Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
Hey, Castro Valley High School hasn't changed one bit in twenty six years. I could've written this in 1974.
Raymond is famous.
Read Supernatural Thing by Jerry Saltz; a review of "Serpentology Drawings," 19th century Rajasthan paintings and drawings at Jack Shainman Gallery, NY. Lots of images here, which I wish I could look at more closely and carefully. They seem very contemporary.
I just needed a break and went out for a long walk. I'd never walked along the west side of Hilgard near Tolman and noticed this inscription: TO RESCUE FOR HUMAN SOCIETY THE NATIVE VALUES OF RURAL LIFE. I guess even 1908 wasn't too early to start worrying about this, but it also sounds a bit partonizing, I think.
The last couple of days I've been hit by someone whose ISP is in Manchester, UK, possibly at the University of London Computer Centre. Welcome. Who are you? Drop me a line.
Fascinating: For First Time, Nuclear Families Drop Below 25% of Households
For the first time, less than a quarter of the households in the United States are made up of married couples with their children, new census data show.
That results from a number of factors, like many men and women delaying both marriage and having children, more couples living longer after their adult children leave home and the number of single-parent families growing much faster than the number of married couples.
Do you think this will put an end to the political, economic, and moral emphasis in this country on "family values?" Nah, neither do I.
Warning: rant ahead... graffiti I can identify with that I spotted this morning spray painted in large letters on the side of Whole Foods at Telegraph and Ashby: F_ _ _ Bourgeois Food. Yeah. I just hate W_ _ _ _ F_ _ _ _. I hate going in there, I hate the emphasis on displays and packaging, I hate the prices, I hate the pseudo "nothing but the best of the best for those who can afford it and aren't we so wonderful in Berkeley," and I hate the late-post-hippy alternative nova-agers that work there. And I'm not a hateful person. At least if you go to Andronicos there's no illusions there: we carry high quality items, our prices are high, we're reliable, and our service is good. Somehow Whole Foods wants me to think that they're better for my health. No way. I'm not shopping there. It's the New Radical Bourgeois Market for peace marchers who fight over parking spaces, self-centered zen heads, anti-capitalist aeshtetes. Get over it; W_ _ _ _ F_ _ _ _ is an ultra-marketing profitable chain. They make money by making you think they really care about you, the consumer. By definition, as a large commercial chain, they really don't because they really can't. I'm happy about the increasing consciousness about organic food and biotechnology, but I won't buy it at W_ _ _ _ F_ _ _ _ as long as I have alternatives. Do I know what I'm talking about? Ahh, I don't know, I just hate W_ _ _ _ F_ _ _ _. How much do I hate them? So much that I won't link to their corporate site. In fact, I hate them so much I just went back through this rant and replaced the name with initials and spaces only, except for the first mention so search engines will find this!
OK, if you somehow got this far (God love you) you must read Catherine's calm and well-reasoned response to my rant. On reflection, I feel the need to clarify: my rant is based solely on my experiences in the W _ _ _ _ F _ _ _ _ at Telegraph and Ashby in Berkeley. I have never been inside any other branch of this chain. What I wrote about is based on three very negative experiences during three store visits. And I feel like I don't need WFM. Being a life-long resident of the Bay Area, entirely in the East Bay, twenty years around the shores of beautiful Lake Merritt, I take for granted that I can walk twenty or drive ten minutes and buy just about any kind of food and ingredients I desire. I know nothing (I say this tongue in cheek; OK, well not totally TIC) about the wastelands of America outside the rarified, intimate, and chosen inner sanctum of Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and Marin County.
Believe me, Ann is sick of hearing me talk about this, as is by now probably you too, dear reader, and I'll do my best never to bring this up again unless I spot another really good piece of graffiti, or I read a hard hitting piece of journalism exposing the increasing coporatization of organic food production and marketing, which is probably lurking out there already.
Hey, I spoke too soon; this was in last Sunday's NYTimes Magazine:
Behind the Organic-Industrial Complex
How organic became a marketing niche and a multibillion-dollar industry
I didn't read this last Sunday and will go back to it. Quick scan: what is organic is increasingly questionable, and marketing is playing an increasing role in making consumers believe they're buying something better than it may really be. Raise your hand if you're surprised. C'mon, y'all cant all be that jaded yet, right?
On a related note: The Green Revolution Yields to the Bottom Line
Peter Ford writes: How then, can regular 'journal' type weblogging be encouraged among younger writers who don't enjoy the broad range of writing experience that comes with age? This is possibly where older, more experienced bloggers could consciously model the process to younger students. If they are shown how this style of writing works and see a variety of stimulating journaling, they will want to produce their own versions and so the habit forms ;-)
The challenge for the older 'facilitators' is not only to model 'cool' journaling to a pretty demanding audience, but also to interact with the younger webloggers, commenting and asking pertinent questions to guide the budding writers without taking away their freedom to express what they want.
Challenging older students to provide pedadgogical nudges to encourage younger students from one zone of proximal development to the next - sounds pretty idealistic but exciting nevertheless :-)
Yes! And not so idealistic after all. One trick is finding a model that considers the pace and level of engagement, language issues, and the right incentives to match both younger and older writers. Knowing how to nudge someone along, how to comment on writing, when to offer critical guidance disguised as an encouraging challenge is a skill that takes some effort, sensitivity, and lots of practice that is constantly reflected on. You also have to know a fair amount about conventions and practices of writing, and reading, and some awareness of the developmental process of emerging writers, to do this.
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he thinks of her:
based on a dream
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Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
Say...
The opinions or statements
expressed herein should not be taken as a position of or endorsement
by the University of California, Berkeley. Nor should the
opinions or statements expressed herein be taken as a position
of or endorsement of the University of California, Berkeley.
Links on these pages to commercial sites do not represent
endorsement by the University of California or its affiliates.
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