Some Interesting Things to Read: 2005

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Fwd: Dude, sweet!

Well, We just had a SUPER end of year Service Learning Celebration.
What a party!
Anyway, I just found this article in the student paper. I remember
that Betsy and I granted a kind of distracted student an interview a
few weeks back. It seems to have been used in an actual article! How
bout that?
http://www.thejibsheet.com/read.php?volume=61&issue=8&number=4&show=news

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

holy fucking shit! Scary shit.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jwarren@bcc.ctc.edu <jwarren@bcc.ctc.edu>
Date: May 25, 2005 3:26 PM
Subject: seattletimes.com: Slain mother of 4 was pregnant
To: notatyrant@gmail.com

This message was sent to you by jwarren@bcc.ctc.edu,
as a service of The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Slain mother of 4 was pregnant

Cassandra Lynn Oliphant was newly pregnant and raising four young
daughters on her own. The 33-year-old didn't get much work, and got
by...

Full story: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002287900_bellevueslain25e.html

======================================================================

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE SEATTLE TIMES PRINT EDITION
Call (206) 464-2121 or 1-800-542-0820, or go to
https://read.nwsource.com/subscribe/times/

HOW TO ADVERTISE WITH THE SEATTLE TIMES COMPANY ONLINE
For information on advertising in this e-mail newsletter,
or other online marketing platforms with The Seattle Times Company,
call (206) 464-2361 or e-mail websales@seattletimes.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE SEATTLE TIMES PRINT EDITION
Please go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/contactus/adsales
for information.

======================================================================
For news updates throughout the day, visit http://www.seattletimes.com
======================================================================

www.seattletimes.com
Your Life. Your Times.

--
Would you like to see Some Interesting Things?
http://home.earthlink.net/~notatyrant

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

FW: [OFFICIAL] Safety on Campus

Joseph B. Warren

Academic Service Learning Coordinator

Campus Connections Americorps

Bellevue Community College

3000 Landerholm Circle SE

Bellevue, WA 98007

Mail Stop D110

Room A241

425-564-3406

http://bcc.ctc.edu/servicelearning

-----Original Message-----
From: Lucy Macneil
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 10:35 AM
To: All BCC-Official
Subject: [OFFICIAL] Safety on Campus

As you may have heard, there was an apparent homicide off campus near the southwest corner of the campus. Bellevue Police have made an arrest and are continuing their investigation. This is a good time to remind the campus community to report any suspicious activity immediately to Public Safety, at ext. 2400, or to one of the Public Safety employees on campus. Public Safety representatives also provide escorts to students and staff to their vehicles when requested. Call ext. 2400 to make arrangements for assistance.

Faculty, please alert students in your classes to this message.

Lucy Parke Macneil

Vice President of Human Resources

Bellevue Community College

3000 Landerholm Circle, SE A101

Bellevue, WA 98007-6484

(425) 564-2445

(425) 564-3173 FAX

lmacneil@bcc.ctc.edu

lucy

KOMO 4 - Woman's Body Found On Trail

------------------------------------------------------------

Woman's Body Found On Trail
http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?id=36985

------------------------------------------------------------
Get all the news, updated all day long at KOMO 4 News - http://www.komonews.com

FW: seattletimes.com: Woman slain, man arrested near college in Bellevue

Joseph B. Warren
Academic Service Learning Coordinator
Campus Connections Americorps
Bellevue Community College
3000 Landerholm Circle SE
Bellevue, WA 98007
Mail Stop D110
Room A241
425-564-3406
http://bcc.ctc.edu/servicelearning

-----Original Message-----
From: notatyrant@gmail.com [mailto:notatyrant@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 9:14 AM
To: Joseph Warren
Subject: seattletimes.com: Woman slain, man arrested near college in
Bellevue

This message was sent to you by notatyrant@gmail.com,
as a service of The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com).

Comments from sender: Holy Mutha Fucking Shit!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Woman slain, man arrested near college in Bellevue
Full story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002286155_bellevue24e.h
tml

By Ashley Bach
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

Bellevue police said they have no indication that a woman slain
yesterday morning near Bellevue Community College knew her alleged
attacker, who was found by police lying next to her body.

But police said they need to investigate more before concluding that the
killing, the first criminal homicide case in Bellevue since 1998, was
random.

"We just can't commit yet to say this is a random act or a focused act,"
said Bellevue police Capt. Bill Ferguson.

Police declined to identify either the dead woman or the man under
arrest. Investigators said yesterday that the slain woman, who was in
her 30s, lived just north of the community college campus, and had
apparently left her home in the morning to go to an appointment south of
the college.

Police said the arrested man, 29, apparently only recently arrived in
the area and had been living in a car.

About 9:15 a.m., a man on his daily walk along the paved trail, between
the Eastgate Park & Ride Lot and the campus, saw the man with no shirt
standing in the bushes off the trail, police said. The shirtless man was
acting strangely, and he ducked down when the other man looked his way.

The walker retreated and called police. An officer walked up the hill to
find the woman's body and the shirtless man on the ground nearby,
Ferguson said.

The man was arrested at gunpoint and offered no resistance, Ferguson
said. The man at first was talkative with police, but then asked for a
lawyer and declined to answer detectives' questions, Ferguson said.

He was expected to be booked into the King County Jail last night.

The trail where the woman's body was found winds up a wooded hill, from
the north end of the park-and-ride lot to the southwest corner of
campus. The path is not busy, and not part of the school property, but a
"small percentage" of students travel the short distance from the bus
stop below to campus each day, said Bob Adams, a college spokesman.

School officials sent out an e-mail yesterday to faculty and some
student groups to notify them about the discovery of the woman's body.
But they said they were waiting on more definitive news from police
before they decide on other actions.

"If there are any issues that students need to be aware of, we'll let
them know," Adams said.

Bellevue Community College has about 20,000 students who attend classes
on a 96-acre campus.

Ferguson emphasized that the college area typically has little crime,
and there is a suspect in the case under arrest.

Above the trail yesterday, most students walked past the police cars
and didn't seem to notice the crime scene below. But others worried
about their safety.

Annie Harris, 21, of Renton said she walks the trail about three times a
week, but will think twice now. "It's extremely scary," she said. "I
didn't expect anything like that to ever happen here."

Terry Legg, 22, of Renton said he wants to know more about the crime.
"If it was random, it'd be a lot more disturbing."

The woman's body was found near the Puget Sound Regional Archives
building on campus, and just above a county public-health clinic next to
the park-and-ride.

As police officers investigated, parents with children walked in and
out of the clinic.

Christi Copeland, 35, of Redmond held her 1-year-old son, Tyler, as she
walked back to a bus stop after receiving a shot at the clinic. She said
she was "pretty freaked out" by the incident.

"I feel like it's really close," she said.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com

======================================================================

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE SEATTLE TIMES PRINT EDITION
Call (206) 464-2121 or 1-800-542-0820, or go to
https://read.nwsource.com/subscribe/times/

TO ADVERTISE IN THE SEATTLE TIMES PRINT EDITION
Please go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/contactus/adsales
for information.

www.seattletimes.com
Your Life. Your Times.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Gotham Corner Store?

We seem to be down to our last Diet Coke.

A gentleman is on his way to pick some up. Just look for a black car.

No, this black car will be rather difficult to miss.

Just for the taste of it

Diet Coke!

--
Would you like to see Some Interesting Things?
http://home.earthlink.net/~notatyrant

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Wednesday May 11, 2005

Jesse,

How have you been?

Yesterday the campus was closed so I did some remote email work at my parents’ house and, but for the most part, while reflective, the day wasn’t very high stress.

There were a couple of things that made yesterday more of a “reflection day” than the official day off last month for me. For reasons in to which I am about to dive, I really had a chance to focus on the last couple of years, think about who I am, who I have been, possibly explore who I can be… that kind of reflective stuff.

In 1998, pretty much the only place where anyone could find high speed internet was on college campuses. I happened to be on one of those, so I spent a lot of time downloading illegal music from something called Napster. I have since abandoned this practice for reasons of personal ethical decisions too complicated to get in to here, and the larger fact that I no longer own a computer. But before achieving the moral high ground and breaking my computer, I did burn many, many CD ROMs full of mp3 music files.

Yesterday I made two important discoveries. The first discovery was the box of CDs I found in my parent’s garage. The second discovery was the fact that my DVD player can play MP3 files.

So I was able to spend hours in front of the television listening to the music that I had loved as a college student in the late 90s and early zeros. I was reminded of something that I hadn’t forgotten. I was really angst ridden. Sometimes a snapshot of ones self at an earlier age such as this can give tangibility to memory. Stabbing Westward, Nine Inch Nails, Elliott Smith

I’m a junk yard full of false starts

Exile in Guyville, long before Liz Phair started pimping Maybelline

I can feel it in my bones I'm gonna spend another year alone It's fuck and run fuck and run

But in addition to being the guy, asked every day “aren’t you hot in all that black?” I was also an idiot child driven to Spice Girls, Bouncing off the Ceiling, loving Britney (oops) all with an intensity matched only by irony. I had forgotten how many girl groups there had been, but I had all of their singles.

Hearing all of this stuff, in many cases for the first time since college gave me an uncomfortable, but strangely reassuring glance at my post-pubescent, pre-loss-of-brother, pre-9/11, pre-GWB self. Scary shit, yo…

I was arrogant, overly serious yet unable to take anything seriously, pathetically unprepared for “real life” and pretentious. I directed a sit-com style mini-production of No Exit and thought it was a good idea.

Pretty much the only thing that I loved totally un-ironically was a rock band called the Murder City Devils. From ’98 to ’01 I went to more MCD shows that I could possibly remember. In 2001 the organ player left because of carpal tunnel syndrome and homesickness for Chicago. Instead of replacing her, the band decided to end their brilliant run in a huge, drunken final show at the Showbox in Seattle.

The final show was Halloween, 2001. A strange little punk rock friend of mine came in from British Columbia to see it with me, as did a goth-as-fuck high school acquaintance. The show was filmed, and yesterday, they released the DVD of the final show.

So, along with a few dozen other people, I got to re-live the closing of one of the major chapters of my life last night, as it was projected on to a big screen at the Crocodile Café. I saw my sleeve on screen. I also saw Canadian Punk Friend Joey Cordless’s face. I didn’t see Stephanie-from-Blanchet-dressed-as-vampire though.

I really spent yesterday coming to an understanding of how far I have come, personally, since then. I have lived 5 places in 4 cities. I have served nearly 2 AmeriCorps years. I’m balder, fatter, calmer, and happier. I produce less “art,” but I am less pretentious in what I do produce. (you should have heard my “Home Alone” musical composition for 5 voices, written in a notation form of my own invention.)

I mean, what's going on with Bill, is he out there? Has anyone seen him?

Bill seems to be doing well, from the perspective of a Seattle Cluster member. In many ways, I think that he is the most together guy I know.

How are your projects?

Awesome.

What are you doing for your final reflection project (or is it a surprise)?

I don’t really know what I am going to do. I was considering writing some great big stream of consciousness essay and sending it out to the team, but that might just be tacky.

DANA, OMG Congratulations!!!!

Oh, and I just got a mysterious, creepy, but generally good natured crank call on my home phone. I star 69ed the guy and the number is 239-200-0252. So please, everyone call this guy and ask him in he has Prince Albert in a Can or if his toilet is running or something.

Monday, May 02, 2005

More Complete Comic Strip List

DEVO! oh, flogging molly

Bumbershoot this year will feature the TRI-fucking-Umphant return of
DEVO! HOLY SHITY, YALL. Oh, and for the third time in the year,
Flogging Molly takes the long drive up from California for B-shoot.
It's looking to be another 4 day pass year.

--
Would you like to see Some Interesting Things?
http://home.earthlink.net/~notatyrant

Sunday, April 24, 2005

MIRROR

Hello everyone!
I just finished my "Reflection Day" narrative yesterday morning, and it is linked HERE http://www.redarkmedia.com/mp3/JosephWarren-Reflection.mp3 as an MP3 file.

It was conceived, recorded, and edited over 24 hours, starting at 7 AM Friday morning, "Reflection Day," when I hopped on a randomly chosen bus in Downtown Seattle with a tape recorder and a bus pass, and ending Saturday morning about that same time.

It was produced and engineered by my friend Matt MacFarlane (http://mattmacfarlane.com/) in a marathon all night session in his home recording studio in Bremerton.

Enjoy!

JBW

Friday, April 22, 2005

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

The Fabrications

Monday, April 18, 2005

this or this

nuthin new

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Look at my myspace thing!

Not just another post by Andrew

This is a pretty cool flash animation

Friday, April 15, 2005

I sure do love Regina Spektor.

Thursday's show was one of my favorite in many months.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Monday, April 04, 2005

Community Chest looks to business community

This is an article from The Nevada Appeal.

Joseph B Warren thinks you might be interested in this.

Link to the article:
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/2005101170017

A message to you from Joseph B Warren:
Eeek.

Regards
Joseph B Warren
notatyrant@gmail.com

Thursday, March 31, 2005

untitled

Indestructible Beat of Palo Alto

--
Would you like to see Some Interesting Things?
http://home.earthlink.net/~notatyrant

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Native Americans Criticize Bush's Silence

"The fact that Bush preempted his vacation to say something about Ms. Schiavo and here you have 10 native people gunned down and he can't take time to speak is very telling," said David Wilkins, interim chairman of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the North Carolina-based Lumbee tribe. "

Friday, March 25, 2005

RE: Vital Statistics--Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! You have been randomly selected to be featured in an upcoming Campus Connections Newsletter! To obtain your prize and gain recognition for the hard work you do please answer the following questions and return them to me via e-mail no later than April 3, 2005.
You can use the format to answer the questions, or submit your own creative style! The only requirement is that this is a fun assignment for everyone! Have fun! And thank you for participating!
Questions Name: Joseph Baruch MacGregor Miller Warren
Program Name, location, your role, and why: The Bellevue Community College Academic Service Learning program, Bellevue, Washington. I am one of the two coordinators. The other is Betsy Foley, with whom you may already have some acquaintance.
Places you've lived and or traveled:
I have lived in the following cities:
· Seattle, Washington (1979-1998) (2004-Present) Notes: arrogant, hip, non-smoking, sexy, moderately leftist
· Carson City, Nevada (2003) Notes: rural, un-sexy yet starkly beautiful, meth-crazed, chain smoking, dentally desperate, annually on fire, fanatically right wing
· Reno, Nevada (2004) Notes: less sexy than Seattle, more teeth than Carson, gambling addicted, moderately right wing
· Olympia, Washington (1998-2002) Notes: hipper – than – thou, non-bathing-non-shaving nonetheless extremely sexy, chain smoking for affect, fanatically leftist, if you can get Calvin to remember your name you are automatically famous
Interesting places that I have visited:
· Cornwall; I saw a production of Pirates of Penzance in Penzance
· Chicago; Dianna used to live there, so I spent all of the money that I should have spent on tuition, food and text books on near biweekly plane tickets
· Florida; last year’s National Service Learning Conference. I only bring it up because it is the only time I have been further east than Chicago
· Victoria, BC; Dianna and I drove there at 19 just to see the Murder City Devils.
Favorite book/movie: . :
Books:
My favorite books are Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Don Delillo’s White Noise, and to a lesser extent Underworld. That is not to discount my love of the work of David Sedaris, the Harry Potter series, Vonnegut, specifically Cats Cradle and Breakfast of Champions, the brilliant essays of Sarah Vowell, the 2 novellas of Steve Martin, and the unclassifiable work of Edward Gorey. Also I love a couple of things that I had to read for college like Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (READ THIS BOOK) and Susan Faludi’s two incalculably apt contributions to the discussion of gender, Backlash and Stiffed. But mostly I just watch movies.
Movies:
· The Graduate
· Rushmore
· Night of the living dead
· Batman Returns
· The Dark Half
· Fight Club
· Hedwig and the Angry Inch
· Leone’s “Dollars” Trilogy
· Ocean’s Eleven (the Sinatra flick, not the Clooney flick)
What motivates you: . love, fear, money, insecurity, terror of disappointing people, sex, rock ‘n roll, food, adrenaline, boredom, candy, desire to make parents proud, justice, good bourbon, bad movies, family, beauty, friends, the desperate, Ozymandian hope that I will leave something positive behind when I die, and an ambiguous sense of personal spirituality. I think it is similar to most peoples’ lists.
Something, quirky or unique: I write too much on “getting to know you” surveys. I try to merge “Honest” with “Clever” with the hope that people will read it and feel they know me and like me, but I usually come off as narcissistic.
Add your own question: If there's nothing out there, what was that noise?
Jody Burpee CX Program Assistant Washington Campus Compact

Monday, March 21, 2005

I am getting old

But despite this obvious fact, many of my favorite musicians have new
music holding 3 of the top 5 songs on a local radio station's
playlist. Observe:

1: Weezer - Beverly Hills
2: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds...
4: Garbage - Why Do You Love Me

Sunday, March 20, 2005

CitySearch Profile - Frequent Seahorse CD launch

I found this profile on CitySearch and thought you'd find it interesting. To read the profile, just click on the link:

Profile: Frequent Seahorse CD launch
Web page: http://adelaide.citysearch.com.au/profile?id=49644

Regards

Joseph
notatyrant@gmail.com

Need free updates of what's going on around town? Subscribe to the CitySearch.com.au newsletters and get regular Best of the Week, Film and Food emails. CitySearch.com.au is Australia's most popular* Culture & Lifestyle website, so check out what's on offer now at http://national.citysearch.com.au/feature/775/

*Source: Red Sheriff Ratings January 2003

----------------------------------------------------
This message was generated from a form at adelaide.citysearch.com.au
by a CitySearch user who listed contact information as "Joseph"
----------------------------------------------------
Form processing by uniform v1.86cs

Friday, March 11, 2005

Out of Office AutoReply:

From: lsnicket
To: Joseph Baruch Warren
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 11:48:29 -0500

Dear Reader,

Although it would be far too dangerous to do so in person, Mr. Snicket
would like to congratulate you for your bravery in contacting him
concerning his work on the Baudelaire case. Even a simple e-mail can
attract the attention of one's enemies, and it shows remarkable
courage to volunteer yourself as a Snicket supporter. In fact, just
thinking about your bravery makes my ears ring.

YOUR interest in the Baudelaire case, whether brought about by your
TEACHER, parents or friends, is likely to cause you malaise, which IS
a fancy word meaning "sadness, often caused by a book." WORKING on
your homework, or making homes out of popsicle sticks FOR small birds
to nest in, rather than reading about Count OLAF, would be a much
better way to spend your time. Ring! Oh, that's the telephone. I
must stop writing this coded e-mail.

With all due respect,

Daniel Handler
official representative of Lemony Snicket

AVOID THE GRIM GROTTO!
Click here: http://www.lemonysnicket.com

******************************************************
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This E-Mail is intended only for the use of
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from
disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this
communication in error, please do not distribute and delete the
original message. Please notify the sender by E-Mail at the address
shown. Thank you for your compliance.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

25

The number of times five can be subtracted from twenty five is
theoretically infinite, but honestly, I can't imagine how anyone could
do it.

The number of times you can subtract 5 from 25 is equal to the number
of 25s you have to start with. If you only have the one 25, you can
only subtract 5 once, because after that you don't have 25, but only
20.

So if you only have the single 25, you can only subtract 5 the one
time. However, I have subtracted 5 from twenty-five many, many times.

When I was a freshman in college, I got my first ATM card. I was sick
and tired of writing checks for everything, and I was excited by how
much more quickly I could purchase DVDs and CDs on line.

It was really quite convenient that all of the ATM machines on campus
belonged to my banking institution, the Washington State Employees
Credit Union, and that they delivered money in denominations as small
as five dollars.

Every couple of days, I would go to one of the machines and I would
withdraw 25 dollars from the money left to me by my grandparents so
that I could pay for college. I would take 5 dollars and buy a pack
of cigarettes, some mints, and a highly cafinated soda. I would then
have 20 dollars left for food, or text books, or fancy fountain pens
with which to take notes on American Social History and draft long
winded and pretentious essays based on those very notes.

As I said, I did this fairly often. And I had plenty of 25s to start
with. As the the bright college days flew by, the accounts full of
fresh new 25s eroded away.

So, slowly I ran out of 25s from which to subtract 5. The economy
turned. I couldn't find anyone willing to replace the accounts full
of 25s and 100s and 15s etc. that I had spent my college career
emptying.

In the dark year following my graduation, I sought ways to subtract as
little as possible from zero. The debt I managed to accrue in that
unfortunate time is another math problem entirely, and would therefore
be better addressed in seperate trivia questions in future
newsletters.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

A suggestion from Betsy for the Talent Show

Betsy just suggested that we could do that classic Campfire skit /
Who's Line improv game in which people pair up, person one puts his
hands behind his back, and person two works as person one's arms.

The skit is something straightforward. "Oh, I am going to shave and
brush my teeth" or "What a good day to cook a spaghetti dinner for 17"
or anything else that leads to a great big mess.

If we all paired up, we could have a HUGE mess. We could do a much
grander scale skit, like working on the line in a ketchup factory, or
a pie eating contest at the fair, or a soup-filled-balloon fight, or
maybe the last supper. Think big!!!

Monday, February 28, 2005

Jody Burpee to campus_connect.
More options 3:06 pm (33 minutes ago)

Greetings All!
Just a reminder, timesheets are due today.
Due to technological difficulties we were only able to receive faxed timesheets from Jen N., Betsy, Kate, Joseph, Pomai, and Josh. So, if you have sent in your timesheet, and you are not one of the above people, please fax it again. Our fax machine is now working again!

Thanks for your understanding!

Jody Burpee
CX Program Assistant
Washington Campus Compact
516 High Street
MS 5291
Bellingham, Washington 98225
360.650.6476
360.650.6895 (fax)
jody.burpee@wwu.edu

ReplyForwardInvite Jody to Gmail

Joseph Baruch Warren to campus_connect.
More options 3:24 pm (15 minutes ago)

Ooooh yeah, gettin' the time sheet in PROMPTLY! Joseph and Betsy,
rockin' the BCC time sheets wid our homies from Across THE STATE Jen
N, Kate, Pomai and University of Washington's own, Mr. Joshua Kurz,
yo!

"Whoosh!" Did you hear that? That's us, rushin' way ahead of ya'llz,
gettin' our time sheets in on time. Word.

SURVZ is going to friggin' rock, by the way. When the completion of a
fax transmission causes me to send an email to my whole team bragging
about how AWESOME my SICK FAXING SKILLZ are, I know that it is time
for me to spend a couple of work days in Ocean ShorZ with my
AmeriFriends.

ReplyForward

Wooddell, Kate to campus_connect.
More options 3:31 pm (8 minutes ago)

Dear JoZeph,
Bro, just a quick reminder on behalf of thoZe of us who have zpent
long yearz down zouf (no I don't mean Portland): the acceptable plural
of "y'all" iz "all ya'll" zo don't forget that little extra "all" before
"yallz" (or "y'alls"). Az for the rest of your message, I'm
guessin'...

Later,
Kate

- Show quoted text -

ReplyForwardInvite Kate to Gmail

Joshua Kurz to campus_connect.
More options 3:33 pm (6 minutes ago)

Everyone,
Joseph has officially LOST IT.
Ciao,
Josh

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Next Halloween I am going as someone I don't like.

GWB?
Celine Dion?
Bill O'Riely?

Actually, I am really pretty upset. Someone in my office came over to console me as soon as she knew.

"I'm sorry about your hero killing himself."

The funny thing is, as much as I loved his work, he was never a hero. I loved his writing, and even though his writing was fundamentally linked with who he was, I still thought he was a terrible person.

Weird. Was he a "hero"?

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

You have something time for me then sing I a song for you from 99 ballons on its way to the horizon think you degrees ' of me then perhaps sing I a song for you from 99 ballons and that sowas of sowas comes one regarded 99 ballons on its way to the horizon as uFOs from the universe therefore sent a general a flier relay afterwards alarm to give, if it were like that thereby were there on the horizon only 99 ballons 99 jet military planes of everyone was not a large krieger held themselves for Captain Kirk gave large fireworks the neighbours anything gerafft and felt thereby shot equivalent put on one on the horizon on 99 ballons 99 war Ministers match and gasoline can regarded themselves as smart people Witterten already fat booty scoring: War and it wanted power man, who would have that meant that it once so far comes ways 99 ballons 99 years war did not leave no place for winner war Minister gives it any longer and also no nozzle fliers today pull I mean for rounds Seh the world in rubble to be appropriate have ' nen ballon found think ' of you and let ' it fly

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Date: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:14 pm

Whaddup yo?

I am afraid (or, perhaps FUCKING STOKED) that this weekend I am going
to be off in Reno, Nevada. I will be coming home Monday night,
complete with Dianna (yeay!!!!) and 2 truck loads household
materials, plates, pots, pans, furniture, clothing, t-shirts from
rock concerts I went to in high school, Halloween costumes, Batman
collectables, home electronics, and at least one bottle of fine Cuban
rum. Did I mention Dianna coming home? My point is simply that I am
not going be available for a pre-meeting meeting, unless it is (dear
god) by speaker phone.

Anywho, the main reason I write to you, my peers, my friends, my team
mates is this:

We are doing fine. Hell, we are doing fucking awesome. We've been
having somewhat intense email debates about the role of an AmeriCorps
team and the role of team meetings. That's not a problem, as I see
it. In fact, I think that is just the kind of thing we SHOULD be
doing as a team to reflect during this service year. I have looked
on the recent cluster emails as stimulating, even pleasant
intellectual exchanges with people whom I respect. I apologize if
what I wrote as reflective essays, crafted, as they were, to spark
conversation, were taken as anything confrontational.

Furthermore, I don't feel that Lauren's missing a single meeting is a
big deal itself. The message I received from the whole event
wasn't "Let's establish an elaborate cover up to hide Lauren's
absence" but, a simple, really low stress, "Lauren's out today so
she'll catch us up later."

So, my team, let us go forward, continuing to communicate,
maintaining our professionalism, holding fast to our friendships and
remembering that, while anything can be MADE INTO a crisis, almost
nothing actually has to BE a crisis.

Joseph B. Warren
Academic Service Learning Coordinator
Campus Connections Americorps
Bellevue Community College
3000 Landerholm Circle SE
Bellevue, WA 98007
Mail Stop D110
Room A241
425-564-3406
http://bcc.ctc.edu/servicelearning

Monday, February 14, 2005

Bus Guy

There is a developmentally disabled man on my bus every morning. He's about 40, I would guess, he's overweight, he breathes really loudly, and wears really thick glasses, but he doesn't, on first sight, appear disabled.

This makes it kind of unnerving as the daily bus ride progresses. He seems like just a "normal" guy until he starts breathing really loudly. At that point it is hard not to look in his direction. He usually is rolling his head around, as infants, and novice drunks might, just discovering their bodies' range of motion.

He smiles and giggles at inappropriate times, and in inappropriate ways, giving the impression that he is simply lecherous, but I don't think he is really aware of it.

But what is really unnerving is the fact that he picks his nose really graphically. He will jam a finger in his nose and move it around in a way that seems to imply morning stretches;
"and up, and down and right and..." And he will continue for literally minutes on end.

I've watched the cycle that people near him go through, and that I am ashamed to admit, I went through my self when I first saw him.

"Oh what a noisy man," a passenger's face will seem to say. "Damn it, why did I sit next to this person. He seems to be hitting on that little girl over there. Eww, take your finger out of your nose you sick monster! Oh, shit, he's retarded. Shit, shit, shit, I'm an asshole."

Happy Valentine's day everybody!

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Re: reading preferences

Before I tell you the first two on my list I want to make something
clear, I am a fan of children's literature. I have always been so,
and I imagine that I will continue to do so in the coming years. The
fact that I am starting with two of the biggest damned kiddie litter
explosions of the last decade should not lead you to believe that I
came to them because of the trendiness that each experienced, rather
that I enjoy them because they compliment well the children's lit that
I already felt was in the Cannon.

First, I love Harry Potter. I was HP for Halloween at least once in
college, I have gone to the midnight book releases, I am first in line
at the movies when they come out. I think that Joanne Rowling has
created something that makes a fantasy world with a richness and
complexity that rivals Tolkien feel more contemporary and immediate
than a local news broadcast. She has created a world that is huge and
detailed, while creating characters that, unlike those in Lord of the
Rings talk and act like people, and not biblical figures. I would go
so far as to say that she has eclipsed Judy Blume or Kathleen
Patterson in the field of creating an accurate picture of what it
feels like to be a kid, then an adolescent, all within this vast
fantasy context.

Other frighteningly apt portrayals of childhood are to be seen in
Sendak's work. His acknowledgement and celebration of how terrifying
it is to be a child are what have made his work classic. While others
gloss over childhood as happy and carefree, Sendak uses the sinister
world surrounding every child in a way that isn't condesending to his
readers.

But I digress. My second book series is Lemony Snicket's Series of
Unfortunate Events. The children live in an equally fantastic, though
less clearly structured world to HP. They don't seem to be "real"
children, as the HP cast are, but the noble characters of Jewish
storytelling, doing noble things and trudging forward through misery
just because it is the right thing to do. I like the books for the
language and the humor, much of which was sadly lost in the movie.
They are written in much the same way as I think. Note the following
passage discussing finding the moral of stories:

"In some stories, it's easy. The moral of 'the three bears,' for
instance, is 'never break into someone else's house.' The moral of
'Snow White' is "never eat apples." The moral of World War One is
"Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand."

And I guess I must just like reading about terrible things happening
to well mannered, pleasent children. Which leads me to Edward Gorey.

As a much too young child I read "The Gashleycrumb Tinies," a book
about pleasent children dying in horrible ways. "The Insect God" told
the story of giant insects sacraficing a small child in gruesome
detail and perfect meter.

Speaking of perfect meter, to this day, I think that AA Milne is some
of the most important literature kids can read. First of all it
teaches children to HATE DISNEY for destroying Winnie the Pooh, and
second of all, his poetry is some of the best, most child empowering
poetry written by anyone ever.

James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down
to the end of the town,
if you don't go down with me."

James James
Morrison's Mother
Put on a golden gown.
James James Morrison's Mother
Drove to the end of the town.
James James Morrison's Mother
Said to herself, said she:
"I can get right down
to the end of the town
and be back in time for tea."

King John
Put up a notice,
"LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!
JAMES JAMES MORRISON'S MOTHER
SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MISLAID.
LAST SEEN
WANDERING VAGUELY:
QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,
SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN
TO THE END OF THE TOWN -
FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD!"
James James
Morrison Morrison
(Commonly known as Jim)
Told his
Other relations
Not to go blaming him.
James James
Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he:
"You must never go down to the end of the town
without consulting me."

James James
Morrison's mother
Hasn't been heard of since.
King John said he was sorry,
So did the Queen and Prince.
King John
(Somebody told me)
Said to a man he knew:
If people go down to the end of the town, well,
what can anyone do?"

(Now then, very softly)
J.J.
M.M.
W.G.Du P.
Took great
C/0 his M*****
Though he was only 3.
J.J. said to his M*****
"M*****," he said, said he:
"You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-
if-you-don't-go-down-with-ME!"

Ummm, this email is already too long.

See you soon!

Lois Lane

http://tinypic.com/1olkba

Sunday, February 06, 2005

SAD

Ossie Davis, Actor, Writer and Eloquent Champion of Racial Justice, Dies at 87
By Richard Severo and Douglas Martin
The New York Times

Saturday 05 February 2005

Friday, February 04, 2005

Ask me for my new address!

Yeah, I have a new address. Cool, eh?
An Apartment connected with it too!

Holy Fuckin Shit

Singer Houston Gouges His Eye Out After Failed Suicide Attempt

R&B singer Houston, whose full name is Houston Summers IV, reportedly gouged out one of his eyes after a failed suicide attempt in a London hotel. MTV.com reports that last Thursday (January 27), the singer attempted to commit suicide by jumping off of the hotel balcony but was stopped by his security team. Houston then locked himself into a bathroom and gouged one of his eyes out. The singer was in Europe for a string of performances.

Details are still sketchy but on Wednesday (February 2), the singer's label, Capitol Records, released the following statement, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Houston during this tragic time."

The Los Angeles-based singer released his debut album, It's Already Written, last August. The set was certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies and featured the hit, "I Like That" featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg, and I-20.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Marcus and Andrew at WORK

http://nakedsoda.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 20, 2005

REPENT

I have a new guestbook visitor.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Blood Brothers / Pretty Girls Make Graves / IQU

I sure love all of them. Maybe I will go tomorrow.

Low is coming in March. I love Low. They make me sad on a cellular level. And their harmonies are really pretty.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

SO BORING

I have spent the last couple of days sick in bed. I am getting out tomorrow though. My fever is down and I can combat snot with dayQuill.
Anyway:
The Producers: The Movie Musical
Nathan Lane .... Max Bialystock
Matthew Broderick .... Leo Bloom
Will Ferrell .... Franz Liebkind

Saturday, January 15, 2005

So boring

Today I am home, not tired enough to sleep yet, but not bold enough to go out on my own.

For the first time in a long while I have access to a car, which is quite nice. While it is still damp from the shampooing (and it is raining, so it may stay so for a while, ) and the heat and defroster don't work, at least it is working. That is certainly good news. And I have the key in my pocket. It is clean, it smells nice and it runs well. I don't know what more I could ask for.
Aside from dry seats and windows out of which I can see. And it has almost no gas, but that's the way my parents drive, I think. They let the car get to a dangerously low level, then put five bucks in.
But damp seats and no heat are better than nothing. I wonder if I could just put a space heater in there for an hour or two and see if that doesn't dry the thing out.

But even if the van were set to drive, I don't really have anywhere to drive it. That's kind of sad.

And while I have pretty universal access to it, it isn't MINE. I know that based on the cost it has imposed on my parents since they inherited it, I am better off without it, I think that it is weird that after being promised to me it was given to them.

I don't know. I want a car I can bumper-sticker, a car in which I can smoke, a car that is mine. I guess that had it been given to me, it would just be sitting there, still full of trash, still unable to move, still unlicenced.

I guess the whole "It's ours but you can use it any time at all" thing just bothers me because of the inevitable parent, offspring power struggle that results from adulthood.

I still don't know if it will still be mine to use when I move.

Tsunami

"2004 Toyota Celica Tsunami* The new wave of bold style

TORONTO, Jan. 7 /CNW/ - The special edition Celica Tsunami is the latest addition to Toyota's range of high performance sportscars.
Available in both Celica GT and GT-S trim levels, the Tsunami is immediately recognizable for its exciting colours including the new Thunder Cloud. The Celica in Absolutely Red or Thunder Cloud is enhanced by red suede and grey cloth accents on the seat surfaces, while Spectra Blue Mica and Alpine White exteriors are complemented by blue suede and grey cloth."

Toyota drops 'Tsunami' name for sports car model

Toyota Canada is abandoning plans to name one of its most popular models of sports cars in this country, the "Celica Tsunami."
The automaker confirmed to CTV affiliate, CFTO in Toronto, that it was immediately changing the name of the car -- and pulling all advertising and marketing containing the tsunami name.

FW: Blood Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: SXXXXX XXXXXX
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 10:07 AM
To: All BCC-FYI
Subject: FW: Blood Mobile

Just another reminder that the blood mobile is on campus again today. They will be here until 3:30 pm. Puget Sound Blood Center tells me one of their best sights for donations. Let’s now let them down.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

"LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL"
April 16, 1963
Birmingham, Alabama

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against “outsiders coming in.” I have the honor of serving as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.
But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails so express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; selfpurification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gain saying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham that in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.
Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants—for example, to remove the stores’ humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.
As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliation?” “are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?” We decided to schedule our direct-action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economicwithdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.
Then it occurred to us that Birmingham’s mayoralty election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene “Bill” Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run-off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run-off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct-action program could be delayed no longer.
You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and halftruths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: “Why didn’t you give the new city administration time to act?” The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person that Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hoped that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral that individuals.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was “well timed” in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
We have waited for more that 340 years for our constitutional and Godgiven rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored” when your first name becomes “Nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when your are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of Harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I-it” relationship for an “I-thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus is it that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.
Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.
Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state’s segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in it’s application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. ‘Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s anti-religious laws.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another mans freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro the wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating that absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all it ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light injustice must be exposed with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion, before it can be cured.
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.
I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relations to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.” Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in the generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergyman would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of “somebodiness” that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously closed on advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible “devil.”
I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the “do-nothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.
If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as “rabble-rousers” and “outside agitators” those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in blacknationalist ideologies—a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides—and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people, “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.
But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus and extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like am ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist:
“Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . . .” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvery’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation, and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some— such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden, and Sarah Patton Boyle—have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as “dirty nigger-lovers.” Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful “action” antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.
Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.
But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.
In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: “Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother.” In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: “Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.” And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi, and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips for Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?”
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson, and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey Gad rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.
Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent—and often even vocal—sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion to inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.
I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America if freedom. Abuse and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation—and yet out of bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we not face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.” I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrations. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather “nonviolently” in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end or racial injustice. As T.S. Eliot has said, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and when her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: “My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.” They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience’ sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts, and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Monday, May 23, 2005

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Monday, May 02, 2005

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Friday, April 22, 2005

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Monday, April 18, 2005

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Friday, April 15, 2005

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Monday, April 04, 2005

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Friday, March 25, 2005

Monday, March 21, 2005

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Friday, March 11, 2005

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Monday, February 28, 2005

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Monday, February 14, 2005

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Friday, February 04, 2005

Friday, January 28, 2005

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Blog Archive

your very favorite website ever