issue three volume one

摘要pré·cis august.twenty fourteen

pré·cispublisher & editor: chris stechergraphics: stech design

photography: stech design, melissa davis, kat tosi

contributing writers: symeon north, kat tosi, chris parizo, casey ray hunter, william griffith, edward hutchins

content submissions and /or letters to the editor are welcome.

please keep Letters to 250 words and submissions to 750 words. Photos and images need to be at least 200 dpi at size.

contact : stech@outlook.com

cargo:

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editorias - 2gigs - 3,4expat 8 ball - 5kats window - 6word on the street - 7music - 8travel ~ qingdao - 9,10per.spect.ive - 11,12hippies - 13,14,15teaching - 16cartoon. - 18images. - 19,20,21

photo: Melissa Davis

photo: Melissa Davis

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This wasn’t the intended editorial.

There are times in your life that you remember where you were when someone of import dies. For my brother and parents, it was JFK, for me it was, long ago, Kurt Cobain.. And oddly enough, I have no idea why I remember that day in 1994 other than the fact that it was two days before my birthday, it just hit me, viscerally on the corner, wait-ing to cross the street to go to the OP, the bar that I had listened to the band time and time again.

So I wonder as well, where I know I will always remember where I was when Robin Williams died. He sparked the same emotions as, Kurt in me maybe. I laughed, I cried with him on stage, but I always knew that there was some-thing inside him that was tortured, like in all of us, which is why we, in fact empathized with the perfor-mance. Be it music or acting, they both had something that struck a chord in all of us. Both these men were genius in reaching down to your soul and gently ripping out a long buried memory of sorrow or a small part of humor you thought was lost.

That said, depression is a stone cold bitch, but one that knows no socioeconomic boundaries, the rich , the poor, the color of your skin doesn’t matter, and I am pret-ty sure, that at one point or anoth-er, you reading this have had it too in one form or another. I know I have.

The real meat of the matter is what you do with it.

Some find solace with the bottle, for some, meditation, for others coun-seling., macramé, petting puppies,

volunteering, finding shells on the beach, long walks in the woods, fighting with the French foreign legion, eating chocolate, running with the bulls, surfing, jumping out of planes, or, yes john, sometimes kittens.

The point is, you do SOMETHING, to take your mind, however tempo-rarily, off what is making you un-happy, and focus more on life... Be-cause as my father once told me, it’s the only game in town worth play-ing.

Which gets me back to robin, and Kurt, and Hunter, (as well as so many close personal friends I have buried) ...As much as I have admire you and love what you did....

You took the idiot way out. You got so self-absorbed, that you never saw what tomorrow may bring.. The little things that would make you smile. And you forgot those of us who loved you.

So yes. I admonish you for your act of mindless self-indulgence.But I forgive you.

I will be sure to smell the flowers for you.

pré·ciseditorias

gigs.03

Temple 7.24.14 ~ three year Anniver-sary Seven Light Years, Los Crasher, and Devils at the Crossroad

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1. voolcanoo of Los Crashers / 2. tha crowd / 3. Los Crashers / 4. photobomb the Jager girls / 5. insane power chord

with Devils / 6. seven light years / 7. Dave gets real DATC / 8. BTime out at the bar / 9. cedric from DATC/ 10. Los

Crashes backstage / 11. Morgan And The Temple Crew / 12. Beijing rock stars at the bar

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You have worked in many places across the world. Looking back, what was your first ex-pat position, and how did you prepare for it?

My first ‘expat’ position was actually in Beijing about four years ago, al-though at that time I was only here for two months so it was more an intern-ship than a ‘real’ expat experience, but I’ll count it. At that point it was a pretty last minute deci-sion, but I knew I was go-ing overseas and I could had 30kg worth of things to take, so I let go of a lot of things and left my mind open. Thats about it.

When you first moved to China, what was your transition like? Did you experience culture shock?

I don’t think I ever experi-enced ‘culture shock’ how-ever there were definitely a few things that shocked me. I feel like the initial transition was pretty easy, my company organized a sort of China induction program where I spent some time learning about Chinese customs, culture and history. I was also surrounded by a bunch of other foreigners and living in Sanlitun, so it wasn’t an instant submersion into the ‘Chinese’ China expe-rience.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing expats in china today?

Not being able to register you bank card on Wechat without a Chinese ID, or the variety of other things you can’t do without a Chinese ID. No, I’m kid-ding, that’s slightly frus-trating, but not a big deal. To be honest I feel like get-ting and holding onto a Visa has becoming one of the biggest issues for ex-pats, I know so many peo-ple who’ve left over the last year because they couldn’t just keep extending busi-ness or tourist visas every few months.

When looking at hiring an expat what are the most important ques-tions you ask in an in-terview?

Salary expectations? Haha, again kidding. I don’t think I have any particular questions when interviewing expats, most questions would be job re-lated and I would ask the same things of a Chinese person interviewing for the same position.

Do you feel that the Chi-nese have been more or less inviting in granting or renewing Visas for foreign professionals in recent years?

Yes, definitely. As men-tioned I know a lot of people who’ve left just be-cause getting a visa was too much of a hassle. Al-though, its maybe more that they are just being stricter on their actual policies whereas previous-ly visa agents could use ‘guanxi’ to approve appli-

cations that didn’t actual-ly meet the visa require-ments, etc. They’ve also changed the types of visas that can be issued. Some-times I feel it just comes down to luck though.

Are you finding that the Air quality is mak-ing finding and keeping quality talent difficult?

I think for expats with families and young chil-dren this might be an is-sue, for younger expats (although we all complain about it) I don’t believe it would be the determining factor on staying/leaving China.

What are your personal thoughts on living and working in China?

Living and working in China has been amaz-ing! To live in a country that has such a different culture and history from a small place like New Zealand actually makes me feel really blessed to have even had the oppor-tunity to come here and experience this. There are so many beautiful places in this country, so many interesting and amazing people and the opportu-nities that present them-selves to you are one of a kind. I don’t think I could have the experiences I’ve had here anywhere else in the world and I love that.

If you could give one piece of advice for some-one considering coming to China to work, what would it be?

Make a conscious effort to learn Mandarin! Really, it’s hard but I feel like it pays off immensely. It will enrich your experience, and allow you to experi-ence a bit more of ‘China’ than you would otherwise be able to, don’t just stick to the expat bubble!

Edward Hutchins Bio:

Hi! I’m Edward, a New Zealander living and working in Beijing! I’ve been here for the past year and a half living in a small bubble between Guomao, Sanlitun and Gongti. Previously I traveled around south-ern China, lived in the ‘Hawaii of China’, San-ya, for a few months and also did a two year stint in Sydney before that. You can find me on twit-ter/wechat/instagram etc at ‘eddyhutchins’.

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expat 8 ball8 questions answered

from an established expatexpatby edward hutchins

Qingdao, China is a fantastic city. Lo-cated on the seaside in the Southwest of the country and within striking distance (5 hours by train) from Beijing, it is a gem that is overlooked by most Beijing smog-dwellers and tourists alike. Per-haps this is because when people hear the word Qingdao they instantly think of China’s number one beer Tsingtao, which is just another way to phonetically spell the city.

Boring, cheap but yellow and containing alcohol, this beer would hardly be consid-ered a reason to make a pilgrimage. After my latest adventure, I would beg to differ. The Tsingtao beer museum was an absolute head-spinner and far more entertaining than any other brew-tour I have ever been on.

At the beginning of my beer-museum ad-venture, I was more than skeptical. Boast-ing 4 gigantic cans of beer as part of its roof, the factory still looked haggard. After paying a 60 RMB (10 USD) admission, I figured this beer tour couldn’t possibly be worse that the “looking at rocks in a cave tour” I’d been suckered into in Guilin, Chi-na earlier in the year.

Looking at the brochure, the game plan looked rather standard. Walk along and discover the history and tradition of brew-ing beer, complete with explanation of pro-cess from past to present. Move on to a tour of their modern production and tech-nology area. Receive a free beer at the end. It also mentioned the feature of “a drunken house” along the way, which raised my cu-riosity.

It was interesting to see how Tsingtao pack-aging and advertisement had evolved over time. Yes, Germans founded Tsingtao, and yes they occupied the city for over 30 years. This point was made very clear by a histor-ical bottle of beer with the Swastika on it

declaring “Absolutely Pure.” Yikes.

In any case, while I was meandering through brewery tour, I couldn’t help but notice and hear the presence of hundreds of school children. At first I was a bit baf-fled as to why this would be considered a school trip. I reflected and considered that this could be filed under both a scientific and historical outing. Perhaps fitting for senior school children, but there were lots of kids barely reaching my waist. Well, never mind, I thought.

Towards the end of the tour we reached “the drunken house” which was a room built at 45-degree angles with optical tricks that were designed to replicate the experi-ence of being drunk. The kids loved it. For me, it was but a familiar feeling and a clever trick.

Finally, at last, we reached the taproom. Our crappy free beer awaited. I cued up with my ticket to receive my free beer-fla-voured beer and SO DID ALL OF THE CHILDREN.

Yes, there were parents and teachers there. And yes, everyone big and small, from the

age of 7-90 all plunked down with their half-liter of Tsingtao and free package of peanuts and downed their beer amid a clatter of kids cheering and toasting and running around playing hide-and-seek and cops and robbers.

What happens when you give half a liter of beer to a child weighing 18 kilos (40 lbs.) who has (hopefully) never consumed beer before?

Well, they get drunk and rowdy, just like adults do. Soon the Tsingtao beer bar was like a Sesame Street show gone positively wrong. Kids were literally weaving around. Thank goodness none of them were driving home (I think).

After the free-beer event, there was a sec-tion of the walkway that was a gigantic tube designed to look like it was submerged in the beer tanks. It was like being in a sub-marine, except when you looked out the windows, well, it was beer that bubbled by. As I strolled along I watched little whipper-snappers zigzagging along this new version of yellow-submarine, drunk as skunks.

Does Tsingtao really know what it is up to with this one? Is the new motto “Start ‘em Young?” Perhaps. I was astounded by the whole event. Nevertheless, as you exited the tour there was, of course, a gift shop and a proper bar selling no-longer-free Tsingtao. So some of the parents bought themselves their kids some more beer. And some kids bought themselves some more beer. And there they were, getting smashed at 2 in the afternoon.

Have fun with those hangovers, little ones. It must have been a hell of a ride back home.

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Kat’s Window~ on ChinaBy Kat Tosi

Qingdao BreweryOut-of-our-little-heads with the Tsingtao Beer Museum Tour

High School is a bitch. Plain and simple. Especially in China. Tutor-ing for four years has pretty much settled that I would never want my child placed in the educational sys-tem here. Cause when your students begin sounding like middle-aged pencil pushers you know something is up. It’s cutthroat, competitive, and kids will do just about anything to get a leg up.

So when I meet Coraline, a seventeen year old girl who had contacted me through my website about an upcom-

ing show, I was expecting to see yet another disgruntled high school stu-dent, who had either given up all hope or was void of all personality, spare a extensive knowledge of formulas, vo-cab, and Chinese poetry.

And word to the wise, never meet a high school girl at a bar – can’t tell you the number of dirty looks I got. And what I found was someone who had immersed herself in creating music – though classically trained on the pia-no, Coraline had become immersed in music by junior high where she meet fellow classmates who also grew up on Bob Dylan, John Denver, and The Carpenters, the music they parents had adopted when China opened up

to the world – and like that Alkalic Weed was formed. And it wasn’t only her – Coraline is part of a league of other high school bands across Beijing that have taken up creating music as an alternative to doing community service or tak-ing part in spelling bee competitions. There’s Watermelon Canned, a trio of seventeen year olds whose punk pop had Brain Failrue drummer Xu Lin second guessing whether or not their were in fact high school students yet whose mothers who would gasp whenever they would show up to hear their sons screaming out ‘cào ni mā’.

There’s Bomb and Shout, a six piece outfit who are the Frankenstein cre-ation of their schools’ need to form a music club – originally forced to write and perform songs to help encourage

middle schoolers to do well on their exams the band eventually found themselves surpassing the teachers requests and fashioning their own sound.

Or Dongbo and ChiChi of power pop outfit Finger Family, who became class heroes of their high school cov-ering Green Day and AC/DC using school instruments before their teach-er caught them sneaking girls into the rehearsal room.

And though most of these students will have to buckle down over the next year as gaokaos, SATs, and truckloads of homework piles up the fact remains that these kids are giving it a shot and making the best of high school lives. After years of listening to kids weep and mood about the week that lies ahead of them, it was inspiring to hear of kids immersing themselves in mu-sic.

A week later one of my past students contacted me out of the blue - I had known Troy since 2008 when he was

just nine years old. Clever little kid. Could engage with you in just about any subject - politics, science, litera-ture, philosophy – to the point where I’d have to stop him from jumping too far down the rabbit hole. He eventu-ally become so bogged down in his studies we stopped seeing each other on a regular basis. So when his parents invited me out to dinner to catch up I was delighted. And then he popped the question - “How easy is it to start a band?” By golly, you should’ve seen the gleam in my eye.

The spirit of rock and roll lives and breathes in today’s youth and I can’t wait to hear what they cook up.

by William Griffith

word on the street@livebeijingmusic.com

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word on the street@livebeijingmusic.com

Opened 3 years ago by four friends, the an-niversary bash at Temple Bar, Beijing lived up to all expectations. The line-up was a dead give away to what this bar is about: di-verse killer local music with something for everyone. It was four full nights of very full on party that allowed Temple Bar to show-case Heavy Rock, Punk Rock, Psycho Rock and Funk.

The first night saw Seven Light Years, Los Crasher and Devils at the Crossroad compete to see who could out-rock-the-shit out of each other.

Seven Light Years, having just released their EP entitled Zero, showed us what scream core meets emo produces. In my opinion, sometimes it works and some-times it doesn’t. One minute I am head banging, the next I feel like I am listen-ing to a top-40 hit. Get rid of those high, sweet lovey vocals and these guys do have something.

Los Crasher had been a rather unpredict-able live act of late in my opinion. They got their straight ahead rock on for this event, stayed away from cheesy cover songs, and re-gained my interest in seeing them perform again in the future.

Of course, Temple Bar saved the best for last with Devils at the Crossroad melting down the house. The powerhouse 3-piece recent-ly remolded themselves into a 4-piece with a new front man and new guitarist. After some minor teething problems I do declare, hell yeah, it works! I cannot wait to see what these devils have up their sleeves for the fu-

ture. However, you can nev-er go wrong with a late night crowd sing-along to their much-loved song ‘Obey’, which of course caused much crowd disobedience.

The second night saw Punk Night give our shoes a run for their money. With the delicious line-up of Rolling Bowling, Hell City and the Didiers, it was time to show that psycho/rockabilly and punk, are in fact, not dead

but alive and well here in Beijing.

Rolling Bowling made me feel like I was back in Austin, Texas for a bit but I was brought to my senses by the fact that they were also singing in Chinese. This fun loving trio loves to do ripping guitar solos. Having just come off a European tour, these guys are in tip-top musical shape and a band to keep your eye on. Get your autographs now?

The raw Hell City (old-school straight punk) and the Didiers (extremely aggressive rock/punk) almost got my hair to stand up in a Mohegan. These two bands have been ripping it up at School Bar as of late and if you ever want to feel like you time traveled back to the 1970’s, come to Beijing for one of their shows. Punk. Punk. Punk. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. You are never too old to mosh! And there ended day two. Next up, psycho rock.

Luv Plastic, Big Wave and Whai for day 3 and only Whai could possibly get me off my couch. Luv Plas-tic, a rock duo, served their purpose as a non-offensive warm up band from what I heard.

Big Wave gave definite props-out to the new-wave, electronica and post punk sounds of Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Perhaps not the most original sounding of bands, but if you like to reminisce about Bela Lugosi

while dancing around in the dark dressed in a killer goth outfit, this one is for you. This dark trio was the perfect way to dance the time away dreaming of bats as I waited for the ulti-mate mind-melting of bands to come onstage.

There is simply no way I can express how Whai continues to blow my mind. These guys get tighter, more confident and focused and more out-of-this world every time I see them. Calling themselves advant-garde-experimen-

tal-rock-industrial-noise Chinese-folk-trip-hop-dance, I just call them freaking’ amazing. Positive entrancement had tak-en place.

Day four saw Beijing put its funk on with the Groove Collective and Tavey Lean & the Solid Gold Dream Machine taking the stage. I was feeling more than funky. The Groove Collective, known for its tradi-tional and modern mixes of international funk kept the crowd funkin’. Tavey Lean + was a great way to end a four-day melt down. Funk, soul, rock and reggae got everyone prepared to face the early hours.

Four days of musical magic had come to an end. But holy smokes, how did any of us get any sleep? Well, most of us didn’t. It was dar-ing combinations of attention keeping music, YEE-HAH atmosphere, booze and beyond delicious Temple Bar burgers that must have kept us going. Temple Bar illustrated what keeps some of us in Beijing on those smog filled days; awesome music that unites people of all sizes, shapes, colours, beliefs and back-grounds under one stage, roof, Temple.

music.By Kat Tosi

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Temple Bar Showcases Beijing’s Mightiest Music in 3-year

Anniversary 4-day Meltdown

If Beijing is what non expats aspire to, then Qingdao is where expats want to be.

Situated in the lower eastern part of china on the coast, the city to-day is a dynamic mix of different cultures.

Since 1891, when the regional Qing government decided that the area would be an optimal coastal defense base and began boost-ing fortifications, this area has long lived up to the its translated name, “Lush Island” The Germans however, were keeping tabs on these military renovations and as a result decided to invade and occupy the region in 1897 and it became known as the “Kiaut-schou Bay concession” until 1914. This explains some of the colonial period fortifications, German architecture neighborhoods, stunning Christian churches and arguably more import-ant, a Brewery. Hence Tsingtao beer.

The German occupation brought about novel improvements to china at the time, solid streets, electricity, school systems, and clean drinking water. This all ended in 1914 with Ja-pan taking control of the area after the siege of Tsingtao, marking the start of Japans inclusion in the First World War. China eventually regained con-trol of this important port in 1922.

But enough of the ancient history, that’s what encyclopedias are for. This piece is about the here and now, and

what delights await in this city by

the yellow sea.Before we get into it though, it is re-source time, and if you are an English

only speaker finding yourself in Qin-gdao, what you must pick up, is the monthly magazine REDSTAR (http://www.myredstar.com/). It gives you

the scoop on the city and provides a pretty accurate map in English and Chinese that is the go-to for taxi di-rections. Kat and I relied on this for a week and it never let us down.

The thing that strikes most is the wide variety of architectural styling.. From prewar European, Chinese hutongs , high tech skyscrapers, to seaside late 70’s Wright inspired villages. Qingdao has it all. Then something else occurs, something that you couldn’t quite put

your finger on before while looking at the awesome skyline form the warm inviting beach… The air. It’s clean.

Not it the “oh it’s only a 68 AQI in Beijing, let’s go for a run” clean, but actually CLEAN, clean. And this is one of the distinctions that make this large Chinese city dif-ferent as a vacation destination.

As aforementioned, the “Qing” in Qingdao roughly translates

to “Lush” or “Green”, and green it is, from its beaches to its nearby moun-tain range. Reminiscent of the Ha-waiian Islands, the weather is hot on season, but the offshore breeze and the ocean scent makes the heat more than bearable.

Being the coastal city that it is, the place is awash with fresh seafood, and this can be found corner in barbe-cue form in almost any of the city at more than reasonable prices, starting mid-afternoon. But sometimes you want something different, so here is a list of restaurants and attractions:

OLD JACKS

travel.

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Qingdao

If Beijing is what non expats aspire to, then Qingdao is where expats want to be.

Nestled in the heart of Qingdao’s busy downtown, with its rapid upward con-struction as well as its massive sub-way project, is a little cafe/bar named Old Jacks. Opened in 2013’ across the street from the infamous book city shopping plaza, this cozy little nook of a spot has all the old world charm of an English pub. A big plus is the fact that you can find REDSTAR magazine, a must have for English only travelers, in order to navigate effectively around Qingdao.

Offering a full service bar as well as a full menu of international coffees, Old jacks is the place to chill out for a cou-ple of iced lattes or draft beers from Strong Ale Works craft breweries. Prices range from 15 to 40rmb for cof-fee, and 15 RMB for the local Tsingtao to 25 for the strong ale drafts.

SSLPG bar

Well, in keeping with the tradition of finding the local dive bar in any city I ever visit, I found it in this bar. Figur-ing who better to ask than the twenty something guy from the outdoor BBQ who served me fresh squid and beef rib knuckles, I asked for a bar in Chi-nese, and for my sins, he gave me the LPG. Writing it down in Chinese for good measure.

The LPG is a massive complex of dif-ferent rooms, with different tables, and widely different clientele and cultures, but it seems with the limited exposure to be where the students, professional expats, and pro drinkers go to let loose on a Friday night.. Or at least one of them. A nine RMB cab fare from Hai-kue Lu , it mixes the traditional smoky bar environment, with decent music, without all the pretentiousness of the club scene.

Told by a couple of locals that LPG is one of a small handful of bars clustered in this area that is not poisoned by the KTV culture, and that has a decidedly western/euro feel. The bartenders all speak English, you don’t have to ex-plain your drinks, or what ice is, and the liquor seems to be real.

Drink prices are pretty reasonable as well.. Tsing Tao and a shot will only set you back 37rmb or a little over five

bucks US during happy hour. And don’t forget the DYI stripper pole.

BEER STREET

Yes Olivia, there is a beer street, and a wine street for that matter, but we only went to the former. The highlight of this is the Tsingtao brewery and beer museum (see Kat Window article on page 6).

The street itself is awash in restaurants offering seafood BBQ and , well beer.. and 99% Tsingtao, because they know where their money is coming from. If for some reason, you don’t like a high quality, PBR-esque beer, avoid this street like the plague. For the rest of us, come and enjoy!

The BEACHES

Kat and I did almost the entire 20 plus miles of boardwalk in Qingdao. The beaches range from the Very popular No. 1 Beach, to small outcroppings next to jetties that have wicked curls if you bring your surfboard. No mistake, there are rip currents here in the yel-low sea, so be wary, and be prepared for shoreline fun. Kick back and watch the fishing boats bring in your dinner.Watch your belongings though.

THE BOMB SHELTER

In the center of the city, by the Wharf that you can take a boat out into the sea to survey the skyline, is the “cork-screw” a big red sculpture that appar-ently is part of the Qingdao emergen-cy action plan. Housing a 5000 person underground shelter, on the surface, the city plans to have 20,000 more people hang out on the lawn in tents. How that will play out during a tsu-nami, or a nuke attack seems unclear, but it’s a great lawn, and has dozens of eateries and places to sit to watch the kite flying.

SPARK and the DINER

Located in the bomb shelter green, this is a home away from home for those wanting a break from Chinese food. Boasting a one pound burger, topped with whatever you would like, all of the fixings, from the bread to the pickles are all homemade or home grown. A must eat.

The 1953 BarBuilt oddly enough in 1953, the 1953 Bar & Cafe, located next to beach number 1 on HuiQuan Bay inside the Qingdao International Sailing Club (QISC), is a great place to have a cock-tail with friends and watch the beauti-ful sunset over XiaoYuShan and Qin-gdao’s Old Town. It’s a great place to rest your heels over coffee and a beer during the 20 mile trek on the board-walk. The archi-tecture and period jump to page 17

Information technologies warp our minds. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ever since the first informa-tion technology—the alphabet—came along, our species has experienced psy-chological, if not physiological, para-digm shifts that have enabled us to grope our way towards the future. Often the new way of relating is awkward. Even the most will-ing participants in technolo-gy may not comprehend the full meaning and scope of a shift as it is occurring.

Take, for example the written word. Once upon a time, text was some-thing that only high-ranking castes would ever encounter. Even then, the technology of writing created some issues. Offi-cial writs were clumsy, and includ-ed odd proclamations to the people of the future. Coming from a former-ly oral tradition, the idea that language could be recorded for posterity was a real mindfuck.

As printing became democratized, things got even goofier. When Don Quixote—widely recognized as one of the first popular printed entertain-ments—was published, many readers were not yet able to fully compre-hend written fiction, to say nothing of satire. Some readers became angry that Cervantes was lying to them—they believed the story was literal because it was written down. You might think that’s strange, but every new means of informa-tion exchange seems to wreak havoc on veracity. The Internet is no different. The Birther movement was born from email forwards. “I read it online! It has to be true!”

Hello, Infowars.

There have been other bumps on the road to a globally-networked culture. The in-herently promiscuous nature of the In-ternet freaked out those who had built massive, corporate empires on intellectu-al property (including the entertainment

industries). They aren’t crazy. You

see, information has never wanted to be “free.” In either a liberal or totalitarian

universe, it wants to be regulated in or-der to preserve or consolidate power and wealth. These days, it’s not even a fight be-tween “tech and content”—the real battle is about who is in position to profit most from information access and distribu-tion. I recently joked that my professional life is a protracted exercise in figuring out which side I have the least sympathy for. (It’s a tie.)

In a historic context, we see the influ-ence wielded by a priestly caste through a monopoly on written language; in our contemporary times, we begin to discern how massively-scaled Internet companies are situated with governments seeking unfettered access to data for purposes of security.

William Blake had a name for this force: Urizen. William S. Burroughs simply

called it control.

More hiccups: I am a believer in the sanctity of intellectu-

al property as laid out in the delicate balance of Article 1,

Section 8 of the US Con-stitution. This is not the

place to debate that particular paradox,

but I bring it up to demonstrate (once again) that

the tensions be-tween intellectual

property, Internet gov-ernance, access to infor-

mation and innovation are persistent and real.

The gestation of this tension began in not some fog-shroud-

ed era, but one much closer to our own. (Actually, the 1960s could

be described as “fog-shrouded,” but for different reasons.) It was a vol-atile and uncanny time, especially at the hippie movement’s epicenter in Northern California. Dropouts, freaks, homeless kids, criminals, mystics, hustlers and artists in-termingled with intellectuals and radicals from the elite universities. “Freedom,” as a bedrock American

ideal, mutated into new expressions—the reverberations from which our society is still experiencing.

Like most Edens, this one came with ser-pents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a shortcut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the practice of radical individualism. And once this belief took seed in the fertile intellectual soil of the Northern California, an even greater outgrowth emerged. This garden is more commonly known as Silicon Valley.

Its trees have produced remarkable fruit—whether nourishing or toxic depends on one’s own orientation. It’s become a new American pastime to ponder the Silicon

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Acid Cults, Innovation& Control

per.spec.tive. ~ by Casey Rae

Like most Edens, this one came with ser-pents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a shortcut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the practice of radical individualism.

Like most Edens, this one came with serpents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a short-cut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the prac-tice of radical individualism.

Like most Edens, this one came with serpents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a short-cut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the prac-tice of radical individualism.

Valley mindset. Like many communities, it’s not monolithic—nor do its principals and evangelists espouse a singular ideol-ogy. This is in keeping with a culture that lionizes disruptors. But there are some through lines.

One of the more significant thinkers among the SV intellectual elite is John Perry Barlow, who, as a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, has deep roots in the counterculture. Barlow correctly an-ticipated that the emerging cyber-culture (a phrase he helped coin) would test legal and social conven-tions. He also co-founded the Elec-tronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in 1990, and issued the much-bally-hooed Declaration of the Indepen-dence of Cyberspace in 1996.

I’ve long been interested in Barlow. I’m not a fan of Bob Weir (the Dead co-leader for whom he wrote lyr-ics), and our views on intellectual property are divergent. Still, JPB is a compelling figure—as a young Republican, he helped send Dick Cheney to Con-gress, and has done more to foment the techno-libertarian worldview than any other indi-vidual you’d care to name.

In the middle of the last decade, Barlow’s long-held libertarian views evolved. He seemed to intuit that the information structures promising liberation could also be used for greater control. How’s that for a feedback loop? I certainly admire his intellec-tual flexibility, even as I bristle at many of his notions of intellectual property and digital culture. Still, if a guy can go from Dick Cheney to Democrat, that says something… what exactly, I’m not sure.

Last night, I took some time to read a 2004 interview with Reason magazine. The following are excerpts, with my own commentary in brackets. Barlow’s diag-nosis of monopolistic technologies and the then-emerging national security in-dustrial complex is spot on, even if he wasn’t able to perfectly predict today’s players.

We’ve got two distinct strains of liber-tarianism, and the hippie-mystic strain

is not engaging in politics, and the Ayn Rand strain is basically dismantling gov-ernment in a way that is giving complete open field running to multinational corporatism. [Swap ‘hippie-mystic’ for ‘disruptor-innovator.’]That system [per-mission computing] is supposed to be designed to help control digital rights management. By its nature it will be great for political rights management, because it’s an enormously penetrative surveil-lance tool, and it makes it hard to do any-

thing anonymously involving a computer. Here is a monopoly in essence, the Wintel monopoly—Windows/Intel—which has enormous global power and which no government is willing to stand up to, at least effectively, so far. [You know what to swap.]

The multinationals have reached the point where they are essentially replacing the nation-state. I look at a multinational as an organism. It is not a human being and doesn’t have any characteristics of a human being. It is as much unlike a hu-man being as a coral reef is unlike a coral polyp or an anthill unlike an ant.

It is an extremely advanced piece of evo-lutionary design that is capable of having its way in the world and competing with human beings for the world’s resources. From a multinational’s standpoint, the best thing that can happen is the best thing that can happen right now. They have to deliver maximum shareholder value today, next quarter, which means that they don’t worry about whether there are going to be resources for them to ex-

ploit in 10 years.

Barlow didn’t get everything right. As prescient as he is on matters of corpo-ratism and Internet governance, his inability (as well as that of others) to think through the repercussions of the so-called “sharing economy” continue to frustrate discussions about the eco-nomics of cultural production online.

Information technology will no doubt keep on warping our minds. My ad-

vice? Take six tabs and call me from the future.

Click on Casey Rae’s bio be-low for more from the Con-

trarian.

Like most Edens, this one came with serpents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a short-cut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the prac-tice of radical individualism.

Like most Edens, this one came with serpents. One counterculture snake in the garden was the belief that a short-cut to enlightenment could be found through drugs like LSD or the prac-tice of radical individualism.

Casey Rae is a musician, public pol-icy wonk and the editor/publisher of The Contrarian Media. An in-demand speaker, he gives frequent talks at con-ferences and campuses on issues at the intersection of creativity, technology, policy and law, and is a go-to source for major media outlets from NPR to the New York Times. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and VP for Policy and Education at the Future of Music Coalition. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Media & Democracy Coalition and the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture.

We’ve got two distinct strains of liber-tarianism, and the hippie-mystic strain is not engaging in politics, and the Ayn Rand strain is basically dismantling government in a way that is giving complete open field running to multinational corporatism.

12

Somewhere in an undisclosed underground masonic bunker; nestled between growler filling car-washes and hand crafted arti-san dough-nut shops; where unsus-pecting hipsters in pedal pushers steer their white walled cruisers right on past, without giving it a second blink..... There it was... Headquarters, ground zero for Further’s 50th anniversary trek to the east coast.

A mixture of Luddite-ness and high tech. Papers, index cards, post it notes,line the walls, as cellphones blow up and twitter is being flood-ed with pictures of excited riders who have revived their “ticket to ride” (Hand drawn, (by Derek and Madam Secretary) hand made all access laminate)

There I sat with my steno pad, the inner Luddite in me rears it’s head when it comes to important stuff.. Although mostly my notes consist of one or two words, underlined & followed by arrows. Honestly not the perfect way,as I was taught in my English classes. I find the cloud scribble much easier to compre-hend, as long as it is fresh in my

memory…. Although, it’s

been about a week and a half since I visited the Underground Masonic Bunker so things may be omitted due to short term memory loss… But, my burning ques-tion still lingered. To Dereck “how did you become so entrenched with this huge under-

taking?”

He has been involved with restor-ing the bus since 2008…. He re-plied “I was the only one stupid enough to do it. I kept hounding Zane for years about this 50th thing. And we went for it”

Two or three days later, the bus pulled into our sleepy little hipster wanna be town, for one last tweak (new carburetor) before they hit the road to the first top in Madi-son, Wisconsin … This was billed

as a litmus test. A play on words, and throw back to Ken’s infamous “Acid tests”

I digress, earlier in the year, they formed a “Kickstarter, and after all was said and done, (kickstarter fees) they raised 30,000 to use to replace nearly every part of the bus.. Ev-ery wire that was there since 1947, replaced! An amazing task...So, 13

legs of the tour

ground zero

hippies.hippies.tales from the tour

~ by Symeon North

this also helped with the new carb (a new engine had been put in a few years prior.)

As I mentioned in my last ar-ticle Grateful Dead stickers, in some states, were profiled Can you imagine the attention and ‘heat’ entirely Psychedelic paint-ed 1947 International Harvester could bring? I was informed that the 120-140 riders on each “leg” of the tour had to sign a Zero toler-ance contract. (No sense in getting this Smithsonian worthy bus seized.)

I managed to get a few photos, and one or two quotes. We waited pa-tiently for the Uhaul (that was carry-ing all the merchandise) and for the film crew; who apparently were lost.) At this point I asked Zane Kesey, “What will you do if the film crew doesn’t show up? He explained that is exactly a good employment of the phrase “you are either on the bus or you are not on the bus”

When Ken Kesey first made his trip out east, with his band of Mer-ry Pranksters, it took the world by storm. No one knew what the hell was happening. Hot off the heals of the repressive 50’s times they were a changin’ (I can only hope this signi-fies a pendulum shift, when we can return to where we place personal freedoms and an artistic renaissance above war and political infighting.)

For those of you who aren’t familiar, pick up a copy of Tom Wolfe’s “Elec-tric Kool aid acid test” (which, I had

the pleasure of reading at the ripe age of 12 due to raiding the base-

ment and finding all of my parent’s old books)

The mood was good that day, even if a bit nervous. They had a long road ahead of them. To the east coast and back, gone through September and possi-bly October, with many parties along the way.

To keep in touch, tune into @furthurbusat50 on twitter and fur-thur bus 50th anniversary tour, on

14

A mixture of Luddite-ness and high tech. Papers, index cards, post it notes,line the walls, as cellphones blow up and twitter is being flooded with pictures of excited rid-ers who have revived their “ticket to ride”

facebookOne stop that isn’t a par-ty, that I find the most interesting in is a stop in Palmer, Ma on Sep-tember 26, at a local High School. The whole school is participating in this, first and foremost the Art Class, the English class is going to be exam-ining Ken Kesey’s body of literature, the sociolo-gy class will be research-ing the political climate that birthed Further and the Home ec class (I was surprised that these still existed) will be prepar-ing the meal.

This stop seems like the most important stop. Art is a living breathing organism and we need to take the time to fos-ter that in our upcoming generations. Whitney was right, “the chil-dren are our future” or a throwback to the proper generation “Teach your children well.”

At the time of writing this, two stops have al-ready happened. And Gathering of the Vibes festival is this weekend. There are many more

stops along the way, if you are so in-clined, stop and take a look, it’s really worth the while. It is one true slice of Americana that can’t be over looked.

Keep an eye out

15

children are our future

Symeon North is 40 something a single mother of two children, living at the foot-hills of the Cascades; who somehow man-ages to sometimes gets things done.

Current ventures include her crafting business “Built to Last Outfitters” and when she isn’t taking it on the road; She runs an etsy shop that she stocks with her handmade wares and manages a facebook page, that updates with new products and new adventures :https://www.facebook.com/builttolastoutfitters

She has written and coauthored many arti-cles for Knitty.com, is featured in Shannon Okey’s book “Spin to Knit” (interweave press 2006) and has published her own book “Get Spun” (interweave press 2010)

She is currently enjoying busting out words for Pré·cis.

It was 1992, my sophomore English teacher asked us to write 500 words ex-plaining why Herman Melville was an important figure in American Litera-ture.

This assignment required us to spend a day in the library, flipping through the card catalog, writing down Dewey Dec-imal numbers, and hitting the stacks to find the correct book that would allow us to properly respond to this assignment. We didn’t have the internet or encyclope-dias at home.

I assign this same assignment in my class-room as a warm-up activity. Ten minutes. 50 words. Tops.

The means in which we learned vital skills during the 90’s – learning the card catalog, holding a volume of lore in your hands, asking for help from a librarian – is now as outdated as an abacus. My students whip out their cellphones and go to work. We sum-marize our findings and we move on.

Technology has taken what many still consider to be “real” education and turned it into something nearly archaic. What used to be important serves no purpose to today’s student.

Education has a specific hierarchy: Math and Science are at the top, followed by English and History, and below are the Arts - which has a hierarchy within itself. This hierarchy is an artifact of the Indus-trial Revolution – a time when engineers, machinists, and inventors were needed to feed the American machine.

You see, modern day education sys-tems were made in the image of its cre-ators, and its creators were near-sighted white men who feared a beeping Soviet ball that orbited above their heads, all of whom are now either dead or very close to it. Following World War II, the Cold War seeped into our classrooms and mil-itarization of education began. This is still shown to this day through the no-menclature of education. We teach lesson “plans” with specific learning “targets”. Each assessment has a specific “objec-tive”. In my English class, we ask kids to “decode” a sentence as if it’s an encrypted message from a Soviet sub.

The Cold War took the framework of the Industrial Revolution and reinforced the hierarchy. It was a timely response to a time that has passed. This hierarchy was designed to give America the one-up on a

future that was grim with little room for optimism.

The Cold War ended but the classroom hasn’t changed much; it no longer aligns to the generation of students who occupy them. To quote Bruce Wellman, “At this point, we appear to have a 19th century curriculum, 20th century buildings, and 21st century students facing an undefined future.”

That “undefined future” that Wellman talks about is a reality. And that unde-fined future establishes one of the great-est generation gaps in educational histo-ry. The system no longer fits the student. The Industrial Revolution ended and the Technology Revolution reigns.

What’s the point of assigning a reading

quiz on three chapters that were to be read at home when a student can Goo-gle search the chapter summaries, nev-er touching the book, and get a 100 the next day? Did I really authentically assess whether a student “did” their homework?

And what’s a math class going to look like when Google Glass becomes Google Lens and students can just look at a math problem on paper and the answer appears on their HUD, invisible to their teacher? What future does math have?

Let’s move away from Industrial Revo-lution/ Cold War hierarchies and intro-duce a new form of education, one that embraces technology and builds a bridge between the student and the school.

Why isn’t coding taught in elementary schools? Schools shouldn’t shy away from iPads or smart phones in the classroom, we should throw the programming guide at them and say “make something with it”.

Why ask students to write an essay on themes of Moby Dick or Billy Budd when we can ask them to design an app or game that shares the themes? Or design an on-line magazine that matches the tones or moods of the novels? And rather than tossing a numeric grade on it, actually

cultivate the skills needed to create a stel-lar product, one that fits into the students’ worlds, so he/she walks away with the proper technological and problem-solv-ing skills needed in today’s world?

Creative thinking, creative writing, creative planning, creative design, all through embracing technology.

I’ll leave you with this: My graduate lev-el British Folklore and Culture professor required a 30-page research paper of our choosing. I am fascinated with a Welsh song called “Suo Gan” – a beautiful lul-laby most commonly known from the film “Empire of the Sun”. I researched on-line and noted that the song could only be traced back to the early 1800’s, but it was thought to have originated as ear-ly as the 14th-century. Being the driven

individual that I can sometimes be, I told myself I could trace it back fur-ther. And I did. I emailed a Welsh librarian who sent me attached PDFs of letters written by a noted musician who lived in the area, and one of the letters mentioned the lullaby directly by name – in the year 1748.

I had successfully added to the hu-man knowledge bank, something for

the scholars to know for the foreseeable future. Truly, a stellar feat of academia.

I got a “B” because my professor noted that I never signed into the library – never physically entering the library and hold-ing a book. He refused to give an “A” to someone who didn’t’ do “real research”.

We, as educators, need to recognize that our students are not carbon copies of who we are and where we came from. They live in a new world where old skills are mastered in new paths that may seem un-familiar to us, and we cannot disregard or devalue them. We can’t expect them to pack the libraries when the small ma-chine in their pocket possesses the world’s knowledge, and we can’t punish them be-cause they refuse to live and learn in the past.

It’s time to flip the Industrial Revolution’s educational hierarchy around and stop thinking of technology as a tool to teach other subjects, and start teaching it as a subject itself.

Chris Parizo is an eight-year veteran English teacher having taught in Atlan-ta, GA and Boston, MA.

Teachingby Chris Parizo

16

Technology in the Classroom and the Generation Gap

Technology has taken what many still consider to be “real” education and turned it into something nearly archaic.

What used to be important serves no purpose to today’s student.

stylings alone are worth the visit, and the floor to ceiling tiled bathrooms are rated the best bathrooms in all of Chi-na.

SEA LIFESTYLE HAPPYCENTER

Its really called the sea park, but they never ripped down the old sign. It houses not only the remnants of a 1970’s amusement park, but is being reborn as a tourist destination. Look at the lighthouse, eat the sushi, you won’t be disappointed, especially at night. Plus there is an Alfred Hitchcock the-atre for some unknown reason. Situat-ed on the shore, with dozens of shops and spanning a half mile, this is a late afternoon into an evening romp.

SCULPTURE PARK

Down the road from The Sea Lifestyle Happy Center, , on the boardwalk, you will bump into the sculpture park. Not only will the art inspire you, but at the end of this trek you will bump into 1970’s Frank Lloyd Wright in-spired architecture that comes out of

nowhere. Never mind the fact that

all of these structures are derelict, you will want to squat here. Why wouldn’t you? Beach front, on the boardwalk, and down the street from downtown. Set up a tent.

SCULPTURE PARK ADDEN-DUM ~ THE WEIRD EMPTY STRUCTURES OF THE QING-DAO REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

Long title, but not to be missed. If you walk north along the boardwalk past the sculpture park,, you will see very odd structures.. Sort of like A futur-istic city that you would have seen in the movie, Logan’s Run, if it had been done properly from the book.

Once you get up close and personal with these amazing structures, you will see that these must have been built 30 years ago, in a time where the planning commission was trying to make coastal china a futuristic city by the sea. Seemingly occupied either by squatters, or vacant, the housing structures are still stunning to look at,

while the main offices are still housing the planning commission, with tours starting at 10am.

THE GERMAN CASTLE AND CHURCH

It will take you about an hour out-side city center on the bus (the 822) or about 45 minutes in a cab, but don’t miss the hilltop, ocean view of the German Castle. Nestled in the 1900 German built neighborhood, the cas-tle itself is an old fortification with a stellar view of the yellow sea. It has a restaurant, but, le sigh, still only has Tsingtao on tap. Go Early, avoid the tour buses, and spend the afterwards

roaming the European streets.

So yeah… we have more, but this enough to get you started, and it will take a week to get you through these places alone, plus whatever you may find along the way.

Bring your walking shoes.

travel. Qingdao

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from page 10

© 2014 Joel Fremming - http://facezine.wordpress.com

18photo: Kat Tosi

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images.Whai . Temple

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images.hen . qingdao

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images.Elvis Lives. Qingdao

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images.summer dance. beijing

Need to find out who is playing where in Beijing? word on the street is..

LiveBeijingMusic.com

Getting robbed sucks.

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