I thought that this video that my friend Andy turned me on to a little while ago might be a good way to start off the week in which millions of Americans are going to transfer their money out of big banks, and move it to local credit unions. Enjoy.
I was doubtful that he’d show up, given that he backed out of an event at the University of Pennsylvania a few days, in hopes of avoiding those affected by the policies he champions, but it looks like Eric Cantor made his scheduled stop at the University of Michigan this afternoon as planned. The following report comes from MM.com correspondent Demetrius, who attended the funeral-themed protest.
I attended today’s “funeral.”
There were probably 35-45 people demonstrating on the circle drive on the south side of the Michigan League (along North University), with many holding signs promoting either some variation of the “99%” theme — and some others holding fake headstones proclaiming “R.I.P. Middle Class,” or “R.I.P. Job Security,” or “R.I.P. Retirement,” etc. There was also a large banner that said: “Cantor works for the 1%. Who will work for the 99%?”
Shortly before Cantor was scheduled to speak at 1 p.m., a young man playing the part of “Eric Cantor” proclaimed the end of class warfare, saying that he and his rich pals had finally “won” — whereupon he conducted a mock funeral, followed by driving a “final” nail into a casket representing the middle class…
Of course, the real former “Vampire Squid” Cantor was nowhere to be seen since, it seems, he either arrived at the League long before the demonstrators, or was hustled in via some secret entrance.
I’m glad there were at least a few folks there to create at least a token show of outrage over this man being invited to speak here in Ann Arbor — at a public, taxpayer-funded University, no less. Still, I found it quite disappointing there wasn’t a larger show of opposition, such as when Governor Snyder came the U-M’s spring commencement — and several hundred people created a noisy spectacle.
Meanwhile, AnnArbor.com provides some information about what happened INSIDE the League during Cantor’s speech (including some additional protests) here.
Not everyone was unhappy to see the House Majority Leader on campus. The following comment, left here in response to the above report, comes from someone calling himself RobbieK.
Unbelievable some of the comments here regarding Eric Cantor. He’s a great man and does great work for his State of Virginia and our country. If you think there’s a problem with the middle class in Ann Arbor, look no further than the Democrats you elect into office that continuously reach into your wallets for tax money, money, money and drive businesses out of Ann Arbor. And I say to Demetrius, ANYONE can be invited to speak at the University of Michigan. The U of M invites domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to speak there, so a patriot like Eric Cantor is a political breath of fresh air to the campus! Stop giving the University of Michigan a bad name, Marxists! Ann Arbor is a great city if left alone by money hungry marxists.
And here, from the AnnArbor.com article linked to above, is a quote from Cantor.
“Social justice is about fairness. Fairness is making sure that we afford opportunities for everyone to pursue their happiness. There are several folks that have stood up to say tax the rich. That that’s somehow fair… That all we have to do is redistribute the wealth and we can create the American dream for more. That doesn’t work… wealth distribution doesn’t work.”
Except, I guess, when we’re handing over our hard-earned tax dollars to bail out our banks, and ensure that their executives get their bonuses. In that case, wealth redistribution is not only a good idea – the very solvency of our nation depends upon it.
Oh, and, in case you didn’t know, Cantor’s wife Diana was at one time a Vice President at Goldman Sachs.
One last thing… In his speech, Cantor apparently talked about his family and how they made good lives for themselves in America through hard work. The implication, of course, is that others could do there same. Unfortunately, the facts say otherwise. Social mobility in America is on a sharp decline, and wealth inequality continues to rise. Money and power are concentrating in the hands of a few. And, at the same time, the quality of public education is falling, and the expense of university education is increasing. And the combination of these forces is corrosive to the Democratic underpinnings of our nation. What’s more, Cantor knows this, and yet he continues to peddle this fairytale. It’s shameful, and one would hope that the voters of Virginia would wake up to it while there’s still time to change course.
[Cantor, according to folks in the DC press, mounted his current tour of universities with top business schools, in order to rehabilitate his image, which had apparently suffered a bit as a result of his holding disaster relief funds hostage in the wake of this summer’s deadly hurricanes, in hopes of extracting even more in the way of tax cuts for his corporate benefactors.]
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whose daughter is an undergraduate at U-M, will be on campus tomorrow, speaking at the Michigan League Ballroom. And, the irony of the fact that he’ll be here on Halloween, has not been missed. In fact, it looks as though there’s going to be a big zombie party tomorrow in celebration of his presence. The following announcement has been circulating widely this weekend.
In honor of U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Halloween visit to the University of Michigan this Monday, October 31st, zombie corporations and vampire banks will descend on the campus to feast on the remains of America’s middle class.
Cantor himself will conduct a public funeral for the middle class – finally done in by the regressive tax policies, health care cuts, and special favors to CEOs that he has advocated – in front of the Michigan League, 911 N. University Avenue, at 12:30 pm.
The service will be attended by undead representatives of major corporations and banks who, while soulless, have been accorded status as people by the U.S. Supreme Court. All members of these entities and the top 1% are invited to attend and prey on the body of the deceased.
Those wishing to partake are kindly requested to bring a contribution to Congressman Cantor’s political action committee (no brains, please) which the organizers of the theatrical protest will re-appropriate for Occupy Ann Arbor.
Please come, and please come in a spooky costume. Eric Cantor’s vision for our nation is SCARY!!!!!!
After our Funeral for the Middle Class we will silently and respectfully fill the auditorium to hear Mr. Cantor’s speech, and eagerly await the Q & A session at the end.
The event is free and open to the public.
To learn more about Eric Cantor’s record, click here.
I haven’t read anything today concerning ticket availability, but, if you’d like to hear Cantor’s speech, there may still be tickets at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Tickets, as I understand it, were only being given, one-per-customer, to individuals with valid U-M IDs.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that that Cantor will show. If you’ll recall, he’s been know to back out of speeches in front of non-hand-selected groups.
A few days ago, I saw something online about an arts-based speed dating event coming up in Ann Arbor, and, knowing that a lot of you out there in the MM.com audience are sad and lonely, I thought that I’d mention it here. Following is my brief exchange with the person responsible for planning the event. If, after you read it, you feel as though you’d like to participate, you can register here. The event will span two evenings at the University of Michigan’s WORK Gallery (306 State Street, Ann Arbor), with “straight” people doing their thing on Thursday, November 3, and LGBT folks following them on Friday, November 4. Both events start at 8:00 PM. (For reasons unclear to me, the person that I interviewed did not want their name used on this website.)
MARK: What made you decide to put on an event like this?
ANONYMOUS: I am in the MFA program in Art & Design at UM. I am part of a seminar course in WORK Ann Arbor (the UM art gallery on State Street). Two friends are collaborating on this event with me… I wanted to facilitate a new way for people to get to know one another (i.e. a way for people to meet doing something more interesting than talking in a bar), specifically through creativity and imagination. I am single and have looked into speed dating but was not interested in the $25 events that are put on at bars and Ok Cupid and other online dating sites are frustrating and not that great. After I started advertising this event, I found out that other U of M graduate student organizations (the professional graduate schools) have hosted speed dating events in the past but they aren’t widely advertised and haven’t offered participants the chance to make art together.
MARK: I notice that your event is taking place at the U-M student gallery. Is there an official U-M connection here? This wasn’t perhaps set in motion because someone in University administration noticed that people enrolled in the Art School looked sad and lonely, did it?
ANONYMOUS: No one in the University administration had anything to do with the decision to hold the event or the planning. The Director of Communications of my department (Art & Design) did approve the event and gave me the A & D logo to put on the flier. A & D has also advertised the event on their website, as part of our Space Available exhibition. Other events during Space Available have included Argentine Tango dancing, free movie screenings with snacks & popcorn, painting protest posters, an art residency, a couple of short exhibitions, an art installation, a drag performance, and a write-in for young students. Here is more info about Space Available:
From Oct 14 to Nov 4, the University of Michigan’s Public Gallery, Work: Ann Arbor (click for details and floor plan) will be made available for proposals for multiple short term programs to take place at the space. For the 21 days, the Gallery will open itself to explore the potential and possible gestures a cultural space can provide, from exhibitions to inhibitions, from positivist communal acts to antagonistic institutional critiques, from performances to workshops, we are open to exploring what an cultural space can offer, do and be. The space is open for your consideration as a 24/7 space. Proposals could last less than a minute or span days, and happen during any 24 hour slot.
MARK: The concept of speed dating has always intrigued me, but I’ve never had an opportunity to try it out. Have you? Is it super stressful? Is alcohol generally involved?
ANONYMOUS: I have never participated in an actual speed dating event. I think alcohol is usually involved, but we won’t have any drinks at this event because there are strict rules about serving alcohol at events on university property. I’ve been part of an event in which creative writers and artists did a speed getting-to-know-you-let’s-collaborate event; it was a lot of fun and the experience is part of what led to The Subtle Art of Matchmaking.
MARK: Can you tell us a bit about the format of this event, and what people who plan to attend can expect?
ANONYMOUS: People will arrive at WORK around 8pm. We’ll give everyone cards with a list of participant names. We’ll have some snacks, drinks, and music as folks come in. Our MC will welcome everyone, distribute name tags and explain each art station quickly. There will be 10-20 art stations set up around the space with different (very simple) activities. Everyone will start at his/her assigned station, and each pair of participants will have about 5 minutes to talk and partake in as much or as little of the activity as they’d like. After 5 minutes, folks will move to new stations and meet new people. Couples can decide how much they want to interact with the activity together and how much they just want to talk. We hope that they will do both at the same time: we suggest that pairs introduce themselves, do the activity together for the first few minutes, and then talk a bit. Then we’ll give everyone time to mark on their dating card whether they would be interested in seeing the person again. At the end of the night, we’ll collect all the cards. Within 48 hours, we’ll go through all the cards and give contact information out to people who have selected each other. For example, if Morgan and Sarah both circled each others’ names on their dating cards, we would email Sarah with Morgan’s contact information and Morgan with Sarah’s contact information. People can circle as many or as few individuals as they want.
MARK: Did I imagine it, or are there crying babies on the flyer promoting this event? Was that done consciously? Do you want people thinking that, if things go well, they might meet someone at this event to have a screaming baby with?
ANONYMOUS: This is such a funny interpretation of the flier! We didn’t think of the images as crying babies. We had access to Victorian clip art scenes and thought the little kids were funny and charming. They’re innocent and earnest—first and foremost, we want our event to be like play, to be kind of like kids going to a party, meeting each other, and having fun. The pictures added to the design of the flier and were a way to organize the space. So not so much procreation as creating art with finger paint.
MARK: How difficult is it going to be to pull of the the LGBTQ version? It seems that the logistics would be quite a bit more complex.
ANONYMOUS: Not really. People get to self select based on who they are looking for. At the same-gender dating night, we’ll have women circulating with women and men with men. No harder than the opposite-gender/straight night. In terms of the “T” part of LGBTQ, a trans-man looking for a woman would go to the “straight” or opposite-gender night. A trans-woman looking for a woman would obviously go to the same-gender night and meet other women. Some folks who are queer, but date people of the opposite gender, they would go to the “straight” dates night. Folks who are gender-queer, well, we aren’t sure.
MARK: My personal interest in this is… and I understand that this might sound weird… has more to do with economic development than anything else. Several people that I know who are doing interesting things here in Michigan, are here because they’ve gotten involved with someone from the state. That’s what happened to me. My wife is from Canton, and we met while I was attending U-M, and she was at EMU. At any rate, it occurs to me that we might be able to stem some of the brain drain that our community experiences, if more of our young adults ended up finding love here, instead of heading off to Chicago or other big cities. A friend, many years ago, set up an event for people from the School of Social Work at U-M to meet awkward but well-intentioned techies from around the University. The hope was that they might find love, and perhaps not be so keen on moving after graduation. Anyway, I was just wondering if there might be an ulterior motive behind this effort of yours.
ANONYMOUS: We had no other motive than putting on a fun event for people to meet other interesting people they might want to date. Any other benefits that might come out of the experience for the community would be wonderful.
MARK: Why do you think it’s so hard to meet people here? Is it because people don’t have the time, that we don’t have enough opportunities to socialize, or is it just because we lack a critical mass population-wise?
ANONYMOUS: Well, we think it’s hard to meet people when you’re a grown-up no matter where you live. So much of dating is about timing — which is why an event like this can help, since everyone attending feels ready and interested in meeting new people.
MARK: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
We would really like to encourage all interested people to pre-register and contact us with questions. We do have people signed up but would love more.
Those attending will be asked to contribute $7 at the door. Proceeds, I’m told, will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation, “in the name of love.”
Here’s my caption. If you have a better one, let me know… “And you thought football Saturdays were bad…”
This photo, which was taken outside of Knights’ Market last night by Jeremy Wheeler.
Actually – and I know this is far fetched – what if they escaped from Knights? What if Knights, all these years, has been serving velociraptor meat? What if they raise them in basement cages, like veal?
