"When US income is graphed, the middle class is barely distinguishable from the poor. 80 percent of Americans have 7 percent of the nation’s wealth, while 1 percent of Americans have 40 percent of the nation’s wealth."
— (source)
I'm a global citizen, with an academic backgrund in the Middle East and Africa. Cities around the world feel like my home. I'm a professional Educator, which means something both in and out of public schools in the Bronx. And I believe in Solidarity. Wherever I am. Notes from my travels, research, and encounters tend to end up here...
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March 22, 2013
March 16, 2013
One of these photos was taken in 1965 and the other last night. Not much has changed: #BrooklynProtest
Via Occupy Wall Street
March 1, 2013
Ghost Towns of the Recession: Where Capital goes to die.
Rio Vista, CA
Once envisioned as an 855-home suburbwith families populating the grid of freshly paved streets and sidewalks, now the only life you’ll see in this desert development are cows and eucalyptus shrubs. Thirteen abandoned model homes lie clustered in the center of the development, and streets like “Serenity Drive” stretch on past empty dirt lots into the barren distance. Construction was halted in November 2008 when developer Shea Homes abandoned the project.
Downtown Phoenix, AZ
Before the housing market crash, an acre in downtown Phoenix was selling for about $90 a square foot. Today, it sells for $9 a square foot. Empty dirt lots checker the area, where developers once dreamed of high-rise condos and office buildings, and many businesses have closed their doors. Residents hope building will happen again once the market recovers, but in the meantime neighborhood organizers push for temporary fixes to the eyesore, like planting sunflowers and projecting movies onto the side of existing buildings.Victorville, CA
When a bank couldn’t sell 16 new homes in San Bernardino County, Calif., they decided to bulldoze them instead. Four of the homes were completed and another dozen were under construction, but the bank figured that razing the homes would be cheaper than paying fines to the city. As the brand new homes came tumbling down, nearby residents took video and watched the rubble pile up. Now, a few scraps of the homes remain in the dusty lots.…..
Miami High-Rises, FL
One of the worst-hit real estate markets in the country, Miami is overflowing with empty condo units. For example, the Tao Sawgrass condos, have 26 floors of empty apartments. Property records show that 36 of the 396 units sold, but most of them were to investors. The owner maintains the property, security guards stand at the entrance, and employees shuffle through the lobby, making it look like people live there, but marketing director Carolyn Van Gorder for the company selling Tao’s units told the Broward/Palm Beach New Times that she “could not confirm or deny the presence of residents.”Fort Myers Condos, FL
One condo owner is the loneliest number, especially when you’re the last remaining resident in a 32-story tower. Victor Vangelakos paid $430,000 for his downtown Fort Myers condo in 2008, but when the building couldn’t sell the rest of the units, they hashed out deals with the buyers, except for Vangelakos, who says his lenders wouldn’t agree to a swap. He now uses the apartment as a vacation home, but he says it’s eerie at night and birds have built nests in nearby apartments. The lone light in the building pictured here belongs to Vangelakos.California City, CA
Perhaps an example of what will happen to America’s recession ghost towns, California City is one of the first real estate boom developments to become one. In 1958, a developer sectioned off lots and paved culs-de-sacs for a dream city 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. But the buyers and families never came. Today, the ghostly grid is used for skydivers and test flights by the nearby air force base and a prison lies to the north.
February 27, 2013
January 28, 2013
I think I found part of the problem …
January 25, 2013
Still. Fucking. Relevant.
New York City: Striking school bus drivers and supporters picket outside Board of Education office in lower Manhattan, January 25, 2013.
Photo by Jenna Pope
January 25, 2013
New York City: On the picket line with the striking school bus drivers fighting to save jobs, stop privatization and keep school buses safe for special-needs kids, January 25, 2013.
Photo by Jenna Pope
January 22, 2013
"FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF’s Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence” at occupy protests."
— http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/fbi-documents-reveal-secret-occupy-monitoring.html
January 21, 2013
OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT: Was it worth it?
The real world, for anyone who was wondering. My debt is just under double this and I make the same amount of money. Thank god for working in public service.
Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tufts University, Minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership
Years to Complete: 4
Graduated: 2010
Total loans - As of 2012: (I’d have to look up the original balances, but don’t feel like getting depressed now.)
Sallie Mae Private: $23,279 @ 3.75% interest = $186…
January 10, 2013
Keeping sane.: Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy
It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may…
(Source: Guardian)
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Anonymous asked: how does one get over an ex boyfriend? I'm literally going insane. its been more than a year since we broke up. he's with someone else now. and i cant stop thinking about him. what the fuck do i do?
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
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Che and Gagarin
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Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
...
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One of the worst things to happen to Islam is the Islamic revolution in Iran.
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For all you undecided voters out there...
Take a look at Jill Stein in the Green Party… someone who has truly stood by her...
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For the upcoming US elections, think about the way in which the American elites have been able to exclude a large and important amount of people...
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Oh, snap.ROMNEY: Let's talk about the other big one --LEHRER (interrupting): No, let's not.
