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November 07, 2005 |
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The Spirit of Anarchy
FOUND by Adam Keats
in Eugene, Oregon
I found this note next to a bench at the University of Oregon. It was outside the law school, which was hosting the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. The note was folded in thirds, such that when I picked it up I could only read the top paragraph.
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Just Pretty Much... December 31, 2005 |
Your Car June 17, 2006 |
You Inside of Me June 29, 2003 |
Badminton July 06, 2003 |
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
loving the ironic mix of profound thoughts and mundane reality. such is life!
Yeah, I love it too. "Come on guys, we need to be better Anarchists! Oh note to self; pay my rent" lol!
this is my new favorite find. Reminds me of this play i wrote.
I agree with TR- since REAL anarchists definitely keep up with their rent and phone bills. "No, really, guys! It's only till the revolution comes! Then I'm going to KEEP every book I check out from the library, fines be damned!"
This paper is from Eastern Mennonite University and all of the companies "stamped" on the paper are in Harrisonburg, VA. Wonder how this go to Oregon?
Who knows HOW it got to Eugene, but here we are blessed with anarchist kids that like to key up cars in the name of "freedom" and in hopes of "resisting oppression." I used to be OK with the anarchy kids, but after keying up my subaru that had a Life Is Good sticker on it, I'm not so supportive of their ideals and values any longer. They lost an outside supporter.
i love that the housing office sells ad space on their notepads. ha ha... and to add insult to injury: they stamp "send a note to your family & friends & encourage them to visit these merchants!" I bet THAT cost the Nautilus Fitness center an extra 50 bucks!
JL: Perhaps it was the law of attraction. The EMU at the University of Oregon is the Erb Memorial Union, "the gathering place for campus activities, community interaction and socializing at the University of Oregon." I was so sure the notepad this came from was from the EMU at the U of O (given that's where it was found) that I had to look up your EMU on the web, and of course you are correct. An interesting coincidence.
As a Find, the note rates 9 out of 10 in my book. The juxtapositon is priceless.
I too immediately recognized this as Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. (I only live about 15 minutes away.) It doesn't strike me as school of anarchists, being self-described as "a small Christian liberal arts college dedicated to... values of peacebuilding and service" Very cool find!
reign of power! remorseless ANARCHY
I AM! arrogance in the flesh, unleashed intensity!!
Do laundry: All my black and dark greens
Drop off books: Anarchy for Idiots and How to Live a Healthy, Happy Anarchist Life
Work 11:45 : Should have been there at 8:00
Pay Rent & Phone Bill: 2 weeks late
I'm out of control! I'm an anarchist!
You don't want to be an anarchist...you're just sick of being poor.
Whatever in Wherever, you nailed it! I speak from experience, having owned many articles of clothing (all stolen or homemade, of course) emblazoned with the good old circle-A. Then I actually thought about it for 30 seconds. When anarchy is finally achieved, who exactly is in charge of putting out the fire when your squat goes up in flames as a result of a perfectly legal crack-smoking mishap? Just one of the many potential snags one might run into after having successfully smashed the State.
I have to admit though, my laundry is still almost exclusively black and dark green. Old habits die hard. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some windows to go and break.
Strange, usually rent is higher on my to do list than seeking the spirit of anarchy. I sure hope he doesn't decide we're doomed to die for human nature before he drops off those books.
Where I live there is an Anarchist Party. Has no one noticed that it's an oxymoron to have a political party dedicated to the supposed destruction of all such social structures? So they're going to organise their disorganisation? There will still be quarrels about who will head up the refreshment committee...
I know it looks farcical out of context, but I still think there's a massive difference between the intellectual concept of Anarchy and the image of adolescent emo children drawing circleAs on their t-shirts. You can want and hope for more excitement and stimulation and assertion in you own life and the world at large whilst still having to keep up a respectable, rent-paying, book-dropping front, can you not? It could be classic avoidance, necessary suppression turned passive-aggressive. I don't think Deep Thoughts, however underdeveloped, should be dismissed as pathetic or unintentionally hilarious just because they are taken to extremes in the distance of interpretation. Abstract generalisations obviously fall down under scrutiny, they always do, but it was all important to this person, regardless of the little chores tacked on. If you can live THROUGH those, if there's some reason for you to keep paying rent, if it makes you feel like you're winning (in the most minor way)... If you see what I'm saying and I'm sure that you do.