| Good news and an end |
[Apr. 26th, 2009|09:36 pm] |
I have been accepted to the Master's program in comparative world history at New York University starting in Fall 2009. I will be leaving for New York in July or August with Alison (who was accepted to a PhD program at the same school) for the better part of the next decade.
This also, I believe, will be my last post to the Outlaw Log, but not my last attempt at holding down an internet log. |
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| My Revised Personal Statement (paragraph 1) |
[Nov. 13th, 2008|06:06 pm] |
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The field of African postcolonial theory is a myriad of diverse suppositions and ambiguities that no one should want to willingly throw themselves in to. I imagine the condensation of the knowledge gleaned from even a few months of research and then the bickering and infighting between scholars would be enough to crush even the most hardened soul. I am applying for a doctorate in African history because I am stupid and want to have my heart and brain kicked in before I eventually die a tragic, horrific death in my first year abroad at the hands of a machete-wielding rebel who has taken me hostage and I am unable to be saved by my corrupt government because the country in which I am being held does not produce or refine oil or cheap plastic toys. I want to study music because where there is music there are people getting drunk and only being intoxicated would I be able to slough through the insane trauma of attending graduate school. I would be better finding one of America’s last remaining coal mines and electing to work there for free and without safety gear. I hope you consider my application for consideration to your program so that I can fulfill my lifelong goal of becoming a truly meaningless waste of space rather than a just a theoretical waste of space. |
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| Man should not have to work on his birthday |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|11:07 pm] |
If the Democrats had proposed the government bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac six months ago, would they have been called socialists? Also, are we starting a new Cold War?
Hope all is well with everyone out there. |
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| Our revolutions just made us dizzy |
[Sep. 11th, 2008|01:26 pm] |
Getting a job has been far harder task than I realized it would be. Today, after a week of waiting, I received a letter in the mail from UCI that informed me the position that I had rested so much hope on as a vehicle for escaping my post-France poverty, would not be so. It was a bit like the wind being taken of me. I had never failed to obtain a job after an interview and I refuse to believe that I did not say the right things . . . as the letter reads, I was not what they were looking for. I do not know what they are looking for. Someone older? Someone committed to working 24 hours a week at university extension services for the next 5 to 10 years? I was not underqualified and I have a very good list of contacts. I suppose I can not dwell on this.
I am sick now. Mucus has finally won the siege of my head.
I am at a coffee shop now, trying to work up the necessary muster to start reading the final chapter in "Subject to Colonialism: African Self-Fashioning and the Colonial Library" by Gaurav Desai. The first two chapters (spanning 120+ pages) did not strike at the crux of my topic that I am researching, so I am hoping that the final one will provided greater enlightenment. (you like how I sounded like a total douche-bag there?)
I finished reading Persepolis (graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi, coming of age tale in Iran/Austria) and was very impressed by the ability of the medium to supply as much emotional clout as a novel would. I think I still prefer the latter, but graphic novels will have a greater amount of attention from me from now on.
Also finished reading recently: George Saunders, "The Braindead Megaphone" (very funny, reminds me of Twain and Vonnegut), Neil Gaiman, "American Gods: Author's Definitive Text" (guilty pleasure), and Roberto Bolano, "By Night in Chile" (fantastic)
Reading now:
Ben Marcus, "The Age of Wire and String"
Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
and a few academic texts |
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| Lyrics to a song I had to pull over and listen to while staring at the stereo |
[Aug. 24th, 2008|11:30 pm] |
Whereas, breakbeats have been the missing link connecting the diasporic
community to its drum woven past
Whereas the quantised drum has allowed the whirling mathematicians to
calculate the ever changing distance between rock and stardom.
Whereas the velocity of the spinning vinyl, cross-faded, spun backwards, and
re-released at the same given moment of recorded history , yet at a
different moment in time's continuum has allowed history to catch up with
the present.
We do hereby declare reality unkempt by the changing standards of dialogue.
Statements, such as, "keep it real", especially when punctuating or
anticipating modes of ultra-violence inflicted psychologically or physically
or depicting an unchanging rule of events will hence forth be seen as
retro-active and not representative of the individually determined is.
Furthermore, as determined by the collective consciousness of this state of
being and the lessened distance between thought patterns and their secular
manifestations, the role of men as listening receptacles is to be increased
by a number no less than 70 percent of the current enlisted as vocal
aggressors.
Motherfuckers better realize, now is the time to self-actualize
We have found evidence that hip hops standard 85 rpm when increased by a
number as least half the rate of it's standard or decreased at ¾ of it's
speed may be a determining factor in heightening consciousness.
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the
unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.
Equate rhyme with reason, Sun with season
Our cyclical relationship to phenomenon has encouraged scholars to erase the
centers of periods, thus symbolizing the non-linear character of cause and
effect
Reject mediocrity!
Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which as been given
for you to understand.
The current standard is the equivalent of an adolescent restricted to the
diet of an infant.
The rapidly changing body would acquire dysfunctional and deformative
symptoms and could not properly mature on a diet of apple sauce and crushed
pears
Light years are interchangeable with years of living in darkness.
The role of darkness is not to be seen as, or equated with, Ignorance, but
with the unknown, and the mysteries of the unseen.
Thus, in the name of:
ROBESON, GOD'S SON, HURSTON, AHKENATON, HATHSHEPUT, BLACKFOOT, HELEN,
LENNON, KHALO, KALI, THE THREE MARIAS, TARA, LILITHE, LOURDE, WHITMAN,
BALDWIN, GINSBERG, KAUFMAN, LUMUMBA, GHANDI, GIBRAN, SHABAZZ, SIDDHARTHA,
MEDUSA, GUEVARA, GUARDSIEFF, RAND, WRIGHT, BANNEKER, TUBMAN, HAMER, HOLIDAY,
DAVIS, COLTRANE, MORRISON, JOPLIN, DUBOIS, CLARKE, SHAKESPEARE, RACHMNINOV,
ELLINGTON, CARTER, GAYE, HATHOWAY, HENDRIX, KUTL, DICKERSON, RIPPERTON,
MARY, ISIS, THERESA, PLATH, RUMI, FELLINI, MICHAUX, NOSTRADAMUS, NEFERTITI,
LA ROCK, SHIVA, GANESHA, YEMAJA, OSHUN, OBATALA, OGUN, KENNEDY, KING, FOUR
LITTLE GIRLS, HIROSHIMA, NAGASAKI, KELLER, BIKO, PERONE, MARLEY, COSBY,
SHAKUR, THOSE STILL AFLAMED, AND THE COUNTLESS UNNAMED
We claim the present as the pre-sent, as the hereafter.
We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun.
We are not afraid of the darkness, we trust that the moon shall guide us.
We are determining the future at this very moment.
We now know that the heart is the philosophers' stone
Our music is our alchemy
We stand as the manifested equivalent of 3 buckets of water and a hand full
of minerals, thus realizing that those very buckets turned upside down
supply the percussion factor of forever.
If you must count to keep the beat then count.
Find you mantra and awaken your subconscious.
Curve you circles counterclockwise
Use your cipher to decipher, Coded Language, man made laws.
Climb waterfalls and trees, commune with nature, snakes and bees.
Let your children name themselves and claim themselves as the new day for
today we are determined to be the channelers of these changing frequencies
into songs, paintings, writings, dance, drama, photography, carpentry,
crafts, love, and love.
We enlist every instrument: Acoustic, electronic.
Every so-called race, gender, and sexual preference.
Every per-son as beings of sound to acknowledge their responsibility to
uplift the consciousness of the entire fucking World.
Any utterance will be un-aimed, will be disclaimed - two rappers slain
Any utterance will be un-aimed, will be disclaimed - two rappers slain
Saul Williams, "Coded Language" as heard on the album Amethyst Rock Star |
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| Visions of torrential grace |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|11:52 pm] |
It has been over a month since my return to southern California. Here is a list of the things I have done (1), experienced (2), or failed to do (3) . . .
Translate my working resumé back from French and reformat (1)
Send my resumé to possible job opportunities (1)
Obtain a real job (3)
Crawled back to a job that I did not want to crawl back to (1)
Forgotten some, but not all of my French (2)
Clean my room and organize my bookshelves (3)
Develop a grad-school plan (3)
Said goodbye to close friends (2)
Get in touch with people I have not seen for a year (1)(3)
Read a few books (1)
Go to Hawaii (1)
Find tutoring positions (3)
Determine whether "it was all worth it" (3)
It can only be on the up-swing and soon I will attempting to get back in touch with friends I have sorely neglected and also establishing new ties. I will also not stop sending out my resumé. |
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| I'm Home |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:15 am] |
Glad to be back, although it is a bit strange. I have been here for a little less than a week and I still am getting used to the speed of things, the rush of people all over, and five lanes of traffic. Things to work on . . . . 1) Getting my résumé in order again, 2) Reading some books and preparing for graduate school applications, 3) Thin out my "people I need to email" list.
Now that I have made a very broad To-Do list, I should get dressed and actually do something. |
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| I have one month to go |
[Jun. 2nd, 2008|10:35 pm] |
Thirty day countdown has begun. Thank god. Or whoever.
I just posted an entry in my other blog ( landeslog.blogspot.com ) and I acknowledged that my unwillingness to stick to a regular schedule of posting there is probably due to the fact that I end up writing too much and burn myself out. I have to translate a lot of information from French and I don't look forward to doing it. I suppose that is not a good attitude to have.
With a month to go, questions abound; will we find places for all of our furniture to go (sell it? trash it?), how hard will the turning off of utilities and closing up the place be (initial exposure has been very negative), and will we have enough money to make it to the end of the month so that we don't have to go in to serious credit card debt. We shall see.
One month. WOO! |
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| Reflections on returning to France after yet another expensive vacation |
[May. 7th, 2008|10:06 pm] |
Venice: wonderful city; beauty overload, even; how many old beautiful buildings can you see? Very expensive. They charge for tap water and bread crumbs that you find at your place setting. Gelato was the right temperature and price. Found out you can not add "-oni" and gesticulate wildly to communicate to Italians. The word for beer is easy.
Belfast: city like a phoenix; wall murals capture hope and strife. Friends helped us get to the very top of Ireland and there was a rope bridge over crashing waves. You can fry anything. Word for beer was even easier.
Lyon: possibly my favorite French city as culture flourishes and is not lost in a melee of tourist traps and cosmopolitan-ness. Good people in every bar.
The time for living on a shoe-string has begun. Two months (a little less even) until we return home. |
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