inauguration day

[rivendellrose]

Wow. Kind of depressing friends-list today.

There's a protest against Bush's inauguration starting right about now here on campus, but I just don't feel up to it. What good will rallying around Red Square do? He's being accepted whether or not a bunch of college students walk out of their classes to protest. I know, this sounds like apathy - I'm not sure if it is or isn't. It might be. It might also be that I have to write a response paper for my poetry class.

Seminar today was actually not so bad - must remember to bring tea to class everyday, in case that's what makes the difference. And I came up with a few interesting off-topic ideas in my notebook, too.

You'd think caffeine would make me a bit more bouncy. Eh.

ETA: Oh, for crying out loud. It's Tinky Winky all over again. Thanks to Sablebadger for the heads-up on that one.

Damn it. I should not feel like I need more tea at 12:20. Too. Fecking. Tired.

Comments

[becksbooks.livejournal.com]

Hey, if it makes you feel better, I had a few students participate in the CHS protest - they marched on the Capitol and everything. Aparently it's mayhem and madness down there (one of them came back...he could only miss one period or something...)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's pretty cool - I'm impressed with high-school students who are that with it!

[gin2001.livejournal.com]

I guess maybe I'm apatheic too then, cause I thought the same thing sorta-- except more along the lines of I'm *paying* to go to class, why on earth would I walk out in the middle of it to do something that honestly and seriously won't change anything?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't have any class at that time, so technically I *could* have gone. But yeah, that was pretty much my sentiment as well.

Good to see you back on LJ, btw.

[diea.livejournal.com]

Bush's Inauguration: Four more years of hell

Tea in class: Why didn't I think of that?

Non-bounce inducing caffiene: Drink more.

Spongebob: Apparently they can't tolerate tolerance.

Too Tired: I feel you.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Bush: I was kind of hoping he'd choke on a pretzel at his celebration and have to be removed. :/

Tea: It's a lovely thing, if you can pull it off. I often don't have time to make it, but I have a cup in the office where I work on campus, and there's a hot water thing there, so I can stop off if I have time.

Caffeine: Alas - that does seem to be the solution. But I've seen from other people that you can develop a tolerance, if you're not careful. So must take it delicately.

Tired: And it's not over yet....

Protesting.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

Protesting doesn't actually do much. I didn't protest this time. The culture of the war has become entrenched and Bush was reelected by the slim majority of Americans living in parts of the country that will never see thousands of people massed in downtown Seattle. No, the best way to get their attention is cognitive dissonance. We need to break through the thick shell of status quo media with whatever tools we've got. That means the internet, film, writing, and radio. Remember the 50, 70s and the 80s? Everyone points to the 60s and the hippies as a means of pop culture protest, but the actual content of the music was minimal when compared to the influences that came before and after it. We need a new generation of Beats, Bohemians, Punks, and Junkies. Our world is getting homogenized, but like a bacteria, that which promises to sanitize can only make that which it misses stronger. There is an open, blank slate waiting for us to corrupt it. Bush isn't a president. He's the figurehead of a reactive idology of denial and repression. And he's pissing off a tremendous amount of people. It's time to take the mantle from John and Yoko, from Susan Sontag, from Freidan, from Gary Snyder, from Plath, from from Pennebaker, from Salinger, from Tom Wolfe, from Kerouac, from Norman Mailer, from The Ramones and the Clash, from Black Flag, and from even Dylan himself to a new generation. Just watch. The art and the literature, the music and the cinema of the next ten years are going to be more angry, more potent, and better than anything you've ever seen.

Re: Protesting.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

PS, did you put anything up for submission to Bricolage?

Re: Protesting.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no - I haven't had much time for writing the last few months. You?

Re: Protesting.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I submitted something really pretty twisted. It's kind of an attempt at a different perspective on the kinds of everyday stuff I encounter. Very much in the style of Bukowski or John Fante. A lot of it is just to see how far I can push it before they'll straight out reject good writing for being offensive.

Re: Protesting.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That's an extremely good point - and, more than that, it actually gives me something to work toward. I'm not the type to go stand in a street with a sign, protesting something that's going to happen anyway. Besides, as you point out, protesting here in Seattle is preaching to the choir.

I've seen this phrased (by a writer for the SF Gate) as a time where we need liberals to stay and prepare for metaphorical battle against the conservative right, but no one ever bothered to say exactly how we were going to be fighting. The assumption, from what I could see, was a battle waged in legislation, in writing to law-makers, etc. Those are all good things, but I don't view them as my cup of tea, really. An artistic and intellectual revolution... now that, I can get behind. And maybe help, if I get my head out of my ass and start writing again. ;)