wards & mere made

some old things lying around

wards
mere made

language poetry and poetics at its best

Baggs understands the workings of language beyond anything most pomo-lang-po’s ever dream. We try to find this—to go here—through sound poetry, but the medium of lexical language always comes between raw communication and the object desired. Of course, I say this without seeking to condemn language via a lexicon — but it’s good to monitor our limitations.

The Art of Letting Go

It’s often anti-climactic. Like most things in life. I prefer the drama right off the bat, get my fill of it all, feel a rush, and then sit down as I watch it dwindle away in a pathetic attempt to remain important. Most things go this way for me. Places, people. Have been looking for something with lasting power, but alas, the only thing that sticks to me, like a fly sticks to that sticky poison tape, is the Academy. It gets harder mind you, and apparently (as I’ve just discovered twice in one week) I don’t always win the battles. All it wants is for me to conform. All of us should conform. It would make life easier for everyone involved: look, the institution has been here for a long f-ing time, and the people who fill its guts right now, at least in BC, aren’t really interested in caring about it in the way I hoped. Late-capitalist neoliberalism transcends the signification it supposes as it falls from the lips of professors and grad-students, and becomes them.

Gordon Campbell won the last election, in fact, the Liberals gained more seats. No one outside of Vancouver even knew what STV (http://www.stv.ca/) was about, and the Liberals’ smear campaign did an adequate job in convincing a substantial number of mindless people that we, in fact, do not want proportional representation and thus a real democracy. So the people of BC have spoken. They want a government that gives their tax dollars to corporations, that promotes a classist society, that makes education unaffordable and impossible for lower and middle class people, a government whose policies are inherently racist and even sexist, and who is slowly creating a new oligarchic state, ruled by aristocrats in the guise of democracy.

After tapping myself dry trying to preserve SFU’s place/name as a better university, trying to advocate action and mobilize grad students to create an affect that would generate increased grad student funding, after trying to mobilize people and get the attention of SFU students and promote conscious raising at large, I have to admit, I’ve lost all interest. I put my degree on the line, I threw my heart into it hoping that people would wake up and recognize their agency, hoping that the media would step forward and tell people the truth (okay, I know that’s way too idealistic, but you have to try), hoping that alternative media would penetrate the mainstream—and what I got were more then a handful of SFU grad students and the like saying, “Oh, what’s that about?” and “Hey thanks for doing that” (walking by in the hall), and “Well, the Administration is between a rock and a hard place, so….”. I put my degree on the line and my marks showed it, and I feel that almost nothing came of it, and honestly, that sucks.

I’ve never been the type of person who just got good marks because the profs liked me. In fact, for the most part it has been the opposite… (interpret that as you will). As a result I’ve worked my ass off, driving myself insane researching in order to get the same grades as my friends—meanwhile, I look over their papers and make corrections, restructure them and change their arguments slightly because I wanted them to come along this road with me. I also take too many risks with my work and it backfires a fair bit. I keep doing it because it’s the only thing that makes this interesting. … What I like about the institution is that it wants us to take risks. It thrives on risks. But then it slaps our hands for doing so, and makes it harder for those who want to. … What I like about the institution is that its right hand doesn’t know what its left hand is doing. And in that space is where one lives and works.

But in terms of saving SFU: I’m really glad to have helped start something good, that other people have jumped on that train, and are looking at it in a proactive light. As for myself, however, the election results are too disheartening. If that’s the kind of government that people want to vote for, they can have it. I’m not sure why I should I care anymore. This is a democracy after all, right, and the majority has spoken. People are uninterested in ‘revolution,’ they just want things to be the same, in fact, it seems, worse—they want more debt, they want to be screwed by corporations. What can you do? I wasn’t fighting for me anyway. It was for the public good, and was screwing myself in the process. (This is probably the most personal blog entry I’ll ever write). If the public doesn’t want it, then I don’t want to fight for it. So letting go, walking away, yet again. It’s time to focus on my own work, no one else will. The art of losing isn’t hard to master…. For different reasons, and to different people, I am sorry.

This entry marks a change in the ‘theme’ of this blog. I don’t anticipate it becoming apolitical, but I think it will deal with literature and events and reviews, etc., potentially addressing public issues through that media.

Source: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/ars_electronica_2007/

Envisioning Education — Get Involved — SFU

The SFU Community Coalition has organized an envisioning education day which is open to all members of the SFU community. Following the Rally, the Forum, the Petition Delivery, and the speeches given to the SFU Board of Governors Finance Committee, we are moving forward and plan to present our community gernerated vision of SFU and the role of the SFU Community Coalition for the future.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far. The SFU coalition continues to work together, and we have seen our efforts go beyond our university, inpiring other organization at UVic and UBC.

Below is information about the event:

A community-led visioning workshop – creating a new vision for our university

What is this event?
“envision education” is a community-led visioning workshop that brings together members of the university community to develop a plan for our university. Community resistance to cutbacks, budget reductions, layoffs, and program elimination is met with two general responses: “what would you rather us do?” and “there is no alternative.” A workshop that brings together the university community will enable us to develop an alternative, and propose ideas that we can work for at our university.
Think of your ideas that would answer these questions: what should our university be? What should education be? How do we get there?
The workshop will be led by organizers with the SFU Community Coalition, and is open to all members of the university community.

When and where?
The workshop will be held on Friday, May 15th from 11:30am to 1:30pm in room MBC 2290 at the SFU Burnaby campus.

Who can participate?
All members of the university community are welcome to participate – a broad range of participation allows us to develop a wide and encompassing idea of what we think our university should be.

How do I sign up?
If you would like to attend and participate in the visioning workshop, please confirm your attendance by contacting Kevin Harding by email at kharding@sfu.ca. Please include your name, email address, and which campus constituency you belong to (APSA, CUPE, SFUFA, TSSU, GSS, SFSS, Poly Party, or other) to help the organizers plan for numbers. Please register by May 14th.

What do I need to bring?
Mostly yourself – we hope to have representation from all the community constituencies so that we can bring together a wide vision of what the university should be. Bring your thoughts on what you think the university and education should be, and how we can get there.

The take-home message?
· “envision education”
· a community-led visioning workshop – creating a new vision for our university
· Friday, May 15th, 11:30am-1:30pm.
· Register by emailing your details to kharding@sfu.ca
· Think about these questions: what should our university be? What should education be? How do we get there?

Italian Students Stand Again

Italy has a history of social-democratic revolutionary activity, similar to France but more ignored (in recent years) by Western media. I surmise that the media’s lack of attention on Italian protest in recent decades has to do with the fact that Italian protest/revolutionary activity has actually been threatening to antiquated repressive state apparatuses; where Italian people have fought against the fascist violence of repressive governments with collective resources, where decade long campaigns that have resulted in much bloodshed, but also good things like significant segments of appropriated public space (both material and virtual), national awareness, and inspiration for other countries.

Like other Northern/Western Countries, the government in Italy is using the recession as an excuse to make cut-backs to education. Next to food and shelter, education should be the number one thing that governments pour money into during a depression, rather than giving it to corrupt bankers and corporations who caused this recession in the first place.

Here is an an article discussing what happened on the streets of Italy by Tim Dobson.

Here is an article in the Al Jazeera English edition about the issue, by Lucia Guarano.

Here is an article talking about the movement’s reverberations in England in Herald de Paris by Angela Corrias.

How much do we care about democracy and the general freedom to choose?

Notes for the BC Provincial Election – Rally at SFU

A couple of months ago, SFU had a Rally to send a message to the Provincial government concerning the government’s destructive approach to post-secondary education.

Since then the SFU Community Coalition has made advances, as it is no longer only focused on a reactive agenda, but it has taken a position to ensure SFU keeps its place as one of the most innovative and interdisciplinary universities in Canada; also,we are working at encouraging the Province to change its approach toward post-secondary education, as the three year budget plan will have a negative impact to education in BC as a whole [see earlier blog entries for more details].

Here is a reminder to ol’Gordo and his friends in the Liberals, especially Murray Coell, that we are united.

Murray Coell Refuses to Meet with Student Union and Coalition — says he’s “too busy” with upcoming elections

The SFU Community Coalition found it unsurprising that Murray Coell did not follow up with the meeting we requested after the petition delivery. Nor did he address the petition, signed by over 1000 SFU community members (which we delivered to his constituency office and Parliament in Victoria), in Legislature. Students from UVic had also been there the day before us with their own petition.

This behaviour is indicative of the ‘real concern’ that the Liberals have for postsecondary education. That is, their greedy neoliberal agenda doesn’t have time for students.

But we’re not the only groups he’s ignoring. UBC has started to feel the brunt of this “Labour Market” approach to postsecondary eduction:

The Alma Mater Society at UBC Vancouver (AMS) recently tried to arrange a meeting with Coell to discuss the freeze on StudentAidBC, as well as other matters pertaining to postsecondary education, but Coell refused.

He said he was “too busy” dealing with election stuff for the upcoming provincial election. … What an attitude … what a reply… I wonder how “busy” he will be after he loses the next election?

Click here to see the Alma Mater Society’s take on Coell’s refusal – “Murray Coell Refuses to Meet with Largest Student Union in BC.”

Murray Coell: Minister of Advanced Education and the Labour Market, who is "too busy" to address the concerns of the students and faculty of BC universities.

photo source: bc.net

Globe and Mail: Cuts to Postsecondary Education across Canada

Universities across Canada are feeling the impact of cutbacks by governments who are more interested in capital than education.

Click here for the Globe article which talks about this happening in schools in Ontario as well as at SFU.

The Poetic Front – Vol 2 no 1 is up

The new issue of The Poetic Front is up.

Reviews on books by: Ken Belford, Meredith Quartermain, Kate Eichhorn, Christine Leclerc, Derek Beaulieu, Jordan Scott, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Roger Farr, Reg Johanson, Pauline Butling and Susan Rudy, and Kathleen Stewart. Reviewed by some savvy lit people…

Some interesting Special Features too, including an interview with Lisa Robertson and Christine Stewart.

The Poetic Front Vol 2, no 1 (2009)

Speeches–Board of Governors–What’s next?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, mainly busy with my other work and whatnot, but there has been plenty of Action by the SFU Community Coalition. Here’s an update:

Myka Tucker-Abramson gave an excellent speech on Tuesday March 24th at the Board of Governor’s (BOG) Finance Committee meeting, held at SFU Harbourfront at 8am. While Myka represented student concerns, Michael Ling spoke from the Faculty side of things. Both speeches were impressive and were taken into consideration by the BOG.

On Thursday March 26th at 8am, the BOG met to approve a number of things for the coming year, including the Budget. Now here’s where it gets sticky: We know it’s not the University’s fault that the Provincial Liberals seem to dislike well-rounded critical education, and therefore construct a three year funding package that inevitably decreases the quality of education in the entire province … still, how far does this have to go before SFU’s administration decideds to stand up for itself? The university budget had to be passed, there’s no doubt about that, but not a single person in that room, not one Board member, not even Michael Stevenson (SFU’s President), was happy with the new budget.

Things that still happening:

1. Voluntary Exit Plans (that is, the Golden Handshake) + not rehiring those tenure track positions + not renewing contract faculty positions = Less Faculty.

2. Although Michael Stevenson swears up and down that the TA budget is staying the same, it was pointed out at the Board meeting that Departments are, in fact, decreasing the number of TAs because they don’t have the money (we can assume that more professors will be teaching sections, which is good for the undergrads but bad for a research oriented university, but also, sections will be cut).

3. Scheduled classes for the fall term have been eliminated. The Canadian Studies department is gone.

4. Library Staff has been slashed hard.

5. Facilities staff has been slashed.

6. Registrars Office has also taken a hit.

7. I still live in a decaying building (though I’m moving out soon). And with unceasing, it seems, neoliberal trend taking over education, the University is trying to sell residence buildings to private contractors. CAN YOU EFFIN BELIEVE THAT!!… I’m so glad to be moving out of here.

8. Tuition [surprise surprise] still going up.

okay i know the recession affects us all. But instead pouring tax payers dollars into the Olympics, the BC government can at least try to take care of its people. When people are out of work they go back to school. Academia is not only the tool to educate the population to think critically—hence, reconstruct our economy so recessions don’t happen (which it seems the liberals don’t want a critical population)—but also, it is the foundation of a healthy society and the safety-net for millions of people across the country.

Anyway, back to the BOG meeting: Kevin Harding, a student rep on the BOG, did a superb job in bringing to light the discrepancies in the budget: that is, even individuals here (not going to name names) are trying to cover up that their budget isn’t going to pull through next year, and we will have to make more cuts. The estimates and the actuals don’t add up (on paper). Not to mention that what’s happening on the ground isn’t represented in the Budget.

Excellent work Kevin. The SFU Community is extremely lucky to have someone so engaged and informed fighting for higher education, the value of our degrees, and the value of the positions that faculty now hold.  The BOG elections just closed, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that Kevin has been reelected for both the BOG and the Senate.

So now we move on, and continue to pressure the government to recognize how dire this situation is.

Myka will be presenting on Public Education and Neoliberalism at a Forum organized by The Council of Canadians called FINANCIAL FOOLS DAY: Empowering People’s Movements Against Trade Agreements and Corporate Power.

Otherwise, the SFU Community Coalition is continuing to strive for more funding from the Province. We recognize we are being heard, both through acknowledgement by administrators and government officials, and by indirect things … like the hired security guards at the Board of Governor’s meeting.

SFU is recognized as an innovative, cutting-edge, forward thinking, thorough, interdisciplinary university. I’m extremely fortunate to have been accepted into the English program here, and deciding to take the offer was one of the best moves I’ve ever made. Everyone on the SFU Coalition feels the same way about the school. We know it’s a great place to learn and research, and we intend to keep it that way.

Click here for Myka’s Speech at The BOG finance committee meeting.