the symbolic forms of capital

I learned from first year sociology (1981), that i was surrounded by politics. I found out that it injects itself into mostly all of our communications, relationships and creative works. The unwritten but memorized list of social conduct, the dance of "getting ahead", the charming but sometimes mean-spirited hope for progress.

It is not "wo/man", worker, parent, member, poet. It is "political explorer", making connections, having a social network partially based on shared values and beliefs. A consumer, an agitator, a peace-maker. But some are better at navigating the course. Others are weighted down by illiteracy, unemployment (a.k.a. poverty), addictions and/or poor health.

...or lack of educational opportunities
...or services that are written to match a political agenda, whether ill-informed or not.
...or generational or situational poverty.
...or homelessness
...or racism, sexism and/or ageism.
...or the effect that the deregulation and privatization of important health and health care needs by a government that "believes the marketplace will sort it all out".

...the list goes on...

Advocacy is the only answer to a political agenda which increases and heightens the barriers
toward happiness. Helping others and being an advocate for the good is one response, knowing that one day we will need someone like that by our side. To be an advocate, we must choose someone or something to be clear about; to take the time to listen to what "justice" for that person might be. To be clear about how we can or should help.

Codes are broken every day: ethical, moral, social, technological, medical and because we are 'political' animals, this makes us suspicious and nervous, despite our politcal orientation.

Does this mean, as a liberal, i want more structure. Yes, i want accountability. I want to know that i can count on certain essential things like water, food, shelter. But, as i can see around the world, that is far from the priorities of those who do not have access to these essentials. Subsistence is more in line with the priorities of the "poor". Do we work until every person understands and has equal access to political resources which dictate water, food and shelter?

Like that's ever going to happen! I'm just an old cynic and an amrchair anarchist. Not without value, of course, but tired and yet still hungry for change.

[Critical thinking]

Left to the sociologists, inscribed in the woman’s washroom at our hotel;
mounted at the bank, oversized.
The long held note before the rest;
the staccato noise in my head that reminds me to breathe.
I’ve got some kind of great list gurgling up and frothing
and I’m feeling out of time and rushed all at once
and naked as a model’s armpit.
Late at night, surrounded by you, thinking about me.
that’s critical thinking.
It’s as easy as the symbolic forms of capital
and laughter from the belly at a funeral.

(by me)