Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004

NCOr

well. what an interesting weekend. and i'm crossing my fingers that its not over yet . . . its supposed to snow tonight!

Anyway, this weekend my school hosted the National Conference on Organized Resistance, NCOR, a radical leftist gathering of sorts. People come here every year from all over the country to smell bad, distribute leftist propaganda and participate in "festivals of resistance." I didn't go to any of the workshops, but I had to table for a couple of hours for the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and caught a glimpse of what was going on. I decided to wear a preppy little sweater, blow dry my hair and put on some makeup, so as to be a voice for those of us liberals who, um, take showers. i somehow managed to find my table amongst the masses of unkempt (to put it nicely) hippies, and got my hands on a schedule. Let me just say, I was a bit taken aback, and amused, at what was being offered. Let me give you some examples:

Developing Class Autonomy and Primitive Praxis. An exposition of primitivism and its usefulness to working individuals in the struggle for human community. we emphasize processes and disobedience that strengthen the working class as a whole. thus, we look to strengthen the autonomy of the working class vis-a-vis the employing class while empowering ourselves as regards decision-making, equality of access and autonomy of action. a critical discussion on seeking the end of race (whiteness), gender-based oppression, and class society through the abolition of institutionalized domestication.

I'm Anti-Authoritarian and I Don't Vote (or should I?) A panelof anarchists and anti-capitalists including Cindy Milstein, Bilal El-Amine, Xan West and Brian will probe how anti-authoritarians can relate to the 2004 presidential eletion as a way to contest statecraft.

Menstrual Health and Pad-Making. Make your own reusable cloth menstrual pads and learn about tampons and the effects they have on the body, the planet and society at large. non-menstruators encouraged to attend! apparently in this workshop menstruators were told to use their excess blood as fertilizer in potted plants.

Mothers Alliance for Militant Action

Fighting Corporate Psychiatry In this workshop, topics of discussion will include the psycho-pharmaceutical complex (the alliance of multinational pharmaceutical corporations, the psyciatric establishment, and the federal government); societal depoliticization of human suffering by labeling legitimate reactions as diseases, labeling and pathologizing difference/dissent

Free(dom) Software for Political Activists Is it possible to build a free society using tools that help to destroy that freedom?

Libertarian Socialism in the Twentieth Century: What went wrong? um . . . what??

Films being shown throughout the day:

Hot and Bothered: Feminist Pornography; Tree Sit: The Art of Resistance, and others.

so yeah, after that was all done, i went to part of a swim meet, which kind of sucked because i had to watch it from behind glass walls. Then i went to a thai restaurant with kevin and his friend who was up here from NC for the conference. then i came back and watched kevin and my roommate sedira engage some sort of sarcasm-battle. then i went to bed.

some time during that day, i also heard about Kim and Matt and how they are no longer Kim and Matt. I was so shocked and it really scared me to realize that a relationship that you think is so stable and strong can end, just like that. And i feel so bad for kim, but i know that i don't have to because she is a strong and intelligent woman who will get through this, better off than she was before.

well that's about it since today has been pretty boring.

I'm still awaiting this snow . . .