#no…using a creative commons design does not make you a communist and i’m concerned how you came to that conclusion

[marxism-lelouchism]

high school level arguments about how fan-created content is “inherently” leftist praxis (whatever this is supposed to mean) is how we get people thinking it’s their human right to create whatever they want no matter how reactionary the content

[eldritchsurveys]

911.

5k Survey XXXIV

1751. Do you think that it is okay for a homosexual or a woman to become a priest? >> Of course. I’m sure some sects think they’re justified in barring certain kinds of people from being priests, but I think it’s kind of fucked up to deny someone that kind of religious stature based on nothing but some arbitrary fact of birth or design. 1752. Which would you rather give up forever, religion or sex? >> Why can’t you love god in your bed? said Steve Vai and he was fucking right, god dammit. Give me both at the same time. 1753. What comes to mind when you think of these places: Canada? Moose. UK? Those red double-decker buses. I’ve seen way too many pictures of London and not enough of the rest of the UK. USA? The White House. Australia? The movie The Nightingale. Germany? Beer. Italy? The canals in Venice. 1754. What does your favorite bumper sticker say? >> Oh fuck, I’ve forgotten! I saw one a while ago that just slayed me but I’ve forgotten what it said by now. Unfortunate. 1755. Have you ever taken a shower with another person? >> Yes.

1756. What bath toys do you have, if any? >> I don’t have any bath toys. 1757. Would you rather propose to someone you love or would you rather be proposed to by someone you love? >> Does it matter? 1758. How can you reject someone nicely? >> By being tactfully honest about the fact that you’re not interested in what they’re offering.

1759. What kinds of diary names make you interested enough to check out the diary? >> --- 1760. What do you think are three common passwords people use to secure their diaries? >> --- 1761. Pick an object in the room. Give that object a name. >> I’m cheating and picking a plushie. Its name is Marshmellow and it’s a white dog with pink accents. 1762. What is the quickest way to make you blush? >> --- 1763. Do you usually feel that you deserve it when other people compliment you? >> I don’t always feel like I deserve it, but I try to accept it gracefully anyway. It’s a kind gesture to give a compliment and I'd hate to alienate the giver by denying it. 1764. If you were to start your own business what kind of business do you think it might be? >> I don’t want to do that. 1765. What is one of your pet peeves? >> When I’m taking a walk and have to dodge into the fucking street to avoid lawn sprinklers. 1766. What question do you get asked too frequently? >> I used to get asked constantly if my septum ring hurt. Luckily I haven’t heard that question in a while.

1767. You notice a ring is priced $40.00, but the cashier only charges you $10.00. Do you mention this to the cashier? >> Yeah. Back in the day, I wouldn’t have, because an extra $30 in my pocket would have been beyond lucky. But I don’t have to worry about that so much anymore, so I can indulge the luxury of uprightness. 1768. Could a kiss on the ___ be considered cheating? Cheek?  Lips? Nose? Hand? Ear? Neck? 1769. Would it bother you if your lover occasionally flirted with others? >> Of course not. That person’d better flirt back too, she’s a catch.  1770. How long has it been since you last played truth or dare? >> I don’t play that. 1771. Should people who are living now be obligated to do things that will make the world better for people who will live 100 years from now? >> I don’t know. I mean, we’re struggling trying to make the world better for ourselves, let alone hypothetical people who don’t even exist yet. 1772. Imagine you have a dream in which someone you care for acts mean to you. Is it possible you will still be angry with this person when you wake up? >> I know it’s possible for some people because I’ve heard this kind of story before. It’s not possible for me, I don’t think of the people in my dreams as actual avatars of real-life people. Dream folks are just wearing faces they’ve pulled from my memory. 1773. Have you ever left someone a note with a picture in it? If yes, how do you do it? >> Er, no, I don’t think so. 1774. What do you fear more, death or pain? >> Pain, definitely pain. When I think of the various things I fear about death, they all come down to being afraid of some kind of pain (physical, mental, psychic). 1775. Are the questions still interesting this far into the survey? >> Some of them are, like the previous one. And then there are whole sections that have just annoyed me, lol. 1776. Do you like the cartoon Inspector Gadget? >> I’ve never seen it. 1777. You know how Gadget wears the same outfit all the time, and his closet is full of outfits that are exactly identical to the one he wears? If your closet was full of just one outfit that you had to wear everyday what would it be like? >> Sweatpants (or shorts, in summer) and a band t-shirt. And a hoodie, in chilly weather. 1778. Would you rather time travel to the future or the past? >> No. 1779. Would you rather know how the world began or how it will end? >> I think we’ve learned a lot about how the world began, right? Or at the very least, we have sound theories about it. Now, how the universe began... that’s the kind of shit I’m into. 1780. Would you rather meet your ancient ancestors or your great great great great great great grandchildren? >> --- 1781. Out of these 4 which is most important (1=most, 2= second most, 3 = 3rd most, 4 = least)? Curing diseases such as aids, cancer:  Preserving wildlife areas:  Ending terrorism:  Building colonies in space: 1782. In your opinion should every child be entitled to a good education? >> Sure. I mean, why not, right? 1783. What news item are you tired of hearing about? >> The presidential election. 1784. Speaking of 9/11 the anniversary is coming up. What will you be doing? >> Nothing. It doesn’t mean anything to me, I wasn’t there and neither was anyone I know. 1785. If this were a recipe for you, how would it go? >> --- 1786. Which of the following would YOU be more likely to survive: A fall from a 3 story building Driving a car into the water >> A fall from a 3-storey building. I can’t swim, so I’m definitely not surviving the second one. 1787. What philosophy was manifested in the communist manifesto? >> Was it not Communism? Or is that not a philosophy, per se... hmm. 1788. Who is your exact opposite? >> No one is my exact opposite. That just doesn’t make any sense. 1789. Would you rather have serenity or insanity? >> --- 1790. What do these phrases mean? Moulin Rouge:  Le voyage sur le bateau:  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir: something about would you like to sleep with me tonight, idk. I just remember it from that one song. 1791. What is the longest distance you have ever walked? >> I have no idea. Miles and miles. 1792. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato believes that beauty truth and justice all basically mean the same thing. What are your feelings about this? >> I don’t understand what Plato was trying to say here, I need the context. 1793. How did you first begin to assert yourself as independent from your parents? >> I mean, that... happens in childhood, right? The development of the self as a separate entity from one’s caregivers? 1794. If you had a magic bracelet, would you use it to gain luck, money, health, creativity or love? >> No. 1795. What would you do if every time you used your magic bracelet something bad would happen to someone else? >> I wouldn’t have used the bracelet in the first place, because all shit like that has some kind of equivalent-exchange side effect. I know my magic devices, okay. 1796. This is a story about a girl. While at the funeral of her own mother, she met a guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing, so much her dream guy she believed him to be that she fell in love with him then and there, although she didn’t even see him after the funeral ended. A few days later, the girl killed her own sister. What is her motive for killing her sister? >> Oh, I’ve heard this one before. It’s some kind of crack “test” to see if you’re a psychopath. The supposed “psychopath answer” is that she was hoping that the guy would appear at her sister’s funeral. 1797. Have you ever intentionally hurt someone’s feelings? >> Sure. 1798. What do you think of Franz Ferdinand? >> As far as the band is concerned, I like that Take Me Out song, but I don’t know any of their others. Alas, I don’t know anything about the Archduke except that he was assassinated, so I can’t say I have an opinion on him. 1799. What do you think of the band Modest Mouse? >> I liked Float On, but I don’t know any of their other songs. 1800. What do you think of Morrissey? >> I like Morrissey. Well, his music, anyway.

[valeriefrangie]

KARL LAGERFELD: LEGENDS NEVER DIE

Debo confesar que la muerte de Karl Lagerfeld me tomó por sorpresa y me tiene un poco afectada. Suena tonto sentirte triste por perder a alguien que no conoces, pero cuando estás completamente involucrada y ligada con tu profesión que tanto amas es imposible que estas cosas no te hagan sentir una gran tristeza.

Karl Lagerfeld siempre fue y será mi diseñador favorito, todo el que me conoce sabe cuanto lo admiro y cuanto soñaba con poder conocerlo algún día, por lo menos unos segundos. Si bien era un hombre mayor y la muerte es lo único seguro en esta vida, cuando tienes a esa persona tan idealizada pasa a ser un ícono, un mito, una leyenda, y las leyendas nunca mueren. Por eso el gran Kaiser de la moda nunca morirá, se fue muy pronto pero su legado vivirá para siempre en todos los que seguimos y amamos su impecable trabajo.

En homenaje a este gran diseñador les dejo aquí unas cuantas de sus frases más famosas, espero que las disfruten tanto como yo.

RIP Kaiser

Fuente: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5963.Karl_Lagerfeld

“What i like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Never use the word “cheap”. Today everybody can look chic in inexpensive clothes (the rich buy them too). There is good clothing design on every level today. You can be the chicest thing in the world in a T-shirt and jeans — it’s up to you.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“We live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose!” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“One is never over-dressed or underdressed with a Little Black Dress.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“A respectable appearance is sufficient to make people more interested in your soul” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Don't look to the approval of others for your mental stability” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“People who say that yesterday was better than today are ultimately devaluing their own existence.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I’m very much down to earth, just not this earth.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I love classic beauty. It’s an idea of beauty with no standard.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I like to reinvent myself — it’s part of my job.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Music gives color to the air of the moment.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The iPod completely changed the way people approach music.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Clear thinking at the wrong moment can stifle creativity.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Absurdity and anti—absurdity are the two poles of creative energy.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“When people talk about the good old days, I say to people, 'It's not the days that are old, it's you that's old.' I hate the good old days. What is important is that today is good.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The woman is the most perfect doll that i have dressed with delight and admiration.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Youthfulness is about how you live not when you were born.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“We need houses as we need clothes, architecture stimulates fashion. It’s like hunger and thirst — you need them both.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes -- it's about all kinds of change” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I want everyone to wear what they want and mix it in their own way. That, to me, is what is modern.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The secret to modeling is not being perfect. What one needs is a face that people can identify in a second. You have to be given what’s needed by nature, and what’s needed is to bring something new.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion does not have to prove that it is serious. It is the proof that intelligent frivolity can be something creative and positive” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books.” 

― Karl Lagerfield

“Like poetry, fashion does not state anything. It merely suggests” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I never touch sugar, cheese, bread... 

I only like what I'm allowed to like. I'm beyond temptation. There is no weakness. When I see tons of food in the studio, for us and for everybody, for me it's as if this stuff was made out of plastic. The idea doesn't even enter my mind that a human being could put that into their mouth. I'm like the animals in the forest. They don't touch what they cannot eat.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and even clothes, the discussion of fur is childish.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Reinvent new combinations of what you already own. Improvise. Become more creative. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Evolution is the secret for the next step.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Buy what you don’t have yet, or what you really want, which can be mixed with what you already own. Buy only because something excites you, not just for the simple act of shopping.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“You cannot fake chic but you can be chic and fake fur” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Guilty feelings about clothes are totally unnecessary. A lot of people earn their living by making clothes, so you should never feel bad.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion and music are the same, because music express its period too.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Stuff your brain with knowledge.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“When people want to be liked for what they did, they should stop.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“For every book you buy, you should buy the time to read it.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Don’t overact the story of your name. Overact the story of your work.” 

― Karl Lagerfield

“The elegance is as physical, as moral quality that has nothing common with the clothing. You can see a countrywoman more elegant than one so called elegant woman.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I don't like standard beauty - there is no beauty without strangeness.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion is ephemeral, dangerous and unfair.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I'm open to everything. When you start to criticize the times you live in, your time is over.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Logos and branding are so important. In a big part of the world, people cannot read French or English--but are great in remembering signs” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I'm very down to Earth, I'm just not from this Earth.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion is about going ahead, not about memory.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine” 

“I do my job like I breathe — so if I can’t breathe I’m in trouble.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion is neither moral or immoral, but it is for rebuilding the morale.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I had an interview once with some German journalist—some horrible, ugly woman. It was in the early days after the communists—maybe a week after—and she wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through. She had huge tits and a huge black bra, and she said to me, ‘It’s impolite; remove your glasses.’ I said, ‘Do I ask you to remove your bra?” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Fashion is about two things: the evolution and the opposite.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Forgiveness isn’t something I’m preoccupied with — turning the other cheek isn’t my trip.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“Chanel is an institution, and you have to treat an institution like a whore – and then you get something out of her” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“There will never be a chanel collection without black” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“I like today and perhaps a little future still, but the past is really something I'm not interested in. So, as far as I'm concerned, I like only the past of things and people I don't know. When I know, I don't care because I knew how it was.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

“If you stick to something doggedly, you are off to a bad start.” 

― Karl Lagerfeld

Fuente: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5963.Karl_Lagerfeld

[limeadestandworks]

Entrepreneurship as practical tools for liberation, not as an end in itself

Those who are familiar with me know many years of my involvement in radical political activism. From time to time, I have taken a number of radical positions on social concerns. For example, I have opposed same-sex marriages because I believed that the institution of marriage was a relic of the oppressive patriarchal social norms, and therefore ought to be abolished altogether instead of being co-opted by middle-class gays and lesbians. Another example: I oppose the private property and believe it should be nationalized along with natural resources, key national-scale industries, and other major means of productions. From time to time I have been mischaracterized as a communist, a fascist, an anarchist, and a few others I would not mention here. (Note: Nowadays I am more of a centrist on many issues after I was really disillusioned with certain elements of the left-radical activism after the demise of the Occupy movement.)

So, after all these years of being a radical rebel, it often comes to many as a surprise that (1) I am an entrepreneur, and (2) I am in the business of “marketing” other entrepreneurs’ businesses and of teaching other people how to become an entrepreneur.

It has been just over a year since I embarked on the latest iteration of this journey in entrepreneurship, but it’s not a new thing.

My debut in micro-enterprise, in fact, was in 2008 when I was experiencing a prolonged homelessness without any foreseeable hope of ending it. Despite the fact that Portland, Oregon was seen as a “bums’ paradise” by many ignorant people, the Public-Private Homeless Charity Industrial Complex offered nothing of substance to those on the street, other than “services” and “resources” that only kept people on the street. Having no way of generating even a smallest of income stream, I was only able to survive because Portland was one place where it was impossible to starve thanks to over-abundance of charities that did nothing but feed the homeless.

One day I saw a flier at a certain social service agency advertising an upcoming class that promised to teach participants how to earn money painting windows during the holiday season. This class was put on by one of the interns who was there from a nearby university. Three people (of hundreds who utilized that facility!) signed up for this, and ultimately, I was the only one who took the idea and ran with it. Between 2008 and 2010, I operated this business literally out of a plastic tub and I painted lots of windows in the greater Portland area including some well-known businesses such as Davis Tools (a defense contractor!), Les Schwab Tire Centers, Lithia Auto, and Pacific Lumber & Truss. I soon expanded this business to traditional sign painting as well as logo design. The original logo of Southeast Grind was my work (the current one is based on my work but redesigned by someone else). I made a few thousand dollars during those years, which had an immensely positive impact in my life. At the time, I knew little about entrepreneurship or business management, but somehow I had a natural knack for it — and without any advertising budget, utilizing only free resources, I grew my business.

I am someone who can attest to the power of micro-enterprise in alleviating the extreme poverty.

In 2011, I joined the second class of the Dorothy Day Community School (DDCS), a community organizing training center that was then run by Sisters Of The Road. As part of this, I was also able to participate in the 2011 Activists Mobilizing for Power (AMP) conference at Reed College, sponsored by the Western States Center.

Together with two other members of the DDCS class, we organized a group called the Jaguar Sisters. Its vision was to create opportunities for self-empowerment, dignity, and personal power to women who are either experiencing homelessness or are seeking to exit survival sex work. Among the three key programs of the Jaguar Sisters, I proposed a creation of a micro-enterprise program in which the women could capitalize on their own creative talents to generate their own income — and ultimately build an hyper-local economy of solidarity by networking and collaborating with one another.

I have not sold out to capitalism.

I make a clear distinction between capitalism and free market economy.

The former is a predatory system by absentee speculators (“investors,” “venture capitalists,” whatever). The latter is the people’s quest for economic and social self-determination apart from the speculators-owned Corporate America, from the governmental system, and from the Public-Private Charity Industrial Complex that all dehumanize us.

I am not here to support or promote “lifestyle business” and “lifestyle marketing,” both of which are mostly about privileged white middle-class people to “live a lifestyle they want.”

Neither my conscience nor my ethics would allow that to happen.

Yes, my Creative Liberation Lab seems to resemble a lot of those “lifestyle business” charlatans who are mostly there to prey on desperate people in a challenging life situation. But similarities end the moment you understand what my vision is: to turn the people on the margins of society into active participants in the local economy is to turn those who are “undesirable” “liabilities to society” into respectable, dignified assets to the community; and in so doing, I disrupt the classist, sexist, heteronormative, racist, ableist social norms, restore the personal power and dignity in every human being, and re-establish the social and economic rights and liberties for those whose rights are systemically denied.

In other words, if it’s not for the liberation of the community and the collective, any claim to “freedom” that comes from entrepreneurship is merely self-serving and therefore is just a vanity. It’s no good.

In a longer term, I’d also like to see those individual micro-entrepreneurs to form joint ventures, cooperatives, chambers of commerce, or worker-owned collectives — thus turning this Micro-Revolution from an individual level to a much greater level of engagement in the community as a visible and independent economic force.

As I have recently written on the website, “Limeadestand Works is here to present a possibility of another path forward for those without socio-economic privileges, with tangible and workable solutions for individuals to undermine the System that does not serve them by using its own game book. In so doing, we not only hope to transform individual lives but also re-shape our culture and build a new world within the shell of the old. We call this process the Micro-Revolution, a radical reclaiming of our human dignity, personal power, socio-economic sovereignty, and freedom. Through Micro-Revolution we learn and achieve to be a ‘master of one’s own destiny.’”

Consider:

More than 80 percent of adults on the autism spectrum are unemployed. Many of them cannot easily participate in the workforce or survive in the workplace culture. Yet, most individuals on the spectrum are talented enough in at least something that they can succeed as a freelancer or an independent entrepreneur.

According to a 2013 study, trans workers were twice as likely to lose their jobs, and 44 percent of those who were employed were under-employed; and are nearly four times as likely as the general population to have an annual income of under $10,000. This has forced many trans folks to survive through sex trade or crimes. Micro-enterprise can provide some solutions to this.

Under the Republican-led Congress and the Trump administration, those who are deemed “unemployable” by the government due to disabilities are likely to experience a steep reduction in their SSI checks — and this follows recent cuts in SNAP benefits. Not all SSI recipients have Section 8 housing subsidies. SNAP cannot be used to purchase medications, personal care items, clothing, or any non-food items, including transportation (transit fares, gas). SSI recipients can see an improvement in their quality of lives, not just in terms of dollars and cents, when they become a business owner and interact with the larger society.

Those who are experiencing homelessness are unlikely to be hired by most employers due to hostile biases and overt discrimination. Many of them also have other barriers to participation in the conventional workforce. “Get a job!” is not a solution.

To sum this up, I’m not here to help privileged people to solve their first-world problems so they can indulge in a hedonistic lifestyle. Too many desperate people who don’t have money, to begin with, are often lured by these “lifestyle marketing” gurus and their illusions of a “six-figure” lifestyle where every day is a vacation on the beach. I’m not here to dupe them into a useless “lifestyle business” fluff, either.

To me, entrepreneurship is just a practical tool in the larger picture of liberation.

And in this society, it provides a much better alternative to a life of dependency on the dehumanizing Public-Private Charity Industrial Complex (a.k.a. poverty pimps) or on the dead-end jobs with the corporations that exploit workers.

(Originally published on Aug. 18, 2017.)

p.s.: The cover photo for this article is Gabriela Rivadeneira, former president of the Legislative Assembly of Ecuador. She is eight years younger than me and has already been to the top of the legislative branch of a national government! Gabriela started her activism when she was 14. I really adore her. When will there be possibilities like this in the U.S.?

Photo credit: De Edjoerv — Trabajo propio, Creative Commons Public License 4.0 BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons