Rule No. 2: General duties of a student — pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

John Cage’s 10 Rules For Students And Teachers.

HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything — it might come in handy later.

Previously…

This is my exercise in shoveling out the blogpile…

Rule No. 31 – If You Have The Space, Buy a Freezer.

From Food Rules, an eater’s manual by Michael Pollan

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook. See also Eating Mindfully by Jan Chozen Bey.

Today’s headlines include:

Local News

Pike Street projects on track to finish by fall
Signs about cell use confusing
Man who shot mom indicted
MOVP hopes to raise $5,000
Belpre man arrested for scamming customers

Top Headlines Poll: Have you started your back-to-school shopping yet?

Great pictures of Marietta…

What’s going on here…

Previously…

Rule No. 1: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.

John Cage’s 10 Rules For Students And Teachers.

HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything — it might come in handy later.

This is my exercise in shoveling out the blogpile…

Rule No. 30 – Eat Animals That Themselves Have Eaten Well.

From Food Rules, an eater’s manual by Michael Pollan

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook. See also Eating Mindfully by Jan Chozen Bey.

Today’s headlines include:

Local News

Stroke survivor speaks out about aphasia
MC will cut retirement benefits in half
Commissioners form panel to oversee EMA
Senior driver sessions
Marietta man skips sentencing

Top Headlines Poll: Have you started your back-to-school shopping yet?

Great pictures of Marietta…

What’s going on here…

Previously…

We can stand aloof from the events and carry out thought exercises, and we can carefully weigh the pros and cons of war—this side did this horrible thing, that side did that horrible thing, this side has this worthy cause, that side has that worthy cause—and we can attempt to calculate who is slightly better and who is slightly worse, although even there it’s striking how often different people seem to come up with completely different sums, as if maybe, somehow human lives resist being reduced to simple numbers. Let us reason together, you say; if only we could get everyone to look at the situation logically, if only everyone would be a dispassionate observer like me, if only everyone would sit back and coldly analyze all possible actions to arrive at an optimal conclusion that maximizes idealized outcomes…

[WARNING: DEEPLY DISTURBING IMAGERY FOLLOWS!] Continue Reading »

This is my exercise in shoveling out the blogpile…

One of the evergreen topics that shows up at Pharyngula regards women, Feminism and the men who hate one or both. This morning I was doing a bit of catch-up reading and stopped to try and figure out what the acronym in Something is wrong with SIWOTI! might mean. (I still haven’t figured that out.) I followed the link in the story to Melissa McEwan’s Shakesville described where readers are greeted with:

Welcome to Shakesville, a progressive feminist blog about politics, culture, social justice, cute things, and all that is in between. Please note that the commenting policy and the Feminism 101 section, conveniently linked at the top of the page, are required reading before commenting.

Fair enough. As I’m fond of saying, “Your blog, your rules.”

So, I surfed over to the Commenting Policy.

The short rules are what I think of as basic civility and run 289 words.

Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be open to correction in response to unintentional expressions of privilege. No downvoting. No using the reply function. Respect the mods. Hold yourself to the same standards you hold the contributors and other commenters. Have fun. And expect to get whatever you give: If you respect the guidelines and the community culture, you’ll get the same in return.

Commenters should read the entirety of any post and existing comments before commenting. We make this request because clarifications about the post and moderation regarding what is on- or off-topic is done in-thread, and commenters who value the safe space provided by the moderation here must play their part in making sure they’re not increasing moderation demands by entering a thread with concerns which have already been addressed or in a way that has already been set off-limits.

The long rules, however, are extremely detailed and go on for another 1,934 words.

Daunting reading, but I don’t know the history of Shakesville but clearly McEwan didn’t invest the time to write so much just for fun.

Next I moved to her Feminism 101, which is ten times the length coming in at 22,851 words. Nearly an hour later I felt as if I’d just pledged a fraternity. If McWan’s intent is to put off the trolls (and unfortunately the casual reader) this really works.

After that much reading, I felt I had to leave a comment, and I did, on They’re Not Laughing with You…. I wrote:

Good morning all,

I remember a similar incident at a publishing house in the ’80s where I was a magazine editor. The editor of a another magazine issued a memo to the effect that laughter during office hours (we worked in a cube farm where conversations were only semi-private) was unprofessional and must stop immediately.

I, and other editors, had a good laugh about this, but unfortunately, her staff could not.

On a related note, Eric Blair (George Orwell) in writing on Fascism and the “goose-step” in “The Lion and The Unicorn” commented that the reason British soldiers never adopted the technique was that British citizens would have laughed themselves silly if they ever saw such antics.

Laughter is a very powerful tool.

Do all you can to make today a better day,

Jeff

McEwan repeatedly uses the term Safe Space in both her commenting policy and in the Feminism 101 essay. Clearly she has worked hard to make that a reality on line. Creating such a space in the real world is difficult (ask anyone who runs a shelter); reaching for the same goal in cyberspace is exponentially more so.

That we still need to think about safe spaces in the 21st century is part of our problem.

Rule No. 29 – Drink the Spinach Water.

From Food Rules, an eater’s manual by Michael Pollan

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook. See also Eating Mindfully by Jan Chozen Bey.

Today’s headlines include:

Local News

History in a tiny wood cabin
Break-ins at The Galley and Town House
Bobcat sightings
From tears to anger: Woman curses prison sentence
Digitizing court records

Top Headlines Poll: Have you spotted any bobcats in the area?

Great pictures of Marietta…

What’s going on here…

Previously…

This is my exercise in shoveling out the blogpile…

Rule No. 28 – Eat Your Colors.

From Food Rules, an eater’s manual by Michael Pollan

Previously…

Found in my electronic chapbook. See also Eating Mindfully by Jan Chozen Bey.

Today’s headlines include:

Local News

Long overdue: Local Vietnam veteran finally recognized
Placeholder bill sets new standards
Grants awarded for six projects
Veterans’ drivers appreciated
Back to school: Immunizations!

Top Headlines Poll: Are you “for” or “against” Common Core, or would you rather all standards be eliminated?

Great pictures of Marietta…

What’s going on here…

Previously…