinians. They know what Israel means to the Jews.”
Only this will help lead to the long-term solution of peace and coexistence, Bitar said.
Dr. Robert Bullard's Presidential Lecture on Environmental Justice
March 6, 2007
Environmental issues are human rights issues, and everyone has a right to clean air and water, said Dr. Robert Bullard, who spoke at the University Theater Monday night as a part of the Presidential Lecture Series at the University of Montana.
Bullard is the Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, in Atlanta, Ga.
Environmental justice focuses on many places that are often overlooked in the world of environmentalism: places like ghettos, slums, reservations and the U.S.-Mexican boarder. It is the idea that minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation.
Bullard spoke about the environment beyond what many Montanans are used to – beyond the Rocky Mountains and wildlife preserves.
“The environment is everything,” Bullard said, where people work, play, worship, and live. It is both the countryside and urban areas.
Bullard said that all communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental laws.
“There’re some communities that don’t have the luxury of clean air,” Bullard said.
When a company wants to put a toxic waste dump in a place where they say no one lives, Bullard and his groups find the people that live there are help give them a voice. Bullard gave the example of the nuclear repository in Yucca Mountain, Nev. He said the developers said no one lived there. “What about the Shoshone tribe who has been there for thousands of years,” Bullard said.
“Many of these communities live in terror,” Bullard said. The terror of waking up “at three in the morning, your kids wake up choking, you can’t breathe. That is terror,” Bullard said.
“We deal with lots of issues that environmental groups don’t want to face,” Bullard said.
Bullard used the environmental history of New Orleans to illustrate his point, using the examples of the aftermaths of Hurricanes Betsy and Katrina.
Bullard said the majority of people who are left behind when a natural disaster strikes are people of color, the poor, the elderly, the disabled and sick, and those who can’t drive or don’t have cars.
“Who gets left behind? It’s not rocket science,” Bullard said.
In 1965 Hurricane Betsy devastated the New Orleans in many of the same ways Hurricane Katrina did in 2005. Bullard showed pictures of a house thrown on top of a car by each hurricane. The damage from the each hurricane was the same; only the type of car had changed.
“We’ve gone from Buick to Toyota,” Bullard said.
“God didn’t do it,” Bullard said, “The levees broke: Faulty maintenance, shoddy construction. It was no accident.”
Bullard said the road home for many Katrina victims is more of a roadblock. Their predicament is similar to many victims of environmental injustice, according to Bullard.
“People want to go back home but they can’t go back home because their paradise has been destroyed,” Bullard said.
Bullard’s mission started after his wife, a lawyer sued the state of Texas and needed a sociologist to help her.
She talked Bullard, who has a degree in sociology, into helping her.
“I got pushed into it kicking and screaming,” Bullard said, “I got drafted.”
Since then he has written 13 books on the subject of environmental justice and has taken delegations to UN summits, The Global Summit in Brazil, The Hague, and to communities all over the U.S.
Bullard said today’s college students seem to understand the need for change. He said that students from all over the country, including Montana, are forgoing spring break flings in Cancun for a week of service in New Orleans.
Environmental issues are human rights issues, and everyone has a right to clean air and water, said Dr. Robert Bullard, who spoke at the University Theater Monday night as a part of the Presidential Lecture Series at the University of Montana.
Bullard is the Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, in Atlanta, Ga.
Environmental justice focuses on many places that are often overlooked in the world of environmentalism: places like ghettos, slums, reservations and the U.S.-Mexican boarder. It is the idea that minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation.
Bullard spoke about the environment beyond what many Montanans are used to – beyond the Rocky Mountains and wildlife preserves.
“The environment is everything,” Bullard said, where people work, play, worship, and live. It is both the countryside and urban areas.
Bullard said that all communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental laws.
“There’re some communities that don’t have the luxury of clean air,” Bullard said.
When a company wants to put a toxic waste dump in a place where they say no one lives, Bullard and his groups find the people that live there are help give them a voice. Bullard gave the example of the nuclear repository in Yucca Mountain, Nev. He said the developers said no one lived there. “What about the Shoshone tribe who has been there for thousands of years,” Bullard said.
“Many of these communities live in terror,” Bullard said. The terror of waking up “at three in the morning, your kids wake up choking, you can’t breathe. That is terror,” Bullard said.
“We deal with lots of issues that environmental groups don’t want to face,” Bullard said.
Bullard used the environmental history of New Orleans to illustrate his point, using the examples of the aftermaths of Hurricanes Betsy and Katrina.
Bullard said the majority of people who are left behind when a natural disaster strikes are people of color, the poor, the elderly, the disabled and sick, and those who can’t drive or don’t have cars.
“Who gets left behind? It’s not rocket science,” Bullard said.
In 1965 Hurricane Betsy devastated the New Orleans in many of the same ways Hurricane Katrina did in 2005. Bullard showed pictures of a house thrown on top of a car by each hurricane. The damage from the each hurricane was the same; only the type of car had changed.
“We’ve gone from Buick to Toyota,” Bullard said.
“God didn’t do it,” Bullard said, “The levees broke: Faulty maintenance, shoddy construction. It was no accident.”
Bullard said the road home for many Katrina victims is more of a roadblock. Their predicament is similar to many victims of environmental injustice, according to Bullard.
“People want to go back home but they can’t go back home because their paradise has been destroyed,” Bullard said.
Bullard’s mission started after his wife, a lawyer sued the state of Texas and needed a sociologist to help her.
She talked Bullard, who has a degree in sociology, into helping her.
“I got pushed into it kicking and screaming,” Bullard said, “I got drafted.”
Since then he has written 13 books on the subject of environmental justice and has taken delegations to UN summits, The Global Summit in Brazil, The Hague, and to communities all over the U.S.
Bullard said today’s college students seem to understand the need for change. He said that students from all over the country, including Montana, are forgoing spring break flings in Cancun for a week of service in New Orleans.
Conservationist Speaks on Reconnecting With the Landscape
Feb. 28, 2007
MISSOULA – At a lecture Tuesday evening at the University of Montana, author and conservationist Gary Ferguson described the Rocky Mountain region as a haven for societies’ outcasts.
The west is a, “classic, archetypal landscape for those who don’t fit in,” Ferguson said.
In the past it has been an escape from dingy industrialist city life for factory workers, from social expectations for Victorian sons and daughters of privilege, from slavery for black slaves-turned trappers, and from the confines of a materialist society for the freaks of the hippie movement.
“But where do you go if you’re a freak,” Ferguson asked his audience. People now say, “we don’t want you here lowering our property rates.”
Ferguson concentrated on the concept that the landscape of an area shapes the perception of the people who live in it.
Although he gave brief examples of other landscapes, Ferguson’s main points were on the draw of the west and why the Rocky Mountain region is so significant in the United States’ past.
“I just love this landscape and have since I was nine years old,” said Ferguson, who is originally from Indiana but has lived in Redlodge for the past few decades.
As Ferguson explained though, this place he loves was once described as a hideout for heathens and devils by what he described as certain powerful people.
These powerful people rallied support for the westward movement by misunderstanding and mischaracterizing the people who made their homes in the Rocky Mountains, especially the native peoples.
Ferguson used period paintings to illustrate this. One of these paintings was, The Trapper’s Bride, by Alfred Jacob Miller, that depicted a white trapper marrying a Native American woman surrounded by her family.
Most common people and critics who saw the painting hailed it as an embodiment of the freedom and empowerment that the western United States symbolized.
From the time the country was founded wilderness as a symbol for democracy and freedom has been a popular notion.
Many people believed that the popular depictions of the west were, “Eden before the fall,” Ferguson said. They believed that, “we took the Eden that we were given and pissed it away,” he said.
Ferguson put forth questions to the audience about the wilderness today. Many of them expressed concern that most people don’t feel a connection with the wilderness, and are, in fact, scared of it.
“We want the illusion of risk, but we don’t want risk,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson made jokes about people in Yellow Stone National Park chasing bison and jumping out of their minivans with cameras but, “at least the hunger and the need for a relationship with nature is still there,” he said.
Whitney Gaskill, 19, a UM sophomore who is in the Wilderness Issues Lecture Series class said that she agreed with a lot of what Ferguson had to say.
“Its really important to see how the landscape connects to people, and to make a personal connection,” said Gaskill.
Others worried about the effect that media has on people’s perception of nature. One audience member described a popular view of wilderness as just another place we go to have a good time.
Ferguson expressed hope that people will once again feel the need to reconnect with nature and not continue the trend of watching nature through their RV windows as if it were a television show. We need to start seeing nature, “as a part of our daily lives,” Ferguson said.
MISSOULA – At a lecture Tuesday evening at the University of Montana, author and conservationist Gary Ferguson described the Rocky Mountain region as a haven for societies’ outcasts.
The west is a, “classic, archetypal landscape for those who don’t fit in,” Ferguson said.
In the past it has been an escape from dingy industrialist city life for factory workers, from social expectations for Victorian sons and daughters of privilege, from slavery for black slaves-turned trappers, and from the confines of a materialist society for the freaks of the hippie movement.
“But where do you go if you’re a freak,” Ferguson asked his audience. People now say, “we don’t want you here lowering our property rates.”
Ferguson concentrated on the concept that the landscape of an area shapes the perception of the people who live in it.
Although he gave brief examples of other landscapes, Ferguson’s main points were on the draw of the west and why the Rocky Mountain region is so significant in the United States’ past.
“I just love this landscape and have since I was nine years old,” said Ferguson, who is originally from Indiana but has lived in Redlodge for the past few decades.
As Ferguson explained though, this place he loves was once described as a hideout for heathens and devils by what he described as certain powerful people.
These powerful people rallied support for the westward movement by misunderstanding and mischaracterizing the people who made their homes in the Rocky Mountains, especially the native peoples.
Ferguson used period paintings to illustrate this. One of these paintings was, The Trapper’s Bride, by Alfred Jacob Miller, that depicted a white trapper marrying a Native American woman surrounded by her family.
Most common people and critics who saw the painting hailed it as an embodiment of the freedom and empowerment that the western United States symbolized.
From the time the country was founded wilderness as a symbol for democracy and freedom has been a popular notion.
Many people believed that the popular depictions of the west were, “Eden before the fall,” Ferguson said. They believed that, “we took the Eden that we were given and pissed it away,” he said.
Ferguson put forth questions to the audience about the wilderness today. Many of them expressed concern that most people don’t feel a connection with the wilderness, and are, in fact, scared of it.
“We want the illusion of risk, but we don’t want risk,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson made jokes about people in Yellow Stone National Park chasing bison and jumping out of their minivans with cameras but, “at least the hunger and the need for a relationship with nature is still there,” he said.
Whitney Gaskill, 19, a UM sophomore who is in the Wilderness Issues Lecture Series class said that she agreed with a lot of what Ferguson had to say.
“Its really important to see how the landscape connects to people, and to make a personal connection,” said Gaskill.
Others worried about the effect that media has on people’s perception of nature. One audience member described a popular view of wilderness as just another place we go to have a good time.
Ferguson expressed hope that people will once again feel the need to reconnect with nature and not continue the trend of watching nature through their RV windows as if it were a television show. We need to start seeing nature, “as a part of our daily lives,” Ferguson said.
30 January 2007
Network: Best Movie Ever...?
Oh it probably is. It's one of my favorites anyway. And you should most definitely go rent it. It was made in 1976 and it's about how much television news blows. Basically. It's about this network news anchor, Howard Beale who starts getting bad ratings. So the network lets him know he's going to be "let go" in two weeks. He tells his best friend that instead of retiring he'll just kill himself on the air. The next day on the news he tells everyone that's what he's going to do in one week's time so they should tune in! And then... Hilarity Ensues. Kind of. This is one of my favorite quotes from any movie. Ever. Ever….
Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.
Howard Beale: [shouting] You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
[shouting]
Howard Beale: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
Howard Beale: [screaming at the top of his lungs] "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
I love this one too...
Diana Christensen: Look, I sent you all a concept analysis report yesterday. Did any of you read it?
[Aides stare blankly at her]
Diana Christensen: Well, in a nutshell, it said: "The American people are turning sullen. They've been clobbered on all sides by Vietnam, Watergate, the inflation, the depression; they've turned off, shot up, and they've fucked themselves limp, and nothing helps." So, this concept analysis report concludes, "The American people want somebody to articulate their rage for them." I've been telling you people since I took this job six months ago that I want angry shows. I don't want conventional programming on this network. I want counterculture, I want anti-establishment. I don't want to play butch boss with you people, but when I took over this department, it had the worst programming record in television history. This network hasn't one show in the top twenty. This network is an industry joke, and we'd better start putting together one winner for next September. I want a show developed based on the activities of a terrorist group, "Joseph Stalin and His Merry Band of Bolsheviks," I want ideas from you people. This is what you're paid for. And by the way, the next time I send an audience research report around, you'd all better read it, or I'll sack the fucking lot of you. Is that clear?
Oh yeah. And also great is: "There is no America; there is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today."
Anyway.. I love the writing in the movie. I wrote an essay last year for my into to mass communication class comparing the network in the movie to the news now. It was pretty sweet. I thought about posting it. Maybe I will. Maybe not... if you want to read it you should tell me and I'll give it to you. Not to copy though. Not that I'm saying it's good enough to copy. Just.. Don't.
lovealison
25 January 2007
I love this song.
and Woody Guthrie in general...
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin
Now that side was made for you and me
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
It bugs me that most people don't know what it's about too. I was going to write some more crap about annoying people. But I need to read a whole bunch of Plato and my women's studies book called... get ready... MAN CANNOT SPEAK FOR HER. Its super intense, and basically great. Have a good day!!
lovealison
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin
Now that side was made for you and me
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
It bugs me that most people don't know what it's about too. I was going to write some more crap about annoying people. But I need to read a whole bunch of Plato and my women's studies book called... get ready... MAN CANNOT SPEAK FOR HER. Its super intense, and basically great. Have a good day!!
lovealison
11 January 2007
Sad.
I didn't bring my camera home with me and I miss it a lot. I wish it had snowed more. excited+scared for new semester.
lovealison
lovealison
01 January 2007
07 December 2006
02 June 2006
Hey There Hipster
Alright. Here it is. This paper kind of annoys me now because the things I used as examples are completely ouf ot date. I guess that's alright...but just realize it was written almost a year ago. Whatever... Don't make fun of me. And if you're in this, sorry, I needed examples haha. Thanks for putting up with me. I based my profile on consumating on this when I first made it to see what would happen, and since then haven't deleted the more sarcastic tags. Don't hate me please. :)
lovealison
The Hipster Handbook defines a hipster very basically as someone whose “tastes, social attitudes, and opinions are deemed cool by the cool.” In more complicated terms, hipsters are a part of a subculture that is opposed to everything mainstream and is always looking for the newest thing that will make them stand apart from everyone else. People who are trendsetters in fashion and music are also sometimes referred to as hipsters, although his is different from the subculture of hipsters because hipster fashion won’t be seen in the mainstream for quite some time. Once that happens hipsters will no longer accept the fashion. An important aspect of modern hipster culture is that they believe that their opinions and style are better than everyone else’s.
The word “hip,” originally “hep,” was first used in the 1940s and 50s to describe jazz performers and enthusiasts. Later hipster came to mean a white person who listened to traditionally black music, and participated in the Bohemian lifestyle. This included people who were trying to live an unconventional life, and didn’t conform to formal social habits. Many members of the beat generation considered themselves hipsters. The stereotype of an original hipster was a person who wore mostly black clothes, a beret and sunglasses at all hours of the day and night, smoked mentholated Kool cigarettes, and often went out to jazz or poetry clubs. Famous beat generation hipsters are Jack Kerouac, a writer who influenced many members of his generation and has been called the king of the beatniks, Steve Allen, Gene Kelly, Lenny Bruce, Allen Ginsberg, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Miles Davis, and even Frank Sinatra.
The language of the original hipsters came from the jazz and black culture of the time. The word “cool” was used frequently and in many different ways. “It’s cool” could mean “It’s all right,” but “be cool,” meant, “be careful.” “Cool it,” meant, “stop it,” and “cool yourself,” meant, “relax.” Many other words that hipsters used could confuse non-hipsters. According to the Hip Manual, “‘Bad’ can mean ‘good,’ ‘straight’ can mean ‘twisted,’ etc. Depending on the context, the word ‘freak’ may mean anything from ‘dangerous sex pervert’ to ‘someone who likes ice cream.’ ‘The Man’ can mean either the police or the narcotics salesman.” Often beatniks and hipsters used words or names in place of other words. “Cat” was used to mean any person. Someone who was a hepcat was someone who knew what was going on. Other names like Jim or Jackson were used in place of a person’s real name, as in “come on Jim,” or “that’s cool Jackson.” The word hippie was a term derived by hipsters to describe someone who wasn’t hip enough to be a hipster. As hipsters, beatniks, and the jazz culture in general became less main-stream so did their language. Some African-American communities and jazz aficionados still use some of the language. The word “cool” has permeated modern language so much that it can mean even more things than it did in the 40s and 50s.
Hipsters today use some of the language of their predecessors, but generally only in an ironic way. Some of the contributors to Wikipedia and The Urban Dictionary see the current hipsters as rebelling against former generations, although many also see it as a pseudo rebellion. The retro fashions hipsters wear often depict things that previous hipsters, who were part of a counter culture, would hate. Modern hipsters often wear clothing that original hipsters would think was kitschy. Vintage product placements, such as a shirt advertising an old mom-and-pop hardware store, or even a vintage (real or fake) John Deer or Coke shirt, are also popular among modern hipsters. Someone who wore a shirt with an ad on it would not be cool to the original hipsters. Many of the things modern hipsters wear are considered uncool today as well, although they are seen as acceptable by other hipsters because they are worn in an ironic, I-know-this-isn’t-cool, way. As long as the hipster knows he or she is wearing something generally not considered cool by mainstream fashion, and they wear it because of that reason, they are all right.
Modern hipsters don’t like to be involved in popular culture. They listen to independent music, watch independent movies (preferably at independent movie theaters), and frequent independent book and coffee stores. When hipsters consume products that are sold, or even better, made, independently they can feel like it was made especially for them. An independent product is generally made in smaller amounts than products made by conglomerates. This means that it is less mainstream, and therefore better for hipsters. Posters on Wikipedia have labeled Janeane Garafalo, Spike Jones, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Christina Ricci, Beck, Ben Folds, and Eilliot Smith, as modern hipsters. Taranino, Kevin Smith, and Jones are all independent movie directors, Garafalo and Ricci are often in indie films, and Beck, Folds, and Elliot Smith are musicians who are either independent or not completely mainstream. Although these people are famous, and therefore have more money that normal hipsters, the things they do represent the hipster lifestyle.
Hipsters often claim to have hobbies and enjoy things that most people haven’t heard of or aren’t familiar with. Ines Cobeljec, a freshman at New College Florida, says that she is interested in, “Miyazaki, Russian literature, absinthe, and socialism.” When she says, “Miyazaki,” she means Japanese animation director Hayao Miazaki. Russian literature, although not unknown, is not generally taught in US schools. Absinthe is a liqueur that is banned in many places because of its toxicity and hallucinogenic affects. Cobeljec has listed things that are not widely known, or popular, and definitely not mainstream. Doing something completely different from the expected is also a good thing for hipsters. University of Montana Freshman Margarite Jordy has a piercing on the back of her neck. “I am in love with my nape piercing,” she says. “I don't see why people don't think twice about dangling colorful beads through holes in the sensitive flesh of their ears, but do a double take when they see that I have a piercing in the back of my neck. I guarantee my nape hurt less than your ears, and looks better too.” This quote illustrates that Jordy likes her piercing partly because it is different from anything anyone else has. It is also obvious that she believes it is better than ear piercing because she perceives pierced ears to be mainstream. Jordy also talked about her music taste. She likes a lot of independent and less popular bands, but she says that people who like the same music as her do not impress her.
The things that hipsters like – the things they wear, music they listen to, movies they watch, even the food they eat – are done in order to feel better than other people. Better could mean more sophisticated, more modern, or on a higher social level. This kind of thing is especially true with music. Knowing bands before they are popular or even widely known is an important aspect of any hipster’s life. If a band that hipsters tend to like becomes popular and accepted by the mainstream, hipsters will often say that the band’s quality of music goes down. Usually they actually believe this, but some of the time they are trying to be contrary and, once again, not be mainstream. A comic on toothpastefordinner.com, a website where the artist, Drew, posts a new drawing every day, depicts a man who is hunting for hipsters using their mating call, “Their first album was better… their first album was better.” Often hipsters will berate new fans of once hipster-only bands, accusing them of just liking the band because it is now popular to do so.
Fashion is very important to hipsters. What someone is wearing will tell him or her whether someone is like them. Hipster fashion is perhaps the fastest changing fashion. Even celebrity and designer fashion follows what hipsters wear. Designers often look at what younger, innovative kids are wearing to come up with their new designs. Ashton Kutcher started wearing trucker hats long after they were popular in hipster culture. Hipsters are usually the first group of people to wear something that becomes popular. Many times they will introduce something that was popular in decades past, an example of this is the brightly colored 1970s era ski vests that were popular with hipsters few months ago but are now more mainstream. Other examples of vintage and retro clothes or looks are shoes like old school Pumas, Vans, and Chuck Tailors, circa 1968 Mick Jaggar haircuts, mustaches, vintage high school t-shits from rural towns, cabbie hats, and horned rimmed or Buddy Holly/Elvis Costello style glasses.
Once hipsters start wearing things, designers and the mainstream starts to notice that the so-called cool people are wearing them and the looks start to catch on. Once something becomes mainstream hipsters will no longer wear it. A great example of this is the trucker style hats that lost popularity only a few months ago. First the only people who would wear them were hipsters. A trucker hat was especially fashionable if it had a witty message or a vintage company logo on it. Eventually more people started wearing the hats and one could see them anywhere. By this time the hipsters had moved on.
Other looks have also been traditionally popular with hipsters. If a hipster is going to carry a bag it will almost always be a messenger style shoulder bag. Often hipster accessories will have skulls or stars on them. Although tattoos have come to be nearly mainstream, many hipsters still have them. Popular choices would be tribal style tattoos or stars. T-shirts with ironic messages or pictures on them are always popular with hipsters. A popular retailer of these types of shirts is bustedtees.com. Example of shirts they sell are one that says “YOUR RETARDED,” and another that says, “What Would Ashton Do?” with a picture of a trucker hat. If a hipster had to take a gym class, he or she would most likely wear 1970s style short shorts and a headband. Basically the goal of a hipster is to have a style with vintage, outlandish kitsch, while wearing it in a self-consciously ironic way. As one person pointedly said on The Urban Dictionary, a hipster is “someone who spends a lot of money to dress like they don’t have any.”
It would be very difficult to get a true hipster to admit to being one. An essential part of hipster culture is not belonging to any groups. Since being in a group would be admitting that they were like other people it would be against everything that hipsters stand for. Since hipsters do not identify themselves as a group they don’t have to deal with this irony. This non-self identification also makes them an abnormal kind of cultural group. This also makes it difficult to find a place where hipsters are found in large numbers.
A good place to find true hipsters is an independent café. Rian Snider, a twenty-year-old Portland State University student feels most hipsteresque, “sipping tea in coffee shops,” he says, “or is that more bourgeois intellectual?” Drinking coffee or tea in these kinds of shops is a pastime for many hipsters. There they can get together and chat about artsy things or which bands have sold out to record companies recently.
Hipsters also come together in the neighborhoods where they live. Generally these are certain areas of cities. Most hipsters don’t have a lot of money, and rely on their parents for it. Therefore they live in cheaper parts of town. These are generally unfashionable places to live when the hipsters start to move in. Once a place becomes known for its hipness more people, who want to be a part of that hipness, move in. Eventually the place becomes less and less hip, and more just a popular place to live, and therefore ruined for the hipsters. This is when wealthier middle-aged people start to move in. They renovate the neighborhood so it conforms to middle class tastes. Some hipster districts are North, North East (where Snider is proud to call home), and Northwest Portland, Williamsburg, the Lower East Side, and the East Villige in New York, East Nashville, Austen, Texas, and Olympia, Washington.
One of the most important things about hipsters is that the biggest difference between them and most other people is that they take themselves very seriously. Most non-hipsters can at least laugh at themselves occasionally. Many people listen to independent music. Many people would prefer independent coffee stores instead of Starbucks. It is common for people to enjoy self-deprecating and ironic humor. Vintage clothes, and even kitschy and outrageous clothes are worn by all kinds of people. Most people are able to see the humor and sometimes ridiculousness of the things they do. Hipsters on the other hand are not willing to laugh at themselves. They try to be better than the mainstream. The newer and less known something us, the easier it is for a hipster to like. They take the object and raise it up into something superior to anything anyone else has. In doing this they help change our entire society’s tastes and distastes. In their attempt to be superior though, hipsters may be showing that they are in fact the most insecure type of person. Their quest to be cool is one to be cool in the eyes of other people. This lets their secret out and shows that they are trying to be cool because they don’t believe that they are naturally interesting.
Sources
Hip Manual, The. 1997- 2001. The Beat Page. 20 November 2005.
Jordy, Margarite, Ines Colbeljec. Facebook profiles.
Snider, Rian. Personal interview. 16 November 2005.
Urban Dictionary, The. 1999-2000. 21 November 2005.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last modified 7 December 2005. 20 November 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster
Critiques and comments are welcome. Just no nastiness.
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