[un]Common Sense

Your Greatest Fear

2012-01-14T13:06:00.000-05:00

Hola mi gente,

My first week at my new job was better than I could havehoped. You know, there’s always a measure of anxiety when starting over new. Thereare the concerns over the supervision: will it be micro-managed oppression orsupportive leadership? And what of the organizational culture: combative competitivenessor mutually respectful camaraderie -- the feeling of shared adversity and kinship.

Of course, no place is perfect, but there are varyingdegrees of organizational function/ dysfunction…

I am happy to say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised bythe welcome extended to me at my new job. It’s a smaller shop than I am accustomedto, but throughout my first week, almost everyoneof my colleagues made it their business to come to me and extend a personal andwarm welcome. My impression is that I am at a place where I will be challenged,but in a supportive way and that the relationship will be a mutually beneficialone.

I also have come to the realization that I tend to underestimate my estimation, that thereare people in the field who know of me or my work.

I used to have a printed/ framed version of the followingin my office. The last year or so has reminded me of its truth…

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Our Greatest Fear

“Our deepest fearis not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyondmeasure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We askourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually,who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does notserve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that otherpeople won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not justin some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, weunconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberatedfrom our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

from A Return to Love byMarianne Williamson

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My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

Ron Paul and Social Justice

2012-01-09T07:39:00.004-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

Today is the first day at my new gig…

Many people have rightly criticized Ron Paul’sperspective on social justice (while many others, from right and left, havesucked on his cock), but what many don’t understand is that in Ron Paul’slooney libertarian vision of a society, government has no business in advancingsocial justice. Paul’s perspective leaves him incapable of envisioning socialjustice.

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We were taught... that man’s business onthis earth was to look out for himself. That was the ethic of the jungle...Take care of yourself, no matter what may become of your fellow man. Thousandsof years ago, the question was asked, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ That questionhas never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society.

Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. I am under amoral obligation to him that is inspired, not by any maudlin sentimentality butby the higher duty I owe myself. What would you think me if I were capable ofseating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me thechildren of my fellow beings starving to death?

-- Eugene V. Debs, 1908 speech

In previous posts, I have lookedat justice in general terms, not the role that governments play in promotingit. For the rest of this post, I will explore the idea of social justice -- theidea that we can create a set of social and political institutions that ensuresthe just distribution of benefits and costs throughout a society.

The idea of social justice firstemerged in the late 19th century, and stood at the heart of political debatethroughout the 20th. It requires that the state become much more involved injustice than earlier times. It was also a controversial idea: whereas only afew extremists have attacked the idea of justice, social justice has beenridiculed, mainly by critics from the libertarian right, who view it as atransgression against personal freedom, especially the economic freedom theyfeel a market economy requires. This is what Ron Paul calls liberty. In Paul’sdemented social view, Jim Crow and slavery would have been done away with byThe Market.

Let’s look at these attacks moreclosely. When Ron Paul recently yelped, “We’re all Austrians now,” he wasreferring to the works of critics such as the Austrian economist Friedrichvon Hayek who argued that there was a fundamental error involved intalking about social justice in the first place. According to Hayek (and manyself-loathing neocons that call themselves “libertarians”), justice is aconsequence of individual actions. Anaction is unjust when it violates a general societal rule that allows membersof a society to interact with one another. For example, theft is unjust becauseit violates a rule protecting property. If we look at how resources -- money,property, employment opportunities, and so forth -- are distributed across asociety, we cannot describe this as either just or unjust, say libertarians, sinceit is a consequence not from the actions of a single mediator, but from theactions and decisions of millions of separate individuals, none of whomintended to create this or any other outcome in particular.

To be fair, Hayek is right topoint out that “social distribution” cannot be attributed to any singledistributing agency or entity, given the complexity of any contemporary postmodernsociety. But Hayek’s fundamental error -- what he overlooks -- is that thedistributive pattern we observe around us does, generally speaking, depends onthe institutions that have been socially created , consciously or not. Forexample, the rules governing property and contracts, the system of taxation,the level of public expenditure on health care, education, housing, andemployment policies, etc. -- these are all institutions that have been shapedand can be changed by political decision, and so if we leave things as theyare, that is the same as accepting the existing distribution of resources. Inaddition (let’s not get all “new”), we can certainly understand what the effectof a proposed institutional change would be.

To that extent, the distributionof resources across society -- who gets what benefits, how wide the spread ofincomes will be, etc. -- is something that, at least in a democracy, is underour collective control. It is perfectly reasonable, then, to ask what socialjustice would ask us to do.

But Hayek isn’t done yet. Hiscriticism begs the question of whethersocial justice is something we should pursue. Hayek’s second claim is that,in attempting to make the distribution of resources match up to justice, wewould destroy economic freedom and in that way kill the goose that lays thegolden eggs. For the sake of argument, let’s assume Hayek is right when heclaims that a market economy is the most effective way of organizing productionand trade (this is not an apriori, by the way), and that any alternative would involve a reductionof the living standards in economically advanced societies. The question thenis whether striving for social justice means turning our back on the marketeconomy, or whether it’s possible to pursue social justice through a marketeconomy, one shaped in the right way and that has other social institutionsworking alongside it.

These questions, my friends, andhow they have been answered, are at the core of today’s “Great Recession.”

In this respect, we need to lookat different ways of interpreting the idea of social justice. The most radicalversion, touted by Marxists and some communitarian anarchists, reduces socialjustice to the principles of equality and need. A just society, from thisperspective, is one in which each member contributes to the best of his or herability, but resources are distributed according to need, with any resultingsurplus distributed evenly. There is no consideration here for the idea thatpeople need incentives, or deserve material rewards for making theircontribution. The question here becomes, could such a society exist?

On a small scale, it undoubtedlyhas. In addition, China has definitely put a crimp on the notion that communismhas died. Still, the question remains whether a large society could successfully practice social justice inthis form. On a tangential note, the next time your Ron Paul robot startsblabbering about this kook, ask him to name oneinstance in which a society has everexisted under libertarian principles.

::crickets::

There is, however, a lessradical view of social justice which has been embraced by many democraticsocialists and contemporary liberals. From this point of view, social justicerequires the equal distribution of some social benefits -- especially equalrights of citizenship such as voting and freedom of speech. It requires thatsome benefits be distributed on the basis of need, so that everyone isguaranteed an adequate income, access to health care and housing, etc. However,it also allows for other resources to be distributed unequally, so long asthere is equal opportunity for peopletrying to acquire a larger share. These inequalities may be justified on thegrounds of merit (“desert”), or on the grounds that by giving people materialincentives to work hard and produce goods that other people want, all ofsociety benefits.

Arguably, the most influentialinterpretation of this form of social justice was developed by John Rawls whoargued in his Theoryof Justice that a just society must fulfill three conditions. First, itmust give each member the most extensive of basic liberties that is consistentwith the same liberty for everyone else. Second, social positions possessinggreater advantages, higher paying jobs, for example, must be open to everyoneon the basis of equality of opportunity. Third, inequalities of income andwealth are justified when they can be shown to benefit the least advantagedmembers of society -- in other words when they provide incentives that raise society’sproductivity and in that way allow more resources to be channeled to those atthe bottom of the heap.

Rawls’s theory of justiceobviously makes room for a market economy. Rawls’s third principle allows forthe possibility for people to keep at least part of the gain they make throughproducing goods and services for the market if they are going to besufficiently motivated to work hard and use their talents in the mostproductive way. This demolishes Hayek’s claim that social justice and marketfreedom are mutually exclusive. On the other hand, a market economy governed byRawlsian principles would look completely different from the economic systemsof modern liberal democracies.

For one, Rawls’ idea of equalityof opportunity is radical. It is not enough that positions of advantage shouldbe given to those who can be shown to be better qualified to hold them. It mustalso be true that applicants have had an equal opportunity to become qualified. What this means isthat from the moment of birth, people of equal talent and motivation should beafforded the same opportunities in education and elsewhere.

Obviously, this is not the case.Furthermore, Rawls’ third principle, often called the differenceprinciple, allows inequalities only when they can be shown to benefitthe worst off of society. In actual practice this would mean that governmentswould set tax rates so that benefits were continually redistributed to benefitall of society. Although most democratic societies have so-called progressivetax structures, they fall far short of Rawls’ requirement.

My own view is that a theory ofsocial justice should retain Rawls’ first two principles -- equal liberty andequality of opportunity -- but replace the difference principle with twoothers. The first is that of a guaranteed social minimum, understood as a setof needs that must be met in order to assure every citizen a decent life. Thisminimum is not fixed, but changes over time and within different societies. Anenduring and current debate, for example, is the consideration whether healthcare is a right or a privilege. The second principle is one of merit (desert).Inequalities of income and wealth should be proportional, measured by theirsuccess in producing goods and services other people need and want.

As in Rawls’ theory, theseprinciples don’t conflict with a market economy -- at least not in the sensethat it entails getting rid of it. However, they do require the constructionand maintenance of an extensive web of interlocking social safety nets, as wellas a regulatory and flexible legal system within which the market economy worksso that there is a real link between whatpeople contribute and what they receive as compensation for thatcontribution.

Much of the economic turmoil weface today is a direct result of decades of lax governmental oversight combinedwith an almost slavish devotion toward so-called free market principles. Infact, there is no such thing as a free market. The market couldn’t existwithout the social institutions (legal, infrastructure, etc.). Therefore, it isimportant for people to think about these matters, to question the validity of theapostles of the market.

Of course this would require areal change to the way capitalist countries operate, since the existing rulesof property and inheritance allow people to reap huge rewards by virtue ofluck, inherited wealth, corporate position, etc. -- factors all unrelated totheir contribution to society. What most conservatives and libertarians alike fearis that the pursuit of social justice will take us towards a form of marketsocialism in which the means are owned by those work in them rather than byoutside shareholders, so that the profits can be shared among the actualproducers. I don't think this is something to be feared but rather something tobe pursued. This is not the communist utopia espoused by Marxists and otherradical socialists, since it also allows for harder working and more talentedindividuals to reap the fruits of their labor. Still, it takes us far away fromthe failed political agenda of the present, at least as far as liberal democraciesare concerned.

Social justice, like democracy,will always be unfinished project. It is up to us to envision what a justsociety should look like, without losing our pragmatism nor lose ourselves infantasies. I believe, like many, that the struggle for social justice has beensabotaged by global developments that place the market before the concerns ofpeople -- before the concerns of justice. It strikes me as the ultimate ironyto hear others go into the “people are so stupid rants” without payingattention to the larger, more powerful forces at play. What good isintelligence or critical thinking in the face of a global movement in whichsocial justice is scrapped in favor of the bottom line? This is why Ron Pauland many of his conservative brethren are dangerous: they don’t have principles, they are reactionary ideologues.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

Your eyes move like the tide...

2012-01-07T12:21:00.001-05:00

Today I will go check out Pariah, an independent award-winning film about a 17-year-oldAfrican-American gifted student quietly struggling to embrace her identity as alesbian. I’ve really great things about the film.

It’s Saturday and it’s usually about art around here…

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Nows [no. 6]

Your eyes move likethe tide,

looking firstoutward,

before sweeping itall in.

We sat on splashedrock

that took a millionyears

patiently sculptingitself

to be our throne

and waited…

silent, naked andserene,

drinking in thewisdoms

of the sea.

Just now

I was caught in the

quiet of yourundertow.

And since the moment

I first brushedagainst you

I promised myself

I would never live

on an island that was

too small to fit youin

somehow.

Edward-Yemíl Rosario ©

The Friday Sex Blog [Adult Games]

2012-01-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

It’s Friday and it’s all about sex (or something close toit). Have a great weekend!

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Games People Play

The one absolute in the study of humanbehavior is that people do things because they get something out of it.People's actions, however seemingly ridiculous, serve a purpose.

I once had a therapist tell me Ihad to learn how to parent myself. It may not sound particularlyearth-shattering, but I had never even entertained that idea -- I never thoughtthat could be possible. It was a liberating moment that also held some fear forme.

Modern research shows that the notionof being separate and apart is a myth. In fact, it's a very destructive myth,just take a look at what we're doing to our ecology and you quickly realizethat the “me” attitude has dire consequences.

Along with the potential ofbeing destructive the perception of ourselves as separate and apart from therest of creation blinds us to the biological fact that we are all intimately connected, leaving many of usfeeling isolated. Our neurology is a feedback loop. How infants interact withtheir mothers, for example, has a directimpact on the development of the brain. Infants need physical handling as muchor more than food and those who are deprived fall into irreversible mental andphysical decline.

Adults also need as muchphysical contact as children. In adulthood, sensory deprivation can lead totemporary psychosis, for example. But because close physical contact is notalways available, we seek emotional fulfillment in other ways. A Facebookcontact, for example, may seek emotional “strokes” from his or her friends listin the form of adoration or positive feedback. In the same way, a movie starmay get her strokes from fan mail. A scientist may get hers from a positivecommendation from a leading figure in the field.

In transactional analysis, the “stroke”is seen as the basic unit of social action. An exchange of strokes is a transactionand hence the phrase, “transactional analysis” describing the dynamics ofsocial interaction. Bear with me here, there's a point to all this and one Ifeel you will find interesting.

For argument's sake, let's takethis as a given -- that we have this psycho-biological need to receive strokesor intimate fulfillment. From this perspective, people consider any socialparticipation -- even if negative -- as better than none at all. This primalneed for intimacy is also why people engage in games as a substitute forgenuine connection.

In short we play a game, definedas a series of transactions, to satisfy this inner hunger for intimacy, and italways involves a payoff. Still with me?

Let me take this a step further.As much as they will deny it, most people aren't even aware they are playing agame. For most, it's a normal way of interaction. “People games” are likeplaying poker in the sense that the better we can hide our inner motivation(essentially that we're all needy motherfuckers at heart), the more likely we “win.”In a professional context the payoff could be a raise or a promotion; peoplespeak of the “real estate game,” or “playing the market.” In the relationshipworld the payoff is usually some emotional gratification or an increase in control.

I once worked with a participant,a former contract killer (a “soldier”), who once compared himself to a newborninfant in the following way:

You ever see when they firstbring babies home from the hospital? How sometimes they have to put mittens onbabies because otherwise they will scratch themselves? Well, that's how I feelsometimes. Like I can't help but hurt myself and I need psychological mittensto save me from myself.

Rewind back to the time with myformer therapist and you can begin to see a model emerging. We all have withinus different states or selves:

The attitudes and thinking of aparental figure (Parent)
An adult-like ability torationalize and accept truth (Adult)
The attitudes and views of achild (Child)

In any given situation, we canemphasize any one of these inner selves, and sometimes shift from one toanother quite easily. For example, we can take on a child's wonderment,creativity, and curiosity, but also a child's tantrums and incapacity toempathize. The point being that within each situation we can adopt a role thatcan be productive or unproductive.

In playing a game, instead ofmaintaining intimacy to get what we want, we succumb to the temptation to actlike a coquettish child, or take on the wise, rational aura of an adult.

Let the games begin! LOL

There are basic games peopleplay. They may vary a little, but they're basically variations on the sametheme:

The most common game betweenpeople in a relationship is the one in which one complains that the other is anobstacle to doing what they really want in life. For example, a person who maynot be aware of her fear of real intimacy may choose to be with emotionallyunavailable men and then complain of a lack of intimacy. The game then becomes,“If it weren't for you... ”

I believe people unconsciouslychoose partners because they seek to be limited. I do a lot of work aroundcomplaints. My experience has shown me that if you follow the breadcrumbs ofyour complaints, you will come face-to-face with your own bullshit. Playing the“if it weren't for you” game gives us the excuse of abdicating responsibilityfor our own lives, or looking honestly and compassionately at our own fears orcharacter defects.

Another common relationship gameis when, in response to a solution-centered suggestion, the partner responds bysaying, “Yes, but... ” and then proceeds to find everything that could go wrongwith the solution. In Child mode, this allows the person to gain sympathy fromothers for being inadequate to the challenge. In Adult mode, we would be morewilling to examine and maybe even take on the challenge the solution presentsus.

These games are like worn outloops of the same tape -- being played over and over. It's amazing howtransparent the games appear on social media spots like Facebook or Twitter,with all the trespassing of boundaries, the naked grabs for attention, theopenly desperate manipulation for sex. Andthe one common trait is that all involved deny playing the game.

These are the scripts we inheritfrom our childhood and though they are limiting and self-destructive, they arealso a form of psychological comfort food -- a way for us to absolve ourselvesfrom looking at our own issues.

For many people, games havebecome so integral to their way of being that they feel the need to createdrama, or manipulate those they come into contact with because they fear theywon't be as interesting. The more games they play, the more they expect othersto play them too; a habitual game player will end up with a psychologically unhealthy tendencyto read too much of their own motivations and biases in others.

My Name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization, motherfuckers… LOL!

Ron Paul and the Downsizing of Freedom

2012-01-05T10:31:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I received the great news that I have beenoffered the job I consider my “dream” job. It’s a welcome (if a little scary) departurefrom the direct services/ program development I’ve been involved with for thelast fifteen years, but I am totally psyched. Truth be told, I’ve been burnedout on the services side, it just takes too much out of you. Now, I’ll be ableto concentrate on research and social policy advocacy that can have a systemic impact.

On another note, the offer couldn’t have come at a bettertime, as my financial situation had reached critical stage about a month ago…Yes!

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We’re all Austrians now…

-- Ron Paul, during post-Iowa Caucus speech

Much has been written about RonPaul’s “honesty” and adherence to libertarian ideology since he has surged(somewhat) in the reality show/ clown care debacle also known as the RepublicanPrimary. Paul is kookier than a Laoruche fan on crack, but that doesn’t meanshit these days. Two major influences on Paul are AynRand, the cult figure, former Hollywood hack-turned-novelist, and Austrianeconomist, Frederick von Hayek. American libertarianism would be unthinkablewithout Ayn Rand’s influence. Even an establishment conservative like RushLimbaugh has occasionally shown signs of having been influenced by Rand’sideas, albeit indirectly, through second or third-hand sources. His attempt todefend the “greed” of the eighties borrows heavily from Rand. Before Rand, onlya handful of iconoclasts and other eccentrics would have dared defend greed inpublic.

Rand’s followers, who often comeoff as cultists (as do Ron Paul fanatics) attempt to paint her philosophy asgrounded in logic and reason, but nothing could be further from the truth. Her understandingof the mechanics of the human brain, or the role of emotions, for example, hasnothing to do with modern science or empirical research.

When I was growing up, readingAlisa Zino’yevna (aka Ayn Rand) was almost a family tradition. It was necessaryreading in our household. My father would often give each one of us somethingto read and then we would have to discuss it critically. He also encouraged me toread Walt Whitman and other American transcendentalists -- which was probablythe antithesis of Rand’s “objectivism.” Looking back, I see he was trying toshow me how to think critically -- how to hold two opposing ideas at once andcome away with something of value and original.

I think Rand appeals to youngpeople because it is a philosophy mired in the lower levels of moral reasoning.It appeals to young people because it addresses an immature, self-centeredslice of life. In fact, previous posts of mine have been a refutation of Rand’s“philosophy.” Her epistemology has been taken apart byothers, no need to revisit that here. I mention Rand today because sheconnects to the first part of my series on the history of humankind’sstruggle to define freedom.

By the 1950s, both fascism andits antithesis, communism, had redefined freedom, but largely failed to deliveranything resembling freedom when implemented by the likes of Stalin andMussolini. A ramped up Cold War with the Soviet Union was being waged and thebiggest thing then was the Red Scare (communists were the Muslims in the 1950s)and the threat of nuclear war. Unbelievably, people were actually buying“bunkers” to protect themselves from radioactive fallout in those days. Today,we’re bombing innocent people inbunkers in far off lands.

In the 1950s, both Rand andAustrian economist Friedrich von Hayekproposed a new vision of freedom. Their freedom was more of a negative type freedom. They assertedthat self-interest controlled all human behavior, and the only true measure ofwhat was best for individuals were their belongings or what they wereattempting to accumulate. This “market” of getting and hoarding, acted outsimultaneously by millions of people in a society as complex and huge as theUnited States, for example, produced hundreds of millions of individual“decisions” every moment. Hayek suggested there existed a force of nature, theproduct and consequences of all these individual buying and selling behaviors,which he called the “free market.” At the same time, Ayn Rand’s hugely popularnovels, the Fountainhead and her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, championed aphilosophy of greed and an enlightened self-interest similar to von Hayek’s.

Freedom was being redefined.

Instead of being a collaborativeeffort, the result of a society working together to provide for the basic needsof the individual, the family, and society, freedom was now being reconceptualizedas the individual’s ability and right to act in his or her total freedom forselfish self-fulfillment, regardless of the consequences to others (withincertain limitations). Freedom was a negative force in the worldview of vonHayek, his student Milton Friedman(father of the Chicago School of libertarian economics), and Ayn Rand’sobjectivism. This freedom was more of a freedom “from” than a freedom “to”:freedom from social obligation,freedom from taxation; freedom from government assistance or protection(now perceived as “interference” or “serfdom”); freedom to consider one’s needsand wants, because if each individual followed his selfish desires, the mass ofindividuals acting in concert in a “free market” would result in a utopia.

Shades of Thomas Friedman! The world is flat,burn the fuckin’ olive tree and hock the goddamned Lexus!

This vision claims to be thetrue vision of a free world. Its creators claimed that a world where governmentlimited nothing but violence and all markets were free -- market here meaningthe behavior of individuals or collectives of individuals (corporations) -- hadnever before been attempted. Their opponents, progressives and liberals,pointed out that their system had in fact been tried many times throughouthistory, and was the history of every civilization of the most chaotic eras (feudaltimes comes to mind). Lacking a true social contract and interdependence, thesesocieties were characterized by physical and economic violence. In this socialschematic, those most willing and able to plunder would rise to the top of theeconomic heap. In the past, they were rightfully called robber barons and todayare diagnosed as sociopaths.

In the late 1970s and throughoutthe 1980s, think tanks funded by wealthy individuals and multinationalcorporations joined forces with subservient politicians to win the “battle ofideas.” Greed, combined with a blind belief in free markets, was their dogma.This movement brought into power both the feeble-minded Ronald Reagan in the USand Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. Reagan would oversee the greatest redistributionof wealth and the destruction of Labor. Both Thatcher and Reagan would turngovernment into a force against labor, both busting powerful unions in theirrespective countries. Both “freed” markets by dropping tariffs and undoingregulations. In both instances, industry fled both countries, to wherever laborwas cheapest, and the middle class was rudely bent over and fucked without somuch as a kiss.

This new economic religion wouldbe put into operation in Chile with disastrousresults. Poverty and wealth gaps would increase dramatically and theprivatization of the social security system threw even more people into abjectpoverty. Of course, a few bankers, industrialists, and politicians becamewealthy.

After the downfall of the SovietUnion, Milton Friedman’s “Chicago Boys,” not satisfied with the failures theirpolicies created in Chile, would apply this system withequally disastrous results in Russia. Undaunted and in need of a newcountry to experiment on, they found a series of willing dupes starting with theinept Ronald Reagan on through to George W. Bush, whose entire cabinet was madeup of people who shared the von Hayek/ Rand worldview. The result, as we allhave seen, has been a failure of historic proportions. Well-paying jobs werereplaced with jobs whose only requirement was that workers ask the question,“Do you want fries with that?”and with social mobility dropping and wealth gapsincreasing to levels not seen for over a hundred years.

This is where we are livingtoday and there are people still demanding we continue on this road to serfdom.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

Masks

2012-01-04T16:31:00.001-05:00

Today I’m feeling the oft-quoted Mencken cliché thatno one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American population.That a walking joke such as Rick Santorumcould garner support in Iowa (and in much of Red State ‘Murka) proves the cliché.

* * *

Weall wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removingsome of our own skin.

--Andre Berthiaume

Einstein once said that if you can'texplain it to your grandmother, then you really don’t understand it -- orsomething like that. And I get that, I really do. When I was attendinguniversity, I would spend a lot of time with my then eight-year-old son goingover complicated psychological concepts. As with most children at that age, hepossessed an insatiable curiosity and when we would do our homework together,he would always ask about my studies (applied psych). Try explaining attachmenttheory, or object relations to a kid. LOL The thing is he would usually ask themost fundamental questions, often cutting to the core of an issue or area ofstudy. It was cool until one day he turned to me while we were watching TV andasked if the lead character was showing signs of being bi-polar. LMAO

Anyway, I say all this because most of what you willfind in here is often like an introduction, in the simplest manner possible, toconcepts and practices that often took me years to absorb. Lot’s and lots ofjerking off, reading, and application. Sometimes, what happens however is thatin translating all this I have to omit important nuances otherwise Iwould be sitting here writing forever. I encourage any here to pursue furtheranything they might find of interest herein. I often leave links and referencesfor people so disposed

I remember once going to the movies and while watchingthe previews, I came across a hilarious commercial. In the commercial, a young,ordinary-looking woman is on her way home and glamorous beautiful faces fromglossy magazine covers become animated and talk to her. One says, “You’re fat!”On the bus another face from a magazine a fellow passenger is reading blurtsout, “With your figure you should walk!” And on and on it goes until she passesa newsstand and she’s beset by a cacophony of relentless criticism: “You’re nogood in bed!” “You’re hopeless,” etc. Eventually the poor woman buys a magazinethat, the voiceover explains, is more interested in who you are rather than whoyou should be. Very clever…

This commercial speaks to a deep truth in our modernsociety: the relentless pressure to “manage” our image. The word personalitycomes from the Latin root meaning mask and that’s an interesting point. We allhave a huge stake in managing our individual identities, or how others perceiveus. There’s a whole economy based on this primal need and it’s called“self-help.” LOL! The masks we wear are varied and the reasons we wear them arereally quite simple: we wear masks to hide our true faces from others andsometimes even from ourselves.

You know the masks: the seductive mask of the “sexysiren” or the “innocence” mask, for example. For men, we like wearing the “hero”or tough guy masks. Some of us wear the “black sheep” or “lone wolf” masks.Many of us wear the “I’ve been saved and now I’m spiritual” masks. Others wearthe “I’m the Deep Philosopher/ King” mask – that’s a good one. LMAO!

The point is we become so enamored of our masks that sometimeswe lose sight that who we really are transcends all of that. We are creaturesborn with a tremendous amount of potential here on this small blue marble inthe middle of nowhere. And we’re confronted with the opportunity to rise aboveit all and reclaim what is truly ours. The Big Secret is this: you’re just fine the way you are andmost of what we like to call growth, or change, is really throwing out all thegarbage that obscures who we really are and what we can be.

The cost of wearing a mask is the loss of the chanceto develop our real potential. What masks are we attached to? Are you willingto give up your commitment to them in the interest of real growth?

When we attempt to go within to who we really aremeant to be, we are confronted with many obstacles and there is a societalinterest in keeping you numb and/ or anxious. We live in a consumer-basedsociety that has a huge monetary interest in selling you newer, prettier masks.If we all stopped chasing that mirage and actually woke up to some realities,some very powerful interests would be very much threatened. We buy wholly intothis and if you’re even thinking of putting on the “I’m different from allthat” mask at this point -- please stop! You’re not that different, sit downand relax.

The point is that we, yes all of us, we all wearmasks at a very high cost. Undoing the masquerade takes time, practice,guidance and support.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

The 12 Steps for Everyone [Step One]

2012-01-02T13:33:00.002-05:00

I don’t know if this will work for you, but if you wereto ask me, this is how I recovered my life. My story is a narrative of a lifelived on the extreme edge and you might find it hard to identify with some ofits elements. All I ask is that you try to identify with and not compare mystory. As they say, try listen to the message and not the mess.

It is my belief that all people, regardless of whetherthey are addicts or not, can benefit from an application of the 12 steps.

I know there are many people who see the 12-step movementas a cult, as misguided, or as a failure. That’sfine. I have no interest in debating the merits of NA/ AA or in trying toconvince anyone. What follows is my experience as someone who’s been free ofaddiction for 21 years.

* * *

Stopping the War

We admitted we were powerless over ouraddiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.

-- The First Step of Narcotics Anonymous

I was once told that myspiritual principles were as a bridge back to life. What I didn’t know then wasthat this bridge is built on the very bones of those who came before me. Thisseries of posts is an attempt to honor that.

The First Step confronted me withtwo problematic words: powerless and unmanageable. I also didn’t notice atfirst that every step began with the word “We.” I was a loner; “we” wasn’t aword I used much. Everything was about me.They say an addict is an egomaniac with low self-esteem, and I believe that washow I felt.

Let me just say that 12-steprecovery is about action -- it is an experiential approach. Every step involvesgrowth, exploration, and some measure of action. I think people have hugemisconceptions about 12-Step Fellowships. People in recovery like to say thatthe first step is the only step you have to get perfectly. I disagree, recoveryis an ongoing process, and my understanding of the first step expands as Igrow. However, there is a level of acceptance necessary for the integration ofthis step. But I get ahead of myself…

There are several powerfulpsycho-spiritual factors at work in the First Step. Primarily, there is anadmission. Admitting to a problem has become a popular notion in our culturethat first came to prominence in the recovery community. Admitting touches onthe first spiritual principle of the first step: honesty. However, admittingmeans nothing without acceptance. For example, at one point in m y life I hadno problem admitting I was an addict; I could be honest about that. But that admissionand $2.50 got me on the train, which is another way of saying that admitting byitself it is worthless. It wasn’t until I embraced another core spiritualprinciple of the first step, acceptance, that I was then able to make changesin my life.

The more meetings I made, themore I heard my own story being told by others who were honest aboutthemselves. I began to see that I had a lot in common with these people when itcame to my addictive behaviors. On the other hand it took me a long time tocome to grips with powerlessness. I was raised to think of myself as powerful.I was taught that if I exerted my will on any issue, that I could overcomeanything in the world. If I had enough cojonesand worked hard enough, I could have power over anything.

Besides, it wasn’t my addictionthat was the problem, it was everyone else. At least that was what I toldmyself. If only other people gottheir shit together and externalsituations in my life corrected themselves, I wouldn’t be in such a fix. Theproblem with my thinking was that it involved exerting willpower. The problemwith my willpower was that it was warped. The more willpower I exerted, themore I fucked up. I tried everything: using only on the weekends, snortinginstead of intravenous injections, drinking instead of using other drugs, usingonly certain drugs in certain combinations, etc. the irrefutable truth was thatno matter what I tried, I alwaysended up in the same place: all fucked up.

Imagine a machinery part thatwas made to perform only one action, or to move in only one direction or in onespecific way. No matter how much you oil that part, no matter how much you tryto fix it, it will still perform what is was meant to perform. If the part wasmeant to move back and forth in a forward manner, no amount of lubrication willmake it move sideways. Similarly, if the only tool you have is a hammer, theneverything begins to look like a nail. My will was fucked up, meant to move ina specific direction and no exertion of that will would bring about change. Infact, my will often brought moredestruction.

Simply put, I came to the realization that if I wanted to change,I needed to develop new tools, to come to terms that my will was really workingtoo well. And what that really meant for me was that in order to begin myjourney, I first had to surrender. In fact, as I look back now, the wholeprocess of recovery is one long, beautiful, liberating process of surrendering.

The First Step is like thebeginning of a hero’s journey. In the archetype of the hero (or errant knight),most heroes begin reluctantly, clumsily, and then forces beyond their controlpropel them past their ordinary lives into a journey of personal change andrenewal. Like most addicts, I was unaware of aspects of myself -- my feelings,for example, and the wreckage I was creating. The first step freed me to beginmy quest for self-knowledge and transformation.

Admitting to powerlessness tookme years; accepting that admission brought me to the gateway of healing andsanity. That was also about another core spiritual principle: willingness. Insteadof willfulness, what I needed was willingness.It’s part of what is often called the HOW (honesty, openness, and willingness)of recovery.

The common misperception about thefirst step for those who have never tried to apply it is that it is defeatist. The first step is not about defeat. Itsays powerlessness, not hopelessness. Powerlessness is not that uncommon and ifwe open our eyes, we realize that we have no power over many things. Take theweather, for example. You can’t stop the rain, but if you take the time tostop, look, and listen, you may come to realize that using an umbrella is a lotbetter that railing against the elements. Another thing we have no power overis how others act or think, yet we spend enormous amounts of time and energytrying to exert control over other people. Oftentimes, we don’t even have powerover our own emotions, but we can learn to relate to them differently.

The first step is really aboutadmitting powerlessness over living in the extremes. Try fighting the rain, orbetter yet, a hurricane, and you’ll get a sense of what it is to fightaddiction. You have to surrender.

As part of taking the firststep, you take an inventory of the consequences of your addiction. For me thismeant documenting the jobs I lost, the people I hurt, and most of all, the harmI did to myself. In this way, I could no longer deny the unmanageability oflife as an active addict. This was a hard nut to crack because I never wantedto admit my life was unmanageable. I had it together, I liked to think, I justwent a little overboard sometimes.

I was also confronted with theinsanity of the obsession that led to the compulsion and how my fight would be futileuntil I surrendered. If you’re fighting an inner war, then someone has to lose.If you’re fighting an inner war, it follows, you, or an aspect of yourself, will always lose.

Taking the first step clearlyshowed me that my thinking had little relationship to reality. There werecountless times, for example, that I would experience a blackout. A blackout doesn’tentail being unconscious or comatose. In a blackout, you can sit down oneminute and the next thing you know you missed an entire episode of your life --while conscious.

It’s similar to what I imagine atime jumper would feel. One minute you’re in one time-space continuum and the next,you’re somewhere else and what’s horrifying is that you don’t know what thefuck is going on. One time coming out of a blackout, I had a whole house-fullof people wanting to kick my ass, and I had no clue why. It seems I propositionedthe bride-to-be (I was an engagement party) and that kinda pissed a few peopleoff. I once emerged out of a blackout in a different state and different year. Ithappened during an extended New Year’s Eve celebration. Several days later, Iwoke up in a strange house, sleeping nest to a strange woman and I had noinkling of where I was or what day.

Still I couldn’t admit mypowerlessness. It wasn’t that something was wrong with me, I rationalized, itwas that other people were too stuck up or rigid, and besides, I know thatbitch at the engagement party wanted me. Perhaps you may have never experiencedthis extreme form of powerlessness, but have you ever had a situation spiralout of control to the point that you were at a loss?

Most of all, the first step isthe beginning of the undoing of the karmic consequences of denial. I had to bebrought my knees -- from hopelessly addicted to institutions and even close todeath -- and still I wouldn’t admit my powerlessness. There was definitely alot of evidence of unmanageability in my life. Shit, I attempted suicide atleast once. What “normal” person can say that? More than anything, I wasaddicted to insanity.

Oh, and yes, I’ve kicked morehabits than I can remember. I just could never stay stopped. It was neverreally hard kicking a habit. But addiction, I soon learned, was not merely aboutsubstance abuse. I would get “clean” and chill for six-seven months, but when Istarted again, it was as if I never stopped. My last day as an active addict, Ihad spent $300 after having been released from an institution for exactlyfourteen days. I went from clean to a $300-a-day habit at the drop of a hat.

I would say that’sunmanageable...

However, there are other waysour powerlessness and unmanageability manifests in our lives. Whether it’s foodor cigarettes, or relationships, I think we can all look where we’re slowlykilling ourselves, suffering needlessly, or causing ourselves or our loved onesharm. I believe we all can identify with the compulsive need to exert controland the denial of powerlessness. I use my life as an example because theextreme manner in which I lived it makes it easier to illustrate my points, butwe all have the dark places, the places that scare us.

Today, I apply the first step tomany things in my life, especially in relationships and to certain behaviors.Addictions like to migrate. One might be able to kick the heroin or thealcohol, but then you see people acting out sexually or financially. If youdon’t do the inner work, applying these principles in all your affairs, thenyou’ll continue to be in the grips of addictive behavior. The first stepstipulated that I was powerless over my addiction.Addiction is not about a substance, but a way of thinking.

Eventually, I began to think ofthe first step as something similar to the concepts of Aikido or Wing Chun, twomartial arts that stress the importance of never meeting force with force. In asense, the first step is about learning to flow with the forces of life insteadof fighting all the time. It’s learning to transform difficult emotions intoopportunities for healing. It’s knowing that while you can’t stop the waves, youcan learn to surf.

My name is Eddie… Addict

Resources

Addiction is one of the most pressing problems in our society -- asociety that actually encourages consumption at the expense of substance. Ifyou think you have a problem, give yourself a break and try something new, itmight just save your life…

Alcoholics Anonymous: Official website

Narcotics Anonymous: Officialwebsite

Recovery USA, llc:Recovery USA, llc is an online resource for those seeking recovery information,community connections, and high-quality 12 Step Recovery Supplies forAlcoholism and Drug Addiction.

Alano: "The OnlineAlano Club is a nonprofit association intended as a resource for AlcoholicsAnonymous® members and groups, as well as any individual who has a desire tostop drinking. Members from other 12-Step programs, especially the Al-AnonFamily Groups, also are welcome."

Note: The featured artwork isfrom Ben'h Usry, an artist who sells the prints online. I happen to like them.His website features prints of all the 12 steps.

My New Year's Wish

2011-12-31T15:07:00.002-05:00

¡Happy New Year!

* * *

I know you’re out there, whoeveryou are, because I see the page visits. Keep coming back.

It’s been a challenging for me,as it has been for too many people I know and come into contact with. Too many ofus have been “downsized” or discarded, and have been finding much too difficultto re-enter the stream.

Too many of us have lost ourhomes, our livelihoods, our sense of self, and sadly, our sense of hope. In allmy years on this planet, I have yet been confronted with the waste, the lack ofopportunity, the destruction that I have seen…

I know I will eventuallyprevail, somehow, but it’s been hard,especially recently. My hope, for all of us, is that we find it in ourcollective will to strike back at the forces that would marginalize the vastmajority of us. I’ve seen glimpses of that spirit this past year -- something Ihaven’t seen in a long, long time and that has been the most beautiful thingthis year -- this whole notion of taking back, of occupying, or decolonizing,of speaking truth to power.

And so this year has been bothextremely hard and challenging but at the same time something beautiful hascome from all this. I don’t know about you,but I’m not going down without a fight.

Many of you may have heard mestate this before, but it bears repeating:

I don’t pray, but if I did, myprayer for you would be that you would be able to discover the passion in yourlife and that you would be fortunate enough to make that passion your life’s work. My prayer for you would be that yourevery action and thought would be dedicated to making manifest that passion.

Be careful and much love…

Eddie

The Friday Sex Blog [Riding the Horse]

2011-12-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

Hola mi gente…

It’s the holiday weekend, and I wish you all the verybest in the coming year, but, whatever you do, please -- please: Don’t. Drive. Drunk.

NO excuses, people. Don't drinkand drive -- and don’t ride with anyone who does.

Tipsy Tow offered by AAA (Youdon't have to be a AAA member): from 6pm to 6am on New Year's Eve/ Day theywill take your drunk ass and your carhome for free. While not anationwide program, a number of AAA clubs offer Tow-to-Go or Tipsy Tow serviceduring certain holidays for members and nonmembers. This service is notavailable everywhere. AAA strongly encourages family and friends to pick adesignated driver before they head out on New Year’sEve.

Save this number: 1-800-222-4357. Clickhere to find out which clubs are participating. Please re-post this if youwant to help save lives.

And just in case you didn’t hearme the first time, here’s some Stevie Wonder reinforcing the message:

* * *

One day I went with a girlfriend horseback riding. I had ridden before,but, my companion at the time warned me, we were going to ride “real horses,” real horseback riding. I was just hornyto see her ass perfectly shaped ass on a horse, so I somewhat exaggerated myhorse riding experience.

Big mistake. Out they came with this huge, black, fire-breathing-from-flayed-nostrils animal,and no sooner than I got on it and kicked, it just took off. No matter how much I pulled back on the reins this motherfuckerwasn’t stopping and we were headed straight to a fence that, it seemed to me,this horse was determined to jump. Luckily, another rider was able to put hishorse in the way, causing a collision that threw me off the horse. Fortunately, no one was hurt. That animal just lookedat me and it seemed to me it was laughing at me. They asked if I wanted to switchhorses for a tamer one, but I refused. I got some lessons that day on how toride, but when I got back on that magnificent animal, I held the reins so tight itcouldn’t move.

Eventually, my friend taught me enough where I became a pretty good riderand over time I developed a close bond with that horse, admiring (while respecting) its spiritand strength.

Of course, you know there’s a metaphor in here somewhere, right? LOL!Your growth is like that: in the beginning you’re holding on to the reins,white-knuckled, hanging on for dear life, afraid of the full power of your emotions. But if you go outside that comfort zone, you begin toexplore the more meaningful, and infinitely more rewarding, emotional landscapes.You learn to relax in the saddle, to ride,motherfucker, ride!

For most people most times, violent emotions aredestructive. People fly into rage, for example, and say things they don’t meanand later regret (can I get a witness?). We sometimes may lash out and hurt someone, or when hurt byrejection, we mope and eat and lay in bed, our hurt festering in themurky waters of self-destructive depression. Most violence is a form ofself-abuse or other-abuse.

Therefore, at the earlier stages of psycho-spiritual evolution or selfactualization, growth means cultivating compassion and less emotional violencetoward yourself and others. My experience has been that the more self-awarenessyou attain, the more you are naturally motivated toward peace and harmony. Atthis stage, when upset or angered, you learn to take a few breaths and calmyourself. You try to practice kindness rather than hate, acceptance rather thanjudgment, joy rather than anger.

In this way, you can become harmonious -- and frightfully bland.

In adopting the stereotype ofa harmonious individual, all smiles and acquiescence, you forfeit your depth oflove power for the sake of a safe but superficial calmness. Yes, you may haveprogressed from irresponsible violence and poor impulse control to a practiced tranquility, but growthdoesn’t stop there.

After you have developed the basic skills necessary to breathe throughyour emotional reflexes and to act graciously, there’s another world. There is a wholenew experience, lover, out there waiting for you: you can learn to open as your emotion. Rather than strikingout in self-destructive, knee-jerk ways, and rather than merely breathing through youranger in order to achieve calmness, you can actually use anger, or any otheremotion, as a gateway to a deeper love, a deeper expression of truth and yourlived experience.

If you look back to a time when you felt you wanted to hit someone,punch a wall, break something, you will note the presence of an overriding sense of feeling trapped, restricted. Whether by your own limits or by externalcircumstances, you most likely felt imprisoned and loveless. Violence is alwaysa dysfunctional attempt to break free, an unskilled effort toward greaterfreedom or love. Openness is freedomand love. Even the most violent or self-destructive emotions are based on ourneed for openness, to be free, to give and receive love.

When you are open, then you are able to give and receive love fully,and you are free. However, when you don’t practice how to be open, then you’reunable to live as love, then your chi, or vital power/ love-energy, backs upand roils as emotional mayhem. You feel trapped and alone, powerless, unable orfearful of riding that magnificent and powerful force, to ride free like thewind. Your emotional energy becomes constipated.

Embraced skillfully, intense emotions can be a quick path to a deeperexperience -- to a more profound openness. Ever heard of “angry sex”? Anger can provide youwith the sharp clarity and thunder necessary to awaken from moody distraction,if you can release and really feel your love that moves as anger.

Sadness, something we all try to avoid at all costs, can expose yourheart, too. Sometimes we harden ourselves against sadness, in the process creating dead zonesin our psyche and body. It’s as if in our fear of unleashing our fullpotential, we’ve numbed ourselves against feeling fully. We have the reinstight in our hands, and we’ll never let go, lest we lose ourselves, we think. Soften yourself and feel yoursadness. Really feel your sadness. Softness is like the ocean, while it is yielding, it is not weak. Yield,surrender, to your sadness without falling apart. Soften your belly, feel the tidalswells moving through you, the heaves of gasps for yearning. There’s anastounding depth of love released by sadness. Ever heard and experienced the raw beauty of the blues art form?

Love can transform all these previously destructive emotions intosomething powerful and alive.

People mistake my work in politics or social justice for anger. Butaggression for love’s sake is passion.Even the word protest uncovers somethis. Pro means being for something. Test is to speak, as in testify,or testimony. To protest is to speak for something, to stand for something.

In order for you to take the next step, you have to come to theawareness that true spiritual and sexual passion demands your capacity to openas wild as the moment does. Just like with me and that horse. Sometimes the force of our emotions can scare us, and we need to be careful, to develop psychologically safe spaces. But not to do this work is deny yourself life.

Smacks and shoutsand dark desires can wield love as powerfully as gentle kisses, mild-manneredmoods, and pats on the back. And yes, this takes practice, and you might want tohold on to those reins a little tightly at first, or until you feel safe. Itmight take years to open freely in this way, but until you do, it’s as if you’veentered an amusement park but have refused to get on the rides.

C’Ya on the rebound…

Perfectly Unfolding...

2011-12-29T15:33:00.001-05:00

Hola mi gente…

Occasionally, I like to re-post the following. It remindsme of the importance of gratitude.

* * *

Yes, follow your bliss, but dammit! Seizeyour passion!

-- Me

My readers are probably alreadyfamiliar with my sickening claim that this moment is perfectly unfolding,right? I mean, I only mention it at least once a week. Today, however, I’mgoing prove my point beyond a shadow of a doubt. No charge

Whether you want to own up toit, not -- whether you’re aware of it, or not -- literally thousands of thingsgo right for you every day, beginningthe moment you wake up.

Yup.

For starters, through some magicyou really don’t understand, you’re still breathing and your heart is beating,in spite of the fact that you’ve been unconscious for many hours. You wake upand breathe in the air that is a mix of gasses that’s just right for yourbody’s needs, as it was before you fell asleep.

You open your eyes and you cansee! Light of many colors floods into your eyes, are registered by nerves thattook billions of years to perfect. Furthermore, the interesting gift of thesebeautiful colors comes to you courtesy of an unimaginably huge globe of fire,the sun, which continually detonates nuclear reactions in order to convert itsbody to light and heat and energy for your personal use.

Do you realize that the sun islocated at the precise distance from you to be of perfect service? One smalldifference either way and you would either burn or freeze. And here’s anotherblessing: everyday, the sun appears to rise over the eastern horizon right onschedule everyday, as it has long before you were born. Talk abouttrustworthiness and commitment!

How about the day you were born,do you remember that? It was a difficult miracle that involved many people whoworked hard on your behalf. No less miraculous is the fact that you havecontinued to grow since then, with millions of new cells being born inside youto replace the old ones that die. And check this out: it happens automatically!You don’t even have to think about it.

Amazingly, the water your bodyneeds so much comes out of your faucets in an even flow, with the volume youdesire, and either as cold or hot as you desire. It’s pure and clean; you’reconfident there are no parasites lurking in it. There is someone somewheremaking sure you will continue to receive this gift of water withoutinterruption for as long as you require it.

Look at your hands. They arebeautiful. They’re amazing creations that allow you to carry out hundreds oftasks with great force and intricate grace. They relish the pleasure oftouching thousands of different textures, and they’re beautifully perfect.

In your closet there are manyclothes you like to wear. Have you ever stopped to think who gathered thematerials to make the fabrics they’re made of? Who infused them with color, andhow did they do it? Who sewed them for you?

In your kitchen, there’s tastyfood in secure packaging waiting for you. Many people you have never met workedhard to grow it, process it, and get it to the store where you purchased it.This bounty of food is unprecedented in the history of the world.

Your appliances are working flawlessly.Despite the fact that they work on a power that would kill you instantly if youwere to touch it directly, you have perfect confidence that you’re not indanger. Why? If I may say so, your faith in the people who designed thesemachines is impressive.

Wait! There’s more! Much more!

At this very moment, gravity isworking exactly as it always has, neither pulling too much or with too littleforce. How did that little piece of magic ever come about? It doesn’t matter,because it will continue to function with amazing efficiency whether youunderstand it or not.

At the same time, a trillionother elements of nature’s design are expressing themselves perfectly this verymoment. Plants are growing, rivers are flowing, clouds are drifting, winds areblowing, animals are reproducing. Though you may take it for granted, yourelish the ever-shifting sensations of light and temperature as they interactwith your body.

There’s still more! You cansmell odors, hear sounds, and taste tastes, many of which are quite pleasing. You can think. Though some of us don’tuse it nearly enough, we have the extraordinary gift of self-awareness. You canfeel feelings! Can you even begin to understand the magnitude of being blessedwith that mysterious and wonderful capacity? Moreover, as a bonus you’re ableto visualize an infinite array of images, some of which represent things thatdon’t exist.

You have the gift of language.Millions of people have collaborated for untold centuries in order to cultivatea system of communication that you understand well. Speaking and reading givesyou great pleasure and a tremendous sense of power.

Want to travel to some far offland? There are a number of machines to choose from in order to get there.Cars, planes, buses, trains, subways, ship, helicopter, or bike -- whatever youchoose, you have the utmost confidence that it will work efficiently.Multitudes of people who are now dead devoted themselves to perfecting thesemodes of travel. Thousands more still alive devote themselves to ensuring thatthese benefits will keep serving you.

Sure, we are now aware that inthe future shrinking oil reserves and global warming may impose limitations onyour ability to use cars and other machines to travel. But you also know thatmany smart and idealistic people are right now diligently working to developalternative fuels to protect the environment.

Perhaps you own an MP3 player, afantastic invention that has dramatically enhanced your ability hear a vastarray of beautiful sounds at low cost.

Let’s say you have been awakefor a couple of hours. At least a hundred things have already gone right foryou. If three of those hundred things had not gone right -- your toaster wasbroken, there was no hot water, or your car didn’t start -- you might feeltoday the universe has conspired against you, that your luck is bad, thatnothing’s right, and life sucks. Yet the fact remains that the vast majority ofeverything is working with breath-taking perfection and consistency. Takingthis in consideration, you would be a deluded creature to think that life isprimarily an ordeal.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

U-Turn

2011-12-28T11:56:00.001-05:00

Hola mi gente…

the new year is upon us and with it the flood of resolutions, most of which, statistically speaking, will be broken before the end of the third week of January...

* * *

Life is change, growth is optional, choosewisely.

-- Karen Kaiser Clark

I once read a book that askedthe question, “What if you woke up one morning and realized you were living thewrong life?” Love it!

While people won’t normallyadmit to it, I get the sense that many people feel as if they’re playing astarring role in a drama they never intended to play. I get a sense from so manypeople who seem to feel that they are somehow living the wrong life

The thing is I see people docomplete about faces all the time.

In fact, I'm one of thosepeople. About 21 years ago, I was a hopelessly addicted addict in solitaryconfinement -- sick, malnutritioned -- it doesn't get any more hopeless thanthat. But something clicked right before then and many times after. Myturn-around -- my about face -- happened in small increments until I evolvedinto the life I feel I was meant to live.

Others change in a flash. Gandhiand the French painter, Gauguin, changed overnight and undertook causes at agreat price. Gauguin was a well-to-do stockbroker leading a perfectly normalmiddle-class life and he just left one day. Left his wife and children anddecided to become a painter. What's more, he painted in a style that wastotally misunderstood by the public at the time. He lived most of the rest ofhis life in abject poverty and in the process condemned his wife and childrento a life of destitution. Gauguin today is considered one of the greatest ofthe post-impressionists. I doubt that in his lifetime, Gauguin ever sold apainting for a significant sum of money. Eventually he died penniless ofsyphilis. But he painted until the end of his life.

That was his passion.

What's yours?

Gandhi, a chameleon if ever therewas one, coined the term, “be the change you want in the world.” He too wasliving a comfortable life until one day he came face to face with racism and itchanged him forever. Whatever you might say about his inconsistencies, he wasprobably the single most influential proponent of nonviolent resistance of the20th century. His work influenced such people as Martin Luther King, Jr. andthe Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, and countless others.

People do about faces all thetime.

People change political partiesand careers, people give up their jobs as doctors and become poets, mothersquit their families to pursue careers, and athletes quit their careers to spendmore time with their families. There are passive people who change and becomerevolutionaries for a cause they didn't care about the day before.

I guess the message is that youcan change at any time, no matter what your external circumstances. The peoplementioned above are no different than you in many cases. We like to think, those people were different, they were special. We're just plain folk. Well, if you look at the history of thesetransformers, you notice that they were just plain folk too. In fact, some hadtasted failure numerous times before they found their calling.

What will you do when you getyour wake-up call? Will you just turn over and fall asleep? Or will you heedthe call? Because I can assure of this: you willbe called. Perhaps you have been called already.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

References

Grierson, B. (2008). U-turn: What if you Woke up one morning andrealized you were living the wrong life? New York: Bloomsbury USA.

The Looneytarians

2011-12-27T13:09:00.002-05:00

Hola mi Gente…

Let’s be clear: the harsh, punitive “voter ID laws” beingpassed throughout mostly southern states are nothing but a blatant attempt at anew Jim Crow. The menace here is votersuppression, not voter fraud, which is almost nonexistent. In South Carolinaalone, there are over 80,000 registered African Americans who would be disenfranchised by the voter laws passed there

* * *

[Several months ago, I wrote the following for an online magazine I am no longer affiliated with. It's about the underlying premisesof conservative and libertarian thought. Essentially, people like Ron Paul don’ttrust human nature and what is a democratic experiment if not the collectiveexpression of human nature?]

If you listen -- really listen-- to the underlying beliefs of many people, you’re immediately confronted withcommon assumptions about human nature that in actuality have no grounding inreality (or are at least empirically baseless). This is far from an academicexercise; the basic assumptions drive our economic policies, for example, andare often used as rationales for zero-sum societies (winners take all), and,most of all, justification for austerity measures and brutal wars that impact,for the most part, innocent women and children.

This false portrait of humankindfeeds both a dangerous reverence for dog-eat-dog individualism and a sense ofpowerless in the face of holy market forces that must be obeyed no matter thecost in lives, global environmental catastrophe, or gross economic injustice.

Its roots lie in the gloomyconservative worldview of an essentially brutish human nature needing to betamed. Conservative thinkers, looking to rationalize authoritarianism andexplain away the social destruction wreaked by unrestrained greed, simplyinvented whole-cloth concepts of human nature that made their policy goals seeminevitable.

The irony in all this is thatthis authoritarian Kool-Aid is swallowed whole by so-called libertarians. Youhear it all the time that human nature is selfish, war-like, brutal. Of course,the theory that we have a “selfish” gene is just that, a theory, founded uponabsolutely no evidence. Yet it is propagated as if it is the gospel truth. Associal scientist Riane Eisler, who in her seminal work, The Chalice and the Blade (1990) (and her later work) successfullydismantled this view, stated:

I don't want to lump everysingle sociobiologist into the same category, but the kind of sociobiologicaltheories that tend to get popularized present what I call a dominator way ofrelating as the only human possibility. This is the model of human relations,as I describe in my work, in which males are ranked over females; violence andabuse are systemic and institutionalized; the social structure is hierarchicand authoritarian; and coercion is a major element in sexuality. And it's allsupposed to be just human nature.

The ugly, empirically invalidportrait is this: a human is a cold and isolated individual who usesunemotional reason to reach pre-determined ends. This is the widely discreditedbut still popular “rational actor” model. And there’s another nuance, whichsome are now calling the “rat choice” model. This tells us those pre-determinedends are always selfish or self-interested. This myth is what is at the heartof so-called libertarian and conservative worldviews, popularized in economicterms by historical ignoramuses such as Ayn Rand and Hayek (and their progeny: Friedman,Greenspan et al.).

We are rats, these conservativessay.

As Eisler conclusively demonstrates,however, virtually every field within the human sciences has found that we arenothing like that. Cutting-edge neuropsychological investigations show thatbecause we are hard-wired for empathy, we can (and do) act altruistically. We seek fairness. Our selves are notisolated, but interconnected in many ways. Yes, we are competitive, but we arealso cooperative. Reason and emotionare intertwined. There’s no such thing as reason detached from emotion. Wedon’t coldly follow the rules of logic in making moral decisions.

The notion that there is no suchthing as altruism is based on the neo-Darwinian theory of kin selection. Inother words, if you do something altruistic, you’re protecting your genes soyou can pass them on. Well, what about the people in Nazi Germany who took inJews, total strangers, knowing that not only they but their whole familieswould be killed if they were discovered? Where is the kin selection there? Thisnotion just doesn’t hold up to rigorous scrutiny.

Darwin also wrote a little bookcalled Descent of Man, in which he very explicitly stated that naturalselection, random selection, survival of the fittest, simply do not apply asthe only factors, and certainly notas the primary factors, when it comesto human evolution. There is also the very important factor that he called “themoral sense.”

Despite the overwhelming empirical evidence to the contrary, the narrativeof human nature as intrinsically evil is still the dominant prevailing religious and scientific narrative championing“original sin” and “selfishgenes.” These also present male dominance as justified by either God or evolution (talk about irony), though scholarsfrom many disciplines tell us adifferent story of our cultural origins.

From a scientific perspective, the invention of tools does not beginwith the discovery that we canuse bones, stones, or sticks to kill one another. It begins much earlier, with the use of sticks andstones to dig up roots (which chimpanzeesstill do) and continues with the fashioning of ways to carry food other than with bare hands (simplevegetable slings and baskets) andof mortars and other tools to soften foods.

In this story, the evolution of hominid, and then human, culture alsofollows more than one path. We have alternatives. We can organize relations in ways that reward violence anddomination. But, as some of ourearliest art suggests, we can also recognizeour essential interconnection with one another and the rest of the living world.

In his recentbook, The Fair Society (2011),biologist Peter Corning writes:

Contrary tothe stereotype about our innate selfishness and greed, most of us share adesire to live in a society where fairness is the operative norm, whereeverybody’s basic needs are met… where there is a robust sense of ‘reciprocity’-- a rough balancing of benefits and obligations.

Corning’sprovocative challenge is this: what if we’re wrong simply to resign ourselvesto the notion that human nature is essentially destructive and war-like? Whatif we have the power -- and more importantly, the duty (the moral obligation) -- to change society for thebetter?

As cognitive scientists such as GeorgeLakoff (2008) have been advising us for some time, it is impossible to advancea progressive social vision using false frames of reference clothed as unbiasedscholarship. Assumptions that, by the way, rule out a fair, progressive, anddemocratic society.

Lynn Stout demolishes theconcept of human beings as selfish creatures who respond only to punishmentsand rewards in her book, Cultivating Conscience(2010). She shows that the lonely, selfish, hyper-individualistic creatureinvented by conservative propagandists is actually a myth. That view, Stoutcorrectly observes, “implies we are psychopaths.” I would add that the sociopath is the ideal of theconservative/ libertarian worldview.

Rather than depend on the powerof greed to shape laws and human behavior, Stout argues, we should rely on theforce of conscience. Stout makes the compelling case that conscience is neithera rare nor quirky phenomenon, but a vital force woven into our daily lives.Using empirical studies from culled from social psychology, behavioral economics,and evolutionary biology, Stout demonstrates how social cues -- ideas aboutothers' selfishness and unselfishness, and beliefs about benefits to others -- playa powerful role in triggering unselfish behavior.

It should come as no surprisethat corporations and the financial elite have funded the decades-long effortto convince Americans our nature is intrinsically evil. Rational choice theory,a theory that postulates that people working separately to pursue theirego-centered needs creates the ideal society (a libertarian talking point, BTW),has held sway over economics and political science and has redefined thefoundations of public policy by assuming that self-interest defines all aspectsof human activity. It was also used to redefine “freedom” as a fundamentalaspect of greed (George Lakoff, 2007). When applied to corporations, the theoryexempts them from any social responsibility other than that owed to theirshareholder. Today, that corporation is considered a legal (if fictitious)entity. Or, as Mitt Romney succinctly put it, “Corporations are people [too].”

As a former scam artist, I haveto admit that this has been the greatest scam ever in the history of humankind.The wholesale acceptance of the idea that there is a moral imperative for thepursuit of wealth and power, whatever the consequences for the many and forsociety at large, is almost too ugly to countenance. But this ideology is whatsupports our current political system -- this false and destructive view of ourown natures. In fact, this scam has succeeded to the point that many so-calledlibertarians, “independents,” progressives (many of whom like to make fun ofthe rest of us unwashed masses) remain content to operate within the frames andnarratives generated by the scam.

This particular form ofpathology can be found in so-called progressives who support the racist, feudalistic policies of Ron Paul. Libertarianism is nothing more than feudalismin that both depend on decentralization, rigid local hierarchies, a martialculture of honor, a strong religious caste system to keep everyone in theirplace, isolationist trade/ foreign policies, and the lack of a middle-class taxbase that would demand social services and a representation in governmentaffairs.

To paraphrase Einstein, the sameconsciousness that is part of the problem cannot be used as a solution. Asociety organized around the values generated by an evolved consciousness lookradically different from political and economic structures forced upon us bythe greedy authoritarians who sold us a bill of goods about ourselves. Butbefore that can happen, you have todisabuse yourself of the myths of human nature.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

References

Corning, P. A.(2011). The fair society: The science ofhuman nature and the pursuit of social justice. Chicago: University ofChicago Press. (clickhere)

Eisler, R. (1990). The chalice and the blade: Our history, ourfuture. New York: HarperOne. (clickhere)

Lakoff, G. (2007). Whose freedom?: The battle over America'smost important idea. New York: Macmillan. (clickhere)

Lakoff, G. (2008). The political mind: Why you can't understand21st-century politics with an 18th-century brain. New York: Penguin. (clickhere)

Stout, L. A. (2010). Cultivating conscience: How good laws makegood people. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (clickhere)

Punishing the Poor

2011-12-26T14:57:00.001-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

Merry post-Creeka and all that. Personally, I’ve beenhaving a hard time distracting myself with the glitter while children go hungryor don’t have a place to sleep…

* * *

Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can't aford so we can put the economy on sounder footing...

-- President Obama, weekly radio address, July 2, 2011

Yesterday I posted the followingFacebook status update:

Before you post about all your gifts, consider that today one third --ONE THIRD -- of children in the US are homeless.

A contact correctly pointed outthat my figure -- that one-third of all children in the US are homeless -- waswrong and he posted a link to a credible source. I gotta respect that. In fact, if we go byofficial estimates, my figure grosslyoverestimates child homelessness. (h/t Paul P.)

I’m usually more careful aboutmy statistics, so no excuses. Still, yesterday was Christmas and I was runningaround, and what I should have postedwas that child homelessness has risenand represent one-third of the homeless population. If we take the “official”homeless figure for children at 1.6 million children each year. To put it in perspective that equates to more than30,000 homeless children each weekand over 4,400 each day.

There are two things I want toexplore a little further. One is that there is no concrete way to count thehomeless. So the correct homeless figures vary widely, most will say that thefigure stands at anywhere between 600,000-1.5 million. That’s a huge margin of error.

The National Coalition for theHomeless points out:

Many people call or write theNational Coalition for the Homeless to ask about the number of homeless peoplein the United States. There is no easy answer to this question and, in fact,the question itself is misleading. In most cases, homelessness is a temporarycircumstance -- not a permanent condition. A more appropriate measure of themagnitude of homelessness is the number of people who experience homelessnessover time, not the number of “homeless people.”

Studies of homelessness arecomplicated by problems of definitions and methodology. (here)

Of interest to me, and to thosewho actually study homelessness, are the children of families who are livingdoubled up with friends and families because they have no place to stay. Thesearen’t counted as “homeless” and don’t qualify for homeless services. Furthermore,there are the families who have dropped off the grid entirely, living on theprecarious margins of society with no hope. There the families who have no wayof being contacted, therefore studies, many of which rely in part on telephonesurveys, never count them.

Therefore, if we expand thedefinition of homelessness in order to better understand and explore it, myone-third figure, while admittedly still a gross overestimation, is not as muchof an exaggeration as one would think.

In the interest of betterarticulating my point, let me use a related issue, poverty. If we use theaccepted norm for measuring poverty, we find that nearly 15 million children inthe United States -- 21% of all children-- live in families with incomes belowthe federal poverty level -- $22,050 a year for a family of four. However, theway we measure poverty is woefully inadequate and obsolete. For example, researchshows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level tocover basic expenses. Using thisstandard, 42% of children live in low-incomefamilies (here). Notice that using a more rigorous measure of poverty causes thepoverty rate to double. It doesn’ttake a social scientist to understand the relationship between poverty andhomelessness, so I have to wonder just how much of an exaggeration is myone-third figure.

Among the 21 most affluentnations, theUnited States has the highest percentage of poor children. In fact, ourrate is twice that of the country next in line. And contrary to the demonizingand racializing of the poor by the idiots on the right, most of these childrenhave parents who work, but low wages and unstable employment leave their familiesstruggling to make ends meet. Poverty sentences children to live on the marginsas it impedes the ability to learn and contributes to social, emotional, andbehavioral problems. Poverty is a major factor in poor health and is correlatedto mental health. Risks are greatest for children who experience poverty whenthey are young and/ or experience deep and persistent poverty.

What todo? What’s needed is the exact opposite of the austerity budgets favored byObama and conservative politicians in the US and Europe. More governmentspending and tax cuts targeted at the working class, beyond what PresidentObama has proposed, will surely make the deficit larger and drive up debt. Butthe post World War II ratio of GDP to debt in 1946 was at 109% -- a record. This was followed by two of the strongestdecades of economic growth in U.S. history.

FDR, whoreneged on his initial promise to balance the budget and initiated the New Dealinstead once declared, “to balance the budget in 1933, or 1934, or 1935 wouldbe a crime against the American people.” Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle today is that poverty in America has been racialized.The color of poverty is black and brown and it’s far easier to demonize, asconservatives do, the shiftless black and brown hordes of poor who multiplylike rats and who have taken “our” country away from “us.”

This iswhat is meant when teabaggers mewl about “taking our country back.”

Nevermind that this perception is false and there are multitudes of poor, hungry,and homeless children who happen to be white, as long as the mainstream politicalnarrative can paint the issue in stark racial tones, Americans in the US won'tidentify with the plight of the poor. When the right cries “classwarfare” their argument is little more than a thinly veiled racial slur. It’show they get the white working class and the culture warriors on their side.Because this strategy is itself so deeply irrational, it’s inevitable thatconservatism would become poisoned by it. Essentially, American conservatism islittle more than a primal scream about its own demons and imaginary hells. Whobenefits? The 1% percent who pick their pockets while they vent about fetusesand sex.

Without achampion or the political will to brand balancing the government budget as a “crimeagainst the American people,” today’s crisis will likely drag on for more thana decade as economic hardship mounts for more and more of us -- especially our children.

My nameis Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

What Really Matters [Laughter]

2011-12-25T14:45:00.000-05:00

Felicidades…

I’m hearing people talk about the gifts they’ve received andI can’t shake the knowledge that one-thirdof all children in the US are homeless.

One third.

And you’re posting FB/ Twitter updates about all yourgifts? I dunno, man, something isn’t correct…

There is no greater reward than sharing. No gadget, no toy, nothing glittery will save you fromyourself. I believe life’s greatest challenge is being able see the sufferingin the world and still commit to living with compassion, humor, joy, and a lot of laughter. For this is what really matters.

* * *

It is impossible for a truly grateful personto be sad for an extended period of time.

Because a large portion of mywork involves the mind, I consume a lot of research, especially new researcharound neuroscience. I love it when this research confirms my experiences. Forexample, I came across these few important facts about laughter…

Research shows that when youlaugh from the belly, you breathe insex times more oxygen than normal. Some experts estimate that twenty seconds oflaughter is equal to twenty minutesof cardiovascular exercise. Usually something is funny as well, which is itsown reward. In fact, laughter stimulates the euphoria centers in the brain, thesame ones that light up over sex (or chocolate).

Scientific studies have beendone on the “vocalization” and “burst rates” of laughter, discovering that,cross culturally, the most constant consonant of laughter is “h.” Most of usgo, “ha ha,” or “hee hee,” “ho ho,” or “heh heh.” the researchers also foundthat no one laughs with mixed consonants, as in “ha, fa, la, ca, kee, po… ”

Anthropologists now believe thatthe human laughter, “ha ha,” evolved from the rhythmic sound made by other primatespecies when tickling and chasing each other in play. The make a sound like “hoohhooh.”

Primates like to tickle eachother, and one scientist has determined that the first joke ever made was thefake tickle, when the gesture to tickle is made but withdrawn before contact,as in “Ha ha. Fooled you.”

Here’s hoping that you have muchto laugh over and that you commit to sharing that bounty and laughter withpeople not just inside your insular bubble, but to an ever-expanding network ofrelationships.

Cheers,

Eddie

A Nuyorican Christmas Story

2011-12-24T12:38:00.000-05:00

¡Happy Holidays Everybody!
The following is a tradition with me, so you may have read it already. I post it in the humble hope that it will bring a you a cheer and remind you of the important things in life -- the things that really matter.

Sometimes things happen in your life that affects forever the very way you perceive reality. Some events are negative, acting as baggage for all your later interactions. Others are life-changing epiphanies that work to make life more joyful. Which ones do you cling to?

Let me tell you a story...

* * *

The Rosarios, ca late 60s/ early 70s

The Empty Boxes

In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

-- Albert Camus

It was a time of change and turmoil: the Vietnam War still raged and it seemed as if all the institutions we took for granted -- marriage and gender roles, Civil rights, the meaning of freedom -- were being questioned and reformulated. The strategies used by African-Americans and Latin@s in the struggle for Human Rights were being used by a wide range of groups: women were burning their bras and Gays were marching for their rights.

In short, it was a time of change and the times, as the song went, were a’changin’.

It was a year I would never forget. I was about sixteen, in the process of reading every “great book” ever written, helping put out an underground newspaper, and young and full of life. We had many friends and our home was the center of activities for our vast network of friends and family.

This particular year, however, was a difficult one for my family: our stepfather was arrested because of a scuffle with police and sentenced to a year in jail. He was our breadwinner and that meant that our main source of income was gone. Compounding our financial difficulties was our mother’s pregnancy, she would eventually give birth to our youngest brother, Vincent, the following June.

As the oldest child, I had always felt a deep sense to protect my mother and siblings. I had to grow up pretty quick because it was expected of me to be more than a big brother; I had to be a power of example for my younger siblings. Somehow, I felt I should be doing something to contribute and it was frustrating. What disturbed me the most, however, was when I caught my mother crying. Though I always resented sometimes having to be the adult in my interactions with her, my mother was nevertheless a strong woman who managed to make her place in a world that was both hostile and violent towards her. If she was despairing that meant things were really screwed up.

My sisters and I helped by working at a local supermarket after school. I worked delivering groceries and my sisters staffed the cash registers. Of course, me being the radical in the house, I was promptly fired for calling the owner an Uncle Tom and an oppressor of his own people. Sometimes we would get our groceries because my sisters would not charge up the register when my mother shopped. Things got worse at the onset of the holidays. We called a family meeting and we all agreed that, with the exception of our youngest brother, Edgar (who was eight), we would forego gifts for Christmas. My mother didn’t take this too well and it pushed her to her dark side, often succumbing to bouts of sadness interspersed with rage. What Nuyoricans often called ataques de nervios (nervous attacks).

We made do just as many other poor families did at that time: welfare augmented by small-scale attempts at entrepreneurship. Sometimes my mother would buy a bottle of rum, or some other item, and raffle it off at the Bingo parlor: if everyone paid in a dollar, she would be able to earn a profit and still offer a decent prize. We also had an extended family and they would help as best they could, though they too were often financially extended and living from paycheck to paycheck.

In short it was getting to be a really sad holiday season. The house became less full, as our situation served as a basis for shame and as we gradually dropped off our activities with our friends the ensuing quiet was disturbing. Then one day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, we took out the old artificial tree. We all share a warped sense of humor and my sisters and I started joking about how lonely the tree would look without any gifts. Soon we were cracking each other up, trying to outdo each other by coming up with the most twisted reason why we should, or shouldn’t, put up the Christmas tree.

In the end, we decided to put it up and, and while playing traditional Puerto Rican Christmas songs, we slowly got into the spirit of things. Soon enough, the house rang out with laughter and song and friends were called up to come and help. I don’t know if my perception is clouded by bias or the passage of time, but I swear that that old tree never looked so beautiful. We really put our creative energies into fixing up the house too: we gift wrapped doors, put up mistletoes, strung lights on the windows -- we created the best display on that Brooklyn block.

Still, the tree did look “lonely,” or bare, without gifts. So someone, one of my sisters I think, came up with the idea of collecting empty boxes and wrapping them up as gifts. Of course, as is usual in the Rosario household, we took the sentiment to an extreme. Our rather large artificial tree was soon dwarfed by a mountain of elegantly wrapped “gifts.” People would visit and comment on how “beautiful” the tree was and we would secretly laugh because we knew they were only saying that in part because of the many “gifts.” It was our own little private joke.

I have to admit that while our circumstances were extremely difficult that year, I can’t remember a more joyful holiday season. Soon our apartment sang once again with the sound of young people engaged in the daily activities of life. That tree seemed to radiate joy,it attracted people, and it was true that many people would come and visit. I guess maybe everyone else was having a hard time and the joy in our house was sort of like a warm fire to ward off the chill of winter in America. The tree became almost like another family member that we tended to and nurtured. People would visit and you could tell immediately that the joy was infectious. The “joke” was a constant source for new comedic material and we would create even more elaborate “gifts” to put at the base of that tree.

Nuyoricans celebrate Christmas Eve -- Noche Buena. Christmas day is for the children and for the adults to nurse hangovers. That year, a huge Christmas Eve party, attended by everybody-and-their-mother, capped that holiday season. The owner of the supermarket where my sisters worked contributed the ingredients so that my mother could make her famous pasteles (a Puerto Rican plantain/ meat dish) and pernil (pork suckling). All our friends and family attended and the party lasted well into Christmas morning. I don’t think it snowed that Christmas, but I remember that the party became the basis for several legends -- a storytime delight to be recounted for years to come. It became a marker for community events as in BC and AD: Before and After “The Christmas Party.”

The party itself was rambunctious -- more rambunctious than normal. The reason why poor people can party is because they know all too intimately the ups and downs of life and whenever the opportunity arises, they party with an almost religious fervor. Of course, there was plenty of drama that Christmas Eve. Someone was caught playing his wife dirty, a woman was accused of being a husband stealer, old jealousies and rivalries were re-ignited, and quite a few made fools of themselves. There was my step father’s aunt, who insisted on flashing her panties at everyone and poor old Frito who would never live down the fact that he got so drunk he pissed on himself.

The party was a microcosm of the full catastrophe of the human condition in all its shining glory. In short -- a good time was had by all.

Finally, Christmas morning came, and it was time to clean up the house and dispose of all the “gifts.” I started collecting the empty boxes to throw them out, but our mother stopped me.

“You can’t throw out the boxes!” she yelled out, an alarming note of hysteria in her voice.

We looked at one another, fearing our mother was about to have another ataque de nervio, but then we saw her smile.

We had to tear through all the empty boxes in order to find the real gifts my mother had embedded into that huge pile. I will never forget my gift that year though I have had many richer Christmas’ since: it was a digital watch with an LED readout that were fairly new and trendy at the time. I know it didn’t cost much, maybe $5, but I treasured it and wore that watch for a long time.

Why this story?

For one, the experience taught me a lesson that was the greatest Christmas gift of all: that you always have a choice with how to respond to adversity. Yes, the fact remained that we sometimes were hungry and our clothes weren’t the best. There were times we couldn’t afford basic needs or even school supplies. But we learned to face these hardships with humor and strength of character. That year could easily have been much worse, but facing our hardships in a realistic but joyful way -- that lesson would stay with me for the rest of my life. For me, this is the taste of life itself. The One Taste.

So, if you ever catch me smiling, try to remember where that smile comes from. It comes from the knowledge that material gifts are essentially empty. I smile because I know the pretty boxes are empty but my heart is full…

Happy Holidays! You are loved. May you all know true happiness.

* * *

[The above is an edited version of a story from my unpublished memoir tentatively titled, 704 E. 5th St.: Ataque de Nervios and Other Stories (or some shit like that). Please, if you feel moved to share this story, feel free to do so, but I ask that you attribute the story appropriately -- with my name attached. Otherwise, I will have to sue your broke ass! LMAO!]

The Friday Sex Blog [Sexual Revolution 2.0]

2011-12-23T15:43:00.002-05:00

¡Hola mi gente!

I’ve spending some time around Fifth Avenue, taking inthe sights and taking photos, but as nice as it all seems, I can’t seem toshake off the sense of how obscene it all really is…

Then, there’s the “madness” -- people rushing around, onthe edge, ready for aggression -- or what we now call “Christmas shopping.”

Let’s talk about sex…

* * *

Teeth, fingers, lips

painted with the fruits

of our childlike foreplay,

we had our roll in the tangled underbrush

and emerged,

scratched and bleeding,

staggering, jaunty and

rowdy with contempt

for all those timid animals

who still make noiseless love,

undressing in

the darkened chambers

of their shame.

According to Judeo-Christianideology, the world of sexual love (eros), the body, and human sexuality isessentially framed as the domain of the devil. In this worldview, the realm ofthe physical is unholy, an animalistic distraction from spirituality -- thehigh, mental, sacred pursuit of God and the good, ethical life. From infancy weare conditioned to fear and loathe the influence of eros. We are told that themore we open and respond to the erotic impulse, the more we get in touch withour bodies, the more we enjoy and pursue our sexual natures, the farther westray from “godliness” and emotional well-being.

When I write about humansexuality, I am submitting the exact opposite. I argue that the erotic impulsehonored and freed from the stigma of guilt and the forces of repression, can beand is a powerful path toward a psycho-spiritual transcendence and actualization.It demands of us to stop trivializing the erotic/ sexual world as we so oftendo, as if sex involved nothing more than sensory stimulation, egogratification, and the pursuit of an orgasm.

The [unfinished] sexual revolutionof the 60s and 70s freed us to explore the heady carnal pleasures of the eroticworld, when it was relatively safe and there was reliable birth control.Combined with freedom movements we were at once liberated from some of ourheritage of sexual suppression and fear. But I submit that it is the failure ofrecognize the depth and complexity of the erotic impulse that underlies much ofcurrent sexual dissatisfaction.

During the euphoric time of “freelove,” when sex and sensuality broke and overflowed the dams of previousrestrictions and became available to those who chose to immerse themselves in thosewaters, we seemed to collectively want nothing more than to consume as mucherotic experience as we could. We were, after all, very much like starvingbeings emerging from literally thousandsof years in the desert into a world of lush, green jungles bursting with ripeerotic fruit. It was an enticing moment in the cultural history of Americansexuality, and important first step in freeing ourselves from the yoke of Puritanism.

But even as we feasted on thewider range of erotic delights we discovered at every turn, even as we gloriedin our power to go beyond political, cultural, and sexual conventions longconsidered untouchable, we began to push up against the limits of the path wewere on. In some ways, we were mindlessly recreating the very same powerstructures (i.e., patriarchy) we sought to dismantle. “Free love,” for example,often led to sexual coercion, as women were subtly pressured to engage sexuallywhile still having to follow rules dictated by men.

I’m even going to throw Hegel inthe mix: the new synthesis (sexual revolution) started to generate its own antithesis. The crest of the wave, itseems, was moving faster than the foundation and there were rocks up ahead.Woodstock gave way to Altamont (the music concert of many rapes); the use ofmind expanding drugs morphed to addictive behavior; the delight of freelypursuing sexual pleasure turned into feelings of sexual emptiness and dissatisfaction,even before AIDS and other STDs came along.

We had achieved the release ofthe pressure of decades of sexual inhibition, but there was more to the picturethan simply having more sex, having sex with more partners, having sex withless guilt and more information, having sex with less pregnancy and disease, orhaving sex in previously prohibited ways: with your mouth, with your ass, witha vibrator, or with people of your own gender). Jumping into the sexualrabbit-hole as naïve as Alice, we found ourselves facing sexual territories wecould not have expected and did not know how to interpret.

As much as we would like tobelieve that we can jump in and out of erotic and sexual encounters as easilyas we can jump in and out of a shower, a movie, or a subway ride, theexperience of being fully sexual in rich, powerful ways almost always engagesan entire range of complex issues, psychologically and emotionally. This can beproblematic, because many people now want to be sexual more often and with morepartners than they want to engage intimately, let alone relationally.

But we can’t just revert -- wecan’t put the lid back on the sexual Pandora’s Box -- and I don’t think itwould be helpful. These deeper energies are essential aspects of the eroticexperience, no matter how carefully we try to repress sex or reduce it to a simplisticpursuit of physical pleasure. Whenever we play with erotic energy, we engagethe totality of our experience and tap into primal forces that have their rootsin the very heart of who we are as human beings, in how we define ourselves andrelate to the world around us.

Entering fully into the eroticworld raises issues and feelings, for example around our (often unsatisfied)infantile desires to be nurtured and held, our prenatal memories of being asone with another human being, around ego-disintegration and the softening ofego defenses, and around surrendering control of our behavior. the eroticimpulse inevitably raises all issues related to intimacy -- the desire to beclose to someone else, the fear of being smothered, and all the past yearnings,fulfillments, wounds, and disappointments we have experienced in this regard.

Going still deeper, eroticexperiences takes us face-to-face with the essential questions of existence andthe meaning of life (and death) itself, even to a quality of experience thatmany describe as direct contact with the divine.

This is what awaits us as wedecide (or not) to engage the next sexual wave of development. There are conservativeforces, waging a cultural war, that want to put the lid back on the eroticimpulse, looking to a repressive past as a viable model for sexual behavior/ guidelines.I have news for you: they didn’t work in the past and they will fail us now. In my book, that’s called entropy. But then again that’s whatconservatism is really all about. No, we either engage the erotic impulse honorably,fearlessly, creatively, and joyfully or we die.

My name is Eddie and I’m inrecovery from civilization…

What Really Matters [Noche Buena]

2011-12-22T16:22:00.003-05:00

¡Hola mi gente!

A friend treated me to a viewing to the latestinstallment of the Mission Impossible franchise: Ghost Protocol.It was actually good and had some moments of genuine suspense. Plus I love Paula Patton. Ithink she’s an exquisite beauty.

The following is fiction. It is based on actual eventsand is the foundation of one of the stories in my forthcoming book of shortstories tentatively titled Ataques deNervios (Nervous Attacks) or 704 E. 5th St. (or some shit like that).However, I have taken huge libertieswith parts of the story, the characters, and time line.

* * *

Fear is the main source of superstition, andone of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

-- Bertrand Russell

It’s so cold she can’t feel herfeet. She’s wearing only slippers in the midst of a raging Nor’easter. She’safraid and her threadbare coat hardly protects her from the 40-50 mile per hourwinds. It’s the night before Noche Buena and she’s alone, keeping vigil outsidea home in the Italian section of Lower Manhattan, but she’s here because herkids are in need... there’s no one around and she despairs. Her feet ache...

Eddie left with Gangster withinstructions that if she saw anyone, she should whistle. Now she wonders if shecan whistle, her face is frozen, and they’ve been gone so long. What if thepolice come?

Finally, they come rushing outthe building with stuffed pillowcases and she starts to run with them shefalls, she can’t feel her toes. Gangster and Eddie thankfully pick her up andthey make their way hurriedly back to the Puerto Rican section, which takes toolong and she’s crying, she’s in agony. Eddie stops to look at her feet andmutters, “shit!” under his breath.

They hurry home.

They finally get home and bynow, she’s crying in agony. Eddie takes off the slippers and thinks she hasfrostbite. She cries, but tries to stifle her cries, fearful she’ll awaken thechildren. Unbeknownst to them, her oldest son watches through a crack in thebedroom doorway. He’s afraid.

They call Eddie’s sister, whotakes one look at the stuffed pillowcases and looks down at the young mother,as if noting her lack of moral standing. Eddie asks her to look at her feet andthe sister says it’s not frostbite, but that she should go to the emergencyroom anyway. The young mother refuses, afraid. Afraid of the consequences ofthe act she just helped commit and afraid of what they may say about her toesthat throb with pain now.

They give Eddie’s sister a goldwatch from the stolen loot, and she’s delighted. It’s an expensive watch, verypretty. She gives the young mother another condescending look and admonishesthem for behaving in such an un-Christian manner. The young mother says nothingand thanks her for looking after the children.

That Christmas a good Christmas.There was good food, there were gifts under the tree, and my mother seemed sohappy though we noticed that she limped a little when she walked. She had abrand new pair of boots, the only concession she made for herself. She madesure to get her precious children gifts from “Guzman’s” -- the toy store onAvenue C. I remember I got a James Bond attaché case, complete with gadgets andit even shot rubber bullets if you pressed a hidden button. I also got achemistry set that I used for hours upon hours... She made sure we got ourgifts before Eddie and Gangster would leave with the bulk of the loot,returning only when the money was spent on drugs. She didn’t even get herself adecent coat. However, we got warm coats, gloves, scarves, and long underwear.

I never knew why she was cryingthat wintry night all those years ago. I thought they were fighting... But I amnot surprised at her sacrifice -- what she went through for what she thoughtwould make us happy because somehow she always made it right, even if it meantcompromising her values or her reputation. She didn’t care, only her childrenmattered. Still, she was ashamed and part of the reason why I have perfectposture is because she taught us to walk tall, with our heads held high.

Most importantly, she taught mewhat really matters...

Felicidades…

What Really Matters [Asalto de Navidad/ Christmas Assault]

2011-12-21T13:00:00.001-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

Here’s my annual tribute to the Black Urban Experiencethat was part of the backdrop to my development… The following is based on trueevents. I have taken some liberty with the timeline and characters, but it’sall true. LOL

* * *


In terms of the revolution, I believe that therevolution will be a revolution of dispossessed people in this country: that'sthe Mexican American, the Puerto Rican American, the American Indian, and blackpeople. -- H. Rap Brown

My best friend (we wereinseparable) when I was growing up was Al. We were born on the same day, oneminute apart. He was born on a Monday morning June 6, 1955 at 3:28 AM and I wasborn a minute later. Al was a dark-skinned African-American with fine features.He played trumpet and I played trombone and percussion. We wanted to becomeLatin Jazz musicians and Al came from a family of musicians. We were night andday, yin and yang, if you saw one, you were certain the other was somewherenearby.

And we were trouble: deviousGeminis to the core.

Al had 15 brothers and sistersand they all lived in this huge 23-room house in the Brooklyn neighborhoodknown as Bushwick. I know it had 23 rooms because I counted. Ms. Pearl, Al’smother, would tire of throwing me out of her house. She used to refer to PuertoRicans as, “All you mira-miras.” I think she got that from constantly hearingPRs exclaim, “¡Oye mira, mira!” on the streets of what was then a diverseneighborhood. She would chase me out of her house, but would send out her sonsto look for me if I stayed away too long and then scolded me for staying away.Of course, she would throw me out the door and I would climb through thewindows. Al got all his looks from his mother, she was a very dark-skinned,fine featured, woman with long, fine hair, still beautiful in spite of all thechildren. Her house was run like a conglomerate, with varying levels ofmanagement. I was totally fascinated.

She didn’t like PRs and let meknow it, but I think she loved the heck out of me. She would call me “Black”and laugh because I was so light-skinned. The name stuck, I was known as“Black,” as in “Yo, Black,” in her house. However, she always made sure she letme know she couldn’t abide by those noisy “Mira-mira Po’ Reekans” as shereferred to us.

Therefore, it didn’t surprise mewhen she was initially outraged when my family decided to show up on herdoorstep one Christmas Eve in observance of the Puerto Rican tradition of the paranda. She looked at me and said,“Nigga, what the fuck are all them mira-mirasdoing out there on my front door?” My family also had its share of musicians,my uncle having led a salsa band for decades. My stepfather was also somethingof a musician and my mother, much to my embarrassment, can’t sing to save herlife. But there they were, on Ms. Pearl’s doorstep singing some whacked out PRChristmas song with Al, her favorite son, at the head of that mess, playingtrumpet.

For Puerto Ricans, thecelebration of Christmas is more of an assault than a normal celebration. Yousee, la paranda goes like this: aninitial small group will get together and march en masse to each doorway. Theycome complete with instruments, real and makeshift. Puerto Ricans consider potsand pans, for example, instruments. As are beer bottles (full or empty) oranything else that makes a percussive sound. There are, of course, the realinstruments, guitars, congas, cowbells. For Puerto Ricans, anything -- any kindof instrument -- is considered game. If you played an accordion and had onehandy, you would be “encouraged” to tag along, intrument and all.

So, there they were, my wholefamily and what looked like the rest of the PR community, banging on pots andpans, congas, bongos, and guitars, with my mother in rare form, screeching atthe top of her voice. Now here’s the real kicker: PR paranda tradition holdsthat as you go from door to door, each household gets hit (el asalto). Once outside your door, Puerto Ricans will not leaveuntil you feed them and get them drunk and then you have to go out there with them to the next house.

“Edward,” Ms. Pearl said (youknow you’re in trouble when grownups use your full, real name), “Tell themmuthafuckas and my son to get the fuck out of my door before I call thepolice.” This is where I had to explain the part where they wouldn’t leaveuntil they were well fed and drunk and, with a “Hell no,” under her breath, sheopened the front door to give my people a piece of her mind and that’s when thewhole group just rushed in, mistakenly thinking they were being invited.

That was a helluva Noche Buena, as PRs call Christmas Eve.Ms Pearl ate lechon (pork suckling)and pasteles (meat embedded in mashedplantains and yuca wrapped in plantain leaves) for the first time and hersister, Aunt Gerty, got so drunk, she literally lost her wig. In the process,traditional PR food collided with soul food. Flan mixed with sweet potato pie,greens crashed with arroz con gandures, James Brown mixed with Willie Colon,the rum and the vodka flowed, and through it all, Ms. Pearl and my motherformed an uneasy truce, each knowing that their sons were inseparable.

There were easily over 100people there that night, some we didn’t even know. Every Christmas Eve afterthat, I know Ms. Pearl would anxiously await the ruckus of “All dem mira-miras.” She would never admit it,but I know she loved those parties. She would say that “Porter Reekans” knewhow to party like black folk and that’s probably the greatest compliment Ms.Pearl could give.

Eventually, Ms. Pearl would losethat big house on Bushwick Avenue. I remember she could be stern, but she was alsoso supportive of the young people in the neighborhood. She would allow, forexample, her son George’s band, The NewBreed, to practice in her basement. Now, you have to understand this was a16-piece band with Marshal amps. We also played loud, performing songs fromdiverse sources, like Buddy Miles, Grand Funk Railroad, Kool & the Gang,Curtis Mayfield. Her son, George, was a gifted drummer who practiced at least8-10 hours a day -- every day. Ms. Pearl supported all of that.

Eventually, George would go ontour with Gloria Gaynor. Al and I worked as freelancers for various localbands, mostly salsa. Some of the horn players of The New Breed would break offand eventually play with BT Express and other groups of the day. Eventually, Iwould become discouraged with the music business and leave it all behind. WhenMs. Pearl lost her house, she moved to a smaller one further away -- somewherein Queens. I would visit, but not as often. Al and I would go our differentways, with Al beginning a life in crime that would eventually lead him to therevolving door of the prison/ industrial complex.

The last time I saw Ms. Pearl,she hugged me and tenderly caressed my face. She told me to make sure to takecare of myself. Shortly thereafter, I left New York for some time. The last timeI spoke to anyone from the family was when George called me while I was livingin Houston. He was on a world tour with Gloria Gaynor and had left some ticketsfor me at the Forum. When I saw him, I hugged him as I would a brother.

I never saw any of them again...

I look back now and realize, asI did then, that those were special days. I lived during a time where there wascommunity and while times were hard (they always were), people somehow lookedout for one another's children. Today, I don't see these traditions practicedas much as in those days, and I'm saddened a bit because our children willnever know how much they're missing...

Felíz Navidad,

Eddie

What Really Matters [Tio Jaime]

2011-12-20T15:29:00.001-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

Felicidades…

* * *

My paternal uncle ("tio") Jaime during his tour in Korea

If we evolved a race of Isaac Newtons, thatwould not be progress. For the price Newton had to pay for being a supremeintellect was that he was incapable of friendship, love, fatherhood, and manyother desirable things. As a man he was a failure; as a monster he was superb.

-- Aldous Huxley (1894– 1963)

“Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!

… silence

“Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!

… silence

“Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!

… silence

There is a faint sound and I realize it’s Taps playing in thebackground. I don’t know where it’s coming from, it’s barely audible. It’s acrisp, clear November morning and each time my cousin’s husband, a member ofthe US Army yells out, “Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!” (or something likethat), the ensuing silence is like a cold wind is blowing through a hole in myheart. The shock reverberates through me like a shot in the dark of night andmy tears well in eyes before rolling down my cheeks.

It breaks my heart…

It’s Christmas morning early1960s in New York’s infamous Lower East Side. My three cousins, Edgar, Miriam,and Jenny are young children and they’re crying because there are no giftsunder the tree for them. They are crying not because they didn’t get what theywanted, but because they thought they had done something wrong for not gettingany gifts at all. There is no heat in the apartment; it’s cold, and the oven ison full blast, barely warming the kitchen. Water is boiling on the stove. Myaunt Sylvia cries silently, not knowing what to tell her children.

We all lived in the samebuilding on the Lower East Side: 704 E. 5th St. I liked to joke that if a bombhad been dropped on “704,” our family would have ceased to exist because we alllived in that building. I was only half kidding. It was a rat-infested building-- a cold water flat -- and the bathtub was situated in the kitchen. We sawthat as normal. The apartment had no toilet; we had to share one down the hallwith the apartment across from us. The owners were derelict in everythingexcept one: they were prompt in collecting the rent.

Too many of us lived in thattwo-bedroom apartment, togetherness in those days was a little different:having your own “space” wasn’t an option. We were working poor, children offirst generation Puerto Ricans who moved to New York, factory and garmentindustry workers, janitors, washerwomen. There was just one TV, owned by myuncle, Jaime, and all the children would all gather at his apartment to watchKing Family Christmas Specials on this hugemonstrosity of a TV that had maybe a 9-inch screen. Togetherness was differentin those days: it was cold and huddling together on my uncle’s big bed was aboutkeeping each other warm. To have your own space in those days meant you frozeyour culo off.

Tio Jaime bursts into my aunt’sapartment and yells out, “Why is everybody crying?” My cousins, through thegaps in their sobbing tell Tio that they didn’t get any gifts and they don’tknow why because they had been good. My uncle looks around, and in his owncomical way, he opens his eyes in wide exaggeration and yells out, “Aha! Hereis the problem!” Pointing to the closed, securely latched window by the fireescape, he explains that the reason Santa Claus didn’t leave any gifts wasbecause that, “Sangana mother of yours forgot to unlock the window and hecouldn’t get in! C’mon! He left your gifts at my place and told me to make sureI came and got you.”

We never knew until many yearslater what Tio did -- not until we became older and understood what hadhappened. Unable to bear the sadness of his nieces and nephews, he sacrificedso that everyone would have at least a little something for Christmas. Manyyears later, my cousin Cynthia, Tio Jamie’s daughter, would joke that herBarbie died of starvation that year because they gave Miriam the Barbie Oven --you know those ovens with the light bulb inside that let you bake muffins andstuff like that?

We could never really thank Tiobecause he hated for these acts to be known. For him, it wasn’t being valorousor a committing a good deed, it was what had to be done -- nothing extra, he might say. He did this many times, more than wewould ever know.

Togetherness was different inthose days, I think, because to have your own space meant your loved one wouldnot receive a simple Christmas gift. It simply wasn’t an option…

Many years later, as a studentat a university, I began a preliminary study on fatherhood within the PuertoRican context and what I read in the research literature troubled me because itdidn’t jibe with my own experience growing up Puerto Rican in New York City.While it was true that my own father was often absent, I also had the luxury ofsurrogate fathers like Tio Jaime who offered a conscientious model of masculinity.

“Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!

… silence

By now, my cousin’s husband’s voice is cracking with emotion and he toois crying because there is no answer. My heart breaks open and it seems thatthere’s a hole in my life and the crisp November wind blows through itmercilessly.

It breaks my heart…

My uncle served in the militaryand was part of that famous Puerto Rican unit, the 65th Infantry Regiment.

A Company, 1st Battalion…

Tio never talked about hisservice, but my cousin’s husband discovered that he participated the famouslanding at Inchon, Korea to free surrounded US Troops. His unit received thePresidential Unit citation, The Meritorious Unit Commendation, and two Republicof Korea Unit Citations. My uncle detested violence and he was wounded duringthe war for which he received the Purple Heart Medal.

But that wasn’t what Tio wasabout. I’ll always remember Tio Jaime for his raunchy sense of humor. He waslike a Puerto Rican Sid Caesar -- hilarious. He always had a good joke thatwould make you laugh from the belly. He was more about humor and facing life’shardships with a laugh. Smiling in the face of adversity is how I will alwaysremember Tio, forever thanking him for that gift.

“Cpl. Jaime Rosario, present arms!”

… silence

memoirs, narratives,storytelling

Myth Buster Mondays [Immigration and African Americxan Unemployment]

2011-12-19T16:36:00.002-05:00

¡Hola mi Gente!

There is nothing I detest more than to see my own peopleallowing racist, white supremacist thinking take root in their minds. One pointin fact is the misdirected and false perceptions of native-born people of colorabout immigrants. When I listen to African Americans or Puerto Ricans, for example, go off on immigrants, it makes my blood boil because they areco-opting and assimilating the language of white racists. And these white racists know it anduse that ignorance to make some us agents of division within our owncommunities.

Let’s take that tried and true myth that immigrants aretaking away the jobs of African Americans and other native-born people of color…

* * *

The Immigration and African American Jobs Myth

Knowledge makes a man unfit for slavery.

-- Frederick Douglass

The comedian, David Chappelle,had a brilliant skit which highlighted the [mis]adventures of a blind whitesupremacist who didn’t know he was black. It’s an instructive metaphor for whatsome call internalized racism -- astate of mind in which people of color sometimes adopt a white supremacistmindset that results in self-hatred and hatred of their respective orassociated racial group.

Nowhere else is internalizedracism demonstrated by blacks and other people of color than in the issue ofimmigration. As a Latino of Puerto Rican descent, I am a citizen by lawfuldecree. All Puerto Ricans are born citizens.And sometimes that puts us at odds with other Latin@ groups who don’t enjoycitizenship status and resent us for it, or when we Puerto Ricans adopt the immigrantviews of the dominant US culture. I can’t stand to watch, for example, twoclosely related groups such as Dominicans and Puerto Ricans go at each other. I’mnot saying it’s common, because it isn’t -- this is demonstrated by the largerates of intermarriage between the two groups, but there are always some peoplewho fall prey to their own internalized racism.

This is also very true ofAfrican Americans, some who espouse the same vile views of anti-immigrant nativistand white supremacists (here).In addition, mythsand stereotypes about Latin@s -- such as the myth of our supposed indifference/resistance to learning English, for example -- are held by quite a few in theAfrican American community.\

Recently, Rippa posted anarticle on his site (here) challengingthe notion that immigration is harmful to the African American community and onecommenter posted a long screed that managed to enumerate almost all the Latin@ stereotypes. I responded contentiously,but also citing empirical studies showing that this particular individual’sviews weren’t just wrong, but bigoted and unfounded. I have gotten to the pointwhere I believe interacting with such individuals only serves to reinforce theanti-immigrant ideology, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

One of the ways whitesupremacists get the upper hand is by exploiting the natural tensions thatexist between Blacks and Latin@s and other people of color. It’s as if some ofus can’t wait to submit to Da Massa’sshackles. The point here is that this individual’s internalized racism is soentrenched that no facts, no responses grounded in empirical proof will shakethat person’s bigotry. Of course, the person in question has yet to post any evidence concerning hisor her bigoted assertions. I encourage said person to post an article withevidence to back up his/ her claims here.I’m sure Rippa would be open to it.

One abiding and controversialissue which anti-immigrant groups exploit is the myth that the presence of immigrantsin the U.S. labor force -- specifically undocumented immigrants -- has a major detrimentalimpact on African Americans employment. These anti-immigrant/ white supremacistgroups argue that undocumented immigrants, who tend to work in less skilledoccupations, are “taking” large numbers of jobs that might otherwise be filledby African American workers.

There’s one major problem withthis talking point: there is no evidencefor it.

It is important to acknowledgethat African Americans do face daunting economic and employment problems, andthat the legacy of discrimination continues to be felt in communities large andsmall across the country. Anti-immigrant organizations have coldly seized onthese troubles, however, to leverage a particularly nasty kind of argumentagainst immigration. Some of these self-professed advocates forAfrican-Americans have long-standing ties to nativistand hategroups.

The facts about this issue areplain. A recently released report by the Immigration Policy Center (here)analyzes the existence of immigrants in the workforce and compares it toAfrican American unemployment. If immigration was having a harmful affect on ratesof African American employment, it should follow that rates of unemployment amongAfrican Americans should be higher in areas with large numbers of immigrants inthe labor force, especially immigrants who are relatively recent arrivals tothe United States and willing to work for lower wages than most AfricanAmericans. The IPC report, however, showsjust the opposite and, in fact, finds that there is little apparentrelationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates among AfricanAmericans, or any other native born racial/ethnic group, at the state ormetropolitan level.

One example of this is found incomparing Miami and Cleveland:

Recent immigrants are 17 percentof the labor force in Miami, but only 3 percent of the labor force inCleveland. Yet the unemployment rate fornative-born blacks in Cleveland is double that of native-born blacks in Miami.As with most efforts to make simplistic arguments about unemployment, there isno one-to-one relationship between the presence of immigrants and unemploymentin the African-American community. [emphasis added]

That is not to say there is zerocompetition or that African Americans have no problems finding employment. Itmeans that, controlling for everything else, there is no relationship between immigration and black unemployment. More importantly,in order to move toward a real solution, we need to look at structural issues-- the mass incarceration of African Americans and other people of color andthe consequent disinvestment from education, for example -- and how othersocietal issues are obstacles to African Americans reaching their fullpotential.

The IPC report is not the solestudy, there are numerous articles (here,here,and here) onthe issue by noted academics. Gerald D. Jaynes, a professor in the departmentof economics and in the Program in African and American Studies at YaleUniversity, has studied the impact immigrants have on African Americans foryears and has repeatedly found that “the effects are relatively small, and inany event secondary to other causes of less educated workers’ dismal employmentand wage experiences.” (clickhere) And because the work of immigrants often complements that ofU.S.-born workers, “immigration can actually create jobs.” (click hereto view Jaynes’ congressional testimony.)

Furthermore, Dr. Stephen Pitts,a labor economist who has also taught African-American studies and now resides at UC Berkeley, holdsworkshops for workers to explain the real villain is not immigrant workers, butrather bad apple employers who exploit both communities. Pitts argues thatAfrican Americans should not allow themselves to be pitted against anotherethnic and racial group who themselves are struggling for equality and improvedconditions in their communities (here). Thisargument bears repeating when examining the motives of anti-immigrant groupswho claim to speak for native-born workers.

It’s no wonder that civil rightsgroups, who have and continue to fight for African American equality, are nowstanding up for immigration reform because they know raising the living andworking conditions of immigrants will level the playing field and improve thelives of all workers in America. These groups have cautioned against lettinganti-immigrant groups speak for the African American community.

The anti-immigrant crowd, almostexclusively composed of White leadership, likes to portray itself as standingup for African Americans. But let’s get fuckin' real, my black brothers and sisters, thisrecession was not caused by immigrantworkers “taking jobs” from Americans. It was caused by the economic meltdown broughton by the greed of financiers and unregulated market practices that pushed oureconomy to the brink of disaster. It is caused by the failure of neoliberal social and economicpolicies that now see more African Americans sitting in prisons than there wereslaves in 1850. Our shared economic struggles are the consequence of the willful intent to use economic resources to enslave us all.

Rather allowing ourselves to be led by the nose byracist white supremacists who certainly don't have our interests at heart, why don’t we start funneling our energy against thereal forces that are literally destroying all of our communities.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…