Author: wjacobr

Visual artist, poet, novelist, activist & Street Medic, living in North. Penn Name: Jacob Russell My blog is a confluence of art, writing, politics. my Art portfolio: Art-by-Willard.com

55 Days of Occupy Philly: days 51, 53 the end is near…

11/25/11
Friday Day 51

I will be posting these for each of the 55 days of Occupy Philly on Dilworth Plaza, from October 6, 2011 to November 30, the night of our eviction.

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To view all posts to date, click:  55 Days of Occupy Philly.

11:50 Am A week till Social Security. Fasted for Thanksgiving. Played chess. Chilled. Went to City Hall for a stroll, conversations. People had brought quantities of food for occupiers.

Camp is in sad shape. Number of tents dwindling by the day—but still more than 200 or near that.

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Walked to the ACME. Ready to sit down and read, write, do an on-line interview about my facilitation experience.

______ hi-jacked the GA—and threw a tantrum at CoCo—with his core of body guards threatening anyone who tried to approach or speak to him. He had a 3 page single spaced proposal he demanded be presented to the GA as a unit—with no amendments permitted. This when we’ve been given a 48 hour eviction notice—cops went around sticking notices in every tent.

… a break at Fergies

Sunday Day 53
11/27/11
10:30 AM
Preparing to go to City Hall for what may be last day of the encampment.

________ tried to hi-jack the GA again last night. He’s glittery-eyed obsessed—never stops. Managed to contain him by surrounding him with bodies and then retreated to Arch St. Methodist, blocking the door, creating a double line of bodies for people to pass through, and keep him out.

Meetings
and more meeting…
from 1:30 past 10—more than 9 hours. Facilitated CoCo (happily–____didn’t show up), & one proposal at the GA.

We plan to gather at Rittenhouse Square at 4:00 PM day after eviction—march to the Round House if there are arrests, as there almost surely will be.

I’m holding up pretty well.

May not be till Monday afternoon. If not arrested, have an “orientation” court ordered—for the Wells Fargo action, Monday morning. Will let Legal know

Peace and Solidarity!

W.I.P. 3 stages… stage 1

WIP and pics 001

32×23 Acrylic on canvas. Go through the same stages. The first, as here–shows promise. Almost enough to let it stand, as is…but not quite. The next stage, I ruin it. Put it away. Sleep on it. In a dream, or while taking a walk, I get a sense of what I need to do. The third stage–I rescue it… bring it to completion… or really do ruin it. Prepare the canvas to paint over it and start a new painting.

What will become of this one?

View GALLERY HERE.

Of Powers and Their Vicissitudes

larvalsubjects's avatarLarval Subjects .

There are many names for beings:  tode ti, thing, object, primary substance, system, process, body, “this”, machine, event, etc.  I’m sure there are others yet.  In a certain sense, all of these terms are synonyms of one another.  They all denote a “this”, an individual being, something that exists.  In another sense, they denote different approaches to things or primary substances or things.  In discussing things as events, we emphasize their durational nature or the manner in which they unfold in time.  In approaching them as machines, we approach them in terms of the outputs they produce in response to inputs.  In approaching them as systems, we explore the processes they engage in to maintain their organization and the interdependence of their parts.

Things or bodies are split between their virtual proper being and their local manifestations; their powers and their qualities.  It is not qualities or properties…

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55 Days of Occupy Philly: Days 47-49.

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I will be posting these for each of the 55 days of Occupy Philly on Dilworth Plaza, from October 6, 2011 to November 30, the night of our eviction.

To view all posts to date, click:  55 Days of Occupy Philly.

Sunday 11/20/11
Day 47
Independence Mall
Committee of Correspondence… 62 degrees. ¬¬Gray clouds. Sitting on the grass.
Finance tomorrow at 4:00/ meet at Friend’s Center.
InterOcc—Com of Correspondence. PhilOccTogether.
Occupy Philly Media for posting info, Facebook, for Dec. cross occupy gathering.

Al Jazeera has on Occupy index

Occupy think tank—problems/ideas

Conference call 3:00 on preparing for Dec. 10.

GA report

Agenda-Iwanka and I will make a working group report to GA tonight.

Food Group—ask about lunch on 10th. Welcome—I’ll do that.

Café—fruit coffee

Political Theater—do what we did in Wells Fargo.

Tomorrow: PRESS CONFERENCE
Video

11/22/11
Day 49
17 in waiting room across hall from the court room. 14 defendants, an attorney, 2 supporters. I’m a defendant, but not for today. Here to support my fellow perps. AMP date for me the 28th (if I choose to do community service—I won’t), my arraignment set for 12/6, but trial will be consolidated.

________ sits next to our lawyer—never stops talking, endless loop.

Reading Terminal. Home—long nap. Thought I’d left Spirit Stick at Reading Terminal… bummed me out. Grumpy all GA—which was poorly facilitated.

A proposal for a list of demands that should have easily passed was tabled for a 3rd night. _______was so obsessed with pleasing everyone—drags the process on forever.

I’d left Spirit Stick outside when I went for mail… there it was when I got home…soaked. Heavy. Soggy… poor thing.

City ready to move on us—but not till Thanksgiving or after. But who knows?

We had a press conference
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—Wells Fargo 14 report livestreamed at GA. I didn’t see it.

The sand is running out…

but we’re still here!
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What’s the alternative?

Sometimes I play with the idea–and it twists my mind–of being a “success” … in what that comes to in popular notions.

My worst nightmare!

To make stuff to entertain the rich and powerful, and worse–for them to use as investments.

THAT”S what “success” means for an artist.

What’s the alternative? I want people to see my work. I want to be appreciated for what I do. But the only way open to pursue that, is to make money, and of course, to do all the shit you have to do make that happen.. .which ends up… making stuff that entertains the rich and powerful–the ones who are fucking up this world and leading hell bent to species suicide, and worse… making art they can use to make even more money!

Better, give my work away. Or burn it.

Or make work they would love… but would leak poisons to melt their brains.

Oh… that I had that power.

Ages of Monsters: Of Gods and Monsters

larvalsubjects's avatarLarval Subjects .

210px-Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_(1819-1823)_cropI have been fighting a brutal cold for the last week, so I apologize for the disjointed nature of this post…

In an enigmatic passage from Seminar 11, Lacan remarks that “…the gods belong to the field of the real” (45).  This passage is all the more enigmatic in that later Lacan declares that “…the true formula of atheism is not God is dead –even by basing the origin of the function of the father upon his murder, Freud protects the father –the true formula of atheism is God is unconscious” (59).  I’ve provided commentary on these two passages elsewhere, so I won’t repeat them in detail here.  In referring to the real, of course, Lacan is not referring to “reality”, but to the impossible.  As is so often the case in his thought, Lacan will speak of the real in a number of senses.  However here he…

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