A Climber of Trees (Private)

[The following was posted on my public blog and I was advised by JG and SS to remove it; the tweets were seen as "hilarious" by JA]. The post was public for over a week, then I took it down. "...culture and education aren't simply hobbies or minor influences. They are hugely important in the affirmation of differences between groups and social classes and in the reproduction of those differences" (Pierre Bourdieu,  "The Intellectual Class Struggle,"  New York Times , Jan. 6, 2001 ). After the current semester began, the faculty and staff began to receive multiple emails about a "College Forum" to be held, with breakfast  and that all are invited. First, as I tend to do, some etymology: college (n.)   "body of scholars and students within a university," late 14c., from Old French  college  "collegiate body" (14c.), from Latin  collegium  "community, society, guild," literally "association of  coll...

10 August 2014, 7:50 a.m. Veracruz Gus, I was never complaining about the lack of A/C, really.  I know that A/C is not used everywhere. No complaints. I just had lots of time to think yesterday and last night. It was wrong for me to think that we are close friends when we haven't even spoken on the phone in five years. Even when you were in Houston, we were never really close, though I perhaps wanted so. And yet I presumed to stay with you after five years when we don't really know each other. I had to answer about five times yesterday why I was here. Each time I said that you were my friend, people got a blank stare. It's not the languages or the different countries. I just really don't have the right to think that we're good enough friends for me to stay at your house, talk with your friends, take up your time. I'm 15 years older than you and that's getting to be the time when I got to get real. You did nothing wrong, nor your great family or fr...

Mark Howarth   (832) 381-7469 - mobile 5/24/12 10:06 PM   18 hours ago Mark Howarth:  I'm at the art museum downtown.  1:23 PM Me:  At UH. You enjoying yourself?   2:04 PM Mark Howarth:  Yeah, good shit. How's it going?  3:38 PM Me:  OK. I'm becoming used to being stressed/frustrated with admin whenever I come to UH. / You got plans for the evening?   3:41 PM Mark Howarth:  Hanging with you?  4:55 PM Me:  Just got here. Thanks for everything. / Ignore everything I said.  10:01 PM Mark Howarth:  Hahaha  10:01 PM Mark Howarth:  The, "i love you, man." Means a lot. I love you too, dude.  10:02 PM Me:  Don't talk to me when I'm drunk> I'll say stuff I can;t expolain later. But ... yeah. You're important to me.  10:04 PM Mark Howarth:  You too..to me. Drunk means you can get away with saying whatever. Don't worry about it.  10:06 PM Me:...

Went for 3 mile walk this morning; it;'s been nearly a week. I walked about 3 miles while in Memphis, but nothing since. My weight has gone down, but not as quickly as I had intended; I'm still too lax on the calories. Eating out with Sam and Eduardo this week didn't help. It's difficult for me to convince myself to do anything physical ... always coming up with some excuse. It's difficult, for example, to go walking in the heat of the afternoon after I return from HCC; then I tell myself that I should go walking in the evening, but by 8pm I start to get sleepy, and it's still light out. I need to be invisible. But I put on my hiking shoes (I'm glad I bought those; that was not a wasted investment, like many of my purchases) and went out. On the way back, two medium-size dogs found me and wanted to tag along. I thought they belonged to a woman behind me, but they weren't hers. They were friendly dogs -- one black and one brown -- but I was already co...

[This, from 28 Sept 2010. Wow ... so little things change.] I am sometimes really amazed or impressed at how alienated I am. I'm a relatively nice guy -- I don't take advantage of people, I try to do things for others, I work well in groups, I'm dependable, relatively emotionally stable, have good hygiene. Perhaps my poor sense of humor drives people away. Yet I am completely alone. Everyone I try to befriend betrays me. Perhaps that's because the ones I try to befriend are all losers, I should admit first, but still... I've done enormously expensive things for Jimar ... and he left without saying goodbye, without giving a reason. I suspect it was because he was afraid I was going to sue him for the thousands of dollars he owed me, and because he has an idiot for a father, but we were on good terms before he left and I continued to be generous and he betrayed me. Angel, too -- I've been enormously generous there -- a home, clothes, food, helped buy his f...

The rich must be taxed for a healthy economy. It is completely illogical to think that a percentage-based equality is good for the middle class. To use percentages to equate tax obligations makes no sense as disposable income is used in greater amounts for the lower and middle class than for the upper class. We know, after 30 years of Reagan's trickle-down economics, that it doesn't work. The American middle class has shrunk by 30% since Reagan's tax code. The discussions this week MUST include revenue increases. That is the only thing that can possibly reinvigorate the economy. Yes, I agree that "entitlements" must be addressed, but the budget discussions must include increased taxes on the super rich if there is any hope of long-term recovery, because the corporations and the banks obviously are not interested in investing in the middle class any more.