ack

one day
i will
have time

Maybe.

the days of craze

too
tired
too
busy
to
post

Sorry!

rainydaywednesday

one umbrella between four feet
of rain
covered/uncovered
slowly soaking in
conversation
laughs
and smiles

Oh, the weather.

noticing

noticing
is the first step
to change
to seeing what was there
of understanding the sphere around
this

My current class paper topic seems to be appearing everywhere. I have enough sources already people!

so much

a paper awaits
3 million books to do
early morning
sunrise
tea
sleep
must finish now

Need to finish my paper!

sugar!

glazes and sugars and creams
on display
glistening under the flicker
of floroescent tubes
a smile peers out from
behind the gleam of red
something for you?
flash of choice
tension of denial
which which which
something special
the chef pirouettes

Do you like doughnuts? How about donuts?

jobs suck

snotty snotty C - E - O
such talk will get you left
alone
to handle
all of the things you do not
will not know
how to do

good luck

Oh this job. (Liberties were taken with the title.)

paper from class

The serious and grave Karl Marx of my study of The Communist Manifesto steps aside in these new readings to reveal a witty man capable of mocking Britain’s incompetence in its relations with China while acknowledging England’s place in starting a revolution that will begin in China and spread to Europe[1]. For the bulk of Marx’s writings on China, I agreed with his analysis of British-Chinese relations, however two specific arguments contained a logic gap that left me unconvinced: 1) Lord Palmerston’s supposed alliance with Russia and 2) that the trade imbalance between the West and China comes only from China’s traditional manufacturing methods.

Marx, through the various articles, tracks British petulance toward China, particularly in the person of Lord Palmerston. The articles are persuasive but border on conspiracy theory when Marx asserts that Palmerston is working for the benefit of Russia. According to Marx, Lord Palmerston takes steps toward war to appear to be working against Russian interests, but the goal is actually to push the targeted country into an alliance with Russia. What reasons the Englishman could possibly have to do so? Marx shows that “Lord Palmerston's old tricks”,[2] do work to increase Russia’s relations with China, but this fact seems only part of Britain’s incompetence in dealing with the Chinese rather than a larger conspiracy between Lord Palmerston and Russia.[3]

Marx first shows in Trade or Opium that the imbalance of trade with China has its roots in the opium epidemic. The Chinese people do not have the money to spend on English or other Western goods because their income is spent satisfying their severe addiction to opium.[4] In Trade with China, he foregoes that argument and instead proves that the traditional Chinese household and its particular mix of “husbandry with manufacturing industry”[5] keeps trade imbalanced, with China exporting far more than it imports. Marx then shows that the cost of production of necessities in China, specifically garments, is well below Western prices, and the goods last significantly longer. Does function win over fashion? If opium addiction is removed from the equation, the reader must assume that the Chinese people simply do not want the products offered for import, regardless of whether it is due to the traditional manufacturing within their society or their particular tastes. However, identifying a single cause of an import imbalance overly simplifies an entire culture. The motivations that create the trade disparity likely include traditional manufacturing, opium addiction and other reasons not to purchase Western goods. Marx weakened his argument by attempting to prove a single cause for the unequal trade between China and the West.[6]

On the whole, Marx persuades the reader that Britain is at best a petulant child and at worse a barbarian in its dealings with China. The narrow scope of his analysis of Palmerston-Russia relations and the lack of imports into China leaves a void in each of his arguments. The former would be alleviated by showing the motivation that would lead Palmerston to work specifically for the benefit of Russia, the latter by broadening his analysis of reasons behind China’s low imports of Western goods.

[1] Marx, Karl. “Revolution in China and In Europe” (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/06/14.htm)
[2] Marx, Karl. “The New Chinese War” (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/10/18.htm)
[3] Ibid.
[4] Marx, Karl. “Trade or Opium” (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1858/09/20.htm)
[5] Marx, Karl. “Trade with China” (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/12/03.htm)
[6] Ibid.

I have a plot outline for the rest of the Alice story, but I have not had any time whatsoever to work on it. I have another paper to write this weekend. Maybe I will get to it in November.

RANDOM FIRINGS

brain waves
mixed messages
through movie quotes
and song lyrics
decipher decipher

hidden thoughts
lost connexions

or it is just tired
the brain
from too much tea and sympathy
and self-pity

I've got 3 or so songs stuck in my head and random lines from Empire Records. Is this what my horoscope meant when it said that today I would be in the realm of the gods? The crazy gods!

eyes

i can't see right now, can you?
stupid eye doctor.

rawr.

Short, sweet, obvious.

allergies

i am allergic to everything
to fall
to spring
and soon a test
to see if
my cat bothers me
grrr

Happy Allergy Test Day to me!

ode to bagel

round and lovely and just for me
a little bit of everything
a little creamy joy
oozing from the middle
through the gap
dripping dripping
into my mouth

I love bagels.

effin' technology

Work, damnit!

What's the matter?

This fucking thing won't bloody work!

Calm down.

NO! [throws object, pause] I feel better.

I think your warranty only covers accidental damage.

How will they know?

[from the device] Oh, we know. Mwuahahahahahahahaa.

My Kindle is acting up. I have not thrown it. Yet.

rich in america

Is there a bias against the rich in America? Or is there a bias against the rich when they have committed a crime, whether white collar or not? We expect those born into priviledge or who gain it behave better than the rest of us. Logically, we all know that they do not, and we even may think that they got to where they are by not following the rules. However, when they are caught and paraded in front of the public, the sense is that they should have known better, been better, behaved better.

Listening to NPR this morning where the phrase "bias against the rich" was used. This paragraph is the start of my thought process on it.

sleep is far away

It had been a long weekend but a good one. The lack of sleep was starting to show as soon as he got to work. How was he supposed to get through this day? The coffee pot called, but memories of the near panic attacks... Perhaps some tea. He felt better totally clear of caffeine, even when tired, but today there was so much he wanted to get done. These were not tasks that could handle a sleepy deprived brain. Maybe just today. Just one cup. Or one sip. Or decaf? That has some caffeine in it. At least he could pretend.

Sleep is a way too common theme on this blog, but you are supposed to write what you know.

cityfieldmouse

how do you name the city fieldmouse? mouse? mouse? mouse? mouse? elders chase them into the street, hurling obscenities and shoes and pans and flower pots. broad anger, tiny target. they always miss. the recently young lift their feet to allow them to pass; tension above this smallness; mimicking Disney elephants. play for the actually young and play for the cats end in deaths un- and intentioned. flit around and puff the cheeks under false lights. squeak away. disappear.

There are so many in Union Square when the sun is setting!

crackberry

crackberry crackberry
one two three
crackberry crackberry
buzz for me
crackberry crackberry
run my life
crackberry crackberry
the rhyme is strife

Yep, totally lost it for that last line.

Freud-In-A-Cup

Camera on woman staring at a random guy's crotch.

Having problems dealing with your penis-envy?

Camera on teenager looking longingly at a family portrait.

Can't understand why you have a serious crush on your parent?

Camera on a clown.

Do you need professional help?

Camera on table full of bills and a frazzled person going through them.

Therapy is expensive, costing upwards of $1,000 a month. In today's economic climate, how is the average person supposed to afford the help they need?

Camera on spokesperson in a suit.

My name is Spokesperson, and I've dealt with all of these problems. I used to go to therapy and waste thousands of dollars and hours of time trying to become a better person, all with little result. I am here today to tell you that there is another way. Freud-In-A-Cup. Sigmund Freud is the Father of Psychotherapy, and now thanks to Crazico, you can get a dose of Freud every morning. And in just 60 days, we guarantee that you will be feeling better and being a more productive member of society.

Stop being bogged down by all those problems. Try Freud-In-A-Cup today!

I think this needs no explanation. Freud. In. A. Cup!

panic

Your severe disregard for the normal way of doing things is giving me panic attacks.

That is the definition of a personal problem

Don't you think that you should help me out by trying to toe the line just a little bit more.

Maybe you wouldn't have those attacks if you didn't care about the line so much.

So that's where we are?

Yes.

Well, fuck you.

Who are these characters? What is there relationship? Let's write a group story!

self-doubt

hand raised alone in the class as every eye rolled again
slowly realizing how much they hate her
perfection
education is the goal and screw them all and their cool
she's alone and running on the education wheel

Silence.

short

i can breathe


mostly

Hooray for sickness! Well, not really hooray...