The Mesosphere

Creative Writing.

2011-10-10T03:59:00.000-07:00

I started writing about California when I moved back (to Santa Cruz, in August 2011).

Just what I saw. And taking photos.

This is probably the best blog I've done:

here.

This blog has moved

2011-02-12T21:55:00.001-08:00

I do love this blog but have moved on up to the Wordpress in the sky:

www.hannahmiller.net.

The Dangerous Adventures of the Internet in Space, a cartoon

2010-12-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's a funny cartoon about the FCC trying to make net neutrality rules and forgetting about space!

Click here for larger image or PDF. It's pretty detailed.

I had a lot of fun this week playing around with and learning Twitter (it was a good week for that). I haven't had a lot of time to really mess with it in the past but insofar as clumsy, beginning-of-a-new-era-of-information-organization, toddler-pointing-at-something-and-saying-'RED' tools go, it has promise! Follow at: http://twitter.com/#!/hannahmiller215

NOTE: I am moving most of my online content (including this here blog) onto HannahMiller.net, now hosted at hannahmiller215.wordpress.com until 2 months from now when Wordpress is no longer trendy and I have to move all my stuff again to the next big thing. As Kay sighs in Men in Black: "I have to buy the White Album again!?"

That means all incoming links are still going to hannahmiller.net but not to Wordpress, which screws up my communication with other sites...if anyone knows how to deal with this problem, email me.

NOTE: My email is also new: hmiller430 at gmail.com. Had to close golden.notebook because Google thought I sent out too many emails during the 2010 general. Yeah.

This Time, It's About the Music.

2010-11-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Monday, November 15, is the Prometheus Radio Project's National Call-in Day to pass the Local Community Radio Act.

For ten years, the radio pirates of Philadelphia and their cohorts all over the country have fought to pass this law, which would give the completely stale form of FM radio a total reset. This bill, two Senators away from passing, would create thousands of non-profit, community radio stations from Hawaii to Maine. We could even have little low-power radio stations here in Philadelphia! Just think. Ogontz FM. Forgotten Bottom Radio. The Voice of Bridesburg.

If you've ever driven across any part of this beautiful country, and turned off your damn Ipod, and tried to find something on the dial that really made you jump, and wondered where all the music had gone - well, then please come by tomorrow to the basement of Calvary Church at 48th and Baltimore, for an hour, to make calls, 10 to 4 pm.

----------

PROMETHEUS RADIO CALL IN DAY - NOV 15 - 10 - 4

We need your help! Last chance this year to pass the Local Community Radio Act!

ALL HANDS ON DECK! This is our last big chance to pass the Local Community Radio Act this year and open up the airwaves for thousands of new community radio stations across the country. With your help, we could win this by the end of the year. We are so close!!

Please come by the Prometheus office for an hour to eat some pizza and make some calls to ...our supporters and friends around the country to ask them to call their senators.

When: Monday, Nov. 15 from 10am - 4pm (one hour shifts if you can)

Where: Prometheus Headquarters at the Calvary Church on 48th and Baltimore ave (ring the doorbell on the side door on the 48th st. side)

Why: This is it! We are down to the wire, it is do or die, the last big chance this year to pass the Local Community Radio Act.

Click here to sign up for a shift!
http://www.helpersignup.com/viewsheet.php?type=2&sheet=5855152fbdac3dec426a3a1eac8e32e0

How to restart your life, or: H2O

2010-10-07T22:54:00.001-07:00

Want to hear something spooky?

Time is working differently for me, these days.

My sense of time and what it is and what it represents has changed remarkably in the last five months, since I left DC and decided to shake off all that rattles. Time does not move ahead ploddingly forward like it always has, or fly by. Time seems to have slowed down significantly. I savor it now. And sometimes – and this is really cool, it doesn’t happen very often… when things are really humming, it seems sometimes like time were moving backward.

As if I were getting younger. Which I actually think I am. After getting really old really fast, it now seems like I am living my life in reverse.

I used to be in the habit of getting through unpleasant episodes by saying to myself, just hang on Hannah, this will all be over soon. But I stopped. How could I wish away a part of my own life? It’s like wishing yourself a step closer to death. It doesn’t matter what is happening to you, it doesn’t matter if you just lost someone or if you are miserable or angry or frustrated, it doesn’t matter where the pain comes from or how it hits you, it is your one own beautiful glorious stupid life.

About four months ago, I realized that I had been terribly mistaken about the value of this hamster wheel ladder of success bullshit that had taken me to DC in the first place. I wish I had figured this out earlier, and not wasted ages 30 to 34 trying to prove I-don’t-know-what for I-don’t-remember-what-reason. But hey, I’m lucky, it could be a lot worse. Some people spend their whole life panting with their little rodent haunches on the wheel.

I quit my job, got rid of my apartment, and then one weekend began to give away my stuff. I started very causally with the VHS tapes, then it started really gaining steam, and just started dumping appliances out on the sidewalk.

The world I had chosen to enter was just awful. A whole city of political unprofessionals, waiting to speak in the meetings in their assigned order – it made monsters of normal, soft human beings who should have been playing the timbal somewhere.

Watching the progressives was extra depressing – these people sharing the same ideals, pushing each other aside, breathlessly claiming credit, lining up in the great factory production line of hackneyed sayings and stale ideas, a giant writhing mass of bodies all trying to manipulate each other. The only possible reaction I could have to all of this was, naturally, to want to move to the opposite side of the country, hide somewhere in the redwoods, write a book, get a medical marijuana prescription, and learn how to convert cool old diesel Volkswagens to run on honey and wisteria.

How do you restart your own life? How do you shake it all off like it’s a bad dream? And how, especially, do you do this when a large part of what you want to shake off is your nasty, annoying, immature, selfish needy weirdo younger self? And how, especially especially, are you supposed to do that when you had to make all of your beginning mistakes in public?

My family moved around a lot when I was young, in search of happiness in anonymity. It’s the frontier mentality: the crazy people who leave the small town because they are tired of being talked about. It is much harder to recreate your own life in the same place as your old one, while hanging out in the same place, and doing the same work.

It is my new mission in life: to be in politics, and do it right, and not accumulate the barnacles on my personality. The nastiness, the control, the anger, the spite.

POWER! Power power power! You just don’t know where it’s going to come from, and you never know what it’s going to do – or what it’s going to do to you. It comes out of the ground, I think. Often this force that blows through you does you damage – wears you out, throws all sorts of shadows on you, warps your personality. Fighting all the time, fear, anxiety, it’s a plague.

I am trying to be as simple as a conduit as I can be, from now on. There is no choice, really. I think I will be the river channel I have always wanted to be.

I have a lovely sense of inevitability about it. I have a lovely sense of inevitability about everything, actually. Very few people get to start their life over again anew, which is what I am doing now. Completely different. No more bubble gum. No more disrespect. No more NOTHING that does not make the soles of my feet feel good. Everyone should follow these rules. All the time.

I’m even listening to early rock and roll, that’s how young I am becoming again. I am listening to Chuck Berry and early Beatles and the Beach Boys. It is like those opiates at the base of your spine but, instead, you can dance.

So yeah. I have to find a new place to live. I have to find a job past November. I have to replace some of those appliances. I have to buy a really good stereo with really good speakers. Hardwood floors with really thick rugs.

I don’t really know what’s going to happen, although I do know one thing: the next segment of my life is going to be so much better than the last segment that there will be no comparison whatsoever.

Right now I am organizing a statewide conference on Saturday, Oct. 16 in Harrisburg for the Marcellus Shale grassroots movement across the state. That’s a five-year campaign to protect our incredibly beautiful state from being poisoned by the most powerful corporations on the planet, the multinational oil companies. I don’t know whether I get to work on that fulltime, but it's my kind of fight, and it's definitely the most incredibly complicated multilevel puzzle I have ever seen, the kind of thing that will keep me challenged for years. After Congress, the PA state legislature seems adorable.

And I tell you, this one’s going to be a doozy. It's going to have all sorts of far-reaching long-term effects that I can't even begin to predict now. Party registration. Campaign finance. Zoning law. Pretty much the Philly casino fight times one million.

And it's visceral. It's going to be the people of Pennsylvania standing in front of their homes holding shotguns and growling ‘get your asses off our land’; and when I say I have a sense of inevitability, I will say now, this one feels like when you are inside, and there’s a great windstorm rattling the windows, shaking them so bad you think they are going to break, and you know that all you have to do is reach up and unhook a tiny little rusty metal latch and the wind is so powerful it will knock open all the the windows with a roar.

That's how I feel about this one.

And so I guess this is why I learned to campaign, after all. Thank god there turned out to be a reason for all of that.

It should be fun. Now GO PHILLIES!

Look What We Have Done

2010-05-20T10:23:00.001-07:00

This is the ocean on fire.

----

I have been given my writing prompt, finally, in the serendipitous manner in which real writing prompts are given - by the great Chance Williams, my co-worker and dear, dear friend. "You should explain how truth happens," he says to me. Just like that.

Truth is happening to me, now, without me having anything to do with it other than simply asking it to show up. I am leaving a lot of things behind - my job, my assumptions, most of my belongings, which I am blissfully selling or giving away at an astonishing rate. I have finally grown up - that is, realized very deeply that I am going to die someday, and that to waste any further time than is necessary on the unending battle over resources would be to show the gift of my own life the most intolerable disrespect.

So, wow. What an assignment.

To explain how truth happens.

Reply comments

2010-04-28T18:42:00.001-07:00

Stream of Consciousness Blog Entry

2010-03-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways of learning about what's going on with yourself - I mean, what's REALLY going on with yourself, meaning the things that you don't even know about yourself that are percolating in your own mind - is to sit down and write about something completely different. Usually, interesting stuff just floats up from your own unconscious like so many chunks of ice.

The older I get, the more comfortable my own brain gets with the idea of communicating the real Hannah to the (and I say this with all hilarity and affection) busy-bee bullshit rule-following hamster-running-on-a-wheel boring-as-hell ambitious business-card-flinging Girl-Scout-civics-lesson penitent guilt-ridden half-a-calorie-counting serious-as-a-heart-attack Metro-Stations-of-the-Cross work-ethic conscious mind that has made my life a living hell since adolescence, but I haven't got back to the garden yet, so until that day comes, I will have to work at it to nudge the doors of perception a little opener.

CONSCIOUS MIND: But, but..? Are you sure that's a word, Hannah? "Opener"?

UNCONSCIOUS MIND:

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!

OF COURSE IT'S A F____G WORD!

HOW THE HELL ELSE

ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO GET SOUP

OUT OF A CAN?

--------------------

I was always really impressed by Burning Man. I never went, but wow! It's not just the sheer logistical nightmare and wonderment of it. It's not just that I love art that is created only to be destroyed. It's not just the barter-only economy. It's not just the lovely tank top I have with their lovely slogan "Joy Is a Form of Protest," brought back as a gift from my lovely ex who probably went to look at drugged naked women spray-painted in tiger stripes.

The real thing that blows my mind about Burning Man and the whole culture is that it's really a gigantic pagan ritual that has sprung up as a result of and commentary on the carbon combustion age. We are all Burning Men. It's a ritualistic and cultural expression of the fossil fuel economy.

I wish I were more familiar with it so I could draw out this argument in depth, but the only other think I can think of in the same category is that town in India where they ceremonially burn Santa Claus. Which is not all that different, really, and perhaps more meaningful since cremation is kind of the industry standard there.

I find it almost unfathomably creepy and horrible that our civilization is entirely powered by burning the remains of beings that died millions of years ago. We're literally burning our ancestors. We are powering these millions of cars and all those blinking little appliances in our homes and apartments on fossilized dead bodies.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the implications of this practice are massively destructive, from the degradations imposed by the extraction industries, through the pollution caused by refining and shipping, and then the release of carbon dioxide in combustion, which has already started the greatest man-made environmental disaster in human history.

They should have known from the beginning that there was going to be some kind of devil's bargain with petroleum. It's far too powerful. Human beings aren't supposed to be whizzing in and out of cities in giant tanks of steel at 70 mph for their daily commute. Human beings actually really shouldn't ever go 70 mph an hour in their life. (Except on a train, IMHO).

There is very little of our daily life that corresponds to the way that human beings have lived for millennia; at least in the United States, most of the country's physical landscape has been completely reordered around this. Not to mention the mountains that we are currently being leveled, or the fracking pumps injecting radioactive water 8,000 feet into the ground to crack open bedrock so gas can escape. That's just baaaaad voodoo.

Links:

Award-winning new documentary on fracking and the oil and gas industry, which is coming to mess with PA very soon: Gasland (screening in Philly on April 10).

CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER? from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Democratic candidate Joe Hoeffel is the only candidate in the Pennsylvania Governor's race to call for a moratorium on gas drilling/fracking wells. (New York already has, considering it far too dangerous.) His position is here.

The Oil and Gas Accountability Project at Earthworks.

And of course, love to Greenpeace, the organization that made me a liberal by canvassing my house when I was 12 or 13. The canvasser showed me photos of dead elephants and burning rainforests, and I got very upset, gave her all my allowance, and the next day canceled my subscription to the National Review. Never let anyone tell you that going door to door doesn't work.

Joe Hoeffel for Governor of Pennsylvania

2010-02-22T20:57:00.000-08:00

"Of course I'm endorsing Joe. He's the only one who can take the heat."

- Democratic Committeeman, Bucks County.

It is often said that 'politics is the art of the possible.'

But in my experience, I have found that there are huge differences of opinion as to what, exactly, is possible - how high are our goals and ideals, and how hard we should to fight to achieve them.

There are some leaders whose definition of the word 'possible' are truly expansive, and truly visionary. And luckily for us, one of them is running for Governor this year: former Congressman Joe Hoeffel, from the township of Abington, Montgomery County, PA... and with your help and strong support, he can be Pennsylvania's next Governor.

County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel is a pro-labor, feminist, pro-environment progressive who has been running against Republicans in Republican-majority Montgomery County for 32 years, beating them, and then working constructively together to forge consensus. In this, he is very rare.

During his three terms in the U.S. Congress, four terms in the PA legislature, and three terms as Montgomery County Commissioner, Joe maintained a voting record that earned him a 100 percent approval rating from the Sierra Club, 97 percent from the AFL-CIO, and 100 percent from Planned Parenthood. The first bill he passed, in 1978 at age 27, instituted campaign finance reform in Pennsylvania. Joe is a principled, ethical, passionate leader who has been tireless about standing up for what is right, and because of his popularity in the Philadelphia suburbs - the 'swing area' in most statewide elections - he has by far the strongest chance to beat the Republican machine in November.

Donate and volunteer today. Even donations like $20 or $50 add up - donate today. Joe needs your help gathering signatures as well to get him on the ballot... to tell your friends, to hold house parties. Early support matters the most!

Joe wants to return to Harrisburg to enact policies that would fix our ongoing budget crises and imbalances in order to make our economy stronger and produce jobs, protect our forests and waterways from the ravages of gas drilling, and stop the Stupak-style erosion of womens' rights to reproductive health. Joe's policy proposals and endorsements are posted here. Please call the campaign office to help Joe or if you have any questions: 215-302-2010.

Thank you!

Hannah Miller

Monday, Feb. 15 in Philly: The Bills Are Too High

2010-02-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Bills are Too High:
Community education and support on rising costs of gas, electric, cable and internet - our basic utility needs.
Monday, February 15th from 6pm - 8pm
Tuttleman Learning Center room 105 at the intersection of 13th and Montgomery
Philadelphia, PA
www.mediamobilizingproject.org

The Bills are Too High is a community educational event and support on the increases in the costs of basic utilities that are affecting our city and state. In a city where unemployment has climbed over 10% and nearly one and four live in poverty, paying the bills is a struggle for many of us. From electricity, to cable, gas, and internet, federal and state actions are making it harder every day for Philadelphians to meet our basic needs.

The beginning of this year marked increases as high as 40% in the electric bills throughout Central PA. Jan 2011 will see more increases for all those in the Philadelphia area served by PECO/ Excelon because of deregulation.

With Internet and Cable major companies like Verizon and AT&T are pushing federal law makers to allow discrimination of content on the internet, a move that would make the internet more expensive for everyone.

Along with this Comcast is looking to buy NBC/Universal. From past experiences of deals like this such a move means less channels for viewers and higher monthly bills.

And many people going through the winter without heat were almost kept in the cold because of a lack of funds for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). More funds were distributed but the program is under extra stress because of the economic down-turn.

Through out the evening there will be support to sign up for LIHEAP and other utility benefits, take action to make cable and internet affordable, and a listening booth to share your own story.

The Bills are Too High will take place at Temple University Main Campus, Tuttleman Learning Center room 105 at the intersection of 13th and Montgomery, on Monday, February 15th from 6pm - 8pm.

For more information, email bmercer@gmail.com.

Fun Propaganda!

2010-01-31T15:51:00.001-08:00

Rip! a Remix Manifesto is a great documentary for anyone who has ever downloaded anything for free and kind of wondered whether they should be worried about copyright - and even more so for mashup artists, which I didn't even know I was, but I am myself! I saw it at Argus Fest in Denver, a series of cool documentaries shown in cafes there.

Here is a great section. (can get the whole thing here):

The art of Ricardo Levins Morales:

This is one of the artists in the clip above, Negativland, who happened to make a piece on Pay TV Versus Free TV (this one's for my media justice buddies):

And if you've already watched the clip from Rip! from above, here is the Open Source Cinema animated clip:

Infrastructure Campaign Blues

2010-01-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

Across the spectrum of those who work for progressive issues and candidates (climate change, civil rights, Hoeffel for Governor, etc), there is a special little corner of those of us who work on what I call ‘infrastructure issues.’

What we do affects the outcome, in some small way, of the rest of the fights. What we do is to try to change the framework of rules that govern the flow of money and influence and power (and, in my case, the flow of information) that, in turn, decide which voices get heard in all the other debates.

It sounds like it would be understood as important, but unfortunately, to care about infrastructure reform, or to understand why it is necessary, requires a deep understanding of how the American political system works and a desire to work on obscure issues, both of which do not often simultaneously occur. The types of reforms I am talking about span from voter enfranchisement, to media democratization, to campaign finance reform, to public finance of campaigns, and reform of the redistricting process itself.

We toil somewhat in obscurity, and these issues are generally some of the hardest to organize on, because they require fairly extensive political education. Most folks already have their issues, and at best, what we do is seen as secondary. I had been meaning to write about this for a while, but my hand was forced by the very grievous injustice perpetrated upon the American people this week by the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. The American people – and all those who live here, citizens or not – deserve so much better than they got this week.

I work on the same floor of a Dupont Circle office building as the headquarters of Common Cause. They are my friends. Bob Edgar brings in coffee cakes for the staff. On our floor, Common Cause is known for their amazing holiday decorations.

Campaign finance reform was one of the first political causes I ever cared about, before I had even ever worked in politics or covered elections. The Media and Democracy Coalition, for whom I work, comes out of the same lineage, and I remember, after about 7 months of organizing on media reform, how amazed I was that Common Cause had managed to build state chapters – state chapters for an infrastructure campaign! It seems almost quaint, imagining a time when Americans still felt that they had enough control over their own government to go to a Common Cause chapter meeting about how to change it. It’s one thing to do that in Philadelphia, it’s another thing entirely when it comes to Congress. There’s a poster on the wall in the Common Cause offices: EVERYONE IS ORGANIZED BUT THE PEOPLE – John Gardner.

I’m an organizer, and the apathy on the part of the American populace is so overwhelming at times.

It’s become so obvious for me during the last two jobs I’ve had. In one of the jobs I had in 2008 (it was healthcare reform), everyone believed that the healthcare system sucked, but felt powerless to do anything.

Now, in my current job, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) HATES the media, hates almost everything about it, without any limit: the crappy radio, the lack of good information on television, the sensationalism, the reality shows, the high cable or dish TV rates, the portrayals of women, the portrayals of African Americans, the portrayals of any other racial minority, of seniors, of immigrants, of teenagers, of pretty much everybody except white male serial killers or plastic surgeons wearing sexily weathered J. Crew t-shirts, the fact their local newspaper doesn’t actually tell them what’s in the healthcare bill, the fact that games from their publicly-funded sports team sucking the tax dollars out of their nearly-bankrupt city are only available to paying cable customers, they pretty much hate EVERYTHING ABOUT THE MEDIA as it is now, with the exception of the Internet, which is facing an onslaught of pressure by people who are hellbent on ruining it like the rest of the media. And even with all that, all those grievances, they still don't believe they can change anything.

That’s how people feel about the campaign I work for now. They all already agree with how messed up everything is. It’s exactly how the American public feels about money in politics. It is universally understood, the need for campaign finance reform.

So where does the transfer stop? How is there universal agreement on what’s wrong, and so little hope that one can change it? How do we go from ‘core American value’ – the easiest thing on which to motivate a group….to waking up one morning to Citizens United?

On CSPAN radio the day that CU went down, I heard a commentator say, “this decision really highlights the loss of Sandra Day O’Connor from the bench, with her legislative experience.”

Yeah.

I haven’t read the decision, but the implication of this comment was that the rest of the Supreme Court did not think that corporate campaign contributions have an undue influence on Congress.

Yeah.

I do not know how you get to be a Supreme Court Justice without understanding such a thing, but there seems to be a failure in our educational system on that point. My friend on Facebook wrote today, “it’s okay, it can be overturned, remember, Plessy vs. Ferguson was overturned by Brown vs. Board of Education.”

There is that much sorrow. It is a death, especially when you think about the minor voodoo miracle it took to pass McCain Feingold in the first place.

There was a part in Michael Moore’s Capitalism that was hard to forget. It was the part about the Citigroup memo, leaked to a reporter in 2005, that outlined CitiGroup’s political sociology about globalization. I’ve linked to it here, but I just want to highlight the point Moore made in the movie: that CitiGroup analysts truly felt that the top 1 percent of earners in America were running the country again, and that there was only one last bothersome thing getting in the way: the fact that the American Constitution still guaranteed “one person, one vote.”

We are at a time of such great flux that it is hard to see the future. In a way, there might be something very real, and very good, coming out of this (and I don’t just mean it the way my dear friends mean it: as in, you have to smack your head against the concrete to wake up and fight again, etc etc.)

In a world where the media has so fragmented and exploded, in a way that devalues the word and overwhelms the Story itself, and where political advertising becomes more openly corporate (depending on transparency law), it’s possible that we might actually have to, out of necessity, return to the good old-fashioned form of political communication – talking to our neighbors and friends. Which is what people like me - who like talking - have been hoping for all along.

It has occurred to me that political communication online now, especially on friendship-networks Facebook – where you get your ideas and news from your friends – is not really all that different from community-based organizing, or even ye olde Philadelphia ward system. The apathy and trust levels have sunk so low that this is really the last space where political communication is taken at face value. To have all of this devalued might not be a tremendously bad thing at all. We'll see. I would really appreciate any thoughts you have.

Beautiful Things from My Travels.

2010-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

I travelled a lot in December, and have been greatly changed by it. I went to the Philly burbs for my brother's wedding, went to Amsterdam with a dear friend, came back to DC, then drove to Mississippi where we moved my grandfather into an old folks' home called Wellington Place...then drove to Tennessee to see my mother and sister...then went to Atlanta just to mess around.

Here are some of the beautiful things I would like to post here:

Painting: "Great Bridge, Sudden Storm at Atake" by Ando Hiroshige. There is a replica in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam because he liked it so much he painted his own version. I love this painting. If you could see detail, the little people on the bridge are rendered very expressively; they are kind of freaking out in their wet kimonos and running. It's very humorous and cute and it reminds us that, in the end, we are just little clueless fumbling human beings in a much larger universe.

BOOK: This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

It's about Paradise. I did not think that Aldous Huxley was as good as creating Paradise as he was at creating Hell. But I should have known.

I bought it at the Friday bookmarket in Amsterdam. They have a book market every Friday in the same place! It's what people do on Friday nights.

While in Atlanta I went to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; there was much I did not know or understand until this trip, and it was fortunate I was there. I particularly want to read his last book, written in 1967. It also struck me how different it was for him and the SCLC organizing in Southern vs. Northern cities. (see below, a clip of King on nonresistance vs. nonviolent resistance.)

Listened to Indian music... a mix...

Listened to a lot of Miriam Makeba:

Two versions of "Wade in the Water" by Eva Cassidy:

Original gospel version:

Wade In The Water - n/a

And quite amazing soul-jazz rendition by Ramsey Lewis:

And since this post is getting a little too heavy on the God, here's a clip from Bill Maher's "Religulous," which was a hilarious movie:

Starting Anew.

2009-12-24T04:25:00.000-08:00

Shiva vs. the self.

It has recently occurred to me that I have been grievously mistaken about the proper way to conduct a human life.

I owe an apology to many people I have injured in my foolishness. I have been blind.

I am going to fix this.

Happy New Year everyone.

Giant Corporations Threaten Political Speech Online

2009-11-01T08:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday, the Media and Democracy Coalition stood with SEIU, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Healthcare for America Now, small business owners, Greenpeace, PennEnvironment, AFSCME, MoveOn, Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and many other groups in denouncing the regressive policies of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at its meeting in Philadelphia.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been fighting healthcare reform, climate change legislation, and President Obama's attempt to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of expression online. I spoke to warn my fellow organizers - and all those concerned about freedom of speech - about the growing threat from the giant corporations that control the Internet, and the need to make net neutrality the law. My remarks are below; please go to SavetheInternet.com for more information.

Will the Birthplace of American Democracy Kill Freedom on the Internet?

2009-10-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, of Erie.

This is almost impossible to believe - but it's actually true.

About a month ago, the Obama administration announced its intent to write policy that would protect, by law, the freedom that has allowed the Internet to grow and flourish.

It's no joke that such protection is needed. Repression of the Internet by the corporations that control it has already started.

Last month, Apple told a healthcare reform group that they wouldn't carry a healthcare reform app on their AT&T network for 30 million iPhones because it was "politically charged"...

...two years ago, it was Verizon refusing to transmit text messages from NARAL Pro-choice America.

...and in 2007, in the most famous case of all, the Comcast Corporation blocked Internet users from sending the Bible.

As with most other good things that the Obama administration is trying to do, this has been lost in a flood of lobbyists, all arguing that having unchecked corporate power over the most vital part of our economy, political life, social networks, communication tools, reference libraries, and grassroots organizing would be really great for America. (I have cross posted a great piece by Jason Rosenbaum below explaining this in more detail).

Last Friday, 72 Democratic house members signed on to a letter agreeing with the lobbyists.

Among them were members from the great state of Pennsylvania, where American democracy was invented and the Bill of Rights was written - ensuring freedom of speech, freedom to assemble - all of the democratic powers that the Internet magnifies for millions more.

Here's who came out against the future of the Internet last week:

Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper
Rep. Chris Carney
Rep. Allyson Schwartz
Rep. Chaka Fattah
Rep. Tim Holden
....AND Representative Bob Brady - in whose district sits the National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's first printing press, and pretty much all of the intellectual and moral heritage we are so very quickly as a nation flushing down the toilet.

The rules being written now will shape the future direction of the Internet over the next 20 years. It either can remain a village: fun, chaotic, free, humble, an experimental and educational space ... or turn into something that looks much more like a suburban strip mall: soulless, commercial, and cold.

I believe that Congress wants to protect the Internet. But they have a lot of pressure on them right now.

And they need to hear from you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Crossposted at Fire Dog Lake:

A Very Odd Letter from Democrats and Telecom Lobbyists on Net Neutrality

A very odd letter from Democrats and telecom lobbyists on net neutrality
By: Jason Rosenbaum Saturday October 17, 2009 1:00 pm
On Thursday, 72 Democrats sent a letter to the Chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski. The letter concerns net neutrality, which, according to the Chairman, is set to be enshrined as the FCC’s official policy.

The letter is very odd, especially if you’re not well versed in telecom lobbyist lingo. It lays out “concerns” relating to net neutrality that really don’t make much sense.

The heart of the letter reads:

As the FCC embarks on its much anticipated rulemaking addressing the subject of “net neutrality,” we therefore urge the Commissioner to carefully consider the full range of potential consequences that government action may have on network investment. We are confident that an objective review of the facts will reveal the critical role that competition and private investment have played — and of necessity will continue to play — in building robust broadband networks that are safe, secure and open. In light of the growth and innovation in new applications that the current regime has enabled, as compared to the limited evidence demonstrating any tangible harm, we would urge you to avoid tentative conclusions which favor government regulation.

Clearly, these Members of Congress are urging the Commissioner not to adopt net neutrality standards. But the argument they’re making is very curious. They point to the innovation that drove the creation and adoption of the Internet and broadband technologies as a reason to keep government regulation out of the picture.

On the surface, this might be convincing. After all, the Internet has grown up just fine without these regulations, why would we need them now. That is, until you realize that net neutrality is already the de-facto law of the land.

Right now, we have net neutrality in deed if not word. The FCC has enforced the provision, too, as Chairman Genachowski explained:

We’ve already seen some clear examples of deviations from the Internet’s historic openness. We have witnessed certain broadband providers unilaterally block access to VoIP applications and implement technical measures that degrade the performance of peer-to-peer software distributing lawful content. We have even seen one service provider deny users access to political content.

And as many members of the Internet community and key Congressional leaders have noted, there are compelling reasons for concern about even greater challenges to openness in the future, including reduced choice in the Internet service provider marketplace and an increase in the amount of Internet traffic, which has fueled a corresponding need to manage networks sensibly.

The rise of serious challenges to the traditional operation of the Internet puts us at a crossroads. We could see technology used to shut doors to entrepreneurs instead of opening them. The spirit of innovation stifled. A full and free flow of information compromised.

Or we could take steps to preserve a free and open Internet, helping to ensure a future of opportunity, prosperity, and the vibrant flow of information and ideas.

I believe we must choose to safeguard the openness that has made the Internet a stunning success. That is why today, I delivered a speech announcing that the FCC will be the smart cop on the beat when it comes to preserving a free and open Internet.

In other words, the Internet grew up to be the amazing tool it is today precisely because net neutrality reigned. Recently, telecom companies have started to change that.

In this light, the 72 Democrats who signed this letter don’t have much of an argument. They correctly note that the Internet has grown up well in the open platform it was given, a platform that includes net neutrality. And then they proceed to argue against making these rules formal. It makes no sense…

…until you consider the lobbyists.

As Free Press notes:

The big phone and cable companies have launched an all-out assault on Capitol Hill to try to stop Net Neutrality. They’ve hired hundreds of lobbyists, spent tens of millions of dollars, and unleashed sleazy Astroturf groups to mislead politicians, distort the facts, and resurrect long-debunked myths.

The bad news is that these dirty and deceitful tactics appear to be working on a few people who should know better.

This afternoon, several dozen Democrats sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking them to walk away from their plans to protect Net Neutrality.

Their letter parrots telco talking points — which had to come from somewhere, and it certainly wasn’t from the more than 1.6 million people who have signed a petition in support of Net Neutrality.

This is a campaign by telecom lobbyists to block net neutrality from being preserved, using a false talking point about increased regulation. And yes, these Democrats really should know better, especially people like Jared Polis, who’s trying to have it both ways by defending this letter and saying he supports net neutrality.

It is because of net neutrality that we have blogs like this one. It’s because of net neutrality that we have Google, YouTube, Facebook, and all the other sites we take for granted every day. And there’s nothing wrong with the FCC making net neutrality a formal rule so this innovation can continue into the future.

Sign the petition supporting net neutrality and watch out for that telecom spin.

This Week in WTF is this?!?

2009-09-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

You know, I love it here. You know, I hate it here. You know, I am really lucky to be here and be doing this. You know, why the hell did I decide to get into politics. You know, I am lucky just to have a job. You know, I am cursed, I am cursed cursed cursed. You know, I have never been happier in my life. You know, I was so much happier when I was 22 and waiting tables. You know, it’s just going to get worse, all of it. You know, my life is going to get better and better every year until I die. You know you know you know you know no no no you don’t know. You don’t know anything at all. Anything. At. All.

1. Hospice. The word ‘hospice.’ WTF is this??!? Is this a made-up word? Is this another motherfucking made-up word? Is this a word that was made up to sound just a little bit like ‘hospital’ to avoid talking about the end of life? What kind of person would make up a new word like that? A lying word like that? What kind of person would make up a word to cover the truth? What kind of person would sin so fundamentally against the nature of language – that being, communication – that they would make up a word to avoid communicating?

2. Lyrics. Lyrics being a lot harder than music. WTF is this?!?!? Why are lyrics so much harder than music? So our little cadre – the Impromptu Task Force to Inject Hilarity into Technology Policy – we have been writing some songs about broadband. So inspired by Mary Alice's AMC-side stylings, I get into my head the word ‘BROADband’ to the refrain of ‘Roxanne’ by the Police.

“Hey guys!” I say. “We should write lyrics to the Sting song…broad-band/You don’t have to turn on the red light/turn on the red light…walk the pipes for money...something like that!”

But what I discovered is, the lyrics don’t just follow. Writing lyrics is really really hard, especially if you already think of an overlay to a tune. We sat at Busboys and Poets on the last night of Knowledge Exchange and tried, and it was very difficult to do, regardless of the amount of red wine consumed.

“Broadband… you want to watch YouTube all night…”

“Broadband…it’s not a privilege it’s a right…ever since I knew ya, I want to download to ya…”

“I think upload sounds better than download.”

“Yeah, it’s dirtier. You know: I wanna UP load to ya (Marvin Gaye vocal thrust)”

“We can’t think about broadband as a prostitute. We should think about her as a prude, and she should spread her love with everyone?"

At this point, Dan opens a GoogleDoc of lyrics… but lyrics are still hard, WTF.

3. The incredible police repression at the G-20. WTF is this!?!

4. Elliot Smith, currently playing in the Big Bear café as I write this. Still, Elliot Smith. Still. WTF is this?!?!?

5. “Death!” said Lauren Townsend. “What is that? What is that?!”

6. The trailer for 2012. WTF is this?!? Another movie about the end of the world, with a black President. In the last shot of the trailer, the giant destroyer U.S.S. John F. Kennedy falls on top of the White House. WTF is this?!?

7. According to the Washington Post, the Democratic Party is having a hell of a time raising money from rich people because of the ‘extreme anti-business tone of the current administration and Congress.’ WTF is this?!?

8. Amalia Deloney’s passionate speech about communications rights and oppression of poor people under that bigass American flag in a hearing room in the Rayburn building. I think this is an anti-WTF is this!??!

9. Everyone in this coffeeshop has a computer on their table. Everyone. WTF is this?!?

10. Ship-to-shore radio. My grandfather - he was a Communications officer in the Navy for 8 years – he took my hand, and he put it over the two metal nails under his skin above his chestplate. “Feel that,” he said. “That’s the heart transplant.

“I’ve been through hell,” he said, and he stared at me, and I had never seen so far into his eyes. “Two wars. My friends, shot. I’ve been through hell.”

WTF is this?!?

Hannah

Gotta get back to writing!

2009-09-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

see more Lol Celebs

I gotta start writing more again! Too much stress, unfocused, too much to do, etc. I haven't even started guitar lessons yet.

Lest Ye Forget the Tale of the Zombie Budget

2009-08-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I got an impassioned email plea from a group called Save Our Safety Net. “The Washington city budget faces massive cuts that would do the worst damage to the poorest members of our community!” it said. “Call council and say that the city needs to raise taxes!”

The email had a laundry list of, indeed, last-ditch social service organizations that keep people from literally dying on the streets. It was horrible. So I, barely in the city a couple of months, did what I was supposed to do: went to the rally, lobbied city council. I signed the petition.

“You know, I just moved here from Philly,” I told one of the organizers. “We just went through this. Same horror movie: lost revenue, no political will to raise taxes, and so on.”

“How did it turn out?”

“Well, actually, it has been rather a miraculous thing so far. The community really came together, even altered the budget process itself. We ended up forcing the city to raise taxes with an administration that was never going to do it, through the most democratic process I’ve ever seen in a city government.”

“Wow.”

“Except that, despite the fact it started in 2008, it’s not actually done…”

The Philly budget saga has been going on three seasons now. Winter, spring, summer…and now, it threatens to stretch into the fall. There is a Republican state Senator in Pennsylvania named Dominic Pileggi whose greatest legislative achievement last year was blocking health care reform that would have insured 42,000 impoverished Pennsylvanians, and this year, starving the Philadelphia government by blocking approval of the sales tax increase that would keep the city operating. He should not be in public office at all.

I get very defensive of projects I have worked on. I am mad about this. Amnesia sets in really fast – and it’s been a busy year – but all you have to do it rewind to the chill dark of last December to remember the civic mood in Philadelphia when Mayor Nutter came out with the first pools-and-libraries cuts. I have never seen so many depressed progressives in my life. Really bad bar graphs in winter. That Obama/Phillies high wearing off reaaal fast, and those thirty seconds that Nutter had to prove to the grandmothers of West Philadelphia that he was going to be different from all the other mayors falling off the shot clock.

Remember that?

I was talking to a libraryista this week, and he was going on about Nutter pro-business grumble grumble nothing ever changes…and I realized that people are already forgetting everything that happened after that.

So I am going to sketch out a brief chronology to remind you:

- Mayor Nutter announces budget cuts
- Friends of the Free Library begin campaign
- Firefighters begin campaign
- Lawsuit filed to keep libraries open
- Mayor holds disastrous town halls where people show up, and scream at him
- Mayor holds PhillyStat, round two of town halls, where people show up again, I think these were a little more sedate.
- Coalition to Save Libraries formed, bringing together library advocates, community groups, and other endangered city services
- Bowing to pressure from Philadelphians, Mayor designs and then holds round three of town halls with facilitated process designed by the Penn civic-engagement DJs to take public input to design the city budget.
- Despite deeply ingrained and not unwarranted distrust of their elected officials, hundreds of people show up AGAIN to design the city budget in these fora
- Coalition to Save Essential Services formed, which was a different yet overlapping Venn diagram from the Coalition to Save the Libraries
- Library lawsuit successful, happy New Year!
- New branch of FFL forms in West Philly as a result of the organizing - I think there might be others. At any rate, many branches of this organization were strengthened by the fight.
- Mayor redesigns budget, including tax increases initially including sales and property tax increase.
- (here’s when I skipped town, so my knowledge of the remainder of the story is a little thin, and needs to be augmented)
- Philadelphians find out that property taxes = bad. Again, they take the time and make the effort to organize, go to city council, lobby, go to the umpteenth rally.
- City council hearings result in more participation
- City council cancels the property tax increase
- Mayor rewrites budget
- Mayor sends budget to Harrisburg. Dom Pileggi sits on it.
- Mayor calls for rallies to put pressure on Harrisburg and YET AGAIN AMAZING PEOPLE SHOW UP AND USE THEIR VOICES, including a bazillion social service organizations, taking day trips out to Media.
- …and this is the quick version.

This has all been amazing. This actually all happened. Hundreds and even thousands of people worked very hard to make all this happen. The amount of learning that has gone on by so many people who had no idea what a real estate transfer tax was has been pretty incredible. It’s the kind of thing that changes a city forever. I tell people in D.C. how proud I am of Philly, that we decided as a city what the budget should look like, that we chose to come together and make sacrifices in order to keep homeless shelters and HIV treatment clinics open.

Just the effort required to make this happen is beyond belief, sometimes. Civic engagement is really hard and really time-consuming. People who aren’t political weirdos actually would rather be doing anything other than showing up to a town hall and talking about L&I; this shit has been going on so long, organizers have had to tear people away from Eagles, Sixers, and Phillies games consecutively. And they did it.

Comparatively speaking, our nation’s capital is completely disempowered. Its the capital of the richest country on the planet, and here we were in the DC office building at 13th and Pennsylvania, begging them to not cut the Grandparents Caregivers program! Apparently DC has, for the last 20 years, allowed national and multinational corporations doing business in the District to get out of paying a portion of their taxes. It was like Philly for many years.

“That’s ridiculous,” I told the chief of staff to my city councilman, Councilman Graham, Ward 1. “This is D.C. It would take the Apocalypse for Starbucks to close its stores in Adams Morgan.”

“For years, we couldn’t get anyone to build anything here,” he said. “Getting a Starbucks in your neighborhood – well, that’s when you know you’ve made it.” He smiled.

I was shocked at his assessment of his own district, and its potential power. Ward 1 includes Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and most of the other really expensive real estate in the district. If there had been a bad financial history for the city in the past, there had been no recalculation since. The city government of Washington, D.C. is afraid. It doesn’t even get self-determination – they face a possible APileggaclypse every year with the federal government! Cities have been beat down for a long time, and even with Mr. Urban President, there are still gonna be a lot more bad bar graphs ahead until things change.

It’s time cities stopped being afraid. Cities just need to figure out a way to own it again. And soon.

----

The DC budget fight, which really just begun as a public campaign a month ago, is so differently aligned that the comparisons almost can’t be made. I will write them down eventually though, because there is something to learn. One thing that they do have that Philly lacks is a really smart policy thinktank – the DC Fiscal Policy Institute– that is an appendage of the federal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, whence came Peter Orzag. It’s one benefit of having the federal policy class here. There’s also a much more well developed local blogosphere here than in Philly - but with an equally bad digital divide, which still hampers organizing in both cities.

Mais…. ou sont les operatifs?

I’m going to get involved because I miss city politics. It’s the antidote to cynicism, the political space where one can best see the effects of good work – even if cities are the least financially capable, often, to accomplish their own goals. I feel terrible for all these kids on the Hill, little mites in a gigantic federal power structure that they can barely understand, let alone affect. A lot of the people who come here have no experience with local politics – they are often suburbanites, or come straight out of grad school.

There is no reason, really, that they couldn’t learn. And take it back when they go home later. That would really change things, long term.

The Future of America, and How to Stop It

2009-07-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

So I was on the Chinatown bus from DC to Philly last Monday, and I was reading a book called The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, by a guy named Jonathan Zittrain. It is one of those required reading tomes for most people who work in my field, and Zittrain is one of those required panelists that cycle around in what you could almost call a karmic wheel from one conference to the next – that is, could almost call a karmic wheel, were anyone ever to actually break the cycle of panelist death and rebirth, achieve nirvana, and be freed, in a blinding flash of light from behind a cloth-covered table at some convention center, the lav mic left behind dropping gamely into the empty seat.

Apparently, that has yet to happen.

The book is a great explanation of how the Internet works and what flavors it comes in; I suspect that there is going to be a really scary part about information control, commercialization, etc. later on in the book, that will spur me on to further action. But so far, I have only gotten to the fun parts, like the case of Captain Crunch. Before there were computer hackers, there were ‘phone phreakers’ – people who hacked the phone system.

This guy Captain Crunch was a man who spent years jerking at the skirts of Ma Bell, and whose greatest phreak was accomplished with a whistle found in a box of said cereal. The AT&T phone system was not digital, but analog, which means that you hacked something not with 100110010, but with actual sound. Captain Crunch discovered that these cereal-box whistles, when blown into the phone at the end of a call, signaled to the AT&T system that the line had been reset, and then was free to call anywhere in the world for free and talk as long as he wanted to.

So I was reading this book, and getting a little sleepy, and thinking about what I was going to do the next day at the Media Mobilizing Project, and maybe feeling a little bit of a smarty pants for being able to toss around this new term ‘generative network’ in some work context down the road – maybe even Tweet it in some adorable little bon mot – when I look up and see the enormous sign that says “HARLEM TURN RIGHT”. Then there’s one for BROOKLYN. Then if there’s any doubt that I am not actually in Philadelphia, there’s TRI-BOROUGH BRIDGE… and so on. And so on. It’s about 10 pm. Shit.

“Yeah uh Lauren, I don’t really think I need that place to stay tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks though. I just…overshot my destination a bit,” I say, blushing and sweating into my smartphone. “Yeah. I got on the wrong bus and I’m in New York. Yeah, I’m such a winner.” Pakistani and Chinese families exit the bus en masse, secure in their own sanity and their survival instincts, warm, pudgy, holding white plastic bags of ingredients. “Yeah. I know. Well actually you are right. It is kind of a cool thing. Yeah. Hell yeah. I’d been wanting to come up here. I don’t have to be back until the morning anyway. I’ll just wander around!”

At this point the night turned into an all-night kaleidoscope, which runs through the wasabi peas I ate in the terminal, through a bar called the Redhead which served me the oldest cocktail in America, through the Bowery Poetry Club (I had no idea they still did that in New York), through a congee restaurant (congee is like Chinese grits), then the last few hours, where, as I end up doing over and over again between the hours of 4 and 7 in the morning whenever I am in NYC, I sit on the street with homeless guys, smoke cigarettes, talk, and watch the sun come up over the city.

There are more people living on the streets of New York now than I have seen in 15 years. They are almost all black men. They are lined up on the sidewalk in the Bowery in row after row of crumpled cardboard boxes like an IKEA warehouse of human beings. (Model # ANTHRO). “It’s just the recession,” one guy said to me. Fair enough. But New York is where all our sins come out in the wash, I think. It is the Empire State, after all.

For all of the ‘social conditions’ that lead to ‘homelessness’, these mass encampments are very much a form of protest, perhaps not as political as Tent Cities, but defiant in their own way. If the city of New York – and our culture in general - is going to treat poor black men like trash, then these guys are out there on the street to confront it, parked underneath the pale hipsters laughing and scurrying by, their very presence saying yeah, if we are trash, then we are going to be here, we’re not going to let you forget it, we are going to be the wave of human trash that engulfs this city, engulfs the tourists, engulfs the financial sector until the entire island is buried under a tidal wave of human throwaways. Their very actions are a form of witness. All I can do is treat people with respect, and hear what truth they have to offer, since between 4 and 7 in New York, I am homeless too. I consider this a particularly important stop on my listening tour of the universe. No better place to really discuss healthcare reform - or the fate of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

At any rate, the guys I hung out with were way more worried about me (especially once they’d heard the story), and called me on my cell several times to make sure I got back to Pennsylvania. Survival instincts are hard to define.

The two days before, I had been in Detroit. I didn’t get to see much of it when I was there. However, I was fortunate enough to land in the tangle of leftie community organizers who are trying to cope with the massive shocks that the entire city is going through (and who had the political dirt).

I had no idea how bad it was. Detroit high schools have a 75 percent dropout rate. But from some of the problems and solutions I heard being discussed, it became clear to me that Detroit is very much a preview, a dress rehearsal of sorts, for the coming long-arc collapse of the American economy over the next 50 years. My lifetime. I don’t think I am over-exaggerating in any way to say that it will be the unique challenge of my generation to determine the nature with which we confront this coming storm – whether we remember and uphold values of community, sharing, love, and enlightenment, or if we descend into, even more than we already have, into selfishness, individuality, violence, and brutality. The immensity of this task is almost too much for me to think about, sometimes. I cannot say that I am not scared for us. But we have no choice. This is our home.

As pessimistic as this all sounds, I want to write this so I can hold up Detroit like a candle. I think there is a lot of darkness there, but I think what people are doing is kind. The spirit with which they are confronting their region’s economic cratering is to move towards their neighbors, not away from them, and it is centered on what is good in life.

If that is the epicenter, then I have hope.

Who knew? The Motor City!

NASA Releases First Images of Noctilucent Clouds

2009-07-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Story here.

Allied Media Conference

2009-07-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was fortunate enough to go to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit.

There are a lot of conferences in this world, but I think this one is a bit different. It is probably best described as a spiritual experience packaged and arriving in the form of a conference. It is a conference where all the attendants feel - and verbalize - that their art is a form of responsibility towards one's community... folks who exhibit in their art love for the human race, via an unshakable commitment to truth. Everyone there was a teacher of some kind or another, and I was very fortunate to have learned from them. It was true generosity of spirit.

It has taken me a long time to understand that telling the truth is an act of love. For a long time, I thought that NOT telling the truth was an act of love; such are the conditions of so many families, and I think that silence is seen as something that makes the daily small brutalities of our lives supposedly easier.

I am beginning to realize that there should be no line between personal truth standards and popular media truth standards.
The media as it exists now can only be counteracted by an astonishingly brave and powerful and simply unending onslaught of truth - for every violent story they want to tell, we must tell 10 more that are human, and warm, and real. (E.g. the TV show "Nip/Tuck." - how many other stories are going to have to be told to counteract that show? "Transformers 2"? It's all massive cultural damage.)

Thankfully, it's happening. I want to talk about all of it, but right now I am tired and should sleep, and will just post something charming and funny and smart, made by a group of hypercool kids in New York City called Global Action Project.

It's the season finale of "America's Next Top Immigrant."

How to Document your Life, Part I.

2009-07-12T20:58:00.001-07:00

“I don’t understand the impulse other people have to document their own lives so much,” I said to a friend. “It’s ridiculous. These online photo sites and all this incessant scrap-booking. Why take all that time out of actually living?”

“When you’re older, it matters,” he said. “I don’t know, but... it just becomes more important.”

Hm. Yeah. It seemed too broad of a generalization. But I’ve been thinking about it since.
Documenting one's life. How does one document one’s own life? Does one, and how, and why?

How can one have the clarity, will, and insight to curate the permanent exhibit of one’s own story? And who are the museum goers?

How much is picture … how much is sound … how much is written?

When do you let others speak about you – and is the act of choosing your character witnesses dishonest?

And isn’t it what I am doing right now?

As I write this, I am sitting outside on a deck overlooking the inlet between peninsular Florida and Clearwater Island. It is night, 78 degrees, my feet are bare, and behind me is a string of lights in the shape of multicolored beach balls. If I wanted to document this particular night, it would be difficult. It sounds simple: I went to dinner with my extended family at a seafood restaurant in St. Pete’s two days before my cousin Jennifer (a wedding planner running her own wedding) is to marry the man to whom she is already married.

There is a large underwater iceberg of passive aggression and cultural conflict going on but those are not the things to document, for me. Such things make an ugly haiku. The things I would like to take down are: Lindsay ordering coconut shrimp, Mark telling me about the healing side of the financial services industry, Josh suggesting we go to Crabby Bill’s seafood restaurant on the night when Uncle Bill was, indeed, a little crabby, and no one making a crack about it at dinner; and the crickets, now, at night.

Most of all, I think I would want to tape the sound of the crickets.

My life is so salty and Ferris wheel and grainy and it speeds back into the past so quickly, like the wake from a ship. I am actually beginning to argue with the entire idea that one should document.

There is this polished stone fossil on my desk called an ammonite, an ancient cephalopod that swam around in the ocean that covered the Sahara Desert 350 million years ago. Now its remains sit on a desk in the office of the Media and Democracy Coalition on 19th Street NW. Whenever I get too worried about some burning question such as “Is the IPhone ‘Wanker’ app going to replace the old print business model for pornography?” all I have to do is look at that little curly petrified bastard sitting on my desk. And I breathe in, and breathe out, because sharing office space with something 350 million years old has a way of putting one's woes in perspective.

In Basin and Range, John McPhee writes about the behavior and psychology of geologists. One of the most amazing things in the book is this: most of what we know about the geological history of the planet comes from the corpses of the plants and animals that died and were preserved in the various layers of the earth. Their remains have allowed us, as humans, shuffling around with our little brushes and magnifying glasses, to discover which layer of sandstone is as old as the other - they move around too much to easily count. It takes the shape of a creature to match it in time.

The other completely amazing things McPhee writes about is the attitude that geologists develop toward time. Geologists, as an effect of their profession, become almost shamanic in their attitude towards time: they transcend it, in fact. Having to think, day in and day out, week after week, in scales of hundreds of millions of years completely alters their attitude towards the importance of their own lives...towards human civilization itself, he writes.

“In some ways, talking about (deep time) makes you know that your life is a blip, nothing,” one of the geologists says.

“But in another way... it's like you live forever.”

All Philadelphians Should Have the Internet. Period.

2009-07-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you Smithsonian, I got to see these guys

2009-07-05T20:07:00.001-07:00

The Lesson of the Wave

2009-07-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have a new place and I don’t live here yet. It has golden walls and I don’t even own a couch yet. There is too much running around and too much fighting all the time. The books are stacked up to the roof and there is not even a bookcase. I left my car in South Philly somewhere and I watch Parking Wars and pray it’s not been towed or stolen. It is not, as they say, “street legal” here, and I don’t think I consider myself that either. I am definitely not “street legal,” although I want to be, and I bought my first go-go CD yesterday.

I spent most of the Fourth of July weekend sitting on plastic chairs listening to storytellers older than myself. I am in research mode. I am reading John McPhee books so I can learn how to write about the Internet because he rocked the abstract.

I have never had to spend so much time absorbing and translating information. My friend who is one of the best writers in the movement told me it took a YEAR for him to even learn to speak coherently about the communications industry; I am at month seven, and growing mighty impatient.

I thought going to the Folklife festival would be a tonic of sorts, because I am in need of guidance right now, and it was. One thing I am learning is that your requests are answered in the most unexpected ways, and I had the most terrifying and touching moment at one of the performance spaces called ‘The Stoop’, where the great Sonia Sanchez from her perch onstage turned and looked right at me in front of 60 people and started talking to me in front of the crowd, telling me that “you have to find time to write, dear sister, you have to carry a notebook around with you, I hated that I had to work and write in my spare time but that’s how it is, I loved my work too and it was hard, and you will find your process, dear sister, on the plane or in the airport, when you go to Peru and South Africa, you will find it, and if you don’t, please come and find me.”

And it blew me away, to be so recognized, and I was speechless, because I walk around all the time with my head in a cloud of imaginary beings, places, loves, wars, characters, drained lakes, animals, newly invented games involving rubber bands, the flotsam of words from billboards, etc etc, all of the story I tell myself in order to make my day to day non-existence a trifle more exciting. This cloud is so thick that I am in constant danger of stepping off the bridge into the river and drowning one day. (Knowing too, that, if that happened, I sure would be telling myself one hell of a story.)

Plus I thought: do I really get to go to Peru and South Africa someday?

I was in Seattle for ten days and just got back Sunday. It was such an astounding adventure I am trying to keep it with me. It was a city that lay completely under the spell of the sky and the weight of the water around it and the trees (even as far as they were in the distance – great Ent trees, some of the tallest trees on the planet).

Ferries poke back and forth across the Sound, and on one of the piers there’s a tiny hut made of bark and twigs with a sign that says “Wild Woman Coffee” where womaned by a tanned blissful being with a miniature espresso machine. There is something that all that water does to you, even in June when I went – it’s sunny then. The fish might as well be swimming down the sidewalk; I think the drunks are part fish. There are certainly a lot of watering holes.

If you are sensitive enough, you can feel the layers of a city’s history emerge in its present, and in Seattle, the wild, brutal frontier town layer – the boom town layer – is still there under the software. It might well be another country entirely – a self-sustaining economy that relies in no way on the federal government but yet creates more value for the country than any other industry.

Everybody looked so outdoorsy and they offered to take me kayaking and about half the men were licensed massage therapists and the city had a pagan parade with large floats of sea animals or comical tributes to the Seattle rain, all headed up by about two hundred naked people riding bicycles in body paint.

I went to a Mariners game with friend Steve, an expatriate New Yorker and Mets fan, and he had to explain at the beginning that it was a “family-friendly” ballpark. “You notice, something’s missing here,” he said.

I looked around. I listened.

“There are no obnoxious drunk guys!” I said. “Where are they?”

I tuned my ears for the sound of insults, grunts, boos, etc., but all that was around me was a small sea of beautiful multiethnic middle school children fiddling with their IPhones, bounded by a phalanx of men in yellow ALCOHOL ENFORCEMENT t-shirts.

“This is weird,” I said. He nodded. The middle-schoolers did a giggly wave.
Ichiro did that cool Japanese-archery flourish he puts on every swing. And the Mariners won, of course.

---

I want to say something important. I have realized something about myself and my endless love-hate relationship with my own career, and I need to write it down. All the advocating I am going to do from here on out is going to be done in the spirit of enlightenment, possibility, education, freedom, hope, and love. When fighting for something, it is easy to motivate oneself by darker emotions – anger, ego, a desire to kick (fill in the blank)’s ass. But all of that is corrosive. It is not that anger cannot be a legitimate force, but it is heavy, and it weighs you down.

There was not a hint of payback in the Obama campaign – although that campaign could have been filled with it - and that is why it was so aerodynamic. It flew. It was weightless.

When one is attempting to organize a miracle – which is really what public-interest people in my field do, and I have a couple on my plate right now – the only forces that have the power to accomplish such a thing are hope and love: love for those on behalf of whom you fight, love for the future… and boundless hope, I mean boundless unfathomable hope that humanity can turn back from the cliff on which we stand teetering and find our way back to civilization and a humane world. This kind of optimism comes close to insanity, but such are the confines of our world, and such is the need to break them.

There is no room for destruction.

These are the only transformational forces on earth. It took me so long to learn this, but it’s true, especially in a job where my primary objective is to hold up the voices of silenced multitudes so that they may sing.

The world that I am helping to create is so beautiful that I simply will not get to it if there is so much as a shred of the fog of anger drifting about me. I do not know if I am going to be successful at this, but it is important that I draw this line now. I have had it with thunderstorms and destruction. From here on out it’s waves only.

The earth turns on its axis and the moon pulls and the wind shears and you get: big beautiful blue waves. Wave… wave…wave… wave. Like the sky over DC this spring – it was like the ocean itself raining down on us. People complained, and the Washington Post ran an article on Mami Wata, but nothing truly spooky happened.

And … maybe once in a while a mild tidal wave… but no one drowns. And the boats get moved a little bit up the shore, but they are fine, and maybe some friendships are formed amongst the comically and mildly angry fishermen who must of course complain but, in the end, simply cannot curse the ocean.

And the sand on the beach is purer, and the land is quenched, and there is an abundance of seafood for all.

This... now I think that this might be a way to live.

Confirmation Hearing

2009-06-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

I was standing in the basement of the Senate Russell building with fellow communications advocates yesterday, waiting for the Commerce Committee to bring the pain to Julius Genachowski (of which they brought very little), and my friends were complaining about how everything in our whole field is plugged up and not happening since the administration is dragging its feet about the nomination process.

And I pointed up the marble spiral staircase with a three-story queue of line-sitters paid by lobbyists to hold their spot extending to Room 253 and I said, “Well, this is it, you know. This is like pushing a stalled car and getting it going.” And thought but didn’t say, that I think a lot of really extraordinary things are going to happen soon in very rapid succession. Like a dam breaking.

Intuition is a bizarre thing, it’s so vague that I don’t even know if it’s about work, or my actual life. But I want to write it down so I can go back so I can see if I’m right. Even intuition needs verification sometimes.

I think I’m going to actually like it here. DC is just a bunch of silly rituals and everyone looks so comical and kind of touching going through them, even though they often aren’t aware of it, their little bellies hanging out over their belts, the young women in the flip flops with the many-times-reused crumply Ann Taylor bag containing their heels, the Red Line in the morning full of cut-rate Masters-of-the-Universe-in-training. All there, all waiting for one future or another to start. In just two years, you could be just as lame as Timothy Geithner is today!

I think I was wrong. We are not really running the planet – we are simply showing up for work in the most elaborately over-constructed edifice of language and money that has ever existed on Earth, and it actually prevents us from hearing the saxophonists and keyboardists and mandolin players who stand outside the Farragut North exit and play beautiful rush-hour morning music for the thousands of commuters who flow out silently to their jobs, their eyes averted, pretending to not hear so there will be no obligation to tip - a sea of cheap handbags, idealism, credit card debt, professional jealousy, anti-depressants, sunglasses, diet tips, Netflix to return, thoughts of home, and whatever solitary music they prefer to listen to on their IPods. Usually not involving saxophones.

They say, those ships, they sail into the Golden Triangle and just … vanish. They’re never heard from again. They lose all radio contact with shore.

I guess its time to reestablish.

The Flowers in the Square

2009-06-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have something that follows you around for a while, waiting for you to take notice or pay attention to it. Sometimes it’s a word, sometimes it’s an idea, sometimes it’s just a picture. For me, lately, I have been followed around by rivers. Pictures of rivers, maps of rivers, watershed maps on my wall at work. There’s a picture of the Delaware on my desktop now, but this Friday, I dreamed about the Mississippi, that of it I know.

It was a beautiful dream, like a prism made of water. It was light, light on water, during the day, summer, the part of the river with the three steel bridges up by the border with Arkansas. The riverboat casinos even, down on the Mississippi side, in the north Delta. The green. Too powerful to get in the water, always, a mighty, a massive, like a city itself in motion but instead all water. All water. More water. Move down. Move down, water. Move down, city. Move down.

Move down,
Miss
I
Sip
I.

After that dream, I figured that the River that is all rivers was trying to tell me something, and has been for a while, and it was about time I listened. On Saturday I put on cutoffs and flipflops and got on the Orange line and went straight into to the marshes around the Anacostia River here in D.C., a small patch, 77 acres of what used to be 2,000, which they had to reconstruct from the ravages of progress.

There was a grating of cheap apartment buildings all around the park, and I wandered for a good long time, but eventually I got in. I managed to stay a long time there, walking around, looking at turtles and herons, mostly left to myself; I fell asleep on the banks and was awakened by some teenage boys in canoes who I think were slightly disappointed that they hadn’t found a dead body. “Sorry to wake you up,” they said, and paddled away. I yawned and brushed off a bunch of ants, and immediately went back to sleep.

The Anacostia is a brown river swollen with all sorts of nameless sludge, but there are fish in it, some of them quite large. It’s too bad its so polluted, because it has a beautiful name, but it is not powerful enough to be feared, and it’s obvious that people regard it as a dump. Apparently it’s against the law to swim in the river in the District of Columbia! I was very troubled by this but now I have seen the water I understand. At least there is still a forest there. Best of all, I got to ride home on the Metro promiscuously covered in mud.

This year, the two floats that I saw at the Cherry Blossom Festival were the Anacostia Roller Stars, a roller skating troupe that I think survives off of childrens’ birthday parties, and a flotilla of young Maryland women in Scarlett O’Hara dresses, parasols, and bonnets.

The Anacostia Roller Stars were dressed in superhero costumes, including “ObamaMan”, an African American superhero dressed in blazing white and sporting an “O” on his chest. He was a hit. Little kids wanted to be him. Women wanted to photograph him. After ObamaMan left, the Belles of the South were the next in line, and quite the letdown.

The South is on my mind because my grandmother Angelina Josephina Cuicchi Miller is sick now, in Leland, MS, and her spirit is still very strong, more so that her body. Some people are too strong even for their own bodies to hold, and that is a hard thing. She is 78, and my dad bought her an IPod for Christmas this year on which she still listens to the Three Tenors. When I was born, in 1976, she made me a Bicentennial quilt with emblems of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall on it, and I didn’t even know what they were until I moved to Philly in 1999, and then walked by them every day.

Angie Miller ran the Leland Flower Shop for 20 years, and running a flower shop means caring in a small and beautiful way for everyone in town at the most crucial moments of their lives: births, weddings, illness, funerals. There are always divorce flowers too, of course. And Valentine’s Day, the busiest day of the year, which in my family meant the day that everyone had to help Mama at the shop, and work all day, driving all over town and delivering hundreds and hundreds of roses.

It is the place where I learned that some flowers come in humidors flown overnight from Venezuela, and how to strip a rose of its thorns in 2-4 seconds, and other things, as countless as the stars in the Milky Way, the great river of light in the sky.

I still don’t know all that I have been given by this astonishing woman. I am a conduit for it but I don’t even know what it is – I don’t even understand it. It is mostly wordless, and comes and goes without name.

I would be an alchemist with it, all that I have been given; but I hardly know how. All I can do is listen, just listen to the water move.

On Unmanufacturing Consent

2009-06-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

So my old friend from Philly Adam Fieled has asked me to "come out of literary retirement" and read at a poetry reading he is organizing of DC poets on August 8. Despite the fact that this would require me to write poetry again, which I haven't for years, I said yes, and now I have to think about what to write.

There is something a bit angelic about Adam himself - his Facebook picture has been the same for years: pallid and underfed, wearing too many layers of sweaters, as if he found the world to be something one had to bundle up against at all times.

In general, I’ve been thinking for a while that I have to find my language again. That campaign business just strangles it out of you. Control and endless testoterone and wretched egomania and bad food and a masochistic learned fear of creativity and the weird ‘fucking up your neighbors’ primary game in Philly – it’s like being a rock doomed to a life of endlessly banging into other rocks.

I think sometimes I should sit down and write down what I learned from it all, except then the thought of reliving it is distasteful. (Anne Dicker is somewhere barbequing right now, doubtlessly thinking the same thing). Sometimes in DC I talk to people who have also just arrived here, and they say things like, “oh, yeah, I got the campaign bug too!” and give me a grin, and I kind of grimace and make them go away.

I know we are all organizers, but there is a big difference between asking a Democrat to vote for Barack Obama, and asking a worker to stand for unionization when it might cost them their job. If just a few of these little puddings could get sidetracked by OFA into something else memorable (like the Dean campaign did quite admirably), then I would feel better about the future of the American left.

But then again, I’m in Washington, so I have absolutely no connection to the American left other than my brother’s feel-good earthy Palo Alto employer restarting Republic Doors and Windows, the factory where the workers had taken over after a shut down– a weird blend of 1930s communism and 2000s California ethical-business principles-cum-marketing-ploy. (For their trouble, they were mentioned in a speech by the president.) I suppose ethical business is the natural response to the historical singularity of consumer capitalism, and so it’s just another iteration.

There was hail in June today, coming down on 18th and L streets; I worried. I had had this terrible dream the night that Air France plane went down, that I was standing on the middle row of a plane in a horrible electric storm, full of terrified passengers, with lighting all around, and telling everyone to be calm, that it was going to be alright. At the time it was so real, so I feared it was foreboding of something, but then I came into work and heard on WAMU about the crash.

Resulting thoughts included a) Is it possible to hear echoes from others, in your dreams? and b) if I am clairvoyant then what the fuck am I doing in political advocacy?

Answers:
a) Yes, with the right drugs, and
b) Since I am doing communications work, it’s probably appropriate. Someday we will be able to get information directly through our skin by touching a metal pad or something. It’s gonna happen. Might as well get spooky and get ready for the future.

“Breakfast of Champions”, Kurt Vonnegut’s novel about a science fiction writer, has 50 (at least) topics for science fiction books that Vonnegut himself thinks of but doesn’t bother to write.

THINKTANK RANT #1 (of many to come): One of the most amazing things I’ve seen since coming to Washington is the existence of an entire “future-projection industry”, which runs endless numbers and makes endless prognostications in order to determine what is going to happen over the next 100 years so those in power can make “informed decisions.” Water. Climate change. Oil. Agriculture. The military strength of Mongolia.

The trend became apparent to me precisely because it is in the filed of technology alone that chaos is assumed, and valued. The hilarity really ensues when you get to things like foreign policy, which covers the ‘behavior’ of ‘nation-states,’ which if I remember correctly are large clumps of really chaotic people mostly completely uncontrolled. The journals go on and on: which nation-state is eating too much or too little? Which nation-state is sick, or too religious? Which nation-state is in trouble and needs an ‘intervention’?

As a former sociology student, I don’t dispute the innate demographic needs of human beings to count and tabulate, but what’s so weird watching this vast machinery of think tanks and publications and press conferences, is that it seems so bizarrely solipsistic – so, we have written a paper on how you are running the world, and this is what’s going to happen later on after you continue to run the world a little more, and here how you can continue to get your grubby little hands on the resources you need, because if you have this projection you can point to it in a hearing and then be absolved of responsibility for your decisions. As bizarre as it is, I suppose it is an improvement on a court priesthood or consigliere.

And then again sometimes it’s worse when people ignore it.

I started reading Leaves of Grass this weekend. I decided that if I were going to write and read a poem in DC I was going to do a little riff off Whitman, since he wrote the great song of democracy, and that’s my bag.

I started reading it and I realized how much love he had for America, for every scrap of it. The whole book is just an unbelievable work of love. Our country has changed so much since then, just the fiber of it, and I don’t know what song we would sing now – or if we even have a song in us. We play video games, everything is mushy, we have soft butts in soft car seats, we don’t look out for our neighbors. Sometimes I love everybody on the whole damn miserable train platform so much I can barely look at them, which is the essential starting point of Leaves of Grass, except that how do you start writing about all of that at once?

Do you just start writing about your friends?

Maybe your friends.

Fuck.

That's Spoon River Anthology.

I hate Spoon River Anthology!

My Article on Racialicious on Hate Speech

2009-06-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

On Media Reform and Hate Speech
June 2, 309
Racialicious.com

by Guest Contributor Hannah Miller

The media reform movement is an offshoot and part of the civil rights movement. It was born in 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Everett Parker of the United Church of Christ initiated a lawsuit against white-owned TV stations in the South for consistently portraying African Americans in a racist manner, while refusing to show any coverage of the civil rights movement.

Because of their pressure, the FCC shut down a Mississippi TV station, stating that the power and influence that media companies have gives them the responsibility to operate with the broader public interest at heart – with special consideration given to oppressed minorities.

Since then, political pressure has been brought to bear against the FCC and Congress on a wide variety of issues: female and minority ownership of stations and publications, the dangers of consolidation of the media, the need to build public communications infrastructure like cable access stations or city-owned Internet networks, and the need for everyone to have broadband access.

The percentage of our time that the American public spends with media has been steadily climbing for 40 years, and with that, its influence over our lives. The media is our environment, and the battle I am engaged in is over the nature of this environment: whether it is an environment in which ordinary people have a voice – or whether we are to passively absorb content controlled by a small number of people and corporations. Whether the media is democratic, and reflects a variety of voices.

Why is this important? I will take an extreme example of the media’s power, when it is used by one group over another. In 1994, radio stations played a significant role in the Rwandan genocide, broadcasting hate-filled rants and giving directions to how to kill Tutsis, resulting in a genocide that killed approximately 500,000 Tutsis in 100 days.

Continued here.

When the Devil Shows Up on Your Doorstep...

2009-06-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, on a Saturday night at 1 a.m., my entire neighborhood was torn from sleep by the sound of a massive explosion, followed by the deafening sound of grinding metal. Hearing this, I jumped out of bed, fumbled for the light, slammed a door open, and with most of the inhabitants of my house and the rest of the neighborhood, ran downstairs.

It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life – being jerked out of from exhausted sleep by what sounded like a bomb going off, then the sounds of an entire neighborhood flipping on light switches, opening windows and doors, afraid of what they would see, while all the while, the huge grinding sound continues, as if huge robots are waging war above the nighttime rowhomes of Petworth.

A 17-year-old boy had stolen a car from Kennedy and raced it south down 7th Street NW, losing control about half a block above Farragut and then careening into a parked Acura, a parked Jaguar, a parked Toyota and two other parked cars, before flipping over and exploding in a fireball about 30 feet from the home of Peggy Watson’s house, where I have been living.

The 17-year-old boy had been thrown from the car and was smeared across the road; his 15-year-old friend who had been in the car with him but who had gotten out alive sat on the curb and watched his friend dying. The flames of the still-burning car flickered in the eyes of the neighbors, some of whom held each other, some of whom cried, waiting for the police and firetrucks to arrive. At the end of the street, three men watched the car burn from the wheelchairs to which gunfights had consigned them from the rest of their lives. The guys in the wheelchairs were all under 30. “It’s like Vietnam,” Peggy said.

“This is the summer, here,” Peggy said. “This is just the beginning.”

Peggy Watson’s house is a little like a stone fortress on the corner of 7th and Farragut NW. She is a little bit of the block captain and unofficial mom of the neighborhood. She has two cats, one of which is named Hannah. I don’t know how she holds it together. This horrible scene is only the most spectacular of the things I witnessed there.

I have lived in a lot of places, and not all of them have been what is called ‘nice’, but I was completely unprepared for the stewpot of dehumanization, racial animosity, sexual harassment, mental illness, and just sheer hopelessness in the part of DC that I happened to wash up on. I was consumed by it, because I am always attuned to my environment, and I soak it up.

One of the survival instincts I lack is the ability to disregard other people’s pain; the 70/71 bus (which runs down Georgia Avenue, which I would take to work for the first two months of my existence here) is a moving holding tank of pathos and despair. My second week in town, while waiting for the bus in the morning, I started talking to a man who was waiting at my stop, at Farragut and Georgia. He was about 45, and had been waiting there all night looking for his teenage daughter, who had gotten into drugs and run away from home. He showed me a picture of her and asked if I’d seen her, and I said no, and he said, “Of course, she probably looks different now, she’s probably lost weight.” He had moved to DC with his family from Detroit for a job, and he regretted ever coming here, because the toxins had gotten to his daughter, and he was powerless to do anything about it. The bus pulled up and I had to get on, so I cried a little bit and gave him a hug and wished him good luck and watched him alone on the bench, from the window of the bus.

I have to write this down because I don’t know what else to do. The things I have seen are so awful: the girl’s wrist, for example. There was a tiny, 13-year-old pregnant girl in my neighborhood, and her wrist was as thin as a pencil, she was so underfed. Or - one time going at home at night on the bus, we had to pull over, and everyone had to get off and walk because someone on the back of the bus had literally shit on the floor of the bus.

A community service for the boy who’d died in the car wreck was held a week after the accident, right in front of my house. There were people who walked away from the service and made drug deals two blocks down the street in the early evening sunset. Peggy Watson got up in front of the crowd – she’s lived there for 20 years - and gave a speech that was an act of love. I was very proud of her. “Don’t let anyone tell you aren’t beautiful because you are black,” she said. “We are all beautiful. Don’t let anyone put you down.”

Five days after the accident, I went with Lynda to a happy hour and panel about the DC local blogger community put on by the Next American City magazine. I had never seen this magazine before, even though it is published out of Philadelphia; it was a gorgeously designed urban planning mag about sustainability and carbon footprints and phrases like ‘the built environment’, funded by some foundations, with no ads at all.

The cover of the magazine said “Cities in Crisis,” with a picture of a little old African American lady walking past a crumbling building (assumably Detroit, since they are now the poster child for romanticized urban ‘decay’.) Despite this being a 65 percent African American city, not only were none of the DC bloggers black – there wasn’t a single black person in the whole room! I was astounded. If I needed more of a reminder for why solving the digital divide is important, I don’t think I could have gotten one.

The event mystified me – the reality mystified me. I do not say this to cast aspersions on DC local bloggers, who are a group of extremely idealistic people that are probably the first generation of the DC transient class to ever care about the health of the city. This is a huge and important development.

The thing that is really and truly disturbing about the social breakdown and sorrow of DC is that is happens right under the nose of the most powerful people on the planet. People who could solve these problems with the stroke of a pen. The political class here has completely abdicated its responsibility to its neighbors, and that says everything you need to know about the way they go about running the rest of the country. One cannot govern humanely if you are choosing to ignore the real people around you who need help. That is a strange way to live, and that is why Washington is so dehumanizing. It has echoes of the slave city it once was. Not too long ago, this was not free land. And the two-class city that has replaced it doesn’t really look much different.

The only sure-fire way I know of breaking apathy and hopelessness is by teaching people that they have power over their own lives. That is the only thing that works. Having something to build towards brings out the best in people. The Obama campaign energy is still there, but it has to be channeled in DC, or else it will turn into more cynicism.

Right before I left Philly, I met this magical woman who had lived in DC in the 70s, and she told me about her life here then. It was a different world entirely. It was so much happier of a place, she told me, before crack was invented and all the guns came. She told me about a strip of discos – I don’t know where - where they would literally close down the street so people could rollerskate between clubs. And it would be a Saturday night and all these folks would be out rollerskating. In mean old DC.

Democracy does not cure all problems, and it does not turn thugs into rollerskaters. But what it does do is give people the opportunity to address the problems they see in their own community. What I don’t quite understand yet here is how the disenfranchisement of DC residents exactly works – but I have a feeling that this is connected somehow to all these other problems. Peggy tried to teach me this, but I am still confused, especially since we apparently have a functioning city government.

At the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights dinner, I met the outreach coordinator of DC Vote, and the poor woman got treated to a 30-minute harangue about what field consultant they should hire and how they should go after the unions and all that. “Oh yeah, there's about a six month window with political professionals after they get to town,” Nathan says, watching my enthusiasm. “After that people get resigned to not voting.”

I suspect I will probably be an exception to this, but I don’t have the foggiest idea how I will have time to work on this. However, it’s definitely the next thing that needs to happen in the democracy movement. Suffrage. Suffrage is … come on, it’s Democracy 101. And how beautiful a thing it would be to have an actual democracy movement right in the face of the American federal government.

P.S. I want to give a promo to the blog Lynda writes for (this is Lynda Laughlin, formerly of Temple, for those of you who know her): www.greatergreaterwashington.org. It is very good and smart and community minded and they are on a crusade to clean up the Anacostia River. It also has a blogroll of other local DC blogs. Someday I will write about the DC bloggers. They all know each other and complain about each other, it’s a community. I suppose I am one of them now since I am a blogger and live here. Hooray that I found the other writers!

The Last Island in the Ocean

2009-05-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

When I lived overseas, it was commonplace, during American elections, for expats to say: everyone in the world should get to vote in American elections, because American government runs the world. American government should have a global vote.

It seems a bit much, when you live here. But when you leave you realize how true this really is. American monetary policy, military policy, environmental regulations, banking policy… trade, taxation of the international corporations that are based here… technology policy, intellectual property, on and on the list goes… these all effect not just what happens within our borders, but the daily life of millions and millions of people flung all over the globe.

We don’t govern that way – openly anyway. Our political discourse takes as its presumption that we are an innocent little nation state amongst many others, that our behavior is normal, as if there were Tunisian military bases in 130 countries around the world, or if Malaysia regularly sent robot warplanes to bomb villages in Iceland.

I wrote a long time ago in a post about then freshman Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) that one cannot understand the implications our foreign policy unless one witnesses it. And we are so geographically isolated that we cannot really see those things - nor the fact that we are most often the nation that others look to for help and succor, in the most desperate of circumstances. There are entire islands in Indonesia with cultures that have existed for thousands of years, now in danger of going permanently underwater because of the impacts of the 1950s suburbanization of America … whose only hope is that we start biking (and fast) or give them enough money to relocate.

When we do things right, we do things globally right… but more often than not, we do things wrong, and globally so. And this is not being talked about. This is all being swept under the rug. Our world is literally being burnt up, and the human race being overwhelmed in a plague of violence, dislocation, and greed, while our massive communications system and our media hides it, and prevents us from taking action to solve our problems.

I am an optimist. I believe in the intelligence and bravery and kindness and resourcefulness of human beings. Not because such traits automatically flourish – but rather because I have seen them flourish even under the most difficult and brutal of circumstances. Love and hope just never run out, and sometimes all that is needed is to be reminded of them.

No matter how grave and massive our global problems are, I believe that in the deep wisdom of all of our combined cultures we have the ability to address them, and stop them. No – I don’t just believe this. I know this. Ordinary human beings like me and you know what’s best for the world. We know better than anyone else what kind of world we would like to live in.

Right now, though, we are prevented from talking about this world. We are prevented from having the public deliberations that would allow us to come to conclusions and take action. We are prevented from doing so by democratic failures in many countries, and most of all, a global communications infrastructure that is not built for democracy.

And most of all, the most failed system of communications is that which we have in America. Where it is needed the most. Although e get to vote on what happens to the rest of the world, we have a communications system that almost completely fails to tell the truth and give us power over our own political conditions – despite it enveloping and overwhelming us. Our communications system is now actually standing in the way of the human race solving its own problems. It simply must be circumvented or reconfigured, if we are ever to survive at all.

Arundahti Roy wrote in An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire that “the only thing stronger than the United States government is American civil society.”

I say this to myself a lot, especially since I live in Washington now and have to see just what it is we are up against. Some of the media corporations we are up against have one lobbyist for every member of Congress.

I have to believe it is true. In fact, I know it is. It’s just a shock to realize that what we are doing is not just organizing for America – we are organizing for the world. And that if the world is to change, it will require nothing less than a sea change in the hearts of the American people.

The Philly Casino Fight, and the World

2009-04-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

(Crossposted at Young Philly Politics.)

I work on a lot of things now, and they are all interconnected in many ways, although it’s not always obvious. What holds all of the things I work on together is the principle that the public should have the power to make decisions for itself, without intermediary, and that structures and places that allow and facilitate the necessary discussion and decisionmaking should be free, and protected by law.

I want to write about the casino fight because, as with so many things, the public conversation has become a little amnesiac about what has really happened here.

The casino fight in Philadelphia, and to some extent Valley Forge, is so much more than a traditional NIMBY fight that the comparison (which I sometimes still hear) is downright laughable. For the people who have been involved in this fight over the last 4 years now, our world has been like descending into the depths of political hell and traveling through a seedy, dark underworld of corruption, arrogance, creepy casino operators who make their living impoverishing seniors and bankrupting families, backroom deals, complete lack of respect on the part of elected officials for their own constituents, disgusting short-sightedness on the part of old people who are willing to flush Philly down the toilet on their way to retirement, Gaming Board officials with ties to the mob, open lies, votes at midnight on a vacation weekend, the failure of our business and political leadership to come up with a sustainable economic vision for the city that doesn’t involve creating a morass of crime and social problems, the silencing of the public voice, casino operators pitting neighborhood against neighborhood to incite class and racial hatred in a city they don’t care about because God knows they don’t live here, a failure to talk about property taxes and what really needs to change in our state tax structure…you name it. It has been awful to watch, even when I wasn’t able to actively participate, because it was so anti-democratic, really.

And that’s not even counting the ballot measure.

Did you forget about this?

In the winter of 2007, a number of grassroots groups with no money came together, gathered something like 13,000 signatures to get a measure on the city primary ballot that said basically, no casinos in neighborhoods. It didn’t say no casinos at all, it just said you could only build them where they were 1500 feet from homes and schools. (Which would mean the casinos would essentially have to move to the Navy Yard or the airport.)

This was a really really big deal. The process to get a measure on the city ballot via signatures is very difficult to do in a grassroots fashion. For one, the period to gather the signatures comes before the period to get signatures for candidates – in other words, it’s even colder, and standing outside of a grocery store is even more excruciating.

Two, it’s really hard to get 13,000 people to do anything unless you have a lot of money. Which they didn’t have. REALLY hard. You have to have a lot of angry people for that to happen. In fact, it’s so hard to do this, and requires so many people to do this, that the only other time this has ever happened in recent Philadelphia history was the petition drive to Recall Rizzo – which garnered a similar number of signatures – more than 20 years ago.

So… they got it on the ballot…. City council, to its credit, gave approval… and then we’re all rolling along nicely in the primary when the PA Supreme Court takes it off the ballot because Foxwoods and Sugarhouse sued, and said our vote was illegal.

No reason given. Nothing else was struck from the ballot.
Just the ruling: Philadelphians do not have the right to vote on whether we have casinos in our neighborhoods.

After that, sheer fury ensued. Casino Free Philadelphia ran their own election day operation at 30-plus polling places on May 15 anyway. It was pretty amazing, especially taking into account that this was over and above a huge number of rebellious/progressive political types who were already running/working on 20-plus other challenger city council campaigns at the same time. Not to mention the mayoral volunteers. Lot of energy, that year.

The Supreme Court decision was awful. It is the real knot in all this, that decision. That decision effectively said to me, and to all of us, that the casino owners were afraid. They were afraid of letting us choose, because they know they would lose. For all their rhetoric about it ‘being just a few neighborhoods that are anti-casino,’ those in power were really just bluffing.

Because this is the deal. Almost half the neighborhoods in the city have been threatened by a casino now, and had to organize against it, and have seen their comments and sentiments and their very self-determination about their homes and businesses mowed over by a cabal of casino operators and the people who work really really hard to see they get what they want, while the desperately needed public policy concerns that would help their neighborhoods – education, gun control, affordable housing - languish and die in Harrisburg. The other half of the city may not have been personally threatened, but they have been waiting for a really long time for someone to help them out, and they know that a casino sure as hell isn’t designed to help them. It kills me to hear the governor and the mayor get up there and say things like, “finally, we can move forward, isn’t it wonderful,” as if casinos were health care reform.

Chinatown, Fishtown, Fairmount, Pennsport, Queen Village, Society Hill, Richmond, Old City, Tioga, Center City, Wash West, Nicetown, Germantown, 9th Street, Bella Vista…and now CFP is organizing in West Philly.

Why am I writing about this? I am writing about this because I am beginning to realize that this battle is as important as I thought. I’ve moved to DC for a while to work on democracy (through opening up the media), and one of the things that I have quickly learned in DC is that the United States still sets the standards for democracy globally. I had no idea about this, but this is what people in the State department say – that when we craft any policy that is about democracy, it gets copied in other countries. I was really surprised when I heard this.

But then I realized what a huge responsibility we have. If we are the gold standard, we really have to be the gold standard. That is tremendous power to change the lives and fortunes of people around the globe – based on what goes down in a little casino battle in Fishtown. I think Bill Clinton is even coming to the National Constitution Center next week to talk about this – I don’t think it’s open to the public – but I do wish they would invite the PA Supreme Court.

There is a lot more to say about this – for example, the counterargument that cities and states are really at the mercy of global capitalism and we shouldn’t get mad at them etc etc. There is so much to the picture that I can’t cover it all, and I haven’t gotten to half the stuff I intended to.

But in the end – I just feel like - enough talk, it's time we really got to vote.

Philadelphia should have the right to vote on whether we should have casinos in our neighborhoods.

That's a campaign I would very much be down for.

Hannah

On Magic vs. Power, Continued.

2009-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

There was another reason that I started using the word magic in place of the word power: sheer self-preservation.

Many times when I met powerful people, or were exposed to their organizations, I was always shocked and disturbed at how power had deformed them over the years – personally, spiritually, socially, and often even physically.

The behavior, paranoia, secrecy, and control mechanisms required to maintain their own personal power seemed to remove so many of them from the basic realities and joys of being a human being - appreciating mystery, enjoying spontaneity and humor, or being able to have a conversation free of any underlying transactional subtext.

It was deeply disturbing, and very sad, because so many of the people I met in Philadelphia had had ideals: justice, peace, freedom, equality. Generally the system that they had become a part of had done them such violence, and so they replicated it with their own subordinates. Not everyone was like this, but I saw a lot of confusion out there.

Paolo Coelho in 'Brida' wrote that there are two types of creators: those who build, and those who plant. And that those who build become trapped by the structure they have built - while those who plant are continually amazed by the new stages and shapes that appear.

I have thought about running for office in the past, because I would be very smart about it, probably win, and then would have power to accomplish progressive goals. I have struggled with this a lot, but in the end I know I cannot do this. I do not want to end up like those folks. It seems like the worst and the loneliest way to live. My job is to carry the ring of power without putting it on. To fragment and destroy all centralization of power, and return the magic (which I guess is just power broken into atomized golden dust) to those who should have it.

I consider myself exceptionally lucky to be able to do this. I have been let into the group of people who truly change the world. It is a heavy thing, but quite amazing, and quite a heavy burden. I have to really earn my stripes, if they are going to let me stay in.

I do not know precisely how power is broken into magic. Sometimes it is force, and sometimes it is music, and sometimes it is just knowing where the cracks are. It is still very mysterious to me. It is sometimes hard, to be that which grounds power – I transfer power through me to others without keeping it for myself - a conductor. But I wouldn't wish for anything else.

On Magic vs. Power.

2009-04-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of the odd things about my political writing and commentary in Philly over the last few years (mostly on Young Philly Politics) is the fact that I used the term magic. I used it over and over again in place of the word power, eschewing the word power itself almost completely and creating, over two years of writing, an alternate universe in which I recast everything around me in a fantastical light. Candidates or campaigns or political acts either had magic or did not - political actors were pirates or wizards – my political intuition and professional assessment of a campaign’s chances were couched in terms of whether they had good voodoo or bad voodoo.

I did this over and over again, on a public blog, and in conversation as well, without ever really thinking about what I was doing, or why I preferred to talk about politics in terms of spell casting (which is, really, all a campaign is – the concentrated repetition of powerful words.)

I’ve asked myself lately why I did this. And I found that the answer was actually incredibly important and complicated – that I did this because it was my negotiation with the political world I was entering, the action I took to set the terms. When you first get into politics there is a reeducation-camp thing where you learn where the power centers are and where they are on the scale. And ‘power’ in those terms, I found, meant really only one thing: having access to a lot of money. That was it. At first I just hated this, and I didn’t understand it. I was very mad, and it seemed unfair, and I was just full of disgust.

The most amazing and powerful political feats are accomplished not by those with access to money, but those who have very little, and still make things happen. They have to be smarter than anyone else, and they have to work harder, but in the end they are the only people who really change the world. And that is power. This I knew in my heart, but I did not see it reflected in the way that journalists would write about politics. So what I did was come up with my own way to talk about it. They had cleaned out all the meaning of the word ‘power’ – which is, in reality, a very complicated algorhythm. So I had to use another word. The word I chose was magic.

I liked it for a number of reasons. One – magic is entirely too complicated and mysterious for people to fully understand, which is in keeping with reality. If I had to sit down and make a list of the most powerful people in Philadelphia, I don’t know if I could do it, because there are simply too many factors for which to control – is someone born into money, do they have a familiar last name, etc. Even then, I would miss people like Amy Dougherty, the Executive Director of the Friends of the Free Library, who runs a grassroots organization that operates in every neighborhood in the city, and just ran one of the most amazing campaigns I’ve ever seen with a staff of three. Power is much more fluid that people think. I used the word magic originally as a naming device, but I was right in more ways than even I knew. Power behaves, really, more like magic. It is odd, and very fleeting, and sometimes the window opens and sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes you can push and it won’t work anyway. Sometimes you are ten years ahead of your time. The word just means “to be able to do something.” That doesn’t reside permanently in any organization or operation or person.

The word itself also causes harm when it comes to organizing. Within the ‘power vs. powerless’ matrix, you have to spend a tremendous amount of time and energy convincing the ‘powerless’ that they do, in fact, have power. It would simply take too much time, it seems, to break apart the whole falsity of this silly word and the brainwashing that goes with it. Maybe that is what I will do down the road, I don’t know. So you have to go out there and say over and over again, you do have power, you do, even though you don’t have any money and very little time and the game is set up so that you can’t participate or are scared or intimidated. It takes so much work, it really does, and I am always so moved by the incredible bravery that people find within themselves. But power is such a foreign word. It has become a word that prevents us from making progress.

I am learning what I refer to as ‘Chinese magic’ now, which is basically the principles as laid out in the Tao Te Ching. This really proves my point about timing – knowledge is very much a form of power, and sometimes it comes to you and sometimes it doesn’t. Books find me when I am ready for them. I tried to read it fifteen years ago and gave up, I even lived in China, and I never got any of this. But it’s a way of talking about power that I love and that speaks to my heart. I am very lucky, at age 33, that I am at a place where I can understand this.

from Chapter Eight of the Tao Te Ching:

The sage’s way,
Tao,
Is the way of water.
There must be water for life to be,
And it can flow wherever.

And water, being true to being water,
Is true
To Tao.

. . .

The sage rules with compassion ,
And his word needs to be trusted.

The sage needs to know like water
How to flow around the blocks
And how to find the way through without violence.

Like water, the sage should wait
For the moment to ripen and be right:

Water, you know, never fights

It flows around
Without harm.

The Media Bill of RIghts

2009-04-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is the foundational document of the Media and Democracy Coalition, the organization for which I work. Current signatories here.

---------------
The Media Bill of Rights

Preamble

A free and vibrant media, full of diverse and competing voices, is the lifeblood of America’s democracy and culture, as well as an engine of growth for its economy.

Yet, in recent years, massive and unprecedented corporate consolidation has dangerously contracted the number of voices in our nation’s media. While some argue we live in an age of unprecedented diversity in media, the reality is that the vast majority of America’s news and entertainment is now commercially-produced, delivered, and controlled by a handful of giant media conglomerates seeking to minimize competition and maximize corporate profits rather than maximize competition and promote the public interest.

According to the Supreme Court, the First Amendment protects the American public’s right to “an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will prevail” and “suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences.” Moreover, it is “the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount.”

But too often, our nation’s policymakers favor media conglomerates’ commercial interests over the public’s Constitutional rights, placing America’s democracy, culture, and economy at risk. Instead, guided by the principles that follow, policymakers must ensure that the Constitutional rights of present and future generations to freely express themselves in the media, and to access the free expression of others, using the technologies of today and tomorrow, are always “paramount.”

We ask you to join the broad coalition of consumer, public interest, media reform, organized labor and other groups representing millions of Americans in proposing the following Bill of Media Rights.

Media That Provide “An Uninhibited Marketplace of Ideas”

The American public has a right to:

Journalism that fully informs the public, is independent of the government and acts as its watchdog, and protects journalists who dissent from their employers.

Newspapers, television and radio stations, cable and satellite systems, and broadcast and cable networks operated by multiple, diverse, and independent owners that compete vigorously and employ a diverse workforce.

Radio and television programming produced by independent creators that is original, challenging, controversial, and diverse.
Programming, stories, and speech produced by communities.

Internet service provided by multiple, independent providers who compete vigorously and offer access to the entire Internet over a broadband connection, with freedom to attach within the home any legal device to the net connection and run any legal application.

Public broadcasting insulated from political and commercial interests that is well-funded and especially serves communities underserved by privately-owned broadcasters.

Regulatory policies emphasizing media education and public empowerment, not government censorship, as the best ways to avoid unwanted content.

Media That Use The Public’s Airwaves To Serve The Public Interest

The American public has a right to:

Electoral and civic, children’s, educational, independently produced, local and community programming, as well as programming that serves Americans with disabilities and underserved communities.

Media that reflect the presence and voices of people of color, women, labor, immigrants, Americans with disabilities, and other communities often underrepresented.

Maximum access and opportunity to use the public airwaves and spectrum.

Meaningful participation in government media policy, including disclosure of the ways broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations, ascertain their community’s needs, and create programming to serve those needs.

Media That Reflect And Respond To Their Local Communities

The American public has a right to:

Television and radio stations that are locally owned and operated, reflective of and responsible to the diverse communities they serve, and able to respond quickly to local emergencies.

Well-funded local public access channels and community radio, including low-power FM radio stations.

Universal, affordable Internet access for news, education, and government information, so that the public can better participate in our democracy and culture.

Frequent, rigorous license and franchise renewal processes for local broadcasters and cable operators that meaningfully include the public.

Conclusion

These principles are not meant to be all-inclusive. Rather, they illustrate an American media structure that is the American public’s present and future right under the Constitution of the United States.

My CodePink Post from this summer

2009-03-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Just had to go looking for it -
My Slaughterhouse Five post from CodePink House this summer is here.

Quotidienne

2009-03-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

I am very tired now, because I have gone to three conferences in a row. My friend Anne calls this the "information uptake" phase, and it always seems to go on forever, and it is very confusing and frustrating, especially when you are working on a campaign for an industry that is dying in front of your eyes. This sense of panic that a lot of us have is sheer nonsense. I keep telling people who are working on the journalism campaign that never once in the history of America has there been a product that appeals to millions of people, and the absence of someone to sell it. The question with journalism is not which business model. The really really hard part is figuring out how to reconstruct its ethos as a public service profession.

Speaking of panic, apparently there is this retro WWII era poster that is a huge hit all over Britain right now:

Millions of British terrified by the economic crisis are putting them up in their homes. What's really hilarious about it is the history: there were 3 posters made - this was the worst one, actually saved for the event of massive bombing and carnage.

From Barter Books:

At the end of August 1939 three designs went into production with an overall print budget of 20,600 pounds for five million posters. The first poster, of which over a million were printed, carried a slogan suggested by a civil servant named Waterfield. Using the crowns of George VI as the only graphic device, the stark red and white poster read 'Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will Bring Us Victory'. A similar poster, of which around 600,000 were issued, carried the slogan 'Freedom is in Peril'. But the third design, of which over 2.5 million posters were printed, simply read 'Keep Calm and Carry On'.

The first two designs were distributed in September 1939 and immediately began to appear in shop windows, on railway platforms, and on advertising hoardings up and down the country. But the 'Keep Calm' posters were held in reserve, intended for use only in times of crisis or invasion.

Maybe I can find a copy of the one about cheerfulness and courage instead?

---

I am one month into DC habitation and I am fascinated. The cherry blossoms are like a gift; they are like pink frosting on the marble and concrete. It is an astonishingly international place, and now that I have a month before I go back on the road, I am going to spend my time immersing myself in African film and Turkish music.

The weird concrete blocks of the interior of the metro (see below) just make me think of "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd.

It is a former slave city. That is very disturbing. There is no working class. There is the professional class, and the service class. And the service class doesn't have suffrage.

However, there is so much to hope about. So much. If grassroots organizations like the Main Street Project can be telling the FCC what to do, then things are looking up.

The GhostNet story freaked me out a little. Not so much in what it said (which is not new) but the possible ramifications and implications of nationalistic responses to massive spy threats in the Internet. I'm sure I am not the only person worrying about this but I haven't had time to search for "GhostNet" in the deep well of brilliant, incisive writing that is Twitter.

And why Viet Nam?

Revolutions We Need: On women and media reform

2009-03-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

On the Issues, one of the leading magazines on progressive women's politics, asked me to contribute to their current issue on "Revolutions We Need," on media reform and what it means for women. This is what I wrote:

Finding the Power in Women’s Voices, by Hannah Miller

A growing group of organizations work on what is called "media democracy," that is, changing the structure and legal framework of the media so that it reflects something a smidgeon closer to the actual public – including women.

In all its complexity, the media – TV and cable, newspapers and film, magazines and podcasts – can be understood quite simply: it's just a group of people sitting in a circle, talking to each other, debating over the issues they care about.

But in American culture – our common circle – some speakers are deemed important than others. Some speakers always go first and speak as long as they like; some utter a few words. More often than not, it is men who start the conversation, who carry the conversation, who are the very topics, and women who respond, stay silent, or are not discussed at all.

And this is one revolution that we need, on the airwaves and on the page: to give back to women the power of their words.

Continued here.

"The Apprentice" - PA Governor Edition

2009-03-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

Can I just say right now how effing boring the race for the next PA Governor is shaping up to be? Seriously. It hasn't even started and I already am bored. It's the same old same old: craggy looking white guys bellying up to the center, available in only two flavors: a) Former/Current/Wannabe CEO or b) Tough on Crime. There looks to be nothing enjoyable or interesting about it, especially when you factor in the coming head-in-hands frustration of the choice organizations, and even worse, a possible rise in hate crimes directed at Pennsylvania's Latino communities as the Republican party tries to pick off NE votes with hatin' on the immigrints. GROSS!!!

Dr. Cornell West said it best: with all the talent we have in this country - why are these the people who run for office?

The only possibly entertaining candidate, Don Cunningham - who could have performed at his own events with his rock band, 'Don Cunningham and His Cabinet' - is staying put in the Lehigh Valley.

Anyways. I am not seeking a solution here, I just had to get that one off my chest.

To leave you with something funny at least, I will share a story from elections (and newspaper owners) past.
This is from a former Inquirer editor, talking about working for the shady character Walter Annenberg before the paper was bought by Knight:

"Annenberg shamelessly used his news columns to embarrass candidates who dared to run against his favorites. One day in 1966 a Democrat named Milton Shapp held a press conference while running for governor and Annenberg’s hand-picked political reporter asked him only one question.

"The question was, “Mr. Shapp, have you ever been admitted to a mental institution?”

“Why no,” Shapp responded, and went away scratching his head about this odd question.

"The next morning he didn’t need to scratch his head any more. A five-column front page Inquirer headline read, “Shapp Denies Mental Institution Stay.”"

Can Someone Make a Porno Called "Deep Packet Inspection"?

2009-03-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am getting waaay too media geek here, but I just want to say that whoever invented the phrase "deep packet inspection" has given we public interest/net neutrality peeps a great organizing tool. All you have to do is say it a couple of times and someone in the room starts giggling, and then asks you what a packet is.

The only other thing I want to say today was how ironic it is that the Internet, possibly the greatest democratizing force in thousands of years of human history, was invented by the U.S. Department of Defense.

That's something to smile about.

A little bad marketing goes a long way

2009-03-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

From Salon... funny stuff.
------

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The death throes of my newspaper
Nancy Mitchell

A couple of years ago, back when those of us who worked at the Rocky Mountain News still thought a redesign would save us, management asked some focus groups to "brand" the newspaper for marketing purposes. For reasons that are still unclear, they came back with automobile metaphors:

The Rocky is a Ford. Dependable, solid. The working man's vehicle. The words "blue collar" may have been used. Our arch rival, the Denver Post, was deemed a Buick or a Cadillac, something more refined, more expensive. Sleeker.

Great, I thought, sitting in an auditorium of equally confused journalists who wanted nothing more than to get back to the newsroom. So are we an Escort or an Explorer?

The "brand" results were turned into a campaign in which the Rocky was described as a "Power Tool" for our readers. It was plastered across the sides of a newly acquired black Hummer that occasionally drove around Denver but mostly sat in our parking lot.

Friday, the Rocky, with a daily circulation of 210,000 and 457,000 on Saturdays, became the nation's largest newspaper to cease publication in an economic recession that already has sent the Chicago Tribune and both of Philadelphia's daily papers running for bankruptcy cover, among others, and put a For Sale sign on the Miami Herald. If we were a Ford, we ran out of gas 55 days before our 150th anniversary.

The rest is here.

This is a gravity wave.

2009-03-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Cool, huh? Waves in the sky! This is what caused our big snowstorm. They are responsible for transferring energy from the troposphere to the mesosphere. Here is the Wiki entry.

I think they are also the name of a Jimmy Buffett song, natch.

On Retreat, of Sorts.

2009-03-02T11:28:00.001-08:00

On retreat of sorts in Saint Petersburg, Florida, after my first week in DC - a week of crampedness, discomfort, awkwardness with my power and rhythm in such a fortress of a place. I burned the week to death. I worked so hard.

But I escaped just in time to get away from the snow! Hooray.

This week in to the Poynter Institute, the journalism thinktank on the water; visiting with my cousin Jennifer Miller, with whom I spent every summer and winter for most of my life, with whom I return to the soft tones of my childhood language; going to Clearwater to watch the Phils on my birthday; eating strawberries. Looking at the blue sky. And - just waiting. The storms come, whether I go looking for them or not. I don't need to push like a crazy woman.

I'm gonna see what I can do about journalism. But it will be tricky. This is not an industry that is accustomed to having any relationship with public policy (when it comes to itself, any way.) I don't know... this is like food safety or something. If we don't have quality information, then there is no political decisionmaking.

The Rocky Mountain News is Closing Because of Corporate Malpractice

2009-02-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

The Rocky is the only one of the 20 papers in the Scripps chain that was unprofitable in 2008. After 150 years, Scripps closed it today.

Last year was the first year in its recent history that the Rocky has been unprofitable. Just the year before, it had made $44 million. The other 19 papers in the chain provided Scripps with a more than adequate cushion to see the Rocky through a recession. The corporation has given no explanation for this.

Website of the staffers who organized: I Want My Rocky

Below is the statement by Colorado Common Cause:

----

For Immediate Release:
February 26, 2009

Contact: (303) 292-2163 office
http://www.ColoradoCommonCause.org

Statement on the Closing of the Rocky Mountain News
Jenny Rose Flanagan, Executive Director of Colorado Common Cause

Denver—It’s a sad day in Colorado. Over the last 150 years, the Rocky Mountain News has established a strong tradition of reporting on the local issues that matter to Coloradans. From award-winning investigative reporting to their distinctive political perspective on the editorial pages, the Rocky has been a consistent voice on the issues of the day.

While we will mourn the loss of the Rocky, we are troubled by what this loss means for the future of journalism in Colorado and beyond. The Rocky Mountain News is not the first newspaper to announce plans to close in recent months, and unfortunately, it won’t be the last. The Rocky’s closure is more than the loss of a single newspaper, it’s just one example of a failing model for the news industry. Although print media has become less popular, the desire—and need—for diverse and independent journalism has not.

An informed citizenry requires a diverse and independent media. Newspapers have long been the medium to connect neighbors, inform communities, and give us the information necessary to hold government leaders accountable. As more Coloradans choose to get their news online, we must ensure that the news they get continues to meet the standards set by the Rocky Mountain News and other print media.

###

Colorado Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working for open, honest, and accountable government. For more information, visit http://www.ColoradoCommonCause.org

Microradio Bill Introduced in House - Please speak up for community radio!

2009-02-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Hello folks!

On Wednesday, Reps. Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NB) announced the introduction of the Local Community Radio Act of 2009 - Congress' latest attempt to expand Low Power FM community radio across the country.

The Congressmen were joined by activist groups who have been leading a nationwide grassroots fight for community radio for years, including the Prometheus Radio Project and the Future of Music Coalition. Other cosponsors of the bill include longtime LPFM champion Jay Inslee (D-WA), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

The bill would expand LPFM community radio nationwide, allowing hundreds of community groups, schools, municipalities and religious organizations to apply for new noncommercial radio licenses in cities and towns across the US. Last year's House version of the bill garnered the support of nearly 100 cosponsors.

The Senate version of last year's bill was cosponsored by another longtime LPFM champion, Maria Cantwell (D-WA), along with John McCain (R-AZ), Senators Obama and Clinton, and others. The Senate is expected to take up the issue of LPFM once again this spring.

Low Power FM stations are community-based, noncommercial radio stations that broadcast to neighborhoods and small
towns. LPFM licenses make radio station ownership possible for schools, churches, labor unions, local governments, emergency providers and other nonprofit groups to directly communicate with their local community.

In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission began to issue LPFM licenses.

However, soon after, Congress passed an unnecessary piece of legislation that drastically limited the radio spectrum available to LPFM stations. Since then, thousands of applications submitted to the FCC have been dismissed because of these limitations.

"Diverse, informative, thought-provoking, locally oriented programming has been dramatically restricted across the country by the current federal laws governing the separation between broadcast frequencies," said Congressman Doyle. "Enactment of this legislation would improve the quality of life in communities across the country by providing new and different programming -- especially programming addressing local interests and events -- to these communities."

The Prometheus Radio Project, a group that helps build LPFM stations across the country, is the leading advocate for community radio. Campaign Director Cory Fischer-Hoffman notes, “As media outlets are increasingly consolidated local voices are being forced off the airwaves; it is time for Congress to remove the unfair restrictions that stand in the way of community organizations, religious groups, students and senior citizens from getting their own LPFM stations.

"In this time of economic crisis, it is crucial that communities have access to important information and educational programming featuring local news, emergency information and community matters. Expanding LPFM is a concrete action that will provide this important service,” she adds.

- Detail from Prometheus Radio Project and Jonathan Lawson's post on Deepmedia.org.

Please send a letter to your representatives here.

TV 101 - and Public Access 101

2009-02-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Go get a cup of coffee, and watch them in order - I posted as much as I could find. 22 minutes total.

Public Access, Denver Open Media Style

2009-02-24T10:43:00.001-08:00

From: Tony Shawcross
Deproduction/Denver Open Media
700 Kalamath
Denver, CO 80204
720-222-0160 x200
http://deproduction.org

(from correspondence)

...as I mentioned about the suggestions I'd give to access stations,
there are two primary ones.

1. stop all production services that are not directly generating a
significant profit. Public Access stations don't exist to produce
content, but to allow the public to do so, and any resources directed
at internal production work are reducing resources available to
support the community productions Public Access stations exist to
provide. Public Access stations should view themselves like
Wikipedia, where the staff is expressly discouraged from participating
in "content creation" and is entirely focused on facilitating public
creation of content.

2. review all staff activities, identify those which the community
could conceivably take-on. Develop systems and incentives for the
public to take over as many responsibilities for running the station
as possible. There are web-based tools available to enable any Access
station to hand over every task to their community, which results in
stronger community involvement and support.
Scheduling, programming, marketing, equipment reservations, class
registrations, documentation, fundraising, underwriting... these are
all tasks that could be handed over to the public.

Documentary as a Tool for Action

2009-02-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

video: Bukeni Waruzi, on the use of his footage of child soldiers in the Congo in the International Criminal Court trial of a warlord:

Last week I was able to go to the Center for Social Media's annual conference at American University in DC. To put it simply - this was a conference of people who make documentaries, and then go out and use them to organize for social justice. It was completely and utterly inspiring. Documentary filmmakers are simply too hip to begin with, and then I meet these folks, and they are all that plus the idealism and some rebellion. They were making the art/journalism (or journalism/art?) that will change the world.

Highlights that I want to pass on:

- The Hub. This is world's first participatory media site for human rights. "Through the Hub, individuals, organizations, networks and groups around the world are able to bring their human rights stories and campaigns to global attention and to mobilize action to protect and promote human rights," according to their site. The video work on the site covers Egypt, India, Congo, Zimbabwe... and the list goes on. Most hopeful and moving, though, is the work of their regional director Bukeni Waruzi, whose videos documenting the insanely cruel "child armies" used to fight their civil war has, a decade later, provided some of the evidence required to bring one of the most powerful warlords to trial. This is one of the most potential powerful forms of journalistic innovation I have seen in a long time, and is yet another argument as to why the Internet must be protected from all tampering by either corporations or national governments, and net neutrality provisions written into law as soon as possible.

- Using documentary as teaching/organizing tool. The documentary department of PBS, AmDocs/POV, will lend you for free any of their hundreds of documentaries, which come with downloadable Facilitator/Discussion Guides on how to host the event, and Lesson Plans for educators. Some of the documentaries they have available: "Flag Wars," about gentrification, "The Camden 28," about the 1971 trial of an anti-war raid on the New Jersey Draft board, and "Thirst," about the global water shortage. You can also search by topic. Link here.

- Snagfilms. This is a Beta site hosting all sorts of dox you can watch for free. And you can also pick five of them and set them up on your website in a little theatre!

- The Unheard Voices Project. Based in NC, this is a project aiming to document the impacts of globalization and economic displacement.

- DoGooder.tv is sort of a hosting space for videos about nonprofits.

- Info on the conference and sponsor: Center for Social Media here. And information on Making Your Media Matter, the conference itself, is here, with video to be posted soon. Information on all the great documentarians who were there should be up as well.

Read "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman

2009-02-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

What can I say? The Vatican mounted a massive campaign to suppress it. It's about witches, Texans, goddesses, cool toys, and polar bears. How much more of a recommendation do you need?

Incredibly Kind Article that Marc Stier Wrote about My Work

2009-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

Marc Stier is running the statewide healthcare reform in PA, is a faculty member of the Center for Progressive Leadership, knows most people in Philadelphia, and is one of my closest friends. He wrote this about my work.

------------
Hannah Miller On Tour
Submitted by Marc Stier on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 4:23am.
YoungPhillyPolitics.com

As many of you know, for her work with the Media and Democracy coalition, Hannah Miller is going to be working all over the country from a new base in to Washington, DC.

There was a going away party for Hannah on Friday that I missed because I was very late in getting back from Harrisburg. I was sorry to miss it because, though we said goodbye earlier in the week, I believe in the power and importance of public ceremony.

And when someone who is not only one of my best friends but an important part of the progressive movement in our city leaves for a time, that event should be marked publicly. So I had hoped to be there to say a few things about what Hannah has meant to all of us.

I’m a little reluctant to post this, undoubtedly much much longer more formal version, of what I would have said. It’s a little too eulogistic for someone only thirty two and totally healthy. And, I’m quite sure that the news of Hannah’s leaving our city is somewhat overstated: I’d be shocked if she doesn’t continue to be an important part of our political life not least by writing here.

Still, let’s err on the side of ceremony and take a moment to think about Hannah’s role in our city.

I met Hannah almost exactly three years ago, and had been receiving emails from her for about six months when I met her. For the last three and a half years I’ve known her, Hannah has been a critical part of progressive activism in this city.

Most of her achievements are well known:

She’s been a leader of Philly for Change.
She was a driving force in Anne Dicker’s campaign for state representative
She played a key role in making the State House Democratic by guiding Rick Taylor’s campaign, which gave Democrats a one seat advantage after the 2006 election.
She helped bring a disparate group of progressive council candidates together as a movement in 2007. While only one of us was elected to office, the impact of that race will be felt again in the future.
She helped Ellen Green-Ceisler become a Common Pleas judge and played an important role in Ruth Damskers’ campaign for County Commissioner in Montco.
She has been an important advisor to the leaders of the anti-casino and save the library campaigns. And as SEIU’s Health Care Campaign Manager she had an important, and continuing, influence on health care reform in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Two roles Hannah has played are not well known. One may only be important to me: Hannah was an enormous help to me as I tried to articulate my ideas about Philadelphia politics. “The Politics of Hope” was her phrase and the idea it expresses—the notion that we need a new kind of civic engagement in our city based on our belief in the power of collective action—still strikes me as the key to reforming our politics. (And I’m happy to see that in the last year or so an important national politician has been using the phrase as we did in 2007).

And, far more important was Hannah's unsung role in the Mayoral election of 2007. As a volunteer, Hannah contributed important themes to the campaign of Michael Nutter, helping him give a heroic narrative shape to his work in Council. And, more than anyone else, Hannah is the one who made Michael Nutter cool. Her posts at YPP and a Philadelphia Magazine article that not only quoted her extensively but was shaped by her perspective on the race, helped turn a candidate with a reputation for being a smart policy wonk with a progressive streak into a champion of a new kind of politics for the city.

That Michael Nutter has seemingly been trying to be uncool in the last few months, shouldn’t take make us forget that Hannah helped him realize his potential for giving hope to this city. (Nor should we give up on that potential just yet.)

Hannah has played different roles in these various campaigns and done them all well: as an inspiring recruiter of volunteers; as the creator of bold and effective campaign messages, as a canny strategist, as a fundraiser and as a psychologist to candidates trying not to get overwhelmed by their campaigns.

But much more important than what Hannah has done is how she has done it. Hannah’s work in our city has been filled with inquisitiveness, humor, passionate idealism and love.

As befits a former journalist, Hannah asks better questions (and more of them) than anyone else in politics in this town. That’s how she has learned so much so fast and how she has come to develop insightful, original political ideas. Hannah has, in my view, not always been right in her judgments. (Who is?) But she has been one of the handful of people whose ideas I can’t dismiss without thinking them through.

Sometimes her way of expressing those ideas (fluffy bunnies!) grates on people who think that politics has to be relentlessly serious. But there is no hope, and no getting up after you have been knocked down, without laughter. So Hannah’s incredible sense of humor, recognition of the absurdity of so much of politics and life, and willingness to risk seeming ridiculous to expose it, has helped keep us coming back for more.

Philadelphia is a city that is embarrassed of any idealism, let alone passionate idealism, that is not connected with the Founding Fathers. It is as if our reservoir of idealism was used up over two hundred years ago and we have been living without it every since—with the sole exception of the brief Dilworth-Clark moment when the springs flowed again. Hannah has refused to accept cynicism and passivity as our political lot and has challenged us to be passionate enough to drill down further in order to find a new well of idealism for Philadelphia

And she has done it with love for this city, its citizens and most of all her fellow activists. That’s not to say that Hannah hasn’t had her share of disagreements, and even angry ones. No political activist who doesn’t get angry at both injustice and the idiocy of her fellow activists is worth anything. So Hannah has had disagreements, and sometimes angry ones, with our opponents and with almost all of us as well, including me. But Hannah has the capacity of a fiction writer and sociologist to understand the lives of others as they do. That gives her the capacity to see the humanity in her opponents. And, that goes for her friends as well. Hannah doesn’t carry a grudge. Once the moment of anger has past, Hannah always looks for the best in everyone. I can think of ten or twelve times when, a few weeks after we have been railing about someone and I start in again, she declines to join me and, instead, starts talking about their good qualities and contributions to the progressive movement.

I’m one of many Philadelphia progressives who is grateful to have worked with Hannah as much as we have in the last three years. We are going to miss her. So while I wish her well I’m looking forward to her returning to our hometown.

Dr. Cornell West

2009-02-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

The great prophet genius. He was on the radio yesterday talking about the economy and jazz, calling Paul Krugman a bluesman. I didn't get to hear it so I went looking. And found this.

Budget Workshops: Alan Tu's Riff on my Daily News Editorial

2009-02-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

From "It's Our City"
It Takes A Village To Solve A Budget Crisis
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm - by Alan Tu. Filed under: Budget.

Hannah Miller, a Philadelphia activist, would be the perfect person to write a Stephen King-like screenplay adaptation to Philadelphia’s budget crisis. In her op-ed in today’s Philadelphia Daily News, she makes the case that citizens better realize that Philadelphia’s budget crunch is real and it’s up to them to help decide what impact it will have.

In an effort to help us see her point, she says think of it this way:

Say we’re a village in New England 300 years ago, and one night some wolves come out of the forest and eat half our sheep and cows, so we don’t have enough food to make it through the winter.

We have a town meeting to figure out what to do, and everyone in the village shows up.

Are we going to grow more potatoes? Can we divide up the cows so that no one goes hungry? Can someone go to the suburbs to borrow some sheep?

And can someone go kill the wolves (otherwise known as the financial-services industry) so they don’t do this to us again?

That’s really all the budget is: cows and sheep.

And since a lot of us in Philadelphia are apathetic slugs who like to complain a lot, she really lets us have it. Miller says that we all have an obligation to help Mayor Michael Nutter decide how the remaining (sacred) cows and sheep are going to be shared or to find other places food might be hidden.

This is about us, and whether we’re going to show up for the most important decisions to be made in this city (and country) in a generation. We don’t get to skip the meeting and then spend six years complaining that the sheep were distributed unfairly.

Do you ever wonder what happened to your idealism? Where did it go? Well if you’ve been living around this old village, it’s easy to become cynical when some of our leaders have been saving the best cuts for themselves.

But after reading her piece, That made me think what if idealism only works if others participate with you? If they don’t, then what we’re left with is “realism” and things go on just the way have for decades. What if Miller is right that if enough people actually believe that their opinions mattered it could have an impact. Well in this “New budget process” she believes Mayor Nutter is truly sincere about hearing from the public and that he doesn’t have his mind made up. I’m inclined to believe her on this point because the four citizen budget workshops are a direct result of his nasty experience he had with announcing budget cuts in November then asking the public “How’d I do?” Also, he’s a lot more accessible than the last mayor we had.

Schedule for the budget workshops

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Northeast
St. Dominic’s School
8510 Frankford Avenue

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Germantown
Mastery Charter School
Pickett Campus
5700 Wayne Avenue

Thursday, February 19, 2009
South Philadelphia
St. Monica’s Catholic School
16th and Porter Streets

Monday, February 23, 2009
West Philadelphia
Pinn Memorial Baptist Church
2251 N. 54th Street

The U-Verse Doesn't Apparently Include Your Town

2009-02-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

FCC asked to probe AT&T treatment of public access channels
by Nate Anderson
Ars Technica
02/02/09

Link to full article here.

Municipalities around the country aren't pleased with AT&T's U-Verse IPTV service, which won't put their public access and government TV programming on actual "channels." FCC complaints have been filed and the Illinois attorney general is now involved.

PEG channels—public, educational, and government programming that generally takes the form of city council meetings and plays from the local middle school—are being treated as second-class citizens on AT&T's new U-Verse IPTV system, according to a new complaint to the FCC. Anger over AT&T's PEG handling has been buildling for some at the local level, but late last week it went national.

The FCC is now being asked to step in where state regulators so far have not to "rule in no uncertain terms" that the U-Verse PEG situation is "in violation of the Act and Commission rules and policies."

Everyone agrees on what's happening here, just not on whether it's a "feature" or a "bug." Instead of providing each PEG channel with an actual "channel" that subscribers can simply punch into a remote or surf past on accident, AT&T has bundled all the PEG channels from a broad area and dumped them onto channel 99. Users who want to see that city council meeting need to visit channel 99, click "OK," download a small app (from eight seconds to one minute), choose their community from a list of local towns, then choose a particular PEG channel from that community.

Link to full article here.

How Should We Replace the Sheep? - My Op-Ed in the Daily News today.

2009-02-02T12:43:00.001-08:00

Feb. 2, 2009

By HANNAH MILLER

THIS IS a letter to the people of Philadelphia who don't have power and feel at the mercy of those who do.
Over the last few months, it's been impossible to avoid the drumbeat of fear over the millions of people losing jobs, of the largest U.S. companies possibly closing, of thousands of new applications for unemployment.

Even if you haven't lost anything, or didn't have a lot to lose in the first place, you're probably worried, confused and hoping that the folks in charge come up with a really smart plan.

Well, I have some bad news.

That's not only not going to work, but it's a bit of a cop-out on your part.

Our country is based on "Rule by the people." That's what democracy means. But it doesn't simply mean that you show up to vote once in a while, and then go back to playing with your Wii for the four years in between.

Everyone in our society has a sacred responsibility to shoulder the decision-making process of government. And it's up to us whether the economy gets back together or not.

Continued here.

"The Creation of the Media" by Paul Starr - food for thought.

2009-02-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

Most of “The Creation of the Media” by Paul Starr blew my mind, but here are some favorite tidbits:

- The American newspaper industry would never have gotten started at all if it weren’t for massive government subsidies. Namely, discounted postal rates in the 18th century. The Postal Service played an absolutely crucial role in the formation of both the newspaper industry, and democracy itself, after the right to privacy was codified in the law. It had been standard operating procedure for the Brits to open mail in the colonies to suppress rebellion, etc. It’s something we take for granted now.

- The telegraph was the moment at which the speed of communication first outpaced the speed of transportation.

- The movie industry before World War I was magical! Little theatres in storefronts! Labor movies! Movies about women! Movies in lots of languages! Movies as travelogues! Totally diverse and representative of multiple ethnic communities! Movies that cost virtually nothing to make, or watch! A beautiful and diverse thing until vertical integration and creepy cultural consolidation.

- The Associated Press used to be a cartel that would put newspapers out of business if they didn’t subscribe, and that would use its overwhelming power to side with individual Presidential candidates – and get them elected.

- The Lazarfeld study of presidential voting in Ohio in the 1940s showed that in this case, the media rarely changed anyone’s minds – far more important in decision-making process were social networks and the ideas of “local opinion leaders.” It showed that people self select what they read and watch, and that they read and watch are almost always reinforcing what they believe rather than challenging it. Although we no longer live in Ohio in the 1940s, this study opens up a whole can of worms.

My direct personal experience is that this is true, especially in local and other low-information elections. Maybe that is the 2000s speaking, as even the concept of “broadcast” fades in relevance. But if I really am to follow this down the rabbit hole, I have to wonder what exactly is the public sphere? If it is not the media, then where does the public sphere exist anymore, especially in an age of increasing social fragmentation?

Other than politics, I think the most interesting place where you see the re-emerging importance of social networks is in the music industry. It’s a really simple question: how do you find out about new music? But the answer to it has changed so much over the last 50 years. It went from social networks, to local DJs...and then, with the death of commercial radio and the advent of automated playlists that turn DJs into functionaries requiring no more knowledge or creativity than burger flippers at McDonalds…we’re back to good old word of mouth. Except that we have this electronic version of word of mouth now, and it’s called MySpace.

- We used to have something in the U.S. called the Committee on Public Information. It was a part of the federal government set up to control propaganda during World War I, and is regarded as the beginning of the public-relations industry.

- When radio first went on the air in 1920s, there were four main types of programming:
1. RCA, Westinghouse, and the other radio manufacturers ran stations to promote the sales of radio receivers. At the time, people thought the way to make money off of radio was to sell the hardware. They had no idea about advertising.
2. Private businesses like department stores and newspapers started their own stations to promote themselves.
3. Colleges/churches/nonprofits operated stations.
4. “Toll broadcasting” – WEAF in New York City. You could pay for airtime.
When the concept of advertising was first invented for radio, it was seen as so abhorrent that even people in the advertising industry were against it. Or as President Herbert Hoover put it at the first radio conference in 1922: “it is inconceivable that we should allow so great a possibility for service, for news, for entertainment, for education, and for vital commercial purposes, to be drowned in advertising chatter.”
Which of course brings to mind the current war for the soul of the Internet…

More radio = better radio.

2009-01-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

From Prometheus Radio Project:
IMPORTANT UPDATE IN THE CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND LOCAL COMMUNITY RADIO

Hello Community Radio Fans!

The Prometheus Campaign team has moved into an office in Washington D.C. to make sure 2009 is the year that we expand community radio! The Local Community Radio Act' will be re-introduced shortly and with changes in the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Reps, with the FCC and in the White House prospects look good for LPFM!

Prometheans kicked off the "LPFM Now!" Postcard Campaign at the Inauguration!

With millions of people descending on DC, members of the Prometheus Radio Project braved the cold temperatures and talked to people from all over the country who are working to get more local voices onto the airwaves. Our Hope for Change comes with plans for Action and we are working hard to let Congress know that NOW is the time to expand LPFM! Please join us in our postcard campaign and let your Representative and Senators know that we demand More Community Radio Now!

Our 'Expand LPFM' postcards come in sets of four: three letters of support for the Local Community Radio Act to Representatives and Senators, and 1 that has our schedule for action for the upcoming months. If you'd like to have a stack sent to you so you can advocate for expanded community radio in your hometown, write to: expandlpfm@prometheusradio.org

The postcard lists our campaign calendar for the next few months:

*January: EDUCATE*
Educate your community about Low Power FM radio
Learn more about LPFM from the Prometheus Radio Project
(http://www.prometheusradio.org) and Free Press
(http://www.freepress.net/lpfm) where you can find tools, tips,
factsheets, and flyers

*February: SPEAK UP & TAKE LOCAL ACTION*
Call or write your Representatives and tell them that you support LPFM!
Tear off these postcards and mail them to your Representatives and Senators in Washington – calling on them to co-sponsor and represent their constituents’ demands to pass the Local Community Radio Act.
If you’d like an organizing packet mailed to you contact expandlpfm@prometheusradio.org
Work to pass local city council Resolutions
Visit http://prometheusradio/toolkit for a comprehensive organizing toolkit.

*March: MOBILIZE & INFORM*
Meet with your Representative
The Prometheus Radio Project and Free Press are teaming up to coordinate
in-district meetings with Representatives about LPFM across the country.
Visit http://prometheusradio.org or http://freepress.net/lpfm for more
details.

Bring the campaign to expand LPFM to the Media and demand accurate coverage. Write opinion-editorial pieces for your daily paper, create radio stories, blog and hold newsworthy events. Find sample op-eds online at: http://prometheusradio.org/take_action/

*April: NATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION*
Join community members from all across the country who are organizing to get their own LPFM stations and demand that Congress pass the Local Community Radio Act now!

If you are interested in coming to Washington D.C. April 22nd to April 24th to participate in coordinated days of lobbying, action, education, information-sharing and movement building contact us at
expandlpfm@prometheusradio.org.

It took me a while, but I finally turned into a "Lost" freak.

2009-01-24T21:31:00.000-08:00

Locke: "Everything that is happening in our hatch isn't real. It's just a test. A psychological test."

Desmond: "If you're so sure it's not real, then stop pushing the button."

Our culture begins to confront its spiritual youth and cluelessness ... through the medium of a TV show with a lot of JCrew shirts! We are so bizarre!

I wanted to post the Dharma Initiative logo here, but when I went to look for it, I found that it had been scrubbed from the Internet because of copyright violations. I don't really know if I need to make a comment here on a corporation copyrighting the dharma wheel. (Especially a communications corporation.)... I think that pretty much speaks for itself.

Anyways, someone at DeviantArt.com has designed hatch wallpaper!

DTV Transition

2009-01-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

more animals

And someone tell me why the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has to do what the broadcasters should be paying for???

Time to Send the Angels of the Public Interest Back In!

2009-01-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

Now that we have a new FCC commissioner-to-be, I am wondering if we as a community should set the tone early, and send in the angels.

From Medialife Magazine in 2002:

"In 1998, FCC chairman Michael Powell, who was then a mere commissioner, gave a speech to the American Bar Association in which he talked about divining the public interest. In it, he said, "the night after I was sworn in, I waited all night for the angel of public interest to come to me, I waited and waited and waited, but she never appeared."

By the end of the speech, it becomes clear that he has no interest whatsoever in trying to grasp what the public interest is, or what the public really wants and what the role of a government agency is in that process."

During the egregious ownership hearings in 2002, that's exactly what the media change movement did. Dressed up in angel costumes, and went to the FCC.

Worked on the Third Circuit court!

Article here.

Looking for Housing In DC

2009-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

If you happen upon this blog randomly: I am looking for housing in DC and am quite nice, social, kind, smart, workandtalkaholic (aka never home), and completely disinterested in upsetting other peoples' interior decor situations. I am looking to move soon and would prefer to live in U Street corridor, the affordable part of Capitol Hill or whatever is the closest D.C. equivalent of 9th Street or a similar place, if DC resembles Philadelphia in any respect.

Thanks for any and all help!

L.A. Public Access Goes Dark - Please Take Action

2009-01-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

Yep, they really did.

Time Warner Cable and the L.A. City Council pulled the plug on 11 stations and 12 access centers.

Please email through Common Cause California - they are seeking an injunction:

This is a really big deal.

Georgie Woods Documentary in the Works

2009-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Philebrity -

Legendary broadcaster and civil rights activist of Philadelphia.

New Year Cleaning!

2009-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Everyone should do a new year's cleaning. By this you will realize that even from the shittiest campaigns come occasional wonderful things.

Casino Free gets the original Dicker puppet backdrop. Gregg Potter of the Lehigh-Norco AFL-CIO who is RIPPING IT UP for healthcare gets the Lehigh Valley Hillary for President volunteer list. Antoinette Kraus at PUP gets the Dominic Pileggi for Senate lawn sign I stole. And I get to keep the picture of the bagpipers who randomly stumbled into our miserable little February fundraiser for Bennett for Congress and asked us if they could play us a couple of tunes to warm up.

Bagpipes were originally military music. It was the first time I'd heard them close up, and they were so unbelievably powerful, and I turned to Sam and said, "we need to have those guys come and play at 6 am on Election Day!!!"

Video about the Scottish Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming:

In the Tunnel At Night

2009-01-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

There is a tunnel that runs from center city to West Philly on the 34 Trolley. It emerges around 42nd Street at Baltimore.

I take it often. But tonight was a passage.

At night, tonight, the sleep of winter, it seemed, as I passed through this tunnel in my glass, watching the steel beams meander by in their finery of graffiti flounces, silent clothes that say nothing, that perhaps in fact I have already died, and all of this is really the underworld. That I have chosen to bury myself here, in this city, under all these layers of age and death and dust, and I will never emerge. That my whole life will be like this, this slow death-glide in the dark in this tunnel underground.

I thought of writing my friend tonight and saying I didn't want to go out because of "an existential crisis." But that was silly, and I didn't write it.

There is no existential crisis. No one should have an existential crisis. Anyone who has an existential crisis should commit suicide directly because they are wasting all of our time. I have never had an existential crisis because I love existing, and I would rather exist morosely than not at all.

I didn't meant it as it is commonly meant. I meant - is there a way for me to exist? Is there, at all, anywhere, a little carved-out space in the ceiling somewhere, through which I might glimpse the sunlight? Or bars, perhaps. A grate of bars. There is this word oubliette, and for all I know it could have been invented in Philadelphia. This whole place is a damn oubliette, except that nothing is really completely forgotten, one only hears its soft aching cries from the stones below, and smells the smell of old, old wrongs.

My First Trip to Acadiana

2009-01-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd start by going to where the music comes from!

Video above, shot at the club in the back of the Blue Moon hostel, where I stayed: NEW FIND FOR ME!!!

Cedric Watson is an amazing musician who plays Cajun/Creole music... there were a lot of other tunes that were more romantic and waltzy. He's at www.cedricwatson.com.

KOCZ is the low-power station in Opelousas, LA, about 20 miles north of Layfette - a center for zydeco music. Built by Prometheus Radio Project, it is run by the Southern Development Foundation and is a part of the local Mardi Gras celebration in the Lafayette area.

You can listen to it here.

Philly Public Access

2008-12-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

The Philadelphia Public Access Coalition is here..

http://www.phillypublicaccess.org.

It's ridiculous that this is even an issue. I can't believe this took ten years.

Especially what's happening in LA, where public access is essentially an incubator for the industry. Time Warner operates 12 public access stations in LA regional which will be going dark on Dec. 31 unless Villaraigosa grows a pair (or decides he doesn't want to be governor, which ain't ever going to happen.)

That said, I am really really happy that a) people are organizing on media democracy issues in the Hellmouth and b) we are going to have all these public TV channels in Philly real soon. If anyone can reinvent public access, we can.

Philly Politics

2008-12-26T22:56:00.001-08:00

In Search of the Infinite Wave (new blog!)

2008-12-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

After a very long hiatus from blogging I feel like it's time to start writing again. I have been largely unable to write due to the nature of campaign work, with the exception of making caustic commentary on Philly's central political blog, Young Philly Politics. Although that has been fun, it's also been frustrating because the reader-to-writer ratio is so astronomical, and I can't write about baseball or California politics there. I feel like political writing should be public, so here I am again.

I've also gotten into a new field - media policy - which is a perfect fit for my background and interests. A lot of what I write on this blog will probably be a record of my discoveries within this field, which is still in many ways still in the beginning stages of its development. It's funny to finally come to this after reading McLuhan 15 years ago, but in the interim I have learned 15 years of educational, organizing, political, fundraising, legal, and writing techniques, and I am very excited to be able to use them. I do like a challenge, and organizing on something as archaic as media reform (gotta find a new term) should be very difficult indeed.

That said, I think 50 percent of the organizing challenge is message. Just talking about this stuff is difficult. People's Production House has a great, charming educational film called "The Internet is Serious Business," with stop-motion photography of Skittles moving around on pencil lines to show Internet traffic and the importance of net neutrality. It was great, but what I didn't understand was why there weren't more videos like this - especially in a field where the people doing the politics are all writers, filmmakers, musicians, etc! We should be damn near expert at communicating.

I think the first campaign is going to be radio. It looks like the most important place to start.