stormcoming

On “occupy” and strategy

stormcoming — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:15:31 +0000

Since far too many people have been asking what I think of “occupy”, here’s some of what I put on my (private) facebook:

At what point do the 99% finally realize we are not the occupiers, but the occupied?

I was asked to clarify, this is a rough first impression of what I wrote in response:

Primarily, what I meant is that the 99% are “occupied” in their own homes (if they are fortunate enough to still have such) and in their own land/country by many of those who are quite clearly a miniscule minority, yet firmly retaining control and day to day power.

Rather than viewing this as a matter of going into the public square and viewing that act as going onto the oppressor’s turf, a more realistic assessment is to understand how the oppressor has already invaded and more often than not been invited into our own spaces.

De-colonizing what little turf the 99% stands upon and withdrawing support for those structures that we all end up supporting in our day to day lives is one starting place to begin to starve the occupiers of their own supply lines. Divestment and reappropriating what resources we have from those out to damage us, towards those who stand with us (such as moving from corporate banks towards local credit unions) is of many possible such examples.

To quote Abbie Hoffman, “The ground you’re standing on is liberated territory. Defend it.”

Our opponents have long understood how moving resources out of the hands of those those oppose into their own supply chains works to their advantage.

The ‘good guys’ meanwhile, do precious little in their day to day consumer decision making to attempt to short circuit that process, and more often than not, try to take resources out of other ‘good guys’ rather than trying to extract resources out of our opponents to build our supply chains.

No, it’s not always possible, but whenever possible, rather than extracting resources from our own community we need to be focused on extracting resources out of our opponents.

As for “occupy” at my core, of course I agree with the motivations, but tactically, I feel it’s often focused upon false notions that those external to it have empathy that can be relied upon to force change and an (all too often christian) notion of personal martyrdom/collective suffering as a means by which it attempts to move its targets.

Any notion akin to Offspring’s sarcastic:

“The more you suffer
The more it shows you really care
Right? Yeah yeah yeah”

is rooted in ideals of empathy within those external to the movement, which sadly, at this point is becomes more an article of “faith” that such still exists.

It also relies upon particular re-tellings of history and social change, such as the idea that images of protesters being hosed or attacked by dogs in the civil rights movement caused fundamental shifts in the external cultures’ perceptions of the movement (again, perhaps falsely rooted in empathy.)

Some of us who have spent years studying social change movements, don’t necessarily agree that this mythos and those images are what led to actual change.

At it’s core, the object for many of us is not to make “the good guys” endure and exhibit personal sacrifice, but rather to make the oppressor genuinely feel consequence for their actions.

While there are many things “occupy” has accomplished (And yes, there are many quibbles some of us have with everything from process to tactics) the real question remains, to what extent has it forced the oppressors to actually in day to day life feel and endure its effects?

I.E. has “occupy” hit ‘em where they live hard enough to force them to change their behavior?

As many have noted, power (and territory) is never willingly ceded by oppressors, such must be wrested from their grip.

and

As I said weeks ago, you wanna occupy something in winter, go occupy their country clubs, enjoy their fireplaces while sipping on their stashes of good scotch.

A friend noted that banks paid attention as consumers moved their money to credit unions. I replied:

Naturally, they’re paying attention, it finally hit them somewhere that mattered to their bottom line.

The point is to “make them feel it” everything else is internal organizing and educating within one’s own movement and spaces.

The point at which it begins to actually matter is when it moves beyond the group development into actually making the beast notice that its tail just got bit- then go for the leg.

My thoughts on the soon to be “Independent Antioch”?

stormcoming — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:35:03 +0000

Perhaps best summarized by this Jennifer Berman panel from Summer ‘08 (With special thanks to a special fellow who pointed this out today.)

AUUGH!

I’m definitely still in the “cynic” column. Not that I don’t believe the grand sign off will take place, just in that the ‘devil’ will be in the details.

And the financial realities.

And the horribly neglected and abused campus infrastructure that will suck so many of the precious pennies raised right out of the equation faster than more can be raised.

I’d love to be proven wrong, but I’m not running at any footballs either.

One for the ‘what an Anti-Queer week it’s been’ files

stormcoming — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:02:48 +0000

Yeah, well, this week’s bright spot was of course India.

Meanwhile, the shit continues to hit the fan.

This is how just some of the digital Queer portions of my life went this past week over the Stonewall anniversary (and no, don’t even get me started on similar such travesties in other areas I work in, such as the notion of leaving abortion completely out of out of whatever health care reform is finally agreed upon, or Google’s adwords policy on ads for abortion services in a number of countries.)

I’m mainly going to pull together some of the blog links, most of the news accounts are simple enough to find via a news search.

Anyone who thinks for an instant “Democrats” or “The Left” or whatever is going to save our sorry asses would do well to understand, looking to such to step in and ’save us’ is a guaranteed disappointment waiting to happen.

Womyn, Queers, other such? We’re just canaries in the coalmine, indicators who so often get whumped first.

After the election my het friends by and large were relieved, partied, and thought that what came next was going to ‘fix’ so many of the things that happened over the Bush years.

Cute, eh? So how’s that workin’ out for ya?

Voting “hope” with your pocketbook rarely works out in the end.

Queers on the other hand? We took one look at what we lost (the “marriage related” state ballot measures, CA, FL, & AZ- as well as the measure in AK that removed the ability to foster or adopt for both Queers and unmarried non-Queers alike,) understood some of who Obama was, his previous actions (track record) and who his friends are (the whole sorted Donnie McClurkin mess, Rick Warren, etc.) and we knew we were in for a rough time of it. As the days have ticked by since the election, our fury has come to the fore.

Next one of my het friends who doesn’t understand why ‘we won’t just be patient’ or why we’re angry? I figure I’ll save the hassle of repeating myself and just point to this post.

This just of what this week in online Queer has looked like in terms of some of the links I’ve sought or been sent.

I’m not particularly going to write around them all, as they pretty well stand by themselves. This is not to say I like, nor even agree with all the bloggers, for example whose links are posted below, but this is a SUBSET that covers a fair amount of ground as to what this last week has been like.

Think of it as a bit of a follow-up to my previous post.

Fort Worth- Rainbow Lounge- more on the Bashers with Badges-

(A number of these articles would fall under more than one heading, so here’s a general list then some specifics)

Fort Worth: The Police Are Lying

Fort Worth Police Chief: That Faggot Had It Coming

Fort Worth Chief “Happy With Restraint”

Police: Rainbow Lounge Patrons Dry Humped Cops

Senator Davis and Rep. Burnam Take Action on Fort Worth Raid

Blame Game Begins Between FWPD and TABC Over Fort Worth Raid

FWPD Suspends Operations With State Agents After Rainbow Lounge Raid

TABC Reassign Two Agents To Desk Duty

Fort Worth: Police Chief Promises Kinder, Gentler Homophobic Bar Raids

Fort Worth Police Chief Wants You Homosexuals to ‘Take a Deep Breath’

Agents on Desk Duty After Raid; Vigil Held at Fort Worth Gay Bar

This is a particularly import post, giving context and history to the program - Texas Public Intoxication Law Is An Open Invitation For Abuse

More Details Emerge From Rainbow Lounge Raid, particularly:

More reports of injuries are coming to light from last week’s raid on the Rainbow Lounge in Ft. Worth, Texas. That raid resulted in Chad Gibson being sent to intensive care for a severe head injury with bleeding in the brain. Doctors say he will probably continue to experience severe headaches for the next two years.

The New York Times reports that another patron suffered broken ribs, and a third had a broken thumb resulting from aggressive actions by Ft. Worth police and agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The Dallas Voice reports that another man who was taken in to custody experienced severe bruising and muscle strain in his shoulder and back. He was charged with public intoxication, even though he says he was not drunk and police did not perform any sobriety or blood-alcohol tests on him.

This practice of charging people without evidence goes against the very foundations of our country’s system of justice, but it is just one more example of how Texas policy on Public Intoxication is an open ticket for abuse.

and

Ft. Worth police chief Jeffrey Halstead was adamant that Gibson suffered his head injury while in TABC custody. “They were not my employees,” he reiterated at a recent townhall style meeting. But witnesses are disputing that claim — as does this photo taken at the time of Gibson’s arrest:

TABC agents are in tan uniforms. The picture is grainy, but you can clearly make out a third person between the kneeling tan-uniformed agent and the standing TABC agent against the back wall. That third person is wearing the dark uniform of the Ft. Worth police department. The gloved hand of a fourth agent can be seen just to the right of the bar patron’s pants leg. It’s impossible to tell whether that hand belongs to a Ft. Worth police officer or a TABC agent, but the NYT account describes two TABC agents and two Ft. Worth police officers. This photo is consistent with that account.

No More “Bar Checks” for Fort Worth

A week after the fact, the NYT finally covers it- NYT covers violent ‘law enforcement’ raid at Fort Worth gay bar

LA Times- Police raid at gay club in Texas stirs ugly memories

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief FINALLY Breaks Silence Over Rainbow Lounge Raid

Fort Worth mayor asks for federal review of Rainbow Lounge incident

Chad Gibson-

Donations for Chad Gibson’s Medical Bills

Fort Worth Stonewall Victim: Still in ICU Struggling With Brain Blood Clot

Man injured in raid of gay bar speaks out (video also includes footage from last night’s rally)

Tuesday Night’s community forum-

Notes From the Last Night’s Talk On Rainbow Lounge Raid

FWPD Chief Addresses Concerns At Community Forum

Fort Worth Police Statements-

Fort Worth Police Statement Concerning “Rainbow Lounge” Raid

Fort Worth police identify officers in Rainbow Lounge inspection, seek additional witnesses

Response Rally-

Upset Fort Worth residents protest raid on gay nightclub

Sunday Night’s Rally-

Protesters in Fort Worth demonstrate against police action at gay club

Coming Up-

Activists also plan to attend the Ft. Worth City Council meeting on July 14.

The (on base) murder of Gay Sailor August Provost-

Gay sailor found dead at Pendleton guard shack

Gay Sailor Found Dead

Sailor killed at Camp Pendleton may have been target of hate crime

Gay Camp Pendleton Sailor Found Dead on Base in Apparent Homicide

Brutal murder of gay sailor increasingly looking suspicious, while Obama DOD (surprise) does nothing

A possible hate crime killing of a gay US sailor on Obama’s watch. Navy Seaman August Provost III was gagged, bound by the hands and feet, shot in the head three times, and then his body burned. His relatives say he was repeatedly harassed for being gay, but couldn’t seek help from the Defense Department because of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. Now he’s dead.

Congressman Suspects Seaman’s Murder a Hate Crime

Rep. Bob Filner (D) of California was at Camp Pendleton just six hours after Seaman August Provost was murdered, but no mention was made to him of the crime. He finds that suspicious and accuses the military of habitually not “telling the truth” when it comes to potential hate crimes. “There are indications” he was killed for being gay, according to Filner and Provost’s family. Provost had complained of being harassed by fellow personnel and was openly gay to most people around him.

Navy spokesman Lt. Kyle Raines, Navy Region Southwest tells CNN:

“There are no indications that the body of Seaman Provost was bound, gagged or mutilated as some media have reported. There was a fire set in an effort to cover up evidence. The specific cause of death will be addressed once the autopsy report and toxicology reports have been completed. There was a person who was initially held as a person of interest. He is no longer being held. There is now a second sailor who was not previously identified to the media who has been linked to the commission of the crime through both physical evidence and his own statement. The second sailor is being held. His name has not been released.”

Family Of Murdered Gay Sailor Blames Military For Ignoring His Complaints

Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned. The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston. Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene. Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.

A Sampling of this week in Anti-Queer Violence-

Pride Events Marred by Violence

Flurry of assaults on gays nationwide

A Second Gay Bashing on New York’s Upper East Side

Be sure to note-

The New York Anti-Violence Project released a report on Wednesday saying that the number of bias-related attacks against LGBT people decreased in 2008, but that the attacks that did happen were more severe.

Read the report (PDF).

Cops: NYC Gay Bashings May Be Linked

New York community alert with artist’s sketch- UES Gay Bashing Spree Continues, AVP Issues Community Alert

Why Is One of These Attacks a Hate Crime, While the Other One Isn’t? (note the update at bottom)

Hate Crime Charges Filed for Homophobic, Racist Threats in Belltown

Bloody Hell: UK Teen Attacked in Homophobic Hate Crime

3 Arrested in Long Island Gay Bashing

The Francine Busby Fundraiser, (now with 100% more pepper spray!)-

Francine Busby Fundraiser Raided By Police On False Complaint – Host Arrested, Guests Pepper Sprayed

Candidate to confront deputies over raid

Uganda-

Uganda to ban LGBT advocacy, pulling the same quote (from here) Pam did-

A stringent Bill against homosexuality is in the offing, the state minister for ethics and integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, has said.

Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre yesterday, Buturo said the country was besieged by homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, human sacrifice, drug abuse, embezzlement and witchcraft to the extent that it was “dangerously becoming a permissive society.”

He noted that once the Bill is passed into law, it will be an offence to publish and distribute literature on homosexuality or advocate for it. He also stated that it would become impossible for homosexuals to address press conferences and attract people to their cause, once the Bill becomes law.

Anti-Queer Vandalism within the Labor Department-

Labor Chief Deplores Defacing of Gay Pride Posters

Gay Pride Month Posters Defaced at Labor Department

“Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) challenge postponed-

DoJ’s Response to GLAD’s DOMA Challenge Delayed Until September

Obama’s Monday appearance with (some of ) the GLBT invitees at the White House for a Stonewall Anniversary Commemoration. Apparently even some of those at Stonewall denied entrance-

(The event was by and large a hastily thrown together over the course of a week photo op trying to do damage control.)

The List of Invitees

Via Monica Roberts: Another Historic Meeting, Another Melanin-free Transgender Contingent

Update via Bil Browning, which does not make things better:

Monica,

I thought this was a fabulous post pointing out a very important problem. I thought it was so good I did some background checking for you.

It seems that Miss Major (and several other Stonewall veterans – I don’t know their skin color or trans/cis status) were on the guest list but didn’t make it through the Secret Service background check. A few other African-American trans folk were also vetted but didn’t make the cut either. I’m not sure if you were on the list or not.

The reason given by the Secret Service was that the denied potential guests had police records beyond simply activist demonstrations and the like. As you’ve talked about in previous posts, African-American transwomen are more likely to be bound up in the sex for money trade and have a high incidence of prostitution and drug-related charges. (To be clear – I’m not placing a value judgement on that; I’m just trying to provide background.)

Apparently the first few Stonewall veterans – including everyone – were denied access because of their legal charges. They were scrambling a few days before the event to find someone – anyone! – that was at Stonewall that could attend. Eventually they found a couple men who could pass the Secret Service background check.

In spite of the history of the event – I think you’re on point. Just like they found some Stonewall veterans who could pass muster, surely they could have found some African-American transpeople – whether trans men or women – who could pass a simple background check. It’s not as if all African-American transfolk have been in trouble with the law. If they could spend so much time tracking down Stonewall vets to attend, they could have spent more time looking for African-American transfolk. Period.

Marks His Words: Gays Will ‘Have Some Pretty Good Feelings’ About Obama Administration

On Gay Issues, Obama Asks to Be Judged on Vows Kept

Obama’s Remarks at White House Stonewall Event to say I am unimpressed would be beyond understatement, seriously, did someone actually pay a speech writer to pen any of this? I certainly hope not!

Queer Health Disparities and Homelessness in NY-

Report Shows LGBT Health Disparities

Key findings of the report, according to Somjen, include the pervasiveness of homelessness, which poses a substantial barrier to service access. Fourteen percent of LGBT people, including one-third of transgender respondents, reported being homeless currently or at one point in their lives.

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) shitstorm #5,872,498

(Which is not to say Bill Clinton wasn’t a spineless @$#*!%, no friend to Queers, either!)

Mullen advises ‘measured’ approach to gay policy

Colin Powell: “Review” DADT

New disturbing comments from Chairman of Joint Chiefs on DADT

Obama’s Military Minions Keep Mouthing Off on DADT. This Is Bad

“Employment Non-Discrimination Act” (ENDA)-

Time to push for an INCLUSIVE ENDA-

Click Here To Meet With Your US Legislators in August. Or Bye-Bye ENDA

DNC may have lied about the fundraiser take-

DNC may have lied about $1m take from fundraiser; DNC insider says blogs are right on party’s intentions towards gays

Did DNC Fundraiser Really Rake in a Million Bucks?

Priorities? What priorities?-

Guess what’s missing from this DCCC “Priority Issues Survey”!

Obama deputy campaign manager abandons DOMA & DADT as priorities

Vatican investigates Nuns-

Lest all that somehow not be enough? The Vatican has launched an investigation into Nuns, among other reasons for apparently failing to “promote” the church’s teachings on” among other things, “homosexuality:”

Cardinal Levada sent a letter to the Leadership Conference saying an investigation was warranted because it appeared that the organization had done little since it was warned eight years ago that it had failed to “promote” the church’s teachings on three issues: the male-only priesthood, homosexuality and the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the means to salvation.

Gotta do SOMETHING to stamp out those pesky “particular friendships,” eh?

Apparently all those Lesbian Nuns are reflecting poorly on the pedophile men in dresses… .

Guess by ‘cleaning house’ the Vatican only hears, ‘deal with the recalcitrant Dykes and “Homosexual” supporters from within.’

So, now what?-

Now what indeed.

Stonewall ‘09- a litany of sorrows: Rainbow Lounge Raid, Anti-Queer Assault, and the SF Pink Triangle Arson

stormcoming — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:09:51 +0000

Yup, I said 2009, not some date plucked from the past. Read ‘em and weep.

Happy fucking Stonewall 40 everyone.

(I’ve been doing some of my “brighter” or “happier” writing about the Stonewall anniversary primarily elsewhere, but wanted to pull these three sorrow and rage inducing events out and document them over here.)

The TX cops celebrated the Stonewall anniversary by raiding Fort Worth Bars- including the (Queer) Rainbow Lounge

(picture taken by Chuck Potter, from the Dallas Voice “Instant Tea” blog section)

The DallasVoice.com “Instant Tea” blog section has ongoing coverage, including a number of accounts and some pictures. Their coverage begins with Raid on Rainbow Lounge. Then, in chronological order, see this page and this second page.

Rather than trying to write a summary, I’m simply going to point readers to articles, blogs, and first person accounts (here, An eyewitness account from the Rainbow Lounge raid, for example)

The blog section also contains an Update on Chad Gibson, injured in Rainbow Lounge raid.

Mainstream ‘news’ coverage-

For what it’s worth here are several Star Telegram articles- Upset Fort Worth residents protest raid on gay nightclub

Witnesses say that police arrived at about 1 a.m. at the Rainbow Lounge on South Jennings Street and arrested seven people. They said one of those arrested suffered a fractured skull during the takedown and is at a Fort Worth hospital.

and

Fort Worth police released a statement Sunday that the Rainbow Lounge was not the only bar targeted by six Fort Worth police officers and two agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and a supervisor. The group first went to the Rosedale Saloon and Cowboy Palace on Rosedale Street. Nine people were arrested, police report.

Demonstrators protest police raid on gay bar

WFAA-
Dozens protest ‘violent’ raid of FW gay bar

wfaa-tv

Queer Media-

On Top Magazine-

Patrons Allege Abuse In Ft. Worth Gay Bar Raid

Statements-

Fort Worth Police Statement Concerning “Rainbow Lounge” Raid

Councilman Joel Burns Statement Concerning “Rainbow Lounge” Raid

From the Blogs-

kenneth in the (212)-
Stonewall Revisited?

The patron said: “It felt so very Stonewall, but without the standing up for ourselves.”

Towleroad-

Gays in Texas Arrested for Public Intoxication in Stonewall-Style Raid

The Petrelis Files-

Cops Raid Texas Gay Bar on Pride Sunday; Protest Planned in Ft. Worth

The Stranger/SLOG-
“It felt so very stonewall, but without the standing up for ourselves.

America Blog-

Fort Worth Gay Bar raided — on 40th anniversary of Stonewall

There are also a few diaries on the Daily Kos, this one has made the rec list-

Breaking: Raid on Fort Worth Gay Bar (Update x6)

Facebook-

And naturally, what passes for fucking “Activism” these days is a group on facebook-

Facebook page: Rainbow Lounge Raid.

Vicious Anti-Queer Assault in NYC Leaves Joe Holladay Bloodied, Beaten

Village Voice-

Gay-Bashed on Pride Weekend on the Upper East Side (Updated)

Towleroad-

Pride Weekend Anti-Gay Assault in NYC Leaves Man Bloodied, Beaten

The arson at Twin Peaks (San Francisco)

KPIX-

SF’s Pink Triangle Burned, Possibly Vandalized

(see connected video with the segment at the right hand side of the page)

(photos KPIX CBS channel 5)

Also be sure to see the Pink Triangle homepage explaining the meaning behind the annual display, it serves as an

annual commemoration of the gay victims of the Holocaust and a reminder of the on-going inhumanity to repressed minorities going on now around the world

The Petrelis Files-

SF Pink Triangle Burned on Pride Sunday

Perhaps when so called “Gay Rights Advocates” meet with Obama tomorrow they might care to mention the (literal) burning hatred we still face, and 40 years on, the violence and bullshit we still endure., not that I expect anything out of this White House, but those with access have a moral obligation to hold his feet to the fire, (so to speak.)

Couldn’t have said it better myself

stormcoming — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:39:32 +0000

Yeah the YouTube? Usually not so much with me, but this is a useful little thing to keep handy. Never know when you might have need of it, there are just so many occasions for use.

Music by Lily Allen, set to uploaded video collaborative montage, Big Fat Gay Collab, organized by Stevie. See this in particular, from the video description-

theres a disgusting amount of hate on the internet (especially on youtube!) directed at minority groups (especially the LGBT community) so i was inspired to organize this collab video. i never set out to “change the world” i simply wanted to make something light hearted to put a smile on the face of any hate-victim watching. you’re not alone! stevie loves you

the song is “f#ck you” by “lily allen” and i believe it was originally written about george bush. however, this video is not against bush. this is our interpretation of the meaning behind the lyrics and i think that our video gives a slightly different meaning to the lyrics and makes a different point than the original song had specifically intended. this video has nothing to do with george bush!

Definitely one for the ‘couldn’t have said it better myself’ files.

Here’s Stevie’s original request for collaboration video that led to the above-

Inauguration Day ‘09

stormcoming — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Well that’s 8 years of all our lives we can never get back.

Fuck you very much Mr. Bush. You and the imbeciles you rode in on.

More vital readings relating to the murder of Antioch College

stormcoming — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:23:34 +0000

Last Thursday Paula Treichler’s piece “Antioch: Report From Ground Zero” appeared on Inside Higher Ed. I’m not going to cover piece by piece every last bit of coverage, relating to the meticulous obliteration of Antioch College, but articles such as Treichler’s are important, in that they come from a particular vantage point on the process.

As I pointed out in my own blog post, (They murdered our college, Mann,) Antioch’s destruction was not a result of a ‘natural death’ but rather an intentional process carried out by Chancellor Toni Murdock and members of the Board of Trustees.

They provided ever hopeful alumni plenty of ‘busy work,’ keeping them occupied, even as plans to destroy the college went forward unabated.

As but one example, Treichler’s article goes into some detail, about how the alumni were given the green light in their efforts to save Antioch College back in August of last year at the Cincinnati meeting to

“assemble a proper proposal with fund-raising targets and a business plan, the chancellor was directed to share all necessary financial data and to help.”

Yet immediately following that meeting Antioch University Chancellor Murdock essentially did everything in her power to ensure that course of action would only be met with failure (again quoting Treichler’s piece:)

Within days came frantic phone calls and emails from Yellow Springs: the chancellor had returned from Cincinnati to campus, fired Steve Lawry, and prohibited contact with alumni and donors. She also, via the minions, sent home staff members in Alumni Development and Institutional Advancement, changed the locks on their office doors, and put automatic reply messages on their computers: “I am out of the office ‘til after Labor Day!” In other words, the chancellor took the steps that would most immediately and directly impede communication, development, and fund-raising activities, precisely the activities most urgently needed to complete the plan and save the college.

Thus all existing tools and personnel necessary to the task at hand were being cut out from under us, intentionally.

The struggle to save Antioch College is a saga of similar circumstances. Yet each twist and turn kept ever hopeful alumni in a flurry of activity, constantly based upon the idea that such twists and turns were all done ‘in good faith’, when clearly they were not.

Had a ‘good faith’ effort gone into saving the College, at bare minimum alumni would have been contacted PRIOR to the public announcement of the College’s impending closure back in 2007. Instead, alumni were left to learn of the impending demise of our college from media reports. There was no final effort to contact us about any kind of an emergency appeal, as the decision had already been made.

I suppose I was one of the few people who understood that we were not dealing with an administration working ‘in good faith’ back at the annual reunion meeting in 2007. Further, I also understood that trying to “committee our way back out of all this” (to use a turn of phrase I first wrote in relation to the Antioch situation to the alumni chat list last June) and treating it as any kind of “business as usual” were also only going to exacerbate the problem.

The time for ‘good faith’ ended when the decision to close the college without so much as discussing it with the alumni was announced to the media. That was why, two weeks after the initial announcement over reunion ‘07, I was one of the few people pushing Murdock, the Board, and then President Lawry to stop stalling and attempting to fill time and space with non-answers at the one and only apperance they were going to make over the course of reunion where Alums had signed up to ask them questions. There were multiple pages of Alumni who had signed up to ask questions in that session, yet instead of doing what they could to get to as many questions as possible, the various ‘authorities’ made every effort to not be held to account for their decision by alumni. They stalled. They got through less than ten questions.

Which was why, after the majority of the session had been burned, in some cases through Board repetition of nonsequiturs, I “interrupted”:

“We came here from all across the United States at our own expense,” shouted one from the back rows. “We want answers!”

(You can see some of the full context in this June 23, 2007 NYT piece, “It’s Anger, Not Nostalgia at this Antioch Reunion” . The article also goes on to reiterate Lawry’s distain for Antiochians and Antioch itself, likening it to a “political re-education”. Lawry, despite how some would paint him, was no friend to the College either. )

To this day, those answers have never come. What few drips and drabs of information about the process taking place so often behind locked doors has come out through resources like the Antioch Papers which Chancellor Murdock did everything to cut its authors access to College related information, (again quoting the Treichler piece:)

When the chancellor learned that many of the confidential documents posted on the Antioch Papers Web site had not been leaked by insiders but legitimately acquired by members of the public from Antiochiana, the institution’s archive, where board materials were routinely sent for storage, she changed the archives’ locks and restricted its hours and access to the public, including the alumni who have donated many of its holdings.

Far from making assumptions about alleged good intentions, Antiochians needed to understand that the proverbial gloves had ALREADY come off, and that from the moment of the announcement of the closure forward, this was one circumstance where assuming the worst until evidence to the contrary was produced was the more logical stance.

Unfortunately, to this very day, I still see far too many people giving Murdock and her ilk the benefit of the doubt, holding out hope, and still thinking they are dealing with a person who can be reasoned with, or ‘educated.’ All of which assumes a willingness to listen on her part, something we not only have no evidence of, no unfortunately, we have quite a growing pile of (stinking and steaming) evidence to the contrary.

Ultimately, the alumni efforts may possibly someday potentially be ‘allowed’ to finally get a hold of the broken campus buildings, but only now that they are crumbling. The economics of reopening; bringing the buildings up to current codes, (no more grandfathering), getting everything up to ADA standards, etc is not only far more than a task the University wants to take on, it would now be a daunting task for an effort such as non-stop or the Village of Yellow Springs itself to take on.

Far more likely, is that the University will follow some version of the advice given by the Stanley Consultants, (the group hired on by the University to make a recommendation on what to do with the now mostly mothballed campus, see the sidebar on this Yellow Springs News article.) You can find more on Stanley Consultants and their report concerning their recommendations for the campus on this search of the Antioch Papers website. A micro summary, to quote the YS article sidebar sounds like this:

The Stanley group recommended that the university reduce the number of operating buildings by about 50 percent. They also evaluated the physical condition of all facilities, and recommended that a number of buildings be replaced or torn down, including Mills Hall, the gym, Pennell Hall, Weston Hall, the Glen Helen building, the theater building, the art building, the photography house, the student union and Antioch Inn.

(You can find a copy of the campus map in PDF format here.)

(Stanley Consultants are also major private contractors in the Iraq reconstruction business, to the tune of 1.2 billion. Even minimal googling will turn up articles such as this, Engineering firm reaping rewards from Iraq war about Stanley’s disaster capitalism endevours.)

No, the decision to kill the campus and the college was made prior to the public announcement, prior to the ‘07 reunion, and despite constantly holding out ephemeral hopes, from the point the decision was made forward the effort to kill the College/kill the Campus has maintained its trajectory.

Every effort since that initial decision point has either been work designed to keep Alumni busy or merely a running down of alternatives, while attempting to work with people who are not acting in good faith. Actions speak louder than words and as we can see from the actions taken by University Chancellor Murdock, alumni’s sincere efforts were being thwarted at every turn.

Even over Reunion ‘07, listening to those on campus, staff members with the Record (the student paper) and others on campus, such as the those in the development office it was clear, there was no ’saving throw’ being made to keep the college intact on the part of Murdock.

At that reunion, despite all hand waving to the contrary, money was clearly not the issue. Something else was going on. Allow me to quote a post I made to the Alumni-chat list back on 6/23/07:

When you have an alum asking a stage full of the many members of the board of trustees, the president of the college, the president of the board of the alumni, and the chancellor, to give him one good reason to trust them and write a check to this (”I brought my checkbook!”) and WANTING to give the institution money and not one of the people on the stage can give the fellow a straight answer- you’ve really got to wonder.

I’ve worked as a professional fundraiser, and let me tell you, if an alum is standing there with a checkbook wanting to GIVE MONEY asking for a reason, if the people on the other end of that can’t BETWEEN THEM spit out a coherent, reasonable, immediate answer, then honestly what are they doing there?

Worse, ten minutes spent walking around the campus told me all I needed to know. Eventually I’d like to get to a longer post about the way the physical facilities were choked off left to rot and deprived of the maintainance necessary.

Clearly that contempt for the historic and architecturally significant campus continues to this day, as evidenced by the University’s crass disregard in it’s mothballing of most of the campus. For details be sure to see Closing of Antioch College campus— Shutdown prompts safety concerns Yellow Springs News 7/3/08)

I’ve also found a second article that offers some clarification on the mothballing in relation to fire codes, and perhaps a significant solution, perhaps Yellow Springs itself can wrest the campus away from the University utilizing Ohio’s eminent domain law:

Council concerned over shutdown Yellow Springs News 7/10/08

Council should consider using eminent domain to claim the campus and save it from deterioration, said Tony Dallas, who presented Council with a petition from villagers urging Council to do so.

“We are concerned that Antioch University does not have the desire, expertise or financial resources to act as a responsible corporate citizen in the Village of Yellow Springs,” the petition states.

According to the petition, under Ohio law a property can be taken through eminent domain if a situation “substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of the political subdivision,” “constitutes an economic or social liability,” “retards the provision of housing accommodations,” or “is a menance to the public health, safety, morals or welfare” of a community.

According to Dallas, if citizens of a community agree that “any one of these is relevant, the groundwork for discussing eminent domain is in place.” The petition was signed by 31 persons, and the signatures were gathered in an hour, Dallas said.

As a one time Villager myself, on the one hand, I’d LOVE to see the Village rescue the poor abused (at the hands of the University) campus. Doubly so as I understand what a crucial role facilities like the gym have played for the Village (see Community effort seeks to save Antioch’s Curl gym Yellow Springs News 6/12/08.) On the other hand, even all that said, the Village would certainly be taking on a great deal to do so.

Meanwhile, in a June 19th ‘08 article in the Yellow Springs News, Faculty and staff vacate Antioch College campus this week we learn both about the plight of the Antioch College Professors and how the vast majority of them have chosen to stay on to teach with the Non-stop (Antioch) effort:

For reasons having to do with their contracts ending without the severance or sabbatical generally afforded to tenured professors, about nine faculty members are leaving the college for new jobs, Bloch said. And according to film and communications professor Anne Bohlen, at least 21 tenured faculty members have chosen to join the Nonstop Antioch effort to continue the kind of education they offered during their years at the college. Others are simply retiring, some before their chosen time, to begin new adventures.

I think it’s becoming more and more clear that the way forward, just as I predicted back in June of ‘07 is to build a separate entity, one which will remain in Yellow Springs and stay true to the ideals and as closely as possible to the day to day life that was Antioch College.

Due to Antioch University’s threats of legal action, the (Antioch College) faculty (now forced to simply call themselves The college faculty, the faculty of the college in Yellow Springs, OH and Nonstop (Antioch) now calling itself Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute or NLAI continue on.

Nonstop also has a Wiki all its own.

This dual pronged approach, that of the faculty turning to legal recourse (as they have standing), and of building a distinct entity going forward, hiring as many displaced Antioch College people as possible is precisely what I advocated back in June ‘07.

Unfortunately, to get through to the point at which these two are well underway, we’ve first had to endure a long hard year of people learning the very unpleasant lay of the land. Murdock and the University have robbed us of our College, our name, the jobs of Faculty and Staff, they’ve union busted, strangled off tenure, forced others into early retirement, put far too many people through an emotional roller coaster of raised and then dashed hopes, screwed their own Antioch College students, and ultimately, been as destructive as possible.

One can only hope that other campuses of Antioch University are paying attention.

The University may have made off with our history, our name, and our reputation, but trust me, after this, they will never have the ‘hearts and minds’ of those they fucked over so thoroughly.

When speaking of the nonstop effort over this past year’s reunion (to end by once more quoting Treichler’s “Report from Ground Zero”):

Longtime Antioch faculty member Hassan Rachmanian captured the spirit of the effort when he told the Kelly Hall audience that the university administration “may have taken the college’s body but we have its soul.

They murdered our college, Mann

stormcoming — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:21:25 +0000

(A picture of “Hassle Castle.”)

By way of my title, I am referring of course to Antioch College, and Horace Mann, the abolitionist, visionary educator, and social reformer; Antioch’s first President.

Mann was a champion of public education. He believed that in a democratic society, education should be tuition free and universal, nonsectarian, democratic in method, accessible to both men and womyn. He argued that all citizens, regardless of race of economic status must have equal access to a quality education provided for by a tax-supported public school system, only then did he believe could true democracy be achieved. He viewed such as a crucial tool to ‘break down the troubling hierarchy of class in American society’.

(Lest you go thinking the man was some kind of ‘pure saint’ think again, his Temperance and anti-tobacco moralizing sermons alone should give present day Antiochians more than merely a pause.)

Mann was perhaps most known for his simple challenge presented to Antioch College students in the conclusion to his final commencement address at Antioch College not long before his death:

“I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

Yesterday, June 30th was the date slated by Antioch University Chancellor Toni Murdock and the Antioch University Board of Trustees to turn Antioch College off. It is no understatement to say that losing Antioch College can only be counted as a loss for humanity.

Horace Mann’s dream does not die with the murder of Antioch College, but with it, his greatest legacy falls silent, the campus shuttered. While Antioch College has long been in the clutches of those adamantly opposed to what he stood for, it was not until yesterday, when the last vestiges of life that still inhabited the College were finally crushed and efforts to save the existing Antioch College came to an end.

The College has been closed before, but never so viciously at the hands of those who actively wanted it dead.

Non-stop (Antioch), see below, is gearing up for next Autumn, but whatever comes next, it will be under an entirely different set of circumstances. Apparently everything from the ADA grandfathering of the College facilities, on through to institutional accreditation now changes. Whatever comes next, with or without the horribly abused and neglected campus, by its own University (mis)management, will face a very different climate in which to work.

Further, very crucial pieces of the college have been essentially looted, as the University, (originally spawned out of Antioch College now cannibalizing it), has made off with both our history, and our good name.

We Alumni only half jokingly point out how the University has trended towards an economy of ‘McEducation’, based more on the University of Phoenix model (highly pay for play) than anything Horace Mann ever envisioned. We have also watched (despite the best efforts of many) the likelihood of a salvaged Antioch College go down the drain with the ‘in bad faith’ pseudo negotiations designed to keep Alumni busy while the work continued to kill the College.

With our recognizable name, once synonymous with innovative educational methodologies, Community based governance, the Antioch co-operative education program, and a core commitment to social justice , now reduced to a marketable brand more closely associated with graduating those working within the various systems to reform not working for structural change, we are left with little more than the charred remains of what was once a noble institution.

(But that ‘in every crisis an opportunity’ Chinese wisdom? My .02 comes down to ‘we had the name “Antioch” due to the particular history of our institution. Rather than fighting like mad over something the University has intentionally devalued, maybe now is finally the right moment to actually evaluate it in the light of day. “Antioch” is not a linguistic piece of terminology that represents what the college had evolved into. It is a thoroughly corrupted linguistic accident of history that in modern times has not related to the modern Antioch College nor many of its students. So perhaps rather than clinging vainly to a brand the University has shat upon, AND will defend to their dying breath as their stolen legacy and name is really all they’ve got going for them, let it go. Walk away. Evolve into terminology that better represents the reality of who and what we are. )

We can only hope for a future with some reworked version of a Phoenix Arising in Yellow Springs, as opposed to yet another clone of the University of Phoenix dropped down into a reworked Yellow Springs with the Antioch brand name stamped on it. (And to think, currently, the nearest University of Phoenix to Yellow Springs is a full 24 miles away in Dayton.)

The students, alumni, (often previously tenured) faculty, and (union busted) staff of Antioch College, along with other ’stakeholders’ and last but not least the town of Yellow Springs, Ohio never wanted this fight. The battle came to us- in the form of the neocon, ‘Succubus from Seattle’, Chancellor Toni Murdock and the traitorous University Board of Trustees.

Chancellor Murdock’s fawning praise of batshit Thomas Friedman’s notions of destroying everything that got you where you are today, “The hallmark of a truly successful organization is the willingness to abandon what made it successful and start fresh” back in Feb 2006, certainly foreshadowed everything that came thereafter.

(Those looking into breadcrumbs along the trail may also want to look more deeply into some of the details provided in this Free Press article and this piece in the Blaze.)

Perhaps eventually, I will write about what my Antioch College education meant to me. I am not an Antioch graduate, but I do hold the distinction of being an Alum, having dropped out not once, but twice. My time spent at Antioch, both good and bad has had everything to do with the person I have grown to become.

There I continued my journey of learning about both the crucial importance of living in accord with one’s conscience, and a healthy cynicism of how power actually tends to play out in practice. Most of all, it reinforced my already strong tendency towards questioning, and trying to get to the ‘why’, along with understanding how systems are at play, not only what is readily seen, but what often lies beneath the surface.

The intentional murder of Antioch is entwined with my own biography in ways difficult to express on a day like this. How can I possibly find the words to describe what it meant to be part of non-violent civil disobedience trainings at Antioch in the lead up to 1991 ‘first gulf war’, talking with Steve Schwerner (who is a legend in his own right, but is also brother to Michael, ‘Mickey’, Schwerner, one of three murdered civil rights workers killed near Philadelphia, Mississippi back in ‘64. Here’s an older 2005 Yellow Springs News piece that embodied how Steve also, always understood that systems of power and powerlessness laid at the core of his brother’s murder.)

Something as simple yet profound as someone of my generation connecting with someone of his and learning from one another is larger than I can relate today. That was the kind of place Antioch College was, it had roots, and despite the ongoing contortions and gyrations, even back in my day, I came away with more than I can put words around, despite my time at Antioch being shorter than most students’.

The destruction of Antioch is both profound and ultimately just one of the drops in the deluge of what has been and continues to be done both to our country and throughout the world at this very moment. The murder of Antioch College is but one of MANY microcosms in the current macrocosm.

For all the flowery language and high ideals, though, the consequences of the loss of Antioch College are ultimately more personal and more immediate for those directly affected. Be it the administration’s crass union busting, or calling into question the very idea of tenure for all professors, not ‘merely’ Antioch’s, people are losing their jobs, their ability to continue to live in Yellow Springs, and thus the very unique character of Yellow Springs itself is being eroded. The loss of the college is going to have an immediate and dramatic effect on Yellow Springs itself. (A place that if you’ve never been, you can’t possibly understand.)

Individual students have been left to live out the current American paradigm of “you’re on your own” or ‘yoyo’. They have been forced to make hard choices about their own educational futures while simultaneously trying to fight to win that ‘victory for humanity’ by making every effort to keep Antioch College open.

(This banner sits upon the theater building, which I once spent a long hot day sweeping pigeon shit out of as part of the effort to bring the theater back to life.)

I’ll leave you with the tormented words of Jeanne Kay, an Antioch College student, anguishing over what it feels like when ‘that victory that needs winning for humanity’ (with apologies to old Horace) lands on your head, prior to your own graduation.

The most important battles sometimes come to you when it’s inconvenient, when you don’t think you can possibly handle it, and when you simply flat out don’t feel like it. Sux that. This final round in the epic battle for the soul of Antioch College came to us, a fight we never wanted.

The problem is it’s not only Antioch that we’re losing. The same ideology of hollowing out existing structures, mining them for assets, then selling off the chaff all to the corporation’s benefit and the individual people’s loss is fractal like, from the (important) speck that was Antioch College on up to American foreign policy globally.

Ultimately, though, Antioch was killed off because the very College itself, like so many of us who once haunted its halls, are counted among Hunter S. Thompson’s “doomed”:

“Let me ask you a question sir, what is this country doing for the doomed? There are two kinds of people in this country, the doomed and the screwheads.”

- Hunter S. Thompson, from “Where the Buffalo Roam.”

It was for us, and we were for it, and neither of the two could be counted among the screwheads.

Those populating Antioch University, on the other hand, they are another matter altogether.

R.I.P. Antioch College 1852-2008 *”Buy the ticket, take the ride. Mahalo.”

May the University choke on your bones.

***

In closing, I include a set of links where you can read the writings of people who are the genuine voices of what was Antioch College, and places where documentation about what is really going on can be found (unlike the propaganda spouted by ‘legitimate and authorized’ University spokesleeches.)

Non-stop (Antioch) is aiming to fire up this fall, with classes and professors who remain true to the authentic Antioch College 3 “c” ideals of Community, Classroom, and Co-op.

The Antioch Papers

The Blaze

Antiochians.org

Antiochians Community Wiki

The College Faculty

Listen Up Antioch

Antioch College Action Network

The Record

AntiRecord

Antiochiana

And more broadly, a few links from Yellow Springs itself;

The Yellow Springs News (lots of Antioch College related coverage here as well)

The Village homepage

And a typical promotional site or two (be sure to check out businesses, they’re going to need support from other sources now that the College has been killed off.)

Explore Yellow Springs

Yellow Springs.com

The Road; an Introduction of Sorts

stormcoming — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:42:16 +0000

(An older introduction, originally written over a year ago, Feb 14th ‘07 to be exact, for this page before changing it over to a blog format.)

***

This is how I learned that America, while beautiful, is in profound ways deeply broken.

Miles, lots of miles, overland; so naturally, an American byway I’ve traveled and paused to photograph is how my little personal webspace must begin.

While the next picture in the camera was the (then) untraveled terrain ahead, this particular photograph looks back, over the road just traveled; it’s an apt metaphor for how we got here. (Though no doubt this little gray space of mine will look forward quite often as well.)

Despite having spent the better part of the last decade writing and traveling around North America, (constantly in some relation to the net), I’ve never really bothered with my own personal webpage before now. I’ve never tried to corral my disparate notions or facets of my writings into one singular space, so if this comes out a bit disjointed (chronologically, topically, geographically, etc.) it’s purely due to the multitude of ways in which my own life is so deeply varied (and at times conflicted).

I’m not a website designer, nor brilliant writer, certainly not as structured writing goes, anyway. I was once accused of being the best ’stream of consciousness’ writer a certain friend of mine had ever read, but I’m not altogether certain that’s a useful thing in the real world.

No, when I write, it usually has more to do with the burning necessity of getting words and ideas out of me. If I’m lucky enough to find someone on the receiving end, getting those ideas beyond me, beyond a friend or two, out into the world; well, it never ceases to amaze me, in no small part because I’m aware of how I oftentimes approach things quite differently, due to the very nature of who I am and where I’ve been. I’m quite happily a demographic of one, (not unlike “Tigger”).

Mainly, though, I write because I’ve been (happily!) accused of making people think, and on a few rare occasions even change their minds about people or things, and in this day and age, in America, when it comes to politics, sex and religion, that’s a rare feat indeed.

But the road? Well, the road is the one constant. It is both how I became who I am, and how I came to understand what little inklings I have about what went wrong along the way.

Airplanes and trains are all very well and fine, at times romantic and convenient and all, they may take you there, but without spending time, lots of time in ‘flyover land’ I don’t think it’s possible to come to some of the conclusions I have.

So as a starting place, I am Sabina. Although these days, I often sign some of my political writings “Stormcoming”. I’ve worn many names, but these two are enough for the here and now.