What is neoliberalism? It is the extension of market dominance to all spheres of social life, fostered and enforced by the state. In economic policy, this means deregulation, privatization, and financialization. In culture, it means untrammeled marketing and the commoditization of everyday life, including the intimate sphere. In law, it means consumer sovereignty and a restrictive conception of the public interest. In education, it means the replacement of public by private (i.e., business) support for schools, universities, and research, with a corresponding shift of influence over hiring, curriculum and research. In civil society, it means private control over the media and private funding of political parties, with the resulting control of both by business and the ultra-rich. The upshot of this political-economic regime is prosperity for Wall Street, Big Tech, and a few other favored industries. For intellectuals - at least those who have not sold themselves to business or the state, which is actually a pretty good definition of public intellectuals - it means austerity, a squeezing of the creative economy, which is a gift economy, the antithesis of a market economy. For everyone, it means a narrowing of horizons. –George Scialabba
It grinds up your bones And drinks the living marrow Your life means less Than the fall of a sparrow
It puts a toll booth on your heart Sucks the life out of culture It worships only war And prays to the Vulture
It turns love into commerce And siphons every nickel It drinks from the firehose And offers you a trickle
Financialize and privatize And profit from inflation Jeopardize and terrorize To drain a bleeding nation
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets. –W. H. Auden, Epitaph on a Tyrant
Pain Face Narcissist Enemies I Got a List
Admire Me Fantasy Total Lack Of Empathy
Shame & Entitlement Fragility & Discontent
Hate & Envy Exploitation Constant Need For Validation
In the name of the Bee— And of the Butterfly— And of the Breeze—Amen! –Emily Dickinson
Big ugly buildings don’t do much for me Walking in the woods is my favorite show The bee and the butterfly and the breeze
Dogs and leopards and bobolinks agree Give me a mountaintop slathered in snow Big ugly buildings don’t do much for me
No more bosses and timeclocks to appease No one monitors when I come and go The bee and the butterfly and the breeze
Hugging a rainbow – talking to a tree Sipping on the sunshine – living real slow Big ugly buildings don’t do much for me
Overcome by joy – overwhelmed with ease Sing with the flowers – listen to them grow ` The bee and the butterfly and the breeze
Daydream and become everything you see Take a deep breath – your body feels the flow Big ugly buildings don’t do much for me I’ll take the bee and the butterfly and the breeze
We played in the dirt And you wiggled off my shirt You were amusing for a while With your agonizing smile
Now it's back to your wife Your respectable life You can think of what we did When you're playing with your kids
My petunias are none of your business I don't care if you think they're looking nice My petunias are none of your business I won't make the same mistake twice
You’re a weasel and a whiner And a coward and a fool You sit on the council With the men who make the rules
It's a talky little town And the stories always flow I’m not really bothered By what they think they know
My petunias are none of your business Another man's gain will be your loss My petunias are none of your business Forget about my pumpkins and my squash
Laughter hope sock in the eye's Blog 