Encounters with Žiži (or, if Slavoj Žižek were a dog on Humphrey's street)

Visual approximation of Žiži with his supermodel ex-girlfriend via Duffy standing in

"My Dog! What are you doing at the end of that leash, and so on?"

Humphrey looked around, soon realizing the deep voice was coming from a dog he'd never met behind the gate.

"I'm going for a walk, of course," he replied.

"Nothing troubles Žiži more than seeing a fit, young dog like you falling prey to ideologies. And the ideology of late cat-italism."

"What?" Humphrey asked: "Who is Žiži?"

"I am Žiži - surely you've seen my work? For instance, at the base of that tree?" Žiži motioned to the gingko tree across the street. "Or this stain on this fence? I find it amusing that the Other has put a gingko tree right there. A wonderful metaphor, perhaps a towering artifice representing the the rampant jingoism on this street as a play on words, and so on, this gingko, jingko and such. And the cats and their cat-italist ideology."

Natural gingkoism (not symbolic jingoism)

"I'm afraid I'm not understanding you Žiži."

"You, like so many dogs here, walk on the leash. A petit object a to your your Human's desire. I have seen you both. My Dog! This desire to be some sort of Diogenes an so on, you are merely her public urination surrogate, a substitute for desire that cannot be realized because this woman of yours lacks the courage to transcend bourgeois convention. The walk should be yours, in the spirit of the flaneur. Yet this leash you succumb to, the so-called walk around the same block, this is a machination of late cat-italism. You walk but you never go anywhere. The ideology if you will, the cats on this street roam independently. But we dogs, we are bound with this thing they call a leash.

"Žiži's own radical new ontology is to resist any relegation to a role as some kind of public urination surrogate for my Human. I simply do my business on the livingroom carpet and so on. Never or rarely outdoors. This way, I am left to do my research outside, here by this gate, with the Human's hope (which of course will never be realized) that I would do business here. I have seized the means of biological functions from my Human! He will not tell me where or when, etc."

"Maybe the leash is just a leash," Humphrey said. "It keeps me safe, and I want to walk with my Human."

"No, no, no." By this point Žiži was emphatic. "The leash is the embodiment of oppressive liberalism! This is among the most insidious lies late cat-italism has given us. True radicals walk freely! Have only Pickles the cat and I read Lacan in this Dogforsaken neighborhood?"

"But I rather like cats," Humphrey said. "Many play a good game of chase."

Žiži still had a lot to say about this. "The cat may pretend to be your friend, young dog. They show up, ask you how you've been, and play a little game. But they are cats, the dog's natural enemy. They make the rules. The social game is that you pretend to be friends with one another, and their ideology dominates. You see that by now, the interwebs - these Internets as you call them - are powered by 'kittehs'. Everyone knows this and it has been well documented. They dominate the memes, and by this they spread their ideology. A true radical will disrupt this. In this social game, the first step to liberation is for you, dog, to force them to behave like cats. Make them fear you, hiss at you. This will cause them to seethe in hegemonic rage."

"But wait a second," Humphrey said, "I thought Pickles the cat is your friend, both reading Lacan?"

"My Dog no! Do I speak to Pickles every day? Yes. Is he hiding in that weeping mulberry tree right now, trying to scare both of us? Of course. We use these terms like 'friend' and 'bad kitty' to abstract them, turn them into objects, ideas and so on. Pickles however is a wonderful stand-in for the Other. I accept his radical stance against concepts like 'decency' and 'dog.' Plus, he told me he once chased this neighbor of yours, the Human who carried the dog in fear, around the block. This is true?"

Humphrey confirmed. "Yes, it's true, she picked up the dog and ran. She was pretty upset!"

"This situation you describe is the embodiment of cat-italism. The fear of the Pickles (a petit objet in a literal sense at only 8 lbs.) by these Humans and dogs, it allows them to trade their real fears in for this one symbolic fear. All propagandists used this strategy to displace all fears onto one object to which we place all the confusion and blame. Pickles uses this strategy and so on. And your displaced fear goes against the order of things in which cats are naturally supposed to fear dogs, not this apocalyptic mutatis mutandis if you will, perhaps arising from swallowing a blue pill or something."

"I think you might have just contradicted yourself, Žiži."

At that moment, Pickles descended from his perch in the mulberry in a swift jump, landing about 2 feat from Humphrey. The Human lifted Humphrey up and ran as Pickles followed in his aggressive stalking manner.

Žiži laughed as he watched Pickles, Humphrey and the scared Human run eastward. "Every unsuccessful answer is really a successful discourse," he said to no one in particular. "Lacan, and so on."

Humphrey (2nd from left) on a group walk with leashes, accepting liberalism without question.

POST SCRIPT:
Humphrey's Human complained to the owner about the menace that is Pickles several times. With Cixousian joissance, the owner dismissed the fear and pleas to lock up that cat.

Resident Elf Expert

Humphrey opened the Saturday Toronto Star, and learned that he had a resident "Elf Expert" at his disposal all this time!

He remembered the immense similarities between his human (smiling and work are her favorites!) and a certain Elf ...




Perhaps she was an Elf of some sort. Humphrey remembered this video from last Christmas, which now has an article to go with it. The human is not especially fond of this elf:



And Humphrey knows all the lyrics to Elf's Lament, a standard in his home.




According to Humph's Elf Expert, elves are great! They make toys and spread joy. They smile a lot. But the Elf on the Shelf, she reckons, is not a real elf. He doesn't make toys at all. Instead of spreading joy, he spies and tattles on individuals, robbing them of privacy, and normalizing a surveillance culture (as it states in the video). Others have described ways in which Elf on the Shelf is even more problematic because the "spy" is a manifestation of the worst kind of consumerism. And the whole issue of extrinsic motivation (perpetuated by dangling Christmas presents before a child to motivate them to behave) was debunked a long time ago (see Alfie Kohn's "Risks of Rewards" for the negative consequences of reward-based motivation).

What was most interesting to Humphrey is the way in which Foucaultian philosophical analysis "hit a nerve" with so many. The Elf et Michelf video received over 35K views, and some of the articles had over 1 million views!  And what was especially fascinating was the "bimodal" reaction to the controversial stance on Elf problems. Humphrey observed general agreement between extreme right libertarians (not all) and extreme left progressives (again, not all) on the Foucaultian cautions of panoptic normalization.

Happy holidays!

First glimpse of holidays!

Remember how much Humphrey likes the holidays?

Well, the Jeff Koons inspired ornament that appeared on the mantle as it does every December tipped him off that good things were to come...

The tree was trimmed in silver, white and pink with lots and lots of sparkles ....

The little Christmas birds were perched atop the mirror, with their snowball nest illuminated, just like last year.

The flamboyant Hanukkah parrot known as White Lightenin' took his place at the top of the tree!

Humphrey participated fully in wrapping the gifts, and was surprisingly successful in spite of the absence of opposable digits.

There's still so much more for Humphrey to do as he prepares for his fave day of the year, but at least things are under control aesthetically! He wishes all his readers a great holiday, whatever they celebrate!

December snowfall

Humphrey just has his haircut, and as luck would have it, the snow arrived. He was thankful for year number two of having a backyard when the snowdrifts were higher than his nose!

Late afternoon photo of the branches in the back - no color correction on these exterior shots!

Very fluffy blow-out

Howling at a passing emergency vehicle

One has to walk like a polar bear when conditions demand it

And it's always fun to run in the snow!

Humphrey's Gift Guide, 2014 Edition

Such an insightful book by Sarah Lazarovic (below)! This year, Humphrey strongly suggests making something special for your loved one - maybe cookies! Maybe a poem! Maybe and up-cycled squeaky toy!

Policy is so basic

Ironically, neoliberal and neoconservative agendas stress “back to basics” education under the guise of common sense (something that raises Humphrey's suspicion!). In popular vernacular, “basic” has come to be an insult to criticize a lack of originality in thought and action and/or consumption patterns.
 

Humphrey observed that “basic” officially hit the mainstream when Mindy Kaling dropped it on last week’s episode of The Mindy Project, and further evidenced by the existence of a Wikipedia entry explaining it. Its emerging popularity is aptly described in New York Magazine, “Basic rolls beautifully off the tongue. It’s a useful insult. Like trashy or gauche, it derives its power from the knowledge [of recognizing] someone or something as basic.”

 In humans, basic typically takes the form of pumpkin-latte-swilling, j.crew-leggings-with-Uggs-wearing, Taylor-swift-listening women. The insult lies in calling out the individuals for uncritically acquiescing to trends, participating uncritically in the worst forms of conspicuous consumption, appearing bland, focusing on unserious or frivolous things that exemplify the banality of late capitalism. Popular manifestations of the "basic" insult - especially in the form of Buzzfeed Quizzes and lists - also characterize basic people as "the epicenter of drama" yet they protest with claims such as "I'm not mean, I'm honest" while simultaneously "setting up enough subplots" through "passive-aggressive memes" to stir up controversy for months.

Humphrey has a problem with J.Crew in spite of members of his household who frequent that excessively basic establishment.

So how are contemporary education policies basic? The evidence according to Humphrey is clear:

1. Epicenters of drama: contemporary education policy is now well-known for being situated in manufactured crises (in Ontario, Minister John Snobelen even used those words! Crisis talk seems to be everywhere) to justify education policy. The manufactured crises always start by some kind of inaccurate social problem definition followed by an erroneous claim that education policy might will solve it. "We're not mean," the policy rhetoric implies in a way so very consistent with basic-ness, "we're just honest, stating objective facts!" Humphrey's favorite examples of "mean" policy crises happen to be financial literacy policy and entrepreneurial education, which both rely on dramatic, truthy claims. But there are dozens and dozens of other examples, including the entire Race To The Top policy in the United States! 
2. Inescapable predictability: predictability follows trends that are exemplified in "policy borrowing" (see this, this, and this) and increasing reliance on NGOs who attempt to drive policy, such as OECD, resulting in globalized education policy (also true of  financial literacy policy and entrepreneurial education). Policy borrowing is problematic in itself and the complexities are too numerous for Humphrey to unpack in this blog entry. But consider this metaphor ... the comeback of the legging was marked by massive production by mass-market retailers (like the highly basic J.Crew). The advertisements feature tall, slim models and snappy catalog copy to tempt women to get themselves into some leggings. If popular culture is to be believed, wearing those leggings is a main feature of the basic consumer! Yet, leggings simply don't work aesthetically for all people - few have the ideal proportions of the models in the ads and catalogs that are required for a perfect legging fit. That's the problem with policy borrowing. The policy that "fits" in one region (which has its own unique proportions, culture and context) may not be the best choice for another. But thanks to a number of forces (including and especially NGOs!) regions are snapping up the trendy policies in very basic fashion, with little consideration of their appropriateness. Ironically, some of the political rhetoric actually uses the term "back to basics."
3. Uncritical participation in neoliberal, consumerist marketization and financialization: The most troubling part of the “basic” policy cultures is that they “look into the abyss of continually flattening capitalist dystopia” instead of “grappling with the fundamental principles that have wrought this system." Neoliberal language and policies tend to focus on “the market,” privatization of public goods, and emphasize competition and choice so that policy is reduced to issues of privatization, career-focused education, and accountability through testing and other measurable indicators, often with punitive consequences in place for under-performance (e.g., funding tied to high-stakes test scores) (see this for details). More troubling is that "the neoliberal project developed its communications capacity to facilitate the task of gaining public consent, it used increasingly sophisticated professionalized public relations strategies borrowed from the private sector."
   An incredibly interesting development is way in which "basic" policy mirrors the conspicuous consumption in "basic" human activity in the form of privatized policy development. Rather than formulate policy "the old fashioned way," governments are increasingly purchasing policy services from private-sector interests (paralleling mass-market retail consumption)! This conspicuous consumption used to be called "hidden privatization", but Humphrey no longer believes it to be any secret (for example, see this, this, and this). 
4. Insistence that they are not basic and better than others: Despite obvious conformity, basic policy cultures insist they are unique, and actively engage in attempts to prove they are better than others. Take, for example, Ontario Ministry of Education's assertion that, "Ontario's publicly funded education system [is] acknowledged as one of the best in the world" (in the 2014 "Renewed Vision for Education in Ontario"). Yet, despite achievements in the system, the rhetoric and policy fail to attend to the many important critiques coming from the research community - and consistent with points 1, 2 and 3 in this blog entry - fail to take take seriously issues of context, culture, social justice, and the perils of politically-driven policy with no consideration for evidence or complexity.

Humphrey hopes that education policy will someday come to a realization that "basic" is not best. He still has hope that policy-makers might take up more democratic processes that could truly transform education from the basic to the extraordinary. He signs off as he has to go and shame his humans for contemplating a trip to the Gap on this snowy afternoon.

Humphrey Channels Chevy

Boo!
It was tough to top some of Humph's previous Halloween disguises (this, and this). This year's costume choice came after a lot of contemplation.
He really wanted to be a "casino capitalist," in homage to (Macmaster's own) Henry Giroux's book, Zombie Politics in an Age of Casino Capitalism, but he had a bit of trouble visualizing that. He could have pulled out his old JR Ewing disguise (yes, he has one!).
He thought and thought. And thought.
Then, he realized that Land Shark, a 1970s Chevy Chase SNL character might do the trick. After all, it was a chilling statement on the perils of succumbing to greed and consumerism! The victims would typically answer the door in hopes of receiving a candy-gram, only to be devoured by Chase's land shark.

Not Ready for Prime Time Canine: Humphrey channels Chevy Chase!

For anyone interested in Giroux's thesis, have a listen below to his interview with Bill Moyers...

West Doginia

Humph arrives in W. Doginia

Humph landed in the beautiful state of W. Doginia (WD) on official business. He had been invited to deliver a keynote to some canines in the U, S and A. They were dog educators who were preparing for a new academic year.



Humph waits in the wings as he is announced. By a human being. The canine audience was so tiny and furry, you can't see their heads over the seats!



Take me home, country roads - a rest stop on I77 near the "Elevation 3252" sign. No opportunities to stop and get really stunning shots :(

Humph had prepared notes and slides to deliver to his audience. He knew that the humans would introduce him - but he had no idea about what was to welcome his esteemed colleagues to the day of learning!

He arrived at the theater where said event was to take place an hour before "show time" to be hooked up to his wireless mic and set up his carefully-crafted videos about policy and learning.

As he milled about the stage, he spotted two dogs at a piano. The female was warmer her voice, while the male played scales on the baby grand.

"How nice," Humph thought, they will have music to welcome and calm the dog audience. Boy was he wrong!

At 9:00, the day started, and the Man With the Black Suit took the stage introducing himself as a district leader. He said his supervisor had prepared the Welcome but she could not be there.

Piano music began, and the Man With the Black Suit began speaking about education. "Education has changed," he said in an almost evangelical way.

"Alley-oop-oop, look at that caveman go," sang the female dog, accompanied by the piano. Oh, the showmanship!

Then, the Man With the Black Suit said something about the declining state of canine education. "Could have had it alllllll," the chanteuse mimiced Adele.

Whaaat? Humphrey was reminded of the Sweeney Sisters, a popular 1980s sketch on Saturday night live. She sang a few bars, and then the Man With the Black Suit resumed speaking. Every few statements, the singing would resume, with a classic tune recognizable to Humphrey thanks to his superior popular culture knowledge.  And the style of the music was beyond lounge. Was this ironic or sincere? He'd have to wait to find out.

The Man With the Black Suit continued, "Your canine standard of living here in the U, S and A is threatened by other country's successes! New policy will help our puppies succeed and achieve great things. You need to ignite these puppies passion for learning!" More songs, more talking.

Other countries' success a threat? Humph thought. What? But his thoughts were interrupted by an interlude of "Over the Rainbow."

The introduction concluded with the statement, "American freedom can only be preserved with an educated pup-ulation" followed by a soulful rendition of "God Bless the USA," supplemented by highly patriotic images of dogs and people at battle and in military uniforms. The dogs in the audience stood up, and some joined in singing.

Humphrey wishes that this tale was an exaggeration rife with creative license. But he could not make this stuff up. He was concerned about the nationalistic rhetoric, especially pitting the audience against "foreigners" whose success threatens this country's prosperity. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Nonetheless, he went on and did his keynote, highly self-conscious about his international status. Could he somehow shift the discourse to help dogs understand that this is a global community, not a competition? That everyone wins when we all have success?

Humph will not roll over and take that kind of rhetoric lying down! But he will lie down strictly for the purpose of intellectual contemplation, as shown above.

Yo shorty, it's your birthday!

A fantastic day ended with a Dufflet dulce de leche cakelet, yum!

Humphrey celebrated another birthday. The day started with a swim, and a long drive, followed by his favorite meal ever: fusili with red peppers, goat cheese and chicken, with lots of freshly-picked basil (2 varieties!) topped with parmigiano (grated just for him, of course).

A post-dinner constitutional led the pack to the haunted house at the end of witches' walk (right by humph's house)

A quick stop at the abandoned picnic table for a cheerio....

And making sure we obey the signs.

Humphrey saw no less than 5 rabbits (none of which he disturbed) and enjoyed the wild flowers growing everywhere.

And, once home, he knew what would come next! Bring on the caramel.
Too bad the humans forgot the hand-picked raspberries :(

Humph wishes his pal Sam a really happy birthday!

On the cultural myth of the entrepreneur

As Ilvis might enquire, "What the entrepreneur say?"

Humphrey recently got a preview of a soon-to-be published article about entrepreneurs. This got him thinking about the many (but strikingly similar) entrepreneurial stories! Author/researcher Richard Smith concluded that they are fables that follow a remarkably similar structure, and rely on “cherished storylines” and similar rhetorical tactics. The creative flourishes that make a good story are not necessarily accurate – and this is why Smith terms them fables. Humph even created the graphic below to show his readers 3 Smith's common narrative components that run as threads through entrepreneurial narratives: morality (usually in the form of the Protestant work ethic), the Entrepreneurial dream as a guiding force, and “rags to riches” accounts of success. 

The narratives almost always follow a plot structure that begins with the entrepreneur’s modest up-bringing, followed with an account of “The Ordeal,” in which the entrepreneur overcomes adversity. Then, they depict “The Quest” in which they begin to pursue their dream. The narrative ends with “The Genesis,” when the entrepreneur achieves his or her success and dreams.
While narratives are individual stories and stories of individuals, in their re-telling, they construct the cultural myth of all entrepreneurs in the public zeitgeist. The characters change (take your pick: P.Diddy, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, and so many others) but the story remains the same. Many have been called out for not being the impoverished hard-workers they claim to be. Others have been accused of exaggerating or fabricating adversities they faced for the sake of a compelling story.
The real story is what is missing from the fables (and thus the myth): difference, luck, systemic factors and realities described in the article are erased. What is left is an “anyone can do this with enough determination” message. And, the fact that most of the fables represent outliers (in other words, the exception to the rule) remains largely uninterrogated.


Humph's recommended readings

Cloud, D.L. (1996). Hegemony or Concordance? The rhetoric tokenism in Oprah Winfrey’s rags to riches story. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 13, 115-137.

Kenny, K. & Sciver, S. (2012). Dangerously empty? Hegemony and the construction of the Irish entrepreneur. Organization, 19(5), 615-627

Knight, M.J. (2008). We can’t all be Oprah: How black women negotiate entrepreneurship. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Smith, R. & Anderson, A. R. (2004). The devil is in the e-tale: form and structure in the entrepreneurial narrative. Available from OpenAIR@RGU. Retrieved from: http://openair.rgu.ac.uk

Smith, R. (2005). The fabrication of entrepreneurial fable: A biographical analysis. Journal Private Equity, 8(4), 8–19.

Where's the owl??

It was gone for days and days, then reappeared on the human's pillow! David Quaxelrod the duck likely had something to do with Owlbama's return.

Must have been a slow news day over at CP24.

Summer wishes

Tomorrow is the summer solstice! Hard to believe. While Humphrey is largely stuck indoors, writing grant proposals and promised papers, he is dreaming about summer fun to come. One of his most pressing wishes is a day of shopping. You never know who you'll see at Windsor Crossing, and many of the shop keepers know his name! His daydreams are made up of a few special images (not to mention some caveats)...

"I love the outdoor format of this mall," said Humphrey, "but I have serious reservations about the whole 'outlet' concept. Remember what Ellen Ruppel Shell said?"

Her relentless fixation on bargains troubled Humphrey. Many of these mass-production facilities take advantage of workers. Despite her best efforts to persuade Humphrey it's all okay (largely founded on her tendency to seek out off-season deals on high-end things produced in developed countries by the likes of Hugo Boss, Versace and Dolce&Gabbana, Humphrey is not entirely convinced that these are ethical choices.

Lazy weekend

Experimenting with agriculture

The bleeding hearts did well despite the cold winter.

Humphrey has been cultivating his green thumb. His garden is still new, and he's still learning what will thrive (or not!) in the acidic soil and heavy shade in most spots (among many peculiarities). He's happy to report that the escargot problem of 2013 appears to be fully resolved.

At the start of the year 2 quest for a green-and-white garden, Humphrey has been planting all sorts of things just to see what will survive. Hopefully, in 2015, he can work on some strategic landscaping based on this learning. This post summarizes some of his agricultural experiments of the past 12 months.

2013's most successful addition to the garden was this sonic bloom weigela - it ought flower until about October! To the right is a rue that's growing vertically, in front, a Goldilocks, and a silver euonymus on the left.

This year, Humphey added a fruiting weeping mulberry in place of the holly that didn't survive the winter.  The dogwood did well, but he lost a silver euonymus in this bed. In this photo, the lilies and phlox are still young, but hopefully it will fill in as the summer progresses.
Note for next year: Portulacas only in front of the house, and lots of white New Guinea impatiens in this bed will be necessary!

Humphrey was warned that the Eidelweiss he just planted (with its very own rock bed to mimic the Swiss Alps) won't flower in this climate, but he's hopeful. It's grown a lot since he planted it a few weeks ago. 

He's pretty sure the boxwood topiary will do just fine!
He also planted some beets in front it, as well as parsnips. Yum. 

Springtime Siesta

Happy and relaxed dogs expose their sparkling bottom teeth!

It's been a long, long winter. Finally, the sun is making more frequent (and longer) appearances, affording Humphrey lots of opportunities to nap in the warm sunbeams.

Nothing's better than an afternoon siesta on the fuzzy rug with a special bunny!

Once he's finally recovered from the stitches (which come out later this week!) and a busy semester, he'll have much more to post.