Join the Internet Boycott April 22, 2013 to #STOPCISPA

April 22, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Dear readers,

I am in support of Anonymous’s internet boycott. However, at this time I do not know how to install the code to make my site go dark; in fact, I may not be able to unless WordPress, my blogging platform, makes it available.

In the meantime, I leave you this letter, I urge you to watch the video, and please make the call.

Dear citizens of the internet,

We are Anonymous.

The United States Government is again attempting to control and censor the internet. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act has just recently passed the house.

This bill would allow major internet entities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google to voluntarily share your personal information with the U.S. Government. This will not only affect users in the United States, but also anyone with an account with these companies.

This upcoming Monday, April the 22nd, we invite you to join Anonymous in an internet blackout. We encourage all web developers and website owners to go dark on this date. Display a message as to why you are going dark, and encourage others to do the same.

We hope, just like the successful protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act, we can encourage the senate to stop this bill.

Spread the message, and inform the world. We are Anonymous. We are the people. We are the internet. Knowledge is free.

CISPA Blackout on Monday, April 22, 2013 (joyunderwood.wordpress.com)
Stop CISPA: A Week of Action to Oppose Broad Cybersecurity Legislation (eff.org)
Opposing CISPA This Week (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
Reddit Co-Founder Asks Google, Twitter to Fight CISPA (mashable.com)

Earth's CO2 Hits 400ppm

May 21, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from Compassionate Rebel:

Some of the implications of hitting 400ppm...

"If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385ppm to at most 350ppm," writes NASA's James Hansen (2008).

May 11, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from art predator:

"If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385ppm to at most 350ppm," according NASA's James Hansen as quoted by Bill McKibben in the LA Times Opinion section May 11, 2008…

The Writer's Clock

April 24, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from art predator:

Just in time for National Poetry Month, here is the perfect clock for poets and writers of all genres and stripes. Or stanzas and paragraphs...

You can get a Writers Clock for yourself or the writer you love here.

PS Lots of great literary readings and events going on this month to celebrate the occasion of National Poetry Month! You'll find me reading this Saturday night April 14 at 7pm in Santa Barbara at the Contemporary Arts Forum!

Write, write, write, revise, revise, revise! Sound familiar?

How We Teach Our Sons To Rape

April 19, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from The Belle Jar:

I have a son.

He is two years old.

He was born into a universe where time happens to be linear, which means that he is growing older with every passing minute. In a little over ten years' time, he will be a teenager.

When my son is a teenager, he will almost certainly go to parties. He will drink. He might experiment with drugs.

How To Do Library Research: UW Librarians Go Gaga

April 18, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from The Write Alley:

Library research is a necessary evil of running a business because it is unlikely your business can run on online research alone.

While library research can be intimidating, it doesn't have to be. Watch this video and you'll see that librarians "just wanna have fun."

So next time you find yourself in a library approaching a research librarian for some help, remember this video and give the librarian a huge smile.

Chris Jordan: Melting the Ice in the Heart

April 17, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from art predator:

In a talk on April 9, 2013 at Pacifica Graduate Institute, I swiftly took notes while artist Chris Jordan spoke about how to present the magnitude of trash that we produce in such a way that the scale of consumption and refuse has meaning enough to transform our individual and cultural practices. (View videos and art and read Part 1 here.)

Midway: Chris Jordan's TrashTalk (Part 1)

April 16, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from art predator:

Did you know that 2.4 million pieces of plastic enter our oceans every hour? That 10% of the world plastic production enters the ocean? That 70% of the plastic in ocean flows from rivers?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013, artist Chris Jordan presented his work at Pacifica Graduate Institute where I am working on a PhD in Depth Psychology with an Emphasis in Community, Liberation, and…

Read more… 526 more words, 1 more video

I presented this blog post in class last week, we watched part or all of the videos, and we discussed the connection to our own research projects. Important work!

Chasing Ice: Screening Now Near You

April 2, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Reblogged from art predator:

http://youtu.be/eIZTMVNBjc4

I wish Climate Change and the loss of polar ice was an April Fool's joke. But it's not. Climate change is seriously real and the new documentary Chasing Ice shows just how rapidly our planet, especially our polar regions, are changing due to anthropogenic causes.

Currently screening nationwide, Chasing Ice is coming to the Ventura Film Society Tuesday, April 2, 2013 420 East Santa Clara, across the street from the Blue Orchid.

You think this class is tough? Check out Auden’s!

February 26, 2013 by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

Think this class requires a lot of reading? Check out this syllabus from a lit class taught by poet W.H. Auden in the early 1940s! (Click on the picture to make it bigger).

Imagine 6,000 pages of reading for 2 credits for 2 semesters! And that 6,000 pages probably doesn’t include the suggested readings!

In comparison, my graduate school classes require 1,000 pages of reading for a 2 unit class. That’s about 100 pages a week per class. And that’s a lot!

To compare again, I assign my college students between 50 and 100 pages a week for a 5 unit community college writing classes.