Dried Sage

Habitus crisis

2007-07-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Imagine a continuum along which social science classes may fall. At one end is the "Consumers Choice" model, full of books and articles that conform to the interests of students. They describe sociological concepts in fun, familiar terms and memorable anecdotes, all easily accessible to undergrads. Numbers and statistics are noticeably absent, readings are bite-sized, and the obtuse classics of Sociology are taught with secondary sources. Case studies predominate, complimented with articles from the popular press. Non-specialist books that demonstrate pedagogical utility are preferred to specialist books.

At the other end is the "Professional Development" model. Readings include basic statistics and technical concepts and professional journals are the norm. Although a deep understanding isn't expected of students, classical theories and authors do make an appearance - always primary sources - and linear regression techniques are common. Qualitative work may be presented, but only to an extent proportional to that in the field of study being taught. Professional development is preferred to accessibility.

This frames some of the tougher choices I'm facing as I redesign my 300-level course on social movements this summer. I see the utility of the accessible course which corresponds to my belief that undergraduate classes should meet students halfway in order to provoke and inspire them to come back for more. On the other hand, students won't learn to perform at a higher level if it's not presented to or expected of them. This resonates with the mantra, "challenge all, exclude none," and strikes me as a good starting point for teaching a diverse bunch of students.

This might be an instance where a teaching philosophy would come in handy. What are my goals? Which methods of teaching most closely meet them? The easiest solution lies somewhere in the middle of this continuum, of course, but my sense is that most teachers fall closer to the side of accessibility. I know mine did, and I resent them for it. Of course, I'm in grad school now - not the typical path of the students we're teaching. What's a teacher to do? And does the answer depend on which university, discipline, or particular bunch of students we're talking about? And there's that nagging question in my head: are we training future consumers here?

Then I hear the wise words of experience: You're rewarded for your research, dummy, not teaching.

3 reasons to be thankful you're not in Tucson

2007-07-03T12:17:00.001-07:00

2:00 am is truly lovely this time of year.

Wish you were here,
Jeff

He's no Vladimir Putin

2007-07-02T12:23:00.001-07:00

Is Democracy a consumer's right?

2007-06-30T00:53:00.001-07:00

He's dropped "consumer protection" for the "citizen participation." He's flouted political propriety by campaigning for president. He's flung himself onto the machinery of U.S. politics. Now, Ralph Nader is, once again, considering a run for the presidency.

In 2000, he swayed nearly 3 million voters, and four years later that number dropped to fewer than 500,000. We've heard it so many times that it's virtually unquestioned today that Ralph was the "spoiler" that put King George into office. To question that interpretation, which is but one politically expedient reading of that election, has been to invite venomous attacks and vitriolic condescension from Democratic apologists.

My hat is off to Ralph Nader. I don't believe that the weight of Al Gore's loss rests on his shoulders, nor do I believe that we should write off Nader's foray into electoral politics so quickly. Despite the nauseatingly common whining about Ralph's "bloated ego," his campaign is a conscious and thoughtful one that goes beyond any single presidential race.

Nader's career as a consumer champion has revolved around politics for decades. His advocacy for automobile safety, clean air, whistleblowers, food labeling, and numerous other causes in the name of the "public interest" has sought new or improved legislation, regulation, and enforcement - all thoroughly depending on political channels. When General Motors sent spies to undermine his auto safety campaign, he was testifying before congressional committees about the need for seat belts. When the Reagan Revolution steamrolled through Washington, Ralph was on the streets to drum up public support. When the Democrats buckled under a Republican Congress, he recognized that the Left was losing its political voice in Washington. That's when he ran for President. 1996. 2000. 2004. Now, possibly 2008.

Did he expect to win? Of course not. But this is part of a campaign that dates back to the Nixon Administration. It has broadened from narrow consumer issues to fundamental questions of democracy. Nader's campaign today amounts to institutional civil disobedience - without breaking a single law (although, to hear the yelps of Democrats you'd never know it).

"What third parties can do is bring young people in, set standards on how to run a presidential election and keep the progressive agenda in front of the people," he said. "And maybe tweak a candidate here and there in the major parties." The narrowmindedness of liberal pundits has squeezed out any analysis that extends much beyond an election cycle.

When Nader's campaign ends - and who's to say when that will be? - we'll still have to wait another 20-30 years to be able to assess how successful it has been.

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! - Mario Savio, Berkeley (1964)

He said his name, BoRev, and he danced a lick across the cell

2007-06-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know how you people do it - blog three, four...seven times a week. Do you have family responsibilities, jobs? How about suntans (get outside!), or insomnia (get to bed!)? I simply can't keep up. In fact, the more I desire to keep up the less capable I feel.

In the spirit of reverence toward those with whom I can't keep up, I want to introduce you to BoRev.net, subtitled, "Dispatches from the Bolivarian Revolution." It's a political blog that drips with sarcasm and wit. It is unabashedly pro-Venezuelan and takes many incisive stabs at U.S. policies in the region and the media lapdog that follows it. It'll challenge any of you who think you know what's going on in Venezuela these days.

Here you can learn how our government supports a murderous Columbian regime; how Venezuelans are more satisfied with their democracy than are Americans; and how a pro-market media tells half-truths to mislead you about Venezuela.

Since its inception less than a year ago, BoRev.net has hit its stride. In recent months this blog has averaged 70 posts per month. Jee-zus! Mr. BoRev, Mr. BoRev, dance!

Go, Dick! Go!

2007-06-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

Be sure not to miss the story that Washington wants you to ignore.

Dick Marty, a Swiss senator working under the auspices of the Council of Europe, just released his 72-page report [PDF], his second in a year [first one here: PDF], that confirms that the CIA - yes, that's our folks - ran secret prisons in Europe to detain and torture suspected terrorists, the BBC reports. The CIA program of so-called "extraordinary rendition" sweeps up suspects (often without charges, warrants, or other requirements of U.S. and international law) and shuttles them off to countries where torture is both known and expected to happen. Conveniently, this allows our government officials to distance themselves from whatever unpleasantness may occur there.

Several European countries too, the report insists, are complicit in their transport and illegal treatment.

[Romania and Poland] did host secret detention centres under a special CIA programme established by the American administration in the aftermath of 11 September 2001 to “kill, capture and detain” terrorist suspects deemed to be of “high value”.

Today also marks the beginning of a trial for 26 (suspected) American CIA operatives accused of kidnapping a Muslim imam on the streets of Milan in broad daylight 4 1/2 years ago. None of the Americans are attending the trial and the U.S. government refuses to turn them over.

The imam, Abu Omar, says he was flown to Germany and then to his native Egypt where he was tortured. He has reportedly lost "70 percent of his hearing in both ears, has a lesion on his spine and suffers depression as a result of the torture he endured."

Dick Marty wants you to know that the U.S. is writing its own rules in the "War on Terror," rules that defy it's own constitution and laws, as well as European laws and global declarations against human rights abuse. So much for all that bullshit Thomas Jefferson fed us about individual liberties and democracy. We're eating crow now.

The Old Left's new face in Congress

2007-05-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Anyone paying attention to the Democratic Party's new push for "A New Trade Policy for America?"

A couple of big shots in the party have been meeting privately with our Commander-In-Chief to hammer out an agreement that requires all future transnational trade agreements (e.g., those pending with Peru, Panama, Columbia, and South Korea) to include provisions that protect workers and the environment. (Here's a 1-pager outlining what those crazy left-wingers are pushing for). Well, it appears that Bush and Democratic leaders have tied the knot.

As the Center for American Progress (CAP) reports, the bipartisan compromise states:

Countries that sign trade agreements with the United States now must make fully enforceable commitments to respect the five basic international labor standards, as enshrined in the 1998 International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work....

These five standards, if you're not versed in ILO policies, include rights to organize and bargain collectively, and prohibitions against child labor, forced labor, and workplace discrimination. That ain't half bad, that is if you can enforce compliance, something that has dogged the ILO for years. Why should we believe anything is going to change now? The article continues:

The compromise also calls for a new Strategic Worker Assistance and Training, or SWAT, initiative to deal more effectively with the negative impact of trade on the livelihoods of some Americans and their communities. Finally, it lays down important markers on areas of national concern that are substantially affected by global trade, such as environmental protection, port security, investor rights, government procurement, and developing countries’ access to life-saving medicines.

Finally! Someone's looking after investors. Whew! Ok, so there's nothing here about protecting women's rights, traditional cultures, sexual minorities, people of color, prisoners, political prisoners, prisoners of war, the mentally ill, seniors, the un- (or under-) employed, or preventing inequities that drive illegal immigration. Hell, maybe we should just be thankful that the workers of the world are finally on the road to meaningful recognition and that environmental protection is riding shotgun. Too much too quickly is probably just asking for trouble.

Trouble is exactly what Bush and his new Democratic ~~bedfellows~~ allies are facing with this new agreement.

In the Left corner we have David Sirota at TomPaine.com. He raises concerns that the U.S. won't be held to the very standards that it's imposing on other nations, that Dems had to agree to give up a substantial degree of Congressional oversight of future trade deals in order to seal the deal with Bush. Although, Sirota notes, there's no way to know for sure because the details of the deal have been kept suspiciously shrouded. Others, notably the Teamsters and the United Steel Workers, contend that these protections still don't address what free trade agreements are so good at, sending jobs oversees.

In the right corner we have Dan Ikenson of the Cato Institute. He worries that trade agreements now on the table may fall apart, and that the inability of poorer countries to meet the stricter requirements will lead to new sanctions and tariffs that will interfere with the smooth functioning of the market. Some of those precarious trade agreements have already been signed but would require those countries to agree to the new provisions. South Korea's chief negotiator delicately put it this way:

There is no change in our government's stance that there is no renegotiation on the Korea-U.S. FTA [free trade agreement].

It seems that The Middle is compromising the Right and Left right out of the picture. With respect to the stakeholders in this deal - labor and big business - Bush and the Democratic leadership clearly decided it would be better to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

The dangers of trans-beltway organizing

2007-05-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

As Congress squares off on proposals to de-fund the war and bring the troops home, the NY Times reports that the antiwar movement is finding success by moving away from social movement strategies.

“The principle under which we’ve been operating is more like a political campaign,” Mr. Matzzie said....
The discussion at the retreat mirrored that of planning meetings for traditional political campaigns, with presentations on polling, strategy and field operations....
“The whole movement has updated themselves to be where campaign-style politics are generally,” said Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist. “They’re just incredibly savvy, tactically and politically. They know how to use the news cycle.”

Finally! Those idealistic do-gooders are beginning to wake up and realize that sit-ins, marches, and other acts of civil disobedience aren't getting them anywhere. Welcome to Washington, kids!

Wait...hang on a second. Maybe - now just bear with me for a second here - maybe its the Washington insiders who are warming up to social movement strategies?

Many of the major players in Americans Against Escalation in Iraq earned their stripes not from sit-ins, marches and other acts of civil disobedience but as Democratic operatives on Capitol Hill and in political campaigns. The sophisticated political operation they have built is a testament to how far the antiwar movement has come since the Vietnam era.

Cha-ching! But this is really nothing new. Social movements have long worked with political elites who sought to strengthen their own political capital with claims to be the voice of the people. Sociologists have argued that social movements gain political leverage when they throw their numbers and organizational weight behind one or the other political faction in a time of heightened political division (as we are seeing now, especially with election season in full swing).

It's probably more accurate to say that the antiwar movement and Democratic insiders are both taking steps toward the other. The result is a tenuous, trans-beltway coalition being pulled in two directions toward their respective fields, and we should not be surprised by disagreements over goals and tactics.

“There’s a dividing line between those groups who feel the most important thing is to be clear on bringing the troops home as soon as possible, and the groups that feel that unity within the Democratic Party is most important and the most important thing is for the Democrats to win the White House,” said Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of Code Pink, an antiwar group that is not part of the alliance. “So the groups who feel the most important thing is to win the White House would naturally be more inclined to listening to Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she says the only way we can get a vote through is if we water it down.”

Watering down issues has long been the province of large, bureaucratic organizations (like political parties) bent more on survival than achieving their stated goals. If Democratic Party survival - e.g., in the next election - remains tied to opposing the war, as it has within the last year, then we should see more trans-beltway organizing. However, as Democrats begin to stake their political territory in the presidential race we are likely to see greater divisions (more frequent, though not necessarily more pronounced) and an increasing diversity of proposals about how to best end the war. This doesn't bode well for their social movement pals.

Social movements, for their part, include a range of organizations that range from living room meetings of neighbors planning banner-hangs and mock funerals to massive non-profit organizations housed in DC making personal visits to congressional leaders. Movements aren't centrally coordinated so they are more likely to develop factions and break apart. Each organization's position vis-a-vis the political field shapes the nature and timing of its response (if any) to changes in that field. The longer the Dems drag out the antiwar debate and as the election draws nearer, social movements (and coalitions like Americans Against Escalation in Iraq) are likely to feel increasing pressures pulling them both into and out of electoral politics. The larger, bureaucratic organizations will tend to cozy up to the party while smaller, decentralized organizations will cling firmly to their strident rhetoric of ending the war immediately.

This same dynamic has led to the collapse of many a social movement, as "moderates" clamor to get inside the beltway while "radicals" are increasingly marginalized, repressed, and driven to failure. Is it inevitable? Can the antiwar coalition maintain momentum with support both inside and outside the beltway? This article by a Boston University historian about congressional opposition to the Vietnam War suggests that we've been here before and party politics, albeit "sophisticated" and "saavy," is at best a very slow process. Ten years before the end of that war, Congress was debating and passing legislation to stop funding it. So I ask you, should the antiwar movement be moving closer to electoral politics?

Leapin' Lizardos!

2007-04-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Who could argue that the U.S. is not the cultural factory for the rest of the world? Hip-hop, Hollywood, and hanging ten were all produced on these shores before being exported to the far reaches of the globe. Your average global citizen is much more likely to recognize Jerry Seinfeld than Gérald Depardieu, Madonna than Ayumi Hamasaki. And this isn't a benign exportation, this is cultural imperialism. Many critics of the U.S. have screamed that the "McDonaldization" of their societies is breaking the backbone of traditional cultures and replacing it with a global culture dominated by the richest country on Earth. Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and blue jeans - it's hard to disagree with them.

Enter Omar Lizardo. Though he's not alone, our dear friend disagrees and he recently appeared on a New York progressive radio program to talk about it. You can hear for yourself as Omar takes on the forces of anti-imperialism here (fast-forward to the 40-minute mark, just beyond halfway). I dare say, I don't think Omar supports cultural imperialism, but he does question whether or not it really is happening.

One listener responds, "I could take only about 15 minutes of listening to this guy (Lizardo) before I had to delete the...segment lest I destroy my computer in anger." Read more of that comment and the ensuing discussion here. Finally, read Omar's paper for yourself (mentioned briefly in the New York Times).

Go Omar, go Omar - it's your birthday!

Passenger 21A calling

2007-04-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

I'm writing from seat 21A on US Air flight number 2834 tonight. How cool is that? I've never blogged from an airplane before and, in fact, I've never found a free WiFi connection in an airport before. We're sitting idly at gate B3 at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport waiting for some connecting flight to send more passengers our way. Frankly, I think if they can't hire a fast enough plane to get here on time that's their problem. Let's taxi this sucker!

It occurs to me that in only twelve hours I'll be in front of 60 students again, introducing them to framing theories - not my favorite part of social movement studies. Oh how I long to be in bed at that time! Has anyone ever tried teaching a class from bed via podcast or some such newfangled technology? The thought is intriguing. Would it be possible to have a video conference with my students from the site of, say, a protest event? Could we connect from the classroom to Gloria Steinem's office for a discussion? Would John McCain discuss the view of immigration protests from Washington in real time?

Ok, we're ready to taxi! Tucson, Arizona...here I come!

Sociology from the slow lane

2007-03-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm here in Oakland, California - ok, actually I'm sitting at a coffeeshop on the edge of the UC Berkeley campus where a guy just parked his Lamborghini in front and came in. I used to drool over these things when I was eleven. I wonder what kind of gas mileage it gets?

Oakland is home to this year's meetings of the Pacific Sociological Association - "the PSAs." In contrast to the American Sociological Assocation's annual conference, the PSAs attracts more students and fewer faculty, more amateurs and fewer big shots, more teaching-oriented schools, fewer research-1 schools, more marginal, less influential research. And here I am in the thick of it.

Everyone who walks by that bright red Lamborghini ogles with unflinching awe. I wonder how much a fender-bender in that thing would cost?

Here at the PSAs, I find myself dumbstruck with one session in particular entitled "Pirate Professors, Deviant Departments, and Disappeared Programs." Straight from the conference program, here are the papers:

"Views of Education from Beyond this World" - Emails and Conversations with my Dearly Departed Mentor 'Boz'

Why we should give a shit about what Boz thinks is beyond me. Maybe if "pirate professor" could be worked into the title, then we'd have something.

"Educating Astrosociologists: The Need to Bring Outer Space Into Social Science Classrooms (the guy's affiliation, not a university, is astrosociology.com)

I certainly agree that "astrosociologists" should be better educated, but I think we disagree about exactly how that should happen.

The Denial of Educational & Employment Opportunity Due to the Discovery of Evidence Contradictory to the Axiomatic Assumption of Harmlessness of High Demand Religious Movements: A Case Study of the Normative Negation of Conflict of Interest from Australia.

How many times did you have to read that before it started to make sense?

The Fascist Trend in American Academe: "Disappearing" Sociology at Niagara University, New York

The allusion here is to the disappearances (that is, kidnapping, torture, and murder) of thousands of "objectionable" civilians throughout Latin America by fascist, right-wing dictators over the past fifty years - e.g., our old friend General Pinochet. To think that an academic department in New York has suffered the same fate is, well, slightly hard to believe. Try to imagine the sports page that broadcasts: "Patriots lynch Browns on Home Turf." Some comparisons rankle our better judgments.

Brown Balled: Exclusion of Mexican American Students in Higher Education

How the hell did this paper get stuck in this ridiculous session? My sympathies to the author.

This Lamborghini, sitting inches off the ground with doors that open up, has a handicap permit hanging in the window. This just keeps getting weirder.

Vegan New Balance shoes

2007-02-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

This post serves as a record for those who, like me, are searching for high quality vegan athletic shoes. New Balance (NB) produces several such shoes (although they may still contain glues made with animal ingredients), although this company has also been linked to overseas sweatshops. This website lists those NB shoes which are made in the U.S., and therefore are least likely to be made in sweatshops. I have indicated U.S.-made shoes in bold.

This list comes from New Balance customer service.

Running:
Men
M2001GR/BK, M1222WS/SG, M1122MC, M857ST, M1024WG, M1000SR/BG/WB, M891GY/WG/BS, M881WG, M825SO/LW, M816WN/BK, M755AW/CU, M767ST, M719WN/SB/SM/GO, M692WN/WG/SR, M660WB/GO, M643SR/SO/BK, M587NV, M498WND, M907OR, M872OR/BK, M809AT/BK/SG/BR, M606NV/BK/AT/BR
Women
W1222SP/WB, W1122MC, W1024WB, W1000WB/SP, W891WL/WG/WC/SO, W881WB, W816WB, W857ST, W825LW/SY, W767ST, W719SR/WB/SP/GB, W692WN/WP/SG, W660WT/GP, W643WT/BP/WR/WG, W587WB, W498WND, W907OR, W872OR, W809AT/GB/BR, W606WO/GB/GG/BP
Cross Trainers:
Men
MX1008W/BK, MX980WN/BK, MX716WN/BK
Women
WX1008W, WX980LB/PL, WX716WP/WG
Walking:
Men
MW843WN/BK, MW791WN/LR, MW758WG/GR, MW659WN
Women
WW843WB/BK, WW791WB/GY, WW758WB/WL, WW659WL
Tennis:
Men
CT1002W/NV, CT822W
Women
WCT1002W, WCT822W

From the lonely caverns of Academia

2007-02-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, in the nearly two weeks since David Horowitz added l'il ol' me to his list of admirable...er, abominable leftist academics I've received a flurry of congratulatory support. Friends and colleagues seem downright happy for me, and at least one is decidedly pissed that he didn't make the list. You're on my list, my friend.

Since that first day, Horowitz has exposed two more universities, Penn State and U. Pitt, to the neoconservative light of day. I was approached for interviews by the Tucson Weekly and our campus newspaper, and today I just learned that our graduate student council passed a resolution condemning Horowitz's so-called academic bill of rights. Hear, hear!

What is the best response to an attack like this? Remember, this isn't just against me or a "few bad apples," it's an explicit attempt to change the institutions of academia. If you work in academia, we're talking about you here.

My initial thought was to just stay quiet; I didn't want to fan the flames of controversy. But with the ensuing media attention, the discussions across campus, and a well financed campaign to restrict academic freedom, I've since decided that speaking out is best. But am I, a leftwing indoctrinating idealogue, the best spokesperson against this twit? Where's the chair of my department? The university president? The state Board of Regents? Where are all the academic bigshots? Whose voice are Ma and Pa America hearing out there?

Sexipedia

2007-01-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today's entry is for adults only. No kidding. But then I figure that I know all 8 of you who read this and (don't prove me wrong!) I think you're all mature enough to handle it. But be careful what you click on - you just might get it!

There are three reasons for today's post. First, I want to impress upon you how extensive and truly amazing Wikipedia is. Second, I hope to encourage a little sexual - yes, sexual - education and exploration. And third, well, I'm just curious what effect this will have on traffic volume to this website (if this is your first time here - welcome!). Let's begin.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is self-touted as the "largest reference website on the Internet," and at 1,612,758 entries and counting it's hard to argue. It is the 11th most popular site on the Web, more popular than eBay, Amazon.com, Facebook and the BBC.

I don't remember exactly how it happened, and I certainly don't want to incriminate myself unnecessarily, but a few years ago I stumbled across an entry for some bizarre sexual act that I'd never heard of, and as is characteristic of the Internet, I quickly found links to other entries on strange and wonderful sexual minutia. Some were educational, others inspirational, and many were downright funny.

In the years since I've spent many, many hours sifting through Wikipedia's non-sexual content and have learned, as you probably have too, a little bit about a helluva lot of things. Recently, though, I was reminded of this early encounter with Wikipedia, I decided to return for another look at the bluer side of things and (against the better wishes of my girlfriend) to share.

One thing I discovered is that I'm not alone. The 11th most popular entry this month at Wikipedia is sex (other notable entries: sexual intercourse is 22nd, female pornstars 24th, pornography 28th, masterbation 36th, oral sex 40th, and George W. Bush is 45th). Just ahead of World War II at number 17 you'll find the fascinating list of sex positions. Now that one's worth a look. This isn't just a handy bedside reference, but also a great place to penetrate this large and unwieldy world of Sexipedia (another good spot to begin is the Sexuality Portal). Here you will find not only diagrams but descriptions of ways to do it standing up, sitting down, kneeling, with your genitals, with your mouth, with somebody else's mouth, two penises, three anuses - it's truly astounding.

Here at Sexipedia you can learn more about sexually transmitted diseases, discover the science of sexology, or even read about sex in space! The options are overwhelming. You already know what pediphilia is, but how about emetophilia, apotemnophila, or scores of other mind-blowing paraphilias?

You don't want to be caught with your pants down when that beauty you met at the bar suggests felching and you don't know what it is. Wikipedia!

Don't embarass yourself by trumpeting your musicianship when he asks for a rusty trombone. Wikipedia!

Before you agree to snowballing with a new partner, find out what the health risks might be. Wikipedia!

Now I'll sit back and watch the traffic roll in!

Buy! Buy!

2007-01-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

For those paying attention, Hannan & Freeman's (1989) book has dropped to 65 bucks - hardback is only $90. Get it while it's available!

Hard to believe there are now five copies available when only months ago it would've cost you a few thousand.

Enter the Horowistas

2007-01-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've made the list. David McCarth... I mean, Horowitz, David Horowitz, who wrote a book naming the 101 "most dangerous" (leftist) academics, has been letting that list grow on his website. You can now find me and my course, Political Indoctrination...

Wha?

...well, we call it Collective Behavior and Social Movements. No kidding - there's a page there dedicated to me! But before you read it, some background.

Horowitz is the figurehead and driving force behind a social movement against leftwing influence in academia because it threatens to indoctrinate the malleable young minds of the next generation. The David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC), founded in 1988 by the man himself, is a self-described "battle-tank, not just a think tank," with a budget of $5.8 million. It does a lot of writing, speaking, hosting celebrity-studded events (John Ashcroft, Sen. Jon Kyl, Newt Gingrich), and pushing its "Academic Bill of Rights," a carefully worded libertarian manifesto of free speech and neutrality in education. As a 501(c)3 (non-profit) organization, DHFC cannot directly engage in political activities, so that's left to its ally, also a Horowitz brainchild, Students for Academic Freedom (SAF).

While looking over SAF's official handbook [pdf] for new chapter organizers, I couldn't help but notice some things that my students would pick up on. The first piece of advice in the section "recruiting members" takes a page right out of the classic study by Snow et al. (1980) on the topic (which we study in the class): "It is easiest to recruit members from a pool of likeminded friends or acquaintances." True, so true. And, of course, you can't very well build a movement without people to carry the pickets, but new recruits are just one of many resources you'll have to mobilize. SAF recommends "also try attending the meetings of other groups on campus and asking to make a brief presentation about the goals of SAF to see if they would be interested in joining." My students would recall McAdam's (1988) finding that new recruits are more likely to be members of other organizations or have previous activist experience. Damnit! ...there I go again, indoctrinating!

Here's a webpage dedicated to me and the danger I pose: how can you resist?

If you want to look for your friends, neighbors, or colleagues on this list, check here. Is there a SAF chapter on your campus? Go here and click "SAF Chapters." Arizona doesn't seem to have a one up and running but it does list a local representative. So I might extend him an invitation to talk to my class while we're learning about the Zapatistas and collective action frames.

His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.
Edward R. Murrow (1954)

Update: See the article in the Tucson Weekly.

Social movements and the men who love them

2007-01-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

The conference is in August, but the deadline is tomorrow. It's gonna be a loooong night. I've been here before and it's never a pretty sight. Sleep deprivation is meant to be a torture method, not a work routine.

Ever wonder why social movements don't change much? I mean, they've done the same stuff since the Jefferson administration. What gives?

Is it because they've found the best way to get what they want? Or is it because they have no other option? I've wondered this very thing and have come up with a different answer. And before tomorrow I'll have 20 pages making my case. It won't be pretty (and neither will I by that time) but it'll be adequate to meet the ASA deadline. At that time I may make it available through eBay for a reasonable price. Or here.

Putting dime stores to shame

2007-01-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm thumbing through the latest issue of Amazon.com today looking for this book I'm interested in and I encountered a dilemma.

The book is An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mahatma Gandhi. Now this guy's an important figure in my life so I'm thinking, maybe I should get a hardback? Wow - I never buy hardbacks! But wouldn't it be nice to have a classy edition of this book by such an amazing person - my hero, really (it's a shame that sounds like such an 11 year-old thing to say).

So I turned to the used books page. And the problem struck me: there are several oodles of different editions to choose from. Not only are there new and used versions, but hardback and paperback, old and recent, some with guest introductions, publisher X or Y. How's a guy supposed to pick one?

There are trade-offs, of course. New books are crisp and clean but more expensive and wasteful of our Earth's precious resources. But if I'm concerned about precious resources, maybe I should just borrow from the library or read the freakin' e-book version available there. But, alas, you can't make notes in the margins of an e-book or library book (I know, some people clearly dispel with that rule). Recent editions are likely to be in better shape and they do have that guest introduction, but again they're more expensive and maybe that introduction sucks and spoils an otherwise austere copy of Gandhiji's writing. Which publisher? I don't know! WWGD?

Here's where it got tricky for me. I stumbled across a used Houghton Mifflin paperback edition from 1983 selling for one red cent! What?! Shipping costs are 349% more than the cost of the book! Then I thought, Gandhi would probably be pleased to see this and disappointed that there's only one available at this price. It is worth noting, however, that there are currently 31 copies of this same edition under 5 bucks. How can I turn down a one-cent used book in favor of a new, fashionable, hardback version of the same book? And it's not just any book, but a book about Gandhi, Mr. LiveSimply!

What kind of an outfit sells books for one cent? There's no way this is a reputable business. Really, how can they recoup their costs? Maybe they're taking a loss on some books in order to drum up business and a good reputation while they gouge us on the equally overpriced books in their catalog. Maybe there's a demented old man at his computer somewhere, squeezed into a tiny apartment full of ragged old books. Do I trust this guy? For only one cent, does it really matter? In the comments section, my fears were assuaged: "Go with the name you can trust: Thriftbooks...".

Anyway, I went with the hardback.

Bombing the White House and other New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year Mom, sister, and the FBI agents who've googled their way to this post. Of course, when I say "bomb" I refer to that age-old practice of inundating our elected representatives with letters of encouragement, discouragement, and any other couragement that we think they should consider in their deliberations. Let's bomb the White House this year with calls to end this despicable war. Hear hear!

As long as you're here, how about a movie recommendation? Lost Boys of Sudan (2004) carried Heather and me into the new year last night (this morning) with a mixture of sadness and intense fascination. It's a documentary about two of the nearly 4,000 Sudanese boys orphaned in that country's brutal civil war (now roughly 19-20 year-olds) and eventually brought to the U.S. to find work, an education, and the perversity of a country they had long perceived was like Heaven.

The predominant theme is the incredible difficulty these guys find just getting started in this society. For the ethnomethodologist within us all it's a great study of the taken-for-granted rules of everyday life. Upon arrival they're quickly given an orientation to the local Safeway to learn of new fruits and products for personal hygiene. They're dumbfounded by insistent warnings by their hosts against same-sex public displays of affection in this country. Circled around their speakerphone, they're perplexed by the high cost of their phone service as the operator tries to explain the costs of 3-way calling and the "*69" feature.

The Christians who apparently run this program of resettlement don't hide their evangelical intentions and their attempts to help are tinged with an obvious misunderstanding of what these guys most need and want (girlfriends, jobs, an education). The boys come to question whether the difficulties they encounter here are any less than those of the refugee camps they left behind. It's as damning of the extravagance of Western society as it is enlightening about the hurdles for this remarkable refugee population. Three thumbs up!

Our life is made by the death of others*

2006-12-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

In one of the more macabre Christmas seasons in recent memory, three high profile deaths crowd the headlines. The man who, in 1968, proclaimed in song, "I'm black and I'm proud!", James Brown, died unexpectedly in the middle of a world tour. He's being eulogized today in an Augusta, GA hockey arena. If the hardest working man in show business had waited just one more day, he'd have read about the death of President Ford whose unfortunate legacy appears to hinge on pardoning his corrupt and impeached predecessor.

But the topper that pushes these two bumpkins to the back pages is of course Saddam Hussein. Read the Western press and you'll find it peppered with eurocentric depictions of a brutal man whose socialization bred "tribal loyalty" and led to "Corleone-like" family feuds (if his family is mentioned at all), who was dumbfounded to learn that Americans can legally insult their president, who built a Baghdad mosque that houses a Koran written in his blood, and who boldly criticized and belittled the American military. Its easy to avoid any misplaced compassion one might feel.

Although it may change, the reaction from the American public is at the moment not newsworthy. I suspect that when all is said and done most Americans, despite years of world class reportage (ahem), don't know much about Saddam Hussein, his country, or its culture. They just want their sons and daughters in the military to come home safely. The memory of the hanging will pass from their minds as easily as has James Brown and President Ford.

Sociological research on memory has shown that the ways we remember famous figures are shaped in part by periodic commemorations and the sometimes competing representations of them that different groups promote. James Brown will be remembered by some as a commercially successful performer and by others as an embodiment of Black Pride. Gerald Ford will inherit the prestige attendant with the presidency even as some highlight his unremarkable administration and pardoning of a crook. Saddam Hussein's memory, on the other hand, will find unity in death, at least in this country. He will be incessantly evoked in the coming years by politicians and pundits as the very Incarnation of Evil and no one will disagree.

I can't help but wonder, ten or twenty years down the road, how will George W. Bush be remembered? Standing strident amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center? Decked out in flight gear atop an aircraft carrier emblazoned with "Mission Accomplished"? Or counterpoised against images of a condemned and hanged Incarnation of Evil?

* With acknowledgments to Leonardo da Vinci.

I've been googled!

2006-12-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

One part of me feels violated, another enticed. Those wiley polititians are up to their old tricks but now they've entered the Space Age of Nano iPods and Google.

Twice in just over a month this blog has attracted the attention of political campaigners apparently in search of mentions of their campaigns in the Blogosphere. Once they locate the attractor blog they pollinate it with, of all things, a form letter.

The first letter arrived last month in the comments section of a post I wrote about Arizona's (successful!) ballot initiative that increases the space required to house pregnant pigs and calves before killing them and chopping them into meal-sized pieces. The letter writer clearly didn't read the post, but neither would I if I was buzzing from blog to blog in search of a home for my spam.*

The second came via email just yesterday in response to my most recent post about not one, but three political campaigns (I'm just asking for it, aren't I?). This time I attracted the big boys, Congress. Namely, 2004 presidential contender Representative Dennis Kucinich. And, god bless'im, he's campaigning for animals and animal rights activists.

But before you read this email from Dennis "The Progressive Menace" Kucinich (and I mean that in the most positive way), give some thought to the implications of this new political tactic. Every blog post you publish, whether it expresses your opinions, your daily activities, your loves or your hates, enters the public sphere for all to scrutinize, record, tally, and respond to for whatever good or evil they may intend. I've gone to great lengths to keep my name from junk mailers of the credit card, mail-order catalog, and magazine subscription varieties. But this blogging business opens up a whole new and virulent can of worms that is starting to worry me.

From: Veith, Catherine
To: [me]
Date: Dec 1, 2006 10:03 AM
Subject: Rep. Kucinich and the AETA
Hello Jeff,
Congressman Kucinich has asked that I pass along to you his statement regarding the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Please post as you see fit. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
~Cate Veith
Special Assistant
The Office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich
1730 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202.225.5871 office
202.225.5745 fax
Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) on the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act:
I stand with every Member of the House in defense of the rights of individuals to be free of bodily harm or injury under all and any circumstances. But, the fact of the matter is, existing Federal law already includes any place which does Federal research.
So the question is, why create a new and specific classification here?
We, of course, need to protect peoples' right to conduct their work without fear of assault. But, a larger question remains yet unanswered by this Congress: How should animals be treated humanely?
There are some specific principles with respect to humane treatment of animals but, these do not go far enough. My concern about this bill is that it does nothing to address the real issue of animal protection but, instead targets those advocating animal rights. This legislation will have a real and chilling effect on people's Constitutionally protected First Amendment rights.
I am not talking about people who would threaten anyone with death because they don't agree with them, but there are individuals who love animals, who don't want to see animals hurt, who have a point and a right to speak out. I think for that reason, this bill has not yet reached its maturity.
I understand what the sponsors of this bill are trying to do, but I don't think that they will reach the end they are hoping to achieve unless this Congress makes a clear statement about ethical principles with respect to animals and how we treat animals in research and other enterprise.
These are very serious questions that millions of Americans care about. I understand the intent here, but I think that you must be very careful about painting everyone with the broad brush of terrorism who might have a legitimate objection to research with or treatment of animals that is inhumane.
Bringing up a bill like this under procedures that only allow limited debate, and no amendments, no matter how well intentioned, is problematic.
I am not and never have been in favor of anyone using a cloak of free speech to commit violence. The Supreme Court Justice said, your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. No one has the right to yell "fire"' in a crowded theater. We have heard those kinds of admonitions.
I am not for anyone abusing their rights by damaging another person's property or person, but I am for protecting the First Amendment and not creating a special class of violations for a specific type of protest.
Balancing Constitutional concerns against the protection of people and property is never easy. Unfortunately, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act goes too far in the wrong direction.

Yeehaw! Vote for Dennis!

* A related and increasingly common tactic used more often for non-political purposes appears in this comment, also made to the pig stretching initiative post. It seems to be a desperate attempt by bloggers to increase traffic to their own blogs without having to actually strike up a real dialogue with their fellow bloggers. Does anyone else get this?

When Congress might not be the best target

2006-11-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Clearly, some policy reforms are more plausible than others. Take for example the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act," passed by the House last week and now awaiting the President's signature. You know all those animal liberationists running around releasing mink, vandalizing McDonalds restaurants, and threatening vivisectors? Well we already have laws targeting them. But...why miss a golden opportunity to shore up your political base by expanding the reach of these laws in the name of the War on Terror?

Sure, civil libertarians may quibble with the sweeping breadth of the new bill (animal rights tactics that threaten a company's profits - e.g., nonviolent civil disobedience - will be treated as terrorism), but you're not likely to find many politicians willing to risk political capital on a bill like this (silly Rep. Kucinich!).

Championing prisoners' rights - you know, the little stuff like voting or protection against rape - may not be politically expedient but these issues do seem to be becoming thinkable. 16 states have already loosened their disenfranchisement policies in the past ten years, and with 80 percent of Americans in support of restoring voting rights to former felons, surely politicians are clamoring to introduce such legislation, right? Uh-huh.

On Saturday night I attended an event artfully dubbed "Whores Not Wars." It was at once an anti-war and pro-sex worker fundraising event for Food Not Bombs and the local Sex Workers Outreach Project:

...featuring provocative live performance art, whore stories, lap dances, sexy soldiers, and anti-war, pro-whore activities...Prepare to be titillated, disturbed, outraged, pleasured, stimulated, and shocked! Bastardized military gear, pro-peace costumes encouraged!

Legalization of prostitution and the de-stigmatization of sex work are top priorities for this group of current and former sex workers. Without saying anything about the group's abysmal success at organization-building, I can say with some confidence that achieving their stated goals will be a herculean political task. It's easier to imagine prostitutes at the center of a political scandal than at the center of legislation to protect their rights.

The political process has a way of pushing minority voices to the margins...and then outlawing them. Once they're outlawed, it sometimes takes away their rights to protest, or vote. It's times like these that social insurgents might want to reevaluate the targets of our campaigns. "Rights" don't always come down from the government but sometimes have to be taken up in other spheres like the economy, education, and religion. This is not to say that change will come necessarily come more quickly there, but some issues seem more apt for political campaigns than do others.

Follow-up (11/22/2006): Animal protectionism is on the ballot in the Netherlands today and stands a damned good chance of winning. That country's Party of the Animals is widely expected to become the "first animal rights party in Europe to have its own lawmaker," as it has been polling between 130-140,000 votes (50,000 are needed to gain a seat in the legislature) [1]. It certainly is amazing how a proportional-representation system can change the possibilities.

There is nothing funny about this

2006-11-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Crime is a serious matter. It doesn't pay. No one wins. Especially not this guy.

Enlightenment as Mass Destruction*

2006-11-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

I'm told that my great grandparents, a Jewish family from Northern Europe - Germany (then Prussia) and Poland region - immigrated to the U.S. around 1900, effectively evading the Hitler's genocidal wrath before it emerged. The families they left behind were not so lucky.

Art Spiegelman's family also came from N. Europe (Poland), but not until after the war. Spiegelman was 29 in 1977 when he began interviewing his father about his experiences in the Holocaust. I just finished reading his Pulitzer Prize-winning, 2-volume comic, Maus: A Survivor's Tale (Pantheon Books, 1993) that recounts those interviews with his father. Well worth the read. It has provoked in me a morbid curiousity about my own distant relatives who didn't survive the war.

Spiegelman's father and mother were living and eventually hiding in Poland when they were captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz for the final year of the war. As the Allied troops advanced, his father was made to dismantle the massive gas chambers and crematoria amidst the Germans' hasty retreat. Through stories such as these, Spiegelman writes with remarkable detail about the constant threats on his father's life and the survival strategies that kept him out of the camps for so long as well as those that kept him alive once he could no longer avoid them. [See a sample page from the book here.]

As if to drive the point home, tonight I saw Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat, the much talked about and critically acclaimed story of a Jew-hating Kazakh journalist who traverses the U.S. provoking outrageous and unscripted reactions from anti-semitic, racist, sexist, and homophobic Americans. The anti-semitic humor ("In Kazakhstan, three main issues: economic, social, and Jew.") - made even more perverse by the fact that Cohen himself is Jewish - is both hilarious and sickening, as when the gun store clerk suggests which types of guns would be best for hunting Jews. In this film, it should be said, the "-isms," and the people who espouse them, are the ultimate butts of the joke.

Given my reading of Maus, subsequent thinking about my family's heritage, and now seeing Borat, it's been an odd and thought-provoking week. I find that I'm still coming to terms with the recency of those 11 million horrific deaths - it was only 60 years ago! In that light, the current American animosity toward Jews, gays, Muslims, and women unearthed in the film is a grim reminder that we may not have changed as much as we'd like to think. If the film reveals our discrimination, Abu Ghraib and the debate(!) about torture expose our willingness to act. If the world slips into more fighting among nations for the top spot as some social scientists predict, will we see another Holocaust? Is it realistic to think that genocide will never happen here? Have we really come so far?

* The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1944).

Now the Democrats are in. So what?

2006-11-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

It's a serious question with less than obvious answers. While journalists and pundits across the spectrum are trumpeting the election as a damning referendum against Bush and the war in Iraq, visions of what the future holds are confused, nowhere more than on the Left.

Will the Iraq War come to a grinding halt under the Democrats' watch? Tom Hayden, founder of the influential 1960's anti-war group Students for a Democratic Society and former representative in the California state legislature, insists that "the Iraq War will not end. The administration will continue the conflict into the 2008 election year." Sociologist Immanuael Wallerstein predicts "that the United States will be forced to withdraw from Iraq before the presidential election in 2008." As if to summarize, In These Times senior editor, David Sirota, warns, "For the better part of 20 years, Democratic divisions have seethed under America’s political surface...The situation is ready to explode."

In contrast to the tempest of speculation about developments in the war, there seems to be widespread agreement that, as Slate's Jacob Weisberg puts it, "free trade has definitely left the building." Protectionism is the watchword here and once again we find a divided Left. In contrast to Weisberg's dire tone, the glee is palpable in the words of Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair at Counterpunch who have their own spin on the election results:

The voters want the US out of the Iraq and they want decent jobs. Who are the Democrats who will speak to these concerns? Not Hillary Clinton. Not Joe Biden. Not Barack Obama. Maybe John Edwards, if he listens to his wife. What triumphed on Tuesday was not the Rahm Emanuel platform but something far closer to what Ralph Nader spoke for in 2000 and 2004.

We may indeed see some tangible changes in domestic policy that are being overlooked in all the anti-war noise. Ron Pollack of Families USA, a liberal heathcare advocacy group, is excited that "some issues—such as expansion of children’s health care coverage and improvements to the Medicare Part D program—will receive a tremendous boost when the new Congress convenes in January." William Greider, writing in The Nation, foresees myriad positive changes coming from the new Congress, including raising the federal minimum wage, cutting subsidies to oil companies, lowering prescription drug prices, expanding funding for higher education, and reigning in predatory lending practices.

I, myself, am more ambivalent about things to come. Will the war come to an end soon? I doubt it. Will the new Congress follow through on allegations that President Bush illegally fabricated evidence and misled in the run-up to the Iraq War? Fat chance. Should they? Of course. As others are quick to point out, many of the new Dems in Congress espouse or lean toward social conservativism, providing a whiff of that intra-party explosion that Sirota warns about. I expect Bush's lofty goals to go nowhere and the Democrats lofty hopes to give way to cautious centrism as they eye the big election in 2008. In the end, I am sorry to say that I share this dismal, pessimistic feelings of Joshua Frank at Counterpunch:

Whether or not you're feeling good about last night's results, you can rest assured that the Empire is still in tact. Impeachment of this outlaw administration isn't going to fall down within the next two years...Deaths in Iraq will continue to mount and no exit strategy will play out in the coming months. Global warming will still not be addressed. Nor will our position on Israel, the war on drugs, free trade, or privatized health care. Basically things are still damn bleak despite the liberal take over of Washington.

Halloweenies

2006-10-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is the second year in a row that we're stuck with blurry photos of our costumes. How frustrating. Nevertheless, in the name of posterity, I give you Le Petit Prince and a 50s Housewife at a Dinner Party!

* No, the cigarette's not real, but the rose is.

And here's our roommate, Marcus Capone.

Pig stretching has no place in Arizona!

2006-10-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

There's a revolution brewing in Arizona, a revolution that threatens to dismantle the very fabric of our families, communities, and our economy. And if you think it can't happen in your community, watch out. These revolutionaries are on the move!

Extreme liberal agitators have invaded Arizona's political process with a proposition that goes way too far. Now sit down before you read the language of the proposed law. You may start to wonder which planet these people come from.

A person shall not tether or confine any pig during pregnancy or any calf raised for veal, on a farm, for all or the majority of any day, in a manner that prevents such animal from:
Lying down and fully extending his or her limbs; or
Turning around freely.

That's right. They want pigs and calves to stretch out and turn around! Clearly, this must not be allowed. Fortunately, the good people with "No on 204" are waging a campaign with the kind of clarity, simplicity, and common sense that this issue deserves. Their advertisements cut right to the heart of the issue:

Why Oppose Prop 204?
1. Unnecessary. Arizona farmers and ranchers are honest/hardworking people that treat animals humanely and provide them a safe and healthy environment.

That's important. Honest/hardworking people have a right to confine their pigs/calves any way they want. In fact, it's in the best interest of those pigs/calves to face forward in the same narrow/metal cage their entire lives. Just how long do you think they would survive in the wild?

2. Foreign Meat. Prop 204 is part of a national political campaign going state-by-state to slowly break down farms and ranches in America.

Ok, this one might be a little confusing. What does "foreign meat" have to do with this state-by-state campaign of terror? What they mean to say - and right they are! - is that as soon as you get American pigs/calves turning and lying around with legs outstretched (they might as well be sipping martinis!), dirty/dark-skinned ranchers from afar are going flood our markets with cheap/foreign meat, and you won't be surprised to know that they raise dirty/dark-skinned meat too!

The state-by-state campaign is a different thing entirely, which brings us to rebuttal number three:

3. Using Arizona. Out-of-state animal rights groups brought Prop. 204 to Arizona just like they did to Florida in 2002.

Just like those rabble-rousing/liberal carpetbaggers forced their anti-slavery and civil rights ideas on Dixie, they're at it again with their wild ideas about the humane treatment of animals. Hogwash. That's the slogan of the No on 204 campaign, and it's dead on. Hogwash. The Humane Society of the U.S. and Farm Santuary, the two biggest contributors to the Prop. 204 campaign, are from Washington, DC and upstate New York, respectively. Ok, sure, our No on 204 campaign receives a major portion of its funding from two Washington, DC-based groups (American Farm Bureau Federation, National Pork Producers Council) but really, that's different. Really. Very different.

The battle over pig stretching in Arizona is not humane for agribusiness. The welfare of animals is Communist propaganda designed to put honest/hardworking corporations out of business. Join me at the polls to vote no on Prop. 204 and yes to animal cruelty.

How do I unsubscribe?

2006-10-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

[Highly controversial photo
deleted - keep reading]

Diaper Change
© Jeff A. Larson 2006

If you haven't seen my photos on Flickr, goddammit take a look. But if you're curious which of my many eye-catching photos has caught the most eyes, well, it's this one, cleverly titled "Diaper Change."

Diaper Change isn't just inching ahead in popularity of the pack of other equally (if not more) tasty eye candy in my portfolio. It has demolished the competition. In fact, this photo has logged more than 280 hits since it was posted in early August. The next nearest competitor: 17 hits.

What makes this diaper change such a special one? The answer lies in one apparently very influential Flickr fellow, Mom_jesse111. Mom_jesse111 has marked this photo as one of his "favorites." Consequently, when a person views this guy's favorites page - with no pics actually taken by him - they are treated to a fine shot of my sister, her son, and his liberated winkie.

Now, to understand the influence of Mom_jesse111 you might look first at his profile. But you'll find nothing helpful there - it's basically empty. This guy has no personal information here nor any of his own photos. What he does have is an extensive list of "favorites."

But before you click over to that influential list of favorites, which I promise will put an end to any doubts you have about the source of Diaper Change's popularity, first consider some of the Flickr "public groups" Mom_jesse111 has voluntarily joined:

Accidental Ass Crack
butt crack
spanking
Silly Pictures of People on the Potty
Hot Bunn Spankings
Spanking Fun!
Parents Spanking
Beautiful Butt

Yes, these are indeed real collections of photos from Flickr members and I leave it to you to learn what constitutes a "silly" picture of people on the potty. Now, as promised, here are the favorites of Mom_jesse111.

No really, take a look.

Now someone tell me, should I be worried about this?

Consent

2006-10-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

A video courtesy of my dad. Thanks, Dad.

Welcome to Univer City

2006-10-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

I live in a feudal kingdom. Just outside the main city walls, actually. Prince Bob who runs the place is new in town and you really never hear from the guy. He's a rarely seen figure who works in the castle, makes decisions on high, and collects taxes from us semi-annually. The aristocracy is a benevolent bunch who, once they demonstrate their merit to the Prince, are guaranteed jobs for life. The clergy and guilds are as close to the city as can be without being within its walls, and frankly I wish they were farther away.

We all work in exchange for the many amenities provided to us. Our city has it's own hospital, police department, recycling plant, and movie theater. We have all kinds of entertainment, including a pool hall, competitive sports teams, a planetarium, dining, shopping, swimming, and coffeehouses. You can ride free shuttles around town. The only thing we really lack is a fresh food market. You have to travel to the outskirts to find that. Otherwise, we have everything we need.

I have a place just outside the city walls in the Workers' Quarter, adjacent to the Main Gate. It's really prime real estate, as far as I'm concerned, because I can walk to my office in the city but escape it each night. Don't get me wrong, the city's a nice place - quiet, clean, and loaded with friendly people - but some things you just can't find inside Univer City. For example, poor people, high crime rates, and alcohol. Advertisements used to be rare here too, but times certainly are changing. Fortunately, there's plenty of these things within walking distance of the city.

If you still haven't made vacation plans this year, consider visiting Univer City. Contact our department of tourism for more information.

White kids, black cowboys

2006-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

Most striking when I arrived in Utah as a 7 year-old was the two-thirds of the state that is Mormon. We were clearly outnumbered. But we missed something even more striking. 94% of the state was white. For the next 14 years I grew up in this land of white bread, white collars, and white skin.

So you might understand why a 6-foot-9 black truck-driving cowboy stood out to a kid. Karl Malone wasn't just an all-star forward for the Utah Jazz, he was also a self-dubbed "African-American redneck." Born in northern Louisiana, not far from Arkansas where he now owns a 180-acre cattle ranch, "The Mailman" is the only black cowboy I'd ever known. Turns out, he's far from alone.

According to an eye-catching story in the Times today there are black cowboys riding the roads of Queens, NY. The story piqued my interest enough to do some digging. Once I found "the premiere black cowboys site on the Internet" I realized how much I've been missing.

Estimates of the antebellum cowboy population in the U.S. (warning: numbers of Internet origin) put African-American men at about 5,000-8,000, or roughly one quarter of all cowboys riding the trails at that time. Many learned herding, roping, and riding skills as slaves working on Southern ranches; others had been Buffalo Soldiers or Black Seminole scouts in the U.S. army who settled their own land in the south and west. There seems to be some agreement that as brutally difficult and demanding as cowboy life was, it beat slavery. They did have an impetus.

Did you know there's a Black American West Museum in Denver, a National Cowboys of Color Museum in Ft. Worth, and books and books and books on the subject? Check out this National Geographic gallery.

I even learned something about Utah. Moab, a town not known for its cowboys of color, was actually settled by two guys, one a French-Canadian and the other a black cowboy by the name of William Granstaff. Utah lore recalls these two by the nicknames given them by their neighbors, "Frenchie" and "Nigger Bill" (clever folks back then). Bill was eventually run out of town for bootlegging liquor to the Ute indians but later honored as the namesake of the canyon where he grazed his cattle - that's right: "Nigger Bill Canyon." At some point in the intervening years someone had the sense to update the name - "Negro Bill Canyon" - which is purported be a lovely little hike today.

Still, after several hours researching this (hours that I'll never get back, mind you), I'm still a bit miffed. What the hell are they doing riding horses in Queens, NY?

Your social movement is growing tiresome

2006-10-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

If you listen to people who study social movements there is little doubt about where protesters stand in relation to existing institutions:

"...contentious politics organizes on the boundaries of institutions and is never truly accepted by institutional elites." (Tarrow 1998: 67)

In fact, they all agree. Social movements are not institutionalized. Indeed, that's precisely why regular people use them:

Collective action becomes contentious when it is used by people who lack regular access to institutions...Contentious collective action is the basis of social movements...because it is the main and often the only recourse that ordinary people possess against better-equipped opponents or powerful states." (Tarrow 1998: 3)

Study after study shows social movements at their most powerful when they disrupt the daily routines of institutions, and it is when they lose their disruptive edge that they run the risk of being "absorbed and institutionalized into ordinary politics" (Tarrow 1998: 9). This is when they start acting more like an interest group, a lobby, or a political party.*

The paradox of social movements then lies in their remarkable persistence. This purportedly non-institutionalized form has hardly changed in roughly 200 years. When 19th century campaigners for parliamentary reform hit the streets they did pretty much the same things that 21st century immigration activists do: picket, demonstrate, march, boycott, petition, strike, form organizations, solicit media attention. Certainly these organized campaigns seek to influence existing institutions, but why stick with such (dare I say) antiquated techniques? Put differently, why is there "such startling homgeneity of organizational forms and practices" (DiMaggio & Powell 1991: 64)?

* It must be said that social movement scholars are guilty of a longstanding bias favoring movements oriented toward politics and the state. So when they talk about institutions they really mean the polity, and in that context social movements most certainly are marginal actors.

But how will I afford my winter chalet?!

2006-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Times is running a series this week on illegal immigration. If you want an easy intro to the many facets of this complicated debate you might want to check it out. An excerpt from today's article:

If the supply of illegal workers were cut off, wages for those low-skilled jobs presumably would have to rise enough to attract legal workers into them. If, hypothetically, wage levels rose by a third, that would either add around $1,600 to the cost of the typical house or shave half a percentage point off the builder's 12 percent average profit margin.
"If I'm buying just one home, there's not that big an impact," Chiswick [an economist at the University of Illinois, Chicago] said. "But if I'm building a lot of homes and I can save a few thousand on each one.... "
[...]
Of course, the "illegal-immigrant discount" affects different layers of society differently.
The more often you eat out, stay in hotels or get your yard trimmed, the more you benefit from the illegal-immigrant discount.
And by increasing the supply of low-skilled labor relative to high-skilled labor, illegal immigration effectively boosts the purchasing power of the better-educated, more-skilled — and richer — portion of society.

The bottom line seems to be that undocumented workers (the kinder, gentler alternative to tagging poor latino families "illegal") depress wages but have very little impact on the pricetags of our food, homes, and hotels. Although, because these small differences add up when you buy in quantity, look for the rich cats to vociferously defend the status quo to maintain profit margins and an inexpensive, if illegal, workforce.

See the whole report here:

America's Immigration Dilemma: A Special Report

If you like music

2006-09-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

If you haven't come across Pandora Internet Radio yet, it's time to check it out. Type in an artist or song name and a new station will automatically be generated that plays songs with similar musical characteristics. Later you can add more names to diversify your station. Its founder explains it this way:

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

With each new song you're able to further customize the station by giving a "thumbs up" (play more like this) or "thumbs down" (I don't like it!) to that song. It requires that you sign up for a free account where your stations with be saved. I started with Massive Attack: Pandora responds: "To start things off, we'll play a song that exemplifies the musical style of Massive Attack which features electronica roots, downtempo influences, trippy soundscapes and many other similarities identified in the music genome project." With that it began playing "Future Proof" by Massive Attack (it doesn't always start with the band you chose), followed by a pretty cool and trippy track by a band I've never heard of, Breakbeat Era: "From here on out we'll be exploring other songs and artists that have musical qualities similar to Massive Attack. This track, "Rancid Remix" by Breakbeat Era, has similar a female vocal, trippy soundscapes and many other similarities identified in the music genome project." How cool is that? It's all free with advertisements, but if you absolutely can't stand the ads it'll cost you a cool 36 bucks a year to lose those (apparently you gain nothing else with a subscription!). Enjoy.

Condie in chains

2006-09-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

Imagine the cognitive dissonance at breakfast tables across the union this morning when readers bursting with cultural capital found that People Magazine had invaded the pages of "their" New York Times:

Sometimes it has seemed that all Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice needs to do is show up in public with a man, and people start talking...The single, sophisticated American secretary of state once drew notice for wearing black stiletto knee-high boots with an above-the-knee black skirt while reviewing American troops in Germany, so she is bound to attract gossip...But it took a two-hour flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia, this week...for Ms. Rice to find herself linked to someone with similar star appeal: Peter MacKay ofCanada, the single, sophisticated foreign minister, routinely named Canada’s sexiest M.P. by The Hill Times in Ottawa, and the closest thing to eye candy on the diplomatic circuit.

Ick. Ok, I'm projecting. I felt the cognitive dissonance, not they. This story was front and center on the Times' website, and surprisingly Condie was not wearing stilettos and fishnet stockings. We'd probably have to go to the Journal for that.

Terrorism happens

2006-09-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last night in Tucson two columns of light rose from the downtown skyline, a ghostly image of the Twin Towers (borrowing from a new New York tradition). Together with the week's effusive talk on television, blogs, and in classroom discussions about the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attack, terrorism, the War on Terror, al-Qaeda, conflicts in the Middle East, and U.S. nationalism, one might be surprised to find that there is no widespread agreement about why terrorism happens.

Jeff Goodwin, an NYU sociologist of (among other things) social movements and terrorism, reviews three recent contributions to this very problem in a review essay just published in Sociological Forum. It's short, sharp, and of course saves us all the need to read these books ourselves. But, take it from me, most of what you need to know in this short article is spelled out in the conclusion:

So what, in sum, do we really know about (suicide) terrorism? Quite a lot, actually. To begin with, terrorism refers to acts of violence that are intended to kill indiscriminately ordinary civilians, and to frighten others, for political ends; it is thus quite different from guerrilla warfare, political assassination, and other strategies of insurgency that have military and political targets. Terrorism, including its suicidal variant, is typically organized by insurgent groups or networks as part of larger political and military campaigns; it is often utilized as a “last resort”—but not always. Suicide terrorism, and much nonsuicidal terrorism, is usually motivated by nationalism that has been stoked by foreign military occupations, but identities and ideologies other than nationalism have also motivated suicide terrorism, including anarchism and Islamism. Finally, protracted campaigns of terrorism, including suicide terrorism, require significant popular support. Specific populations usually support (suicide) terrorism when democratic states inflict extensive and indiscriminate violence against the members of groups with which those populations strongly identify.

Many parts of this explanation reflect concepts and theories developed by social movement (SM) scholars, raising the question of how different are social movements and terrorism? A series of interesting posts at orgtheory.net recently bears rather directly on these questions of terrorism.

Fabio Rojas asks [Q7] what makes a social movement target the state instead of someone or something else. The relevant tie-in to Goodwin's article is here:

There is a general, although by no means unanimous, consensus among social scientists that terrorism is violence targeted indiscriminately against ordinary civilians or noncombatants as opposed to soldiers, police, politicians, bureaucrats, or other agents of the state.

Defined in this way, explaining insurgents' choice of targets is part and parcel of explaining terrorism, and so suggests an affinity between these two areas of study. Fabio speculates, "One might think that it is issue related and also linked to the life cycle of the movement." Actually, the relevant "cycle" that SM scholars use to explain violent tactics is the protest cycle rather than the life cycle of a single movement (see Ruud Koopman's studies of German and American protest cycles). Goodwin's essay suggests that terrorism (particularly it's suicidal variant) comes after other strategies/tactics have failed, so we might call this support for his stage hypothesis.

The other part of Fabio's hypothesis is that violent tactics like terrorism are used for certain kinds of issues. He also asks [Qs 11 and 20] about the role of ideology in shaping protest (broadly defined) and again Goodwin is helpful. There is no easily identifiable issue or set of issues that elicit terrorism (& other violent protest), although much terrorism is stoked by nationalism enflamed by the strong intervention of a foreign government in domestic issues (oftentimes military occupation). However, as Goodwin is at pains to clarify, other issues and ideologies can also motivate terrorism:

The fact that most suicide bombings of civilians in Iraq seem to have been carried out by foreign “jihadists”—that is, non-Iraqi Islamists (Cordesman, 2005:5)—lends further credence to the view that a political and religious power struggle among Muslims, and not simply Iraqi nationalist resistance to the U.S. occupation, is the source of much of the terrorism in Iraq.

Ideology comes into play in the form of identities. That is, religion becomes a factor in conflicts when the collective identity of a religious community is activated. Presumably other ideologies, political (anarchism) and otherwise, could be mobilized in the service of terrorism, just as they are for (violent and non-violent) social movements. Goodwin explains that a "community" is likely to support terrorism when it lives under extreme political repression and economic deprivation [Q19]. This support is a necessary condition for sustaining a terrorist campaign which relies as it does on resources in the community - another similarity between SMs and terrorism.

There's little doubt in my mind that scholars of terrorism and social movements would benefit greatly from an exchange of ideas. The parallels are extensive. But are they limited? Are there really critical differences between these two phenomena that necessitate seperate theories? Or is this another case of the inefficient duplication of efforts in the face of institutional pressures to specialize?

Choosing between bad and worse

2006-09-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

An article in the latest Chronical of Higher Education ominously warns new assistant professors on the dangers of heading a dissertation committee too soon. If you are one, you might want to read this lest you risk your own track to tenure or wind up along with your advisee trapped between the strong personalities of senior committee co-members, "cower[ing] like meerkats dodging an elephant tussle."

Me, I have a committee of two seniors and a ladder-climbing assistant professor who recently climbed another rung, which happens to be 3,000 miles away, leaving me dangling from the loose clutches of the remaining two. One of those leaves for a 6 month sabbatical in January. The remaining member is widely viewed as one of the most overworked professors in our department. Incidentally, the two exiting professors are my committee co-chairs.

You are a doctoral student, selecting a dissertation adviser. Option A is a scholar who is renowned but imposing, distant, and busy. Option B is a freshly stamped Ph.D., new to the tenure track, near your age, friendly, supportive, interested in your work, and seemingly ready to devote unlimited time to helping you.

In fact, I'm not selecting a new advisor. But with one now departed from this university and another enjoying an extended stay in Japan next semester, I may be looking. So how does one choose between these two options, the busy superstar and the supportive newbie? The authors of this article unfortunately only tackle the pitfalls of Option B, the newbie, without addressing what to do about those senior faculty members who don't have the time or the emotional wherewithal to shepherd graduate students to graduation. Where am I now? In the lurch. Surveying the remainder of our faculty that hasn't been lured away by big private university salaries. And you know what? There is no Option C.

When revising papers becomes too expensive

2006-09-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

"Like riding a bicycle" is not an apt simile for running zero-truncated negative binomial regression models. It's been nearly a year since my paper using said models was rejected by a highly esteemed journal and it's now time that I get off my ass and revisit these old models. Unfortunately, the opportunity costs of revision have steadily increased in direct inverse proportion to the time that has elapsed since I last ran those zero-truncated negative binomial regression models. I now need training wheels.

Milking the classics

2006-08-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

If you were the head of a university press, notoriously known as they are for slim profit margins and small batch printing, and you learned that one of your out-of-print books has increased in value by more than 280%, would you consider reprinting it? What if you then learned that another university press has preempted your move by releasing a new and improved version of your product? Well, you'd be wise to become a used book seller.

Right now you can pick up a used copy of Hannan & Freeman's classic Organizational Ecology (1989) through Amazon for only $737.60! Not satified with just one copy? Order the second and only remaining copy for an additional $2,088.29!

Oh, and these are paperback editions. "Condition: Good."

So, does anyone out there have a copy of this that they'd care to sell? The bidding starts here (with a trivial commission for the host).

Update (9/6/06): You missed the cheap copy. The remaining copy is now up to $2,262.14. Aren't you just kicking yourself for not buying in earlier?

Heaven help us

2006-08-25T08:38:00.001-07:00

A national poll conducted this week by SurveyUSA shows that a whopping 42% of Americans (± 2.4%) believe that we're heading toward World War III! And if that isn't discouraging enough, an additional 20% assert that it's already begun. So which party do you think will run on the "Victory in III" platform?

Bowling Everywhichway

2006-08-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow our department's brownbag lecture will be given by Stanford wiz kid, UA job candidate, and Mormon missionary look-alike, Dan McFarland, and is entitled "Bowling Young" (presumably not a great-great grandchild of Brigham Young). The awkwardness of that title will not seem so awkward to those familiar with Robert Putnum's much touted book Bowling Alone, remembered for its Chicken Little cries of declining civic participation in the U.S. A cursory search of Sociological Abstracts reveals something interesting. The word "bowling" has appeared in Sociology paper titles as many times in the 6 years since the publication of Bowling Alone (in 2000) as in the 35 years preceding it. The titular gymnastics is amusing: Post-Bowling Alone

Bowling Alone, but Online Together? Virtual Communities and American Public Life (2005)
'Bowling Apart?' Four Questions on Poor-Rich Contact in Dutch Sports Clubs (2005)
No Bowling at All: Television, the Vita Inactiva, and Social Capital (2004)
Why Should We Be Bowling Alone? Results from a Belgian Survey on Civic Participation (2003)
Finding a Bowling Partner: The Role of Stakeholders in Activating Civil Society in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom (2002)
Bowling with our Imaginary Friends (2002)
Bowling Together? The Role of Political Conflict in Strengthening Community Action and Civil Society in Northern Ireland (2002)
Bowling Alone, Policing Together (2001)

Pre-Bowling Alone

Cultivating Friendship through Bowling in Shenzhen (2000)
Bowling in the Bronx: The Uncivil Interstices between Civil and Political Society (1999)
Bowling with Tocqueville: Civic Engagement and Social Capital (1999)
Developing Civil Society: Can the Workplace Replace Bowling? (1998)
Burgers, Bowling, and the Myth of Americanizing China (1998)
"Thunder Is When the Angels Are Upstairs Bowling": Narratives and Explanations at the Dinner Table (1994)
The Interdependence of Structural Levels and Performance in Bowling Teams (1970)
A Reply to Kooy's Reply: The Rules of the Bowling Game (1965)

Who knew we were so tied to our bowling?

Transgressing or reaffirming?

2006-08-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

After a week of hobnobbing and listening to fellow sociologists at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association I'm confronted once again with the diversity of perspectives found among the roughly 14,000 it claims as members. We take pride in that diversity, in fact we want more! As is evident in the conference theme, "Great Divides: Transgressing Boundaries," what pleases us most is the unity and inclusiveness we find in that diversity.

As geeky academics moved from presentation to presentation, event to event, each saw a tiny fraction of the thousands of conference attendees. We met with others specializing in our brand of sociology who, depending on how finely you want to draw those distinctions, may number fewer than ten or as many as several hundred. Like people outside the discipline we are drawn to likeminded others and prone to dismiss or even overlook those who differ. Black sociologists talk with other black sociologists; gay sociologists with other gays; women with women; men with men; marxists with marxists; liberals with liberals. With so many boundaries implicitly drawn between us, how unified and inclusive can we really claim to be?

Sometimes the boundaries between sociologists are brought into stark relief, as is visible in this post (and subsequent comments) that uses mockery and derision to suggest what counts as good sociology. Here you'll find sociologists resistant to the incursion of animals in sociological analyses as well as a more general angst about the blurring of science and politics (the latter also clearly expressed in the ongoing brouhaha over "public sociology").

Sometimes those boundaries escape our attention. One of the most provocative speakers I heard at the conference was Indiana's Tom Gieryn whose twenty-plus year search for the social boundaries of Science has recently led him away from the question of why boundaries change to asking why they don't. He contrasted two buildings: one, a drab, box-like federal building in which a judge heard arguments for and against the inclusion of Intelligent Design in the science curriculum, and the other, Stanford University's Bio-X research facility whose avant-garde design embodies an ethic of collaboration and openness with its open laboratory space and walls on wheels. Gieryn's elegant contrast between the fixed architecture of the courtroom and the fluid design of Bio-X showed, ironically, that the social boundaries of Science are most structured (in the sociological sense) precisely where they are most taken-for-granted.

Meetings such as this highlight the shared vision and experiences of professional sociologists and reestablish our solidarity in a common enterprise. But they also reaffirm the divisions among us. Are we content to praise this as an effective "division of labor?" Or, should we be concerned that we are reproducing the familiar inequalities we study?

My first 500 page book in years

2006-08-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

For fun this summer I picked up Sophie's World, a 1991 book by Oslo native and former high school philosophy teacher Jostein Gaardner. I finished it tonight after a couple-day marathon session to reach the end. It pulled me in. Subtitled A Novel About the History of Philosophy, it's a fictional account of a 15 year-old girl, Sophie, who begins receiving mysterious packets in the mail containing philosophy lessons. Cloaked in mystery, this private philosophy course takes her from prehistoric myths through Greece, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and Existentialism and little Sophie is in no uncertain terms blown away - quite unlike any college student I've so far taught - by what she learns. Gaardner playfully toys with his readers and his characters by introducing fantasy and magic with little guidance to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy. At heart Sophie's World paints an colorful picture of Western thought with broad strokes and language even a 15 year-old can understand. If you've studied philosophy and already know what Aquinas, Augustine, Spinoza, Hume, and Kierkegaard said, then don't bother. This is really for those of us who've never had a philosophy course and who may know a little about some of these folks but nothing about the "big picture." The back story - that is, the parts that aren't exegeses of Western philosophy - is slow until the mid-point, and the writing in those parts could be better. On the whole, though, it's a great book to cruise through if, like me, you feel guilty reading throwaway novels that teach you nothing. Now I'm ready for the grown-up version that Heather has been simultaneously reading, The Passion of the Western Mind.

My photos

2006-07-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

There's a new link there to the right. And there's new stuff to see.

Leaving Seattle

2006-07-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

You've been waiting with baited breath, I know. Well I'm home. Actually, I think both readers of this blog already know this. If it's news to you, by all means leave a comment so I can feel good that you care. We're trying to build a loving community here, so feel free to express yourself. This is a safe space.

No, I didn't accomplish enough in Seattle, but I did come away with 22 interviews and a better idea of the scope of this undertaking. There are way more activist organizations out there than I'd expected (call me naive, but where do you expect me to begin?). It remains to be seen how I'm going to learn about all of them. Most likely I'll have to select a random sample and do some phone interviews, internet searches, and I'll consider making a return trip up there. Consequently, graduation will have to wait until 2008.

Some broad patterns are already apparent. Environmentalism and peace activism have dominated Seattle activism since 1999, at least in terms of organizational density. The religious community has an oblique presence in the field, playing more of a supporting role than an activist one. Organizations here use surprisingly few confrontational tactics. Instead they choose one of two general models and stick to them, lobbying and targeting decisionmakers ("interest group politics") or protesting and emphasizing public outreach and education ("grassroots activism"). Why in the world would anyone choose one model over the other?

But, methodological questions at the moment far exceed theoretical ones.

What's not to enjoy?

2006-07-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

I graduated from college in Bellingham, Washington, and my sister lives there now. My friends who didn't move to Seattle still live there, and this weekend I visited two of them. Do you enjoy, as I do, introducing new girlfriends to old friends? It's a way to connect my present to my past, my best friend to my history. They don't always establish a profound union, but like a hint to a riddle, they are a little closer to understanding me. What's not to enjoy about that?

We strolled this waterfront trail 3 miles out of downtown and bussed back.

When hanging out with 7 year-old boys, video games are bound to appear eventually. This is me with old friend Jason - musician, carpenter, tattoo artist, father - and Bela the Playstation II afficionado.

Turns out this is an easy way to get a beaming smile out of Ben. What's not to enjoy?

As of today...

2006-07-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Nine interviews down, five in the works. Two-and-a-half weeks to go. Poco a poco.

Hiking the N. Cascades

2006-07-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

I love it here.

Hey Mom, I got the grant!

2006-07-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know the occassional discouragement I've felt with my dissertation research. Well today good news came. In an odd twist of fate, just as the flags and fireworks start appearing across the countryside, and my cynicism and disgust toward our government peak, that selfsame government announced today that it will send $7,500 for my research! Hot dog! You'll remember that in January the National Science Foundation rejected my request for a grant. So, I regrouped, revised, and remailed that request. Eight months later I'm revelling in sweet victory.

Is this what momentum feels like?

2006-06-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Two interviews in the bag and six lined up. I wonder if I could reach 20 in the next four weeks? We're heading for Vancouver, BC for the weekend. Every worker deserves a weekend. Update: Make that three interviews in the bag!

Update from the field

2006-06-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

How do you find every social movement organization in town? It's not easy. There is no easy-to-find list of activist organizations. No comprehensive directories, no one-stop shopping. Many aren't even registered with the IRS, as many non-profits are. They're either too small, too ephemeral, or too disorganized to bother. People who study social movements often look for these organizations in newspapers, because as we all know protest events make for sensational reading. So, that's where I decided to start. Bad idea. Five weeks later and $1,300 spent on research assistants I had a database of roughly 170 protest events that occurred in Seattle between 1999 and 2005 and 185 organizations that took part in them. That's not a comprehensive list of social movement organizations but a rough approximation of which organizations are out there. Well, many of them aren't really involved in a social movement (they're either lobbying groups or social service providers) or they're not based in Seattle after all. In the past month I've learned that the internet is much more helpful than those newspapers ever would be. Directories, incomplete as they may be, do exist. Activist calendars churn out organization names, and organizations like to link to their coalition partners. To my surprise, snowball sampling can be quite successfully accomplished online. Once I find these organizations I have to figure out if they're really part of a social movement (as I define it quite narrowly) and only then can I call them to try to set up an interview. The upshot of all this? After a month I have a list of nearly 500 organizations and only one stinkin' interview on tape. I have a couple more lined up and a world of guilt and disillusionment holding me back. In the coming week I hope to get in touch with a whole buncha organizations to see if I can pin them down quickly. Time is running out for me here in the Northwest. How many interviews can I complete before July 25th when I leave for Tucson? Not enough. I'm may need more than antacids to get through this dissertation. It looks like I'll need more time. Damnit.

What Ph.D. college students really have to fear

2006-05-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

Duh, it's the job market!

March of the sanguine

2006-05-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today the Zapatistas marched on the Mexican capitol. Three weeks ago 3,000 police descended on San Salvador Atenco, a small town 15 miles northeast of Mexico City. The Chicago Tribune reports, "The riots erupted after local police tried to remove eight flower vendors from an Atenco street. The town's land-rights activists came to the vendors' defense, blocking roads. Then clashes broke out with the police, one of whom was kicked and beaten bloody while cameramen in helicopters broadcast live images to the nation. Other wounded officers were held hostage." The events in Atenco sent 200 to jail, sparked accusations of rape by police, and left one 14 year-old boy dead. (Read the incredible and moving account of a Chilean student who was beaten, arrested, molested and deported.) Rumors are circulating the internet that the event began when flower venders resisted eviction from the local market to make way for a Walmart. In the weeks since the attack, protests have been organized in Mexico and around the world (including Tucson) at local Mexican consulates and WalMart stores. Zapatista spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos, who was wrapping up a six-month tour of Mexico timed to coincide with the presidential campaign season, vowed to remain in the capitol until all detainees from the conflict were freed. The entire incident has thrust him and the Zapatista's anti-neoliberal "Other Campaign" into the electoral spotlight, which he uses to roundly criticize all three candidates as "mediocre." The march today is a wise use by the Zapatistas of a political opportuntity. The impending elections, international attention generated by the Atenco disaster, and subsequent protests have forced divisions among political elites and make repression a costly option for the government. Don't forget, the Zapatistas are capitalizing on six months of careful and laborious mobilization. Expect their ranks to swell in the short-term and the speeches of candidates to re-frame the Zapatista "threat" to their respective advantages. International support for the movement has helped sustain it in the past and it's a damned shame we don't see more of it in this country. In solidarity...

Tear-gassing Santa

2006-05-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

If you've never been to a protest event, you might imagine that they rage with passionate indignation and political righteousness. Or, maybe you have an image of firey protest drawn from top-stories and front-pages full of color, impassioned speeches, and swarms of people as far as the eye can see. It would be understandable then if you've accepted the false assumption that protest is always powerful and inspiring. Well, typically it's not. It's often none of these things. Of course it can be passionate and fun and awesome and empowering! That's when it works. Unfortunately, though, these are a tiny fraction of all protest events. More often, protest is small, low-key, disappointing and dull. I appreciate creative protest. Humor. Fun. This is one thing that many activists - and almost all sociologists who study activism - overlook. Political organizers could and should take a page or two from Hollywood or Madison Ave. (the major political parties certainly have!). It's no secret that social movements must craft public images for themselves just as much as any shoe or auto company. What makes this difficult is that the competition is continually trying to spoil our image (just as we try to spoil theirs). In the spirit of creative protest I want to share a great little piece written by Seattle activist Kirsten Anderberg who publicly airs her creativity at Eat the State, a self-described "forum for anti-authoritarian political opinion, research and humor." I think it's worth quoting at length:

A funny thing happened in Seattle after Bush declared war on Iraq. Martial law was begun in Seattle streets. Even though peaceful protesters had obtained a permit to protest the war at the Federal Building, and these protesters have a good track record for peace, police flanked the crowd with snipers, riot police, machine guns, and billy clubs the size of baseball bats. Riot police followed the protesters' every move downtown, standing in rows, pounding their billy clubs anxiously in their palms, badges and nametags hidden. These Robocops refused to talk or interact with peaceful protesters, and instead enjoyed intimidating them for their political views for days on end, relentlessly...I have started rethinking my peace protest tactics.... Why not come dressed as Santa Claus to protests? Santa Claus has padding and it is bad for police to be seen on the news beating and arresting Santa. Nuns and priests are not easy for police to beat either...What if kids bought those clown props that are endless scarves? So police search them and endless scarves keep coming out of their pockets. Or maybe keep a pair of gigantic underwear or a rubber chicken from Archie McPhee's in your pocket. Or how about something sticky or gooey in your pocket? We must get creative now, and make street theater out of scary police psychodrama for our own sanity.... I challenge the peace community to find creative yet responsive street theater alternatives to put the spotlight on what the police are doing to peaceful protesters. Let's dance around them like clowns. Let's make them arrest Santa. Let's coordinate ourselves into football teams in the streets...Don't give up. Don't give up your free speech that easily. Instead be more creative. Let's make it a good show and fun for all!

She's got some great ideas here and I couldn't agree more. Let's make it a good show!

Me & Ben

2006-05-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

The kid's growing...

...and pooping.

The view from Seattle

2006-05-19T23:01:00.001-07:00

I made it to Seattle! West Seattle, to be precise. The first five days were (I'm told) the most gorgeously sunny and warm that the city has seen this year, and people kept asking me if I was adapting to the heat (mid-80s). I was carrying a sweater. I'm absolutely loving the city, the water, the greenness, the bustle, and of course my old friends (Ian, Jenn, and Robert, so far - more to come!). In a couple days I'll be visiting with my sister, father, and step-ma in good ol' Bellingham, my old college town. For now though I'm trying to buckle down and do what I came here to do - work. It's tough, but more on the work and the toughness later. If you want to send me a postcard, send it here. I'm living in the basement of a great big house that houses a so-far-fantastic family of four. It sits atop a hill overlooking Puget Sound - even the basement has a view of the water! Looking down the street I can see the blue, blue water and the two Bainbridge Is. ferries shuttling people and cars back and forth throughout the day - the limits of my camera don't do it justice. Heather and Maxine (the pooch) are driving up at the end of the month, despite the foul price of gas. She'll be spending her time studying for the GRE and coveting the variety of shoes available here in the big city. Max, for her part, will be chumming around with the resident poodle of the house, and I hope they'll both help keep me on task. When we're not working, studying, or chumming, we'll be sipping margaritas by the pool. Honestly, we're more likely to spend our time chugging coffee on the shores of Alki Beach, which is a 10 minute walk down the street. It's a popular place for families and joggers, I've noticed, and it's full of seafood restaurants, which do me no good at all. Can you can see the Space Needle peeking out in the distance? The angle of this shot is a little deceiving. The Needle is actually a good swim past the northern tip of W. Seattle which you're looking at here. If you go around that tip to the east side of W. Seattle you get a better view of the city - like this (Space Needle to the left): You could take that "water taxi" there to downtown for three bucks. I haven't done that yet, but believe me I will. Despite all appearances here W. Seattle is not an island. In fact, it's closer to a penninsula. To give you a better sense of it, the picture above was taken from here. Since arriving, the Sociology department at the University of Washington has generously given me an office to share with another graduate student. Because it's a 1 1/2-hour busride away, I haven't yet spent much time there...but I will. This is Savory Hall, home of the Sociology department: And this is my little corner of the world: I've spent the past few days settling in, catching up with friends, and trying to find contact information for the organizations I'll be interviewing. Of course that's easy to do from any coffeeshop with wi-fi and there are lots of 'em here. In the coming days I'm going to look into other sources - besides newspapers - for names of social movement organizations (police records and IRS rosters) and then I'll start making phone calls. Poco a poco - bit by bit.

To the barricades!

2006-05-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Immigrants catch a ride to the fence moments before crossing into Arizona.

The headlines today are ringing with G.W.'s call for more American troops to head south to the border. An army of humanitarian groups and human rights activists rushes south to provide aid, and private militias follow with camoflage gear and guns to fill the gaps left by the government. Meanwhile, coming north, an estimated half-million people annually from Mexico to Brazil successfully evade this politico-military frontline. One journalist described the absurdity of the situation:

The desert suddenly seemed like an M.C. Escher drawing, with successive layers of groups watching each other - the Border Patrol, the ACLU, the Samaritans, the Minutemen, the journalists, and, at the center, the immigrants.

Sending thousands of members of the National Guard south to play backup to the Border Patrol is but one part - albeit a central one - of the U.S. government's attempt to stem the tide of immigration (conservatives, by the way, aren't hiding their disappointment with the President's plans). Other parts of the proposal include various versions of a temporary work visa program, some of which allow workers to later apply for residency and others that require that they return home for a year. Some lawmakers loathe the idea. Others support imposing fines on those already in the country when they apply for these visas, increasing penalties for illegal immigrants and their employers, introducing manditory jail time for those caught, streamlining (aka reducing) judicial review, and upping the use of military surveillance equipment along the border.

" I want a wall like this to keep those Mexicans out."

All eyes are on the southern border. While politicians in the U.S. keep their minds on internal economic and military policies, some are looking elsewhere.

The current flows of immigration into the United States are a result of the actions of the US government and US-based corporations...These flows are...due to US military intervention, direct foreign investment by US corporations, and the presence of people from those countries already residing in the United States.

Unfortunately, these much stated claims from the Left ring hollow when not followed by alternative proposals to those now being debated in Congress. The strength of the Left's critique, however, lies in its recognition that immigration doesn't need to be reformed, trade policies do. Sadly, the major political parties, for all intents and purposes, agree over U.S. trade policies and thus leave this important part of the debate untouched. Conservatives alone appear to fill this gap. For the Left, is this a missed opportunity or simply a pragmatic necessity? Why has the Global Justice Movement, for one, been so quiet on this front? Stephen Steinberg, a Berkeley sociologist is insistant:

Progressives have to ask themselves how they can rail against neoliberal trade policy, and fall into silence when it comes to a neoliberal immigration policy that is designed to crowd labor markets, depress wages, and undercut unions, and that exacerbates the problems of African Americans and other marginal groups, including immigrants themselves.

Guest worker programs won't solve the problem of illegal immigration, nor will they prevent the exploitation of foreign workers or the declining wages of American citizens. What this country needs, if I may sound a progressive tone, is a more equitable distribution of wealth and power on both sides of the border. The immigration debate as it now stands is too narrow, too politically cautious, and is illustrative of the perversities of institutionalized politics. Call out the troops, but not those troops. Mobilize the masses. Organize, organize, organize!

To the field!

2006-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

Next week I'll be in the thick of data collection in Seattle, WA, beginning to interview representatives of all of the social movement organizations I can find. I have a preliminary list of organizations culled from The Seattle Times, but I'll also be looking into IRS lists, police records, and asking the interviewees themselves to finger additional organizations. It's going to be a long, hard road but my self-imposed off-ramp comes on July 25th when Heather and I return to Tucson. I'll post more here in the coming months about this research and hope to inspire comments and critical suggestions from you, my vast, silent audience. In the meantime, you can skim my dissertation proposal for a description of the project.

No oil for blood

2006-04-30T01:46:00.000-07:00

President Bush has joined the conservative chorus saying that restricting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has cost the U.S. more than 1 million barrels of oil a day. Clearly, Clinton and his legions of mealy-minded environmental protectionists are to blame for this year's unwieldy gas prices. Dean Baker's (Center for Economic and Policy Research) response is worth reading:

A few simple facts indicate otherwise. First, there is a world market for oil. What matters in determining the price of oil is how much oil is supplied in the world, not how much is supplied in the United States. If we were getting an additional 1 million barrels of oil a day, then its impact would be the same on prices in the United States whether the oil comes from Alaska or anywhere else...Iraq’s average oil output is approximately 1 million barrels a day less than it was before the war. In other words, the Iraq war has reduced world oil supplies by approximately the same amount that drilling in the refuge might have increased it.

Score one for the economists.

For better or worse

2006-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Therein lies the truth

2006-04-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sarah Hepola, freelance writer/blogger, contributes this nugget of truth in today's Slate:

One morning last month, I woke early, finished a book I'd been reading, and shut down my blog. I had kept the blog for nearly five years, using it as a repository for personal anecdotes, travelogues, and the occasional flight of fiction—all of which I hoped, eventually, might lead to a novel. And then, somewhere between the bedsheets and 6 a.m., I realized something: Blogging wasn't helping me write; it was keeping me from it. [keep reading...]

A tale of two deadlines

2006-04-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

No. 1 - In late 2004 Omar and I had an idea for a paper we would write together. Last fall we began work on said paper (affectionately known as "the Che paper"), and in January we mailed it off to the American Sociological Association for an upcoming conference. Tonight, I will give it one more pass (and a conclusion) before submitting it tomorrow to our very own department of Sociology best-graduate-student-paper competition. We do love to compete in this business. Do I think this is the best graduate student paper? God no. But I'm hoping the rest of you won't submit anything. No. 2 - Another competition that I hope few others enter is for the Hauser Center predissertation grant. This one's due in their Boston offices by next Wednesday. They're offering $3-5,000 for folks like to to study non-profit organizations and/or civil society. My dissertation just happens to be about non-profit social movement organizations in what political scientists like to call civil society. By god, I could use that money! Wish me luck.

Daddy needs a new pair of shoes

2006-04-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

A year ago, I wrote in these pages of a rare reply I'd received from the namesake of John Fluevog Boots & Shoes Ltd., makers of deliciously stylish but devilishly evil leather shoes (note my avowed commitment to animal liberation). Mr. Fluevog said I'd touched a chord with my request that he enter the 21st century and design some cruelty-free shoes. In my mind I declared sweet victory. Ahh...

Today, via my pal Elaine, I've learned that victory is indeed sweet. The new line of "Veggie Vogs" has recently been released. From the company's website:

This year we decided to grow something for
the un-leather style-mongers. We planted a couple of our classic Angel styles, added some TLC and grew the uppers out of a hemp-cotton blend. We insisted on using a memory foam insole for comfort (and to make up for any loss of memory). We also used recycled nylon lining, 100% natural gum rubber soles, and water-based biodegradable adhesive to develop the animal-friendly, super stylin’ VEGGIEVOGS.

If social movements are going to have an effect on the economy, we need to engage it. Please share this news with your animal-friendly, super stylin' veggie friends.

Not just another protest

2006-04-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Most protest marches go unnoticed. But after hundreds of high school students staged walkouts across Arizona this week, parents, polititians, and school administrators reacted with alarm. The Tucson Unified School District tried to diffuse the situation:

We're asking kids, "instead of a walkout, let's talk it out"...Try and give them the opportunity to express what's going on, but also want them to understand what's the best way to make this happen in a school setting. [1]

Students, however, did not walkout to gain the ear of the school board. Together with hundreds of thousands of protestors around the country they hope to influence policy debates now underway in Congress over immigration reform. Social movements have been trying to influence political decision-makers for over two hundred years - these walkouts are nothing new. Disruption, as sociologists have long known, is one of the principle sources of power for social movements. While we ignore thousands of marches and rallies reported in the press every year, we sit up and take notice when protestors shut down the meetings of the WTO, public transportation employees go on strike, or black students sit-in at segregated lunch counters. Disruption resonates in Congress. If students agreed to sit down and talk with school administrators, we would not be seeing an avalanche of press coverage and public debate about immigration reform. Arizona governor Janet Napoletano would not have held a press conference to say:

I appreciate your civic involvement, and you're learning a little bit about civics, but you need to do it on your own time, not on your class time, you need to be in school. [2]

Of course, with her own cozy pulpit in the policy arena why should she encourage students to force their way in? Sure, if students wait until after school to protest they will "learn a little bit about civics," but their political clout will virtually disappear. Incidentally, the release of a new HBO film about a 1968 high school student walkout is remarkably timely. The film, Walkout, tells the true story of Chicano students in East L.A. who coordinated 3 successive citywide student walkouts that attracted enormous attention as well as hundreds of riot police who chased, clubbed, tackled and arrested these kids. Check out this film and tell me that the similarities with current events are not absolutely uncanny.

He's got my cheeks

2006-03-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is my nephew, as yet to be named. He's the first baby in my immediate family since, well, since his mother, my younger sister, was born during the oil crisis. Needless to say, we're all giggly and argumentative about which one of us he looks most like. Joanna, the mother in this story, started a baby blog full of pregnancy photos, starting with the ultrasound. I hope she'll keep updating it now that the kid's on the outside. Welcome to the family, chiquito. Update: Benjamin Marinus Kakebeeke, congratulations you adorable thing you. And to you too, Marco and Joanna.

Looking for your beachfront condo?

2006-03-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

You never saw it coming, but the next Cancun is going to be in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. That's about 4 hours southwest of Tucson on the eastern edge of the Sea of Cortés, and consequently it is crawling with Arizonans. Heather and I were there for the first weekend of Spring Break 2006. If you're looking for an "authentic" Mexican experience (it's only authentic if our stereotyped expectations are met, of course), you won't find it in Puerto Peñasco, aka "Rocky Point." It's well on its way to Cancun's sprawling resort-like complex of highrise condominiums and tacky poolside cabana bars. The students from my school love it. It turns out, Puerto Peñasco isn't the only place getting an overhaul in the name of American tourism. The marinas, ports, and resort towns around Baja California and western Mexico are slated for major development to draw you and me and our greenbacks into the Mexican economy (it needs all the help it can get). The project, La Escalera Nautica (Nautical Ladder), is named for its succession of nautical stops that climb the coastline (apparently renamed the Sea of Cortés Project more recently). With their eyes on the filthy rich Americans with big yachts just to the north, the project's designers seek to create a string of stopovers separated by about a day's sailing distance, and of course exploit as much of their natural environment as possible in the name of economic expansion. If you're looking to invest, I hear they're still a few hundred million short. Heather and I stayed in the top floor of this deluxe beachside condominium thanks to our dear friend Lisa and the speculative eye of her mother who owns a place there.

Look closely and you'll see Heather on the balcony up there.

There were six of us there for the weekend, including Heather's old pal Sande and her beau Museem (hey, how do you spell your name?). From this vantagepoint we could see the bathing beauties and some dolphins just off-shore. The beaches were dotted with gringos and a constant stream of local merchants hawking hats, sunglasses, kites, toys, and even pottery. Despite the Spring Break bikinis and bare skin, it was remarkably chilly and breezy. I left my bikini in the room. And here we have the future of Mexican tourism!!!

(Clockwise) Me, Heather, Lisa, Sandee, Museem, Heather Too

Thanks to the group for the good times. Spring Break 2007? Haiti!

I'm with Abdelwahab!

2006-03-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Drek's recent post about a couple of offensive video games raises interesting questions for me about the possibility of moral limits on the claims made by social movements. With respect to a game called Kaboom! The Suicide Bombing Game, Drek writes:

[D]o I think that we should protest it...? Absolutely...The thing is, while I think we should feel free to criticize these games, we shouldn't go any further than that.

Going farther, in this case, means censorship, and here we find an implicit but clear reference to the Great Cartoon Controversy of 2006. This, I take it, signals Drek's agreement with that portion of the globe that considers free speech a virtue. It also signals, I think, his agreement that organized protest the likes of which have rocked the Muslim world are in order. Social movements are the progeny of liberal democracy, a product of the very countries that forged this new form of politics (England, U.S., France). Movements are expressions of "the people," of popular sovereignty, and are a challenge to an elite-led politics of kings, presidents, and parties. They offer an entry point into national decision-making for anyone who can muster a group and a banner. This is democracy at work. But there is an interesting quandary for a democratic institution like the social movement. What do we do when protest calls for curbs on free speech, advocates exclusion, or denies other liberal democratic virtues? Indeed, our very own country (a bastion of free speech, right?) has a long history of anti-democratic social movements, from the nativist movements of the nineteenth century to the anti-immigration Minutemen of today. Should we support women's organizations that call for boycotts of offensive products and their producers? Should we support Muslim organizations that demand recognition and an apology from the Danish government?

But Jeff! Wait. They're not just asking for an apology. They've raised a social movement against our right of free speech! For democracy to survive - indeed, for social movements to survive - we must respect and preserve a few fundamental principles of democracy. Muslims may have a right to protest, but I'm not about to join their narrow-minded movement. We must defend the virtues of democracy!

We could, however, join the movement against a racist or Western ethnocentrism, no? In other words, this need not be a democracy-versus-Islamic fundamentalism debate. Consider the the following:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, who was quick to condemn the burning of Danish flags and urge Muslim leaders to do the same [did someone say free speech? -jeff]...refused to condemn the cartoons...[O]ne does not have to respect the beliefs of extremists...in order to defend their rights to express them. "We despise [these beliefs]. What we respect is [the] right to be despicable." Rasmussen could have said publicly that what the Jylland-Posten [the Danish newspaper] did was despicable, while defending its right to be despicable. He did not do that....

This comes from a recent column in Al Jazeera by Abdelwahab El-Affendi entitled, Democratic Solutions for Cartoons. Rather than taking a reactionary, defensive, indeed conservative posture, as so many Westerners are wont to do, he frames the controversy as "a question of respect for other people." In his mind, the Danish Prime Minister and the European governments that have enthusiastically thrown their support behind him, have side-stepped the offensiveness of the cartoons by defending, rather than castigating, the publisher. What?! Castigate the publisher, in a free society? Lest we slip into that false belief that our beloved representatives don't regularly chide the media:

The president criticized the media for reporting on the NSA surveillance as well as the officials who "improperly" provided the information. "As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk," he said. (Washington Post, 12/18/05)

Rather than restrictions on speech, El-Affendi is asking for what amounts to more nuanced diplomacy on the part of Western governments in a very hostile, very real, climate of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments. What signs do our governments give that they are aware of and concerned about this often racist climate? I see little. We can't very well censor the social movement that calls for censorship if we give a damn about democratic principles. But neither should we sit idly by while vigilantes along the Arizona border hijack the debate over immigration, or when the defenders of democracy turn a cold eye on their own xenophobia.

It is in the interest of Muslims not to make calls for restrictions on free speech as their main demand. Muslims should identify more with democratic principles and, in fact, call for even more free speech. Muslims, especially minorities living in Europe, are likely to be the first victims of new restrictions on freedom. They should, instead, make use of democracy to build coalitions which would isolate the hate mongers and extremists and cause them to be condemned by all. In calling for more, not less, freedom of expression, they should also try to reach a consensus on using that freedom in a more responsible and constructive manner. (Abdelwahab El-Affendi, 2/27/06)

And we should join them.

Where?

2006-03-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Just having a little [temporary] fun with the titles of these posts. Who hasn't, in their more juvenile moments, added the words "in bed" to the end of a fortune from a fortune cookie? C'mon, now, it's just plain fun.

It's a sad day

2006-02-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

My computer yesterday had an unfortuante mishap with a glass of orange juice. While I don't think I lost any irretrievable information, I may have lost my laptop. Any tips or earned wisdom would be appreciated. The ambiance of this university computer lab pales in comparison to the coffeeshops and offices that my laptop once graced.

Interview: Peter Bearman

2006-02-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

In The New Yorker magazine. ...and Kieran's review of Bearman's Doormen (Chicago University Press 2005).

The Prejudice Map

2006-02-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

The map,* made by a German techie with an apparently insatiable interest in all things Google, was generated by compiling scores of Google searches (e.g., "Germans are known for*"). It's a little suspect, I think, when you consider that Kenyans are known for "metaphors" and the Black Sea for "using weapons." * You've gotta click on this guy's fourth definition of prejudice to access the map.

Challengers and dominant players in the U.S. political field

2006-02-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

"[T]he choice of the moment and sites of battle is left to the initiative of the challengers, who break the silence...and call into question the unproblemeatic, taken-for-granted world of the dominant groups."

Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL): "Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the House's attention a transaction that is being contemplated on five of our major ports, five important ports of entry in the United States...[I]t has always been well known and documented that a number of the terrorist activity planning and financing was taking place in these very countries that would now have control of our ports." (Congressional Record, Feb. 16, 2006) Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC): "In regards to selling American ports to the United Arab Emirates, not just NO — but HELL NO." (in a letter to the president; quoted in Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2006) Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY): "Approving this contract in the dark of night and ignoring all of the many questions asked about this takeover is an affront to anybody who cares about our nation's security." (Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 22, 2006)

"Those in dominant positions operate essentially defensive strategies, designed to perpetuate the status quo...since they are on top and clearly deserve to be there; excellence therefore consists in being what one is, with reserve and understatement, urbanely hinting at the immensity of one's means...The dominant are drawn towards silence, discretion and secrecy, and their orthodox discourse, which is only ever wrung from them by the need to rectify the heresies of the newcomers, is never more than the explicit affirmation of self-evident principles which go without saying and would go better unsaid."

The Morning Call Online: "The president's decision to hold an impromptu question-and-answer session...was an unusual departure for a president who likes to appear far above the fray of Capitol Hill politics." (The Morning Call, Feb. 22, 2006) George W. Bush: "[L]ook, I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction. But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue and looked at it carefully." (Comments to reporters, Feb. 21, 2006). "This deal wouldn't go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America." (quoted at CNN.com, Feb. 23, 2006) Scott McClelland, White House Press Secretary: "First of all, there is a congressionally mandated review process...that oversees such transactions. And you have some 12 departments and agencies that are involved and thoroughly reviewing such transactions and closely scrutinizing such transactions to make sure that it meets all national security concerns, to make sure that there is no national security threat." (Press briefing, Feb. 22, 2006) Condoleezza Rice: "The UAE is a good partner in the war on terrorism...It has been a stalwart partner. And we believe that this is a deal, a port deal, that serves the interests of the United States, serves our security interests and serves the commercial interest as well." (Salon, Feb. 23, 2006) Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "The President's leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short." (MSNBC, Feb. 24, 2006)

"[Challengers] have to resort to subversive strategies which will eventually bring them...[economic] profits only if they succeed in overturning the hierarchy of the field without disturbing the principles on which the field is based...The strategy of beating the dominant groups at their own game by demanding that they respect the fundamental law of the field, a denial of the 'economy', can only work if it manifests exemplary sincerity in its own denial."

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN): "There can't be a choice between profits and protecting the American people...We have to do what it takes to protect America. When in doubt, if it costs us a little more money, well, that's the price of freedom." (Fox News Sunday, Feb. 19, 2006) Bruce Bartlett, former exec. dir. of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress: "Mr. Bartlett...sees Mr. Bush as a 'pretend conservative' — 'a partisan Republican, anxious to improve the fortunes of his party' but 'perfectly willing to jettison conservative principles at a moment's notice to achieve that goal.' He writes that the current White House is 'obsessive about secrecy'...." (New York Times, Feb. 21, 2006) CNN report: "President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates...The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser...Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors...Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX/. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars...President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations." (Lou Dobbs Tonight, Feb. 22, 2006) Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ): "We should really test the resolve of the president on this one because what we're really doing is securing the safety of our people." (Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2006)

* All quotes not otherwise attributed come from Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (1993), pp. 84-85.

Attn: Internet Explorer users

2006-02-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

I'm still working out the kinks in this site. At the moment it works best with Mozilla Firefox. Give me a few days and I'll figure this out. Update: I think I've fixed the major problems, but please let me know if things still look wonky in your browser. Unfortunately, IE doesn't allow me to hold the sidebar in place when the rest of the text scrolls. Trust me, it looks much better in Firefox, a free browser that you have no excuse not to be using.

If my vagina could talk...

2006-02-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Who knew a two hour play about women and their vaginas could be so hilarious and, at the same time, challenging? More than that, it was inspiring.

"...hilarious and challenging...inspiring!"

Jeff Larson, Thyme Magazine

"If your vagina could talk, and it could say two words, what would it say?" Slow down. The first two words that came to my head were,"Oh, no," and I don't know if that answers your question Or if that's what my vagina would say, like, "oh, no." Ice pack. Feed me. Eeh! Use me. "Eat me" comes to mind. Stop thinking so much and have a good time. Where's Tom? What do you want? Want some. Yes! Need some. More. Open for business. How you doing? Slow down.

And so goes one fast-paced monologue. This is a play enacted by women around the world each year in a remarkable attempt to create communities of women by talking publicly about this very private thing that all women have in common. The vagina plays a very central and very real role in this play, but its power comes from the depth of its metaphorical value. It is woman. If we are not supposed to talk about the vagina, it is part and parcel of a reluctance - or refusal - to talk about what is important to women. If we think of vaginas as dirty, smelly, bloody, vile - then we think the same about women.

I remember when I was, after I'd started my period, spending a summer trying to figure out how to put a tampon in. And I remember sort of squatting over a mirror, for days and days and days trying to find the way in. Stop shoving things up me! Stop shoving and stop cleaning it up. My vagina doesn't need to be cleaned up.

The Vagina Monologues was staged on my campus by a student feminist group andhad all the trappings of amateur social activism: low budget sets, hand-made signs, information tables full of leaflets, banners, hordes of screaming young people. It is also a benefit, as it always is, to support organizations working to end violence against women, including domestic violence shelters and rape crisis helplines. Mind-blowing statistics and stories about widescale, systematic rapes abound. One monologue has the audience screaming with laughter, the next holding back tears.

The play, delivered in monologues adapted from more than 200 real interviews with real women, jumps from experience to experience and woman to woman like Annie Sprinkle. There was the 72 year-old woman who had never seen her vagina or experienced an orgasm, who fantasized about Burt Reynolds. The Bosnian girl, veteran of a rape camp, who recounted with breathtaking detail a rape by six soldiers with bottles, sticks, and a broom. The hilariously bitter description of a gynocological visit that clearly resonated with every woman in the audience. The event was unifying. Inspring. Challening.

Go see it.

The great makeover

2006-02-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

Well this is a radically different look for this blog, ain't it? I've been messing around with it for a few days, teaching myself how to code style sheets, to work within the blogger.com architecture, and trying to come up with something a little classier and more unique. What do you think? What does it have to do with dried sage? Who knows? Who cares. I liked the photo. It's fun to do and is a "great" distraction from work. Please let me know if you see major problems with the site in your browser. I didn't have a chance to check browsers other than Firefox. Update: I've changed the colors and spacing of the text, fixed the commenting feature, and lightened the background to make everything more readable. As always, your feedback continues to be helpful.

I'd like to get Rumsfeld on the field

2006-02-12T18:10:00.001-07:00

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm at the coffeeshop with my laptop, surrounded by enough other laptops to rival the Central Intelligence Agency. On that note, can you imagine the power we could wield if we just coordinated our own networks of intelligence? Like the CIA, we could keep records of who knows whom, where people spend their time, what they spend their money on, what kinds of music and clothes they like, and on and on. But, the hitch is, we'd be watching them - the politicians, corporate leaders, Donald Rumsfeld. When it came time to kick the bums out, we could surrepticiously leak to the press that Rummy and Cheney meet every Thursday at the Watergate Hotel, dress in women's clothes, and engage in illicit acts of carnal desire, always against the driving beat of Purple Haze. Who says studying social networks is boring? To demonstrate the breadth of my attention and interests, I also think about softball. Because we're a team full of sociologists, we call ourselves the Red Socs ("soc" is short for sociology). It's cute, but it gives the impression that we can't spell. So it's the third game of the season and here I am at shortstop:

(click to enlarge any photo)

That's the position that good players are supposed to play, but I'm there instead. This next shot gives you a sense of what is going on in my head while I'm batting. It is not - repeat, not - what actually happened. As my dear father has often commented, I'm a pinko more than a red, hence the distinctive uniform. Today the Red Socs lost by a comfortable margin - something like 15-1. We were all thrilled that we faired so much better than last week.

Cows, mothers, and US

2006-02-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine studying in Buenos Aires this semester writes that she's going to visit the city's famous central square, the Plaza de Mayo. May is the month of Argentina's independence from Spain - May 1810, when Spain fell to Napolean's European land-grab. It's a giant park surrounded by the national bank, city hall, and the president's office. In Argentina, they passed on a White House and went with pink - la Casa Rosada (and from the balcony..."Don't cry for me Argentina!") - because "the original paint used contained cow blood to prevent damage from humidity" [1]. It seems there's no independence for cows in Argentina. The Plaza de Mayo is also the site of what may be the single longest running protest event in social movement history. Since 1977 - thirty years ago - the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo have walked in the Plaza with signs, white headscarves, and photographs of their children who were abducted by Argentina's seven-year military regime (1976-1983) - we can thank President Jorge Rafael Videla for that. Why were these people abducted? Just the usual: they were leftist intellectuals and artists, union organizers and students, perceived as a threat to the right-wing regime ("Communists!"). If you can't earn the support of your contituents any other way, kill them. In Paraguay, around the same time, 35,000 people were abducted, tortured, and/or killed by that government (that's General Alfredo Stroessner). In Argentina, estimates range from 9,000 to 30,000 killed. Chile's General Pinochet is on trial for similar crimes committed during his seventeen-year rule. So imagine these mothers, obviously died-in-the-wool Communists, marching on the president's office demanding to know what happened to their children. At the beginning, some of them were also "disappeared." Just last year the body of one of the organization's founding mothers was found and reburied (with full honors this time) in the Plaza de Mayo. What did the U.S. do when all of this was going on? That our government knew about the "secret" disappearances is no secret. Our very own elected representatives, under the auspicies of fighting terrorism ("Communists!"), were helping to coordinate intelligence gathering between South American governments - their very own regional Homeland Security, if you will. It made communications technologies available to these military (remember, non-democratic) governments from it's - I mean, our - military bases in Panama. The plaza of independence, la Plaza de Mayo, where mothers and cows come together in the pursuit of justice, and to fend off humidity.

[need random title generator]

2006-02-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here it is Saturday (probably is where you are, too) and I'm plugged into the office control panel - that is, my chair, laptop, and headphones. Have you ever listened to Yo La Tengo? Fantastic band that's even fantasticker live when you can better appreciate their improvisational artistry. Hats off to fellow sociology amateur Seth Wright who yesterday met sociology bigwig Randall Collins at the bar while wearing a homemade t-shirt with Professor Collins' face and the letters "W.W.R.D.?" In terms of getting the attention of the big hitters, this is pulling out the stops, with humor. Well done, Seth.

W.W.G.D.?

2006-01-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched, again, the 1982 film Gandhi. As perhaps the most recognizable social movement icon ever, you may be surprised to find so many parallels between Mohandas K. Gandhi and me. That's right, me.

Let's start with the obvious: we're both men with strong vegetarian convictions. We're attracted to Indian women but fighting temptation. Our fathers held socially prominant positions (his a local political leader, mine a nuclear engineer) and we are more educated than 99% of the world's population (he as a lawyer, me as a sociologist).

Gandhi and I both highly value minimal living - that is, not taking more than we need - when others are less priviledged. We agree on the virtues of democracy and the necessity of resisting unjust authority. Like Gandhi, I believe non-violent resistance can overcome violent oppression. We both take loving our fellow humans - friends and enemies alike - as a moral imperative that should not be sacrificed in our struggles against oppression. When others do not receive an equitable share of bread, water, dignity, or respect, we believe we have a moral duty to rectify that. We also share the belief that personal actions - such as the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the words we choose - can be important means for rectifying these injustices.

I could go on.

Sure, you could find differences if you look hard enough - we have vastly different senses of style, he's Indian and I'm American, he's a Hindu and I'm an atheist - but this would be nit-picking, wouldn't it? As Gandhi saw Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Christians as brothers under the same god, I see us all as passengers on the same great, yellow submarine.

I've got to admit, I admire Gandhi more than anyone, ever. He oozed humility, breathed compassion, and never stopped challenging himself to live up to his ideals. He made idealism a possibility - his had concrete effects on the world around him.

I'll also admit that on every organic, union-made, logo-less t-shirt I wear I have written, what would Gandhi do?

Denied

2006-01-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

The National Science Foundation turned down my grant proposal, thus leaving me in that well-traveled lurch. The thought of going into debt to fund my own dissertation research is, well, nausiating.

Chiricahua Mtns.

2006-01-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

Heather celebrated her 32nd birthday last weekend (all weekend, as she is wont to do) and in grand fashion she wisked Maxine and me away to the mountains she'd not seen since she was a child. The Chiricahuas are famous around here for two things: the national monument enveloping the Heart of Rocks area, and the last stand of the Chiricahua Apaches, led by Geronimo. We steered clear of the monument - a magnet for sightseers and motorhomes - and found our own campsite on the south side. After a slow first evening settling in to our campsite, a toasty fire, and good conversation, we hit the trails on day two. Heather transcended her usual slow rhythms and worked up a sweat (and eventually some sore muscles) on our uphill hike. It's not often that one is struck by lush green valleys in this area. A dirt road bisects these mountains and offers sweeping views of the cliffs and valleys south of the monument. Mental note: Maxine hates dirt roads. Before heading back to Tucson we had to check out the monument, so we drove the spotless, paved road that goes all the way to the top. The Heart of Rocks is reminiscent of the rock formations in southern Utah - tall spires, rounded by wind and rain. This is a truly spectacular sight and I swear I'll be back to explore it on foot. At the top... Although it looks like a telescope, this gizmo is more akin to a paper towel tube with crosshairs at the end. As it spins around and rests in the depressions you can look to the text beneath it for descriptions of what you are supposed to see in your crosshairs. See how marvelous! What I'll remember most about this trip is the 6" thick foam sleeping pad we borrowed from Heather's dad. It was more comfortable than my bed. Did I mention it was in the 70s during the day and couldn't have been below 45 at night?

U.S. gov't. to the rescue!

2006-01-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Although it played second fiddle to the earthquake in Pakistan last fall, the hurricane that bombarded Central America was absolutely devastating. In Guatemala, my recent C. American vacation resort country, entire villages were buried by mud and rockslides later to be declared mass graves. In that country alone:

it is believed that nearly 700 people were killed. Basic infrastructures and water supplies were severed, schools and homes destroyed, and roads and bridges that allow rural farmers access to central markets were entirely wiped out. (hurricaneaction.org)

Obviously shocked by the tragedy, President Bush announced three weeks later that the US government would not sit idly by. It would plead with rich folks here to donate money to help the affected countries. Today, President Bush announced (three months later) the launching of a new website where Americans of all stripes can kick in a few bucks.* I like to remind myself that if I have a few bucks to go out to eat, see a movie, or buy a beer, then I've got enough to share with those who don't: hurricaneaction.org * Its a shame that the Central Americans affected weren't wealthy corporate magnates - our government's propensity to offer corporate relief is much greater.

Che Guevara never had a blog

2006-01-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

He's been called the new Che Guevara, figurehead of the world's first postmodern social movement, dashing, articulate, and charasmatic - and all this from behind a ski mask. He rose to international prominance when his poorly armed indigenous army took control of several towns in bloody battles across the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Since then he has more resembled a writer, philosopher (which he is presumed to be by the Mexican gov't.), humorist, organizer, and elegant spokesperson for the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional - the Zapatistas. Now, Subcomandante Marcos (AKA Subdelegate Zero) has his own blog. The struggle continues...

El año nuevo

2006-01-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 2006, the year that fully automated dog-walking machines will be sold widely and hover technology will replace SUVs as the status marker of choice. The future is now.

Is it worth it?

2005-12-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm tempted to phase out this blogging business from my e-life. To get people to read a blog you have to run an entertainment service, a news feed, or the slower equivalent of a chat room for friends. I'm not interested in any of these. My original idea was to post things related to my research - an explicitly sociological blog - in the hopes that people with similar interests would comment, discuss, challenge, and encourage. No such luck. Most of you now reading this are probably in my family and are here to read updates of my life without having to respond to me. I'll admit, it's convenient for that. I liked having a space for my Guatemala posts last summer. But frankly, it's too much work. Take a look at my freshly redesigned website and compare it to the older version (if you can remember it). I'm in the mood to streamline. Simplify. And be pragmatic. The new site is a little more professional (e.g., no references to porn, scooters, or The Cure) and has fewer links to sift through to find what you want (you do want something, don't you?). I think I like the new look. This week I finally did a little exploring of MySpace.com, a bloated network of mini-websites, full of single people seeking love and artists seeking recognition. I can see the appeal for some. It's remarkably similar to blogging, as a matter of fact (and each mini-site can have it's own blog, by the way) - but, like the Web in general, the ratio of crap to good stuff is about 10:1. In my own way I contributed to that crap with a site of my own. Since this contribution of crap runs against my streamlining strategy, it's not likely to stick around long. But maybe, if you've never seen MySpace.com, you'll be inspired to get a site of your own - it's free! The photo below was taken on a recent trip to Bisbee, AZ with Heather and Mom. We stayed in a bed & breakfast with theme rooms. This is Heather in a photo named after our room there:

Return to Paradise

Scanning the headlines

2005-12-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

From our distant perch

2005-11-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

Here it is, fresh data from the Gallup Poll showing opposition to that abominable war in Iraq has reached an all time high: Showing a remarkable amount of confidence in the selfsame government that brought us this war, the American public simultaneously send it this resounding message: "take as much time as you need!" With a firm mandate like this to end the war when it's convenient and a little bipartisan nudging from Congress sending basically the same message, expect an extended stay for U.S. freedom fighters in Iraq until at least 2008. * Find a compendium of heart-warming war statistics here.

The Many Lives of Che (pt. II)

2005-11-10T15:50:00.001-07:00

In a previous post I raised the questions what does the image of Che Guevara mean and has the commodification of this icon depoliticized him? Ten months later I have some data, and now Omar and I are working out our ideas in a paper about collective memory. The data come from a national survey of adults in Spain in 1991 and 1993. Among the battery of questions, is one that asks respondents to name two famous Latin American figures. The most common responses include revolutionary Simon Bolivar, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and far and away the most frequently mentioned figure, Che's old boss, Fidel Castro. Che also easily broke the top ten. The question that interests us, and one that we think can provide insights into the two questions driving this research, is who remembers Che? Karl Mannheim long ago hypothesized that generations of people are defined by their shared experience - and memory - of major political and social events (and, by extension, people) that occurred as they came of age (ages 18-25 in his mind). When applied to the Che question, we should expect that those most likely to recall Che came of age in the Sixties when he held national posts in the Cuban government and was killed in Bolivia. That period also marks his most visible years in the international press. The figure below shows the number of mentions of his name in the New York Times since 1955. The peak (1968) coincides with the year following his widely publicized death. In our data, however, the pattern looks much different. The figure below shows respondents' years of birth and the likelihood that they mention Che Guevara. We do find a strong generational effect - i.e., age does matter - but not in the way Mannheim expected. Turns out that the baby boomers of the Sixties are significantly less likely to recall Che than their children. So this is the puzzle for our research: why are younger generations more likely to remember Che than their parents and grandparents? It might be that the commodification of Che has indeed depoliticized him. The young remember him because his image has reached a much wider audience who know little about his politics but avidly buy his t-shirts, posters, and key chains. Or, maybe the t-shirt industry isn't so powerful as to erase Che's politics from memory and social movements have successfully sustained him as a political symbol. If the latter is true, we ought to find evidence that those who remember Che are somehow more political or otherwise affected by social movements than those who don't. If not, perhaps he has become an empty t-shirt with all the political potency of Fruit of the Loom. So...what's your prediction?

That was last week

2005-11-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I got my first resounding rejection from a major journal. Two of the three discouraging reviews emitted vile, vituperative venom the likes of this:

"...borders on the rediculous." "...an absolutely ridiculous and misleading claim...The notion...is laughable." "...since I am unpersuaded...the analysis of the data is moot." "...go back to the drawing board."

For those who would judge me, bear in mind that my co-author (and author of most of the claims criticized above) is a widely published professor at a large Southwestern university. Needless to say, the reviews were a slap in the face more than an inspiration to revise, so now I'm struggling to piece together the fragmented bits of my ego and get to work on that paper again. This week I learned that I won another small grant for my dissertation - $800 dollarinis. It's chump change for some, but it's just what a fragmented ego needs. And, together with the $500 our department gives each of us I can now hire some student help in the data collection effort. Que bueno!

Tonight I watched TV

2005-10-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

Channel 1 ...not scheduled to complete deployment to theater until the first of next calendar year, receiving 824 new production Up-Armor Humvees while there remains an immediate need in theater for these vehicles for both the Army and the Marine Corps? Channel 2 ...and I'm afraid of fish. I had to stay underwater for fifteen hours...in a mermaid fin! That couldn't have been comfortable! It wasn't, Jay! I was with sharks! Did I mention that I'm afraid of sharks? Well, that's not just any fish...I mean...when a giant fish is coming at you with jaws going like this...I think that's normal to be afraid!" (laughs) Channel 1 ...I understand the Marines have an Up-Armor Humvee requirement of 2,814 but only have 744 of these vehicles on hand in Iraq -- just over 25 percent of their requirement. I also understand that the Army has fulfilled its theater requirement for Up-Armor Humvees, yet the 3rd ID... Channel 3 Hey! Sorry I kept you waiting so long. Hey that’s okay. So, where do you want to go? Oh ah, I think you know where I want to go. The Hard Rock Café? Yeah! Again?! (Laughs) Yeah! ...I’m telling you, I like the food! (Laughs) You like the Purple Rain display! Hey Bob... Channel 1 ...persistent surveillance solutions, we must maintain a high priority on fielding the Up-Armor Humvee to protect our warfighters. We need to better understand why the Army has a policy that does not appear to be meeting the objective in the timeliest possible manner. Welcome, Secretary Harvey, General Cody. Thank you for being here today. Chairman Hunter and members of the committee: General Cody, General Speakes, and I are here today to discuss the Army's efforts to provide the Marines..." Channel 2 ...when the movie comes out. It was fantastic working with him - what a sexy guy! Don't you agree? (applause) Oh, oh...I've got to tell you what happened the first day on the set in my trailer. Channel 1 Let me reiterate, there is nothing more important than protecting the service men and women we send daily into harms way. The Army is totally committed to providing the highest level of protection, to include fielding a fleet of Level I Humvees in theater, and we... Channel 3 Because he’s terrible! Okay, he’s slow, he burns things, last night he lit my pastry chef on fire! (Laughs) Well maybe he was just nervous, y’know you can be very intimidating. And besides I’ve met your pastry chef and she can stand to be taken down a peg or two. (Laughs) Well, now she has no eyebrows, mission accomplished. (Laughs) But Monica, he loves his job so much! Can you just give him another chance? Please? All right, but if-if he lights someone else on fire he is out of there!

Guillotines and grad school grief

2005-09-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

The sun has set on the Social Sciences Building. After a slow arc across the afternoon sky - a guillotine yawning wide - it's crashed down with dizzying speed. I'm losing time, again, but I'm not giving up.

Yes, metaphors of guillotines come to mind when deadlines loom - fear of a post-deadline Reign of Terror chopping the heads of a thousand of wasted moments. I'm trying to finish a grant proposal by next Monday, and am I worried? Let's say my neck is tingling. In the meantime, I'm getting a lot of much needed organization done and odds and ends straightened out. (I want to acknowledge the apropos comments of Jeremy who has his own deadline. Obviously, blogging is another pre-deadline distraction.)

I'm not spending all of my time procrastinating. Much of my time is spent staring earnestly into this little screen trying to craft the just-right sentence or phrase before moving on to the next. It's a slow affair. What I need is a guillotine dangling over me, reflecting the blood of earlier victims and the immediacy of my predicament. Frankly, I find it difficult to imagine how anyone gets work done without a guillotine around. I should have one right here on my desk - head-sized - but I fear that inevitable awkward moment when my students drop in on my office hours. Why not keep it in the drawer? Not as immediate that way, is it? In fact, I have had guillotines many times before and they just ended up in a drawer, filed away between the color-coordinated stationary and alphabetized recipes. No, it's important to see your guillotine, to feel it, to have to face it, every day, every minute.

As I'm thinking about beheadings, I'm reminded of another great mind who lost his head - Maximilien Robespierre, his words remarkably prescient today:

"Terror is only justice that is prompt, severe, and inflexible."

While you were working, I wrote this blog

2005-09-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to be teaching a familiar class again - Social Movements - that occupies only half of my working hours. Having every other day off to attempt some dissertation work is really something special. So am I spinning golden threads of dissertation into the wee hours of every morning? God no. That would mean that I have good work habits, and I intend to dispel that myth right here for the sake of other self-abusing graduate students who think they're alone (I'm not alone, am I?). Between teaching, preparing for teaching, grading, responding to e-mails, feeding myself, keeping my house clean, spending quality time with my girlfriend, updating my blog, walking my dog...you get the picture...I have an amazingly small amount of time for the dissertation! When I do sit down for the expressed purpose of doing that work, I find the majority of that time is spent in deep thought, not deep production. Deep thought, I'm afraid, just doesn't produce the emotional and professional rewards that I covet. So what is to be done. Which of my other activities is going to get cut for the sake of my sociological praxis? Maybe I'll get rid of e-mail - it can sometimes take a good hour out of my day. But...despite the megabytes of absolute crap that I receive weekly, my students, family, friends, and bosses rely on it to exchange social capital that promises to bring me productivity and success at some point in the future. Maybe I'll drop the blog. But...if you'll notice how often it actually gets updated, this one really isn't much of a time drain. How about cleaning the house? I could stand a little more filth, but could my roommate? I could give up dog walks, but then I'd have megapiles of crap around the house, and that's just not acceptable. Or, maybe I should just come to terms with my current practice of stressful, sickness-inducing all-nighters on the eve of every dissertation deadline. It's worked in the past, so why fix what ain't broke?

And on to D.C.

2005-08-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Northeastern Maryland, from my view, is a vast expanse of horse ranches and deciduous trees - fields and forests. Judy and Larry, aunt and uncle, live in that far corner of the state, walking distance from both Delaware and Pennsylvania. Much of the local land was owned by William DuPont - a name that should ring a bell with anyone even slightly aware of the New England aristocracy. The lands that he preserved for hunting and killing foxes is now state-protected park land for the enjoyment of equestrians and conservationists. We spent an afternoon walking the riverbanks of this property, tip-toeing around poison ivy, spying a 19th century one-room school house, and spotting the distinctively east coast flora and fauna. [Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ] Two days and a trip to Baltimore later, I was taken by my old college pal Eric to Washington, DC where I now rest after a long night of drinking and catching up. Eric lives in a narrow little rowhouse in central DC only walking distance from The Black Cat, a club where we paid twelve bucks to see a little known indie band named Rainer Maria. The band paled in comparison to our fascinating conversation about Latin American politics and the Neoconservative fascism of Washington, and both were a mere shadow in light of the fantastic late-night Ethiopian meal we stumbled upon on our way back to Eric's house. In that restaurant we found good conversation with the owner (and aquaintance of Eric's) and the best vegan munchies I've had at 2am in years. What, you may ask, am I still doing up at this hour? Honestly, I have no idea. Good night.

Philadelphia from the 6th floor

2005-08-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

Ben Franklin is buried next door. Betsy Ross's house is around the corner. The U.S. mint and the Liberty Bell are spitting distance from here. It's almost enough to make me want to buy an embossed copper postcard of Independence Hall, located just down the street. The Boss, Bruce Springstein, sang about this place but I don't recall any references to these definitive landmarks. Day 2 of this year's meetings of the American Sociological Association is winding down with four underpaid graduate students squeezed into two undersized beds in the Holiday Inn "Historic District" (it's cozy and a great way to get to know someone in a hurry). I left downtown for the first time today just long enough to see my pal Richard's old high school, bus stop, and neighborhood. The colonial trimmings I saw along the way are an odd sight in this 21st century city - a throwback to the wealth, handiwork, and idealism of a bygone time. Once again I am a tourist, but this time I'm the one marveling at the riches of others - it's an expensive place, I'm finding. With no research in hand this year, I find myself looking ahead to next year and a year's worth of dissertation research to talk up. I can't help but to try to conceptually place myself and my ideas somewhere in the inch-thick convention program guide, teeming as it is with esoteric academic specializations. There is no perfect fit - perhaps as it should be - indicative of the professional and theoretical work that awaits me. In the slower moments of some presentations I'm left to wonder, maybe I should give it all up for a life of democratic idealism and a small printing press to produce Founding Fathers trading cards?

My first time

2005-07-24T01:06:00.000-07:00

My muscles ache, my hand is blistered, and I smell like a locker room. Two and a half hours of floor hockey - my first time ever in the rink - took the piss right out of me. First times are invariably humbling. Thank god, I wasn't the only beginner (Paola joined me)...but close enough. Everyone else could run, walk, and slapshot past, around, and all over me. My team did manage a couple of points, but our overworked goalie watched a half dozen rubber balls whiz right him. These players were good - I have Canadian envy. I'm also amidst another first time, this time teaching social research methods. It's a grueling schedule of reading, prepping, and teaching that begins at 8am, moves to the classroom from 3-4:45 every day, and then weighs on me the rest of the night. Hockey is a great escape, and I'm thankful for that. During the week it's reliability, validity, nominal and ordinal variables, surveys and experiments, qualitative, quantitative, and comparative research. It's enough to test the patience of even the most dedicated scholar. But for a one-month job, it ain't bad. I'm my own boss and it regularly gets me to bed before midnight. In two and a half weeks the class ends and I have another trip planned, and it'll be my first time in Philadelphia. And while I'm not a cheese steak kind of guy, I do look forward to seeing the other side of Pennsylvania. I'm traveling under the auspicies of professional duties (Sociology conference), but a few days with Uncle Larry and Aunt Judy in Maryland and a few more with my old college friend Eric in DC, and I think this qualifies as a gen-u-wine vacation. The conference will be my first at which I am not presenting my own work - I'll be the spectator, amateur sociologist, and schmoozer. Like all first times, I'm sure it will be humbling.

Back to work

2005-07-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

Heather stood on the north side of the Interamerican Highway and I on the south, each of us waiting for buses going to opposite sides of Guatemala. Three chicken buses later I was in Antigua, again, while Heather, with our camera and four weeks to go, made her way back to Xela. Antigua is hardly a respite from the oppressive tourism of Lake Átitlan, but it is generally wealthier and in many ways more peaceful. I passed a day and a half with last-minute souvenier shopping, reading, and a couple of dollar movies (Hotel Rwanda and Kinsey). Then, last Thursday, I caught a taxi to the airport in Guatemala City and was back in Tucson in a few hours. Here I sit in my 4th-floor office in the Social Sciences Building marveling at the more than 1,000 photos Heather and I collected over the past two months (can you imagine what it would cost to develop these?!). She's still down south snapping away, so that number is still growing. Readjusting to life at home has been remarkably easy, and I can already feel the bad habits kicking in - sleeping in, wasting time on the computer, drinking. But because I begin teaching tomorrow I'm going to have to reign in my slothfulness. Some familiarities of home haven't escaped my attention. I can flush toilet paper without concern for the plumbing. Water is continuous. Hot water is bountiful. I don't have to buy drinking water. My kitchen is fully stocked. Air conditioning. Insulation. Healthy dogs. Unarmed security guards. No pickpockets. One-quarter the murders. One-sixth the poverty. Ten-times the per capita income. And there are other luxuries too. My own bed. A fast computer. My dog and my friends. Good vegetarian restaurants. Several changes of clothes. And I speak the language pretty well here. These things shouldn't be taken for granted! It feels good to be home.

Guatemala: July 4

2005-07-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Two weeks of Spanish lessons later I´m still a bumbling gringo who mangles the language with verve. I´ve been at a different language school this time around with a different maestra for each of the past two weeks. One was a 20 year-old psychology student who dreams of following her friends who´ve already snuck into the U.S. (very common here). The other was a 40 year-old, hardened veteran of the Xela language schools who insisted that I stop mangling the basics before moving onto the tougher stuff. It helped. Heather and I decided to take it easy for a while in Xela - she´s nearly always battling an unfriendly stomach - and stick to studying, cooking, and sleeping. At the end of last week we packed our bags and headed to the famous lake here, Lago de Átitlan. It´s an enormous mountain lake that formed in the crater of an ancient volcanic eruption, and has been shaped by the three volcanoes that have arisen on its banks. It is ringed by small pueblos, each having its own character - one known for marijuana, another for yoga and meditation, another for gringos shopping, and a few of them for the traditions of their non-tourist cultures. The area is absolutely overrun with travelers. I hate it. The land is spectacular - deep green forests, steep mountainside farms, towering volcanoes, and the blue water - but being inundated by vendors selling textiles and trinkets when we walk, turn, sit, sneeze, or eat is a bit more than I´d expected. I´ve learned that tourism is Guatemala´s largest "legitimate" industry (in the formal economy), surpassing the influential agricultural exports that I´ve been learning about for a year. [Photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7] This region around the lake was one of many particularly hard hit by the 36-year civil war that officially ended in 1996. A UN-sponsored Truth Commission report released in 1999 indicated that some 200,000 people died in this war. Almost all were indigenous people killed by the military or closely-aligned para-military groups - the commission calls it genocide. Today in Santiago Átitlan, on the lake´s southern shores, we went into a church with a memorial commemorating an American-born priest killed by the military, ten other civilians murdered while working on their farms, as well as hundreds more who died or were disappeared during the war. Everyone with whom I´ve spoken about the war has stories of friends or family who were killed or disappeared. However, life in the cities where we´ve spent the majority of our time was fairly well removed from these difficult-to-grasp realities. The peace accords were signed nearly a decade ago, but many people here are convinced that aggression, coercion, and killings still occur in many rural areas, although it evades the mainstream press. I´m in my final days in the country and Heather and I are having every opportunity to buy souveniers. The widely known market at Chichicastenango was a remarkable spectacle [photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6], as have been the views around the lake. Tomorrow we´ll say goodbye, Heather will leave once again for Xela and four more weeks of Spanish classes, and I´ll head to Antigua for a day before flying home on the 7th. Happy birthday Mary and I hope no one loses and eye playing with fireworks. Your comments to this blog are dying off, but I´d love to know that someone out there is reading this. Salud.

Malfunctioning photos

2005-06-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

All links should be working now. If you find one that still does not work, please let me know and I'll fix it. Also, I apologize for the pseudo-links that are sometimes inserted in this blog by Blogger.com (or some other capitalist greaseball). I have no control over it.

Guatemala: June 27

2005-06-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

Tikal, where we were, and Palenque, where we were heading, were contemporaries of each other sometime around 700 AD. The river that divides these ancient kingdoms now marks the border between Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. The excavation of both ancient sites began in the Fifties, and the archeologist who led much of that early work at Palenque is, oddly enough, buried directly in front of one of the pyramids. Palenque is marked by an incredible forest and, unlike Tikal, a park-like atmosphere. Much to her surprise, Heather has been captivated by Mayan history and consequently fed our tourguide a rich buffet of questions: Why does this tower lean? How did the Mayans poop? How extensive were their aquaducts? What are the spots on these buildings? How did such little Mayans climb such large steps? Because the buildings here are in relatively close proximity, we saw everything we wanted to see in an afternoon. [Photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6] Next we spent a quick day-and-a-half in the attractive tourist trap known as San Cristóbal de las Casas (a prominant site of the Zapatista's bloody 1994 uprising) before heading back to Guatemala and the comfort of our temporary home, Xela. We've been here a week now, taking more Spanish lessons and trying to avoid eating out too much. A housekeeper at our hostal invited us to a fiesta this past Saturday in nearby Olintepeque for the celebration of their patron saint San Juan Bautista. Among the hightlights were me on a mechanical bull (and off), the dance of the white conquistadors, and being a foot taller than everyone. The day ended, as they all do lately, in a flurry of umbrellas and rain. The following day, thanks to a recommendation from a Guatemalteco in Tucson, we hopped a bus for Momostenango not knowing exactly what we'd find. What we found was a beautiful mountain town little seen by tourists, a big outdoor market, and more rain. We then crammed onto another "chicken bus" for the ride home. My time here is growing short and, frankly, I dread coming home to teach Research Methods for five grueling weeks. I can't yet speak Spanish as well as I'd like (of course), and I'm overwhelmed by how much I don't know about Guatemala. However, being a relatively rich white guy stuck on the "tourist trail" in this impoverished country feels to me both humbling and absurd. I'm so out of place here, and yet I fit right into the tourist economy that the Guatemalans are working so hard to cultivate. The feeling is difficult to convey. Suffice it to say, this trip is doing exactly what I'd hope for: giving me a new and challenging perspective on myself and the world in which I live. It's an amazing, sad, exciting, and infuriating place.

Guatemala: June 13

2005-06-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

On the east coast of Guatemala is Livingston (note the English influence), a small waterfront town, accessable only by a boat ride down the Rio Dulce [photos: 1 2 3]. Livingston boasts one of the world´s few and most vibrant Garifuna communities. The Garifuna are a small ethnic group expelled by European invadors at the end of the eighteenth century from St. Vincent Island, and virtually the only black, Spanish-speaking Guatemalans in the country (they also speak their own language and quite a bit of English). One side of Livingston is dominated by the impoverished Garifuna, with their tiny wooden shacks, tin roofs, and no visible means of economic subsistence, and the other side by ladinos (people of mixed Spanish-indigenous decent) and a minority of Mayans. The main road is crawling with "tropical"-themed restaurants and small stores catering exclusively to tourists. After sipping mixed-fruit liquados (shakes) and eating your choice of sea life, you can be on the beach (what there is of one) within five minutes. The ladinos own the touristy stuff, and the Garifuna play the music and dominate the informal economy. For her part, Heather wanted to participate in that economy by having her hair braided on the street by a local woman. When the bill came 2 1/2 hours later it was three times what we were originally told. $33 lighter ($0.22/braid), we licked our wounds and bought another liquado. A really nice, unshaven, fifty year-old man in bare feet and baseball cap struck up a conversation with us about books. He told us about his band's U.S. tour last year (including a gig in Tucson), and was at pains to distance his much prided Garifuna culture from this fake-tropical ambiance. An hour later, he had walked us across town through his dilapidated neighborhood to a tiny, thatch-roofed cafe where he played his band's c.d. for us. We offered him $20 (a lot of money for this place) to burn a copy of his music for us and then naively left expecting him to drop it off at the hotel later in the day. He'll eat well this month, and we may never hear Punta Rock again. [Photos: 1 2 3 4 5] Another day of travel to the north brought us to tiny island town of Flores in the Peten [photos: 1 2], a region marked by its quickly disappearing rainforests and the classical Mayan ruins atTikal. Tikal National Park is a sprawling complex of pyramids, temples, and other structures dating from 3,000 bc to about 700 ad. We hired a very sharp guide who taught us as much about the flora and fauna of Tikal as he did about the ancient Mayans. The place was awe-inspiring to say the least, but for me the wildlife stole the show. Spider and Howler monkeys, toucans, rabbit-sized rodents, brightly colored turkeys, tarantulas, carpenter ants, woodpeckers, parrots, and other unknown colorful birds - some harder to photograph than others. By the end of the day clouds moved in to rescue us from the sweltering heat and we had the main plaza to ourselves and our photographic eye. [Photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15]