Return to the Roost

After about a month away during which I enjoyed the blissfulness of relative quietude, the Harpies in the apartment below have returned and with all their customary cackling and squawkwing and carrying on so at the strangest hours. It's the most curious thing. You won't hear a peep until three or four in the morning when you are suddenly awakened by a bout of loud and obnoxious squawking, almost as though they have joyfully returned from a successful night of hunting with hapless victim clutched in their bloody talons. They have this habit of carrying on long and involved conversations from opposite ends of the apartment, presumably one is in the kitchen heating up a skillet and the other is down the hall somewhere field-dressing the prey. Presumably during their time away they've learned to cook since they're not setting off the smoke detector nearly as often as they did prior to the hiatus. But in all fairness, they don't carry on so every single night, though it happens frequently enough for them to earn the label of "annoying."

Speaking her mind...

Never heard much about Senator Claire McCaskill until I saw this video yesterday. Suddenly she's one of my favorite politicians....

Tuesday Afternoon

I am most creative and productive on dreary and rainy days. As today fit into that category, I rushed home early from work filled with An Holy Zeal to hammer away on the thesis write up and immediately fell asleep. Rain pattering against the window and ancient steam radiators hissing away overruled writing in lieu of a nap, with which the cats were in hearty agreement. Upon waking an hour or so later, I grabbed a jacket and Don Quixote (the book, not the man) and, not yet fully awake from the nap, staggered over to Starbucks for a coffee and a bit of reading. It was an ideal afternoon for such a venture. Positioned at my favorite table by the window, I divided my attention between the book, the coffee, and the comings and goings along Colley Avenue: people passing by half hidden by umbrellas, the muted light of street lamps reflecting on the sidewalk and parked cars, and the gentle rain falling, dripping off the lonely patio tables and pooling on the brick floor below. And in thus manner was the afternoon spent, until at last the coffee was gone and queue of patrons hopeful for tables necessitated gathering up the book and scurrying across the street to home through the gathering darkness and lingering rain.

New Project

A forthcoming reading project will be a study of socialism, beginning with theory then moving on to historical applications. Why would I do this? you might ask. Much of my reading over the last couple of months has dealt with the history of Latin America, specifically the human impact of U.S. backed wars of terror against purported leftist insurgents nancing around Central America in the 1970s and 80s. If you have never read about this period of history, I suggest you make a cursory exploration of this overlooked part of history, which is one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. It will be an eye-opener for you much as it has been for me. The time and effort and monetary resources the U.S. poured into stopping the leftward drift in this part of the world makes me curious as to what about socialism was so fearful and terrible that we turned a blind eye to egregious and broad scale human right abuses, if not supporting such violations outright. By this I mean to get at the theoretical foundations, not the typical propaganda dutifully regurgitated pertaining to the threat of leftist idealism. What do we really know about socialism beyond what we are told by its ideological opponents? What is it that makes capitalists fall into paroxysms of anger and threat at its mention? It is as wretched of a social order as we are told? These are the questions I seek to answer.

The List 2008

In 2008 I read a total of 17 books comprising 4,988 pages (for an average number of 13.62 pages read per day). This is a miserable failure. The goal at the start of the year was a minimum of 20 books with unspoken aspirations of 30. Between getting bogged down in a couple books and encountering an assortment of distractions (combined with a lapse in the discipline customary with such endeavors) the year slipped away before the reading goal was achieved. However, it must duly be noted that the last five books (29% of the annual total) in the list below (comprising 1,440 pages, or nearly 29% percent of the annual page count) were all read in the month of December, a time when both discipline and focus were high. So at any rate, The List of books read this year is presented below in a Title (Author) number of pages format.

1. The Discovery of the Igorots (William Henry Scott) 332p.
2. Jerusalem Delivered (Tarquato Tasso) 413 p.
3. The Diary and Life of William Byrd II (Kenneth Lockridge) 166p.
4. Histories of the Dividing Line Expedition (William Byrd II) 320p.
5. The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch) 206p.
6. Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond) 464 p.
7. Beowulf (Author unknown) 105p.
8. Travels Through America (Jonathan Carver) 228p.
9. Utopia (Sir Thomas More) 150p.
10. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) 167p.
11. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) 229p.
12. Che: A Revolutionary Life (Jon Lee Anderson) 768p.
13. Hegemony or Survival (Noam Chomsky) 255p.
14. Hugo! The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution (Bart Jones) 487p.
15. Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New War on the Poor (Paul Farmer) 256p.
16. The Bolivian Diary (Ernesto “Che” Guevara) 276p.
17. Profit Over People (Noam Chomsky) 166p.

Which book of 2008 was my favorite? While they all had their varying degrees of merit, the best when considered in terms of totality was unquestionably Pathologies of Power. If there was ever a book that bring about a true conscious-raising as to the structural violence that constitutes the underlying causes of poverty and illness, of which we’re all culpable, this is it. The book will make you angry; the book will enlighten you; the book presents a masterful, broadly applicable theoretical framework into which many of the world’s injustices can be logically subsumed. I do not recall ever marking up a book as much as I did this one with notes scribbled in the margins, key phrases underlined, and important pages dog-eared. What’s more, the bibliography is among the best I’ve ever encountered and serves as a great resource for further inquiry into structural violence, the savaging effects of neoliberal economic policies on the developing world, economic and social rights, and, of all things, liberation theology. Much ink and many pages of the personal journal have since been devoted to the oft quoted phrase “preferential option for the poor.”

My favorite author of 2009? Chomsky. If you have never read Chomsky, I strongly suggest you do. He’s a powerful and insightful writer and even if you don’t necessarily agree with him, his arguments will make you think. Hegemony or Survival was the better of the two Chomsky books read this year, much of which dovetails nicely with the arguments put forth by Farmer in Pathologies of Power regarding economic and social violence, though Farmer takes it a step further in his application to sickness and health. I foresee reading much more of Chomsky this year.

On to 2009. The goal will be a minimum of 30 books. I've already knocked out two: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck and Chomsky's Failed States and am well into my third: Beatriz Manz's Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Hope, and Terror.

Barbarians at the Gates

Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shoppers Knock Him Down

Wal-Mart worker dies after being bulldozed by bargain-hunting Black Friday shopping stampede

By COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press
NEW YORK

A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when "out-of-control" shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
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OK. There are so many things blatantly wrong with this that I hardly know how, nor where, to begin casting forth the much-deserved vituperations. I don’t get angry about much, but this certainly does it. While the trampling incident is shocking and tragic, the most sickening part of this was that customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death.

They kept shopping?!?

What on earth is wrong with those people?! I’m sorry, but have we come to this? Has the desire for a “bargain” dredged up from the distant past a barbaric form of greed that overrides more civilized, respectful sensibilities? The rampaging herd mentality is one thing (commercialism in one of its ugliest manifestations), but for the angry crowd to continue shopping, shopping of all things, in light of the tragedy that they themselves caused defies any logical explanation beyond the fact that humans are, at least in terms of social economics, far less evolved than they pride themselves to be. The barbarians aren’t at the gates; they’re at Wal-Mart or wherever bargains are to be had.

Now, perhaps I’m being harsh. As we all know, people aren’t really responsible for their own actions, so maybe the sales bear the ultimate responsibility for the man‘s death. As you read further in the AP article, you see what sort of deals drove the crowd into it‘s blind fury, items including a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9.

Wow.

DVDs for nine dollars.

How could the crowd be at fault when tempted with such deals?

From time to time one reads a new story of similar tramplings associated with emergency humanitarian food drops in the developing world. While these incidents are also tragic, they’re somewhat more understandable in the sense that they involve a core life issue like, say, starvation. But for such a tragedy to happen in the context of non-critical material goods (even at bargain prices!) indicates a lost way, a reign of greed, a profound social illness.

*shivers*

A cold and blustery evening here in Norfolk with an ever so slight chance of snow. Yep. Snow. Not bloody likely here in the Tidewater, but nice to consider nonetheless. Perhaps it's not as impossible as one might think. If Virginia could happy go blue this election, snow here in November is suddenly probable. To complete the cold autumn evening effect, a pot of hearty beef stew is slow-simmering away in the kitchen with a Harvest Yankee Candle flickering away in the living room, casting moving monstrous shadows on the walls, much to the interest of the cats.

The evening's agenda consists of little more than wrapping up dinner and getting some more reading done. I wrote at length in the journal earlier this evening and may pen a few more lines before I return to the Che biography, which I am very much enjoying. The quality of this book is such that I would happily take a day off from work for the purpose of reading all day. It's a rare book that incites such a degree of interest for which one would happily burn valuable vacation time.

Rainy Afternoon

Home from work a couple hour later than planned. The steady rain puts me in the mood for a nap, but that can't be incorporated into the agenda as there's much to do this afternoon and evening before I get started with the cooking. I dearly love days like this: dark and dreary with a delightful rain. Few things put one in the mood to curl up all day with a book or scribble for hours in the journal about nothing and everying. At least for me, there's something about rainy days that spurs on the creative/intellectual processes.

Anyway...off to make coffee lest I succumb to the temptation of sleep.

Morning Coffee

Just a few quick lines before I ready myself for work. We're having a bit of dense fog here in Norfolk this morning with more rain on the way for later today, tonight, and tomorrow. If all goes as planned, I am going to take off early from the office, hopefully no later than noon or shortly thereafter. It has been a long week, so I am looking forward to starting the weekend early. Besides, a friend will be coming over for dinner tonight (that's the plan anyway) and I need to tidy up the apartment and make a run to the grocery for a few things.

Anyway...off to ready myself for the day.

The Selection

It took but a little deliberation after Sunday's post to select the next book: I decided to go with the Che biography. I had planned that afternoon to read only the introduction and maybe begin the first chapter, but when i got into the book I ended up reading well into the night and only reluctantly stopped due to the necessity of sleep for an early day at the office on Monday. As today is a holiday from work with little on the agenda, I plan to spend quality hours with Che. I am impressed with Anderson's writing style: lively and engaging, full of detail, yet far from tedious. My current assessment is that this is going to be a very good book and I regret having waited so long to read it.