Eugenio's Blog!

Saturday was the first real day where I felt bonded with Ohio. A fellow law clerk, her friend, and I attended the Symposium on Media Literacy in Education and Allied Media Conference at Bowling Green State University, located about 30 miles west of Fremont.

The conference offered numerous group sessions throughout the morning with a variety of topics, including “Culture as a Tool of Resistance” and “How to Plan and Promote Radical Art Events.” I attended a session entitled “Fostering a Culture of Inclusion in Independent Media.” There were about twenty of us in the group. There were a few Ph.D. students and professors in Communications and Journalism. Everyone else was a writer, editor, or founder of their own independent media organization – many of them white women with unshaven underarms, dreadlocks, and hemp writing pads. There I was, with my designer blue jeans, vintage polo shirt, and Puma® running shoes.

I felt a little out of place at first since I have never been on the production side of media formation, but it seemed to work to my advantage as many of them had questions for me, the consumer.

I shared with them my major concern about the far left. I told them that I read independent media, but often times, it is too much for me to handle. I support LGBT rights, diversity programs, and universal health care, but as soon as I don’t call for the immediate termination of U.S. involvement in Iraq or for the immediate proletariat revolution, all of the sudden I am a Pat Robertson.

I feel the left has this weird fascination with extremism. Don’t get me wrong – members of the right have this fascination, too. But since I identify with the left, it seems more apparent to me. There is this competition among the liberals to see who can be the most liberal, with anarchy being on the far left. I don’t play that game any more, and it’s brought additional distance from me to the far left.

There was a special room designated for vendors – there were probably around 60 or 70 independent sellers, many of them selling anarchist and communists posters, wristbands, t-shirts, whatnot. I spoke with a few of the vendors, and this is what they do – like, to live. They don’t have steady jobs – they just travel to conference to rally to protest selling their . . . “goods,” I guess. They’re capitalizing, albeit unsuccessfully, on the left. It just seems like a horrible way to live.

I did manage to buy three bumper stickers for my wall back at school: “Unamerican,” “This is Freedom?” and “Let My People Go.” These stickers will accompany my propaganda-decorated room.

After the inclusion session and lunch, the gals and I watched some independent films, many of them about U.S. imperialism and the War on Terror. It was interesting, but I am sure Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 will be better. We also watched this film about the importance of organic foods and the harm of pesticides. It was good, but not my thing. I think once I have money, I will turn into an organic yuppie. Until then, I’ll be fine with digesting insect repellant.

I was in such an activist mood after the Conference, I wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois to retire “Chief” Illiniwek. I still really care about the retirement of Chief Illiniwek. I know I should “move on” as I no longer attend UIUC, but gosh – it’s blatantly wrong. *UIUC alumni, if you want a copy of my letter to pass along to the BOT, let me know. I used the wording from the recent June 17 BOT meeting to make most of my points. Here’s a glimpse: “For a university that preaches multiculturalism and encourages diversity programming and curriculum, it is clear to me that the retirement of Chief Illiniwek epitomizes the ‘values espoused and practiced by the University.’”

Yknow something weird is going on when you spend your Sunday afternoon watching CMT's Top Twenty Countdown.

“Hey I'm a redneck woman
And I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raisin’
And I say ‘hey y'all’ and ‘Yee Haw’”

Gretchen Wilson, “Redneck Woman”