December 13th, 2022 - Anchorage, AK - Issue 18
Would it be a problem for the general public to be fundamentally unaware of important aspects of reality that modern science is currently devoid of a workable theory for? What happens when a culture and the cultures it is interdependent with don’t have the shared language to cohere around a solution to an existentially destructive phenomenon? What percentage of people living in the world today understand the language learner’s inevitable realization, that with a different language often comes a different outlook on life? (Or in the very least, a different linguistic infrastructure for conceptualizing it!)
William S. Burroughs is known for his disjointed prose, in his writing it is almost as if he doesn’t want to be widely understood. Given his subject matter, it may be fair to assume that few of his readers ever would see things quite the way he did. On the other hand, Sylvia Plath didn’t always describe things literally- indeed she did not ultimately do as one of her most famous works suggests, and kill her father - but her comparably cryptic writing has no doubt resonated deeply with many young women throughout all eras of feminist progress since.
Is there undeniable merit to intelligibility? Can intelligibility make something trite, or inauthentic?
There is something tragic about a sound idea which for whatever reason is not or cannot be understood by the audience for which the message is most vital.
WWADWWAD (?) Featured Curiosities:
-This essay written by Prentis Hemphill with characteristically embodied wisdom: https://prentishemphill.com/selectwritings/2019/7/5/letting-go-of-innocence
-This video (CW: SA, death, & torture) which contains a hearteningly strong statement of sex worker solidarity and a deeply interesting recounting of who Desantis really is:
-This TRNN interview with the ever intelligent, candid, & heroic, Chelsea Manning:
- Of potential interest to the Alaska resident readers, the State of Alaska plowing priority map https://dot.alaska.gov/stwdmno/wintermap/ & the Municipality of Anchorage’s version https://anchorage-street-maintenance-muniorg.hub.arcgis.com/pages/snow-plowing (schedule begins after main streets are plowed, emphasis on “main streets”) (via @BeardedJonAK on Twitter)
-AMB’s Holiday How-To:
via http://adriennemareebrown.net/2017/11/23/holiday-how-to/
-In the spirit of the holidays and William S. Burroughs, a poem by the newsletter author:
- & a timely cartoon given the recent political betrayal of railroad workers nationwide:
via https://www.truthdig.com/cartoons/railroad-workers-screwed/
Upcoming Events
Online/Worldwide, AKST Time:
One Year Anniversary of the passing of bell hooks - December 15th
One Year Anniversary of the passing of Joan Didion- December 23rd
Tofu Demir’s 3rd Birthday- December 24th
Local, AKST Time:
Little Women - December 13th through 18th- 4:00PM and 7:30PM depending on date, Perseverance Theater, UAA Fine Arts Building Mainstage, tickets $35
Food For Thought Community Meeting - December 16th at 5:30PM, sign up for email list for more information
Band Building Event with Sundog- December 16th t 6PM, location set to be The Nave, All-ages, $5, join young artists to discuss the Alaska music scene, followed by a free open mic
Sad Girls Club - December 16th at 9PM, Williwaw Social hosted by DJ GRE, Taylor Swift themed + other iconic sad girls with performances by Bethlehem Shalom, more info here
Next Community Action Meetup- January 14th at 1PM, Message @baileywwadwwad on Twitter or email for location (see About page for contact info).
Edutainment Nite $100 Cash Prize Poetry Slam- January 14th at 7PM, hosted by local artist Mohagani Magnetek, signup to begin at 6:45PM, Writer's Block Bookstore & Cafe, Theme: NEVER DROP A MIC
UAA Pride Center Grand Opening - January 17th 4-6PM, University Hub Student Union Lower Level, more info here
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ANONYMOUS Submissions
Anonymously submit any thoughts or writing here to potentially be featured in a future WWADWWAD (?) issue!
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“Well there is a lot, and anyone who turns on a TV today, you’ll probably, if you’re seeing the political ad, it’s likely that it’s got some crime hysteria in it. Emotional, fear mongering-driven slogans have really been at the heart of criminal justice policy making for the last four decades. But what that hyperbole has done is really driven a lot of myths over facts, and ultimately it’s hurt our nation’s approach to public safety.
Let me tell you about just three of the most pervasive myths. The first is that more incarceration equals reduced crime. There’s really not a lot of evidence to back this up. Tougher and tougher sentences have not reduced a lot of the pervasive challenges like drug addiction or gang violence for example, in fact in 2014 the National Academy of Sciences came out with this enormous book, this comprehensive look at the impact of incarceration and concluded that lengthy sentences are not effective as a crime control measure . There have been, you know, other studies that have piled up saying similar things. It’s not the amount of incarceration that really makes a difference for public safety, but there’s more and more evidence that prevention actually can be a difference maker... When we talk about prevention we’re talking about community based violence prevention, street outreach workers, you know crisis assistance centers, trauma recovery centers, even after school programs and clean and safe parks can be a difference maker.
Here’s some other myths. The second myth is this myth of the vengeful victim. This is deeply embedded in our culture. It’s driven a lot of political campaigns for tough justice. This is the idea that universally what all victims of crime want is the maximum punishment possible. But my organization over the last decade, we’ve interviewed I think about 10,000 victims of crime across the country, survivors from all kinds of backgrounds and what we found really flips that notion on its head. Instead of finding this constituency that’s kind of obsessed with vengeance, instead we found really a lot of diverse opinions, nuanced opinions, on crime policy. But the most consistent viewpoint is that we need to prevent crime and rehabilitate people who commit crime as our top public safety strategy. So that kind of flips on its head what is out there in our broader culture.
Let me talk about just one more myth, and that’s the myth about who’s most vulnerable to being hurt by crime. This one, it really matters when we talk about how we invest our public safety dollars. So who are victims? Well there’s this really big gap between who gets attention as a victim of crime and then who’s actually most commonly a hurt by crime and violence. Looking at our media, politics, even what happens in a courtroom, there’s disproportionate attention in particular to white women victims of crime even though this is actually a demographic that is statistically less likely to be [victims] of things like kidnap or homicide. Instead when you look at who is most likely to be hurt by crime and violence, you’ll find low income communities, communities of color, young people, unhoused people, people with disabilities, [&] people with old criminal legal records. Those community members are actually more vulnerable to be hurt by crime and violence.
If protecting victims were our nation’s top public safety goal then you would want to see a lot more support for programs that help these survivors even though that’s not what the media shares with us, that’s really where we should draw our attention.”
-Lenore Anderson, Victim’s Rights With Lenore Anderson, Examining Ethics