Lisablog correspondent Danny K passes along this link to the UCLA Police. If you've been following the case of Mostafa Tabatabainejad, you can go to this website and email your concerns directly to the cops. Peace.
Lisablog correspondent Danny K passes along this link to the UCLA Police. If you've been following the case of Mostafa Tabatabainejad, you can go to this website and email your concerns directly to the cops. Peace.
UCLA Daily Bruin. In case you've missed the news from Southern California, on Tuesday an Iranian-American student was assaulted by police when he failed to produce his student ID card while in the library. The incident was caught on video. You can watch it on YouTube, if you're up for watching the cops as they taser a screaming guy for six minutes. It's very Abu Ghraib. We, the good people of Lisablog, once had a shrink who pointed out that cops become cops because they are afraid of their criminal instincts. (The follow up is that the shrink turned out to be psychotic. Go figure.) As the Bard says, Don't follow leaders, and watch the parking meters. And a note out to my marathon-tip friends out there: thanks much for the comments and advice. (For the readers who missed it, see the comments of Sunday November 12th.)
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Updated: Saturday, 18 November 2006 3:32 PM EST
Another sad and excellent piece on Brad Will, this time in The Village Voice.
And, if you're out and about in New York City this weekend, be sure to check out the New York Art Book Fair over in Chelsea. Our friend Helen came all the way from Scotland with a big heavy bag of terrific rare artists books. It's not often you can get books from Helen's Weproductions in the United States. This is a very special opportunity. The book fair is happening all day on Saturday and Sunday and here is the address: 548 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenue. Admission to the fair is free. So haul your ass down there and check out some books that are more than just books.
Good afternoon people, and welcome to the Himalayas. Capital of Bhutan? Thimphu. It's a great city for marathon training: altitude 8,000 feet. Now, a simple Peak Performance note. Some of you may be asking: why are the good people of Lisablog so pathologically attatched to Peak Performance? This is a good question which we will attempt to answer for you today. The truth is that the good people of Lisablog have not always been Peak Performers. In fact, like all the rest of humanity, we, the good people of Lisablog have had our ups and downs and side-swipes. But in homage to all the underdogs out there, and out of respect for the underdog of our unconscious and superego, we, the good people of Lisablog made a decision to, as Rilke says, "change our lives." Our comic strip hero in this regard is of course the great super-hero of own borough of Queens, Spiderman. With the help of a nasty little spider bite, Spiderman changed his life. Not only did he change his life, but he lived by the motto: With great power comes great responsibility. Dig it. What can you gain from setting high goals for yourself and pushing yourself to make maximum use of your mind and body? There is much that you can gain from this Peak Performance attitude: firstly, you will find that it's much easier to get out of bed in the morning. Things that used to feel hard will feel easy. Do you dread going to work, taking out the trash, cleaning out the fridge, going to the dentist? We guarantee you that if you integrate a series of higher goals (graduate studies in linguistics, triathlon training, pilot school, kyokushin karate) you will find that the little things are much easier to attend to. So, set some goals, start your training, and take it one step at a time, but don't be afraid to push yourself. Did someone somewhere along the way tell you that you couldn't and wouldn't be all that you could be? Now is the time to re-write that story.
And finally, some tips for all the Kyokushin White Belts out there who are preparing for their 10th Kyu promotion:
Learn your dojo oath. It's easy: unlike other things you learn in the dojo, the dojo oath is in English. You have no excuse for not knowing it.
In practicing your katas, attend to those fine details of the form. Fix your stance, keep your back leg straight, punch for your target: not out to the side, but dead center chudan toward the solar plexus. Look before you step! Look! Step! Block or Punch! As Dylan Thomas once said, Do not go blindly into your kumite! You need to look at whoever it is you are about to knock out. Look! Look! Look! (Turning your head before the movement also helps to facilitate the movement and the turn.)
Learn as many stances as you can before your first promotion. Learning stances doesn't require a lot of brain power. Neko Ashi Dachi: Cat Stance. You've seen your cat do it. Now you know what it is.
And finally, try not to be nervous. This is your life. You decided to be a karateka. You're doing this for yourself, not for anyone else. Keep your focus on the art of the sport, not on what other people think of you.
Peace people, and rock on.
Hello People, and welcome to another foggy globally warm Sunnyside day. And now, the News: For the Oak Tree Freaks in the audience, how about a free copy of Field Guide to the Native Oak Species of Eastern North America? Send an email to Lisa Cress of the U.S. Forest Service at lcress@fs.fed.us She will send you the book. Don't say the Feds never gave you anything. We received our copy yesterday and we are very very pleased with it. It helped us to make that tricky identification of one of our local Sunnyside trees: Pin Oak or Scarlet Oak? It's a Pin Oak. How could we tell? The leaves can be pretty similar. So, it's all in the fruit. The Pin Oak has a shallower acorn cup than the Scarlet Oak. It's disky like a UFO. The Scarlet Oak's acorn hat is deeper, like a tea cup for a squirrel.
Other news: There is no other news today. We are wrapping our little Lisablog minds around marathon training and yellow belt promotions. Hang in there until tomorrow and we will be back with new improved meatier musclar news. Peace people.
Okay Peops, this is coming to you from Lisablog Correspondent Jimmy B. To know him is to love him:
We're looking for nominees in the following categories for the 2006 Jorie Awards.
Poetic Careerist of the Year
Awards will be voted upon by the general public and will be presented at a cermony in NYC this December.
Let me know if you'd like to be asked to be a presenter or performer.
Sincerely,
Hello, Valued Member of the Poetic Community:
Careerist Ensemble of the Year
Self-Promoter of the Year
Careerist Blogger of the Year
Academic Careerist of the Year
Anti-Careerist Careerist of the Year
Foet of the Year
Sycophant of the Year
Poetic Climber of the Year
Overexposed Book of the Year
Overexposed Magazine of the Year
Over-blogged-about Poet of the Year
Careerist Blog Campaign of the Year
Careerist Poetry Reading of the Year
Poetic Power Couple of the Year
Outstanding Careerist Accomplishment in Listservs
Outstanding Accomplisment in Over-reading-out
Oustanding Accomplishment in Self-Promotion
Outstanding Accomplishment in Poetic Hypocrisy
Douchebag of the Year
Jimmy Behrle
thejorieawards.blogspot.com
Firstly, there is some very good news coming across the e-waves as we write. Charles Anthony Nealy has been granted a reprieve by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals while an investigation is launched into Prosecutor Misconduct in his case. Please drop a note to Anthony Nealy to let him know that he's not alone. Here's his address:
Charles Anthony Nealy #999289
And now, a bit of fun for you all. Today in the Robert Duncan seminar we will be looking at RD's late works, collected in Ground Work II: In the Dark. We thought you might like to see what RD was reading during the composition of those poems. Here's a sampling of texts that he writes about in his notebooks, ca. 1978-1988: (You'll see the New College class readings scattered throughout here): Noam Chomsky. “On the Biological Basis of Language Capacities.”
Regarding Revolutionary Mexico, here are a couple good links that we're sending out in Memory of Brad Will:
New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists Rainforest Relief Organization Friends of Brad Will (with ongoing news from Oaxaca regarding the struggle of the APPO).
Finally today, a note regarding Peak Performance. We're at mid-month and we know that November can sometimes get you down. It's dark and rainy and these days in New York we have a bit of global warming fog to add to the gloom. But the weather is no excuse to give in to whatever ails your body and/or your mind. In fact, you should be thinking around this seasonal change with some flexible-optimism. Days will begin to get longer again in about six weeks. That is something to look forward to. And why not use the winter months to get yourself in shape for the spring? Use the gloomy season as a training ground from which to bloom into a beautiful oak tree or butterfly or black belt. You'll be happy that you did.
Need more inspiration? As Sempai Joseph over at the Dojo says, it's your movie, you decide the character you want to play. James Bond? Maybe. How about Neo? You are the star of your own movie. You are the star and you are the director. Do you have a vision statement? Then you have a script! Still need more inspiration? Keep the Navy Seal Motto in your head: The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday. It sounds harsh, but it's life-changing. Take it from the good people of Lisablog, if you can do fifty push-ups today, you can do one hundred push-ups tomorrow. If you can run three miles today, you can run six miles tomorrow. If you can do the dishes and take the dog for a walk, you also have time to listen to a webcast of a college course, learn five words of a new language (or even ten), and write a letter to a death row prisoner. Don't think you have time? You do. You can easily do 50 push ups while your coffee is brewing. (Do them in sets of 10 if you are feeling awkward and tired.) You can listen to that college course webcast on the subway on your way to work. Start integrating this kind of thinking into your life. Start integrating the "doing" as in "Just Do It". Pretty soon it will come naturally and you'll be saying "That was totally easy!" (That's when you move on to the next challenge.) You will re-wire your mind and body into a natural Peak Performance Mode. You will find yourself more happy, more hungry, more awake, more focused, and more prepared for everything the world has to offer.
Peace people, and happy Tuesday.
And for those of you who are ready to go back to college, here's the link: University of California at Berkeley Virtual Cornucopia of Online Learning. We recommend General Human Anatomy. The Professor is a real Peak Performer.
Polunsky Unit D.R.
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston Texas
77351 USA
Enid Starkie. Baudelaire.
Umberto Eco. The Role of the Reader.
Piaget. Structuralism.
Piaget. The Origins of Intelligence in Children.
George Mills Harper. Yeats’s Golden Dawn.
Ducrow/Todorov. Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Sciences of Language.
Robert Darnton. Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France.
Jacob Bronowski. William Blake and the Age of Revolution.
James M. Redfield. Nature and Culture in the Iliad.
Karl Popper. Quantum Theory and the Schism in Physics.
Joseph Agassi. Farady as a Natural Philosopher.
Julia Kristeva. Revolution de Language Poetique.
Martin Gardiner. “The Hole in Black Holes.”
Ronald Johnson. Wor(l)ds.
Annemarie Schimmel. The Triumphant Sun. (on Rumi)
Tzvetan Todorov. Theories of the Symbol.
Susan Friedman. Psyche Reborn. (on H.D.)
Jaques Scherer. Le “Livre” de Mallarme.
Need to get more freaked out about the Death Penalty before you take action? The Texas Department of Corrections has a site where you can read Last Words.
Here are a couple examples: Momma, I just want you to know I love you. I want all of you to know I love you all. I am at peace; we know what it is. We know the truth. Stay out of crime; there is no point in it. I am at peace. We know the truth and I know it. I have some peace. I am glad it didn't take that long - no 10 or 20 years. I am at peace. And I want everyone to know I did not walk to this because this is straight up murder. I just want everybody to know I didn't walk to this. The reason is because it's murder. I am not going to play a part in my own murder. No one should have to do that. I love you all. I do not know all of your names. And I don't know how you feel about me. And whether you believe it or not, I did not kill them. I just want you all to have peace; you know what I'm saying. There is no point in that. It is neither here nor there. You have to move past it. It is time to move on. You know what I'm saying. I want each one of my loved ones to move on. I am glad it didn't last long. I am glad it didn't last long. I am at peace. I am at peace to the fullest. The people that did this - they know. I am not here to point fingers. God will let them know. If this is what it takes, just do what you got to do to get past it. What it takes. I am ready, Warden. Love you all. Let my son know I love him. (Lamont Reese, died 20 June 2006) Only the sky and the green grass goes on forever and today is a good day to die. (David Martinez, 25 July 2005) I just wanted to say to all of those that have supported me over the years that I appreciate it and I love you. And I just want to tell my mom that I love her and I will see her in Heaven. (Demarco McCullum, 9 November 2004).
Debbie, my Baby, I love you; do you know I love you. You are my life. You are my wife - always stay strong. Stay strong everybody. I am innocent. I am being punished for a crime I did not commit. I have professed my innocence for nine years, and I continue to say I am innocent. Let my people know I love them. We must continue on. Do not give up the fight; do not give up hope for a better future. Because we can make it happen. I love you, I love my son, and I love my daughter. Bruno, Chuckie, Juanita, Ray - I love you, all of you. Stay strong baby. I love you forever. (Derrick Frazier, 31 August 2006)
Peace People.
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Updated: Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:00 AM EST
This is from Lisablog Correspondent Corrine F. over at the Poetry Project: Happy rainy Sunday.
I'm making a push for interest (and audience) in a (non-poetry) event
I'm hosting this Friday night at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's
Church.
Jill Magid is a visual artist who explores the device of seduction as
a means of engaging impersonal, governing systems in an intimate way
in order to expose vulnerabilities and permeable points of entrance
into structures such as the NYC MTA police, the Dutch Secret Service
or British CCTV surveillance mechanisms.
On Friday 11/17 at 10:30 she will be presenting images and reading
text from a current project in which she approached an MTA police
officer underground and asked him to search her. He wouldn't search
her but he agreed to train her. Months of clandestine underground
meetings ensued, as Magid instigated, pushed and maintained a personal
dialogue within
the surveilling power structure. She will discuss related works as
well (i.e. her current commission by the Dutch government to collect
stories from their own spies under the
condition of complete anonymity.) Please check out her website at
www.jillmagid.net to see scores of other projects from the past five
or so years. I'll paste her bio below here. Do consider coming this
Friday night!
Thanks,
Artist Jill Magid seeks intimate relationships with impersonal
structures. She engages the disciplining systems in current society
such as police, CCTV, and forensic sciences to exploit the latent
possibilities of their services. Weaving narrative patterns through
seemingly closed systems, Magid distills and presents her experience in
materials related to them. After receiving a Masters of Science in
Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000,
Magid relocated to the Netherlands as a resident at the Rijksakademie
van Beeldende Kunsten and has since been showing internationally. Her
work has been shown at a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau
Amsterdam, at De Appel in Amsterdam, Balance and Power curated by
Michael Rush at the Krannert Art Museum in Illinois, Positioning
statement | Image Cairo 3 in Cairo, Egypt, DMZ 2005 Korea: A project
between North and South Korea, and at the Liverpool Biennial
International ,2004. Upcoming shows include Naked Life at MOCA Taipei
and CASM Barcelona. She is a visiting artist at Cooper Union and a
lecturer at University of Pennsylvania. Magid currently lives and works
in New York and Amsterdam. www.jillmagid.net
Hi Friends,
Love,
Corrine
Hello People of the Blog. We're looking for some tips from the Marathoners out there. Have you run a marathon? Do you have a top ten list of tips?
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