Today I was listening to Democracy Now as I wandered inadvertently onto the High Street Bridge and had to drive all the way through Alameda via Otis to Central to Webster streets this morning mindful of the traffic signals and speed limits.
The guests were responding to President Obama's compromise or what he calls: The People's Budget, re: the Republican suggested cuts to medical coverage to balance the budget.
In the meantime, Detroit, Michigan's population is decreasing, because people cannot not find work and are leaving one of this country's industrial centers.
At the round table discussion: Assessing Obama’s Budget Plan & State of U.S. Economy were Author Thomas Frank, Rev. Jim Wallis, and Activist/Philosopher Grace Lee Boggs.
Bogg's also addresses this issue in: "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For the Twenty-First Century."
What I want you to consider is what she stated when she said the "real revolution is a cultural one." She said we needed to examine our relationships with one another. That the very jobs we state we want and need have contributed to our excessive consumption. See http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/14/grace_lee_boggs_on_detroit_and
What is her argument? What evidence does she use to support it? Where do you agree and where do you disagree?
I liked the idea of a cultural revolution and began the query with, "what is culture?"
The guests were responding to President Obama's compromise or what he calls: The People's Budget, re: the Republican suggested cuts to medical coverage to balance the budget.
In the meantime, Detroit, Michigan's population is decreasing, because people cannot not find work and are leaving one of this country's industrial centers.
At the round table discussion: Assessing Obama’s Budget Plan & State of U.S. Economy were Author Thomas Frank, Rev. Jim Wallis, and Activist/Philosopher Grace Lee Boggs.
Bogg's also addresses this issue in: "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For the Twenty-First Century."
What I want you to consider is what she stated when she said the "real revolution is a cultural one." She said we needed to examine our relationships with one another. That the very jobs we state we want and need have contributed to our excessive consumption. See http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/14/grace_lee_boggs_on_detroit_and
What is her argument? What evidence does she use to support it? Where do you agree and where do you disagree?
I liked the idea of a cultural revolution and began the query with, "what is culture?"
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 9:20 AM
4 Comments:
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 1A 9-9:50am
Response to Grace Lee Boggs
What is culture? Dictionary.com states that it is “development or improvement of the mind by education or training.” Grace Lee Boggs state that this is the very thing that we need to change in order to fix were we as Americans and the human race find ourselves, to better not only the financial crisis, but also our world. She also states that we are witnessing a grave time in the history of the world that calls us to make tremendous changes and recreate our relationships with each other. She says that though money is very important a fixed budget is not going to be enduring enough to help with the cause that got us into this financial disaster in the first place, our culture. Our culture is built on a system where the ones that sustain us as a race, our youth, are not in institutes that ensure their survival in this growing world. Those who have jobs are turned into consumers and neglect their right to be creative and produce, which invertible cause them to abandon their sense of obligation to their community and each other. This is a cultural problem, not a financial one, and in order to have enough money for colleges, medical, and foodstamps we need to change the way we relate to one another not just our economy.
Stacey Kidder
Professor Sabir
English 1A 9-9:50am
22 April 2011
(My original post did not post, thus I've copied and pasted it on here with the original date and such.)
I really enjoyed hearing Grace Lee Boggs's opinion. I feel like she is right on target when saying it's time for a drastic change in the way we think about things. Money is dead. Money, though it still matters, it is losing so much value, constantly, because organizations, companies, etc. keep taking advantage of people, thus we've lost confidence in that money statute. We've lost touch with ourselves, and our abilities to connect and be close to humans, animals, and the earth in general, most certainly by consumerism just as Boggs states. We buy everything. We have no self-sustainability any longer, and it's now time for us to realize our own abilities once more and do something for ourselves, whether it be sewing your own shirts, planting your own fruits and vegetables, or using less gas and more public transportation. In a way, it's like saying we should screw over the government and the big companies out there that think we need them so much. We don't need that.
I agree with her talking about schools and education. It's not working. College isn't the same as it was 20 years ago. The youth of our nation are at a different point. We think differently than our parents and grandparents. We see a new perspective in the world than many have ever seen. I feel like even though we do see the hardships of our government and our current economy, we also see this state of the beginning of an opportunity. We do have urges to rage against the dollar and invest in sustainability to live, not to buy. It's profound, really, to understand that there is this new breed of power rising each day in the hearts of millions of young people, where we identify that there are issues, but there are more solutions than are recognized. One example is gas. We're paying so much for it lately, and believe me, all of us are ready for an alternative, but the government isn't. That's why we don't have more electric cars, or alternative fuels, or better solutions for our wallets or Earth. Money truly holds us back, and we realize this. We don't buy the excuses that the government implements into our brains. And we're responding by doing it our way, in any ways we can.
Overall, I completely see where Boggs was coming from. It's time for change, and maybe that change won't come a president, but a group of people ready to take our culture to a new level. It isn't science fiction, or propaganda, but a solution to end the negativity and find some foundation.
Alex Peña
Professor Sabir
English 1A 9am
12 May, 2011
Grace Lee Boggs Response
I agree with Grace Lee Boggs one hundred percent because there is no way of knowing what people are going threw without living it yourself. I believe that people instead of talking and stating the problems in Detroit and all over the world people need to start doing something to help make a change. Yes I understand that there is a huge financial crisis around the world but economics is not the only problem and solution. People need to get together and help each other. If they see no one wants to help, people need to stand up and to the work themselves.
Alex Peña
Professor Sabir
English 1A 9am
12 May 2011
Grace Lee Boggs Video Response
I agree with Grace Lee Boggs one hundred percent. I believe that there is a huge economic problem in not only Detroit but through the country. But economics is not the only problem. People need to learn how t get together and find help by themselves instead of waiting for help that seems that it is never going to come. People outside that situation are very easy for them to talk and say look at the bright side. But it is true that in order to understand what people are going thru you need to be going through the same thing as they are going there not just imagine.
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