Adjunct Positions = Bullshit

Article in my Alma Mater Missouri Western's news paper

Read the above link.  I've been meaning to share this article for a little while now, and I think it outlines what a heavy dose of bullshit higher education has become, for both students and teachers alike.  While the example might be more extreme in higher education institutions like this, it isn't an exclusive problem there.  It's one of the main reasons over the last two years that I've really reassessed my intentions as far as going to graduate school.  I don't want to triple my debt for two more years of training that won't increase my salary that much.  If I invest that kind of money in anything, I'll put it toward equipment.  I truely do feel sorry for all the people out there who were duped into dropping upwards of $100,000 into their education and can only get these piddley little $10-20,000 a year jobs, whether it be a growing number of English professors or my news anchor co-workers.  [EXPANDED 9/10/12] This is not to say adjunct positions are all bad, because if they bring in someone that is already working professionally, like the cinematography class at Missouri Western I heard is, then it is amazing because people who don't want to work full time as a teacher can make extra cash teaching.  It's when people get cornered into using these adjunct positions as their career that the sickness that is so present in higher education today begins to expose itself.

"Fate, the saviors of fools, little children and the ship named Enterprise"
- Commander William T. Riker, posted in reference to blog title.

Pled Vs. Pleaded

I have noticed since working at a television station during the live news broadcasts, that there has been a change from the news I remembered watching growing up.  The news anchor used to commonly say 'pled' when they talked about a plea at a court case, but now, you hear them say 'pleaded'.  Why is this?  I think it is because it makes the criminal look more guilty without saying they are guilty.  They pleaded to the judge sounds a lot worse than they pled to the judge.  Pleaded used to be the only grammatically correct version, but they are both considered by Webster to be appropriate.  Here are a couple interesting discussions online about this already:

http://boaltalk.blogspot.com/2008/02/pleaded-v-pled.html

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2006/May/28/ferguson-using-pled-and-pleaded/

Just an semantic observation I wanted to share.  Any thoughts on this?

Maybe it is the Mandala Effect?

Film Analysis: American Psycho

American Psycho: An Analysis

[1]

Who is Patrick Bateman?

I believe this is one of the central question to uncovering American Psycho, a movie which over ten years later, remains in the upper echelon of my favorite films of all time.  A film by-and-large I would classify as a character-driven. It's focus is Patrick Bateman, wonderfully portrayed by Christian Bale, whose performance drives both the Bret Easton Ellis character as well as the film.  

Patrick Bateman is directly tied to the central question of the film: who is he, and is what the film depicts his reality or just a twisted fantasy he projects outward into his notebook?  What is Bateman supposed to symbolize?  Do any of these questions ever get answered by the film, or does the director, in the end, place a mirror before us, forcing us to confront our reflection; not just our observations and experiences within the world of the film(the misenscene), nor just our own self and the host of other more profound questions which that puts forth; no, we mustn't focus upon any single thing we see looking back at us when we evaluate this film, as it is still about Patrick Bateman, but we must see at least something of what is looking back at us and recognize it as ourselves, as we do during any outstanding film.

Now, the important question, considering I, at the point of writing this, am the authorial figure creating this critique, is this: Who do I think Patrick Bateman is?  Well, to discuss Bateman, I am going to first discuss his world and what it represents.  What I think this character represents involves what Hunter Thompson began to see, during that crucial scene in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas when he witnessed the high water mark of a beautiful revolution.  Bateman doesn't represent this high water mark so much as a tsunami that's slowly started building, it's been building since before Thompson even rode his wave to Las Vegas, and it is called Western or American Capitalism.  It will continue to feed and feed until there is no blood left to consume, and when it's all gone, it will begin to create it's own apparitions to consume just as I believe Bateman had done.  It does this, inheriently because we are all prone to this behavior, just as we inherently categorize and systematize.  I feel that Who Patrick Bateman Is, is the apex of this human nature, the high water mark of this ruthless brand of capitalism.  We are witnessing it's brutality right now, with the slow death of the stock market (though just slow in my opinion because those in control have been refusing to let it die for a century now.

"Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide

No escape from reality"

I believe Bateman has both killed and fantasized of killing in the film.  Unlike the book, in which I feel that the acts were mostly real, with some fantasy tied in, in the film, the opposite occurs.  In both he killed, but in both he fantasized as well.  What does this mean?  It means that, at least through association, Bateman had tasted blood.  The blood of all the poor labor in third world countries that work for Wall Street, the blood of the poor family that can't support itself anymore because of Wall Street.  Or maybe the blood of a helpless and unsuspecting bum killed in an alley way?

-------------------------

[1] - I remember everything,

down to the sound of you shaving--
the scrape of your razor,
the dully-abrading black hair
that remained

Preliminary Research Notes on Voodou, for currently untitled Murrayesque Hubris project

Some preliminary notes for my preliminary research:
- First, I just want to confirm your suspicions, I do not claim an authority on Haitian Voodou, and I in no way want this to come off as any sort of authorial source on this most-intriguing particular of Afro-Carribian culture as a whole.  I find this culture to be the most- intriguing of all the Afro-Carribian cultures because of it's deep connection with not just the religion I grew up with, Catholic-Christianity, but also the facts surround it's deep connection with it's African roots, a connection that is deeper than any other island or country in the Carribian due to Haiti's revolution and subsequent independence of most Western ties during it's development as a country.  During this period of independence, elders who were raised on the African mainland, were able to infuse Haitian culture with their African roots.


- Second, I am writing this because I have noticed a dramatic increase in readership searching my blog from google, and I am hoping to get outside information if anyone notices any misconceptions that are inherent within my research.  Please keep in mind though, I am just looking for coherence in my research, not your opinions.  There are many different versions of Voodou, and I am not looking for anything more than coherence within the system I will use.


- Third, I am going to put in brackets personal notes for myself that are largely related to character and narrative.  Please largely disregard these aspects. Now, with further ado, onto the research...

"Les invisibles peuvent être faites le visible par les humains sur la grande scène de la vie." - [FINAL WORDS FROM HOUNGAN(Priest)] 

Translation - "The Invisible powers can be made visible acts by humans on the great stage of life"

Sevis - The ceremony in which a trance occurs.  Here, the visible and invisible interact with intimacy.  Persons involved in the ceremony become inhabbited by Iwa.

Iwa - Spiritual beings that act as mediums between humanity and Bondyè.  They are correlated with many of the saints.

Bondyè - The highest deity in Voodou, largely uninterested in the affairs of man, despite being's its Pangian creator. 

[The houngan in the script left Haiti during the great earthquake due to genocide being committed on houngan's out of superstition and a lack of understanding on the part of the perpetrators.  Possibly has spent some time in New Orleans learning Hoodoo].

Houngan - Voodou preist(ess)

"Run from a naked man offering you a piece of cloth" - Haitian Voodoo saying.

Six commonalities among Afro-Carribian culture/belief/myth-structures.

1. Spirituality and healing are synonymous. [Houngan will tell Jon something to this effect, that the effects of the medicine/spell/curse are all in his own viewing of it].
2. Individual person is defined by the web of connections that includes family/ancestors/spirits/saints.  A strong reason for the importance of this connection with ancestors has to do with the Haitian renaissance after the revolution at the end of the 18th century, and rediscovery of their old culture, IMO. [Jon is not a true person in the eyes of many Voodou initiates, due to his willfully treating his family like shit].
3. Healing takes place by healing these connections with family/ancestors/spirits/saints.
4. Connection between root problems and the symptoms are never necessary.  Angering Iwa is always a possibility.
5. Harmful emotional states that cause disruption in relationships are explained in non-rational, non-verbal ways, just as those who are often exhibiting these harmful emotions which disrupt are often irrational.  A methodology might seem irrational, in that it is not directly connected with anything physical, and is more often than not, a psychological medicine. [Jon will be given a small jar by Houngan. Inside the jar will be a small amount of sugar syrup and a lone cube of ice. with a small sheet of paper containing his name]. He is instructed to say an Our Father and Hail Mary with the jar in his hands three times a day, and attend mass once a day as well.
6. Focus on affairs Western Medicine isn't concerned with like love affairs and family.  In areas of rural Haiti, the hounran still handles physical matters as well though.

"Moun f'et pou mouri" - People are born to die.

"Death is a departure of nom" 

Nom - Lifeforce.  Nom consisters of two main guardian angels, a greater and a lesser.

Gwo Bonanj - Greater guardian angel.  Unlike Nom, it can exit outside the body.  If it has to leave his body, especially during a ritual, there is a greater problem inside the practitioner.  It suggests that the Gwo Bonanj  is angered with the body it inhabits., and is robbing him/her of sleep and sanity, and probably his dreams as well.

Ti Bonanj - Lesser Angel.  This one gives you will to forge on against adversity.  [Jon must confront this aspect of himself in order to solve the problem of the narrative dealing with his family].

Houngan will have a small rattle, which he uses to change the rhythm in the music being played by the Others.  This will also summon Iwa to inhabit the bodies of the Others with him.  The floor will be covered in beads and snake vertebrae.

Iwa take on characteristics of the person, and many times these characteristics allow the person inhabiting it to discover more about themselves.


[At the end of the initial scene, the Priest will draw a crucifix in flower in front of Jon]
Crucifix symbolizes the crossroads [where Jon is in his life]


Most of information comes from: http://themiltondoddreaders.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/8/1/10819822/vodou_in_haitian_life_and_culture__invisible_powers.pdf


Watch, Rewatch, Watch Again Throughout Process - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YIO_dxyJio

Better Block Saint Joseph Spotlights

A new series of spotlights, I'll be adding new ones to this blog as I get them done:

#1: MWSU Temp Agency Art Gallery 

Eyelit - High

A video I helped Eyeperture Productions make for the St. Joseph based band Eyelit, ENJOY!