Archive for January, 2009
Buy Nothing Day: 2008 Aftermath
As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, a small troupe of scoundrels including myself, Santa, and an elf, walked into a couple of Iowa malls in November, passing out “Buy Nothing Day” flyers to suggest an alternative to the overwhelming push to buy more on the then-upcoming Black Friday. “Buy Nothing Day” is a campaign introduced by Adbusters magazine to help draw attention to over-consumption in America. The front of our flyers displayed their graphic, and the back of the flyer (the text of which is reproduced on the previous blog entry) contained a bit of text that my brother Wesley and I wrote explaining what we were up to, why, and a practical alternative to spending more money at the mall: donating to Action Against Hunger as a way of taking care of the basic needs of those who are starving to death. For those things we do need to buy, we suggested referring to the Better World Shopping Guide, an inexpensive book that ranks companies by their ethical responsibility to both their employees and the environment.
While I’ve felt strongly about the issue of over-consumption for a long time, I’ve very rarely felt strongly about the act of protesting. In the past, those waving signs on street corners have often come off as obnoxious and therefore ineffective. The sorts of actions Adbusters suggested seemed to fall right into that category: running through the mall as a herd of zombie santas, plastering McDonald’s tabletops with stickers that say “grease”, etc. When reading these sorts of things, it often looked as though they were simply searching for ways to be ‘rebellious’ for the sake of fun, rather than for the sake of communicating with people about the supposed issues at hand.
However, while Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn seems to be off-target with his particular “solutions”, he does a pretty good job of pinpointing the problem which sparked them in his book, Culture Jam. He notes there the bizarre fact that corporations have the same legal rights as citizens in the US, even though they are comprised of many individuals with far more money than most have on their own. As a result, so much public space has been bought up by corporations that the loudest messages are shouted by the ones with the most money, which, of course, drown out those of the poor or frugal. For example, free speech is not allowed in the mall, which is a giant building where enormous numbers of people gather. Because we handed out flyers that suggested people “buy nothing”, we were threatened with arrest and barricaded into our parking place by a mall security vehicle until they decided whether or not they were going to let us go. Lasn’s general solution to this sort of power is to reclaim space by voicing the truthful messages of the poor wherever possible. By doing this, we refuse to simply bow to the messages of corporations whose ethics we don’t agree with (Wal-mart, for example) and rather than saying “Okay, you win, I’ll leave”, we step into the territory they have gained through their shady practices and demand equal voice for messages that are not in agreement with them.
In an abstract sense, this sounds totally reasonable, but the specifics of this idea’s execution (particularly many of those Lasn himself sees as good) are what troubled me in the past. So, when I began planning our own Buy Nothing Day action, I tried to figure out a way to revise the typical protester image to make it more effective. But despite this, I was still met with many frustrated responses from friends who heard about it.
One question I was asked by a few people is, “What’s the difference between you and one of those apocalyptic street preachers, shouting about the evils of homosexuality?” To me the commonalities are fewer than the differences, but because this question was repeatedly asked I thought it might be good to dissect it here since others may have the same view on protesting that I previously had:
- First, the topic we promoted and discussed is significantly different than those spouted by the stereotypical street preacher. Rather than getting upset about something people do in private (the supposed ‘evils’ of homosexuality) or telling people they are in danger of being hurled into a pit of fire, we are ultimately talking about something concrete that is happening right now and should be of concern to the general public: the starvation of our fellow human beings. According to several Web sites such as Advent Conspiracy and Charity Water, Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas each year, which is about 45 times the amount of money needed to provide clean water to those in need. Yes, we are somewhat forcibly injecting this message into what some others might consider a peaceful environment, but the stakes are high enough and concrete enough that it justifies the mild interruption.
- Second, the method by which we talked about this was by dressing up in light-hearted costumes and passing out flyers to those who wanted them, having discussions with those who were up for it. Those who didn’t want them were left alone. Rather than accusatory statements, the flyers simply stated facts and suggested action based on them. This is a drastic change from someone shouting judgmental statements at passersby and threatening them with a bath of hellfire if they don’t agree with you.
- Third and last, the message we ‘preached’ is not something America has been as ridiculously over-saturated with as “Believe in Jesus and get saved!” On the contrary, television, radio, billboards, buses, and more are filled with the “buy more” mentality, particularly around Black Friday.
From my current standpoint, this all seems obvious, but I realize that at one point I despised protesting about as much as the guy who invited me to “Stop Being an Agenda-Pushing Faggot Day” after hearing about our mall escapades. Fortunately, the voices of disdain were far fewer than the voices of support and the number of productive conversations that arose from it made the entire thing well worthwhile.
Photographs by Jacob T. Westrum.
No commentsChristianity Lite!
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Make-Believe Machines: Moral Calculus on CD Next Tuesday
The 57-minute orchestral epic from Rob Ogden and myself – Moral Calculus – is now available to purchase on CD for $12 (shipping included). The CD contains the same music as the digital download, but in higher quality with accompanying artwork and lyrics. We plan to start shipping orders on Tuesday, January 20th. You can grab a copy at the Make-Believe Machines store, or download the album for $4.
Homeless Youth Book: Iowa’s Sexually Abused Youth
The following is a letter Danny collected for the upcoming book, From a Growing Community, Iowa’s Homeless Youth to be published as the first Shrieking Tree book this summer. We were unable to use this letter for the book, but are publishing it here instead.
Dear Friend,
Growing up, I didn’t have very positive influences to learn from. My mom and dad both used meth. They were always in and out of jail or staying in the halfway house. When they’d be taken away, my siblings and I’d be placed in foster families around Marshalltown. Then, when we’d all get brought back together, Mom and Dad would start using again. They eventually split up for good.
I have one full sister, but I have a bunch of half-siblings and stepsiblings because Dad remarried a lady with five kids of her own. All of us half-siblings and stepsiblings got along all right. I started smoking pot with one of my younger stepbrothers – he’s in a facility in Clarinda now. Mom remarried too. My family got huge, and there was really nothing I could do to get positive attention.
Before I came to the Youth & Shelter Service rehab program and before I was put on probation, I was on the run for almost two months. I’d been fighting with my mom and kicked out of her place, so I moved in with my dad. Then I was kicked out of my dad’s place because I was fighting with him and my step-mom. I moved back in with my mom after that, but we all knew this situation wouldn’t work. That’s when I started running.
On the run, I would never know where I was going to stay. Not knowing where I was going to stay while on the run, though, was better than being unsure if I’d be able to stay at my own parent’s place. That just didn’t seem right, but my best-friend really came through for me. She was someone I’d get up to trouble with, and at night she’d give me a place to sleep on her floor.
Then I got a boyfriend. He used pot all the time. I started using regularly, too. We would smoke pot every day, and soon I started to steal alcohol from stores for him. I thought he was the one. In the midst of all of these new habits, however, I also had to find a place to stay at night – I was still on the run. My friends’ houses were working until their moms would find out I was staying there night after night. Then I’d get kicked out.
One night, I planned on staying at my best friend’s place. But when her mom found out, she told me I had to go. This was at two in the morning. I ended up at the city park under a picnic table. I couldn’t sleep that night. It was so cold, and it’d been raining for days before – the grass was wet where I slept. I was really scared, too. I didn’t know anybody around me. When I was younger, stuff happened to my sister and me, and I was afraid of something happening again. I was afraid I’d be raped. All those thoughts were going through my mind, but I didn’t want to call my dad so I could go home. If I called home, he would have called the cops on me. I was scared of everything. Under that picnic table was the best place I could be. So I toughed it out. I didn’t sleep, and this was all I had. Really, it could have been worse.
In the morning I walked back to my friend’s place. She wasn’t there, so I gave up and called my boy friend. We went and got high. Then he dropped me back off on the street. I didn’t have anywhere to go. I had nobody to call. I was all alone. I was so scared! I didn’t really know where I was. I walked all over town and met up with some other friends. We went to a party and got drunk and high. I ended up staying the night there and having to leave again in the morning. Then I went home.
I got put on probation after that because my dad called me in.
The last time I messed up I got three tickets. I’d been hanging out with my step-mom’s sister, going to bars and stuff. That night, we were driving home drunk, and we got pulled over for going down the wrong side of the road. The cops ticketed and arrested us. One of my tickets was for being a minor with a fake ID. One was for public intoxication. The last was for breaking the curfew that’d been placed on me by my probation officer. That’s how I ended up here in Ames at the 712 House. The court gave me two options after that: volunteer placement, or court-ordered placement. I chose the volunteer placement and came here.
I didn’t think I had a problem a couple months ago. When I got here, however, I realized I do have a problem. It was bad being homeless, not knowing where to go, not having anyone to trust. Thinking I could get up to trouble without getting caught was the wrong way to think. And why should I have expected to go free? I’m glad I came here now. I don’t need to smoke pot to deal with life. I want to be sober. I want to live at home. I want my family to care about me as much as I care about them now.
When I get out of here, I’m going home. I’ve been studying for my GED so I can finish up with school. Then I want to get into college where I can study criminal justice. I want to help out kids like me – kids who’ve had a bunch of chances but can still turn out all right, girls who’ve been left out in the cold.
Your Friend,
Iowa’s Sexually-abused Youth
Photograph by Justin Norman.
No commentsHomeless Youth Book Progress
News on From a Growing Community, Iowa’s Homeless Youth:
- Twelve stories have been collected and edited, and the process of choosing which ones to use and which ones to share online is now in the process;
- Pictures have been taken and the layout will shortly begin;
- A long-time social worker at Iowa Homeless Youth Centers (IHYC), Mary Oliver, will be contributing an introduction to the book, as her passion for helping homeless youth in Iowa and her assistance with Reggie’s Sleep Out (an IHYC fundraiser) will better express this issue in Iowa than my current understanding;
- On January 7, 2009 the New York Life Foundation donated $2200, leaving $5500 yet to be raised;
- And, Nick Ridler, a high-school senior at Woodward-Granger, is in the process of setting up a benefit concert for Iowa Homeless Centers at the Vaudeville Mews on February 22nd, 2009, and the proceeds generated will be going towards this project – the bands lending their music will soon be announced. It will also be an All Ages show. (More details to come.)
As I promised before, here is some information about homeless youth in Iowa:
- “In Iowa, there are 22,636 homeless youth”
- “In Polk County alone, there are 3,100 homeless youth”
- “45% of homeless youth are male and 55% are female”
- The reasons youth end up homeless are varied: disrupted families or no family home; home life is unsafe or abusive: “80% report being physically abused at home, 25% sexually abused, and 50% report substance abuse by parents”; teens’ behavior problems, mental illness, lack of education, addiction of alcohol and drugs, or spending limited resources on things other than housing.
…and the list goes on and on, and each reason complicates another. The idea of this issue being one specific reason is simple. If that were the case, there would be a more concentrated solution. That, however, isn’t the case, and social workers, Youth & Shelter Services employees, IHYC employees, and volunteers spend their time and energy helping these youth reestablish a life in Iowa any way they can. And that’s what this book is for: for the workers and volunteers, because these shelters do not function and homeless youth do not get help if workers and volunteers do not have our support; whether that be time or money you donate.
* Check out the Reggie’s Sleep Out website.
* Check out the Youth & Shelter Services website.
* Or check out the IHYC website, which is an extension of the YSS website.
Thanks for all of those who responded last time. Your support, right now, is wonderful. I look forward to keeping you updated on the book’s format and a release date.
Photograph by Wesley Norman.
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