Dystopia 13: Hetû
This is the 26th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series.This week in Dystopia, Jack starts to fit into Jaguar Village. The discussion is about CEO pay and the win fall of JP Morgan Chase and Goldman...
View ArticleDystopia 14: Body of Evidence
If an alcoholic causes a fatal traffic accident, does the alcoholic have the right to look away from the carnage he has caused? My answer is no. This is the most disturbing chapter of the series....
View ArticleUtopia 14: Monument
This is the 28th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series.This week in Utopia, Jack takes his class to see a national monument. Through his eyes I hope you feel like you are seeing this well known...
View ArticleUtopia 15: The Pilgrimage
This is the 30th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series.This week in Utopia, Jack takes his class to see yet another monument Through his eyes I hope you feel like you are seeing this well known...
View ArticleDystopia 15: Surprise
This is the 31st chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series.This week in Dystopia, Jack discovers yet another secret about Laissi. Where will it end?The nonfiction portion of the text discusses the...
View ArticleDystopia 16: A Place of Her Own
Sorry about my long pause there. I am still dealing with my own economic meltdown. I had to post this weekend, though, because there is so much going on. Both 350.org Action and Showdown in Chicago...
View ArticleUtopia 16: Student Driver
Ok...I give up trying to post on any particular day. Now I'll just shoot for about once a week.This is the 33rd chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible...
View ArticleUtopia 17: When the Red Wind Blows
This is the 34th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 17: The Spy
This is the 35th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleUtopia 18: The Long Now
This is the 36th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 18: Greek Revival
This is the 37th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleUtopia 19: A Long Way Home
This is the 38th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleUtopia 20: The Hospital
This is the 39th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 19: Capture
This is the 40th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 20: Tendo
This is the 41st chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleUtopia 21: The Red God Speaks
This is the 42nd chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleUtopia 22: Jeff Revisited
This is the 43rd chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 21: Laissi's Scars
This is the 44th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell is an educator in a world recovering from global warming. In...
View ArticleDystopia 22: Gerry Revisited
We are taught that our culture is dominated by oil because oil is the only substance capable of delivering the amount of energy needed to run our complex society. But does this claim hold up to...
View ArticleUtopia 23: Graduation Day
Arnie Duncan, Obama's Sec of Education, wants 100% graduation rate in America by 2020. Is he serious or is it a publicity stunt?This is the 46th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The story...
View ArticleDystopia 23: Birthday
If we could wave a magic wand and change our government any way we wanted, how far would we dare to go?This is the 47th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The fictional story follows one character...
View ArticleUtopia 24: The First Day of School
Will the world be a better place for our having lived in it. No, I don't think so either. But it could be. What should we press for to make it so?This is the 48th chapter of the Utopia/Dystopia...
View ArticleDystopia 24: Epilogue
Who are we really? Are we basically good people or bad?This is the conclusion of the Utopia/Dystopia series. The fictional story follows one character in two possible futures. In Utopia Jack Randell...
View ArticleSherwood by the Lake
I know, you have "breaking news" overload. But I can't help but see the parallels between the Middle East and what happens here at home.Wisconsin is waging its own fight for democracy and economic...
View ArticleFaux Democracy
The White House seems rather confused about the whole Middle East thing. I can see why. People in the Middle East are struggling for what we've been pretending to have all along. How can the White...
View ArticleBorders Abandons Browsers
Has Borders given up on fiction completely? Orders from their corporate office make it look that way.
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist Meet-up: Capitalism Locked and Loaded
If I held a gun to your head and told you, "It's capitalism or your life," could you give up your way of life?Tim Garrett just showed us the gun.
View ArticleHuck Finn and the Hunger Games
Are you a teacher upset by your school's resistance to allowing the original version of Huck Finn? I may have the solution--The Hunger Games. I admit, I read the first page and thought I would hate...
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Anti-Capitalist Meet-up: Mondragon Miracle, Part 1 of 3: Building the Road We...
1941, Office of the Archbishop of Spain:"They just released you?" Archbishop Balbino Oliver eyed the priest standing before his desk with suspicion. Something about the young man unsettled him."I...
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Mondragon Miracle Part II of III: The Genius of Don Jose
It's been a rather tough week for capitalists. With people waking up from the illusion of money and riots erupting in otherwise reserved England, I almost feel a little sorry for the advocates of...
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Anti-Capitalist Meet-up: Mondragon Miracle Part 3 of 3: Lessons Learned
“Nothing differentiates people as much as their respective attitudes to the circumstances in which they live. Those who opt to make history and change the course of events themselves have an advantage...
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Tales from The Edge of a Revolution #1: Ya Just Never Know
General Assembly--Arcata Plaza, Oct 12th, 2011A seagull careens overhead and dives for some crumb left on the plaza with a high pitched trill. My eyes follow the aerial acrobatics though I stay present...
View ArticleTSA Arrests Me for Using the Fourth Amendment as a Weapon (Tales from the...
Oct. 17, 2011 Albuquerque International Sunport Security Checkpoint:I pass a camera crew filming the ticket counter. I stop and consider telling them what I am about to do, but decide against it. They...
View ArticleAnti-capitalist Meet-up: Moving Beyond Plutocracy
We've all seen the pictures. People assembled on the commons in metropolis or rural town listening to each other. They wiggle their fingers skyward or toward the ground to signal how they feel about...
View ArticleExcuse our Technical Difficulties
We are trying to bring you Robin Upton, the host of Unwelcome Guests for this weeks diary. The problem is that Robin lives in Bangladesh and is currently traveling in Korea. Coordination has been a...
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Here I Stand
Recently, one of my good friends wrote this in an e-mail:I arrived in the US with the misunderstanding, common among Brits, that because the language is the same (similar), the culture would be...
View ArticleTales from The Edge of a Revolution #3: The Goddess of Travel
The hotel shuttle pulls up to San Francisco's airport half an hour late. I push a dollar into the driver's hand and grab my bag. Less than an hour remains to negotiate San Francisco's ever present...
View ArticleDon't Cry for Greece, Argentina
So the very country that invented democracy, is now denied the benefit of it. The banks of France and Germany have successfully stopped the referendum on Greece to allow austerity to proceed. Troika...
View ArticleMiracle on the Quad: The Power of the People Prevails
A friend sent me the video. Perhaps because it was my alma mater. It opens on a damp, leaden day, so typical of Northern California in November. Yet, the weather has not deadened the mood of the...
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist Meet-Up: Reclaiming Our Democracy (Part I of II): Miliary...
I sit on the floor of the Duck House with thirty others, brainstorming for the January action. Neither men nor women dominate the group. We are young, and surprisingly old. Counter-culture and...
View ArticleHoliday Wishes from the TSA
The police arrest you for reading the Constitution in a public space during an Occupy demonstration. Later, you get a letter saying that reading the Constitution in a loud voice, in that place, at that...
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist Meet Up: Reclaiming Democracy (Part 2 of 2): Nullification
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty." -- Thomas JeffersonWhy do we submit to the law?We can't run very fast. We have no sharp teeth or claws. Long ago it became...
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist Meet Up: Greed vs. Gift
"Property is the last of the false gods."--Pierre-Joseph Proudhon'Tis the season of the gift, a time to show the world generosity and shared abundance. For many, this season represents obligation and...
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Anti-Capitalist Meet Up: Entelechy
entelechy en-TEL-uh-kee\ , noun; 1. A realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality. 2. In vitalist philosophy, a vital agent or force directing growth and life.My husband pecks my...
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist Meet Up: School's Out
Sara Schmidt is not just talking about changing education, she is actually in the trenches. She is unschooling her daughter and she has given us a wonderful essay about it.
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Emergency Alert-OWS Occupies the US. Congress
In an unprecedented move, we are delaying the publication of our regular Anti-capitalist meet-up diary to bring you a special report. Four hours ago, several hundred US citizens and residents,...
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Anti-Capitalist Meet Up: Pelt the President with the Pill
[The conversations represented here took place over the last week and are compressed for your reading pleasure. My husband and I are real people and said the things represented here. The rest of the...
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: A Necessary Evil, or Just Evil?
We are told we need the law. We need a million rules to ensure everyone has a fair shake, a level playing field we rely on as we move through life. But if you are lesbian or gay, the majority have...
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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: One Economy under God
Has it occurred to you how strange it is that your job can slip across international boundaries, but you are prohibited from crossing the same border to follow that job? It should.Multinational...
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Anticapitalist Meetup: “Separate but Equal” Shuts Down Women’s Health Care
This month has a certain nostalgia for me. I am working the last two shifts in my home, Humboldt County. Nestled between pristine redwoods and dramatic cliffs overlooking the west coast of California,...
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