On Education

 

Rather than acting as “social mobility escalators” for the “more talented” members of ethnic/racial minorities and the white working and middle classes, the educational system has a strong tendency to reproduce the existing social order by devaluing the cultural capital of dominated groups. By judging, classifying, and tracking students from dominated class fractions on the basis of the alien standards of the dominant, schools perpetuate the extant status hierarchy. Moreover, the educational system insures that its reproductive practices will be misrecognized because it makes its judgments on what appear to be “objective” and “meritocratic” criteria. It is only rarely recognized that said criteria reflect the (arbitrary) cultural capital of the dominant.  –Douglas E. Allen, and Paul F. Anderson

Droido

If you haven’t seen it yet you’re missing out. It is just yet another reason why AZ has the best skate scene.

Really?

Many breakfast cereals such as Kellogg’s Honey Smacks are even worse than eating a Twinkie for breakfast (in terms of sugar content that is). “One cup of the cereal has 20 grams of sugar, compared with 18 grams in the cake. ” -NPR

Well, Kellogg’s vice president of nutrition, Lisa Sutherland, responded to the recent ‘finding’ by saying, “Honey Smacks are not marketed to kids and are seldom eaten by them.”

I wonder if she believes her own lies or is simply lacking any business ethics? Even worse as a representative of the company she is showing us all that Kellogg’s corporate ideology is simply based off the pursuit of profit, lies, and unethical behavior. Not to mention, they think of their customers and the American public as idiots (this is probably not just Kellogg’s but corporate culture in general).

Does she really believe we can’t see that Dig ‘Em the cartoon frog mascot is trying to appeal to children? Or, that cereals with toy prizes in them are being marketed to children (just a like a Happy Meal is marketed to children)? Or that we can’t tell their commercials that are set within a 2nd grade classroom and have main characters that are roughly ten-years-old are is a ploy to appeal to children?

Seriously, the sugar is one thing, but her statement (her bold face lie, really) and her confidence that we, the public, are too stupid to realize she is lying to us is the most disgusting part of the whole article. How can we trust anything that comes out of this company, when one of their top level executives can’t even tell the truth when it is obvious she is lying?

Skateboarding… How Did We Lose a Battle We Had Already Won?

“We finally said, ‘We’re getting burnt, and we gotta do something about it.’ We gotta start our own companies, quit making boards and wheels and money for other people so they can put our names on them and we can promote them with our activity” — Tony Alva

“There is an attempt made within skateboarding to inaugurate a separate circuit of capital which exists entirely within skaters, skaters buying from other skaters, who in turn reinvest in skateboarding” — Iain Borden (2001)

Occupy America

Condition of the Working Class

“The proletarian is helpless; left to himself, he cannot live a single day. The bourgeoisie has gained a monopoly of all means of existence in the broadest sense of the word. What the proletarian needs, he can obtain only from this bourgeoisie, which is protected in its monopoly by the power of the state. The proletarian is, therefore, in law and in fact, the slave of the bourgeoisie, which can decree his life or death. It offers him the means of living, but only for an “equivalent”, for his work. It even lets him have the appearance of acting from a free choice, of making a contract with free, unconstrained consent, as a responsible agent who has attained his majority.

Fine freedom, where the proletarian has no other choice than that of either accepting the conditions which the bourgeoisie offers him, or of starving, of freezing to death, of sleeping naked among the beasts of the forests! A fine “equivalent” valued at pleasure by the bourgeoisie! And if one proletarian is such a fool as to starve rather than agree to the “equitable” propositions of the bourgeoisie, his “natural superiors”, another is easily found in his place; there are proletarians enough in the world, and not all so insane as to prefer dying to living.”

–Engels

A Few More (Digi-Cam) Photos You May Enjoy

Freedom Today or Never

A Few (Digi-Cam) Photos You May Enjoy

Latvia

Dylan in China (Town)

Some Girls Play With Dolls