Friday, September 5, 2014

End of an era

       I haven't posted much on this blog in the past year or so, and haven't posted any material since mid-May.  With that in mind, I've decided to close this particular project down.  I have finished with two significant parts of my life, graduate school and my participation in the attempt to reform the student worker union, which constitute a considerable portion of the material discussed on the blog.  While I could provide a laundry list of moments that I wished I approached differently in both cases, I'm glad I was a participant in both the institution, and the formation of AWDU.  I feel similarly about my involvement in the student movement, which managed to play a substantial role in challenging the privatization of the university despite its many flaws and explosive conflicts.  I plan to keep the present blog up as a memory of that activity.  However, unless I finally decide to finally write the systemic critique of the local that I've considered producing for a while, there will be no new activity on this blog.

         However, I plan on starting two new blog projects in the near future, one focused on the critical study of science fiction as a genre and a subculture, which I plan on calling future ruins, and a second project that will deal with other areas of interest, which I most likely will call notes on damaged life or the children of marx and coca-cola.  I'll post links for those projects when I get them set up.  Producing these new venues will allow me to break away from the concerns of my past, while preserving a record of those interests.  I'm always interested in working with collaborators.  Please get a hold of me if you are interested in either project.  I should also note that I am also happy to contribute my thoughts to anyone who would be interested in challenging the reactionary individuals who have largely taken over the union at UCI.  One of my greatest disappointments was the inability to continue the legacy of reform unionism, and I hope folks take over that mantle, and make less, or at least more interesting mistakes.

Here is the new blog: The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola