"The Play" - 1982 Cal-Stanford Big Game

I'm not a fan of either Cal or Stanford for obvious reasons. I never went to either one for college. But "the Play" is one of those historic sports moments that just made me love the sport of football forever. Anyways, like any great play there's always a bit of controversy. Stanford claims that the ball was down on Cal's 49 yard line. But a UC Berkeley professor (obviously from an unbiased point of view) uses the magic of digital 3-D technology to demonstrate once and for all that the ball was never downed.

Enjoy!

A Final Lecture

Professor Randy Pausch of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University gives his final lecture this past Tuesday. He was diagnosed with an incurable form of pancreatic cancer and even though he underwent a series of aggressive treatments in chemotherapy, his cancer returned leaving him with only months left to live. I read the article about him and he has such an incredible life.

I read his lecture. I saw it on video. And I am so humbled by his words and life.

Just a Thought on Foucault

So I've been avidly working on my conclusion and I realized two things about it:

1) The conclusion doesn't have to be all that complex. I was lucky enough to read two great examples from two of my friends and they were short, simple, and to the point. It was more than restating the argument, but about contextualizing the work in other ways and setting aside room for a future research agenda. However ...
2) Even when I don't need it to be complex, I keep coming across stuff that does complicate things a lot more than what I actually need.

Here's one example ...

I was rereading Foucault's lectures on race and racism in "Society Must Be Defended," and in the section on biopolitics in History of Sexuality. As a follow up, I read an interview from Foucault in Power/Knowledge. His interviews often provide some of the best details into his works. I was looking for additional tidbits of information when I came across this:

Grosrichdard: To come now to the last part of your book .... [ref. HOS]
Foucault: Yes, no one wants to talk about that last part. Even though the book is a short one, but I suspect people never got as far as this last chapter. All the same, it's the fundamental part of the book.

By the way, the last part of History of Sexuality is "Part Five: Right of Death and Power Over Life." This is the section discussing biopolitics / biopower of race deployed as a technology of power in the specific practice of preserving and disqualifying life. Obviously, our use of "race" is not used in the same way that Foucault does to denote multicultural relations, for instance. Instead, it is how "race" is deployed as a method of discerning, categorizing, and mobilizing differences in population as a question and problem of "species." This is where Foucault makes the provocative claim that "massacres are vital," leading political theorist Mitchell Dean to call this section, Foucault's "dark side." At any rate, that section about biopolitics was hugely critical in my research about hate violence. Anyways ...

I was struck by Foucault's observation about the reception of his book, especially when he considers it to be the "fundamental part of the book." So why did people did not want to talk about the last section? And who exactly are "they?"

I remember my graduate seminar in cultural studies and my first introduction to HOS. I distinctly remember that our coverage, though mainly for a lack of time, only covered the major insights around discourse, sexuality, and power. But not the last section. As a matter of fact, I don't think I touched the last section until I came across the governmentality lectures and subsequent scholarship that referenced biopolitics / biopower at the start of my dissertation. I wonder if we could measure the distribution of HOS according to discipline? I haven't really come across a work in the humanities that uses/discusses Foucault's biopolitics / biopower section except for the social sciences. And while quite a few social scientists use HOS in general, a lot more seem to be rooted in the humanities in general. So I'm wondering if there's a disciplinary boundary that governs Foucault's chapters in HOS?

*shrugs*

The Last Few Steps

I have a number of things on my plate again that needs to be taken care of before the end of the month. Among them are:

1) Finish my conclusion: It's just that simple. Finish it and move onto my revisions.
2) Job applications: Yep I'm on the market this year. There's a number of pretty nice positions that look interesting so I'll give it a go.
3) Intent to Graduate: I have to file an intent to graduate? Weird but oh well.
4) CSU Forgivable Loan crap: I have to reconfirm my status as "continuing student" in the program otherwise they'll start sending the bills.
5) Schedule a defense: It'll be my "Judgement Day." Yikes.
6) Everything else that I forgot to list goes here.

West Virginia Torture Case

This is absolutely horrid case. A commentator described the incident like a scene out of a horror movie. I'll keep following this as best as I can.

UPDATE: Somehow my google news filter missed this case that occurred in January 2007.

Details Emerge in West Virginia Torture Case

By JOHN RABY and TOM BREEN
Associated Press

BIG CREEK, W.Va. — For at least a week, authorities say, a young black woman was held captive in a mobile home, forced to eat animal waste, stabbed, choked and repeatedly sexually abused — all while being peppered with a racial slur.

It wasn't until deputies acting on an anonymous tip drove to a ramshackle trailer deep in West Virginia's rural hills that she was found. Limping toward the door with her arms outstretched, she uttered, "Help me," the Logan County sheriff's office said.

Six people, all white, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, have been arrested and could face federal hate crime charges in the suspected attack on 20-year-old Megan Williams, who remained hospitalized Tuesday with injuries that included four stab wounds in the leg, and black and blue eyes. Her right arm was in a cast.

"I'm better," Williams told The Associated Press in a voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter," Carmen Williams said Tuesday from the Charleston Area Medical Center. "I didn't know there were people like that out here."

The AP generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother agreed to release her name.

A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim was lured to the house and attacked by a man she had met online, but Carmen Williams insisted that wasn't the case. "This wasn't from the Internet," she said.

Authorities were still looking for two people they believe drove the woman to the house where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess. Deputies also interviewed Williams on Tuesday morning. An FBI spokesman in Pittsburgh, Bill Crowley, confirmed that the agency is looking into possible civil rights violations.

The case is "something that would have come out of a horror movie," Logan County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.

The home is in a forlorn part of Logan County about 50 miles southwest of Charleston, where the scattered homes are marked by "No Trespassing" signs. An old shed linked to a mobile home by an extension cord is what authorities say became a hellish prison for Williams.

Deputies found her when they drove to the home on Saturday after receiving an anonymous tip from someone who witnessed the abuse, officials said.

The woman was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court based on what the suspects told deputies. She also had been choked with a cord, it alleges. Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being sexually assaulted.

One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.

Carmen Williams said doctors told her daughter she may be well enough to leave the hospital within a few days, although a nurse said the young woman's condition was listed as "under evaluation."

"I just want my daughter to be well and recover," Carmen Williams said. "I know the Lord can do anything."

The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Frankie Brewster, the 49-year-old woman who owns the home where the suspected attacks occurred, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Frankie Brewster was released from prison in September 2000 after serving five years for voluntary manslaughter and wanton endangerment in the death of an 84-year-old woman, according to court records.

Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27, of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

All six remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and all have asked for court-appointed attorneys.

Quotation for the Day

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.

-- Laurence J. Peter (Educator & Writer, 1919-1988)

Clown Power!!!

Of all the counter-demonstrations, this has got to be the most ingenious and creative. Clown Power vs. White Power? Who do you think will win? Read the article to find out!

Photo and article courtesy of Asheville Indymedia.

Nazi's out of Knoxville!

Saturday May 26th the VNN Vanguard Nazi/KKK group attempted to host a hate rally to try to take advantage of the brutal murder of a white couple for media and recruitment purposes. http://www.volunteertv.com/special

Unfortunately for them the 100th ARA (Anti Racist Action) clown block came and handed them their asses by making them appear like the asses they were.

Alex Linder the founder of VNN and the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns. http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/7704982.html

“White Power!” the Nazi’s shouted, “White Flour?” the clowns yelled back running in circles throwing flour in the air and raising separate letters which spelt “White Flour”.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s angrily shouted once more, “White flowers?” the clowns cheers and threw white flowers in the air and danced about merrily.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s tried once again in a doomed and somewhat funny attempt to clarify their message, “ohhhhhh!” the clowns yelled “Tight Shower!” and held a solar shower in the air and all tried to crowd under to get clean as per the Klan’s directions.

At this point several of the Nazi’s and Klan members began clutching their hearts as if they were about to have a heart attack. Their beady eyes bulged, and the veins in their tiny narrow foreheads beat in rage. One last time they screamed “White Power!”

The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

It was at this point that several observers reported seeing several Klan members heads exploding in rage and they stopped trying to explain to the clowns what they wanted.

Apparently the clowns fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the rally, they believed it was a clown rally and came in force to support their pointy hated brethren. To their dismay, despite their best jokes and stunts and pratfalls the Nazis and Klan refused to laugh, and indeed became enraged at the clowns misunderstanding and constant attempts to interpret the clowns instruction.

The clowns on the other hand had a great time and thought the Nazis were the funniest thing they had ever seen and the loud laughter of over 100 counter protesters greeted every attempt of the Nazis and Klan to get their message out, whatever that was.

Many of the local Knoxvillians that came to counter demonstrate had no illusions about why these out of state bad clowns with swastikas were doing in their town.

“KKK YOU CAN’T HIDE, WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE!”

“GAY, STRAIGHT, BLACK, WHITE ONE STRUGGLE ONE FIGHT!”

“U.G.L.Y. KLAN YOU AIN’T GOT NO ALIBI, YOU UGLY, YOU UGLY”

Were just a few of the chants that the non clown counter protesters rained down upon the Nazis. The clowns interacted with the non clown protesters with glee and even participated in a chant or two, though apparently with no idea that the Nazis were indeed not clowns thinking it was just part of the show.

In the end the 20 or so sad VNNers left with their tails between their legs. At this point over 150 counter demonstraters were present. The clowns seeing how dejected and sad the Nazi’s looked began singing to cheer them up.

“hey hey hey hey, ho ho ho ho—good bye, good bye” everyone sang waving their arms in the air in unison.

After the VNNers left in their shiny SUVs to go back to Alabama and all the other states that they were from the clowns and counter demonstrators began to march out of the area chanting ‘WHOSE STREETS? OUR STREETS!”

But the cops stopped the clowns and counter protestors. “Hey, do you want an escort” an African-American police officer on a motorcycle asked. “Yes” a clown replied. “We are walking to Market Square in the center of town to celebrate.”

The police officers got in front of the now anti racist parade and blocked the entire road for the march through the heart of Knoxville. An event called imagination station was taking place and over 15,000 thousand students and their parents were in town that weekend. Many of them cheered as the clowns, Knoxvillians and counter protestors marched through the heart of Knoxville singing and laughing at the end of the Nazi’s first attempt at having a rally in Knoxville.

On June 16th the Stormfront Nazis are trying to have a second rally in Knoxville. Clowns, anarchist, activist and others are all invited to come and creatively and nonviolently help us confront these Nazis and give them an even bigger counter rally than the first. If you can come, or can help email.

knoxvilleantiracistaction@yahoo.com

or join our myspace at:

http://www.myspace.com/knoxvilleantiracistaction

Thanks to Three Rivers Earth First!, Mountain Justice Summer, Katuah Earth First!, Knoxville Anti Racist Action, Katuah Anti Racist Action and the clown block for utterly wrecking the failed attempt of the Nazis to get a foothold in Knoxville. In one day Three Rivers Earth First!ers posted over 1000 anti racist fliers all over Knoxville recruiting people to come, this is just one example of all the work and effort that went in to creatively and nonviolently rejecting the VNNers out of Knoxville.