Every day on my way to and from school, I treat myself to the distinct pleasure of strolling through Lafayette Square and past the front gates of the White House. Picking my way through crowds of people clad in Bermuda shorts and fanny packs reminds me not only of where I am, but how I got there…

Hello their faithful readers and passers-by! The Johnsonville Press is re-launching on August 30th after a brief period of inactivity. Get excited!

Today is your only chance to vote for your student government representatives. To vote, visit http://rusaelections.webs.com/.

Last night’s RUSA Presidential Debate at the Eagleton Institute of Politics was the first ever hosted at the University. Despite the extensive preparation that went into its organization by Election Committee Chairman Ben West, the turnout was expectedly low. To be fair, it was drizzling…

2000Ben

Images of Africans walking miles with jugs on their head to get water prompts JVP’s Ben Kharakh to investigate the global phenomena of water scarcity. Overwhelmed by the breadth of the information he discovers, Ben turns to acquaintances to help sort through the information. And while Ben doesn’t figure out how to solve everyone’s problems, he does move a step closer to the life he’d like to live.

I. A Sudden Convalescence Of Childhood Amnesia

Reminds me that I never got over the superego of my latency

phase and it’s thanks to you dreary

statue and your dark face that spills like an open cradle over my chest

Because I am here now attempting to fill your stone pockets with something mortal that may be

passed down to mortals but my jejune jabbering New York City is there but cannot be

The Popular Capitalist View

A key part of the Popular Capitalist program is to reduce the cost of living. A lower cost of providing the necessities puts the rudimentary task of paying the cost of sovereignty more easily within the reach of the political economies of regions with modest resources. This allows those political economies and thus most political economies to offer its citizens opportunities to reach beyond mere survival and build capital that will benefit their communities for years to come. Also, a lower cost of the living beyond survival makes those efforts at building capital more attainable.

2000Ben

We live in a post-modern world where many of us have recognized that the perception of a situation might be just as—if not more—meaningful than the actual situation itself (Baudrillard). We might have an idea, for example, of what the “swing-space school” (mentioned in my first article “School or Warehouse”) is like that’s different from what the school is actually like. But, as W.I. Thomas pointed out, “Something doesn’t have to be real to be real in its consequences.” The idea of kids going to a “warehouse school” might make some people livid. But, in the end, the “school” is a school.

It was a dark and stormy night. The wind blew so fiercely that umbrellas were rendered useless, turned inside out by hurricane force gales. My friend Dan accompanied me as we made our way toward the opera hall down Broadway. The show: Attila by Giuseppe Verdi.

As I listen over the phone to the sounds of orders being yelled out and cappuccino machines buzzing at extremely loud frequencies, I wish it wasn’t snowing so I could conduct this interview in person. Finally the sounds dissipate just long enough for me to ask Bruno Pascale, owner of Café Z at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, some questions.

Nothing fascinates me more than other people’s stuff.  Let me rephrase that.  Nothing fascinates me more than the random crap and seemingly useless objects we all have lying around our homes and apartments.  I think this generally worthless rubbish, and its placement in one’s abode, really says a lot about an individual; and while it may look like nothing more than junk to me and you, the true mystery of it lies in the very reason why it has yet to be tossed out by whoever owns it.