For those Baton Rouge Readers:Nuevo Hippie Cover Band at SoGo Live Jun. 29th

Mike Waugh, LSU SuperSLISter and librarian, will be rocking out with the Nuevo Hippies tommorow at SoGo and will be picking up two additional dates through the summer.

Free music downloads are available via the Mike Waugh Brand Music Site.

Concert Announcement:
Waughblog: Nuevo Hippies to Help Revitalize Downtown

Information Poverty on the Home Front: BetaNews | U.S. Libraries Wired, But Falling Behind

As the world's last remaining superpower, one would think the United States would care that its public libraries are falling behind in the Digital Divide. Sigh. Unfortunately, this hasn't hit any of the major news outlets yet.

The findings of the Gates Foundation/ALA study on internet access and computing reflects the increasing disparity between the Information Haves and Have-Nots in American society.

Only 16% of rural libraries reported having any kind of training for users. Roughly a 75% of public libraries report having no schedule for system upgrades.

The ALA, of course, blames all of this on the lack of funding.

Welcome to the Digital Divide, ladies and gentlemen. Budgets for libraries, public or otherwise, will not increase because librarians bemoan their financial woes in library literature. Funding won't increase because of folks whining about the shrinking demands for traditional library services.

Without a better national marketing campaign than the outdated READ campaign (about as in touch with current user needs as disco) and several of the other initiatives, libraries are in trouble. Without better cooperative partnerships between academic, public, and school libraries, we're in trouble.

Sacrificing a goat to Melvil Dewey won't help either.

---

Full article text:
BetaNews | U.S. Libraries Wired, But Falling Behind

A Piece by Freedom Forum Senior Scholar Charles Haynes on Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act

Charles C. Haynes is senior scholar and director of education programs at the First Amendment Center. He is best known for his work on First Amendment issues in schools and communities throughout the nation. Haynes is the author or co-author of six books, including The First Amendment in Schools and Finding Common Ground: A Guide to Religious Liberty in Public Schools. His column, Inside the First Amendment, appears in newspapers nationwide.
Full Editorial Here:

First Amendment may quash Patriot power :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah

OXFORD CONFIDENTIAL: Depressed Kids Listening to Whiny Music

Okay, when did rock and roll become about whining about stupid stuff? Am I just getting old, or are record execs in league with the pharamceutical companies to produce a generation of depressed children?

I talked with a rather mopey looking kid this afternoon who noticed I was playing the Descendents' Cool To Be You (2004 Fat Wreck Records) as I pulled into the gas station. Moptop, jet-black hair. The look of having not seen the sun much this summer. Designer "vintage" tees, Ray-Bans designed to look like drug store grandma sunglasses.

Yup. An emo kid. Right down to the Puma hooded sweatshirt (it was 92 degrees this afternoon in Oxford.)

"Hey, who are you listening to?" Emo Boy asked when I got started pumping my gas. "It sounds like the Jimmy Eat World."

I cringed.

No, I explained, its an old-school SoCal punk band. The kid went back to pumping gas into his SUV.

I won't go on a rant about this current cannon-fodder marketing blitz currently called "Emo." The whole phenomena of this so-called culture bugs the living shit out of me. Emo, the music and clothing marketing trend, supposedly has roots in the DC Hardcore scene of the 1980s, with punk bands like Fugazi, Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Minor Threat cranking out emotionally charged tunes.

Sure, there are a lot of emo kids who dress the part nowadays, but its clear that the touchy-feeliness of growing up suburban in a Post-Columbine, post-911 world has turned a generation of kids into, well, wimps.

Gone are the days when music was about music. Music as a form of energetic relief has given way to crying over lost loves and shallow misery into a microphone - and its all being bought and sold by the masses raised to be self-absorbed and self-important.

Sure, I like sad, slow melancholy music. I even like some artists often labeled as Emo (though Weezer predates the whole current trend, as does Modest Mouse). But I also appreciate the value of pumping my fist in the air to a song with a righteous "Hell Yeah!" And I love the painful grind of early grunge, circa 1994.

When I want to get over the blues, Ithrow on some Hank Williams or Lightning Hopkins, maybe some Miles Davis. When I feeling politically charged, I throw on Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet.

As this Emo kid drove off in the big hunking SUV, I saw that he had tucked his mopish hair up under a trucker cap - clearly one of those bought from a mall, not from a truck stop. I wondered how many Prozac, Zanex, and other anti-depressants he was on. He had that "Love Life through Overmedication" look to him.

Maybe he'll go home a search for some Descendents to download. Or google "So-Cal Punk" and find a plethera of other good music.

JWJ

News from the Sunshine Mess...er...State

Found this tale posted on the Bundeblog this morning.

Did I miss the memo? Why is it that every library board and commission in America seems to now be full of people who dislike the idea of public libraries and the freedom to read?

---

CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
Commission adopts new library policies :
Measures aim to restrict county children's access to sex-oriented material

OXFORD CONFIDENTIAL The many definitions of Cornhole: sex act, cartoon, and...Bizarre Midwestern game?!?

OXFORD, Ohio (ZP) - Late last night I went for a stroll through "Uptown" Oxford, the closest to a downtown area Oxford has. It was hot and humid; too hot to really do anything, too miserable to do anything but wander the streets aimlessly in search of something interesting.

This group of high school girls were sitting in Martin Luther King Park, giggling and pointing, chatting about boys, and doing what, well, high school girls do. As I walked by, one of the girls, a cashier whom I've met only when buying soy milk at the grocery store, waves and calls me over to chat.

The girl I knew asked me what I was doing in Uptown. Nothing, I said. I asked her what she and her friends were doing.

"We just got done playing cornhole," the girl said. "We're just chillin' and hanging out."

Wait a minute.

Playing cornhole? Where I come from, that English phrase has a whole different meaning. As a matter of fact, in most parts of America, a group of high schoolers "playing cornhole" would be cause from concern.

These girls, however, were referring to a local game that involves tossing a small bean bag through a hole cut into a plywood platform. Outside the Midwest, this is usually referred to as a "beanbag toss."

In most parts of America, "cornhole" is a slang term for the anus, a synonym for "asshole." Cornholing or playing cornhole often refers to an anal sex. I've heard rednecks in the South use it as a derogatory term for gay men. I've heard the phrase used in San Francisco's Castro District, in bars in the French Quarter.

For example, if I walked into a bar in Mississippi, and stated that I'd spent all day playing cornhole, I'd either become a heterosexual victim of gay-bashing or face a mixture of laughter, sighs, and looks of shock. The 90s cartoon Beavis and Butthead featured a character who, when doped up on a sugar rush, became the Great Cornholio, eternally seeking "TP for his bunghole." (see photo above)

Gen-Xers and some older Gen-Yers probably would make a connection to this character before they would associate it with tossing a beanbag through a hole in a box.

These girls asked me why I was laughing every time they mentioned how "playing cornhole" was the most exciting thing to do in Oxford if you were under 21.

I politely said that it had nothing to do with them.

Hehehehe...In Colorado, they say the same thing about Wyoming and Nebraska, but it's usually followed by some reference to velcro gloves and sex with a farm animal.

Good old American slang. It's what separates North American English from that "stank-ass British English, with its hella stupid pronunciations, that makes every word sound so whack, for fuck's sake."

JWJ

More News from the Ethiopian FrontBBC NEWS | Americas | Washington row over 'Little Ethiopia'

Aster, my favorite corporate auditor in the whole world and dear friend, asked me to post this BBC article about the proposed Little Ethiopia district in Washington, DC.

For those who don't know anything about Ethiopian culture, let me explain a few things. There are an estimated 200,000 Habesha (a term Ethiopians and Eritreans use to refer to themselves) living in the DC metro area - the largest such concentration outside of eastern Africa.

The habesha I've met and known are some of the hardest working folks I've ever met, proud of their culture and their heritage. Like most diaspora living in the U.S., they arrive here with dreams and plans and ideas about how to build a new life. America is, after all, the land of opportunity and freedom.

America is also, sadly, a land where immigrants are treated like unwelcome pests by many "natives" from the first moment they arrive. Immigrants who leave their countries as doctors and scientists often arrive in the U.S. only to find jobs as housemaids and undocumented labor. And slowly, through sheer force of will, they find a way to establish themselves.

African immigrants are especially hard hit upon arriving in the U.S. Unlike European and Asian populations, who, over time, have become entwined into the American fabric, there still remains this racist notion deeply engrained in the back of the cultural mind concerning Africans. Africans have been, for decades, portrayed in Western films and media as savages, cannibals, and illiterate barbarians; this imaginary character, combined with the prejudices brought about by the Slave Trade in the New World, has created an unflattering stereotype.

The critics of the proposed Little Ethiopia, most notably the African-American critics, are afraid the tradition of Washington's Black Broadway will be lost, tarnished forever by a group of foreigners. The Ethiopian immigrant population has worked hard to rebuild an impoverished area, to build a healthier, more vital community, but some of these African American critics are buying into that "not in my neighborhood" mindset adopted by whites who refused integration in the South , using heritage and historical attachment as a means to justify the hatred of change.

In truth, there is room for both Black Broadway and Little Ethiopia to exist side-by-side, to merge into a greater community and make Washington trully an international city, culturally, for the first time in its history. Just think of the possibilities...Ethiopian restaurants right next door to the great jazz clubs, African-American art galleries and museums side by side with other immigrant art galleries and museums. The possibilities are endless.

Chick Below to view the original BBC article:
BBC NEWS Americas Washington row over 'Little Ethiopia'

Zenformation Professional Punker Playlist Or, Dropping some Oi Science for the Kiddies

Okay. Take a deep breath. If you're a Gen-Yer, you probably may recognize about five of these artists. Probably not. You may recognize them from the section of your favorite used CD store, the tunes you're scared to buy, because somebody might think you're "uncool" or "ghetto" or you're not a "real" punk music fan...

Hope that didn't come across as too condescending. Totally not the point.

These are the tracks blaring from my office to drown out the racket of renovation this afternoon:

1. I Hate Hippies - MIA
Reminds me of the People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado. Land of Stoners. Home of some of the most insane city ordinances in the country.

2. Get the Time - the Descendents
Predates Weezer by, oh, about a decade. And you hear the influence every time you pick up the Blue Album.

3. Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
When I first was introduced to Social Distortion's music, it was love at first listen. This track reminds me of the old country AM stations my grandfather used to listen to. Best Johnny Cash cover...ever.

4. Pay to Cum - Bad Brains
One of the first songs I ever learned to play on guitar - fast, loud, and dirty.

5. Don't Call Me White - NOFX
I remember listening to this song on long trips, sitting in the back of my mom's Minivan, headphones cranked up to 11. Hard to believe this song was released 11 years ago.

6. Teenage Rebel - Avengers
What can I say. They just don't make punk songs like this anymore.

7. Fields of Athenry - The Dropkick Murphys
This track, honestly, makes me want to drink a lot of Black and Tans (Guinness and Harps, only, please) and shoot some pool. Maybe start a bar fight. Watch some baseball.

8. Where Eagles Dare - The Misfits
The chorus gets me every time: "I ain't no goddamn sonofabitch/you better think about it baby..."

9. I am Relevant - The Distillers
Have I mentioned this is probably one of my favorite all-time punk tracks. The grind of the bridge hits me like a bridge.

10. Oi to the World - the Vandals
Honestly, one of the most honest So-Cal punk Christmas songs of all time...um...yeah. Its June...I know...

11. The KKK Took My Baby Away - the Ramones
No explanation necessary. The Ramones played my hometown in 1996, one of their last shows ever. Completely free at Longwood College. I pogo-ed with a dean, who, 20 years' prior, had been doing the same thing at CBGBs in New York. Still the best show I've ever experienced. RIP Johnny, Joey, and DeeDee.

12. Wimp - the Dipshits
Try finding this one on anything other than my Laptop or a 7", iPod Kiddies.

By the way, a 7" typically refers to a 7-inch polyvinyl chloride polymer disc once used as a medium of recording audible sound.

JWJ

Lions Rescue, Guard Beaten Ethiopian Girl - Yahoo! News

My friend Mesi e-mailed me some news from her homeland that I just had to share.

The legendary Ethiopian lion, that country's national symbol, is an endangered species. Obviously, this is some kind of portent.

Lions Rescue, Guard Beaten Ethiopian Girl - Yahoo! News

Soul Asylum Bassist Mueller Dead at 41.

Wow...now I feel old. I remember 1992's Grave Dancers Union and that song Runaway Train, later used as a public service announcement for the Boys and Girls Clubs. Very powerful grunge-era pop rock out of Minnesota.

Still have that album on CD somewhere, though I haven't listened to it in years...maybe a decade?


Complete Article here:
RollingStone.com: Soul Asylum : Soul Asylum's Mueller Dead : News

OXFORD CONFIDENTIAL: Old Reporter's Notebooks

Every once and a while, its good to take an inventory of the experiences that matter., the marrow of our lives, the things that count.

For the first time in a long while, I'm actually pretty proud of myself. It finally has occurred to me that I've been extremely blessed in this life. I've never been good a tooting my own horn or promoting myself, but going through some old Reporter's notebooks tonight, I realize there probably are very few 20-somethings with my kind of experiences to inventory.

One day, if I have grandkids, I'll have some pretty interesting tales to tell. And just because I'm now a librarian, that doesn't mean the adventure stops, either. Its just beginning.

There's the time, I'll say, when Grandpa met Jimmy Carter in Santa Maria. Or the time, in 2000, when the Old Man interviewed a certain Republican candidate (and eventual winner) during a campaign stop in San Luis Obispo. And how many rugrats can tell their friends that their grandfather once got lectured on the dangers of his pack-a-day habit by fitness guru Jack Lalanne? Or, as teenagers, can brag how Grandpa got loaded with the likes of the Strokes, Black Heart Procession, and members of other critically acclaimed bands at McCarthy's in San Luis Obispo?

These memories...wow. Overwhelming. I once interviewed Colorado Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon while he was a minor leaguer in Salem, Virginia - and picked up the tab on dinner afterwards. I was 18 I think, he was 19. We couldn't even go out for beers afterwards.

I interviewed current Washington Nationals 3rd Baseman Vinnie Castilla once while he was in Greeley dedicating a little league ballpark for the Colorado Rockies. I struggled with my broken Spanglish, and he struggled not to laugh.

I saw my first "DUI Fatal" when I was 18, just before my 19th birthday. This girl got decapitated by a moon roof in the single-car wreck, hours after her Quinceanera. The only one in the car wearing a seat belt, the only one not intoxicated. I came within an inch of a felony for assaulting an officer when I took a swing at a Colorado State Patrolman who thought it was somehow funny. Don't think I've told that story too many times. Not my proudest moment.

I remember covering the 1997 Super Bowl Riots in Colorado, getting tear-gassed so bad my contact lenses melted, getting a concussion, and pulling my photog(rapher) out after some drunk-ass Northern Colorado student fractured some of the guy's vertabrae trying to steal the camera. Covering that was the ultimate Iron Man endurance for me - more than 36 hours awake, begin filing my story, go to hospital, come back to file my notes half-delirious.

Okay. I have to be honest. I don't miss it, at all. I do, sometimes, miss the excitement. But I don't miss the ulcers I had at developed at 20 years-old, or the colesterol levels near 300 I had by my 21st birthday. Being a journalist for 7 years took 20 years off my life. I'm not kidding.

Most people don't realize the amount of work your average reporter does for the little amount of pay they receive. There's the lack of benefits, the pretty interns convinced that Erin Brockovich would've sucked off a goat - or a producer - to get a high profile story. There's the local news weekend anchors who'd do the same thing - male and female - to get a crappy small-market desk job just to claim some local level of celebrity.

Whenever I start thinking about my journalism background, I get excited about being a librarian, even living in Oxford. Being a librarian is like living a working retirement. I love the fact that I can actually, ethically take stands for things like intellectual freedom and information poverty. I can provide information without worrying about the bias of my inflection or the imperfections of my delivery. Information tends to speak for itself.

Now I get paid to be the middle-man in a user's information search. No holds barred. Unadulterated. And that's cool as shit in meat locker.

JWJ

New CDs/DVDs in the Zenformation Collection (Sort of new)

Calexico Feast of Wire Cover
Originally uploaded by jasoba fett.

1. Calexico-Feast of Wire (2003)
I've had a bootlegged copy for years...felt guilty...bought a copy.

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Best of (1998):
Needed to reload this copy...older copy, again, a bootleg.

3. Billy Bragg, Don't Try this at Home, (1991)

4. Reggie and the Full Effect, Music to Not Get Married To, 2005.
Such an eccentric mix of punk, death metal, and noise art. Never did care too much for the Get Up Kids, but I can dig this. Heavy rotation.

5. Superwolf - Bonnie Prince Billie (Will Oldham) and Matt Sweeney (UK version, 2005)
Okay, still have a thing for good stoner jam music. Will Oldham is one of the most underrated performers of the modern era of folk-rock.

DVDs:
Das Boot - Director's Cut

Say Anything - I've modeled a good portion of my life after this flick.

The Wraith - Campy Charlie Sheen sci-fi flick about dead people fighting off a punker Arizona drag racing gang.

Bulworth - Oh yeah! The film that's still got me thinking about running for the U.S. Senate just to hook up with Halle Berry...:)

More FAQing FAQ...

Q: Do you ever feel like an outcast in Oxford?
A: Of course, but it doesn't bother me at all. I'm comfortable with myself and in my own skin, for the most part. I know that's got to be a hard thing to swallow in this town, in most towns I guess. Being an individual is what seperates the men from the boys, the women from the girls.

Q: Why do you dislike pop culture so much?
A: I don't dislike pop culture, I just think we've come, as a society, to live through pop culture rather than explore new and interesting avenues. I love popular culture, actually. Popular culture has begun to devolve into nothing more than marketing and false nostalgia. We're sacrificing quality in favor of quantity. No amount of MP3 Players, PS2s, or other gadgetry will ever take the place of true cultural experience.

Q: What television shows do you watch?
A: I'm a sci-fi nut. I love the new Battlestar Galactica. I also like Farscape, and the Star Trek series. I don't watch reality tv often, but I do dig the Surreal Life occassionally. And the History Channel. Rescue Me on FX gets my seal of approval, too. For cheese, I dig Adult Swim and the new Teen Titans and Justice League cartoons.

Q: You listen to a lot of rap, and you're white. Aren't you another Eminem wannabe too?
A. I grew up on hip-hop. One of my fondest memories growing up is sitting on the back of a shool bus, listening to the older kids beat-box and freestyle. The sheer artistry and flow of poetry influenced me as much as any other musical style. Some grew up listening to the Beatles, Run-DMC, as Chuck D from Public Enemy once stated, were "our Beatles." I attended a high school that was 80% African-American; I grew up really not giving a shit about racial differences because I learned early on that they were mostly superficial - as is most people's perception of musical genres somehow being more about "race" than "music." And as for Eminem, I respect him as an artist and actor, but I would never want to be someone else. I'm happy with who I am, so, no, I'm not.

Another Zenformation FAQ

Okay...going through random e-mails in my In-Box...trying to clean out some of my 1,000 messages built up - work, school, play, and the ol' ZeFo Pro stuff.

I ran across a few random questions from readers from a while ago:

Q: Why did you become a librarian?
A: Well, I love information and the absolute power that comes from being able to locate, evaluate, and utilize information effectively. Simply being "classically trained" as a librarian means, well, I know how to find information better and faster than about 90% of human beings on the planet. We can out-google the world, we can spot a bad print resource at 50 paces, and we're the last line of defense in defending intellectual freedom and the freedom to read. Simply put, being a librarian is absolutely bad-ass.

Q: Do you listen to emo?
A: Sure, but I don't buy into the whole "emo" culture - i.e., psuedointrospective, psuedointellectual whining about being middle-class white bread folks. If you're biggest problem in life is choosing which wrist to slit as a cry for help, see a therapist, choose cognative therapy, and fix your life! Emo isn't a type of music; as I said in an earlier post, it's a marketing ploy. Most of the bands labeled as Emo hate the label, its their record-exec handlers who use the name to sell albums. And these artists, as anyone would do in their situation, choose the big paychecks and bling paid for by the respective fans. A a good portion of those fans are using the music as an excuse to live life so self-absorbed that they'll be unprepared to face the same challenges in life that they run the risk of being a "bummer" on America's calendar.

Q: Do you still consider yourself a punk?
A: Nope. I'm me. I channel my inner-punker,though, every damned day. Its part of the Zenformation Experience. I listen to a ton of punk music, I still have an affinity for the old-school camaraderie and culture, but when the a genre of music/culture becomes available in shopping malls, is available for sale in places like Hot Topic, it loses its relevance as an outlet for its initial audience. When I was younger, I got caught up in the whole "sell-out" mindset, especially when bands like Green Day and the Offspring made it big. But, as an adult, I'm so happy for their success, especially the Offspring - Epitaph Records has been pumping out quality tunes for decades and finally was able to achieve recognition. I love hearing a teenager say that American Idiot introduced them to Black Flag, the Ramones, the Descendents, Bad Religion, Grave 45, etc. But punk is not about the clothes you wear, the hairstyle you sport, or the external vanity that's pushed nowadays as punk by the music industry and pop culture. Punk is a mindset, an internal balance between intellect, emotion, and the desire to be free. Its rugged individualism and liberation from the status quo. Its taking a stand in the mosh pit of life, pogo dancing into freedom. Punk, as a lifestyle, is dead; punk, as a philosophy, is as eternal as the Declaration of Independence and the Bible.

Q: How do I find good books/articles/etc. in Oxford?
A: Well, check out your Library and talk to a librarian or other library staffer! Miami's Libraries boasts an A-Team of wonderful librarians, highly trained in the Zen of the I-World. If you're not a Miami student, check out Lane Public Library - its free, with a friendly staff, open to all, and full of the things you may need to better yourself and to better your time in the community. If you're a high school student, hit up your school's media center or library. If its out there, every library is dedicated to find it for you.

Q: Do I have to have any particular background to become a librarian?
A: You need to, alas, go to an ALA-accredited library and information science graduate program.

Q: Did you dance with me at 45 East a few months ago?
A: Hmmm...maybe.

Q: What's your take on the lack of diversity in Oxford?
A: Well, there are folks working in the community to fix that. Oxford has existed in a vacuum for decades now. The student body at Miami tends to use Oxford as nothing more than a playground during the school year. The townsfolk, especially the older ones I've met, will secretly admit to a Catch-22 sense of hatred for the university. A lot of locals also cannot afford to attend Miami as well, which is extremely bizarre for me. Most universities around the country have a good balance of locals vs. "carpetbagger" students. Diversity is a frame of mind, and that has to be learned. Its more than just statistics citing race, color, creed, and sexual orientation. It encompasses diversity of ideas, cultures, and lifestyles. And that takes commitment. Without diversifying the community, there will be a slow and painful death in terms of quality of life.

OXFORD CONFIDENTIALI'm a Baaaad Man, a Baaaaaad Man!

nuclearwar_cover250
Originally uploaded by jasoba fett.

To sum up the last week...

Shit. Double shit. Oh shit.

A colleague is leaving at the end of the month, and I've been training to take over some of his duties. And its going to be one hell of a second year here in Oxford, Ohio. Listening to Yo La Tengo's cover of Sun Ra's marvelous hit Nuclear War, I find myself filled with nothing but a sincere sense of irony.

I'm certainly a slacker by any definition. I've finally come to grips with the fact that I guess I'm a Gen Xer. Christ. I never thought I'd admit that publicly.

And that means I'm getting, well, closer to being a grown-up every day. One day, I may be somebody's father, somebody's uncle, etc. Truthfully, I'm starting to look forward to that.

I still, of course, fight the urge to be a grown-up. I listen to the music I want to listen to. I watch cartoons (just bought GI Joe Season 2 on DVD) and a ton of science fiction.

I also have my grown-up fun - going to cafes just to read a book and drink a cup of coffee. I love going to museums. I hate waking up with a hang-over. I'd rather go hiking and camping than play a video game. And lounging on the couch on a Sunday afternoon watching old movies sounds like a perfect date.

Hmmmmm...

JWJ

ABC News: Religious Conservatives Target Gay-Friendly Children's Books

Ahhh...the home office in Louisiana makes network news.The state where a Hurricane is both the state drink and the thing most likely to kill you is now at the center of a row over gay-themed children's books.



ABC News: Religious Conservatives Target Gay-Friendly Children's Books

Batman, Superman, and the American Legends that Matter

Batman%20by%20Alex%20Ross
Originally uploaded by jasoba fett.

As a comic geek, its about time they produced a new Batman film. Batman, like Superman, is a deeply cherished part of the American fabric, reflective of both the culture that bore it and universal in appeal.

Both the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, as outlined in countless comic cross-overs and series, are products of one of the darkest timesin American history - the Great Depression and the hope for a hero to combat the ills of the day. The universal appeal of both figures spawned a rise in the artform and literary value of comics

Superman and Batman's appeal globally comes less from the action of the superhero mythos and more from the subtle, personal experience of both characters.

Both are orphans who's families died violently; one a wealthy earthling who witnesses the destruction caused by greed and poverty and one who, after being adopted by a working-class farm family, learns the true responsibility of being a powerful being who understands right and wrong. While Bruce Wayne sets out to right the world's wrongs by risking his fortune and life to help those who don't have his resources, he is also works to come to grips with his internal rage and the balance between justice and revenge. Clark Kent, when not fawning over Lois Lane, chooses to live life as a normal, every-day reporter at a city newspaper, fighting injustice with the pen during the day and the fist at night.

That's what makes them Superheros, more than just simply comic book characters worthy of a blockbuster film. Many characters come across as being heros because they're superior in some way; characters like Batman and Superman reflect the power of being vulnerable, of being mentally and emotionally unsure at times, and of having to make tough decisions. They become superheros because they ARE us.

The Cold Archives Experiment

cae
Originally uploaded by jasoba fett.

Several Folks have inquired about CAE album art, music files, etc.

Ask and ye shall receive...

Low bandwidth, sorry...and not the full album House of Provenance (Some are From Noise Art Patron, still unfinished):

Danger Will Robinson

Electronic Antichrist

Fight Song No. 2

Public Enemy No. 1 - Public Enemy (Black Keys mash-up) - Rough mix...probably not finished yet...

Remo Williams vs. the Empire Index

Rocky Bush Machine - My protest song; submitted to a Iraq War Protest Downbeat label project last year. They, unfortunately didn't have the funds to put out the album.

Wait and See Revolution - Okay, who gets loaded, hops on a buddy's busted-ass Geminis, digs through their crates, and combines Captain Beefheart, The Astronauts, and Tom Waits with a stock beat? And who goes home and adds a Black Panther oral history sample?

Bibliosonic - Again, who loops Enya, Library of Congress Lomax Collection samples? The dophin sound from Star Trek IV? a harpsicord? Hmmm...Only a librarian named BallKap :)

Mind, Body, Spirit, and other Horseshit

Okay...guess I creeped a few old pals out with my "faith-based" post. Better explain, before I get another "Did You Get Sucked into a Religious Cult, Dude?" E-mail.

No, I'm not a religious nut; just a spiritual person. Its a part of me. If there's one thing that pisses me off more, its this perception out there that anyone who is even slightly spiritual is some right-wing American Taliban nutjob, a la James Dobson and his Sponge Bob outing goons in Focus on the Family. I despise the fact that having faith in this country has become synonymous with being a gun-toting, paleo-conservative.

That sucks, frankly, gigantic monkey turds. I consider myself not only "faith-based," but spiritual in the tradition of not only Christendom but also the Age of Enlightenment. The inspiration of men like Jefferson, Thoreau, Newton, Franklin, Madison...all equally important in making "The Jason System of Belief."

I study religion...for fun and enjoyment. I enjoy intense, educated debates about the differences between faith groups, the reconciliation of science and religious thought (as evident by my early participation in discussions at LSU), doctrinal practice, and reading the likes of Marcus Aurelius, St. John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, and the Gnostic scriptures from Nag Hammadi.

And yes, I listen to a lot of loud punk and hip-hop music. I'm an Indie Rock snob. I chainsmoke like a chimney and drink like a frat boy. I dress like a punk/cholo/Weezer fan at work - most times actually. I live for long drives to nowhere in particular. And yes, one of the nicest people I've ever met is a pornstar. And I think the Dropkick Murphys' version of Amazing Grace is one of the most beautiful medleys of the piece of all time.

I like God. God likes me. And I'm a rugged, tree-hugging, organic-eating populist librarian with an ego AND insecurity issues.

I'm just me. Promise. And I like my independence.

JWJ

Sunday Morning Coming Down...

I went to church yesterday for the first time in, oh, 12 months, here in Oxford. The last time I attended worship services regularly was when I lived in Baton Rouge, at St. Alban's Episcopal Chapel on the LSU campus. Living here, I had lost a bit of my spiritual side. I realized part of the reason I've been, well, feeling depressed over my situation and choice to come to Oxford has been my refusal to see why God called me here in the first place, to acknowledge the Creator's guidance and providence in my life.

When I recieved the Eucharist for the first time since Fr. Howard offered me the bread and wine down in Louisiana, my tongue went numb. I cried after the service; it was so powerful to once again feel so liberated from the guilt and bitterness I've felt for the last few months.

For those unaware, yep, I consider myself a man of faith. I'm not some Bible-thumper, nor do I consider myself "Born-Again," nor do I buy into the whole concept of applying capitalist principles of material wealth and prosperity to religion. I even debated entering the ministry at one point in my life, until I realized that's just not part of God's plan for me yet. And my steadfast refusal to blindly accept any church dogma without meditaion and contempation makes me a less-than-ideal candidate for spiriual service in today's world. There are things and behavior considered sinful in the eyes of many within the Anglican Communion, and Christendom, that I think are more matters of sexual politics and individual Scriptural understanding than within the realm of faith.

I fully accept the gay and lesbian community, and other pariahed groups, as members of the Body of Christ - as members of the human race. I refuse to judge, because only God has the right to judge a person's true heart and moral values. I have seen too many couples who are in loving, caring nontraditional relationships with wonderful partners who contribute so much good to the community to believe otherwise. I believe human sexuality has become too tied to old beliefs that are, yes, based in Scripture, but which have been accepted as as diehard spiritual fact in place of contemplative points.

Wasn't sure if I should blog these thoughts, until I realized those who know me best know this side of me.
JWJ

Chewie's Corner: random shit in my head

My boy Chewie wrote some rather awesome poems a while back. Please read.

Chewie's Corner: random shit in my head

G8 Leaders to Forgive $40 million in 3rd World Debt

'Bout damn time.

IOL: SADC

Want to use the Web? Your fingerprint, please. | csmonitor.com

Reading the The Library Bitch tonight and came across this interesting item...

Creepy-ass story about the growing push to restrict user rights to electronic resources and create barriers to information access.

Want to use the Web? Your fingerprint, please. | csmonitor.com

All to protect the children from wicked rock bands, naked people, and other types of debauchery. Wow. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, I grew up in a community half-way between Jerry Falwell (Lynchburg, Virginia) and Pat Robertson (Tidewater region), I heard this kind of garbage all the time.

I'm a firm believer in raising smart, educated children who know the difference between right and wrong. I believe folks have the right to raise their children anyway they please. But asking for fingerprints to use the Internet in a public library? Isn't that going a bit too far?

Kids and adults will always abuse technology. Those of us who live in the Western World invent newvices every day to help us escape the responsibilities we have, our lives, our very existence on this planet. We're instructed by our marketing gurus and tech wizards to adopt the latest entertainment technologies NOW, before we somehow become uncool. Our culture says "fuck information literacy, buy an MP3 player. Yeah, we know you'll be half-retarded by the time you're 30, but you'll be cool." While Developing Nations are pining for the latest in telemedicine, better information infrastutures, and less government control, the Western World is all about playtime in cyberspace.

Unless we start teaching users of information technologies that reason, social responsibility, and ethics play the most vital roles in how we live in cyberspace, our society is royally screwed. Snapping scans of fingerprints isn't the answer. Its a band-aid on a bullet wound.

Here in Oxford, I hear disturbing stories of 13-year-olds getting knocked up by 30 year-olds. I've heard rumors of Miami students not reporting sexual assaults because they don't want to get some "cute guy" in trouble. We as a culture have, really, bigger fish to fry before we even begin discussing Internet filtering. In the US, we've lost, in the span of a century, a good portion of the freedoms men and women spent parts of three centuries securing. We've voluntarily given up many of the ideals that make Americans Americans in the name of fighting Communism, Terrorism, and various social vices.

Mike Tyson Swears off Assault, Ear-Biting Once Again...Sigh!

What the hell is Mike Tyson still doing boxing?
And check out that cute, innocent face, too.

Taiwan News Online

DATELINE HAMILTON, Ohio -- Channeling my Inner-Cholo

Decided to spend the day exploring Hamilton, Ohio. For those unfamiliar with Hamilton, its the closest city to Oxford and the seat of Butler County's government. Approximately the size of Greeley, Colo., or Lafayette, La, Hamilton really doesn't look like much. But, given that I've now lived within this county for, oh, 10 months and really didn't know much about the county seat, I figured I'd find some me some trouble...

Trouble, it turns out, found me. After spending some time hunting the Goodwill and swinging by Galaxy CDs (the last independent record store in Butler County...talked with the owner about the sad state of music in the area), I stopped by Lowes to look at power tools. I ended up helping these Mexican guys load up a cart full of drywall onto a Dodge Caravan that had obviously seen better days.

One guy was older, maybe mid-forties, mustached and skin leathered by time. He spoke very little English, often broken and with a heavy meek accent. The two other guys, my age, were his nephews, up from Houston to work with their uncle for the summer. We talked in the parking lot over cold sodas - my tip for helping them out.

One of the younger guys would be returning to Houston, the other, Ralphie, would be moving to Baltimore after the summer ended. I noticed that his forearm was covered in the kind of black-ink tat you don't get at university.

"Nuestra Familia?" I ask. Saw his kind of ink all over California, all over the southwest. Raphie and his brother tensed up and looked very nervous.

"Hey, I'm no Schoolboy, fellas." I continued. "Its cool. You out the life?"

Ralphie kicked at the ground, looking embarrassed. Turns out his move to Birthplace of the Bambino is not a voluntary one. His coming to Hamilton is to make enough money to pay his sister rent and his share of groceries.

Ralphie tried to play innocent, but I could tell by the ink, especially the teardrop tats on his chest, that he hadn't been a saint. I asked him if he'd ever caught a case, and he admitted he did indeed have a criminal record. But he wanted to be a comic book artist and his sister had pulled some strings to get him into an junior college. He showed me a notebook filled with poetry (love poems for his girl he left behind and eulogies for the dead) and gorgeous pen sketches. The guy has real talent.

His brother didn't say much. I could tell he was in pain - losing a sibling to a foreign side of the country has to be tough.

"You know it takes a man to get the fuck out of the life," I said. "Men make their lives with their hands and their minds; those cats who stay in ain't nothing but bitches, no offense to your boys. Much love and respect. You got honor, dog."

Ralphie's eyes lit up.

"Thanks, gee." he said. "Eh, you sound like a straight-up cholo, for real. Yo, you a cholo?"

"Naw, I just a striaght-up peckerwood. But you need anything while you here, look a brother up."

I gave him my business card. Told him to give me a call. His uncle shook my hand. And Ralphie gave me one of those "You Cool" hugs I used to get from MY homeboys when I was a juvenile delinquent back in the day. Good kid. He'll make it...

Kudos from a fellow Poly alum...

Gotta give a shout-out to a softball player from my alma mater. She's also a Journalism senior, too. This means her course load was literally lighter than a feather ... old KCPR joke :)

Myers Named Academic All-American Second Team'

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA -- Cal Poly¹s senior catcher Erin Myers was named to the2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team, as selected by theCollege Sports Information Directors of America.

An All-Big West First Team selection, Myers posted a 3.78 cumulative gradepoint average in journalism at Cal Poly. Myers led the Mustangs to a 35-16 overall record and a second place finishin the BWC with a 15-6 mark. Myers hit .338 while starting in all 51 games for the Mustangs.

The seniorwas eighth in conference in batting and was fifth in slugging percentage(.615). Myers clubbed a team record 10 home runs while driving in 36 RBI¹s. Thenative of Redding, CA also managed a .414 on base percentage.

From the Poly SID Media List that I'm still on...years after I ceased being a sports broadcaster in San Luis Obispo