With qw3ries and the intersection between writing, activism, entrepreneurship, psytrance, and transformation (and in so many other ways), I’m not just rejecting choices but finding ways to synthesize and combine them.
Indeed! It’s looking like my startup qw3ries‘ first forays into helping everybody get answers and find information may include an ebook about pitch competitions, questions and answers about Patriot Act activism, partnerships with startups specializing in transformation — and who knows, maybe even psytrance.  Meanwhile the re-enegerized #snubor was a hit at SXSW just as politicians including McCain, Kerry, and Obama are calling for an online bill of rights. And starting next month I’ll be serializing revising my novel about the diversity-friendly social network site g0ddesses.net. About those intersections …
It’s a banner weekend for electronic dance music in San Francisco. Tonight John Digweed’s at Ruby Skye, Paul van Dyk’s at 1015, and the Road to Ultra at Mighty including Saturnia, Christine, Helios, David Christophere of Rabbit in the Moon, and more. Tomorrow it’s Tall Sasha at SupperClub — or Pisces with Kode IV, Michael Liu, and an early (!) set by Witchdokta and Spook. I heart SF. I heart psytrance.
I remember listening to Rabbit in the Moon’s remix of The Phoenix a lot back in late 2003 and so may well have had it on while writing. I wonder how people would react if I posted Can Fantasy Stand Against Hegemony? on Quora?
today, hierarchical organizations (consolidating corporations) and totalitarian states are even more powerful and hegemonic than they were. what can stand against them? religion: belief in something else translates to a different set of rules, so not only the ability to overcome fear to resist but also the non-linearity to avoid getting crushed by the power.
can fantasy – as in living out fantasies, not cute little books involving magic and unicorns – also fill that role?
there’s power in unleashing fantasy. there’s power in connecting people and finding shared fantasies. but fantasies – as with religion – are too often used as a tool of oppression: too many fantasies relate to things that are unachievable (being an anorexic model), and both the attempt to get there and the envy of those that have succeeded are harmful.
is it possible to construct fantasies that are liberating instead of repressive?
These days I’d say the answer is “yes”: fantasies revolving around empowerment, happiness, and freedom from oppression are fundamentally liberating. And finding people who share the fantasies and the desire and skills to bring them closer to reality is also the best way to make day-to-day life steadily more and more like the future fantasy worlds we’re trying to create. For me working together with people I really like on activism, diversity, and startups is that kind of fantasy and I hope I’m able to bring that sense of shared purpose to the fictional g0ddesses.net and reality of qw3ries.
in 2004, I wrote “there is almost always a third option to ‘reject the choice’ or even ‘defer the choice’ which means there are many options.â€Â Back then I didn’t really have the theory or lived experience to understand what it meant or the language to express it.
And now I do. No wonder I’ve been in such a good mood for the last two months!
jon | 19-Mar-11 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
Road to Ultra was just kicking into high gear when I got there a little after 11:30, with a hula hoop performance by Shredder Hoops. and there was great stuff in both rooms all night highlighted by a killer closing set from Christine. The visuals were amazing: trippy and reminiscent of New Year’s Eve in the front room (with a performance Temple of Poi, and amazing depth with the combination of the art and the projections in the back. The density was comfortable even though it wasn’t a huge turn-out. I got a massage and danced pretty much non-stop until 3:30 … the moon was beautiful going home.
I heart psytrance.
jon | 20-Mar-11 at 1:26 pm | Permalink
Pisces got off to a rocky start. The venue changed at the last moment — as in, word went out Saturday afternoon “it’s moved to the Gingerbread House” — and that meant going from three rooms to two some significant DJ shuffling. It was raining pretty hard and windy too so I couldn’t convince anybody to go with me. I got there very early expecting to see Spook and Witchdokta, neither of whom wound up playing. Sigh. Michael Liu and Sausee did a fine set, and Saturnia was good too, but then the pystrance disappeared for a while and (at least for me) so did the vibe.
Oh well, I thought to myself, they can’t all be great nights … but I was still having a good time.
And then the music started getting steadily better and I ran into a couple of friends and met a couple of cool new people and suddenly it was a great psytrance party. Kode IV was awesome. Rob-ot Random and Mad Maxx were great and by 3 a.m. it was a great mix of the old (((thump))) crowd and the newer 18+ psytrance scene. It had mostly stopped raining by the time I left and once again the moon was beautiful. Today it’s unexpectedly sunny and even though my legs are pretty tired I might just go out for a walk.
No wonder I’m in such a good mood 🙂
jon | 20-Mar-11 at 8:23 pm | Permalink
Wrapping up the weekend on a good note, I just got a call from Save the Rave double-checking whether I’ll be atCity Hall for the Tuesday night with the San Francisco Entertainment and Youth Commissions. Good organizing work! In the two months since I last last blogged about Save the Rave, the 5000-person Facebook group continues to be an effective communication forum. SF is a city where the “rave/nightclub” vote is enough to decide a lot of elections and it’s exciting to see a new generation of activists start to flex their muscles. See you at City Hall!