Hey Dude.
(dallas)

Wow, so I'm part of the Union Stewards at the University. Meaning that I represent Sociology, those that have jobs, ie, Ta's, so I've been mucking about in Union affairs all year.

In Actual Union world, not much happens, untill now, the renegotiation of the contract. You know the drill, the employer wants to low ball the union and offer as little of an increase as possible.

So, we had a good ol fashioned Union meetin' today, woody Guthrie even played, okay he didn't, but the jist is, there are over 300 employees and we needed at least 100 to show up to make quorum, meaning that with quorum and a positive vote to strike, our bargaining committee would have some leverage in being able to say that the Union would strike if the conditions as set out by the Union were not met.

Sadly, though we had 80 people, we did not have 100 people. Meaning, no quorum, no vote, but the room did become quite heated, almost like I was reminded what it felt like to be alive, part of a teeming and seething body of impassioned individuals.

The feeling of being pissed off coursed through my veins, it reminded me of the days of high school, when i was certainly pissed off on a daily basis, and had a soundtrack to back it up.

The meeting is planning to meet again on monday, the goal there, will be for the mass that showed up already to come again and to BRING FRIENDS, or drag bodies, do whatever you can to get there and VOTE.

On my way home I sang the words to a good riddance song, Understood from the record, Ballads from the revolution, "Do you remember when 500 stood as one, and reached for the sky!"

"In my heart I still believe we can make a difference somehow!"

These words, those sounds, this anger, this furry - good riddance, and music gave me a way to channel my anger, to direct all my anger and fear, my insecurities, into music and the possibility of change.

Now as a graduate student, it is a constant effort no longer to simply keep from exploding as a teen but rather to evade APATHY, JADEDNESS, BANALITY... that which fills the lives and hearts of a great majority of modern subjects. The drudge of everyday life has a way of taking it's toll on anyone who works, spends time doing jobs for and under and at the service of others.

My recommendation - GET OUT and VOTE. Be a part.

We can talk about NIHILISM another time. Today is for HEART and SPIRIT and IDEALISM and RAISING YOUR FUCKING FIST IN THE AIR.

THANK YOU PUNK ROCK FOR MAKING ME WHO I AM TODAY.

a

You know that horrible feeling of typing up, linking and texturizing a raft of writing, images, music and texts of all sorts and then bamm - unexpectedly your internet connection is reset, well it is a near common experience if you subscribe to the internet via TBAY TEL - thats right, Thunder bay still has it's own phone company, good on them, and as is with city specific coverage, they have a monopoly. So needless to say, I lost my fantastic post and was a tad upset. So this is the reflexive of that which may have been. Me with a Calgary Flames Sticker from the dentist. Thanks Eli for posting like a ninja, a real inspiration.
A

Hello to Sociology 2911 Social Research Traditions: You fortunate bunch you. As for me, this is my second assignment as a Teaching Assistant – meaning that, this is all pretty new to me. In regards to the material that will be covered in class, I aim to be as helpful as possible. I will be holding office hours in Bartley Res – Room 209 on Tuesdays from 9am till 11am. If by some chance you want to see me and these hours don’t work for you, send me an email alozowy@lakeheadu.ca and we can hopefully arrange a time that works for the both of us.

As a graduate student I can attest to the fact that Research Methods courses, like this one, may seem highly trivial, boring and mundane, but they prove to be worth their weight in gold in later years. As a graduate student I am expected to understand and employ research methods of my own choice – within the context of writing a final piece of work. Essentially, by understanding research methods you are now afforded a vehicle by which you may proceed in your own work.

Research methods courses are also fundamentally important, in that they help to outline epistemological arguments that become the framework of how you may, in your own frame of reference, contextualize any situation.

Enough about that: I wish you all well, and may you find the resources you need to complete the course to the standard you expect.


And now for our regularly scheduled newscast.

Late in the year of 2006 – there seemed to be s surplus of work and not enough labor resources such as time and energy to complete all the tasks at hand – thus some tasks that were able to wield their powers of guilt as heavier than others, managed to demand more of the labor-forces energy. I am speaking of course, of myself, at the end of last semester, feeling squashed by a myriad of projects that needed completion. In the end, all that was necessary was completed to a fairly decent standard – I seemed to do well in all the classes and I had managed to finish off my first round of mass marking – special thanks to my father and Amy for helping me with some of the banality of True and False marking.

The opportunity to go Back to Edmonton for a visit over the holidays seemed like a fantastic idea when I booked the ticket some time last September. I wanted to book early as to ensure a decent price on airfare - $450/ not bad, I guess, there really is no competitive market in the realm of air travel when one wants to fly from Thunder Bay to Edmonton. $400 is pretty much the baseline, and if you don’t want to fly through Toronto – then you are at the mercy of Air Canada Jazz (not really sure what the Jazz stands for? Maybe it means that there is jazz music, or that the service is jazzy, I guess I’m not really sure why they chose to call it jazz, but heck, why not?)

There were a few times while I was away that I had hoped to sneak some time into writing a blog post, but alas the time never seemed to be there, I never took it.

This New Year – as is my custom and practice aligned with a certain school of yogic teachings, Kundalini, I tend to meditate on a word that seems to emblemize the coming year, last year the word was ‘letting go.’ Meaning that for me to grow, there was a certain measure of letting go that needed to happen, so I let go of my band (to a certain extent) I let go my home town, I let go my school, I let go my home (hmm, all these things that seemingly, or illusionary help us to identify with our own identity and beingness. Thus when I arrived in Thunder Bay in the fall I was faced with a heavy sensation of invalidation, meaning I was like a drowning man in the middle of the ocean, plucked from my roots, not knowing how to plant my feet. Although after a certain period of time I found that I wasn’t the only thing floating out in the middle of the ocean, I did find other floating wreckage and debris who helped me to feel human once again, helped me to identify with other beings and help me to do things that cause joyous experience – like rock climbing. That reminds me I should email my rock climbing crew.

This year, after coming back to my Hatha practice in Thunder Bay at the Body Mind Center, during my first Sivasana (corpse pose) I found that my word for this new and coming, happening, year is change. Although the process of letting go invokes much change in its own process – change this year must mean a heavier focus on change, and shift and cycle ( I am now 25, half way through my 4th 7 year cycle).

I’m excited to be back, there is always a buzz and a flow that is evident at the new year, as the calendar is wiped clean and ideas that seemed haphazard at the end of last year, seem fresh, vital and new this year.

I’m still shooting – images that is, collecting work for my project on seasonality. And I am also researching the sociology of photography to help me with the thesis. Plus I am looking at continuing the work on trash Afghans with Gary Genosko – so if anyone has a contact in the sanitation world, like garbage disposal folks or whoever that would be most helpful. As well – while in Edmonton I managed to record one short and quick song with my minister of covert operations, Mr. Nathan S. which can be found at

www.myspace.com/furypanicfightfireragedesire


As well check out http://www.yolksoc.blogspot.com/

Which is another forum for expression and musings, that blog is a collective Blog of musings and thoughts fueled mostly by folks at the University of Alberta.

Untill we meet again.

A