late afternoons beneath freeways we used to sit
ashes drifting asunder in golden wind
your hand outstretched, beckoning
“Take this vessel”
winding amongst snails we used to walk
the distant din of danger lanes
creeped into our conversation
“when do you leave”
for the western land where blackness
bubbles beneath the earth
in patterns of wealth for white men
never did I have so much contempt
for you, threw your weight behind
those who would rape the earth
without laying down
a flat condom
for the birds
i’ve named myself chief justice
on your moral review board
how ethical is that?
how seductive is that?
“Not really”
well …
i move in country circles
you live in city squares
never the less
you’re built like a garden
and in country circles
you’d be praised
for fruitfulness
but i see passed that easy implication
i know you prefer the beaver
and it tortures me, splits me
i freak out, smack down
touch my tongue to the fire
because loving you
however wrong in your view
makes me feel
makes me feel
all up on your lips
taste fake bread as naturally
grows alone since
found gutter of a home
a snake pit telepathy better than
when over this rooftop
dawn calls my darling
you told me that need stop now
slip my fingers back
another stop now
mad decent sound that
should always be sweeter
to panties get wetter
grab your hard wrap
hickey
tongue
lick
hot
like creamy
love fire
swishing dregs around in bay windows back to back
two glasses of water reflect, light leaking in
pouring across the discordant tables
over the sleeping lumps
last call long past
my dream of bar life
compared to the reality of
$2.50 drinks guarantee we’re going to get fucked
nevertheless we pre-drink
‘cause we’ve got to get fucked
watch you spin on the dance floor
thinking “you’ve got to throw up”
buy another round of jager bombs
thinking “are we fucked? are we fucked?”
follow you through a tangle of bushes
thinking “this is when we fuck”
and
waking up like what happened?
“What I teach is guise”
serious heterosexual disguise
to veil the work of empire from fresh eyes
to keep the GG awards coming
to keep the homos from cumming
old guys
hiding in old books
with round eyes
and eager hooks
afraid to lose control
the control the canon provides
what I like is guys
seriously homosexual guys
so I’d teach racialized people
disabled people
trans people
the marginals who transgress the margins
not the authors who solidify borders
whose books lay in abandoned Borders
whose minds contain folders
and whose binders are full of women
National tax laws have not kept pace with the globalization of corporations and the digital economy, leaving gaps that can be exploited by multinational corporations to artificially reduce their taxes
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a statement Friday announcing the new tax plan.
White supremacy has taught him that all people of color are threats irrespective of their behavior. Capitalism has taught him that, at all costs, his property can and must be protected. Patriarchy has taught him that his masculinity has to be proved by the willingness to conquer fear through aggression; that it would be unmanly to ask questions before taking action. Mass media then brings us the news of this in a newspeak manner that sounds almost jocular and celebratory, as though no tragedy has happened, as though the sacrifice of a young life was necessary to uphold property values and white patriarchal honor. Viewers are encouraged feel sympathy for the white male home owner who made a mistake. The fact that this mistake led to the violent death of an innocent young man does not register; the narrative is worded in a manner that encourages viewers to identify with the one who made the mistake by doing what we are led to feel we might all do to “protect our property at all costs from any sense of perceived threat. " This is what the worship of death looks like.
in the trees i see maps of the problematique,
sordid affairs, dressed down hair and veins.
a simple metaphor'd be to say we’re the trees
but out friendship is a lot more than simple
We couldn't rest, with this aweful sense of duty hanging off of our chests. Peeled away. We had to get back to where the grip of our own hands could lift us from the failures in the eyes of men, to form our scales and weigh our works, good again.
Do you think Mandela could be checking the news from his hospital bed in Pretoria? [Mandela remains in hospital: http://goo.gl/wUNTj]
Would he be disheartened to hear that gun advocates in the US are handing out shotguns? [Free shotguns handed out in Houston: http://goo.gl/1inja]
Does being a proponent of armed resistance influence one’s perspective on the politics of gun control?
If you’re waiting to hear updates on Nelson Mandela’s health, you may be interested to know that a new photo of Fidel Castro has been released by a Cuban state newspaper [Latest photo of Fidel Castro: http://goo.gl/HMi75]. However the photo of Castro meekly leaning out of a van to greet a Venezuelan diplomat likely will not keep you occupied until the 3pm news conference at which we expect updates on Madiba’s condition. In summary, the days are numbered for two of the world’s most renowned liberation leaders — no word yet on the long term success of their ‘revolutions’.
Worldwide, the weekend’s wonky weather seems to suit the announcement from climate scientists that atmospheric CO2 has reached a historic concentration [Atmospheric C02 hits ominous milestone: http://goo.gl/MC71W]. Europeans living along the unprecedentedly swollen Danube river [Floods in Central Europe continue: http://goo.gl/ut9Om] would like to know if crossing the 400 parts-per-million mark means that they should expect more widespread flooding in the years to come. Its business as usual in the United States where politicianspretend to give a fuck about reducing greenhouse gas emissions [U.S., China to work on cutting greenhouse emissions: http://goo.gl/ut9Om] and ignorant looters try to make a buck from the wreckage of their neighbour’s homes [Looters descend on tornado-struck Oklahoma town: http://goo.gl/E87kj]. To generalize: some watch and worry while those who can actually do something do things rhyming with luck (see italics above).
In Toronto, a demonstration calling for the decriminalization of prostitution [Toronto sex workers march: http://goo.gl/nAamn] was overheard chanting “John Malkovich for Mayor.” This makes sense in light of the public’s reaction to the scandal swirling around current mayor Rob Ford [Police visited home linked to Rob Ford crack allegations: http://goo.gl/nLoRz] and the details emerging about John Malkovich’s heroic actions in the streets of Toronto [John Malkovich helps save man’s life: http://goo.gl/66wiQ].
Note: for factual details please refer to news links, some of what I write is embellished
"My feeling is that student fees are instituted, basically as a technique of indoctrination and control. [...] It (tuition) is a technique of control, and it surely isn’t an economic necessity in the richest country in the world. [...] Universities that were built, worldwide, in the post-’70s and on, are usually designed so that they don’t have meeting places, designed just to keep students separated and under control. Look at the ratio of administrators to faculty: it’s gone way up the last couple of decades … not for educational purposes, but for more techniques of control. What you’re talking about, I think it should be opposed, because it’s a general form of indoctrination and control, which goes down to kindergarten. [...] It’s a way to make sure that children aren’t free, independent or inquisitive, exploring."
This opinion piece could have been about building a student movement in Ontario. It could have been about the necessity of building such a movement in light of the huge success of our comrades in Quebec. I would have amazed you with answers to questions like: What is the most sustainable funding system for post-secondary education (PSE)? or How do we ensure that PSE evolves responsibly, without burdening those that it is meant to benefit? Inevitably, I would have been forced to discuss the efficacy of democratic mobilization, the long term viability of loan and grant systems, and the fiscal capacity for tuition fee reduction. Hopefully, I would have found some way to avoid lamenting the depth of existing divisions amongst students.
But saying things like “fiscal capacity,” “basis for solidarity,” and “neoliberal corporatocracy” tends to scare people away. And truthfully, even the most politically active members of our community don’t know what it all means. The average student has no time to google ‘income contingent loan repayment.’ We have part time jobs, approaching deadlines and an insatiable thirst for Facebook.
Once upon a time (as promised), education in Canada looked like something out of Anne of Green Gables: white skinned youth with slate tablets at the ready. Somehow we’ve managed to allow almost all young people access to our schools. Of course, not before our ancestors illustrated the potential for education to be perverted by oppressive ideologies — residential schools, cough. So it seems we decided as Canadians, that education should be for everyone — and it should benefit our youth rather than strip them of their culture or otherwise harm them.
This idea has led us to make the education of our youth a collective responsibility. Obviously we don’t teach them ourselves but our tax dollars fund a high quality school system. We’ve got the literacy rates to prove it! Some countries go a little bit further and fully fund all levels of education — mostly European countries with names that sound like IKEA furniture.
Nevertheless, we seem to uphold the principle that education is a right. I mean, why else would we sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which requires that all parties to the covenant commit to “the progressive introduction of free education” at all levels? Probably the same reason we signed the Kyoto Accord — because we’re committed to long term action!
But silly — non-binding — international agreements are not the only reason that we, as a society, collectively cover the cost of Kindergarten. Simply put, when you’re 4 years old you just don’t have that kind of cash. Seriously, piggy-banks would have to be a lot bigger. Even with half day kindergarten programs leaving time for toddlers to engage in part time employment, they would never land a pay cheque big enough to pay their own way. So, we share the cost as a society until the dirty parasites achieve the skills and qualifications necessary to compete in our economic system.
Clearly that’s not the only reason. Educational institutions also provide citizen-rearing services. They are essential for producing a socially responsible, intelligent, healthy, and economically successful citizenry. If we denied education to all babies born this year, there would be a reason to fear the newly eligible voters of 2031 — an illiterate, unemployed horde that would strain the wallets of working class parents across the country.
Of course, teachers are not the only source of societal knowledge. Nor are schools the sole site of indoctrination into the capitalist dogma of “profit = happiness”. Young people also learn about the need to be economically successful from the media. I am convinced that the ubiquity of lifestyle advertising led to my firm belief at age nine that I needed life insurance. Advertisements and television shows teach us what we want. Schools prepare us for the labour necessary to buy those things. Education is essential to the middle class lifestyle of modern day capitalism.
My friends and I were recently celebrating the surplus of paid internships by burning our resumes when somehow the conversation turned into a complain-fest about how easy it was for our parents generation. It seems we’re all under the impression that not too long ago, the standard K-12 system was enough to provide the average student with everything they needed to find a good middle class job. Higher education was for those who wanted to be professionals or academics.
And my experience seems to confirm that. I mean, neither of my parents have more than a high school diploma, but both successfully navigated the corporate world for more than thirty-five years. My childhood was full of middle class comfort. Swimming lessons, family vacations, recreational sports. Even braces.
Only in the past couple years have my parents come to regret discontinuing their education after high school. My dad is convinced that his fellow Rogaine addicts are being let go at a faster rate than all the “young dudes” with their coveted M.A.s. I’m pretty sure that their faster rate of dismissal has more to do with the rapid onset of senility. But apparently thats an ageist assertion.
And maybe my dad’s right. Times have changed. Whether you want to be an electrician, secretary, photographer, teacher, police officer, or neurosurgeon — you need some form of training beyond that provided by the state. According to the Canadian Federation of Students’ Ontario, more than 70 per cent of new jobs require some form of post-secondary education. And this makes sense what with the acceleration of technological innovation. Our world is increasingly complex and more knowledge is necessary to operate efficiently within it.
The rapid industrialization of Western societies in the late 19th century quickly resulted in the standardized public school system we have come to know. In those rapidly complicating years, people recognized the need for standardized educational infrastructure that could fill the increasing demand for skilled workers. And in the past 20 years we’ve seen the latest leap forward — the rise of the information age. It’s created entirely new fields like computer programming, computer engineering and social media marketing. Not to mention all the new products that have quickly been incorporated into our middle class fantasies.
But maybe that’s where my parents generation is falling behind — adapting to new technologies and interfaces can be difficult. We’ve all watched someone over the age of 40 learn to text or zoom on their iPhone. Come to think of it, we’ve witnessed the evolution of cell phones from bricks to flip phones, from full keyboards to full touch screens. Maybe we can’t get jobs or appreciate talk radio, but we sure can adapt.
Our society, run by baby boomers, seems unwilling to adapt in the face of technological advancement, pressure from the job market, or the threat of the student loan bubble bursting like a Canuck version of the U.S. housing market. The rationale behind the public divestment of post-secondary education seems to be that downloading the cost onto students is acceptable because we are investing in our own future. These harsh economic times mean that we have to find ways to avoid spending tax dollars wherever we can.
The only reason this downloading of cost works is because of massive national and provincial loan systems. Students who don’t have the benefit of being born into families wealthy enough to see them through to their first “real job,” have the ability to defer their tuition by accruing debt. This creates the illusion of equal access to post-secondary education, while obscuring the effective suspension of the middle class lifestyle for up to twenty years for the vast number of students that accrue PSE debt.
But if we have eliminated the need to pay up front, what’s stopping us from charging kindergarten or at least high school students some of the cost of their education? Presumably they would also be investing in their future. Shouldn’t everyone be expected to do their part?
If the student loan system guarantees equal access to post-secondary education but effectively postpones for decades the middle class lifestyle that inheritance-challenged students have worked so hard to achieve, does our system uphold the values which have informed the evolution of education in Canada for years?
Is it time for Canada to accept that the future has arrived? And when will we take collective responsibility for training the workforce necessary to take full advantage of what that future has to offer?
