Excellent content in this #a2council thread from @A2LuisVazquez
It keys into some thoughts I've had regarding the functioning of our council, and the way some residents and CMs appear to (mistakenly) conceptualize that functioning.
Some folks use the pejorative "voting in lockstep" esp, w/ respect to when CMs vote w/ Mayor Taylor.
I want to unpack that pejorative a little bit, #a2council.
My first thought here is that there are only 2 ways a CM can vote (3 if we count abstaining, which we shouldn't).
Jul 21, 2021 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
One interesting thing here #a2council, is that it's actually far simpler, upon discovering a mistake, to immediately do what is necessary to correct the mistake, learn from it, and move on – now better equipped to avoid similar mistakes.
Imagine, for example, #a2council, if the very first time Mr. Crawford made one of his many unfortunate remarks, it had been immediately reported, and substantial remedial action had been successfully taken.
Jul 21, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
#a2council
I am in a low level admin position where I work.
One thing ppl must learn as they rise higher in an organization is that there are things one may need to discuss confidentially 1-on-1 in private with a trusted co-worker at a similar level in the hierarchy to one's own.
I can't say every thought that crosses my mind out loud to everyone in my workplace.
But problematic, decision impairing thoughts don't magically disappear just because they're bad and I shouldn't have them.
I have bad thoughts sometimes, and they can get in my way.
The changes Ann Arbor *needs* in housing policy (whatever we decide they might be) are not going to be easy changes to make, but trying to protect us all from change is 100% assured of making everything worse.
(pic related) 1/
This is, for example, why "protecting neighborhood character" is, w/ total certainty, the wrong *policy* choice. We need to collaborate to *change* the character of our neighborhoods w/ policies crafted to *improve* them.
There *are* problems w/ them.
2/
Aug 4, 2019 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
@AshitaNoFrog@GutsySubs@randomsakuga And here's another side of this:
When I met Urasawa Naoki at his Japan House exhibition in Los Angeles earlier this year, I told him his "Manben" documentary TV series was incredible, and that I hoped it might someday be subtitled for release in English speaking territories. 1/@AshitaNoFrog@GutsySubs@randomsakuga He was very proud and pleased that I liked Manben so much, and we agreed that the educational element of it would be great to be able to share outside of Japan.
He even said that he had tried repeatedly to talk NHK into somehow making it available translated for other countries.
Aug 3, 2019 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Here comes a thread with my own "thought experiment" that I've been mulling over all day regarding this wild anime/manga fan translation beef that's been blowing up anime/manga twitter for the past day or two...
1 Imagine there is an anime series you've been wanting to see but it is unavailable translated and subtitled in a language that you can read. It's an old series, and, while popular enough in Japan to have at least a DVD release, it's very unlikely to be released in your language.
Jul 29, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
@BurialOfTheDead What's the criteria for objectifying anything?
All components of physical reality are objects.
Some objects are also subjects with agency.
100% of representational art (including anime) transforms the physical reality of the world into objects to be studied — to evoke a response.
@BurialOfTheDead There is always the object being represented, and the object created by that process of representation.
So what?
Part of the value of representational art is that it can call our attention to significant aspects of object-ness in the world — including our own object-ness.
Jul 16, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
#A2Council
Here's a strange moment from last night's council meeting in which CM Hayner appears to call for elimination of the mayoral veto from the Ann Arbor city charter.
The reasons this is strange to me take some explaining, so please read on after watching the clip.
Here's a summary explanation of the two main kinds of city governance that exist in the U.S. taken from the National League of Cities website.
It's particularly notable here that Ann Arbor has a hybrid version of the strong and weak mayor systems described.
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