Guest Post: Credentials

/// I love James Wesley Nichols' post! Check it out, check his blog out, comment! ///

I read a lot of books and articles, critiques of society and alternatives, activist and radical literature. As a writer, sometimes I'm intimidated by the level of scholarship I'm met with.

Anybody with even a perfunctory knowledge of the goings on of today's world knows that as a species humanity faces a number of challenges to its survival. Given the urgency of the situation and the necessity of immediate action, the idea that academic credentials or the lack of them should hold anyone back from participating is laughable, so the intimidation factor goes out the window.

Instead what we have to do is take a good look at ourselves and see what we have to offer. I may not be an expert in foreign policy or economics, but I'm a fairly decent writer and I can use that to transfer whatever I learn to others who have even less information than me.  If my writing proved to be useless, I could always just carry sandbags or dig trenches.

But if the goal is to raise consciousness, both in oneself and others, then writing and all forms of art and communication become absolutely essential. It doesn't matter if I don't have a PhD in anything; I can hyperlink to someone who does.

Guest Post: Becoming Radical

/// James Wesley Nichols is back with some great stuff. I'm totally on board! ///

From the time I was in high school I'd pay attention to the news and criticize the government, television, business and society in general. I was probably a lot harder to be friends with than I am even now. Mom always warned me not to be radical. For some reason "radical" has become a dirty word, I guess. But back then I mostly aligned myself with the Democrats, who only seemed slightly left of the status quo. Now it has become increasingly clear that the Democratic Party in practice actually lies far to the right of average working voters* like me.

Mom said I shouldn't be "radical," but I disagree. Radical change is what we need.

Here's how dictionary.com defines "radical:"

RAD·I·CAL

 [rad-i-kuhl]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.

2.

thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.

3.

favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.

4.

forming a basis or foundation.

5.

existing inherently in a thing or person: radical defects of character.

Since radicalism is change at the root, then as radicals we are devoted to changing ourselves and our society at the fundamental level. That means we need to become conscious of and understand society and its infrastructures, identify and imagine new institutions and social structures and begin organizing and making our dreams real. To change things from the ground up. It's a life-long process.

Anyone can learn, anyone can change, anyone can imagine and dream of a better world or even a better personal life, and those things are radical when they are acted upon.

* I'm actually not a voter. But more on that later. In the meantime, enjoy this Howard Zinn quote: "If the gods had intended people to vote, they would have given us candidates."

Guest Post: Human Exceptionalism

/// This is a guest post by my sweet, smart husband, James Wesley Nichols. ///

I don't believe in American Exceptionalism.

It's not a doctrine or even a phrase that finds wide mainstream use anymore, having mostly fallen out of favor in the 1960s. But it could definitely be argued to be a thread in the fabric of our culture and is obviously apparent in the foreign policies of our government.

I don't buy it.

What I do believe in though is human exceptionalism.

Not in any religious sense or the sense of a human right to dominate nature, but rather in the sense that humans are the primary actors on the world stage, and as such have the ultimate responsibility for our own fate.

In spite of the political and media controversy over anthropogenic global warming (AGW), there is a broad consensus (roughly 97-98%) among climate scientists that average temperatures have risen significantly over the past several decades and that the cause is manmade carbon emissions.

This is where we come in. An interesting correlation has been shown between brain size and intelligence. Perhaps more specifically, brain mass in comparison to the size of the body is a good indicator of the intelligence of a species. Compared with birds and reptiles, and nearly every other species on earth (except dolphins), humans have the largest brains and most intelligence. [1]

But isn't our intelligence what got us into this mess in the first place?

The odds seem to be against us. Intelligence - our ideas and innovations - created capitalism and industrialism and the ecological catastrophes Earth is now suffering. Maybe our intelligence will be the death of us.

But if we're to have any hope at all for the survival of our species, we have to believe in our own exceptionalism, in our abilities to innovate and cooperate to find a new way. Maybe humanity's defining trait, the thing that makes us most different from all the other animal species on the planet isn't our intelligence at all. Maybe what makes us most human is our ability to seemingly do the impossible. Maybe what makes us most human is our knack for doing superhumanthings. 

 [1] Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden, Random House, 1977, 33-40.

Personal Style 101: ELYCIA on Colour!

Hi, I'm elycia from the blog ♥elycia and in case you don't know me I am a vintage loving cat lady living in a cute house on a quiet street with my husband and our two sweet kitties. Oh ya, and I am obsessed with colour. Wow, that felt like the beginning of a "My Strange Addiction" episode.

I have always been drawn to colour and colourful clothes. When I was young I wore neon like nobody's business. I even had three different coloured pairs of neon slouch socks that I would mix and match so that I would be wearing two different coloured neon slouch socks. I kind of wish I could say that this is just something I made up to be funny but I am very serious. I don't have a photo of the slouch socks to show you but I do have this equally fancy photo of a lovely red ensemble.

When I was in high school my favourite outfit was this pair of extremely wide leg red pants, a bright blue shirt and just in case that wasn't enough colour, a zip up rainbow sweater. Oh and I was probably wearing bright green shoes or something equally as ridiculous. I still have that rainbow sweater...

I definitely have days where I feel like being more neutral but in general I love having multiple pops of colour in my outfit. If you are a bit nervous about colour but really want to start playing with it I would recommend starting by introducing one colourful piece into your outfit. Accessories are a good way to start. You could start with something as little as earrings, a bracelet or a necklace. Colourful clothing can be intimidating but colourful jewelry is a good way to ease yourself in.
Vintage scarves are another good starting point. They are pretty and can really brighten up an outfit and make it more fun!

Are you a colour lover or does looking at my outfits make you break out in a sweat if you imagine yourself in it? If you are nervous about colour give it a try and let me know how you liked it!