Friday, November 19, 2010

Time management

If you earn a paycheck, you should be reading Ethan's writing.

If you watch TeeVee, pay attention to what it teaches.

If you think you live at the center of civilization and progress, discover what Dusty People think!

Have you any misgivings about the above, consider what it takes to crush a bastard.

And, finally, the person who does this sort of indexing better than the rest, and on a daily basis, our friend BDR.


As for me, I'm officially on vacation, buddies. Have a good holiday.

However, seeing as how I would like to appropriate some of that time for myself, I will still be working, possibly even here. There is the rest of Volume 2 to contend with, for one thing. Reading Volume 2 of Capital really makes me appreciate how much there is to get out of Volume 1; and anybody who likes this blog should own at least a copy of Volume 1, if only to skim through the historical passages or read completely at random, as I did at first. Then listen to the David Harvey lectures and read it as a book, if you want. I say this because you can get a lot out of it if you take for granted the fact that, like so many things worth doing, it isn't always going to be easy.

Working for someone in one capacity shouldn't immediately lead to working for them in another, even if one is called "work" and the other "free-time." All of our time must be reconstituted as our own. Even if we don't control it formally, we can direct it toward our own ends, using the momentum of our circumstances. As Harvey says, they are taking capital off our backs -- and this is as true whether it is taken in the workplace or surrendered, recreationally, through exchange. The only question left is how we respond.

6 comments:

Randal Graves said...

So, Conan was right.

Enjoy your vacation.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link!

Have a good holiday :)

And Volume 2 is much better by the way.

Anonymous said...

Happy holy days!

Ethan said...

Thanks so much for the link. Your writing was hugely influential to me in figuring out how to conceptualize what I think about work, so thank you also for that.

Another thanks for the suggestions--I second your thoughts on the Teevee and on BDR, and will definitely check out the others.

Have a great vacation!

Ethan said...

By "your writing was..." I of course mean "your writing has been and continues to be..."

BDR said...

Have fun, and thanks for the Kind.