What class do you belong to? When I was young, “working class” was a commonsense term. It referred to wage workers, to miners and carpenters and secretaries and waitresses, people who were paid by the hour and mostly lived within modest means. Working class people were the primary constituency for union organizing. They almost all …
Like just about everyone I know, Wednesday started with a bad mood. In the interests of actually sleeping Tuesday night, we decided to block all incoming news, distract ourselves, and pull up the covers early. When I woke up, I imagined the delight I would feel when I saw the headlines proclaiming Kamala Harris President. …
This is the second of two essays about a new book that I love (yes, love!): We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. The first one derives a lesson strongly related to the upcoming election from Musa al-Gharbi’s sweeping analysis of “symbolic capitalists.” If you know anyone who has decided …
I’m recuperating from arthroscopic knee surgery I had earlier this week. Not sure if it’s the pain or the drugs that are giving me a somewhat distanced perspective on our national shitshow of a presidential campaign, but suddenly the whole thing has the aspect of a miniature landscape viewed from a great height. As nearly …
“Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?” Bob Dylan “The law of unintended consequences is never broken.” I thought I would find many citations when I googled this, but since I found none, I’ll attribute it to myself. Quite a few people I know have been expressing …
On May 25th, I joined a group of artists and activists at Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore in Manhattan for a panel discussion entitled, “Sustaining Arts Labor: Past and Present,” organized by City Lore and Artists Alliance Inc., and sponsored by Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY). This was one event in a years-long project of research, dialogue, …
Grifters, con artists, and sleight-of-hand entrepreneurs come in all ages, classes, genders, and colors. My subject today is the grifters born into ideal circumstances for learning the type of charm that makes people feel that your smile grants them access to excellence. I’m talking about the young, white, privileged, headline-making variety, whose exploits definitely call …
Pre-order my forthcoming book: In The Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does It Mean to Be Educated? NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 24th episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 16 December 2022. You can find it and all episodes …
Pre-order my forthcoming book: In The Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does It Mean to Be Educated? for 20% OFF+ FREE SHIPPING (to addresses in the US). Enter code JUSTICE20–FM at checkout! I talk each month to a good friend who’s centrally involved in community-based arts in another country. She has been scanning the …
NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 21st episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 16 September 2022. You can find it and all episodes at Stitcher, iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts, along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie …