Camera Lucida and Lovebomb

My generation probably owes yours an apology. Because, hey, we definitely shanked it. We choked. We let ourselves get distracted with greed, with gloss, with the taste of the bread and the glitz of the circuses. We took our eyes off the prize – which was always this: There cannot be two American experiments, one for the fortunate and another for the rest. All of us must share the same future – like it or not. For the republic to long endure, there must be a real American collective and all of us must have some stake in that collective.

believermag:

“Most of my poems are written to women because women are most inspiring. Who are most artists? Men. Who do they get inspired by? Women. The masculinity in me gets inspired by the female. I fall in love with men and they take me over. I ain’t no women’s lib chick. So I can’t write about a man, because I’m under his thumb, but a woman I can be male with. I can use her as my muse. I use women.” - Patti Smith

“I don’t care about someone being intelligent; any situation between people, when they are really human with each other, produces ‘intelligence’.” -Susan Sontag


No one asked their names.

soupsoup:

mehreenkasana:

In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, us included, focused on the “backlash” and how it might further strain the relations with the US.

Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of  energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation, or what she said on her personal blog.

But the victims became a footnote, an anonymous footnote. Just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names.

In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.

The dead:
Mohamed Dawood son of  Abdullah
Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma
Nazar Mohamed 
Payendo
Robeena
Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed
Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid
Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed
Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir 
Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir
Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain
Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali 

The wounded:
Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat
Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim
Parween
Rafiullah
Zardana
Zulheja

A prayer for all sixteen martyrs. May their souls rest in peace and may justice be served one day, some day. Amin.

I’d like to see less stories about the shooter and more about the people whose lives he took.

(Source: aljazeera.com)

doomandgloomfromthetomb:

“Run Run Run/European Son/What Goes On” - The Feelies, Detmold, Germany, July 7, 1988

One more incredible Feelies live video. Best Velvet Underground cover(s) ever? I can’t think of anything better. 

onlyonet: occupyallstreets: Racist 1% Bank Investor Charged With Hate Crime And Stabbing A Cab Driver An investment banker was charged with a hate crime Wednesday for allegedly threatening and assaulting a cabbie of Middle Eastern descent after he disputed the fare the banker was charged for the ride from New York City to his Darien home, police said. Darien police charged William Bryan Jennings, 47, of Knollwood Lane, with second-degree assault, theft of services and second-degree intimidation based on race or bigotry. He was released after posting $9,500 bond and was to appear at court March 7. Jennings denied the allegations and through his attorney claims he is the victim in the case. Darien Lt. Ronald Bussell said the driver had made a complaint to police about 12:30 a.m. Dec. 22. The man told police he had given Jennings a ride home to his $3.6 million Knollwood Lane home about midnight. The driver said Jennings refused to pay the $200 cab fare and became abusive, threatening him and using racial slurs, Bussell said. The driver then drove with Jennings in the back seat to find a police officer to help settle the matter, Bussell said. When the driver put a hand through the cab’s partition into the passenger compartment during the ride, Jennings stabbed the hand with a pen knife, Bussell said. According to his profile, Jennings is a highly placed executive with Morgan Stanley. Read More Real life Patrick Bateman.

onlyonet:

occupyallstreets:

Racist 1% Bank Investor Charged With Hate Crime And Stabbing A Cab Driver

An investment banker was charged with a hate crime Wednesday for allegedly threatening and assaulting a cabbie of Middle Eastern descent after he disputed the fare the banker was charged for the ride from New York City to his Darien home, police said.

Darien police charged William Bryan Jennings, 47, of Knollwood Lane, with second-degree assault, theft of services and second-degree intimidation based on race or bigotry. He was released after posting $9,500 bond and was to appear at court March 7. Jennings denied the allegations and through his attorney claims he is the victim in the case.

Darien Lt. Ronald Bussell said the driver had made a complaint to police about 12:30 a.m. Dec. 22.

The man told police he had given Jennings a ride home to his $3.6 million Knollwood Lane home about midnight. The driver said Jennings refused to pay the $200 cab fare and became abusive, threatening him and using racial slurs, Bussell said.

The driver then drove with Jennings in the back seat to find a police officer to help settle the matter, Bussell said. When the driver put a hand through the cab’s partition into the passenger compartment during the ride, Jennings stabbed the hand with a pen knife, Bussell said.

According to his profile, Jennings is a highly placed executive with Morgan Stanley.

Read More

Real life Patrick Bateman.

Nobody had talked about income inequality in America for decades – apart from John Edwards – but no one was listening. But now you have Newt Gingrich talking about ‘vulture capitalism’ – Newt Gingrich! – that would not have happened without Occupy Wall Street.

douglaswolk:

YELLE - Comme Un Enfant (official music video) (by Yelle) —It’s so… so pink! (Thank you, Robin E.!)