UC Davis Occupation

The Point Is... is an independent podcast that explores life. To spare your time and not insist that the show is any good I suggest you check it out yourself. I have attached part one of a two part conversation. Two of the members of TPI attended the Berkeley and Davis occupations. Here are the links for their observations and ideas:
Does the UC Look Out for Me? Podcast Part 1
The University of Sacrifice. Podcast Part 2
Forums and help TPI help the discussion.

From the front page of The Point Is...:
Here, in Failifornia, de-Uniting States, the University of California is being questioned by it’s own body, the students. Entities, more commonly called institutions, are very much akin to a human body. Think about it like this, you get sick, your body notifies you that its time to change your ways; rest more, eat better, exercise more, stress less, in one idea: the cells say "help us help you." Compromise. I see that as the ideal that UC students are trying to portray to the UC administrators. It is all really simple to me. If the UC system is a public school system it ought to be a family. In my ideal family there is open communication and sharing of information. The biggest stray from the the administrators attitude is self-sacrifice. They do sacrifice. They sacrifice their daily lives with a family or loved one to put in that extra face time, to work that extra hour to keep making that extra money. That personal choice is ok. I disagree with looking out for this entity composed of humans over the very humans that compose it. I do appreciate my cells telling me that it is time for a change towards healthy, towards balance. An idea this country was founded on: checks and balances. Well lets check and balance, not overweigh one side. Look at a scale, the heavier side--the students--gets weighed down because of the lighter side--the administration. This isn't light vs dark, this isn't black vs white, but it is right vs wrong. This is sacrifice + sacrifice = a healthy compromise.

The very entity that I learned sacrifice through is now telling its body, its children, it self, that it only wants to make money for its few. It is the same as the imbalance between working a desk job and going home to be a couch potato. Your hamstrings, your literal backbone suffer for your choice to not exercise (take care of) your body; just like these "public" universities are strangling, atrophying its own body-its legs and its support. Unfortunately? bodies are replaceable in these modern days. You can get surgeries and replacements. You can get new students and workers to do the same or even more for less. Which seems more odd than even to me. You can reap the same benefits at the top even if there is a shift in the bottom, because after all you are still on the top. The top of Mt Everest is still the top of Mt Everest even after the bottom pushes itself up a bit higher. Rise above? Its not even a flood. Its for balance and love. We can look out for the greater whole without creating an over abundance of entitlement or disrespect.

Public education should not be operated as if it were a company, a corporation. It should be operated like a family. Even companies should be families. Look out for your own. Don't hurt others but strive for more. Maybe this is because I feel at home anywhere I have ever been. I feel at home on Earth. Home often implies loved ones. I love people, I often dislike groups of people, the larger the group the larger the dislike. I don't dislike what the group is composed of, I dislike the group. I want to take care of my loved ones, I want my loved ones to be taken care of. I want to feel together because of our differences, not in spite of them.

I love you all.

Give thanks.

Thank YOU.

Cheers

TPI...

Love
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