Education is the Mother of the Universe

FROM February 29, 2004

Okay, RE: the man's language. I know the leaders of countless peoples' movements--movements wrought by rage and dissatisfaction, unbearable marginalization, and/or boundless measures of hope--came up w/out formal ed. To drop some marquee names in US social change: Joe Hill of the IWW, Cesar Chavez of the NFWA, Emma Goldman of pacifistic anarcho-feminism, Malcolm X of the Muslim Mosque, Victoria Woodhull of general prescience and prestige--all were self-educated, if they even made it to high school. (Side note: The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education, was like, numero uno seller when I worked at Reading Frenzy, back in the late '90s.)
Alternately, as Jane Dark pointed out in an email, Judith Butler, bell hooks, Mike Davis all tread the cobblestones of university in order to evolve humanity. They are the supersonic isotonic academia freaks. And we need them to help change our lives. (bell hooks changed my own life as recently as early Februrary.)

RE: College. I do not believe college/university to be the sole dwelling place of The MAN. I believe in equal opportunity. If EVERYONE received equal access to education, there would be less bullcrap stankin up this shantytown. See part A of this outline for more info.

I'm really just trying to blog-reflect parts of my own experience w/out getting too livejournal on y'all. Growing up, one of the most damaging lessons a kid can learn is the idea of college as, solely, a means to an end: college as a vessel for entering the economic workforce, and nothing more. But it's a cultural reality. And that sucks, 'cause then Kanye makes songs berating college kids as total fukkin poseurs, resulting in the deep annoyance of many, including Monsieur O-Dub.

Now I'm going to write about the b-boy battle.

P.S. God love the single moms of the world.

¡ another addendum to clearcut confusion !: I am not a single mom, but I know many, including my own.