Occupy Your Mind

After seeing the link at the bottom and the pictures there, I was reminded of a good friend who allowed me to experience Haiti, and I wanted to let him know I was still thinking of him, Haiti and the lessons I learned there.  I wanted to share that link on his wall.  So, as I was doing the above, this evolved and this is what I posted on his wall, and I realized, this is what I've been trying to say.

OCCUPY YOUR MIND

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Short Story: The Boy's Coin

Editor's Note: This is the 100th post of this blog.  I dedicate it to those of my friends and family who read this.  This is a fictional story I wrote last week.  To see other pieces of writing you can click the label "writing" and the other posts will show.  Enjoy and comment with feedback, suggestions, send me edited copies, etc. whatever you feel like. :D -Jared  Second Note:  Apparently this was the 100th draft, but not published post, instead it was the 93rd.  Shucks. haha

Scarlet looked over her 1971 half-dollar, wondering about the fingers that’d worn its sharpness smooth. Scarlet was a woman, and her hair was shoulder length and scarlet red; she thought it ironic.

The chair in which she sat was deceptively uncomfortable in the way that it only lets you sit upright. And when you turned or leaned, leaving the confines of the depression left by the thousands of eager and bored behinds, you entered the realm of, “fucking arm rests in my side.”

My Most Recent Letter to Grassley

Dear Sir,

Your support of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes, no matter how you spin it, the ability for the indefinite military detaining of any prisoners deemed terrorist by the government without charging, as well as the militarizing of law enforcement, is absolutely disgusting.

A Thanksgiving Thanks

I sent an email and posted on Facebook: I wanted contributions to my Thanksgiving post.  "What are you thankful for in 250 words or less?"  It, apparently, was difficult for some. :)  Teasing aside, I'm very glad the people who responded did so.

I think this is completed.  :) Time to get up and start baking pies and making Thanksgiving's food.  :) Mmmm

Thank you! :D

Reaction Gaddafi's Death

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Watch these videos:

Imagine you are the wife of a man whom you love and respect, despite all his eccentricities.

Imagine you are the daughter of a man whom has given you everything you could ever need, provided for every want, given opportunities that have not been afforded to the rest of the world.

Imagine you are the son of a man who has trained you, educated you, given you the skills and ability to make something of yourself, for good or bad.

Imagine you are the best friend of a man whom you watched give away billions in dollars to help his country, his continent.

Imagine you woke up this morning -as one of the aforementioned- and you saw the video of that man, bloodied, shaking, confused, dying, while lying on a transport speeding and bumping across the Libyan desert, with people screaming all around him as his blood soaks the clothes covering the wounds in his body. 

Imagine you woke up and watched a video of that man stumbling on his feet as he tried to make his way somewhere, somehow. 

Imagine you woke up this morning and you saw the video plastered all across the world, the same video the President of the United States saw, that the Prime Minister of England, France, and Germany watched.  

Imagine that you read headlines and statement from around the world that read: 

Hillary Clinton responding with just "Wow." at first and then mild amusement at his capture here.

Seeing the bloodied and deathly pale face of that man on the main page of Fox News with the headline “Qaddafi [sic] is dead … Absolutely dead.”  Showing the world his bloodied face, a whiter shade of pale. 

Or perhaps you wanted to see how MSNBC declares, everyone in Sirte saw the body, and then gives you the chance to project to the world what they think of "The life and times of a despot":

Group Think.

In the West, proponents of peace and love, democracy and due process, rejoicing in the death of anyone person... -the situation seems hypocritical to me. If your motives for his removal from power are for the peace and prosperity of the Libyan people (as NATO and it's components declared, and not for oil...wait, not for oil?  Unthinkable.), then you should be more focused on Libya's infrastructure, the way they will build a government representative of all and exclusive to none.    Of course, be glad Gaddafi is no longer in the picture, but to rejoice? 

While we're on NATO's "humanitarian bombing", check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG1O1kj9Ef8&feature=player_detailpage#t=191s  - WARNING VERY GRAPHIC

You think "humanitarian bombing" exists?  They were there to protect the people, and instead they killed the civilians. -Tangent

You are not on the ground in Libya, you have not had the sand in your mouth as bullets ring out around you, huddled against the ground, trying to save your own life, scared of losing it to one bullet or another.  You've not felt the oppression of the regime, seen your friends taken away, money hoarded to the top, and the rest of the people forgotten.  Sure, be empathetic, be sympathetic, but consider the way in which you rejoice.   You have the ability to respond rationally to the news. You can exercise patience, humility, judgement, respect. You are a thousand miles away.

I'm not telling you how to think, or what to do; I'm only suggesting that you think critically, that you consider your actions and your responses.

This is for the people in the rest of the world, this is not for the people who fought to end the rule of an oppressive regime.

I am not saying I support the decisions of Gaddafi.  I am saying that we demand human rights, respect for the inherent dignity in our fellow man and our environment.  Well, where in those videos at the top, the headlines in the pictures do you see respect?  I see the disrespect of a human body, post-mortem.  What I see is group think happening, everyone assuming this is okay, or at least not saying much about how wrong it is. The same thing happened with Hussein, Bin Laden, Awlaki and his son.  YES!  Two American citizens were killed in the past two weeks.  AMERICAN CITIZENS!  The President gave the order to kill, without even attempting to capture, two American citizens without them being tried in a court.  

Yes, let's rejoice at that. Let us unite the country (America) under this feeling of elation at the death of another human being, let's get that group think going. Let us assume it is okay to kill and rejoice, but only if it's in the name of good! …

Wait?

Only if it's in the name of good? That's a slippery slope if I ever saw one; you're like to go a sliding down that sand dune when you try and tip-toe the top of it.

All I'm saying is think before you rejoice at the death of a man whom to some meant the world, meant love, meant cherished moments, memories of smiles and laughter.

All I'm saying is have the respect that you demand.
All I'm saying is be the change you want to see in the world.
All I'm saying is: What the fuck, man?


This is not concise at all.  This is a reaction.  This is my feelings pouring out.  Don't be petty and pick apart everything I say, or do; I don't care.

What I Think the Occupation Is & A Call to Arms - Revised

If we are anything, we are plural; meaning, we are all individuals acknowledging that the status quo is not working and needs to be changed. We all have our own personal opinions as to the solution, but the Movement as a whole has no single ideology.  Thus, we utilize the ability to speak and to listen to each other in a calm rationale way, and work towards compromise that is continually in the pursuit of improving our community.

We are attempting to build a community which represents the best of all aspects of our species at this moment in time, in order to give proof to the pursuit of perfection, and encouragement to striving thereof.  We, the Occupiers, are here to stand in solidarity with anyone whom feels the status quo is broken, and that there needs to begin to be actual dialogue amongst the populace, and not among a few elite who serve to only better themselves.

When the people as a whole come together to work towards the betterment of not only themselves, but their fellow man, the ones standing to their right and left and to those reading the same words on a different screen somewhere else in the world, we begin to take steps in a direction which is both general and specific to the needs of the people.

By involving the populace on the decision making of policy, you being to have a policy that is actually representative of the people, rather than of a few's interpretation of the people's voice, which, in the current paradigm, the 'people's voice' amounts to the amount of money a lobbyist places in the pockets of politicians.

Currently, it is implied in our party-politics-representative-democracy that we as the 99%, the general population, are not intelligent enough to be informed on the issues pertaining to our country and inter & intra-country relationships and policies.  The collective knowledge and ability for understanding of complex ideas amongst the general population has risen to a point where our former modal of government no longer accommodates that collective intelligence.

There needs to be a change to a form of government which is more fluid, more adaptable to the people's demands.  Society has progressed past the current form of governance. In history, anytime this is the case, the people take to the streets demanding a changing of the guard, in essence.  And, if successful, it results in a government which attempts to be representative of the best ideas for the greatest good of people.

We have reached a peak though, where we have attempted throughout history to do the best good for the greatest amount of people by generalizing.  We have attempted to correct problems at such a large scale that we ignore the fact that the problems are multi-faceted and arise from a myriad of issues.

Thus, by allowing diversity and disagreement, having open dialogue to discuss the problems amongst individuals, share knowledge so each other can better understand, we begin to develop a society that allows for plurality. 

We begin to have a society where plurality is preferred.

So, will you join me?  Will you no longer accept that 'we have it pretty good' and instead demand better from ourselves, demand to be the best, to strive towards a better society, a better culture a new paradigm where oppression is collectively looked down upon.  Demand to be heard.  Demand your freedoms and liberties.  Demand of yourself and your fellow citizen that we represent the best, that we take back the image of America from the plutocracy and mold image with our own voices.  We are America, the People are America.  It's time that we use the voice we have kept silent.

All that is written here is the opinion of one, Jared Krauss.  I in no way am representative of the group, and am solely expressing my own ideas.  This in no way can be interpreted to be representative of the Occupy movement.

Protesting in Solidarity

I want to outline a few key things about our Occupation of our country, our land.

We must protest in solidarity with our fellow citizens across the country.  We must be unified.  Fractured we are weak, but when we use the power we have in our voices, and combine them, we can be heard around the world.  We can shake the foundations of hegemony that still exist today.

We, here in Iowa City must protest as the people across the country, and contribute to the voting for demands (down below) so that we CAN and ARE protesting in solidarity.  Be unified, don't stand alone.

Demand to be heard.

Learn about Occupy Wall Street by going to their website: Occupy Wall St

Vote on the demands by going to this website, also, go here to learn about the demands and why people are protesting.  Find out if you agree or disagree, and then let your voice be heard!  That is the most important thing.  Making your voice heard, because if you tell no one what you want, they will never give it to you and you will never get it.

This website here: http://coupmedia.org/occupywallstreet/occupy-wall-street-official-demands-2009

The protests are escalating, police are becoming violent with protesters:

Here is a news station from the NY area reporting on the same situation: http://www.myfoxny.com//dpp/news/occupy-wall-street-protest-broadens-scope-20111005 

Here is a picture of the cop who was involved: 

If you're in Iowa City and you want to get involved Occupy Iowa City begins Friday @ 6PM COLLEGE GREEN PARK!

There is a General Assembly tomorrow night Thursday October 5th!  Come! We'll be talking about logistics and teams needed.  If you have any skills, media, medical, law, advocacy, etc., food, water, comfort!  Contribute!

occupyiowacity.twitter.com
occupyiowacity.tumblr.com

Peace & Love,
Jared Krauss

The Beginnings of a Revolution

As I sit here and wonder at the possibility of possibilities that are waiting to be mined from the passion of my fellow youth. We youth, we are not young, nor are we old. We are not weak, nor are we strong. We simply are.

It is a movement, it is no one person. It is the masses, not the individual, that demand these changes. We demand these changes, combining our individual voices to make heard our demands for the liberties we were promised, the freedom we are denied.

This is us, standing together, as a body of individuals, united in our cause.

These are the moments that change the fate of the world. We here in America have the rare opportunity to affect the entire world, because our government is entrenched around the world.

Demand the end of our government as a business, demand the end of war-mongering, demand the end of our corporate-ocracy, demand the end of elitism. Demand of our government the morals they profess, to uphold the ideals they spew.

When our government represents our people around the world with their bombs and bullets, that is how the world knows America. They do not see the face of you or I; they see our tanks and our destructive wake.

This war on terror is not one which will be won with bullets and bombs, but maybe with books.

Demand democracy, demand freedom, demand truth. Demand to be heard.

expressions

by opening the door for you, cooking dinner for you, covering you with a blanket, giving you my jacket when you're cold and putting my arm around you when we're traveling, protecting you while you sleep, running my hands through your hair, tickling your fingers lightly when we walk, and putting my hand on the small of your back to guide you through a door

i want to kiss you

Titled: Shaving To Be a Man

I had to write a 300-600 word, single sentence, short story for my class, Sentence Strategies.  I decided to write about the first time I shaved, and what it was like for me as a kid.  I didn't write this because I've been thinking about it a lot or anything, but simply because it stands in my memory very strongly.  It is something I draw strength from now, rather that weakness or shame, which I might have before, when I was much younger.

This is a rough draft, as I've not edited it, but I really want to share it.  So, here it is:

I Seriously Love Noam Chomsky

ZEIT Campus: What was the key experience that made you an anarchist?

Chomsky: There was none. When I was twelve years old, I began to go to secondhand bookshops. Many of them were run by anarchists who came from Spain. Therefore it seemed very natural to me to be an anarchist. 

ZEIT Campus: Should all students become anarchists?

Chomsky: Yes. Students should challenge authorities and join a long anarchist tradition. 

ZEIT Campus: "Challenge authorities" -- a liberal or a moderate leftist could accept that invitation.

Chomsky: As soon as one identifies, challenges and overcomes illegitimate power, he or she is an anarchist. Most people are anarchists. What they call themselves doesn’t matter to me. 

ZEIT Campus: Who or what must challenge today’s student generation?

Chomsky: This world is full of suffering, distress, violence and catastrophes. Students must decide: does something concern you or not? I say: look around, analyze the problems, ask yourself what you can do and set out on the work!

I Love Noam Chomsky

ZEIT Campus: You often say you are an anarchist. What do you mean by that?

Chomsky: Anarchists try to identify power structures. They urge those exercising power to justify themselves. This justification does not succeed most of the time. Then anarchists work at unmasking and mastering the structures, whether they involve patriarchal families, a Mafia international system or the private tyrannies of the economy, the corporation.

---

I've found my calling in life.

From: http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20110614_en.htm

Before the Sun Falls

Decisions lie in wait, lingering until the sun falls.

I was walking in the midnight hour, stumbling and falling, walking circles in the dark, clenching and yelling, keeping silent and releasing, and now dawn has broken -the sun has risen, triumphantly, above the horizon to send beams of light coursing through the breaks of the trees- allowing me to see clearer.

Here is where I am now, and here I shall reside until the sun, with the passing of time, rises high above my head.

Yet, before the sun falls, I will no longer stand in these same shoes, make the same marks, or tread so light, but rather will I be walking, barefoot (to truly feel the earth beneath my toes), my toes will grasp the dirt beneath them, and I will tread strong and proud.

This all before the sun falls.

The Race

I remember it all:

My little feetsies go a pitter-patter on the metal rungs.

Morning

Been up since 10:30 AM yesterday.

I drank two cups of coffee at 8pm.

I stayed up all night.

I walked during the sunrise.

I've sat and thought hard about some important things.

You know, I had one of my best friends say this to me, "Imagine you had a really good job, and you quit, because of (something, dunno).  Then, your best friend (different person) got the job.  You would be happy for him.  You wouldn't try and take the job back, or keep him from getting it.  You'd want him to have it."

Yes.  I would.  That's a job though.  This is a bit different.

Trust me, I am trying, hard.  It's just that somewhere, something still says, "No.  Mine."  I don't want it to, not because I don't want it to, but because I am trying to put him before me.  That is rare.  He's my brother though.  No, not really my brother, but yes, really, my brother.

*Save me, save me.  Save me, save me./Bring me something, bring me something I can use/Well, here's one thing, but it's not the one I choose/I can't help it, hope you show up soon/I can't help it; I'm counting on you.*  THose were the lyrics that were just sung in my ear.  Hmm.  I don't think that has any real significance to what is being written about here.  Nope, besides the fact that Dinosaur Jr. is amazing and should be heard by everyone, everywhere.

It's nothing physical that I...I don't even know the words to describe the feeling that I have.  Now, you might ask, you still have feelings?  Well, of course.  I am human.  I did change, grow, better myself during that time, for them, for me.  Yes, I cut the rope.  No, I am not as cold hearted as I seem.  No I am not as stoic as I would like.  Yes, I am more stoic than most people, and yes I am cold hearted.

It's not physical that I feel.  It is more of memory, feeling of a memory I once had, and the association of that memory brings good feelings to my brain, and because you always want more of what feels good I desire for that feeling to return.  -Leave up to me to break a feeling down into a logical path to follow.  Only I would do that.  Yet, I do do it, and I always will.  I am who I am.  I cannot change that, but I can change it.

If you're reading this, ever, either one of you.  Know, this is so difficult, this is a true challenge, and I have been moping about a bit, feeling sorry for myself...why?  I dunno.  You know when you just do that?  Yeah.  Well, I really want you two to work.  If you do, you will both be 100x better off for it.  I hope I can hang out with you guys. :)

You shoudl both knwo I am not an awkward person (yes I know there are two mispellings, but i could really care less, that's too many times to press the backspace button....actually it's delete on my Mac, btu you get the point...), unless I want to be an awkward person.  Than I most certainly am awkward.  I won't be though.

I owe you both more than I can repay, and for that I hope you get what you want out of life.  Love you both.

Jared

The Gift

I was given something, something I asked for.  It was given with hesitation, trepidation, caution written on her face.  It was given with excitement, a smile and a kiss.  It was given freely to me, and I took it greedly.

I held it safe in me, for a time, cherished and admired it.  I gave away a bit of me, more than ever before, more than I thought possible.

Yet, it was not enough.

I broke that gift; I broke my word.  Truly, I did.

I fear I shattered it so...so as to result in the picking up of pieces for longer than deserved.

I pray the sun heals, the ocean breeze soothes.

For this guilt which grips what's left inside longs to do more hurt.

Nay, not what you think - no more for the world, but for I.  Alone.

For this, I fear, is my destiny.

Forever Alone.

I cannot give what I do not have inside.  What I do right and wrong is based on my mind, rationale.  Not the baying of a heart.  That is why I broke hers so, because I was afraid of finding mine.

----

My wanderlust will carry me on, and perhaps in some sunrise, or some sunset, in a day short or long, quick or slow I will find a spark to light me home.  I do not believe home is your childhood, or your family.  For a time, it will do that home is where my head lies at night.

That light though, when it comes I will know.  It will lead me home.

Truthfully: Home is where the....

Inspiration

I hope you're out there living, breathing, trying.  If you're not, you're wasting your time.

Don't stop living.  When you do, that's when you're no longer worth your salt.

When you stop living, you stop laughing, you stop loving.

We are humans, and meant to laugh, meant to love, meant to breath the world in through our nostrils and experience it with all the senses available to us.

Get into the world.  Live.  Breath.  Try.  Don't waste your time.

It's Been A While Since My Last Tangent

It's been a while.  No?  Don't lie, it has. ^1

A lot has changed in my life.  I'd rather not go into details.  Suffice to say, there has been positive and negative changes that have resulted in sum zero.

I, we, made some decision that hurt, but ultimately, I hope--pray--think, will help, though.

I think about it, sometimes, and I hurt about it, sometimes.  It depends on the mood, the context, it's not something that can be explained.  Just trust me on this.

For the most part, these past couple months, my posts have not been pure writing from me, but this one is.  So, if you don't like it, getthahellouttahere...got it?

I'm happy though.  I organize I brain, I control my emotions, I control myself.  You may say, but that's not really happiness, or that's not letting yourself live.^2  I say, and yet those whole rule themselves with reckless abandon end in a downward spiral of self-pity that longs for attention of the needy-pleasing masses.  I'd rather be me, than you.  No offense, but I like me more than you, probably. ^3 Unless you're like Johnny Depp, or....Cristian Ronaldo...or David Beckham....yup..that's about it.  Maybe Robert Pattinson, but I wouldn't have done Twilight, and then he wouldn't be "Robert Pattinson", which would defeat the purpose of me being him.^4  I feel like this is logos, a circle, never ending.  Blah, what?  You don't follow?  Yeah, that happens.^5

This is my life.  That is my life ^ .  I think, I tangent(+verb) - what the hell is the verb form of tangent...tangential is adjectival....^6 whatever.

There, again, perfect example of my life.  Still....you don't follow?  Hell, you just don't know me.  In person I curse a lot more too.  I filter it a bit for my writing, for you.^7

I don't want to write about what I really want to write about right now.  (So many write/right there.....I almost confused myself.^8)  This post is all tangents.  Good.  Are you nonplussed yet? ^9 Now you are you say, you mean you're confused?  You're nonplussed.^10  Yes that is essentially the same thing.  ^11Oh, you didn't know that?  Well, you learn something new every day, don't you?  Congrats, you're less of an imbecile now than you were 5 minutes ago.^12

Was I a tad mean there?  Sorry, I say it like it is with a dash of asshole.

Well, screw off, I'm out.

Peace & Love
Go make friends and read some books, that's the best thing you can do for this world.  (Post to come later about that topic - tangent)^13

P.S. There are 13 tangents in this post...some may argue on which are tangents and which are not, but they can fuck off, because I write this post and I decide.  So, deal with it.

Why Blue Jeans ARE Good!

I was reminded by a shot from Scott on The Sartorialist how good a clean pair of jeans can look on anyone.  I'm not talking about Silver Jeans, or Hollister/Abercrombie hole-ridden, pretend to have worn for 10 years jeans, or all those fancy ones with special back pocket stitching and the like.

I'm talking about good ol' blue jeans.  Yes, it is possible to buy GOOD blue jeans for about $40.  That said, you can certainly spend a LOT more.  Blue Jeans have been talked about in the blogosphere hundreds of times, but I just wanted to share a little tid bit with you.

This pretty little lady here. From The Sartorialist

Those jeans are clean, they don't stick to her every inch, they fit her body where it needs to (if you were wondering, that's the ass, which looks just fine in this).  It's a mature look, while still being casual.  No jeggings here.

I bought my favorite pair of blue jeans in March from Levi's website.  THere was a sale (as they oft do) and I got them for less than $40 before shipping.  I went with the shrink-to-fit, indigo, here.

There are plenty of options from the 501's just posted, on Levi's site, to these 501 original selvedge for $178.

Both of the above will break in the more you wear them.  I'm in love with my jeans, I wear them nearly every day, usually about 3-5 times a week.  You may wonder about cleanliness, but I'll post on that later, as well as some pictures of my jeans after about 3ish months of wear.

The Best Coffee in the World, I Had in Haiti

Haitian Joe coffee....Hopefully it tastes just as good as I remember coffee in Haiti tasting.  

After the earthquake last year, I went to Haiti to help out.  As most of you reading this will know.

I spent all of my time in Les Cayes, in the South West. We stayed with a priest at a Catholic retreat house. We gave them more than enough money to feed our troupe of 14 or so, the priest, the nuns, and the people who worked there.