Clever opening, designers. Clever way to encourage the blog to be created.
So I was sitting here at the computer, it's late, I'm relatively stoned as to be expected at this hour. I click the cute little pen symbol for the blog while thinking, "I don't have anything to write about." The very first words that draw my attention solve this problem.
WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?
Well a whole shit load, thank you very much! Where do I begin with what's on my mind? Do I start personal and expand outwards, do I start global and collapse in? Do I deny one of the two? How about I make it a volley.
So I'm generally in that terrified realm of working on a thesis. Only doing research but as I compile more and more I begin to think beyond the wall, as in what is on the other side of this accomplishment? I'll have a graduate degree in English, which qualifies me for several different jobs. But do I settle for that? Do I go for my doctorate? If so do I honestly want to teach? Is this about more than job opportunities in the end of the day? I realize this is a steadfast capitalist market but there's something more noble to think in broader circles than just what orbits around your person. Granted I could turn this around into simply writing. Sure. That is an option. But is it -the- option?
So that's on my mind.
What the fuck is goin' on with corporations is on my mind. Inversion? Are you kidding me? So wait, let me get this straight. It's bad when an individual is accused of simply taking from the country without giving anything back in return, right? That's supposed to bad, at least to the extent that it's an apparent pillar of conservative ideology. But this is okay when a corporation does it? I'm existing in a land lost in some Marxist nightmare. It's one thing for capitalism to lay down the heavy hand, it's another when completely fictional structures of people are given greater individual rights than people. People.
Speaking of people I have to ask a question. Are you the sort who claims to see no color, or who does see color? If you're the former I need follow up that question with: Why? If race is important to individual constructions of the self, and it is according to Cross and many others, why would another individual deny that aspect of the person? Seriously. Think about it. If you claim to me that you don't see me as the rest of the world see's me, as I see myself, then you have just denied me part of who I understand myself to be. Is race a beneficial point of identity creation? Well it's a problematic but very real one. We can agree, I'm certain, that utilizing race as a category of distinction is bad. Thus using that categorical difference to define the self is hardly a perfect structure. But that is how it functions in the United States. Therefor why would any one person who want's to be defined as "non-racist" deny the very real importance of race to another person's identity? That is what happens when you claim, "I don't see color." Want a better understanding? Free up some time and watch part one and two of the "Brown eye, Blue eye" workshop on youtube.
That's been on my mind.
The convoluted notions as to why Palestinians are demonized.
This is on my mind.
There's the status of the impoverished and the incarcerated as well. All those beautiful ways of removing the "person" from an individual and turning them into another portion of a statistic. Ask yourself, honestly, how frequently you concern yourself with someone asking for change on the corner? Or with a felon being treated inhumanely while probably serving a sentence that's disproportionate to the crime? I ask myself this every several weeks and my stomach always churns when I do. The response is never as glowing as I want it to be. How is it that we can stand for fellow people to be treated as less than people? I can't argue for the absolutist notion of equality. There will always be inequality in some measure. But at what point did we allow our monetary defined concept of "success" to be the basis for judging our humanity? If you find the greatest success you are consider to be a successful person. In the event of the opposite being true you are a "bum," a "hobo," a "beggar," you are "poor." Not a poor person. You are simply defined as "poor." The United States is a country that demands the title of "best" without always deserving it. We jail people for minor offenses, we allow our communities with less affluence to dwindle and their educational systems to degrade. Those of us outside of such definitions turn blind eyes, we watch the pretty lights and moan when they display to us poor conditions for others. We feel bad but they are Other. How do we live with ourselves?
Been thinking about that as well.
Wasabi cashews are effin' delicious.
Just thought about that.
So I suppose the prompt worked. What was on mind? A jumble that continues to net and grow.