02/01 Writers Block
For a couple of years the bulk of my writing has either been here or for the magazine. It is always a balance trying to figure out the magic combination of doing what inspires you, doing what has to be done, and doing something that will be helpful for you in the long term. I haven't found that balance for myself, but let's just say that I have been getting a lot more done than I have been doing inspiring things the past year. Meeting people is inspiring but what I used to get out of writing has been scarce.My content for this issue of the magazine has finally been put to bed. It's about half what I committed to, which is a bummer. But it is done and now I can move on to other things. I really hope the next cycle will be one where I get more writing done. I'd really like to finish one or two of the major writing projects I've been thinking about, start this new newspaper, and start editing a bit. That reminds me of a couple of projects...
15/12 Get your Spanish Civil War on!
We watched Land and Freedom this week which most anyone of even a marginally anarchist persuasion can get excited about. I had thought that I had seen it before but I hadn't.The story is really from the perspective of the POUM (like Orwell's story), rather than from the anarchists, but anarchists are treated respectfully and the protagonist from the POUM ends up destroying his own party card due to the challenge represented by the anarchists.
A couple of visual snapshots for me about the movie
07/12 Pippi!
Following the theme of last weeks post...This week the Anarchist Study Group watched Pippi Goes on Board the surreal sequel to Pippi Longstockings the famous Swedish childrens story of a very powerful young woman.
While the movie has its charms and is clearly a product of liberal attitudes towards sex and drug use (it was made in 75) the question does merit asking... What is anarchist about this movie?
Anarchists continue to struggle with the tension between form and content. Most self-described anarchists emphasize content alone neglecting their own presentation as humorless inhuman protesting (or manifesto and mission staement producing) machines at worst, and ineffective dreamers at best. Being against everything may be the right way to go in a World of Total Immiseration (TM) but the moral highroad isn't for everyone.
