Category: Coop

Black Women Writers at Work: Review of an older but very persistently worthwhile book

I am so glad I happened to see this book Black Women Writers at WorkBlack Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate
at the public library.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was moved with both recognition, and with fear, at Audre Lorde’s comment that “it’s scary because we’ve been through that before. It was called the fifties.” Then I was moved with that stirring to act, upon reading in print what I have known and been told in different words since Dunbar (High School): “My responsibility is to speak the truth… with as much precision and beauty as possible. … We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t.”
And we must not remain silent while the blood of our sisters/brothers/neighbors/communities/fellow human beings is shed.

Sherley Anne Williams reiterates this responsibility of a writer to write as well as one can and to “say as much of the truth as I can see at any given time.”

Although this book is dated, and does not include my favorite author (Octavia Butler), I am so glad that I read this book in spite of my initial misgivings. From Bambara’s hope that “We care too much … to negotiate a bogus peace,” to DeVeaux’s “responsibility to see,” I find my own compulsion to write validated by the responsibility of a writer to render individual expression into a universal expression, and to give voice to the voiceless/unseen/erased. To show the unspoken and to “empathize with the general human condition.”

Society needs all perspectives because without those perspectives, we are missing vast parts of what our society actually looks like, which leads to deep problems. Writing, as was pointed out, must transcend individual experience, but it also comes from and is filtered through individual experience, so we desperately, as leaders from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to Octavia Butler have pointed out, need every point of view.

Last note (not in my GR review): I think that this book has helped me to see that my intended audience has two possibly conflicting sections –
I. those who have endured traumas in early childhood or also in adulthood, particularly due to structural racism, and
II: those who can change that situation.

View all my reviews

Let’s #EndPoverty , #EndHomelessness ,& #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four parts of our good #PublicDomainInfrastructure 4: (
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport )
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !


#PublicDomainInfrastructure
ShiraDest

April, 12019 HE

Review of Riding the A-Train With Einstein

Riding the A-Train With Einstein: Notes of a Heretic JanitorRiding the A-Train With Einstein: Notes of a Heretic Janitor by John H. Sibley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First, let me say that this book is not, and should not be, an easy read. But it is a crucial read, in my opinion. Other reviewers have taken pains to point out that the title seemed a bit confusing, to them. I did not find it confusing, probably due to the fact that my father was called “The Professor” by his cultural cohort: fellow Black men of the Vietnam generation. So, I felt right at home with the idea of homelessness, which pervades this important work, when I started the book. I think that my Dad and the author would have gotten along very well, and I wish my father were alive now to meet him.

While the book itself was important, if a bit earthy, I personally found the interview and list of references most interesting, after the book itself. That is likely in part due to the many similar gut-wrenching memories triggered for me while reading the experiences of a man similar in many ways to my own father, a light-skinned Black man in DC, experiencing alarmingly similar events in roughly the same historical period.

The author is clearly well-read and working to raise points that are not only ignored but also feared by our system. The facts the author presents relating the slave trade and 1860’s market prices to current structural components of our American capitalist system are both taboo and inconvenient for those who benefit from our current economic arrangement. These are highly important things for all of us to look at squarely in the face, and to begin to shovel our own shit, as so much of the book does in metaphoric and literal terms.

Let’s #EndHomelessness, #EndPoverty, & #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four parts of our Public Domain Social Infrastructure:
#PublicDomainInfrastructure 4: (
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport )
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !

This post also discusses some of the background issues I experienced while reading the book and writing the review.


#PublicDomainInfrastructure
ShiraDest

March, 12019 HE

View all my reviews

Teaching UUs in CA

This JuneChurchCampClassesTaughtPlans is my lesson plan from the All-Church camp held in June, 1-3rd, up in the mountain camp called DeBenneville Pines, north of San Diego, CA.  I wanted to teach Greek Folk Dance, and I also responded to a request for someone to teach on Family History, thus also fulfulling my duty via WikiTree to connect others to our Human Family Tree.

Shira

Paran yok mu? Tutsağı olabilir… No money for Medical Bills? You could be jailed…

Click here for English…

“ -Ne olacak şimdi peki? ”

Nazlı, Yunanistan’a uygun visa’le olmadan için tutsağı oldu, ama aynı şey bir ABD vatandaşı başına gelebilir…

“ -Well, now what’s going to happen? ”

Nazlı is behind bars for arriving in Greece without the proper paperwork, but the same thing can happen to a US citizen in many states for also not having the proper paperwork: debt caused by lack of healthcare, for instance. In both cases, putting a person who has not been convicted of a crime behind bars can result from simply not having enough money to pay medical bills, leading to a worsening spiral of debt which affects us all. The simplest solutions would be to halt the practice of Body Attachment, in the short-term, and enact a Single Payer System of Universal Healthcare in the longer term. The first requires action on a state-by-state basis, at least at the moment. Both short-term and long-term approaches are needed, immediately.
–

Read, Write, Dream, Walk !


#PublicDomainInfrastructure
ShiraDest

20 April, 12018 HE

WE can do MORE… Nosotras podemos hacer màs…

Click here for English…

“¿Una mujer con un alto cargo? ”

                                                                                                               EMdT

 

No es una cooperativa de trabajo, pero casi se parece. Empresarias trabajando juntas, ayudando y convirtiendose en amigas. Project Concern International (PCI) patroniza la tienda de WE: Mujeres Empoderadas, que es un espacio para mujeres aprendiendo trabajar en equipo para que los negocios de todas tengan exito. Se juntan cada semana para discutir y resolver asuntos en la tienda. Cada mujer tiene su propia empresa, y ha pasado el curso de entranamiento de ahorros y como encabezar un negocio. La tienda es un incubador de negocios, con apoyo de SCORE y grupos de ahorros del Self-Help Federal Credit Union. Pero el trabajo diario està hecho por esas emprendedoras, ayudando a las demàs para tener exito juntas.

“Women Empowered can do Multicultural Opportunities Reaching Excellence.”

“A woman with a high position?”

PCI sponsors the WE Boutique, a business incubator where women learn to work together to help each other build their businesses. Visit them and learn more!

Let’s #EndPoverty & #EndMoneyBail by improving these four parts of our good #PublicDomainInfrastructure 4: (1. #libraries, 2. #ProBono legal aid and Education, 3. #UniversalHealthCare , and 4. good #publictransport )
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting for ALL!!!!, Walk !


#PublicDomainInfrastructure
ShiraDest

March, 12019 HE

Quand t’es amené au cour pour rien avoir fait… When you are brought to court for no crime…

Click here for English…

“-Architecte Numérobis !
…
-Oh !
C’est pas la peine de me pousser !”

… ça s’appelle (aux états unis) un “Body Attachment” -ce qui permet de t’envoyer au tribunal sans avoir commis un délit. Et le problème avec ça c’est que il y à plein des procès contre le démunies mais pas contre les riches. Souvent, les jugements par défaut sont obtenus sur les dettes qui sont bien au-delà de leurs statuts de limitations, mais les accusés ne pouvaient pas se défendre par un manque de savoir ou un manque de capacité à se défendre, et donc perdu soit par défaut, malgré la poursuite étant techniquement illégal. En suite ça mène à encore plus des soucies d’argent et même en prison, sûr tout quand on à des diversions pour ce qui peuvent payer, mais des procès et aux prison pour ce qui n’ont pas les moyens de payer pour éviter les procès. Après ça, le système de justice criminel a son propre montage des dettes, encore pire.

Des solutions possibles: Qu’on fait pas amené au tribunal pour des dettes, qu’après un temps limite, il n’y aura pas des procès pour des dettes, et sûr tout pas de paiements pour éviter les procès légaux. Et comment se fait-t-on pour éviter tous ces maux ? On incite les gouvernements de donner un Revenu de Base a tout le monde, augmenté par des Monnaies Locales. Et ça, c’est fait par la coopération humain. Même la Reine ne le peut pas nier.


“-Architecte Numérobis !
…
-Hey!
You don’t need to push me!”

… that is called (in the United States) a “Body Attachment” -which lets you be taken into custody without having committed a crime. The problem with that is that there is a greatly disproportionate rate of civil justice system debt collection litigation against the poor, rather than against wealthier debtors. Often default judgments are obtained on debts which are well past their Statutes of Limitations, but defendants were unable, due to lack of knowledge or lack of ability (illness, fear, no time off from work, lack of transportation, etc…) to defend, and thus lost by default, despite the lawsuit being technically illegal to begin with. This can lead to further financial problems, and even to jail time for those who end up in the Criminal Justice system. Particularly unjust is Pre-Trial Diversion, also known as Pre-Trial Intervention. Those who can afford to pay for Pre-Trial Diversions get all charges dropped, while those who cannot afford to pay go to trial and even to prison. To make matters worse, the criminal justice system has its own structure of debts on top of civil debts.

Some possible solutions to this arbitrary abuse of our justice system are: abolishing “Body Attachment” in the case of civil debt judgments, prohibiting lawsuit filings on time-barred debts, and above all, eliminating payment for Pre-Trial Diversion/Intervention. But how can we potentially prevent all of these problems at their source? We could encourage governments to provide a universal Basic Income, even if only in a Local Currency, potentially backed by partial acceptance for payment of local taxes, as many municipalities have done. This provides a floor on poverty, a floor on desperation, and a chance at avoiding the civil debts that often presage criminal justice system involvement, in our uneven set of systems. Even the Queen could not deny that.

Read, Write, Dream, Walk !

ShiraDest

February 20th, 12018 HE

Las Monedas Sociales y las Cooperativas; Community Currencies and Cooperatives

Click here for English…

“¿Ahora somos soberanos o rendimos pleitesía?

Sí, al Banco Central Europeo.”

Este es un comienzo para mi nueva forma de escribir, lo que voy a seguir mostrando como la Politiqua Publica y los Artes van juntos para el bien de todos, sobre todo cuando apoyado por las Monedas Sociales para empezar cooperativas de trabajadores (como han hecho en Ithaca, en el estado de Nueva York).  Pero estoy pensando en la razones de mi apoyo por las monedas sociales, despues de diez años trabajando en el tema.

En lo que toca a la transparencia, la responsibilidad y la participaciôn en la toma de decisiones sobre la emisiôn del dinero, las monedas sociales ganan el concurso.  Pero, también se puede emitir el dinero de manera mas democratica, y eso pondra fin a esos problemas.  Sobre todo si emitîamos màs dinero en lugares donde se hace falta, las ciudades, por ejemplo.  Una politica de dar el dinero sin costo alguno a las pequeñas emprezas darà recursos para las communidades locales sin necesidad de emitir una moneda local.  Pero, acaso una moneda local la hace mas facil tener una Renta Basica Universal?  Por que me parece, dado lo que ya hemos dicho en respeto a las cooperativas, que el dinero nacional es igual o mejor que la moneda social. Sin embargo, viendo de nuevo mis ensayos de los discursos que he dado, me acuerdo del bien que hace Las Monedas Sociales para la gente en agregando al dinero national, asi que por favor, siguen emitiendo las Monedas Sociales!!

“Are we rulers or do we pay tribute now?

Yes, to the European Central Bank”

This is a template for my new format of posting, which will continue to show how Public Policy and the Arts work together for our common good, particularly when encouraged via complimentary local currencies used to incubate local workers cooperatives (as in Ithaca, NY).  But I am considering my reasons for having supported Local Currencies for the past ten years.

For transparency, accountability and participation in the decisions around issuing money, local currencies win, hands-down.  But, money can be issued more democratically, and that would end those particular problems.  Especially if we issued more money into areas where it was most needed, like inner cities.  A policy of grants for small businesses would provide resources for local communities without needing to issue a local currency.  But would a local currency make it easier to have a Universal Basic Income?  Apparently, with respect to cooperatives, national currencies are as good as or better than Local Currencies, given the above criteria are met. But, looking back at both of my talk hand-outs below, I remember the good for local people that local currencies can do as a complement to national money, and so please, continue issuing those Local Complementary Currencies!!

Read, Write, Dream, Walk !
ShiraDest

February 8th, 12018 HE

Historia de la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos

Tying in with Worker’s Cooperatives, via the Pact of Economic Rights:    I didn’t know that the Pact of International Rights is composed of the Declaration and the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights & of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, based on the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and the Founding Documents of the USA and the French 1st Republic.  Local Co-ops are facilitated by Local Currencies, particularly (as Georgina Mercedes Gomez found in her studies) when partial tax payments are accepted in local/community issued currencies: UNMaltEconTalkWhomeSpun  DCBM20AugustReehClass

Humanity’s Last Gasp? Let’s make it a good one for ALL of us: Local Currencies can help!

If Stephen Hawking is right, and this is Humanity’s last century, then let us “make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance. ”

Let us feed, clothe, care for and help release the creative potential of every human being on this earth until such time as we are no more. When others look back on this time, they can say of us, either that we died foolishly, mired in our own inhumanity, or that we died well, making the best life that could be had for each and every one of our fellow human beings.

We have the means easily at hand to allow a Basic Income as called for by Dr. King, Participatory Budgeting, Universal Health Care and Local Currencies, starting with multiple Time Banks and scrip currencies at every level.

Every person should have the help needed to write his or her own story, unlike in Orwell’s 1984 where writing was banned, and the Star Wars films, where writing is neglected, to the delight of a dictator who has that many fewer journalists/poets/novelists to round up and shoot or make disappear.

All we lack is the will.

In Service to Humanity,

Read, Write, Dream, Walk !
ShiraDest

October 24th, 12017 HE

(caption: Image from Walter Swan and his ‘One Book Bookstore’ in Bisbee, AZ -fr. Wikimedia Commons)