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November 18th, 2009
01:46 am - My own private scholarship program
I was NEVER meant for the workaday world. I knew that when I started working when I was 14 years old. I was assigned by pedophile priests and monks to move rocks with working class bullies so I could earn tuition money to go to a Catholic high school. I should've gone to the public school right down the street from where I lived - it was free. Fortunately I did go to a state university for my undergraduate degree and those 4 years were among the happiest of my life so far (and fortunately none of the pedophiles molested me in high school). Before and since I've worked at some other truly rotten places, mostly soulless corporations that paid fairly well. But such places exact a price that reduces the humanity of everyone involved in the charade.
At last, after a 13 year sentence, I'm leaving on an "early release" program from the place I've been working. They're even paying me to leave - a year's salary. That along with my own savings and pensions I'll get from another soulless corporation (its nickname is "The Rat"), I feel like I've won a small lotto prize.
How shall I squander my winnings?
I'm giving myself a 10 year "scholarship". Actually the money will last only 8 years, and even then it will be a tight budget that will mean I'll no longer be able to afford to live in New York. But with a little part time work for someone or some outfit that might even have a soul, I'll survive until a modest social security pension takes over in my sixties. With any luck at all, I might never have to work in the kinds of environments I've loathed since I was 14 - authoritarian orgs run by the misguided and the evil. (Why are there so MANY of them?)
Unfortunately I"m not the luckiest person in the world. I've had my share of misfortunes, just like anybody else. But right now I'm feeling luckier than I have in a long time. I've been given another chance in life. I know that I was not "put on this earth" to work in rock quarries for priests, stock grocery shelves for petty bourgeois morons, or do research for the crazy spawn of the elite (all jobs I've had ;-) I am on this earth because of Alphistia, believe it or not. It is my "art", my "graduate degree program", my quest (no quotes needed). I want to create, develop and share it, whether the world needs or wants it. Alphistia is art for art's sake, and for my sake.
I should also note that not all the monks and priests I've come across were bad people. A few of them (and a nun or two as well), inspired me when I was young to be intellectually curious and to think critically. I'm grateful to them for that, and I will try to live up to the examples they set - to love learning and enjoy life, while living very modestly.
I may have to go back to work full time temporarily at some point, or I could get sick and have to work again to provide health insurance long-term (another perversity of the American Way of Life...unless Obamacare truly does come into being.) But for a while - a couple of years at least, I can live how I've always wanted to live...
I'll report how it goes, comrades
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) hopeful
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November 11th, 2009
04:36 pm - Moving on
Losing my current job as of December 18. Not entirely unexpected or unwelcome, although the uncertainty of the unknown makes me a bit more unsure. 5 un-prefixes in one sentence!
More later...with more prefixes and suffixes.
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November 5th, 2009
12:20 am - My kind of architecture
This is a building in West Virginia at the Gesundheit Institute, an alternative medicine site run by Dr. Patch Adams (Robin Williams made a silly movie about him around 10 years ago...)
I like these kinds of quirky and humanely designed buildings. Beats corporate skyscrapers or strip malls in every possible way.
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November 4th, 2009
09:08 pm - Pleasant surprise from Cincinnati
When I left the Cincinnati area when I was 18, it was with a strong feeling of a real hearty "good riddance". I felt stifled and alienated there. I was gradually realizing I was gay, and also coming to terms with being a pointy-headed intellectual. Going 80 miles south to Kentucky's main college town for 4 years was a very nice way to broaden my horizons, and so was the move to New York within weeks of getting my undergrad degree in 1980.
Cincinnati had some embarrassing moments during the next 30 years...such as a number of comments from the racist owner of the Cincinnati Reds who had some sympathy for Hitler, for example. Or the local sheriff who closed down an art show and indicted the gallery's director on obscenity charges. Then there was the local ballot initiative to put the small gay community in its place. It won. Oh, and terrible riots after the police shot a series of black suspects dead.
To their credit, Cincinnatians tried very hard to do the right thing after each of these events, most of which I read about in the New York Times because they were so embarrassing, they made national news. Marge Schott, the owner of the Reds, was disciplined and eventually forced out as owner of the team. The sheriff continues to be an overzealous thug, but the jury that heard the case for The Contemporary Arts Center exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe's photos tossed it out. Ordinary people saw that the case was a waste of time and an infringement on freedom of speech. Cincinnati eventually rescinded the anti-gay ordinance, too. And a lot of soul-searching went on after the riots in 2001, and race relations are somewhat better now. There have been several black mayors, including the current one who was re-elected yesterday.
Cincinnati has always been a conservative place. Religion was and is still more important there than in places on the east or west coasts. There is a local provincialism that still grates when I visit there. But that is true of most places, including NYC ;-)
Quite a lot of the most provincial Marge Schott-like narrow-minded yahoos have planted themselves in the exurban tracts of McMansions that surround the city's core. They loathe Cincinnati and avoid it entirely. Actually, that's not such a bad thing since you don't have to listen to them whine unless you tune in local talk radio. What's left behind in the city are poor, working class, and middle class blacks, gays of all income levels, white middle-class urbanite professionals from outside Cincinnati who work for Procter and Gamble or other corporations, and some lower-middle class whites, particularly in Cincinnati's west side. Most of these people are moderate Democrats. Cincinnati went for Obama last year, and so did the county it is in, but the surrounding exurban counties voted solidly for Bush.
So perhaps I should not be surprised to learn that Cincinnatians voted overwhelmingly yesterday to tax themselves just a little more to support their local public library system. It's one of the very best in the country, but state funding sources have been drying up, and drastic cuts were being proposed. Fortunately those will not happen now.
Also, Cincinnatians voted down a cynical attempt to force any rail-based projects proposed for the city to be approved in a referendum. That's like asking residents to vote yes or no every time the fire department needs a new fire truck. In cities like Cincinnati with an over-dependence on cars, there are a certain number of cranks that think that any public transportation is the devil's road to communism. They particularly dislike streetcar and light rail projects. Many people actually kind of like trollies and trams though, but anti-transit nuts think that all public transportation should be a form of punishment for those not rich enough to spend thousands of dollars a year on one vehicle for each member of every household. Anything other than that is an attack on the American way of life. Fortunately, Cincinnatians saw through this ruse, and a long-delayed streetcar project might now get built.
In any case, I'd happily ride the streetcar as an early retiree some day soon, between the wonderful downtown branch of Cincinnati's public library and the wonderful main library of the University of Cincinnati, a few miles away. One thing I'll always appreciate is Cincinnati's wonderful libraries :-))
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October 29th, 2009
11:35 pm - Asian "Mafia" on the 7 train
Tonight one of those little episodes of life in NYC that make this city such a wonderful place to live...
I slid onto an empty seat in an empty subway car deep under Times Square after another mind-numbingly dull day at work. It was the tail end of rush hour so the car wasn't empty for very long, and just as we were about to leave, 14 (I counted them ;-) young Asian men came inside and sat all around me.
They were American-born Asians with completely Americanized accents and mannerisms, although I wasn't able to figure out if they were Chinese or Korean, the two largest ethnic groups living along the 7 line (it's not called the "Orient Express" for nothing). Oh, and they were ALL cute - probably college guys. They had a very easy familiarity with one another and were likely friends who'd known each other since high school.
The "ringleader" was a very good looking young guy with a natural air of leadership about him. Within a minute of pulling out of the station, he'd told the "gang" they were going to play Mafia Assassin until they got to Flushing, the huge Asian neighborhood 25 minutes away. And they did! Not boisterously, not obnoxiously, just having fun as they knocked each off one by one under the direction of their "mob" leader and made "accusations" against each other as to who the assassin was.
They went through several rounds and were just about to start up again when the train pulled in to my station at 40th St/Lowery in Sunnyside. I glanced over at the two guys sitting right next to me, both already "dead" but not knowing who the "murderer" was. And I said quietly to them: "I'm the killer - I'm the mafia assassin" and got up and left. They burst out laughing and their 11 friends who didn't hear me were asking almost in one voice: "What did he say? Who IS HE?"
And then I heard 14 male Asian guys let out a HUGE laugh all at once as the subway doors closed behind me -- since of course the "dead" ones must've repeated what I said to them.
That was fun :-)
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October 26th, 2009
03:46 pm - No more Big Macs in Iceland
all in all, not a bad thing:
From the AP
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – The Big Mac, long a symbol of globalization, has become the latest victim of this tiny island nation's overexposure to the world financial crisis.
Iceland's three McDonald's restaurants — all in the capital Reykjavik — will close next weekend, as the franchise owner gives in to falling profits caused by the collapse in the Icelandic krona.
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October 25th, 2009
11:26 pm - An Alphistian small town
A larger version of the panorama above is at this link: http://alphistia.com/voralabig1.jpg
Vorala is a small town in Sioto province, about 10 km southeast of Enteve, the capital. Although a little smaller than the average provincial town, it provides an example of many aspects of what Alphistian life is like: green, small-scale, self-sufficient, car-free.
Vorala has 2400 inhabitants in approximately 1000 housing units. It is a small industrial town as well as a market for local farmers and gardeners. It is on the circular railway line with direct connections to Sioto, the provincial capital, and Enteve. Sioto is 5 minutes away and Enteve is 20 minutes away by train.
Life in Alphistia is small-scale but high-density, and this is true in towns with just 2500 inhabitants as it is in the bigger towns like Tava (with 25,000 people), or the capital (with 65,000). Although most live in apartments, they are in small buildings with fewer than 12 units, on average. The buildings are grouped around green areas. About 15% of the housing in Vorala is in single unit row houses, each with a small garden.
Almost all the food consumed in the country is grown domestically. Many apartment dwellers have allotment gardens on the outskirts of town and those living in rowhouses can easily grow vegetables and fruits. Nearby farms provide much of the fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc, and among the largest and most important buildings in any Alphistian city or town are the market halls.
Although no part of Alphistia is farther than a 1 hour trip by train from anywhere else, most people work in their own localities. To avoid one-industry towns, small factories and workshops are spread all over the country. Vorala has factories and workshops for furniture, toys, tools and hardware, food processing, bicycles, pottery, and a glassworks. They are situated along the railway to allow easy transport to other parts of the country.
Alphistian towns are largely car-free. Most people in the country do not own their own vehicles, except for farmers and small business owners, or professionals like doctors. Towns are planned so that it is very easy to get to the central shopping area, train station, and workplaces by walking or by bike. Electric cars and vans are easily rented by the hour or day when needed. Largely car-free towns have many advantages - almost no accidents, clean air, much less noise pollution, and huge savings in household budgets: no car payments, insurance, fuel, and repair expenses.
The map below shows the major buildings of Vorala.
Map legend
1) station and hotel
2) post
3) bicycle garage and repair center
4) farmer's market
5) shopping arcade
6) Vorala square
7) cafe and beer garden
8) office tower
9) Supra supermarket
10) Ko-Op department store
11) town hall
12) library
13) culture house
14) school
15) swimming pools
16) stadium
17) sport hall
18) firehouse
19) medical clinic
20) senior housing
21) church complex
22) windmill
23) reservoir
24) water tower
25) camping
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October 18th, 2009
01:22 am - Artweek - Day 7
The last pic I wasn't really very fond of, so I've substituted it for one I like better, and which is actually a "repeat" (I put it up several years ago with no fanfare ;-)
I've more or less run out of drawings I want to display, which of course tells me to get out the watercolors, Japanese marker pens, and oil pastels and create. But I've run out of vacation days too, until 'round Christmas time. That'll be here VERY soon though :-)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/blah.gif) lazy
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October 15th, 2009
October 14th, 2009
12:15 am - Artweek - Day 5
A few years ago, my friend Lisa started running marathons - just for fun! I made a picture for her when she ran back in 2003, and that's today's Artweek posting.
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October 13th, 2009
October 12th, 2009
October 11th, 2009
12:01 am - There be Mondragons
Mondragon? What?
They aren't seamonsters...they are co-ops. They are hardly known outside of Spain, but they're an integral part of how the Alphistian economy would be organized.
Capitalism works, but there's a heavy cost. Communism did not work, and except for Cuba and North Korea, no one forces that system on people anymore. China "conveniently" kept the nastiest features of Soviet-style communism politically, while abandoning almost all the economic aspects. Such a hybrid is not a model for anyone, anywhere. The kleptocracies of the Middle East, large parts of Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia - failures. There is no perfect system of course, just a lot of bad models.
Alphistia would have a "mixed" system. There would be small businesses, artisan workshops, private farmers, and co-operative farms. There would be some state-owned companies, but most medium-sized or large firms would be modeled on the Mondragon co-operatives in the Basque region of Spain. The advantage? No capitalists.
In the 1950s, under Franco's semi-fascist regime, a priest in the Basque region organized a small industrial co-operative, a credit union, and a technical school. This was an area even poorer than most parts of Spain, but pooling resources into co-ops actually proved successful very quickly. The credit union worked as a co-operative investment bank that could set up factories, and dozens opened in the town of Mondragon and nearby. Unlike "normal" capitalist companies, the shareholders were the members of the Mondragon co-ops: the workers themselves. And even more important, they had a real one-man, one vote in the management of the company. In other words - they chose their own managers. Imagine such a thing in the ordinary capitalist enterprise, one of the most top-down undemocratic organizations ever invented.
The nay-sayers of course predicted Mondragon would collapse. It didn't. It consists of about 150 different co-operative enterprises today. It's been profitable through the years. It's never been merged with or bought out by some international conglomerate, because the shareholders would never vote for such nonsense. No hostile takeovers either, because to have stock in the company, you have to work for it already.
The affiliated technical university trains specialists and research institutes incubate innovation. Most of the top managers work their way up from within the company, because they are dedicated to the Mondragon model and after all, they can still live quite well on their salaries even though they won't become millionaires. Top managers earn at the maximum, 8 times the salary of the ordinary employee. Imagine THAT in an American company!
Mondragon shows that capitalism can have a human face. It's not anti-market, but it puts people first. That's an ideal concept for organizing companies in Alphistia.
So, larger companies would be organized as co-ops in Alphistia, with Mondragon as the model. Private companies would exist of course, but be limited in size to the owners themselves (single owners or family businesses, partnerships of two or several people). Other than the owners and their families, small businesses would not hire their own workers. Instead they would contract with the employment agency owned and operated by all the workers, as part of the national trade union. One of the advantages for this would be that there would only be one national union contract negotiated for the benefit of all members, and would eliminate the common exploitation of workers by capitalists the world over. And of course there would be minimum labor standards that all economic enterprises: co-ops, private firms, and state-owned companies would be required to adhere to legally. This would include minimum wages, working hour limits, overtime pay, sick days, maternity leave, vacation time, etc. All these would be regulated and mandated and the same for every worker in the country.
Would this make Alphistia the richest and most competitive economy the world has ever known? Decidedly not. But it would provide a quality of life to everyone living in the country far higher than the norm for most of the world's population.
(first in a series of short essays on aspects of Alphistia ;-)
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October 10th, 2009
02:57 pm - Artweek
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October 9th, 2009
11:21 pm - Artweek IV is coming soon
Vacation for a week has started :-)))
Some drawings and pix will be the result, starting Saturday Oct. 10
Current Mood: content
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October 6th, 2009
11:13 pm - Good People
I'm a fairly good judge of people, unless I'm sleeping with someone - then I'm a damned fool. I'm trying to cut back on the tomfoolery though, and I'm practically celibate! Oh...
Just one more way I'm like my mother. My mom was a goodhearted person who married a man she loved at first but who broke her heart, for thirty-something years. But all her adult life, and before I was around too of course, there were people in the house who came to see her - to sit with her, eat her comfort food, and generally spend time together because they enjoyed each other's company. She was shy, probably a little agoraphobic, but she got out a couple times a week to buy "grosheries" or go to the dollar store. Most of the time though she was holding court in her kitchen, with her overweight dogs and (often overweight) people right there. And there were LOTS of her friends at her funeral, tearful at losing her but full of many good memories. She had a lot of "good people" in her life (and just a few rotten ones).
I've managed to replicate much of my mom's lifestyle and will probably imitate the rest once I'm retired and living in a van down by the river...no a double-wide trailer somewhere within walking distance of a good college library. I think I'll have some nice friends to keep me company wherever I end up. I always have. Because of the nature of the world nowadays, many of my friends are very far-flung, but it can't be helped. And it's nice to have friends near and far.
I've met some of my blogpals, and just this week one dropped in to explore NYC. Let's call him Vince, since that's his name. He's "good people" as my mom and grandma would say. It was easy to talk with him. And he seemed to really like the Strand Bookstore, which is where I said goodbye since MY FEET WERE KILLING ME after having a nice Indian dinner.
Anyway, as a confirmed bachelor misanthrope, it's nice to know some nice people.
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October 5th, 2009
10:42 pm - Shocked to my toes
Twice in the past few weeks, young people have gotten up from their seats on crowded subway trains and offered them to me: a middle-aged lady well beyond her prime, apparently!
The first instance was a lovely Polish woman, could've been a fashion model, who saw I was sweaty and pasty after running for the train on a humid morning, and I guess she was worried I might collapse on her. I knew she was Polish because she talked in that language to her handsome boyfriend all the way to Grand Central Station. Tonight a young man of no more than 20 got up and told me to please seat down. OK :-)
Well my faith in humanity is restored (slightly). And when a seat is offered, I'll TAKE IT! 'cause my feet still hurt...
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October 3rd, 2009
09:33 pm - My feet hurt
My arches last fell in 1987, during my first trip to Berlin, with my Dutch friend Rob. I flopped, flopped, flopped around town and we laughed at my flat feet, but they really did hurt. So we went to a shoe store and Rob translated into German my condition and the nice shoe saleslady brought out a sturdy pair of arch supports. That helped a lot!
This week my arches fell again. I'm 51 years old now, and everything hurts more nowadays! After a few days of ignoring the aches, I went to the drugstore and bought some 21st century arch supports. They're rubbery plastic with gel inside, and made in China (where else?) They actually do work, but I'd prefer to be rolling around in a recliner with wheels...
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September 24th, 2009
10:06 pm - It's our old friend...
...Nicolae Ceausescu. He was particularly mean to his people, so mean he's the only East Bloc dictator who paid for his deeds with his life back in 1989. His lovely wife Elena was chased around a chicken yard and shot too. They were quite a pair!
The connect-the-dots drawing isn't authentic by the way. Ceausescu was an extremely vain egomaniac, but his goons didn't provide such frivolous puzzles of the leader for kids. A few years ago a Romanian artist put together a pop-up book of Romania in the good old days. That's where this came from, via the web.
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