by Stefan Cieply Events in Ukraine have moved swiftly over the past week, leaving much of the media scrambling to explain an extraordinary series of events. Out of this confusion two powerful memes have emerged: that the current events in Ukraine are sectional in nature and that the radical right has driven the events in … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Failure, Futurity, and the Utopia of Film
by Brian Bergen-Aurand I have now read The Utopia of Film by Christopher Pavsek cover to cover twice and the introduction three more times. It is a book well worth returning to repeatedly for its analysis of these films and filmmakers, its rigorous discussion of critical theory (especially Marxism, Modernism/Post-Modernism, and Frankfurt School Theory), and … Continue reading
The universe originated from the point between the states of “existence” and “non-existence”: A thought on Aikido
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The purpose of Aikido is to elevate ourselves from the world of matter to the world of spirit. Matter descends, spirit ascends. Aikido is a wonderful flower that blooms in our world and bears great spiritual fruit. Aikido should be the basis of our lives, and we should strive to establish true … Continue reading
It’s Philip and Bartholomew: On Religion, The State, and Same-Sex Unions
by Brian Bergen-Aurand O Lord our God, who made humankind in thine image and likeness and gave it power over all flesh everlasting, and who now has approved thy saints and apostles Philip and Bartholomew becoming partners, not bound together by nature, but in the unity of the holy spirit and in the mode of … Continue reading
Sex Work in Our Midst?
by Brian Bergen-Aurand A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me if I would be okay with sex workers “plying their trade” in my back yard. Since I’ve been asked to run this thought experiment no less than three times in the past month, by three different friends, all with slightly different queer perspectives, … Continue reading
Inciting Poetry: A Lesson in Tearing Things Together
by Dave Arenas Component Poetics1 Explaining also example2 remove context whittle down to command3 * surrender model maximal giving in minimal narrative shorn of links4 * not what does this mean but how will you tear at it use turn against its originator5 * to start poem critique contort neither me nor counterfeit * speaks … Continue reading
ZOMIA MUST BE DEFENDED! (PART 3 / FINAL)
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The argument, in short, is that the history of hill peoples is best understood as a history not of archaic remnants but of “runaways” from state-making processes in the lowlands: a largely “maroon” society, providing that we take a very long historical view. Many of the agricultural and social practices of hill … Continue reading
Zomia must be defended! (part 2)
by Brian Bergen-Aurand State rulers find it well nigh impossible to install an effective sovereignty over people who are constantly in motion, who have no permanent pattern of organization, no permanent address, whose leadership is ephemeral, whose subsistence patterns are pliable and fugitive, who have few permanent allegiances, and who are liable, over time, to … Continue reading
Foreign Influence 