week 1
reflections on introductions
Everyone is rather cool and interesting. I liked everyone's different approach to how they presented parts of themselves, what they kept close and what they shared. Not that I know what they kept close but it reveals what they deem important in that situation I suppose. I think my own introduction was not bad, I remembered other stuff I wanted to say after class was done hahaha but I think I took up enough time.
reflections on
the readings
I really enjoyed the Master's Tools reading, I think there are a lot of poigniant ideas that are especially relevant today. In the inescapable capitalist mindset of our western society the notion of existing rather living for a purpose (usually someone else's financial gain) is still quite radical in my impression. I really dig it though. Including marginalised voices is quite common these days but a lot of tokenism persists, especially in my music scene. That is a master's tool. Voices that disagree but united are required to build the house free from the master.
The ECD was quite enlightening as I hadn't read something like this previously. It was also quite funny how dated the language sounded using words like 'hackers', 'cyberspace' and citing someone named 'Dr. Crash'?! I think the world has progressed a lot in the 30 years since the essay was published; hackers are no longer just white males, physical civil disobedience is far from 'dead' and the centralised aspects of the internet have become more extreme. I like the idea posited of 'cells' of techno-resistance, combating decentralised institutions with decentralised teams of revolutionaries. I wonder if ECD has fallen out of fashion since this era of technological development and excitement? I'm not sure if traditional activists work with modern-day hackers as it seems that the fortress built by the mega-corporations has become too impenetrable for us to significantly scale.
I had a bit of trouble grasping the entire extent of the Xenofeminist reading as it's language is quite flowery. I understand as a manifesto it is important to write and inspire through prose but perhaps I am a little ill. I can definitely get behind XF as a concept as it alings with a lot of what I feel already. There are some similarities to the Lorde reading in terms of creating something new from what we have.