Frames of Mind » politics

Podcast 18 – Jason Huvaere – Part 2

a10 — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:53:46 +0000

In my dealings with Jason Huvaere I have been very impressed with his matter-of-factness and professionalism. This series of interviews conveys this. It is this professionalism combined with a sense of responsibility and urgency that brought Paxahau into the Movement Festival. I was very interested how he would respond to a question about the misconceptions of Detroit. His response made me proud and shows a glimmer of the Detroit soul one gets or sees only after having been here a very long time. I love the phrase “a state of mind that everyone here has a responsibility to keep working towards.”

High Resolution Media – Podcast 18 – Jason Huvaere – Part 2

Zeitgeist

a10 — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:38:38 +0000

If you know, you know. If you don’t, you need to.

Scholars and activists, personally through Detroit City of Hope, have made me aware that what is transpiring right now in the world is more than a recession or something contrived like globalization. It is a transition and an evolution. As a species we are asking ourselves the simple question what it means to be human. Think about your 7th grade socials studies class when you learned about hunting and gathering, agriculture, and then industrialization. Right now we are in the transition into something new, something unknown. Right now we may call it “post” industrialization but intuition manifests that it may be something else. Detroit is a focal point of this “something else”. Detroit is offering alternatives.

The Zeitgeist Movement leads us up to this point. Right now it is two documentary movies. Some alternatives are offered for humanity’s future, especially The Venus Project, but the crux of the Zeitgeist Movement is to exmaine how the powers that be (whether subconsciously or intentionally) have controlled and corrupted our human evolution. Quite literally on the surface it looks to be money and power but it goes deeper than that…it is the control of how people relate to the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Make a point to look up at the sky.

Podcast 16 – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 4

a10 — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:42:07 +0000

It is my commitment to reflect on the past year in an upcoming post. Things have changed and I owe a lot of it to the work and foundations Grace Lee Boggs has built. This final episode of the interview I did with her in November of 08 reflects on the city of Detroit’s recent history and future.

It is quite common for those of us here (and the world that seems to come here and study us) to say Detroit is the model for deindustrialization, that we are in essence a blueprint for the new economy. The economic pain in the past few years felt by the country and world is something the city of Detroit has been feeling for over twenty years. There is an ounce of truth in this but Grace Lee Boggs takes it further. She breaks it down as she always does but she offers real alternatives and sees things in how it relates to history.

We can’t thank you enough Grace.

High Resolution Media – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 4

Welcome new people

a10 — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:54:06 +0000

Day 1 of Dream Cruise Tactic.
Aware of the gas guzzlin spectacle it represents and the era along with it.
Aware of the chaps sitting next to me, laid off engineers, talking bout buy american and using the word “foreign” every other word, hustling a t-shirt.
(air fresheners are made in colorado fyi)
Aware of the use of chemicals in fragrance and the necessity for organics.
Shamans are onto me.

Success so far. Success to be in sun and see the black and white zodiac against the bright blue.
Success to be out on the street seeing the people and feeling the pulse. Activism is in the air.

We’ll all be there writing about it. New people checking this out- Welcome.

It’s about the word, a little bit of image and video and the mantra “Remember to dance for joy”.

Good Medicine

a10 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:03:37 +0000

All this debate about healthcare. Grace and attitudes and facts need be checked. I admit I must read up.

The awareness of Acupuncture.

The green wooded neighborhoods of Northwest Detroit. The oracle. A good doctor senses and makes you whole, not just fix some specific part.

While on the table I feel science fiction and the future but something so organic and ancient that goes back 1000s of years. The compassion flows with chi.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thunderchild5/ / CC BY 2.0

A Google Paper

a10 — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:25:00 +0000

Google is the utility company of our day. I wrote a paper on it that many have asked to read. Here it is, from fall 2008.

google_timothyaten_670

Economic Statement

a10 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:54:15 +0000

I am a child of Reagan and Bush I.
My first course in economics was walking the cow pasture and cornfields alongside my grandfather on his farm in Darke County, Ohio. My grandfather was a child of Wilson and Harding who plowed the fields with his bare hands during a Depression and lost a brother in the Pacific. He was stoic with large leather beaten hands and his voice carried the gift of gab. The economic lesson was short, to the point, followed by a silent stare of befuddlement. My grandfather pointed to a large patch of land that was a thicket of weeds and shrubs, a remanent of tilled soil years before, that had been left to the elements and nature for it to take over. It was nestled between the cow pasture and the cornfield with geometrically perfect lines of planted seeds. “See that land over there that is just gone to waste, all over grown with weeds?” I nodded. “That’s the land I make the most money off of. The government pays me not to plant there.” I was confused when he began to tell me about how it drives up the prices for American farmers on the International market. It was over my 8 year old head. All I could understand was his befuddlement and frustration. It was in his hands to plant things, to fix things, to contribute.

Akin- the warrior is back

a10 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:03:04 +0000

Akin, the warrior is back. This gentleman has been making the rounds on the Detroit Poetic Circuit. He’s also been dabbling with accompanying his Nigerian/American words with collected video and photography from the web. He will be posting his first video “Akaraolu” in the next day. Stay tuned there is more already loaded.

Stratfor

a10 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:54:46 +0000

One of the sites I use ZapReader for is Stratfor- Geopolitical Intelligence. According to their website:

Stratfor provides published intelligence and customized intelligence service for private individuals, global corporations, and divisions of the US and foreign governments around the world. Stratfor intelligence professionals routinely appear at conferences and as subject-matter experts in mainstream media.

They offer a free email of a sampling of their report which I signed up for. What is striking to me is the indepthness of the report. It shows how we are so misinformed, perhaps not even intentionally, as we absorb so much on websites, tv, and radio. There is so much information out there and we’ve been trained to go to one soundbite to the next.

In the first email that was sent to me it described the current conflict in Gaza:

The reaction from the Arab world has been mixed. On the one hand, a look at the so-called Arab street will reveal an angry scene of chanting protesters, burning flags and embassy attacks in protest of Israel’s actions. The principal Arab regimes, however, have either kept quiet or publicly condemned Hamas for the crisis — while privately often expressing their support for Israel’s bid to weaken the radical Palestinian group.

This lengthy article talks about the undercurrents of what is going on this conflict from a global perspective. It goes beyond Israel and Hamas, it is tied in with Egypt, Syria, and Saudia Arabia. They connect the dots. Read up.

Podcast 14 – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 3

a10 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:11:33 +0000

I am fortunate and hopeful about the future of our planet and the city of Detroit. It is mindblowing to me I can think that, let alone say it and write it on a blog. Lots of change, or “the transition”, is going on in the world which is rekindling something in many of us. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down with Grace Lee Boggs and share some of her wisdom. The interviews have been insightful and eye-opening, but in the course of doing this my orbit has begun to spin a little with those involved with the Boggs Center. I will post more about these encounters. They have shown me a network of resilient, wise, and astute individuals struggling to transform Detroit into something special which the world has never seen. A glimmer of it can be heard in Grace Lee Boggs’ words, it has a lot to do with humanity and self sufficiency.

In this third part Grace Lee Boggs talks about the misconceptions of Detroit, the future of the automobile industry, and projects she has been working on, namely Detroit City of Hope.

High Resolution Media – Grace Lee Boggs – Part 3