march

***REMEMBER: OLDEST DATE IS AT THE BOTTOM, NEWEST AT THE TOP***

march 21  — rules, rules, rules

kurt vonnegut, 2BR02B   [now in low-budget film version!]

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march 19 — a trip to the library!

meet at the usual time, wilson media lab (on the entry floor (2nd floor), towards the back, on the right)

(you don’t need to read this, but in case you have some desire to learn more about the role public library plays in some utopian visions, then you could start by looking here: kevin hayes, the public library in utopia 

march 14 — anarchy!

emma goldman, “what is anarchism?”

rather than the overflow of options that we saw last time with our libertarian friends, we will keep it simple and sweet, and possibly trivial, but that’s okay, too. what happens when anarchism meets the ny times home & garden section? something like this!

or if you’d rather look at pictures, here’s a recent photo essay of the ZAD encampment in France, protesting a new airport. (they won!) (by the way, that article is from national geographic, which just now admitted what many of us long knew: the magazine as a long history of racism.)

both anarchists and libertarians hate the state (or, on their personalized license plates: h8 the st8), but they go in such different directions. how come? is it their theory of the state? their theory of the self? of community? their aesthetic, lifestyle preferences? what? what? what?

march 12 — libertarianism!

ayn rand, “atlantis” from atlas shrugged (we start in the middle (of a 1000 pg book!!!), but this is the vision of a perfect society, as opposed to the socialist hellhole that western society has become. if you want a bit more background, here’s the book’s wiki page.)

and here’s some plans/efforts to enact this plan (take a look at least one, please):

1) seasteading

(and here are some news stories about the project: npr1, npr2the economist)

2) free state project (our neighbors to the east!)

(some news stories: mother jones, slate, and local coverage)

3) belle isle, michigan

(some news: nytimes, alternet, detroit news)

4) the citadel, idaho

5) glenn beck’s independence, USA

so many options for the freedom lovers out there.

hey, even lululemon gets into the mix!

march 7 — watch, watching, watched

michel foucault, “panopticon” from discipline & punish (this is not the most “accessible” text out there, but the main point (about the architecture of the panopticon and the implications) should be discernible).

in class we will watch some we live in public (watch trailer here, if you feel like it)

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march 5 — surveillance statements

george orwell, 1984… chapter 1, chapter 2

david harvey, “edilia, or ‘make of it what you will”  (or what we might call “2020”) from spaces of hope

[[this is not terribly long, and there are quite a few interesting (or infuriating) ideas contained in these 20 pages. however, i chose this as a counter to the 1984 vision above, which means focusing on a smaller subset of the entire chapter. thus, if time and/or interest in lacking, just be sure to cast a careful eye to the  creation story (notice the dates! this book is from the late 90s) from pp. 258-263, and to the discussion of technology and surveillance (and love!) starting near the bottom of p. 268 and continuing until about the end of 271.]]