Factual update with minor tangent at end

In similar vain, it seems appropriate to also give an update of what I have been up to ...

Really fucking busy. I decided to really cram my schedule full and get a lot of my requirements done - which means 18 credits. Classes are great but challenging - french 1 and three philosophy classes, all 400 level; law, Marx and critical theory.

In terms of school I am directing a badass student group that is keeping me really busy. We have a bunch of speakers come to the U of O including Dahr Jamail, the Beehive Collective, Anarchists Against the Wall and a performance of My Name is Rachel Corrie. Some of my activists mentors just spent a year working for International Solidarity Movement in Palestine ... they are badass but its mostly their impetus propelling the pro-Palestinian rampage of events. Not that I am not down.

I also have a radio show called Crusty Cthulhu Rock with DJ's H.P Hatecraft and Edgar Allen Pho (me)! Except my time slot is 2-4 in the morning ...

Also continuing to try and stop the timber sale that I campaigned against on and off during the summer ... for information on that go to http://forestdefensenow.blogspot.com/. Shit keeps me busy.

I don't know. I am happy but I realize that over the last few years I have only been happy when i have been doing stuff that i am stoked on (duh). So 'nothing', 'chilling out' may be good but when I wake up hung over the next day i just feel angsty.

Co-ops are good. Definately not excited about the group of people that moved in ... I feel really culturally removed from a good portion of the house ... but that is okay as I have begun the tortorous process of divesting my entire being in the lorax ... looking for other places but not planning on moving out for a while.

I don't know. I always feel really excited. I realize that spiritual attainment/oneness/meaning in my life is a byproduct of ... doing things that actually mean something. That to pursue my happiness solely would like leave me unhappy.

I will finished with school at the end of next fall. Excited but I also feel like U of O is a means to a lifestyle and training that i am really seizing right now.

I want to come up north, either for halloween or for some time when friends will be congregating. Any plans? Ideas?

All are welcome down here as I hope you already know.
Love and solidarity
Ben mofucking Jones

Follow up to chris's post

also today--i came across a simple revelation to our categories issue--at the bottom of every new post is actually a labels box that we can use to CATEGORIZE our posts--i think ben used it way back--but anyways we need to come up with some standard categories: outdoors, life, stoner shit...ect. ect. or something like that..i'll put a tool box of it on the right hand side of our blog! once we have established the labels, lets stick to em so that they'll be organized...

There's No Water Here.

I didn't really know what to expect when I came down to Las Cruces in southern New Mexico. I knew I'd be hot and dry, but I guess I didn't really understand what that meant. In Washington the hotter it is, the nicer it is to be outside. That is not true here. Maybe if there was a lake or river to cool off in it would be okay, but there isn't. There's just no water. Yet somehow the extensive campus lawns stay green, something I find slightly offensive every time I think about it. Anyway... I have been going to classes for about a month and a half. I'm mostly taking intro classes with little 18 year old freshmen, which is a little depressing. Fortunately I am also taking intro to Cinematography which is my most serious class. At Western my film classes were the least serious, so this is a nice reversal. I got involved with the residence hall council which, I realized after our first meeting, I care very little about. But I am the events photographer, so that should be fun, once we have an event. I'm also taking swing dance classes which are more fun than I expected. A couple weeks ago my dad was nice enough to pack up my bike and mail it to me along with some gear. Last weekend I went on a little bike trip to the Organ Mountains and had a really great time. It turns out that despite being terribly dry and hot, New Mexico is actually really beautiful. I wish I had a camera, I'd show you what I mean. I look forward to more trips like that on future weekends. Other than that, my time here has been pretty dull. I've been waiting to come home (December 11th) since I got here. I recently decided to visit Rory at Beloit over my week-long Thanksgiving so that's something else to look forward to. Unfortunately only a couple weeks before winter break. Oh yeah, also it turns out my roommate isn't crazy. He just spends most of his time on his computer with headphones on, just like me. He also goes back to El Paso every weekend. Even though college is pretty unpleasant so far, I feel good about being here. I feel like I can see the bigger picture. Getting a film degree won't mean I'll have learned film making, but it does mean it'll be easier to get internships and jobs where I will learn. For now I guess I'll just buckle down and count the minutes (103,686).

stay updated

i was looking through the settings options for the blog and came across email notification for comments left. this could possibly be a good way for people to be actively reminded of the blog, and to let them know what's being discussed without scrolling through all the old posts looking for new comments. that was the inspiration for the popular posts addition, to let people see the recently discussed topics. so i think i am just going to put people's emails on the list (we're allowed up to 10 addresses) that receive notifications about new comments, and if you don't like the system, simply remove your email by going to: Design (upper right corner)-> Settings -> Comments-> Comment Notification Email (bottom of page) -> Find and delete address. or clicking here

first post in a while - a ladder fell on me

yo dudes, haven't been contributing much lately, but i'm really glad - dante- that you had the impetus to get this going gain, i think it's good to keep each other updated as much as possible.

there hasn't been too much going on for me lately, the fact that everyone is gone doing their own thing has finally sunk in i.e. i watched three documentaries yesterday to kill time... i've been working on a few paid projects, the treehouse at my place, some yard work for dianah, this newer house painting gig for a friend of my mom, and hopefully some data entry stuff for sharon if i ever get around to calling her (i've been noticeably displeased with my lack of follow through lately). aside from those jobs, i'm sort of stagnating. my goal for this time off was to pursue outdoor adventures, and i have only managed to do one such excursion - the mountaineering course.

my knees have been giving me a lot of grief lately which has not helped my adventure spirit in the least, and i managed to injure my thumb and shoulder yesterday working on my house painting job. i was simultaneously lifting and raising this 30 food ladder to reach the top of the house when the feet slipped out and the whole thing came crashing down on me. i initially tried to catch it (probably where i hurt my thumb) then kind of cowered and covered myself (the shoulder). now both are in pain (i am typing using my right index finger to hit the space button) and i cant work at least for a few days. unfortunately this is the primary sunny window in which i was going to finish the house, and am now forced to abandon the job. so now not only am i unable work, but i can't really exercise either. running is a no go due to the knees, and even biking has brought out pain. i was planning on going the pool last night for lap swimming, but that is going to be put on hold for a while as well. so for the time being i'm kinda stuck without anything productive to do besides read, watch documentaries and look at schools on the interwebs.

on that - i recently came across UW's college of built environments, which offers a BA in architecture, a BS in construction management or a dual degree in both. i was planning on applying there as a transfer regardless, and now i'm thinking that this could be a pretty neat option. i think i told all of you about Olin, the engineering school near boston, which i guess would be my #1 choice, but seeing as they have a 16% acceptance rate and i pulled a less than spectacular 3.2 last year, so i'm not getting my hopes up. but i think that the UW program has a lot of potential, and i think after this year i could really get my mind on track and actually find it inside to care about what i'm studying.

but generally right now i need some inspiration on productive ways to fill my time indoors, aside from watching documentaries and masturbating, i've got those two on lock down. if you guys have any suggestions throw em at me. i'm starting to poke around for possible internships for the rest of the fall, because as the rains become more consistent, i will be less and less able to go on hikes and having some sort of regularly scheduled engagement (hopefully a paying or informative one) would be beneficial.

for Girls and Mushrooms

inspired by michael's extesive post and the fact that there seems to be some momentum to this stone of a blog--i'll try and shake some moss off and share what's been occuring in my life.

for girls and mushrooms: I broke up with chelsea on sunday up in bellingham after she had been ignoring me the entire weekend, knowing that i'd be up there (but not for that reason)--according to her she had wanted to just let me hang out with the bros-- it was a wet and warm sunday morning and i biked over in my blue shorts and tee to chelseas--there i informed her of my revelations and the hurt i was feeling from being in the relationship: to her i was breaking up because she had ignored me for two days...our conversation didn't last long because i had a pre ordained event. so after spilling my heart and soaking in the ache of a break up i met with some friends and proceed to masticate mushrooms. right on the edge of mass halucinations chelsea calls matt's phone--who hands it in my direction--to hear chelsea in tears. that edge that i stood for those few moments of fuck that was not my intention i shouldn't have broken up with chelsea and ran (so irriesponsible) sewn to "what the fuck happened to the floor and i think i'm loosing reality for the next couple of hours" was to say the least surreal. there were five of us taking mushrooms. Derek and Meghan had never taken mushrooms. we walked from their house up to the arrboritum--geographically the house was in the valley and the arb was the highest point in the surrounding region. it was a climb of wonder and discussion and heavy breathing and reluctant limbs. Meghan was the first one to the top of the arb and up the watch tower--it has the best view and we were hoping to chill out up there-- i was following meghan up the stairs and to the landing of the tower--at that point shit started to get weird. there was a scroungy student wrapped in a blanket huddled in the corner of the landing and he was staring straight into our eyes--he opened up the blanket in a hugging gesture and meghan leaned in and gave him a hug (i thought she knew him)--he whispered into her ear that he would grant her a wish for he was the Oracle oh and that she smelled good! soon we had five people tripping hard on a crowded landing with the Oracle man next to us and a talkative jogger on the other side--it was too overwhelming for all of us--it became apparent that the man on the ground was actually on some other shit claiming that we were all wearing purple--such an intese mind fuck--we didn't last long up there--for those that have been there (nathan and alex) we booked it to the sit and be well rock-- on the way out the Oracle started to shake his fists at us and yell "a rumbling a rumbling a rumbling.." as we walked off. Meghan was tramatized--having never taken mushrooms before--she had never met that man up there before and her body couldn't process what had just happened--supposedly the man had asked for a hug and being on mushrooms she kind of just let it happen. After that the experience was a blast--we just played in the forrest --climbing, playiung in the dirt, romping in the underbrush--we even cam up with a really cool restraunt idea that i would liek to pursue. A restruant that seats different parties together in a mix match order--with the intent of allowing the diners to have the unique experience of having a meal with random strangers from the community--the idea being that it would be a social expereince of meeting other social community memebers--the stitching together of the community--image sitting down say me and michael and being sat with another two people--a young couple--and simply sharing breakfast with them--it would be a great way to make friends and learn who actually lives around you--a community building experience--they say that food brings people togther--why not actually apply that saying in practice???? I WANT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN AT SOME POINT--THIS COULD MIX WITH THE BURGER VENTURE--anyways to sum it all up after coming down-- i was feeling really good and the vibe of the group was amazing and random hugs were occuring--so i ran over to chelsea's hoping to work things through--funny how regardless of the intention i had how far the engagement can fall from that--chelsea was in a horrible mood--and my body was still set to engaging with people in a mushroomy way which had absolutly no cross over with chels--not to mentin that i had just spent the last hour laying in the dirt and i probably looked like i had just gotten in a crack fight (my arms were slightly scrapped and rubbed raw from climbing) --i wasn't considering how painful the breakup with her would impact her--its interesting how the pain/disconnect that i felt justified my desire to end the formal aspect of dating ALSO grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her off the cliff too--we're both still tumbling--our understandings are completely different--for her it may be that its boyfriend or no firend--this may be the romantic in me but i'd still be down to catch her in my arms and walk away from it knowing that i'd made a true friend -i have to get back to work but i'll post more

District B 13 (movie suggestion)

too tired to try to figure out how to embed the video but watch a trailer or a chase scene from District B 13 and its awsomeness will speak for itself.

the Mountain Project.

saw that colin had posted this on nate's FB--thought i'd highlight it.

a thread for climbing.

Aliens. Maybe for real.

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/former-air-force-officers-ufos-tampered-with-nuclear-missiles/19647296

Formers Air Force officials testify that UFOs disarmed nuclear weapons, twice, in the sixties. Shit.

Winter Adventures

I just spent this weekend up in bellingham and had a great time. Used some mushrooms on sunday and it really set me in a good state. some friends of mine are wanting to adventure up to some high altitudes and catch the sunrise while the clouds are low and below us (on mushrooms). But this or an adventure out to exit 28?? (is that right)would be a great opportunity to either get a climbing or snow expidition together, if we combined Chris's stuff with some kid's stuff up here (Nick and Uri have a lot of gear)we could really get somethign going. we've got enough know how and gear to make a great cross pollination of talents. I know Nathan is game and chris too but anybody else, Mikal, Corbin, ect. if your in we are making it happen!

Life at Whitman College

In order to facilitate discussion, and more or less to please Dante, I decided to update this blog with what's going on in my life.

Today is the 26th of September, which means that I've been in school for 3 and 1/2 weeks already. I must mention, however, that I got here on the 8th of August, meaning that I've been around doing school related for much longer. I've only felt really busy this last week, however, because I had my first papers due as well as my first physics test.

Anyways, Chris came this weekend, and we pretty much just hung out and talked about random ramblings. We discussed how Claire broke up with me (and how it sucks to be on the receiving end of a break up talk), and we just talked about plans for his future, my decision to run XC, and other random bits and pieces.

My life's been fairly static, without any real up and downs with the exception of Claire. Whatever. We're really different people when it comes down to it. But I was / am still in denial that it couldn't and didn't work out. But it really puts it into perspective when I was told that Ben and Sarah broke up, and they've been dating for 5 years. Wtf am I complaining about?

I'm running roughly 30-35 miles a week, and I've had some pretty impressive results for never having had run in Highschool before. (Everyone else on the team ran in high school, and I'm outrunning two of them. I'm also catching up with two more people in front of me). So XC is going really well. From a performance standpoint, it's going well, and XC makes me make good life choices like drinking at least 3 liters of H20 a day as well as eating and sleeping enough.

However, it sucks that Claire runs XC too, and is one of my 12 person classes. Again, whatever.

RA stuff has been going really well, and Chris actually came up to College Cabin with my hall. College Cabin is this Whitman owned cabin that people can rent for $50 bucks and just hang out up there. We had a really good turnout and everyone seems to have had a lot of fun. Which is baller. But, RA stuff is still really draining, averaging about 20 hours of commitment alone.

In addition to RA stuff, XC adds another 10-12 during the week, and we're gone every other weekend. Combine that with the fact that I teach two climbing classes, and I'm a student. And shit gets busy.

Luckily, I'm only taking three classes this semester (as opposed to four), and one of them is general physics. Which is a joke after having taken two years of physics prior...

Unfortunately, I'm already stoked for this semester to be over because I plan on going abroad to New Zealand at the University of Otago for Spring semester. Which is gonna be boss. People say it's pretty much spring break and people just go backpacking and exploring on weekends. And school is considerably easier than Whitman. So, I'm stoked.

After having had Chris here this weekend, I still question as to why I am in school from time to time, but I know deep inside that I just have to stick it through and graduate. I've realized that that's pretty much the end in itself. Not necessarily learning for me, but getting the degree. Sad but true. Learning is the secondary benefit to just graduating from college with a decently high GPA.

Also, I won't be coming home this Thanksgiving break because I will be backpacking in Utah with the Whitman College Outdoor Program. Luckily I don't have to lead the trip, but it should still be a lot of fun. I'm super stoked for it.

I also realize, and I told Chris this, that I probably wouldn't have cared much for school except for the fact that we have a really boss outdoor program. Otherwise, the idea of school itself may not have been enough of an incentive for me to come back. The way I see it, I've got less than two years to break free of this thing they call college.

-Michael

Whitman College: the 17th best school in the country, according to Forbes

Chekc It!

adventure idea

This is what I think about during class...
Chris, if you think it would be easy enough you should aquire some climbing hammocks. If we had three or more climbing hammocks you dante and I (or more if we had more hammocks) could go half way up a 200ft double pitch climb that overlooks pristine forest, the ocean, and the sunset. We could eat camp/hammock and then finish the climb in the morning. Oh, and we would have a pleasant 2 mile hike to even get to the wall.

great website

Visual Econmics

Lets get real!

i'm currently putting together a workshop/power point that discusses the historical context and imporatance of organized labor. Here's a graph that i use and recently found. its fucked up. i'm sure you all know how to read a graph--so i'll spare that but really what we see is the increased buying power of our minimum wage exploding--we don't have any data prior because before then there was no minimum wage(you can thank organized labor for that--but even at its establishment our dollar had some gurth) at the peak of our real dollar value was also the peak of organized labor--through out the 1950's almost half of the labor force was union. the 1950/1960's were years of opulence for our entire country! the housing market is a big deal in our economy now so i'll speak in terms of houses. back then the average cost of a house was 3,000 to 5,000 dollars. a much large percent of our country could purchase and OWN homes--(which could probably explain thedevelopement of the suburban standard) our buying power began to plumit as we have entered a less labor freindly era and moved more towards free trade economics--infact that huge drop we see in 1980 was the act of one man--formely the president of a union, the screan actors guild, he fired 11,345 air traffic controlers --since reagan's administration our minimum wage buying power has fallen 29% since 1979!!--what happened?

ice cream trucksssss

i was at a hipster party this summer and two gay guys made me watch this video with them...

The Mountaineers

the mountaineers

-the photo above is of the MOuntaineers first summit of mt Ranier in 1909!

a co-worker of mine recently told me a John Muir story: at one point John Muir found himself with a terrible ear infection--where as most people would camp down in bed and sit it through. John went out and climbed a glacier knowing that the bug couldn't survive at that altitude!

What i'm up to

well this fall is going to be a little different than expected--as you all know i recently got a job working with those people (see youtube video)--Drastically cutting down on my adventure time. The one project that i want to work on especially with you ALEX-- this season is through a website Mark Dubois is affiliated with Four Years Go i believe that at some point in the next couple of months they are going to release a video challenge similar to that of the sierra club's "best job of the summer" but with the emphasis on what we would like to see/envision for the next four years/possibly how we would like to make it happen. i would love input from everyone and to get those interested involved because we know its going to happen and because we have the minds that we have (we've been talking about stuff along these lines for a while now) and because we have alex's amazing video skills and because there should be some prize thing at the end of it--we should win!

How the UFC used to be!!

Nathan we need to obtain the entire videos of this!!-begin the illegal downloading!!

Round Two: 2010-2011

Hey everyone!
Hope you all are coping fine with the changing seasons/lifestyles/environments.
i've decided to relaunch the blog!
In celebration of doing so-- let’s reminisce by going over last year’s stats:
-88% of us were Mac users which leaves the remaining 12% to them window operating machines
-57% percent of us used safari, 33% used firefox, 7% used internet explorer, and finally 2% used google chrome
-All of our viewers were from the United States except for one individual that peaked in from across the world in India: Tevon.
- And finally, last year we garnered over 200 blog posts!

The Cat Piano

Hey everyone. I don't know if anyone still checks the blog, but I thought I'd share this anyway.

http://vimeo.com/3985019?hd=1