there are a lot of different readings on the narrator in east of eden. the narrator is a character in the book (though it is also supposed to be steinbeck since the steinbeck family is related to the arc in some way that i cant remember). some of what the narrator says is supposed to be satirical or ironic. i think there is some sense of irony in this quote. at least that is how i always interpreted it since its so obviously a "rugged individualism" jerk off which does not really reflect Steinbeck's own philosophy. 100% steinbeck was critical of the USSR at this point and even worked with the CIA around this time but he was still engaged with the american "left" which even at its lamest was going to have some small degree of collective spirit. the american dream is an obvious theme in east of eden and one that steinbeck has complicated thoughts on. he takes it pretty literally in that it is a dream and not a reality but the fact that it is still a widespread dream makes it have a huge impact on the lives of americans and i think he finds that admirable. east of eden is an incredible piece of literature and like any good piece of literature, i think it contains a lot of different layers but of course understanding steinbeck's own opinions around this time is important for interpreting it.

by the end of his life his views definitely got worse and worse though. awful opinions on the vietnam war, for example. grapes of wrath is still one of the best pieces of proleterian literature out there however.

the vanguard will be led by Tim Heidecker and Greg Turkington

yeah, it's embarrassing this was posted here

The Boston PSL gets pretty large showings to their events as they are quite active and there are plenty of people in the city interested in some sort of vague radical politic. A lot of people I know attend the rallies but don’t know really what the PSL is. They just show up cause of the messaging and it getting shared on social media. And it’s not like they talk through the full party program at each rally. So I can kinda see the senate run as maybe a good PR move to really put the name of the org itself out there more to turn the attention they get from rallies into membership or more dedicated followings. Idk how successful it’ll be. Obviously I hope it works. The Boston PSL does a lot of great stuff

I want to get out of this industry so fucking bad but I don’t know HOW. I do also have a music degree but that’s even less useful for $$ haha

But now we will never get a sequel to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom…

Malnutrition has been a big problem there for a while. Not in like a “communism no food” kinda way but in like it’s an actual problem that the government is trying to address. Not sure what progress they’ve made on it really but if anyone has info on recent developments I’d be interested to read it

Ngl this was something I already thought was the case… lol. I’m always way off with any Vietnam news. Gotta get more familiar with modern Vietnam

It’s annoying and almost never funny

They put on some many events in my city including stuff like film screenings, crochet nights, salsa dancing lessons, open mics. Most of these are usually accompanied with some type of labor or history lesson. They are just a really approachable group here and are constantly engaging the community. That kind of stuff really draws people in (including people who aren’t really super interested in politics)

Landlord is an occupation? Not familiar with any labor they do

Federating was a mistake