Structural Patterns

This past summer, my son had lice for a second time in his life, not a good experience. Unfortunately we were traveling in Scandinavia and could not immediately turn to our Hisidic Lice Lady in Brooklyn, so we bought lice shampoo with a comb and got to work. After two weeks of combing through our hair each night as we traveled and a ton of laundry we returned home with bugs still in our hair. I immediately called the lice lady. She scolded me for having put poison in my son’s scalp and took all three of us into her home the following day. In under two hours, our heads were pronounced clean. I walked out with the lice lady’s formula and instructions which I’m likely to misplace or forget, so here it is:

Ingredients:

• Tresseme Conditioner
• Baking Powder
• Spray Bottle with Listerine & Vinegar
• Paper Towels

Steps:

1. Wet hair with spray bottle this will paralyze the lice
2. Take layer of hair starting from nape of neck and comb – North, East, West, South – each strand
3. Sprinkle baking powder and keep combing

Hopefully it will not happen again and I won’t need these instructions as the essential part can not be included: PATIENCE.

EXCESS at Farmers Market New Haven

EXCESS at Artspace

Rescued food meal at Artspace, New Haven

Long standing Argentine rock artist comes out with a strong new album – Ritual Reversible:

http://planzmedia.bandcamp.com/album/ritual-reversible

If you enjoy 80s alternative rock with a dark tinge, in Spanish with thought provoking lyrics… listen to this album!

Saturday, January 5th from 12pm-4pm
New York Hall of Science on 47-01 111th Street
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368
Take 7 train to 111th St stop
***Say code “road to clinic”***
Attendees will get a FREE museum tour!!

FREE community workshop geared to inform and support undocumented youth, children of immigrants and all youth regardless of immigration status with their college application process while providing them with skills to become their own advocates when navigating the education system. Get support with:

filling out college applications (CUNY, SUNY, private)
essay and resume writing
financing college and how to apply for scholarships
legal referrals, Deferred action info and more resources

An amazing documentary by Sam Feder, a grad in Hunter College’s Integrated Media Arts MFA program (IMA) is making a final push to reach her Kickstarter campaign. This is an amazing project that should get all the support possible!

At this point, we all know that banks are relatively evil. However, in the credit-based economy that we have all contributed to, it’s difficult to function without a bank, unless of course you’re prepared to live off the grid; most people aren’t.

On December 8th, I made a withdrawal from a Capital One ATM in NYC where I live. That evening, I boarded a plane to Madrid, Spain with my family. We arrived in the morning and needed Euros, so I went to an airport ATM in the Madrid airport and withdrew a 100 euros that added up to a $133 dollars. We went to Madrid due to work and immediately started working. I did not check my Capital One account for three days due to work.

On the morning of December 12th, I tried to withdraw money from a bank ATM. My Capital One card told me that I had withdrawn over the limit for the day. Later that day, when I had a computer available, I checked my Capital One account. There was fraudulent activity on my account.

On the same day that I withdrew a 100 euros in Madrid that was December 9th, someone in NYC withdrew $500 from my Capital One saving account three times from two different ATMs – 993 2ND Avenue, New York, NY and 10 East 34th Street, New York, NY. They also withdrew from my Capital One checking account $303 on December 9th at 993 2nd Avenue. Capital One did absolutely nothing, although separately I withdrew $133 from an ATM in Madrid, Spain.

On December 12th, when I checked my account, more withdrawals were in process. Two withdrawals at $500, two withdrawals at $403 and one withdrawal at $503 all from NYC. I called Capital One, and spoke with someone to stop these withdrawals and was told that nothing could be done because they were in process and I could not file a complaint about them until they were processed. Meanwhile my account went into the red.

I’ve dealt with several banks through my life. And most banks have some security in place to stop withdrawals at the limit, particularly when withdrawals are being drawn via debit card from two different parts of the world. Meanwhile Capital One allowed $4,112 to be withdrawn on December 9th and on December 12th. During all this time I am in Spain. After talking with a representative at Capital One, I’m told that I must sign an affidavit to have the money from the fraudulent activity put into my accounts. I can not sign the affidavit because they can not fax it internationally or email it to me.

The following week, a paycheck was direct deposited into my savings account. I needed to pay my mortgage, so I moved money into my checking account so that I could pay my mortgage. Unfortunately nearly all the money that I moved went to balancing the negative amount in my checking account due to the fraudulent activity that Capital One did not protect me from. And then on top of that they took money for overdraft – $35 three times! So now, I can’t sign the affidavit, I can’t pay my mortgage, I can’t pay any bills and my credit is going to hell because Capital One sucks!!!

SPRING BREAK WORKSHOP
Digital Art Workshop for High School Girls
10AM-5PM // April 18 & April 19
@ Eyebeam Art + Technology Center 540 W 21 St, between 10th & 11th Aves in Manhattan

REGISTER by April 15th at 5PM:
http://bit.ly/i2iLbP

High school girls will collaborate with two artists to create an interactive digital art installation that will be featured at Figment Festival, a 3-day public art festival taking place on NYC’s Governor’s Island (June 10-12). Over the course of a 2-day workshop at Eyebeam, students will learn how to embed basic electronics into everyday objects to transform them into musical instruments.

This workshop is for creative young women between the ages of 14-18. No experience with technology required.

Workshop fee: ?$20 includes all materials, hot lunch, and a snack (income sensitive scholarships available – email stephanie@eyebeam.org with inquiries)

Workshop dates: April 18 + April 19, 10AM–5PM

Workshop Location:
Eyebeam Art + Technology Center
540 W 21 St
New York, NY 10011
Map

Questions? Email stephanie@eyebeam.org

REGISTER by April 15th at 5PM:
http://bit.ly/i2iLbP

Following an excellent dinner at Woodward’s Garden on Mission and 13th, Brooke and I headed to 19th and Bryant. We mistakenly attended a guest list party at Guerrero Gallery and were happily surprised by two good bands. We’re not sure about the names, but the pictures are below. We hope that one day the drummer from the first band plays with the cello player of the second, because both these people were amazing.


Later that night we realized that it was the first New Years since 2007 that we’d been out and about.

You can also identify this phenomenon in the contemporary pressures of corporations with publicly traded stock to maintain and increase “shareholder value.” What matters most to these corporations’ managers are the metrics of profit and objective value monitored and determined by a new enormous, international financial services industry. What matters less, especially to most metrically inclined institutional investors, is how well the company has done for society, what the subjective value of its products are to its producers and consumers, it is the objective, quantifiable dimension of value that is the proverbial bottom line. Marx would see this as the essence of capitalism – the centralization of markets and money, the elevation of the quantitative, formal side of things and therefore “estrangement,” in human experience. In contemporary capitalist society, like it or not, the medial sphere of exchange and transaction reigns supreme, utilizing the formal, objective dimension of value to triumph over the poetic, and, for Marx, “human” dimension of value.