by jad

Georgetown, Pleasure Spiked with Pain

We’ve been spending more time in Georgetown ever since Christine joined Side Rail, so I walked around to see what I can see. Much of this is stuff I’ve seen many times but never stopped to photograph. Some of it is new. I’ve been trying to train myself to “see” more clearly, even without the novelty of new places. x “During the past two hundred years Western philosophically-oriented, and later also socially-oriented thinking has been increasingly reflective and differentiated in its search for an understanding of the phenomenon of alienation. Marx saw also the moment near at hand to do … Continue reading “Georgetown, Pleasure Spiked with Pain” →

by jad

One Year Back in the Politics (and the House Votes Against Socialism)

This month marks a year of my diving back into leftist politics after my first wave of disillusionment with the scene here just before the pandemic. I tried different orgs and modalities for expressing my principles, but eventually circled back to the same one I’d joined when I first moved here, with fresher eyes and a clearer sense of its strengths and limitations this time around. I also had a better idea of what kind of project I wanted to contribute my (limited) energy towards. That project was “ecosocialism.” It’s one of those words that can mean anything and nothing … Continue reading “One Year Back in the Politics (and the House Votes Against Socialism)” →

by jad

Data Centers and the Post-Nuclear Landscape

The fight against the “thingification” of humanity is entering its new phase with the rise of the grassroot revolt against data center expansion. In support of this burgeoning movement, @seattledsa’s ecosocialists along with @350seattle and @troublemakerscommunity put on the first of two (and potentially more!) sessions of The People’s Forum on Artificial Intelligence, with the next session focusing on the labor dimension on December 8. It took a million spinning plates to pull this off, but the team smashed it (opa! pun intended). I’ve dedicated much of my adult life to the politics of infrastructure, so I’m proud to be … Continue reading “Data Centers and the Post-Nuclear Landscape” →

by jad

Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man

Pope Leo XIV was reported the other day as saying on AI: “We currently interact with machines as if they were interlocutors and thus become almost an extension of them. In this sense, we not only run the risk of losing sight of the faces of the people around us, but of forgetting how to recognize and cherish all that is truly human.” It sounds like typical priestly pablum, the kind that anyone who has ever spent any time in a Catholic school might roll their eyes at out of force of habit; I can almost hear Father Madi crooning … Continue reading “Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man” →

by jad

Finding Inspiration in the Mundane (and a Muralist’s Secrets)

A post that @onemonthtwocameras made about finding inspiration in the everyday when every day feels exactly the same, and a conversation with my acupuncturist, who is low-key morphing into my talk therapist, conspired to spring this idea into my head. A simple trick for extracting a new perspective from the mundane. Ever since we moved to this neighborhood, we traded chaos for calm and lost a little bit of stimulation along the way. I also haven’t really felt like stepping very far out of our bubble unless absolutely necessary, and that’s meant a little bit of mental stagnation. That’s the … Continue reading “Finding Inspiration in the Mundane (and a Muralist’s Secrets)” →

by jad

Mayor Wilson, and the Balance Sheet of Light and Shadow

I am very pleased for Mayor Wilson. Even if only to spite The Seattle Times, the venture vultures who turned this city into a drab tech campus, and everyone at work who called her “that women” for her “lack of experience.” From Zohran to Katie — two shots in the dark and faint glimmers of hope. A chance to do something or royally fuck it up. Only time will tell. But right now? Right now? They’re two middle fingers saluting the hellscape. And that’s just fine. x I put this up as a story but now I’m putting it up … Continue reading “Mayor Wilson, and the Balance Sheet of Light and Shadow” →

by jad

Small Pockets of Peace at the Georgetown Art Attack

Celebrating the small pockets of peace on Armistice Day. x Color and contrast at Fogue Studios & Gallery. x More moments at the Georgetown Art Attack. x Karen Dedrickson’s studio at Fogue. She works with sumi-e, or Japanese black ink painting. We fell in love with her crows. x “Chevron Fuels Genocide” I found this protest art quite beautiful. x Art in unexpected places. x

by jad

A Season of Grief, Ofrendas, and Grief Bursts

We are in a season of grief. Ofrendas are everywhere, in galleries and at protests. KEXP is playing music about it. There’s a play titled “Eulogy: Or How to Plan Your Own Funeral” showing on Capitol Hill. Some of this comes from wider diffusion of traditional ritual: from All Hallows’ to All Souls’, via Dia de los Muertos, the culture is learning to look past the ghoulish masks of Halloween to the thinning of the veil that they celebrate. So many of us this year are choosing to walk through that, into the vale of tears and out into garden … Continue reading “A Season of Grief, Ofrendas, and Grief Bursts” →

by jad

Mamdani, Marx, and the Architect Bee

There’s going to be a lot of ink spilled on the meaning of Mamdani: is he or isn’t he, will he or won’t he, can he or can’t he, etc. Much of this will be less about Mamdani himself and more about what he has come to symbolize. So, what has he come to symbolize? The return of class politics? The revenge of multiculturalism? Is this when September ends? Someone wake up Billie Joe. I read an article from an Italian network of communists that describe Mamdani’s promises as both unrealistic and less revolutionary than a Christian Democrat in the … Continue reading “Mamdani, Marx, and the Architect Bee” →

by jad

Election Night and the Metaphysics of the Movement

The next 24 hours are going to be electric for a lot of people across the country; many will be celebrating a hard-won victory, having talked the talk and walked the walk under a crimson banner for a long time. I’d also guess that a good number will finally find the courage to google “democratic socialism” and join the movement. The next 24 months might bring many more highs and just as many lows. Some might look back at this evening with bitter disappointment, as lofty expectations are inevitably dashed against the rocks of compromise. Many will withdraw altogether, but … Continue reading “Election Night and the Metaphysics of the Movement” →