• marvin harris
• Jared diamond Collapse
• Immanuel Wallerstein - World Systems Theory

*Q: has he read graves/beck/cowan? does he think that "2nd tier consciousness" is what he's talking about? Can you create the life conditions in order to achieve the evolution or does the evolution have to come first?
[no, he hasn't read any of them or heard of spiral dynamics]

Sunday 10am Revolutionary Discourse
Jason from Brooklyn - Prof. of Human Communication [& eats pizza alone in Tenleytown]

on blackboard: "How can we more consciously create & promote a Revolutionary Discourse that attracts people to our movement & to our movement and does not water down our revolutionary discourse?"

"What do we want out of this?" i said i want to see how memetics fits in - how to disseminate them wthout being in your face. [kid behind me goes "BAM!" and "shout out to YOU."]

jason:"there's no comprehension w/o discourse." how does the wider community see revolutions?

• liberty w/ flag leading crowd
• fear
• patriotism or a joke
• chaos, stealing & violence
• armed
• lack of rules/control; murder, greedy violence, "we're all going to die."
• something from history books, all done with, unnecessary in America, minor reforms are all we need.

Knowledge, Skills & Craft
(small group: andrea - NYC; jeremy - pittsburgh - josh - NYC)

KNOWLEDGE: (authors, books, movies, music, theories)
small group:

• spanish civil war '39 - '45
• Murray Bookchin
• George Orwell
• The Lincoln Brigades
• Howard Rheingold - Smartmobs (or Flashmobs according to another girl later on)
• technology in general
• Game Theory
• cooperation instead of combat
• basic accounting & bookkeeping, organizing your non-profit etc.

• definitivejux.net - "defjux"
• mr. lips
• i, phantom
• about the FALN - Puerto Rico independence
  • arrested, took prisoner of war status
  • 300 actions in US from the '70s to the 90s
  • 8 people killed
  • Prisoners of Colonialism by A. Fernandez
• - Animal Equality by Joan Banager (??)
  • silence = dilution &
  • co-optation (new word i made up) taking back languages & symbols of revolution
• be nice to conservatives
• experience stuff: protests, be w/ people from different perspectives & ask a lot of questions with people you disagree with
• teaching: you have beliefs and you cement them by teaching
• film screenings & discussion
• using the internet
• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn to get people to think
• Soul of a Citizen
• Red Anarchist Network (website)
• be mindful of language - be aware we have things in common w/ far right: distrustful of gov't, etc.
• the excption to the rulers - Amy Goodman - made visible connections between who the us endorses.
• Ideas for Action - Cynthia Crawford
• Don't think of an elephant by george leikoff - words & ideas
• we are everywhere from "notes from nowhere"
• Jean Hartsday, Manufacturing - Resentment '98-'99 Political Research Associates
• Basic political philosophies & economics (the Big Names & Big Theories)
• 1st American Revolution - Bernard Baylin
• Mumia Abu Jamal

SKILLS:
What skills do we need? Not just how to build a molotov cocktail

• how to be a good speaker
• speeches overemphasized
• bulk mailing
• accounting - how to be good capitalists
• speaking to others *not* the converted
• using humour - boondocks, Get Your War On
• ability to impart moral credibility
• basic internet skills
• skill shares
• talk to people one-on-one, talking to people
• learning how to use the mainstream media
• know how to talk to intellectuals and the common man
• DAM, NEMA
• sense of humor; stay human
• stay positive, be fun to be around
• live by example, don't preach
• don't talk down to people, don't be a conceited asshole
• don't assume you're right or better or be self-righteous
• practice speaking w/ people in different cultures
• don't be falsely honest or perky; you can be miserable and fierce in criticism (kurt cobain & malcolm x as examples)
• listening - even if you don't want to hear
• language - don't fight "against capitalism" but instead "for revolution" (or whatever)
• is positivity a pre-requisite? (i say no b/c there has to be a critical view - everyone has different views and roles in the activist community)
• nonverbal communication
• neutral safe zone for honest dialogue
• Cornell West - was at harvard, now at princeton, get a video if possible - good example of balancing + and

CRAFT:
How do we craft our discourse? How do we present our revolution? How can we make revolution contageous? Why is Revolution necessary? Why go through the hardship? What gives us the "Right" to talk revolution?

• Advertising, graphic design, marketing the revolution.
• fist/ red & black/ circle-A: scary imagery
• dress "like them"
• balance image
• think about your audience, where you live
• we need the Karl Roves of the Revolution
• we need forums [fora] to critique our messages and keep discussions going
• there's going to be opposition - what do we do? "we can't just trample them... can we?"
• "Revolution Will be Televised - Venezuela

More stuff:

• The Electric Meme - Robert A.... someone :)
• viequeslibre.org
• prolibertad

• Neil - history of education
• Laurie - young people's oppresion
• Amber - starting & running the school
• Chloe - what it's like to be a student

Neil: History of Education

• average kid spends 13 years in school, 6.5 years if you discount summers)
• there were 3 traditional principles of education prior to 1872:
  1. 1. to make good people (the Religious/Ethical principle)
  2. 2. to make good citizens & create awareness of communities & government (the Civic principle)
  3. 3. to make successful individuals (Private principle) soon a 4th artificially created purpose was invented & implemented by the gov't:
  4. 4. to create incomplete people who need to be "managed"
• prior to 1872 the majority of people in the US spent 15-20 weeks in public education (not including seminaries & people who were training to be teachers or professionals.)
• all but 2 of the people involved in creating the Declaration of Independence & Constitution had NO formal education, including Thomas Jefferson
• Carnegie, Morgan, Rockerfeller non of them had substantial formal education, but they thought about what education could be and how it could be used
• big business at the time had a vested interest in education: coal industries, railroads, JP Morgan, John D. Rockerfeller etc. "education lets people understand their greivances & oppression"
• [more on this here: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm ]
• Literacy rate in the US was 90-99% before formal compulsory education
• 1880-1881 literacy in MA (first state to have compulsory schooling) was at 98% & people fought hard against the compulsory education
• 1888 "education is the cause of all dissent"
• [most info seems to be from john taylor gatto]

Amber: getting a free school up & running

• the Gainesville Street School started 2 years ago
• people had been thinking about education
• radical anarchist mom & another woman thinking about freeschools
• had a meeting that they barely advertised or flyered for & 30 people showed up
• by the time amber had moved to the area, all the parents had dropped out & the entire plan had totally fizzled.
• instead of being discouraged, she said "We want to start a school. In 2 weeks." and "bam!" it happened
• hours: 10am - 6pm & parents can drop off/pick up kids anytime in there (10-2 session & 2-4 session plus "afterschool" )
• 2 facilitators including non-parents
• they had kids doing what they wanted which basically meant destroying amber's house, so they rented space from a church from 10-2 & after 2 they go on field trips
• they keep notebooks & write down what they want to do all week - this is a compromise with parents who wanted more formalized education plans
• they participate in a homeschool 4H group for Chloe to be around older kids - they pick their own projects & work on them at their own pace, kinda like unschooling
• staff: had 7 now have 3 - they lost facilitators... "new activist projects are exciting" but once the glamour wore off, they left. often they were afraid of the kids, afraid to tell kids when they're being problems/hurting/disrupting
• they currently have 1 non-parent involved
• parents are relaxing about the lack of structure

Chloe: what's it like?

• we don't like being held in class for half an hour or an hour or two in school, we could do better
• never got breaks except to go to the bathroom
• can't be absent at school or you get in trouble
• don't have to do stupid field trips
• don't have to compete with yourself for..."what are those called? [brief discussion w/ amber & laurie] ... oh yeah. report cards."
• i can do 2 pages of math instead of 6
  
  
  go through a "normal" day:
• get up @9 - mom wakes me up
• pack own lunch - better than disgusting school lunch
• scooter or drive to school or CMC
• 2 pgs of math from curriculum
• wait for others to be done their am work, read books
• decide what to do: museum, park, swimming,
• eat lunch at 2 or 12
• after field trips go to amber's to play: tues: woodworking, thurs: bike adventures fri: drama
• mom picks me up at 6
  
  
  *Q: how important is scheduling/consistency? How would you feel if you did different stuff all day? do you like that you do x on tues, bike thurs, drama fri? "would you feel weird if you didn't do the same thing every day?"
  
  
  Chloe's response: yes. [i asked "do you know why?" she ponders a moment, says:] important to have same stuff every day b/c she knows it's stuff she chose to do & is doing it. "good question!"
  Nick's response: some of the kids' lives are in total chaos all the time, is good for them to have some things to count on
  
  
  commenter: how do you know what you want to learn?
  chloe: i know i don't want to learn long division!
  amber: chloe talking so much about math b/c she really hates it & has to do it as part of compromise w/ her mom. GSS really needs support of parents

  *Q: do you charge tuition? how much?

  • $100/mo rent @ library - try to get
  • $40/mo from parents or work exchange.
    [i didn't get to ask how they pay for resources, field trips, books, woodworking supplies, etc.]
  • free childcare coop -> school

Other comments/contacts/info

• red headed guy in red shirt [G.]:
  • Movie: For the Purpose
  • NCACS - National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools
  • teacher education program - 1 year certification program
  • upattinas.org
  • k-12 160 kids [??]

• camp hill villages - steiner-based residential facilities for "mentally disabled"
• b'more girl w/ rainbow dreads: contact my mom

• Baltimore: The Community School - HS not a freeschool, there is structure but it's very alternative. in Remington, corner of 30th & Huntington - contact Tom
• book: "One School's Approach to Ritalin-free education"

Gainesville Street School: street_school@hotmail.com
adults: laurie, amber, neil: 352.338.1140

• AFS based on Summerhill guy
• AFS: Council Meeting is last resort after not being able to solve problems 1 on 1,
• first they try to mediate.
• kids are allowed to fight as long as no one says "stop"
• there's the Stop Rule.
• consequences decided by students
• teachers have decision to expel
• example of a problem now in AFS: stealing - a girl is stealing stuff; if she doesn't return it, kids decided they don't want her to come back till she does
• # of teachers: 6 salaried ($20k/yr)
• 4 interns & volunteers
• AFS: tuition $0-400/month
• class structures:
  • preschool - K have to stay on middle floor;
  • academics happen every day;
  • kids chase kindergarten teacher around w/ their workbooks asking to "do kindergarten";
  • 2nd grader saying "i wanna do spanish NOW!"
  • grades 1-6 in one clump

• Teaching the Restless
• Making it Up as We Go Along

Other Comments:

• girl from Harmony in Indiana - kids choose the new students
• Meeting School - kids choose students AND faculty