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the zeitgeist movement: illinois chapter

2010-05-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

Monday night the Abby Pub hosted a meet and greet with members of the Illinois chapter of the Zeitgeist Movement. It was relatively full with around 30 people in attendance. Right after arriving I met the Illinois chapter coordinator, David Simeone. Also in attendance was the former Illinois chapter coordinator and now coordinator for the entire US, Jen Wilding. There was about an hour of meeting and greeting followed by a screening of "The Venus Project - Key Concepts" - a 40 min. edit taken from "Zeitgeist: Addendum" and "Future by Design" which was put together by some other zeitgeist members. Although it was much shorter than the other movies or presentations, it didn't seem to get it's points across very clearly. In my opinion it would have been better to watch the last 2/3 of Addendum or "The Zeitgeist Movement: Orientation".

After the screening they opened up to Q and A. I was very impressed with the patience of David and Jen during the Q and A. The crowd basically broke down into 2 groups: people who are totally on board and have watched, listened and read everything related to zeitgeist and people new to this information. One girl asked the same question three times until she got the answer she liked. My favorite part of that was listening to this awesome old man inadvertently make fun of her for it. Another guy who worked at the bar betrayed his ignorance about poverty and starvation so blatantly I had to leave. I know patience is a huge part of teaching people new things, but I couldn't deal with that. That's something I'll need to work on if I plan on teaching this to people.

Earth Day!

2010-04-22T17:47:00.001-05:00

It seems to me that if the relationship between humans and the earth was looked at like any other human relationship, the humans would be mentally and physically abusing the earth every day, degrading it, humiliating it, covering it in filth, raping it and doing anything and everything short of killing it to gain any kind of advantage in the relationship. And then one day out of the year the humans throw a party for the earth in front of all the other humans, telling it how great it is and how they're going to stop doing all the bad things they do. Earth day!

That's really harsh, I know, but I can't find any reason to get excited about conservation, recycling or anything else earth day related when no one is talking about the root problems of the way we live. The free market/capitalist system we have is not sustainable and is leading us to our own extinction.

It's probably too hard to read in that picture, but there's a Carl Sagan quote at the bottom which reads: "A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed."

That pretty much sums it up. Humans are at war all the time. Over resources, oil, fresh water, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. If we continue to hoard, we will wipe ourselves out. We need real change.

If you haven't already, watch the movie "zeitgeist:addendum" It's the only information I've found that gives me some shred of hope for the future of humanity. Let's hope that Dr. Sagan was right in saying that a new consciousness is developing. I'd like to think that it is.

motorcycle

2010-04-18T16:53:00.000-05:00

Last fall I bought a motorcycle. It's a 1980 Kawasaki 750LTD. By the time I learned to ride, got plates, insurance and passed my riding test, it was getting cold and I stored it in my landlord's garage for the winter. It wasn't running very well before I stored it, but I chalked that up to old gas. This spring I took apart and cleaned the carburetor with help from this guy's motorcycle blog. I was lucky that the carb he was cleaning in his example was a lot like mine. All in all, it was pretty easy even though I really have no experience working on engines. It was fun too. And the feeling of accomplishment was well worth the effort. It still needs some work. It runs, but not very smoothly. It takes a long time to warm up and I have to keep adjusting the throttle to keep it from idling too high once it does warm up. I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe the carbs need adjusting, setup, jetting, synchronizing, who knows? I'm hoping to get some help from friends or at least a place to work on it some more. There is free parking in front of my apartment, but there's no way I could get away with working on it in the street. A neighbor once told me that fines for getting caught are pretty heavy.

This is going to be an awesome summer!

vote with your dollars this holiday season

2009-12-16T11:10:00.000-06:00

This holiday season (and all the time really) it's important to remember that anything you spend money on is the same as saying "make more of this for everyone, it's great!". When you buy a big mac for lunch, ten more will appear in it's place. When you buy a handmade scarf at a craft show, you give that person the support to make more.

We are all responsible for what products and services we continue to see available in the world we live in. If we want to make the world a better place, we can do it by supporting what we feel is right. It can take a lot of research to find out if what we support is beneficial and sustainable or toxic to the environment and the living things in it. And who can you trust? The company itself? The internet community?

Recently I made a post about buying a winter coat in a socially responsible way. This purchase has got me to thinking about what the rest of my money is supporting.

My girlfriend told me some shocking news this morning. She's reading the book Eating Animals by Jonanthan Safran Foer, and she told me that it's basically impossible to consider yourself an environmentalist if you eat meat. I know factory farming and slaughterhouses are unsustainable and disgusting, but really? There's no way around it? I love eating meat! We need to talk.

This person's comment on the book's website makes some really good point that I tend to agree with. I really hope there's a way to eat meat in a responsible manner. I don't need to eat it at every meal, but food is definitely what I spend most of my money on and I buy food more often than anything else. Last night I watched the movie Food, Inc. and the last point they made was that you can vote for how you want your food to be produced three times a day.

It's more difficult and expensive to be responsible with your purchases and some may say, "what difference does it make? everything is a business and business has to maximize profits. things can only get shittier when your goal is making money". That may be true for business, but that's not the point. A change has to occur in each of us. We need to change our minds and our habits. We've been conditioned to think that water will never run out, food will never run out and all our garbage can be swept under the earth's rug. That is unsustainable thinking. If the world today was transplanted into a sustainable system for society, most people would go back to what they know and it wouldn't work. We need to learn our lesson from this first. Sustaining life is a process that comes with harsh lessons. We've become removed from that for a while, but we're about due for another lesson. Change your mind and you change your reality.

Happy Holidays

white russian/white rush out

2009-12-02T12:29:00.003-06:00

Last week I was buying white russian supplies at Binny's and the cashier commented on the fact that we share the same last name. "My last name is Brewer too!" This caught me slightly off guard as he was a black man. Immediately I was reminded of something my brother once told me. "If you ever meet a black person with the last name Brewer, it's probably because our ancestors used to own their ancestors as slaves. They would usually give them their last name to show ownership."

The thought crossed my mind, "I wonder if this guy knows this?" He was a young man. I thought for a moment about trying to make some sort of joke about it. I didn't. I'm glad I didn't. Although I've gotten better about beating myself up with white guilt, that doesn't mean I should go around making light of horrible past events to anyone I encounter.

But that was all I could think of. He kept talking about the name. "Hey, it's the same spelling too. I bet people misspell your name all the time too. They always spell it 'b-r-e-u-e-r' don't they?" And I said, "uh, no I haven't had that too often." But what I was thinking was "Hey, my family used to own your family! That's weird, huh?" Shut up, shut up! Don't say anything about slavery. You can't make a joke about it. Don't even try to mention it. Just stand there awkwardly until you can leave.

And that was it. I left without saying anything stupid or awkward. This is just white guilt I have to live with whenever this kind of thing comes up. My ancestors were pieces of shit like most white people of that time. I'm descended from that and there's no way around it. The only thing that makes a difference now is that we're both essentially slaves today. We both work dehumanizing retail jobs just to afford to eat and have a place to live. I guess my main point is Fuck the Monetary System! And Fuck the US!

Happy Holidays

winter coat

2009-11-19T00:07:00.021-06:00

I need a new winter coat. My old winter coat is not warm enough for Chicago, there's no hood, etc. But the way I see it, buying a coat is kind of a major purchase (well, it is for me). It's over a hundred dollars. So, in thinking about this I was wondering what my options are for making a socially responsible purchase. As I see it what we spend our money on is the only real vote we cast. It's the only one that really counts. So I want this to count.

Without thinking about any of that, the coat I want is this one from the gap. However, it's pretty much fact that gap clothing is from overseas sweatshops. I thought maybe I should buy a coat that's made in America, non-sweat shop. I found this one from a really cool company called Schott in New York. But what if the fabric they use was made in a sweatshop and it was just sewn together in America? Then while looking at eco-friendly clothing shops I found out that nylon and polyester (most commonly used in coats)are made from petroleum. There are coats like this one that are made from hemp. Then there's organic to think about or coats made with recycled materials. Patagonia has a coat that costs six hundred fucking dollars!

This shit gets ridiculous! Sure, if money was no object then I would buy the most eco-friendly, socially responsible, wind powered, green fucking coat in the world. I'd spend two thousand dollars on it and let business know that that's where I want my money to go.

But I'm not willing to spend that much or even close to that on a coat. What about a thrift store coat? Other than not finding a coat that fits well, in the style I want or not falling apart in some way, this is my best option. But is a thrift store coat guilt free? Is buying a thrift store coat just a trick to make you think you're not part of the sweatshop clothing system? It's like the second generation of sweatshop consumer. Is that okay?

I'm halfway to saying fuck it and getting the gap coat. It's what I want and it fits well (medium/tall, hard to find), but I'll probably check out some thrift shops first just to see. Does anyone have any better ideas?

Update 12/03

I decided on this coat from Carhartt. Carhartt is a family owned and operated company in the U.S. The coat is made from nylon and I'm not sure where the fabric is made, but I believe I did the best I could within my budget. Like I said if money was no object.

Thank you all for your advice and opinions on this.

-Justin

pagan scientist

2008-03-08T00:36:00.000-06:00

I found these coincidences intriguing:

The last post I made on my livejournal received a comment from a former co-worker/acquaintance that I haven't seen, spoken to or in any other way communicated with in years. In the comment she revealed some of her pagan beliefs.

A few days ago my friend Ryan show me this video on youtube:

Now, understandably I had to see this movie. It looks horrible. And everything I've read about it online says it's horrible, but I had to know; why is Nicolas Cage punching women? Not just women, but young women. It also looks like he's slapping around little girls. And when he runs up in a bear costume, winds up and cold cocks a girl in the face, I thought, "what the fuck is going on in this movie?"

As it turns out what I read was true. This was one of the dumbest, worst fucking movies I've ever seen. It was borderline infuriating it was so poorly written and executed. However, when talking about this movie with a coworker, she tells me that the original "Wicker Man" made in 1973 is a good movie. She loves it. It's full of sex and paganism and music. It's great. So I watched the 1973 version. And I loved it.

It was a great story, well acted (Christopher Lee plays the main pagan guy), and the music and film quality had that 70's charm. The pacing, cinematography, stylized camera shots, psychedelic musical numbers all built to a compelling climax of christian vs. pagan beliefs. However, It did make the pagans look savage and superstitious and that got me to thinking, "Is it possible to practice paganism with modern scientific discoveries?"

I may have found the religion I've been looking for.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T13:34:00.000-06:00

Ringing in the new year in only a way that Abba can provide. Trivia question: how many um-lots are in all the band member's names? 60 seconds. . .

Have a safe and happy new year's eve everybody! I was hoping to go visit Michigan for NYE and see Nomo and Jamie's last show for a while, but sadly I have to work tomorrow. Well, not too sadly. I will get time and a half on the slowest day of the year. Whoooo! Money!

I may complain about those Goddamned 6am meetings all the time, but Whole Foods isn't such a bad employer. I can't think of many other places that give full time benefits to all employees that work 30 or more hours a week. Yes, they do mercilessly fire people all the time for breaking even minor rules. A guy just got fired last week. Not only that, he was taken away by the cops in the middle of his shift. I probably shouldn't be writing this. I'm liable to get fired myself for leaking information.

I quit the diner job this week. Yesterday was my last double, thank God! I worked from 9 in the morning to 12 at night. From here on out it's 8 hour shifts(well, 8 and a half). I think it's for the best considering I'm still not vegetarian and I couldn't tell you more than two things on the menu. How did I get away with that?

With all the money I have saved up I bought a new computer. . . and it's a mac. A macbook pro. Hello professionalism!

Speaking of professionalism, I went out to the bar with some co-workers on Christmas day and sank to a new low, or reached a new height depending on how you look at it. I got cut off! I remember being told no more drinks and being walked home shortly afterword, but I guess I had my sweater tied around my head on my last trip up to the bar. Thank God I got cut off when I did. The hangover the next day was wicked. I think it was the cigarettes. Not smoking all week and then smoking half a pack in two hours would make anyone puke.

Okay, new year's resolutions. I will make an effort to feel good all or most of the time by either: exercising, stretching, eating better, accomplishing tasks set for myself, and/or continuing to realize more fully that love is all there is and every day trivial matters cannot cause any permanent damage to the constantly evolving love that resides in us all and connects us in more ways than we can perceive. I love you all. Happy New You! (yes, I was stoned when I thought of this)

happy holidays!

2007-12-21T17:04:00.000-06:00

Today is winter solstice eve! And I've never felt the shortest days of the year as much as I do here in Chicago. It's just after 4:30 in the afternoon and it's pitch black outside. Weeeeeeee depression!

In other news, I may have told you that I work at a diner in the gay part of town, but you may be wondering just how gay. Well, here's part of an email that was sent out to everyone after the holiday party:

Hey guys....

Did anyone pick up a purple t-shirt with a Fairy on it and a scarf at the party sunday night? If so please let me know.....

THANKS!!

How this man left his t-shirt behind I can only imagine. Unfortunately I didn't go because of having to work at Whole Foods. Their holiday party is Jan. 8th. I think I should go to that one. It will be all the stores in Chicago together. There are people I don't know at my own store. Now there will be hundreds more! Ass of myself? You know it!

Happy holidays to all!

the latest from mike and dave

2007-11-05T13:05:00.001-06:00

This past weekend I went to Ann Arbor for a "going away" party hosted by Dave of "Mike and Dave" and during the party we filmed another short. Here it is:

Like any comedy series running low on ideas it ends with two men having sex. Classic! I was really hoping to not do that this time. Oh well. (lisping) Boys will be boys.

The party was a lot of fun. I got really drunk. What? Really drunk? You? Yeah, I did. In the morning I woke up on a couch I didn't remember sitting on. I couldn't eat my breakfast until late Saturday evening (I got it to go). I was great to see the folks from back home again. I hope they realize that the reason I got so drunk and I can only assume made an ass of myself is because I miss them.

insanity

2007-10-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

Last week, I was on my way home on the train and an old man a few seats in front of me started singing. I didn't think much of that. People sing sometimes. A little while later he noticed his own reflection in the window opposite his seat. It was then that he started to have a conversation with himself. At first there was lots of laughing, winking, a very animated discussion. With his reflection! Gradually it evolved into what looked like a sincere apology that lasted the rest of the ride home. (maybe 15 min.)

This man got me to thinking. He didn't look crazy when he got on the train. I talk to myself sometimes. Well, kind of a lot. I don't do it if other people can hear, but how far away am I from not caring about that? Is this my future? When you're old and don't have many friends around, living in a city full of strangers, how long can you take it before you just start making up the conversations you wish you could have?

The main reason I'm wondering if I'm insane is that at the Whole Foods meeting last week there was a point where I was laughing loudly at something and no one else was. They played music to introduce each department leader and I guess the woman who ran one of the departments was gone so a man was introduced with the song "she works hard for the money". I laughed my ass off until another grocery person standing next to me made me realize it was too loud. I was really tired. I used to be able to get away with that at the co-op. Not in the corporate giant that is "Asswhole Foods". I coined that term.

work, schmurk!

2007-10-16T01:50:00.000-05:00

It's 2am. I worked until 11 tonight and I have to go in at 6 to a Whole Foods all store meeting. In addition to that I have to work tomorrow at 2:30. How will I sleep? I can go to sleep now and wake up at 5 to go to the meeting, then come home and sleep for 3 more hours until I have to go back to work. Adding those together I can get a reasonable 6 hours of sleep. But I don't feel like sleeping now. I feel like making a huge pancake breakfast for myself and drinking coffee.

It's times like these that make me think that this is the worst job I've ever had. In other respects it's an okay job, but this type of shit is re-Goddamn-diculous! I can't believe that other employees who have to do this put up less of a fuss than I do. Are jobs really that bad out there? In a first world country like ours? For legal citizens?

I've been writing new song material, thinking about acting and my friend Wan told me about interning at her PBS type station. All of this amounts to nothing so far, but I'm still hopeful to do something creative and enjoyable. Somewhat soonish.

The fake wake party at Ryan's was a big success. I can't believe it was the first time I've experienced the deliciousness of whiskey and ginger ale together. I was shitfaced. Not shitfaced enough to accept the awkward and blatant proposals of a certain psychotic co-worker, but shitfaced enough to have a great time. Unfortunately, she was the only person so far to engage me in interesting conversations at work. So that's over. All along there was an undercurrent of something, but now that's she's spelled it out I don't really even want to talk to her anymore. Creepy and insane.

Oh, and a compliment on a waitress's new hairstyle at the diner turned into a "you remind me of a girl I used to fuck back in Michigan" when one of the other smart ass bussers chimed in. I am so awkward sometimes. Like when I talk to people.

fire department

2007-10-15T00:13:00.000-05:00

I recently found out through a friend of a friend who has a friend in the Ann Arbor fire department that a video I have on youtube about the Tech Center fire has gained quite the following at that same fire department. (and the award for worst run-on sentence goes to. . .) Here it is:

Apparently they watch it over and over. I can't begin to explain how flattering this is. I've always thought that firemen had it in for me after the infamous first date fire truck accident I had. You haven't heard the story? Well it goes a little like this:

A woman I worked with at the Plaza Cinemas in Jackson set me up on a date with her friend's niece. Everything went fine. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden. (total fucking class!) After dinner we decided to just drive around, talk and get to know each other better. This was not the wisest idea on my part due to the poor driving conditions, icy roads, flurries, etc. This wasn't a problem until we were on our way back to her car which was parked at the Olive Garden. A moment's distraction while driving on I-94 caused me to fail to recognize a long line of cars ahead at a dead stop on the highway. I applied the brakes as soon as it registered and the GMC Sonoma truck I was driving started to skid. I have no idea what went through my mind at the time, but in retrospect I assume that in order to avoid plowing into several cars in front of me, I attempted to aim the sliding shopping cart of a vehicle towards the shoulder on the right. That did not work out. My path was initially blocked by a parked car and then ultimately by a fire truck on the scene of the accident. Whammy! "What the fuck just happend?", was the first thought in my head. Then I asked my date if she was alright. She was fine. Then we both sat there and watched several men exit the fire truck and begin shouting obsenities at me. They crowded around both windows and I just sat there petrified until one man walked over to my window and asked me if I was alright. I said yes and immediately after hearing this the man opened my door, yanked me out by my jacket and started pulling me in the direction of a police car up ahead. He was yelling at me the whole way. "You fucking idiot! You dumb motherfucker! You're a loser! You know that? You're a loser! Say it!", etc. etc. all the while I was slipping and sliding on the ice in my loafers. Upon reaching the police car he opened the door and roughly pushed me inside. My head was reeling. My only thoughts were, "Jesus Fucking Christ! Now what is this cop going to do?" Confusing me further was the way the policeman was completely calm. He took my information and quietly sat there filling out paperwork. Finally I mustered the courage to say, "What just happened? Did I kill someone?" The policeman replied, "No, but if someone had been on the back of the truck when you hit it, you could have." This statement seemed to make sense at the time, but later I thought, "wouldn't it be possible to kill anyone who was in my path? What the fuck?" He wrote me a ticket for driving too fast for conditions, took me and my date back to her car and that was it. I never called her back for a second date. I didn't think her seeing me dragged along the road by firemen was such a good first impression. Oh yeah, and they called me a loser. She must have heard that. So that's the gist of that one. I found out a few weeks later that the fire department tried to claim the "damage" I did to their solid steel platform as a reason to pass a millage for more funding. The citizens of Parma had me to thank for that one. Ha!

Anyway, I think this story shows just what this small victory means to me after such a bad experience with the fire department. Flame on!

new blog

2007-10-15T00:04:00.000-05:00

So after hearing about livejournal possibly going under a while back, I thought maybe I should look for a new place to blog. And here it is! My friend Zoe uses this one. So does Rachel. And now so do I! Here we go. Just to get the ball rolling, I'll post the last livejournal entry I had. It's a good one.