Anarchoblogs

For some reason last winter, my first as a full time resident, I did not feed the birds. Of course I watched them as I do all year but winter feeding of birds is always a treat because it seems to bring so many in. This year I noticed that they noticed the chicken scratch everywhere and were coming in as though I was purposely feeding them. Since then I've made it a point to put out bit extra and have added black sunflower seeds. The number of birds has been amazing. I'm not used to seeing six male cardinals at once! One or two is not unusual but six is not something I've seen. Not as many females. I'm seeing the usual number of other winter birds: Titmice, Black-capped Chickadees, Juncos, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Downy Woodpecker. I've not seen any Pileated Woodpeckers here though I have heard them a few times. I've not seen any Gold or Purple Finches recently. One new bird I've seen is the White Throated Sparrow which is a very pretty bird similar in look and behavior to the Fox Sparrow.

I've not been taking any new bird photos largely because I've already got so many shots of these particular species. It's been awhile since I posted any of my nature images so thought I'd pull a few from my flickr archives. For anyone interested in birds, frogs, insects, flowers, moss, fungi and other nature related photography please visit my flickr archives. Most of my nature images were posted in 2007 and early 2008 so it's easiest to browse them via one of the sets.

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Birds, Natural, Photography

During the weekend of November 6-8 members of the Las Vegas Industrial Workers of the World, in conjunction with Food Not Bombs Las Vegas and Southern NV ALL, attended the Living Without Borders encuentro sponsored by the United Coalition for Im/migrant Rights (U.C.I.R.), which was held at UNLV. On the final day of the encuerto, we took part in a demonstration against the Chipotle across from campus organized by MEChA de UNLV in support of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (S.F.A.) and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (C.I.W.) and other farm workers who often work very long hours for wages that average below the poverty level.


The LV IWW, along with Fellow Worker Paul Lenart from the Reno IWW, rallied with other groups from the encuerto in solidarity with fellow workers being exploited by agriculture suppliers in Florida and throughout the industry. The demonstration was for the most part uneventful and garnered some support from passing cars and bystanders. However, at one point a group of Metro policemen (at least 10) descended upon us to preserve order by demanding to know who our leaders were and arrogantly declaring they were going to "teach us how to protest" so they wouldn't "have to" arrest anyone. Things got a bit tense after we responded that we didn't believe in hierarchies and therefore had no leaders and Paul informed the officer who was trying to tutor us on protesting that we weren't required to walk in a circle, as his lesson plan called for us to do. Not long after, a Metro sergeant arrived, spoke to us briefly, agreed that we didn't need to walk in a circle, wished us luck, and told the other Metro officers to leave. The rest of the morning was once again pretty uneventful and rather fun in general. In addition to displaying signs to passersby, we also provided people entering or exiting Chipotle with printed information about the C.I.W.'s grievances, resulting in several instances where potential customers turned away.


The C.I.W. is a community-based organization composed mainly of Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida. They have been organizing workers in the agriculture industry since1993 to fight for fair wages, better working conditions, and more respect from bosses, among other issues. Since 2001, they have been using targeted boycotts of fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and other large tomato buyers to encourage them to agree to pay one penny per pound more for tomatoes and other produce directly to the workers who picked them. The resulting increase is minimal for the buyers (25 cents/box), but could increase the average farmworker's wages by 2/3's of the current approximate salary of $10,000/year. In the recent past, such boycotts have successfully led to agreements with Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Whole Foods Markets to participate in C.I.W.'s penny-per-pound program, as well as agreeing to require that their suppliers respect the rights and safety of farmworkers. In spite of marketing themselves as a socially responsible business and promising customers "Food with Integrity," Chipotle has repeatedly refused to sign those same agreements with C.I.W.

Stephen ShakeshaftNational Conservation Centre, Whitechapel (18th September 2009 - 24th January 2010)"We call them photographs but they are also history; telling of men, women and children and their place in passing events. Once the buton on the camera has been pushed these people are given a kind of immortality, for the camera is a third eye, adding permanence to the sight it sees."This

We had a really nice moonset and sunrise the other day. The moon was full and very bright which woke me up as it was shining through my front windows and into my face. While I did get a few shots of the moon that were not too bad it was the sunrise images that turned out the best.

My latest article on Meefers.com is a review of the Annual Black and White Party, which was held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas. The fundraiser, which is sponsored by Aid For AIDS of Nevada (AFAN), raises money to fund treatment and assistance for individuals suffering from HIV and AIDS in the Southern Nevada area.

When I ride the public transport in Bratislava, I try to do so načierno (”on the black”), meaning without paying.

Argue with me all you like about the ethics of this. I’ll probably just ignore it. Fact is, the company that provides public transport is a state-protected monopoly, and riding black is one of the ways I employ to recover the money stolen from me via VAT and other taxes.

When you ride black, you have to keep your eyes open for the ticket inspectors. They’re almost always out there, but there aren’t too many of them. I can usually spot them based on their demeanor and behavior, even if I don’t know how the specific person looks.

When I’m feeling lazy or tired or stressed or when I have a phone call going when I get on the bus or tram, though, I punch a ticket. If I’m not fully on the alert, I’m liable to miss spotting the inspectors.

Here are a couple I met the other day. Both very grumpy looking men. Funny thing, they even forgot to check my ticket, which I did have punched and in hand, since I knew I wasn’t on the alert that time. Good thing, too.

I snapped the dude in the close-up several times. When he finally looked at me, I snapped him again square on. I’m not quite sure what restrained him, but it was rather obvious from his facial expressions, words and body language that he would have liked to break my neck. “What are you doing?” he asked, and I just smiled, waving goodbye as the bus left him and his colleague behind at a stop. I heard him ask his colleague something to the effect of, “Is this asshole allowed to take pictures of me?” and the response came back as a shrug.

Additional fun can be had with public transport ticket inspectors in cities with a “punch pre-purchased ticket on board vehicle” payment system like Bratislava’s. If the inspectors start a check, and you have your trip ticket paid for and punched, just start yelling: “Kontrola! Revízor! Kontrola! Revízor!” and make a panicked dash for an exit. Of course, you’ll immediately draw the attention of the entire vehicle’s occupants, plus both inspectors. In addition to causing a bit of merry, harmless chaos, this may open a window for other načierno comrades to slip away undetected.

Tags: body language, Bratislava, demeanor, ethics, fun, money, monopoly, photography, public transport, stress, VAT

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Some folks suggested that the old header image here — of gray boulders on a gray, desolate beach under a heavy gray sky — seemed sort of bleak and depressing. That perhaps it wasn’t human enough.

I like that picture quite a bit myself, since it captures an interplay of boundaries and perspectives: The hard, discrete rocks merging into the fluid, rolling sea. The powerful blue-gray sea fading into the leaden, infinite skies. The waves changing form so rapidly, while the ancient boulders continue their long slide down the seashore and their slow disintegration into sand.

I like that photo for another reason, too, which has nothing to do with the image itself, but rather the circumstances under which it was captured. You see, a good friend of mine was with me on that desolate, rocky beach that fine afternoon. It was a very special day. One we’ll remember and cherish for a long, long time.

Some of the other photos in the set were much softer… More… human…

No, you can’t see them! Now shoo! Get offa my lawn!

So nostate.com has a new banner photo, which perhaps portrays the very best sort of anarchy.

Like it? Thanks go to AFlickion @ Flickr for publishing a nice pic with a permissive license.

Enjoy!

Another of my articles on Meefers.com about an exhibition that I participated in as part of the Vegas Artists Guild (a great group that every artist in the Las Vegas area should belong to). My painting is the second one from the left in the picture, BTW.

For the third consecutive year, the College of Southern Nevada is hosting the Vegas Artists Guild's 2009 Spring Members' Show. Located at the Artspace within the the Cheyenne campus of the Las Vegas community college, the exhibition opened May 1st and runs through June 30th...continue reading

As my second article for Meefers.com, I did a feature story on the 2009 Las Vegas AIDS Walk, which was hosted by (AFAN) and raised over $433,000 (they’re still counting) via individual donations and sponsorships. The amount of individual donations se…

Continue reading at EYEAM4ANARCHY …

приглашение (Russian: pri·GLA·sheh·nye, ): invitation

I received a wonderful gift. A t-shirt bearing this famous photograph, taken on 21 August 1968 at Šafárikovo námestie, Bratislava, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia:

On the back of the shirt: приглашение

Pictured in the background, the headquarters of Comenius University in Bratislava.

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