My oh my, The Mind Benders class I taught at FOCI wrapped up last night and what a wonderful whirlwind! I had the most amazing students who time and time again, were so hungry for knowledge, and wanted to learn more and more.
We learned to bend neon, make digital vector patterns, blink the neon with programmable microcontrollers and I even showed them how they could work with a glassblower to pull their own tubes.

My TA, @dinkytown was incredible- typically fulfilling the class's needs before I even asked her. I am thrilled that she learned a bunch in the class.
It was able to train two FOCI staff members to bombard (the dangerous process of purifying and putting gas in the tubes)- so now FOCI neon renters can get their tubes filled quicker.
The artist talk and demo I gave was well attended, and now FOCI has the doodle I made during the demo in their permanent collection.

Rebecca. By Daphne Du Maurier.

You are a young bride, of a different age and class from your new husband, and you find that his perfect, but dead ex-wife gets into everyone’s heads, including yours, ruining your new perfect life; then things get worse.

3 of 5 library cats .

@bookstodon #bookstodon #reading #books #marriage #class

You’ve 9 more days to catch the Lives Less Ordinary : Working-Class Britain Re-seen exhibition at Two Temple Place:

https://twotempleplace.org/exhibitions/lives-less-ordinary/

Well worth a visit. It expands the idea of the w/c beyond the usual cliches. Though it’s not without limits of its own – perhaps inevitably so. That’s the problem with representation: you construct – and so more or less violently delimit – the very thing you think you’re just depicting.

Why is working class life so often presented as being grim in one way or another? In this sense, Lives Less Ordinary offers a marked contrast to the joy and vitality displayed by those working class artists, designers, photographers, models, musicians, fashion stylists and art directors who feature in The Face Magazine: Culture Shift exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery:

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2025/face-magazine/

Lumpen: A Journal of Poor and Working Class Writers is open for submissions

https://www.theclassworkproject.com/post/lumpen-a-journal-of-poor-and-working-class-writers-is-open-for-submissions

Class is funny. One of the guys I play DnD with grew up on the other side of Cleveland from me.

We were sitting down and getting out notebooks and dice and I said "Hey, I was in Parma last weekend for a wedding. Right behind the old Armory." He goes "Oh, yeah."

The other two guys thought I went to Italy for the weekend.

»...the problem with entitlement and privilege is not that some people have it, it’s that other people don’t.«

https://davidgraeber.org/papers/anthropology-and-the-rise-of-the-professional-managerial-class/

Delighted to see a new book review on ‘The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia’ by Dr Mitja Stefancic just out in the 50th Anniversary issue of Network, the magazine of the British Sociological Association. Link to the full issue https://www.britsoc.co.uk/publications/network/network-current-issue/

@bookstodon
@sociology
@anthropology

#elites #class #ukpol @HenryTufnell m.p. ( #labour ?) #pembroke #haverfordwest Please take note.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/01/zero-self-awareness-second-home-owners-council-tax-england

“My childhood was full of it and being able to represent where I’m from is integral to me. Too often I’ll watch stuff and think they’re treating the working class like an art project. It’s very condescending. ‘Ooh, look at the poor!’ But I’m proud to be this mixed-race working-class kid from a block of flats.”

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/28/stephen-graham-working-class-mixed-race-kid-cares-deeply-about-work

#lbm25 HEUTE im Forum Sachbuch, Halle 5 E700, auf der Buchmesse: unsere Autor:innen Bafta Sarbo und Vincent Streichhahn! Bafta stellt um 14:30 den marxistischen Historiker + Aktivisten Walter Rodney vor, Vincent um 15:00 seine Anthologie »Feministische Internationale«. Freut uns sehr, wenn ihr kommt

Interesting stats showing why increasing taxes on higher income/wealthy people & possibly even better results state/locally doesn't occur through elections.

Wealthy white homeowners vote more on property tax hike proposals - Chicago Tribune
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/26/wealthy-white-homeowners-property-tax-hike-votes/

If you're a Chicago Public Library cardholder, you can access this article without paywall via https://www.chipublib.org/

Reminder: free Python class at @Noisebridge in SF tonight at 7! We'll be doing lesson 2 of 12, so it's a good time to make a first appearance. No experience necessary, no Python installation necessary, but bring a laptop if you'd like to follow along. More information here: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/PyClass

"The new sentencing guidelines are the latest demonstration of distorted thinking about social disadvantage, and of the invisibility of class in many discussions. The treatment of working-class people is an expression of “two-tier” justice so deeply embedded in our history and institutions that it is barely noticed"
Kenan Malik

#Justice #Law #UKLaw #Class #Discrimination
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/16/noise-uk-two-tier-justice-system-silence-class

“Class” carries a whole lot of insights that simple #HHI doesn’t which is why getting a smarter definition of it could be helpful to advertisers.

https://www.martinbihl.com/business-thinking/different-thinking-class

Show coming up + commercial neon + 3 upcoming classes = oh dear I am busy.

I did make a crackle tube this week with Kacie Lees- such fun! We decided to make the upcoming crackle tube class on April 19th an 20th a Bring Your Own Glass - BYOG - to smash and put inside a tube :). The recycled aspect makes the final tube more interesting and its also just fun to smash glass every now an then. With a community of students and glass professionals- Urbanglass has some really interesting glass trash to smash.

I made a few gifs of the crackle tubes as photos can't really capture the frenetic nature of a tight fill. I also added a gif of Kacie attaching an electrode on the topo chico seltzer bottle krypton crackle tube I made. The topo bottles I smashed had enameled labels so they hold up to the heating needed to purify the glass.

Just finished a tag-team (custom) class on using Outlook. Chatting with my partner in crime afterwards, who said "Teamwork makes the dream work!" and I can't believe I've never heard that before LOL
#teamwork #makes the #dream #work #brighter #outlook #calendar #class #adult #learners #law #firm #legal #lawyer #attorney #staff #technology #learning

#monday
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Zeitlos in seiner Kritik an Zwang & Zwecklosigkeit der Arbeit: Friedrich Engels. Who dis: https://dietzberlin.de/friedrich-engels-oder-wie-ein-cotton-lord-den-marxismus-erfand-2