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Born to Learn. Born to Learn. The Examined Life & the Task of Public Philosophy. This phrase is over 2400 years old, dating back to 399 BC when Socrates first uttered the words at his infamous defense trial, and retold by his pupil Plato around 387 BC in the Platonic dialogue the Apology of Socrates. Beyond modeling the examined life himself, Socrates pressed ordinary Athenian citizens to question their notions of justice, virtue, piety, and love, and never held set definitions himself.

Since Socrates, the aphorism of the “examined life” has given rise to analogous sayings such as “life of the mind,” vita contemplativa, and “learning for learning’s sake,” and is the subject of countless books and courses. One could even consider the project of philosophy, which itself began with Socrates, one of calling this phrase into question. But the examined life, as fundamental to human life as it was for Socrates, has never been available for all human beings. As theoretical as Socrates’s philosophy can seem, it was always a practical, public project at heart. Examined Life. The Laughing Heart. Chicago Seven. Poster in support of the "Conspiracy 8" The Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight, also Conspiracy Eight/Conspiracy Seven) were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to countercultural protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois, on the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Bobby Seale, the eighth man charged, had his trial severed during the proceedings, lowering the number from eight to seven. Background[edit] The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago in late August—convened to select the party's candidates for the November 1968 Presidential election. Prior to and during the convention—which took place at the International Amphitheatre—rallies, demonstrations, marches, and attempted marches took place on the streets and in the lakefront parks, about five miles away from the convention site. Charges[edit] Debunking the Palestine Lie. The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man. The Haight-Ashbury Home Page - Community Website Since 1997 - Provided by SanFranciscoBay.com.

Charles Bukowski's Last, Unpublished Poem and the Bestial Wail. By Stephen J. Gertz On Friday, February 18, 1994, at 2:14 PM - eighteen days before his death - Charles Bukowski, America's poet laureate of society's fringe, sent to his publisher, John Martin of Black Sparrow Press, via FAX, what would be his last poem. oh, forgive me For Whom the Bell Tolls, oh, forgive me Man who walked on water,oh, forgive me little old woman who lived in a shoe, oh, forgive me the mountain that roared at midnight, oh, forgive me the dumb sounds of night and day and death, oh, forgive me the death of the last beautiful panther, oh, forgive me all the sunken ships and defeated armies, this is my first FAX POEM. It's too late: I have been smitten. We wondered about it and asked John Martin for insight. "On February 18, 1994 Hank had a fax machine installed at his home. "I ran off nine photocopies of the fax, for a total of ten, and numbered and initialed them.

He possessed, for once, a simple sense of joy. A personal thank you to John Martin Of related interest: The Richard Brautigan Archives : Emmett Grogan. Playing For Keeps. One day while I was rehearsing at the Mime Troupe, a lithe, freckled man with flinty, Irish features walked in to observe. He had an arresting gait with a leonine head thrust aggressively forward as if it were impatient with the body behind it. His eyes were a cool, unflappable blue, his face a mask, suggesting abundant anger and determination. Emmett Grogan had come to audition. We struck up a conversation that carried us through the afternoon and a long walk back to our respective flats, which, it turned out, were on opposite corners of the same intersection of Fell and Steiner streets. He was a galvanizing story teller and an immediate new friend who subsequently changed my life in more profound ways then anyone I had ever met before, or have allowed to since.

If all of us are life-actors to some degree, Emmett was determined to be a life-star. This divorce between official fictions and reality demanded articulation and voice. Literature. Guardian Industries: Glass, Automotive and Building Products.