General Comments

The last review section really helped put things in perspective for me. I got into an argument about what people really need earlier in the blog. My point then was that needs are hard to determine. Now I am starting to think there are a lot of things that we do not need but that we still need. Its because things that may just be offered as fetishized commercial items are chained to things we really need. For instance one may not need a book, but that book might lead the reader to realize how to better manage the needs she has. A vegetarian cookbook could do this. The value of that book is not really based on how much it costs, but what comes out of it.
There are so many entries that I cannot keep up anymore, but it was a great class and I learned a lot. Often academics can be completely useless in the real world, but Dale teaches in a way that seems to give a kind of agency to his students. The concept of peer to peer information becomes very important once we no longer have access or time to access University materials.
Finally I have to say that I am a capitalist as are you. Its not something for which we really have a choice in the matter. We all need jobs to pay bills and eat and eventually to feed our families etc. I wanted to buck the system and live a bohemian life without having to be part of the machine. Though I was able to find a fringe position in which I could exist (living like an artist in San Francisco), it became apparent to me that to really reach the audience I wanted to reach I would need capital. Now I am not saying that this going to be everybodies fate, but I suggest everybody keep in mind that we cannot truly extract ourselves from the systems in which we exist. College allows us a unique opportunity to be reflective and reflexive (which is more helpful then the former in the real world.) But just beyond those diplomas is survival. And I would be lying if I said I was not in school to improve my employment options. I hope if anybody reads this they do not find it to be a downer. To put it in the mildest form or criticism I can, I am simply trying to suggest that rather than fighting the system from the outside try and see how each of you can be a part of the system and still make positive changes within it that can have the kind of lasting effects that we as environmentally concious students would like to see. Often good can come from bad. Its not always easy to see the forest through the redwoods.
The End
Chris W