Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Call for Papers: Universities and Corporatization

New Proposals
http://newproposals.blogspot.com/
http://www.newproposals.ca

Call for Papers for Volume 2, Issue 1.

The Editorial Collective invites submissions for Volume 2 of New Proposals.
We encourage the submission of papers that take a politically engaged
stance. We are interested in full length articles (3,000 to 5,000 words) as
well as shorter commentaries (up to 2,500 words).

Papers should be no more than 3,000 – 5,000 words. References and citations
are to be kept to the minimum required to advance your argument. Articles
can be based in original research, synthetic reviews, or theoretical
engagements. We look forward to -in fact expect- a diversity of
perspectives and approaches that, while they may disagree on the
particulars, they will share with the Editorial Collective a commitment to
an engaged scholarship that prioritizes social justice.

New Proposals is a transnational peer-reviewed journal hosted at The
University of British Columbia in collaboration with the UBC Library
Journal Project.

Call For Papers, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Fall 2008)

Universities and Corporatization

What is the role of the university and the meaning of education at the
beginning of the twenty first century? How are corporate money, influence
and ideology shaping the face of the university? How do crushing debt loads
constrain student choices and shape the kind of education they seek and
receive?

Over the past few decades, people in many countries have experienced a
steady corporatization of their universities. University administrations
are increasingly structured on a corporate model and academic success is
defined by profit. For this upcoming special issue of New Proposals, we are
interested in articles and commentaries that analyze this situation in
different countries and regions. We welcome contributions that ask the
following kinds of questions: How is the privatization of the university
expressed and experienced in diverse settings? How do ‘audit culture’
governance systems exacerbate bureaucracy and influence the allocation of
resources? Has the debate about this issue been framed differently in the
case of public versus private universities? To what extent have faculty,
staff, and student unions and organizations intervened? How have public
intellectuals responded to this issue in different countries in the past
and present? Have various countries and different systems of education been
more or less successful in resisting this corporate model?

For this special issue, we welcome shorter commentaries (up to 2,500 words)
as well as full length articles. In particular, we are interested in essays
that develop a comparative perspective.
________________________________________________________________________
New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/newproposals

What hath grade 8 English wrought?

My Dad

By C. R.

My dad is more gansta than your dad
He’s so gansta that his best friend is 50 Cent
and he wears his pants below his waist
He wears a do-rag that says “SUP FOO?”
He is soooo gansta that when he writes
he makes his S’s like this: $
My dad’s chain hangs lo’ and it wobbles
to tha flo
My dad is better than yoooouuu

CFP: Theory into Action

Theory in Action, the Journal of the Transformative Studies Institute is soliciting papers for our issue on “Theory, Social Justice, & Direct Action” Submissions are due December 31, 2007.

INAUGURAL VOLUME ON THEORY, SOCIAL JUSTICE, & DIRECT ACTION

While there have been many theoretical analyses of such aspects of social justice as stratification and inequality, and civil rights, there is a need for more research that connects activism with theory. We believe that theory without action and action without theoretical grounding are inherently flawed. To change the world, activists and scholars need to collaborate in order to inform one other’s work. To this end, we especially seek papers in which theoretical analysis fosters societal change or in which practical experience guides theoretical research.

Theory in Action invites U.S. and international submissions of well-researched and thought-provoking papers from various disciplines, including sociology, political science, psychology, art, philosophy, history, and literature. We welcome works by activists, independent scholars, graduate students, and faculty. We accept both theoretical and empirical papers by scholar-activists. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

* Novel Means of Resistance
* Direct Political Action
* Environment, Space, Social Justice, & Direct Action
* Direct Action for Social Justice
* Labor / Civil Rights & Direct Action
* Globalization
* Sex & Gender
* Activism, Academia, & Scholarship
* Activism & Resistance through the Arts
* The Media & its Relationship to Societal Justice and Change
* Non-violence vs. Active Self Defense and its Effectiveness
* Historical Analysis
* The Psychology of Transformative Learning & its Relationship to Action

Theory in Action is an international peer reviewed journal.

Submissions are due December 31, 2007.
Guidelines for submission are online at: http://transformativestudies.org.htm
Submissions should be sent using our on-line form found in the ‘submissions’ menu.

The Principles of Maira Kalman

kalman1_6.jpgMaira Kalman is one of my favorite illustrators and author/illustrator of some of the best kid’s books ever. I think the first Kalman book I bought, not for my kids, but for me was Stay Up Late (an illustrated version of David Bryne’s song, from Talking Heads’ album Little Creatures.

Kalman’s own kids books are hilarious, absurd stories of relationships among people (and animals)—Ooh La La (Max In Love); Hey Willie, See the Pyramids; Sayonara Mrs. Kackleman and others.

And she recently illustrated Strunk and Whites’ Elements of Style.

She also wrote and illustrated a column for The New York Times last year, which inspired a book (Principles of Uncertainty) and a short opera. Here’s a NYT video story where Kalman discusses The Principles of Uncertainty, her illustrated column turned book turned opera, at the New York Public Library.

Stuff I’m seeing on my runs around town

P1010528.JPG

After a 20 year hiatus I started running again in January 2006. Since that time I’ve run a number of 10K races and a couple of half-marathons. In that time I’ve also “run across” some interesting interesting people, places, and sights… including a completely naked woman crossing the street at Columbia and Cordova Streets, a couple of hundred naked bike riders at Kitsilano Beach and some cool graffiti and posters. I’ve got pictures of the latter (but no photos of the people without clothes…).

One of my favorite runs takes me from the east Vancouver, though the rough and tumble Downtown Eastside, upscale Coal Harbour, Stanley Park then along the seawall back to the Main Street/Chinatown area.

Above is a photo of Shepard Fairy’s “Obey Giant” campaign, which have been cropping up around GM Place, home of the Vancouver Canucks, near Chinatown (at Abbott and Expo Blvd).

For more photos of stuff I’m seeing around town (including anti-Olympic graffiti) check out my flickr photos.

Well, it is August

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

The Onion

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

BOSTON—Moments after the New York Yankees continued a month-long stretch that has seen them climb from the bottom of the AL East to pull within a once unfathomable four games of the first-place Red Sox by defeating the Baltimore Orioles…

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