Many people are thinking about it. This book shows how it’s done.
Whether you find the government oppressive, the economy on a devastating course, or if you simply want adventure, you’re not alone. Over 300,000 Americans emigrate each year.”
From everything i’ve read, it’s practically impossible for a working class American to immigrate to Europe legally, which is why i haven’t already done it. Still, just the fact that this book exists makes me happy.
A few years ago I decided I was sick and tired of working shit jobs for shit pay. even the cool local anarcho-friendly worker-owned cooperative wanted to pay me $16/hour to do graphic design with them and billed their clients at $72 / hour. There was no boss to skim off the top, but rent in the bay area is insane and their office building and state of the art computers cost a lot of money, money that had to come out of the proceeds of their labor before they could afford to pay themselves. And that’s just no fun. So I started advertizing on craigslsit and set myself up as a graphic designer working from home. The job is still kinda boring and I’m not thrilled about all my clients, but I get to set my own hours, work as little or as much as I feel like, and I don’t have to pay a boss to tell me what to do. (Incidentally, it may suprise some of you that I have a job at all, but the thing about giving my music away for free / donation is that I don’t get paid for it…)
I’ve been self-employed for a bit over 2 years now and it’s good times, for the most part. The hardest thing about making the switch - aside from taking that first leap into the unknown - has been learning to motivate myself to work and manage my own time in a way that lets me do everything I need to get done efficiently, keep my clients happy, and still leave me plenty of time for music, activism, and just plain being a human. It’s was one thing to free myself from wage slavery (though, come to think of it, I still get paid an hourly wage. but at least I set it myself and don’t have to give a portion of it to my boss…) and it was another thing entirely to figure out how to keep from going totally broke. Learning to self-manage has been a long tough proccess, but is a critical one for anyone interested in smashing the tyranny of bosses and creating a self-managed society.
In that spirit I present to you the following flash movie, courtesy of No Media Kings.
They also have a text version (here) and a comic version, also available from their website. Check ‘em out!
It’s one of those years, first we lost Utah Phillips and now George Carlin. I’m not going to write a eulogy for him, instead i’m going to post a bunch of his videos and let him sum things up himself. So here it is, a few choice words from one of the greatest comedic minds in America.
I just got the news that Utah Phillips, one of the strongest and most consistent voices in America for the rights and dignity of working class people and for a free world based on human values, has passed away in his sleep at the age of 73. (http://www.kvmr.org/utah_letter.html - Utah Phillips has Left the Stage)
What follows are just a few of my thoughts, as one performer to another, speaking about a man who influenced me and my music tremendously over the years. I would not presume to present this as anything other then that, just a few words of gratitude and sorrow, nothing more. Utah’s family has posted an official obituary on his website - http://utahphillips.com/. Ya’ll should go check it out. Also, The family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, California 95945 (530) 271-7144 www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org
An open letter to all my fans, friends, supporters, & comrades.
Ya know, it’s funny how much little things - trivial things - mean. Take names for instance, a few letters, a syllable or three, a totally meaningless abstract symbol - and yet it can contain a persons entire identity, history, sense of self even. It’s huge. I’ve been thinking about names a lot lately, not least because I’ve noticed that there are an awful lot of folks running around calling themselves Lynx. I can’t blame ‘em, after all Lynx’s are pretty damn cool, but it does present a bit of a problem for me since as an independent musician all I really have is my name and whatever name recognition I’ve earned in the last decade or so since I started making music and in the last seven years since I released my first album. Read more »
