Robert Reich on the State of the Union's Economy

Robert Reich

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

Coming Tuesday (Hopefully): The State of the Union's Economy

Posted: 02/10/2013 4:45 pm

If you're sitting in the well of the House when a president gives a State of the Union address (as I've had the privilege of doing five times), the hardest part is on the knees. You're required to stand and applaud every applause line, which means, if you're in the cabinet or an elected official of the president's party, an extraordinary amount of standing and sitting

.

But for a president himself, the State of the Union provides a unique opportunity to focus the entire nation's attention on the central issue you want the nation to help you take action on.

President Obama has been focusing his (and therefore America's) attention on immigration, guns, and the environment. All are important. But in my view none of these should be the central theme of his address Tuesday evening.

His focus should be on the joblessness, falling real wages, economic insecurity, and widening inequality that continue to dog the nation. These are the overriding concerns of most Americans. All will grow worse if the deficit hawks, austerity mavens, trickle-down charlatans, and government-haters who have commanded center stage for too long continue to get their way.

In coming weeks the GOP will be using another fiscal cliff, a funding crisis, and another debt ceiling showdown to convince Americans of an outright lie: that the federal budget deficit is our most important problem, that it is responsible for the continuing anemic recovery, and that we must move now to reduce it.

The President should make it clear that any Republican effort to hold the nation hostage to the GOP's ideological fixation on the budget deficit and a smaller government will slow the economy, likely pushing us into another recession. And that those most imperiled are the middle class and the poor.

He should emphasize that the real job creators are not the rich but the vast majority of ordinary Americans whose purchases give businesses reason to add jobs. And that if most Americans still cannot afford to buy, the government must be the spender of last resort.

Perhaps it's too much to hope for, but I'd encourage the President to call for boosting the economy: Reversing the recent Social Security tax hike by exempting the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes and lifting the ceiling on income subject to it, to make up the shortfall. Reviving the WPA and CCC, to put the long-term unemployed directly to work. Raising the minimum wage. Imposing a 2 percent annual tax surcharge on wealth in excess of $7 million to fund a world-class system of education, so all our kids can get ahead. Cutting corporate welfare and the military but not cutting public investments or safety nets the middle class and poor depend on. Giving tax credits to companies that create more new jobs in America. Helping states and locales rehire the teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers they need.

This is the most fragile recovery in modern history, from the deepest downturn since World War II. Most Americans are not experiencing a recovery at all. As has been shown in Europe, austerity economics is a cruel hoax. President Obama must acknowledge this in his State of the Union, and commit to fighting those who would impose it on America.

ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of Nations." His latest is an e-book, "Beyond Outrage," now available in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.

 

Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich

Dr. Hare replies to French Student on the Sociology of theBlack Body

Salutations, M. Nicolas Martin-Breteau,

Nous vous remercions de votre intérêt pour votre demande et de l'intérêt dans mes observations et expériences. Je suis très familiariser avec le Professeur Loïc Wacquant, qui semble l'héritier présomptif de Bourdieu (dont certaines œuvres que j'ai acheté et lu). J'ai beaucoup apprécié le professeur Wacquant «Body and Soul» et souhaite que j'avais appris à le connaître mieux quand il était dans ce pays. Comme vous le savez peut-il en bas de page de mon mémoire de maîtrise (1957). dans «Body and Soul».

J'ai hâte de communiquer avec vous par courriel ou par téléphone. Pour votre information mon numéro de portable est 41 672 2986, mais en raison de circonstances particulières, je vais passer ces jours, il est généralement préférable de communiquer par e-mail, et d'utiliser le téléphone pour tout le suivi nécessaire ou à la vérification au cas où un courriel peut être accidentellement supprimé ou saccagé par le serveur.

Nathan Hare

415 672 2986

Troy Duster on Merit Scholars, Military and Affirmative Action

Merit Scholars, the Military, and Affirmative Action

January 23, 2013, 12:29 pm

By Troy Duster

Those opposing affirmative action argued before the Supreme Court in the fall that a deep commitment to individual fairness should trump any concern for diversity. The plaintiff, Abigail Fisher, claimed that she was the victim of racial discrimination because Latino and African-American students with lower scores had been admitted to the University of Texas, while she, who is white, had not. In contrast, proponents of affirmative action argued that diversity is a vital, compelling state interest.

If admission to college were based solely upon test scores, there would be no need for admissions offices: Students would just submit their test scores and high-school grade-point averages, and a computer would admit them in rank order. No college has ever done so, and none ever will. For a wide range of reasons, admissions officers make assessments based on such factors as high-school reputation, recommendation letters, evidence of “late blooming” and community engagement, alumni parents, balance for region and gender, and the wishes of financial donors.

Experienced professionals from military, corporate, and educational worlds have filed briefs in the case supporting the diversity side of the argument. One brief, from 25 four-star generals, admirals, and other military leaders, argued that “a highly qualified and racially diverse officer corps is not a lofty ideal,” but rather “a mission-critical national-security interest.” The military depends upon racially diverse ROTC programs, the generals said, which in turn depend upon racially diverse student populations.

The pre-eminent path to admission to West Point is relevant to this claim about test scores versus other considerations. The military academy, which is designated by Congressional mandate to train Army leaders for the coming generation, gives every Congressional district two admits—an unapologetic quota system. The recommendation of the representative from each district is the ticket to admission, not rankings based upon test scores.

But what of the very embodiment of meritocracy, the annual allocation of National Merit Scholar awards, by the group whose very name represents the meritocratic ideal, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation?

It comes as a shock to many to learn that those recipients are selected under a geographically based quota system, which insulates students from competition with their peers in other states. As a consequence, the states—which confer semifinalist status to roughly one half of one percent of high-school students—have radically different standards.

At the first stage of the selection process, about 16,000 semifinalists for the Merit Scholar awards are selected by test score alone, nationwide.  Then comes the interesting part, relevant to the Supreme Court’s decision about what is fair in judging applicants: test scores alone versus diversity. Much like those admitted to West Point, winners of the National Merit Scholar awards are chosen by state.

Here is how it works: The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) is divided into three parts, worth 80 points each, so that a perfect score would be 240.  The cutoff point for each state is different, however. As the chart below shows, in some states the winning score must be as high as 221 to 218 (Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Connecticut). In other states, it is as low as 202 to 200 (Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming). How is that fair?  Why not just judge everyone by the same standard, and award Merit Scholarships to those with the highest scores—at the top of the national pool?  These are not State Merit Scholars. These are National Merit Scholars.

It is noteworthy that the opponents of affirmative action are not attacking the way in which National Merit Scholars are chosen. Perhaps that is because they understand that it would not serve the interests of the nation better if all Merit Scholars were chosen from only a few states, all of which are “blue,” with none going to the states lagging far behind, all of which are “red.”

And yet because we are a nation that wishes to allocate Merit Scholars to students from coast to coast, and from Alaska (204) and Hawaii (211), we opt for diversity over individual scores on standardized tests. The logic is identical to that of the military academies, not only West Point but the Naval and Air Force Academies as well.  Would it serve the nation’s interest better to have its military officers selected from only a few states? In her majority opinion on the topic, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor argued (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003) that the United States needs to have diversity in its leadership class as a compelling state interest—that it would be intolerable for one segment of the population to dominate those roles.

As the Supreme Court deliberates the Fisher case and the future of affirmative action, the justices need to ask the same question that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the military academies have posed: Does a single-minded reliance on “individual merit” as measured by test scores serve the national interest? If its answer is a resounding no, the court will need to explain to history why race—the  mechanism of the nation’s most noxious form of systemic discrimination over four centuries—cannot, unlike the roulette of geographical residence (Congressional district or state boundary line) be taken into account in efforts to ensure that the nation’s leaders are as diverse as the nation’s racially and ethnically diverse population.

Troy Duster is a senior fellow and Chancellor’s Professor at the Warren Institute for Law and Social Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a past president of the American Sociological Association.

Marvin X, the Human Earthquake, Rocks Harlem, NY at the Schomburg Library

Marvin X in Harlem, NY, 1968
photo Doug Harris

Marvin X in Harlem, NY., 1968. One of the founders of the Black Arts Movement coast to coast, along with Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Nikki Giovanni, the Last Poets, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra,

Haki Madhbuti, Carolyn Rogers, Kalaamu ya Salaam, Ed Bullins, Sun Ra, et al.

Dr. Mohja Kahf considers him the father of Muslim American literature. Bob Holman calls him the USA's Rumi. Ishmael Reed says he is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland CA. Wanda Sabir says his language is so strong it will knock the socks off old ladies! According to Fahizah Alim, his writing is orgasmic! Rudolph Lewis considers him a master teacher in many fields of thought, and one of America's great story tellers. "I'd put him ahead of Mark Twain."

According to Black Panther co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton, "Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier!"

After an absence of 45 years, Harlem got to hear poet Marvin X, master of the short short story. Last night at the Schomburg Library, a full house heard Marvin X give a short but inspiring tribute to his revolutionary comrade, painter Elizabeth Catlett Mora, who gave him refuge in Mexico City when he refused to fight in Vietnam, 1970. The packed audience got a taste of the man called the USA's Rumi, Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland and Mark Twain. Marvin was backed by Afro Horn, the band formed by Betty Mora's son, Francisco Mora Catlett. Francisco and Marvin both worked with the legendary Sun Ra, so their coming together was a double honor to Mrs. Catlett Mora and Sun Ra.

Afro Horn included special guest, acclaimed bassist Rufus Reid, Sam Newsome, soprano sax, Aruan Ortiz, piano, Roman Diaz, percussion, Francisco Mora Catlett, drums, and Marvin X, spoken word. For sure, Harlem has not heard the last of Marvin X and Francisco's Afro Horn. Mrs. Catlett's other son, David, flew in from Germany. David, in the tradition of his mother and father (Poncho Mora) is an artist and sculptor. Marvin X had not seen David since 1970. Below is art work for Afro Horn by David Catlett:

The audience saw a powerful performance by Harlem poet George Tait, the New York African Chorus Ensemble and Oyu Oro, the brainchild of Francisco's Afro-Cuban wife, Danys "La Mora" Perez, an international Afro-Cuban folklore performer. Presenters included Dr. Rosalind Jeffries, Dr. Carolyn Mailand, Dr. Rashidah Ismaili, Dr. Lorenzo Pace, Ademola Olugebefola. Ademola, one of Harlem's greatest painters, had not seen Marvin X since 1968 when the Black Arts Movement exploded with such artists as Amiri Baraka, the Last Poets, Barbara Ann Teer, Mae Jackson, Nikki Giovanni, Ed Bullins, Sun Ra and Sonia Sanchez. Marvin X ended his tribute (Afro Horn in background) noting he had not seen Betty Mora since 1970 until a few years ago at Amiri Baraka's house in Newark, NJ, when she walked in with Sonia Sanchez to attend Marvin's book party. Long live the revolutionary spirit of Elizabeth Catlett Mora!

Marvin X returns to the east coast on March 16. He will participate in the Black Love Lives Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, an event produced by Nisa Ra and Muhammida El Muhajir. Call 718-496-2305 for more information. Meanwhile, the poet is assembling the archives of Dr. Nathan Hare and Dr. Julia Hare, with the assistance of students from Oakland's Laney College and the advice of Itibari Zulu, former UCLA librarian and editor of the Journal of Pan African Studies, and Dr. J. Vern Cromartie, co-chair of the Sociology Department at Contra Costa College in Richmond. Institutions interested in the Hare archives should contact The Community Archives Project, Senior Agent, Attorney Amira Jackmon, 510-813-3025.
--Marvin X, Brooklyn, NY, 2/23/13

Ancestor Elizabeth Catlett Mora gave Marvin X refuge in Mexico City, 1970, during his second exile after he refused to fight in Vietnam and resisted arrest. He was ultimately deported from Belize, then British Honduras, back to the USA, convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five months at Terminal Island Federal Prison.

"When I arrived in Mexico City at Betty Mora's house, she was working on this piece honoring the Black Panther Party. I informed her my friends were Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and that I introduced Eldridge Cleaver to them." See Eldridge Cleaver: My friend the Devil, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2009,

The National Council of Artists

Tribute to Elizabeth Catlett Mora

cover design by David Mora Catlett

Honor, Courage & Creativity

Friday, February 22, 2013, 7–9 PM

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Langston Hughes Auditorium

515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037-1801

AFRO HORN Avant Jazz Band

OYU ORO Afro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble

NEW YORK AFRICAN CHORUS ENSEMBLE

GEORGE EDWARD TAIT Poet

Special guest acclaimed bassist “Rufus Reid” will be performing with the "AFRO HORN"

Sam Newsome on Soprano Sax

Abraham Burton on Tenor Sax 

Aruán Ortiz on Piano

Roman Díaz on percussion 

Francisco Mora Catlett on drums

Marvin X, Spoken Word

Afro Horn, a mystical musical experience inspired by 

a Henry Dumas story

Afro Horn art by David Mora Catlett

French PhD Student Wants to know about Dr. Nathan Hare's Black Body

From: Nicolas Martin-Breteau


Subject: History PhD & Dr Nathan Hare

To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Date: Saturday, February 9, 2013, 7:42 PM


Dear Sir,

My name is Nicolas Martin-Breteau. I am a French doctoral candidate in African American history at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France. I study the role of sport and the body in the "long" civil rights movement in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, from the 1890s to the 1960s. I hope to defend my Ph.D. dissertation in late 2013.

I am very much interested in Dr. Nathan Hare's life when he was a young sociology professor at Howard University. For one thing, I discuss his book The Black Anglo-Saxons. Besides, I would like to understand why he was so much involved in sport. According to his biography on wikipedia, Dr. Hare "briefly resumed his own aborted professional boxing efforts" in 1967. Dr. Hare's experience in boxing and his acquaintance with Muhammad Ali (without mentioning the fact that he might have had Stokely Carmichael as student) are fascinating subjects for my thesis.

Dr. Hare's life could help me answer this question: How did Black Power activists envision the role of the black body in the revolution aimed at transforming black Americans and American society? Did they depart from the traditional view of a respectable and decent body radiating with "character" as it had been taught to black youth since the end of the 19th century? Has sport had a special place in the Black Power movement of the 1960s? These topics are hardly studied by historians, except when it comes to the 1968 salute of Smith and Carlos in Mexico, two athletes from San Jose State under the guidance of sociology professor Harry Edwards. I think that much has to be done on the topic of sport and the body as political weapons in the black struggle for equality and freedom in the 1960s.

I have seen that Nathan and Julia Hare's archives are to be donated (http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.fr/2013/01/the-hare-papers-offered-for-acquisition.html). I would like to know whether Dr. Hare has already given his personal papers to an archive repository, and if he would like to talk to me about his life. I would be honored to engage in a conversation with him. If you are unable to answer directly to my question, could you please give me Dr. Hare's email address in order me to send him a message?

Thank you very much for your time and help. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,

Nicolas Martin-Breteau







U.S. History Doctoral Candidate, CENA, EHESS, Paris

http://www.ehess.fr/cena/membres/martin-breteau.html

https://twitter.com/NMartinBreteau











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MARVIN X AT THE BLACK CAUCUS OF CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Marvin X returns to Fresno this weekend to participate in the Black Caucus of California Community Colleges. It will be a rare public appearance by the man who shook up Fresno when he taught at Fresno State College, now university, in 1969. Governor Ronald Reagan had the State College Board of Trustees oust Marvin X because he refused to fight in Vietnam. The college president, Fred Ness was forced to resign due to student protests. But with the same credentials, AA degree from Merritt College, in 1972 Marvin X was hired to lecture in Black Studies at University of California, Berkeley. After earning his B.A. and M.A. in English, he taught at San Francisco State University, UC San Diego, Mills College, Laney, Merritt, University of Nevada, Reno, and Kings River College.

Black Caucus of the California Community Colleges

 

 Fri Feb 15 2013 at 02:00 am Add to calendar

 Venue : Fresno City College, 1101 E University Ave, Fresno, CA, United States

 Created By : Jwyanza Hobson

Promote Join this Event

Sponsored links

To the Students of California Community Colleges,

On behalf of the Black Caucus of the California Community Colleges, we’d like to invite you to our 12th Annual Leadership Conference. This year’s conference is significant because it marks the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement. Come join in the celebration.

Our caucus has included all conference materials with information on how to register for the conference. On behalf of the Black Caucus of the California Community Colleges, thank you for your Leadership representing students statewide.





THE BLACK CAUCUS of the

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Announces the 12th Annual Leadership Conference at

Fresno City College, Fresno, CA

“A CALL TO COMMITMENT”

Shaping a New and Lasting Legacy of Success

For African American Students in California Community Colleges

February 15-17, 2013

Marvin X speaks at Do 4 Self African Bookstore, Feb 23

Do 4 Self African Bookstore
5272 Foothill Blvd. Oakland

Presents

Marvin X
Saturday, Feb. 23, 5-7pm

 

a lecture/discussion 

How to Recover 

from the Addiction to White Supremacy Type II

Call 510-842-8300 for reservations
seating limited
refreshments served

Timbuktu Manuscripts Saved

As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts 

of a Golden Age

           By LYDIA POLGREEN
           <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/lydia_polgreen/index.html>

TIMBUKTU, Mali When the moment of danger came, Ali Imam Ben Essayouti knew just what to do. The delicate, unbound parchment manuscripts in the 14th-century mosque he leads had already survived hundreds of years in the storied city of Timbuktu. He was not about to allow its latest invaders, Tuareg nationalist rebels and Islamic extremists from across the region, to destroy them now.

So he gingerly bundled the 8,000 volumes in sackcloth, carefully stacked them in crates, then quietly moved them to a bunker in an undisclosed location.

These manuscripts, they are not just for us in Timbuktu,? Mr. Essayouti said. ?They belong to all of humanity. It is our duty to save them.?

The residents of Timbuktu suffered grievously under Islamic militant rule. Almost all of life?s pleasures, even the seemingly innocent ones like listening to music and dancing, were forbidden. With the arrival of French and Malian troops here on Jan. 28, life is slowly returning to normal.

But the city?s rich historical patrimony <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/world/africa/07mali.html> suffered terrible losses. Timbuktu is known as the City of 333 Saints, a reference to the Sufi preachers and scholars who are venerated by Muslims here. The Islamic rebels destroyed several earthen tombs of those saints, claiming such shrines were forbidden.

During their hasty departure from the city last weekend, the fighters struck another parting blow, setting fire to dozens of ancient manuscripts at the Ahmed Baba Institute, the city?s biggest and most important library.

Irina Bokova, the director general of Unesco, accompanied President François Hollande of France on his visit <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/world/africa/france-hollande-timbuktu-mali.html> here on Saturday to get a firsthand look at the damage the city?s cultural artifacts had sustained. She said that plans are already being made to rebuild the tombs of the saints.

?We are going to reconstruct the mausoleums as soon as possible,? Ms. Bokova said. ?We have the plans, we have the ability to do it. We think this is important for the future of the Malian people, their dignity and their pride.?

In modern times Timbuktu <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/arts/design/the-great-mosque-in-djenne-mali.html?pagewanted=all> has become a synonym for a remote place. But the city thrived for centuries at the crossroads of the region?s two great highways: the caravan route across the Sahara passed right by its narrow warren of streets, bringing salt, spices and cloth from the north, and the Niger River brought gold and slaves from West Africa. Traders brought books, and the city?s scribes earned their living by copying them out by hand. These manuscripts cover a vast range of human knowledge ? Islamic philosophy and law, of course, but medicine, botany and astronomy as well.

?You will find all forms of knowledge in these manuscripts,? Mr. Essayouti said. ?Every topic under the sun.?

Beyond their physical presence, Timbuktu?s artifacts are a priceless reminder that sub-Saharan Africa has a long history of deep intellectual endeavor, and that some of that history is written down, not just transmitted orally down the generations.

?This is the record of the golden ages of the Malian empire,? Ms. Bokova said. ?If you let this disappear, it would be a crime against all of humanity.?

The cultural artifacts in Timbuktu ? whose population of around 50,000 has shrunk with the latest troubles ? have faced many dangers over the centuries. Harsh climate, termites and the ravages of time have taken a toll, along with repeated invasions ? by the Songhai emperors, nomadic bandits, Moroccan princes and France. Yet many of the antiquities have endured.

?It is a miracle that these things have survived so long,? Mr. Essayouti said.

Their survival is a testament to the habit of Timbuktu?s families of hiding away their valuable relics whenever danger is near, burying them deep in the desert.

Konaté Alpha?s family has had a collection of about 3,000 manuscripts for generations, and when the Islamist rebels arrived Mr. Alpha called a family meeting.

?We need to find a way to safeguard these manuscripts,? he told his brothers and his father.

He was intimately familiar with the many nooks and crannies in which the city?s residents have long hid their treasured manuscripts. While expanding the family?s compound a decade ago, he found a trove of manuscripts hidden inside a wall.

?The previous owners had hidden them so well they forgot them,? he said with a shrug.

He took his family?s collection and hid it well. He declined to say where.

?We hid them, that is all I will say,? he said.

The manuscripts have been at the center of a broad international effort to preserve the fragile history of Timbuktu. The governments of South Africa and France, along with the Ford Foundation and others, have spent millions to build a new library to house the largest and most important collection of manuscripts at the Ahmed Baba Institute.

When the Tuareg rebels first arrived in Timbuktu in April, they looted and burned many government buildings, and the institute?s interim director, Abdoulaye Cissé, worried that the institute?s sleek new library building would become a target.

But when the Islamist rebels arrived a few days later, the library?s officials explained to them that the library was an Islamic institution worthy of their protection.

?One of the Islamist leaders gave his mobile phone number to the guard and told him, ?If anyone bothers you, call me and I will be here,? ? he said.

But library officials began to worry that the Islamists would discover that the library received financing from the United States, so in August they decided to move almost the entire collection, Mr. Cissé said.

?We moved them little by little to avoid rousing suspicion,? Mr. Cissé said. They were sent to Mopti, then on to Bamako, the capital, for safekeeping.

It turned out the worries were not unwarranted. In the chaotic final days of the Islamist occupation, all that changed. A group of militants stormed the library as they were fleeing and set fire to whatever they could find.

Fortunately, they got their hands on only a tiny portion of the library?s collection.

?They managed to find less than 5 percent,? he said. ?Thank God they were not able to find anything else.?

None of the city?s libraries are in a hurry to return their collections from their hiding places, even though Timbuktu is back under government control. French forces are now stationed in Gao, Timbuktu and outside the town of Kidal, in the north, and airstrikes continue against the militants near the border with Algeria. The fighters have been chased away from major towns, but no one is sure whether they will come back.

?We will keep our manuscripts safely hidden until we are sure the situation is safe,? Mr. Alpha said. ?When that will be we cannot say.?

Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris.

Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (full album) (1080p)

Lake Merritt Love Poem

You think
I am speaking of making love
I am speaking of an action
beyond making love
beyond the physical
into the metaphysical
we perform the act
yet it is not the act
it is what is beyond the act
after all, after the nut
then what?
Yes, it is the other side
where infinite joy lives
raises her eyes
this is why I seek you
not for the joy of you
but the eternal joy
beyond you.
--Marvin X
revised 2/3/13