Thursday, July 26, 2012

WCRX-LP Community Programming Advisory Committee meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 4:30 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

WCRX-LP Community Programming Advisory Committee meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 4:30 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

The meeting location will be announced on the prior Friday morning to individuals who RSVP by the prior Thursday.

Community residents are welcome. 

Admission is $10.00 per person.

Cash, check, money order and ID.

Please RSVP to wcrxlp@yahoo.com or voice mail to (614) 235-2929 no later than the Thursday prior to the meeting.

Community Programming Advisory Committee  is a public  committee of
Bexley Public Radio Foundation
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209

Bexley Comedy Writers Guild meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 4:00 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

Bexley Comedy Writers Guild meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 4:00 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

The meeting location will be announced on the prior Friday morning to individuals who RSVP by the prior Thursday.

Community residents are welcome. 

Admission is $35.00 per person.

Cash, check, money order and ID.

Please RSVP to wcrxlp@yahoo.com or voice mail to (614) 235-2929 no later than the Thursday prior to the meeting.

Bexley Comedy Writers Guild is a public  committee of
Bexley Public Radio Foundation
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209

Ohio Public Media Cooperative meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 3:30 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

Ohio Public Media Cooperative meeting for Bexley Public Radio set for 3:30 p.m. Monday September 3, 2012.

The meeting location will be announced on the prior Friday morning to individuals who RSVP by the prior Thursday.

Community residents are welcome. 

Admission is $5.00 per person.

Cash, check, money order and ID.

Please RSVP to wcrxlp@yahoo.com or voice mail to (614) 235-2929 no later than the Thursday prior to the meeting.

Ohio Public Media Cooperative is a public  committee of
Bexley Public Radio Foundation
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Centennial of the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Do you remember when workers struck for culture benefits??

The Baffler No. 20 reminds us that this is the 100th anniversary of the two-month-long textile workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  The workers objective was to win a reduction in their fifty-six-hour work week and, famously, to have time for "art and love and beauty in their lives."  This was the Bread and Rose strike recounted in James Oppenheim's poem:

Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for--but we fight for roses, too!

Less famous about this strike is the class credits awarded to the male students at Harvard College who joined a militia force to keep order at the Lawrence mills.  The image of the horse-mounted college men   confronting the mostly female strikers is incongruous.

The workers won their hour and wage demands.

To the Editor, The Baffler No. 20:  We have commemorated this strike both in print (this blog) and on radio (Bexley Public Radio, WCRX_LP, 102.1 FM).  Our small contribution to memory of this strike.

The Editorial Collective of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.


HELP BEXLEY PUBLIC RADIO UPGRADE ITS ANTENNA. SEND YOUR MONEY PROMPTLY. BE GENEROUS.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM Editorial Collective.



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

2012 Presidential politics. Literary criticism for the 2012 presidential election. Joel Nickels. The Poetry of the Possible: Spontaneity, Modernism and the Multitude.


Presidential politics and the 2012 election.  Literary criticism for the 2012 presidential election.  Joel Nickels.  The Poetry Of The Possible:  Spontaneity, Modernism And The Multitude.

Last weekend President Obama stirred up a debate when he observed that businesses succeed from the toil of workers and the brains of government employees and officials.  A business owner’s contribution to an enterprise is only one part of the social efforts that create wealth. 

The President didn’t expand the proposition to its obvious corollary, namely that workers and government are entitled to the full measure of wealth that their muscles and brains create.

The best summary of the President’s point was made in the on-line Christian Science Monitor by guest writer Jeffrey R. Cornwall: “Business success takes a village.”  This builds on Hilary Clinton's memorable book title It Takes A Village To Raise A Child.

The best detailed discussion of the social theories underpinning the President’s comment is a small volume released by the University of Minnesota Press, by coincidence, on the same weekend that the President made his comments.  

The book of literary criticism is the Poetry Of The Possible:  Spontaneity, Modernism And The Multitude.  

This is a small volume that looks at the work of four Twentieth Century poets through the lens of a Marxist critique.  This insightful book is the work of University of Miami (Florida) professor Joel Nickels.

The poets discussed by Professor Nickels are William Carlos Williams, Wyndham Lewis, Laura Riding and Wallace Stevens.

Except for Laura Riding, these are names of poets that most of us will recognize.  Laura Riding is less well-known.  An explanation is hinted at deep in the book’s page of copyright permissions.  Jackson’s “… Board of Literary Management asks us to record that, in 1941, Laura (Riding) Jackson renounced, on the grounds of linguistic principle, the writing of poetry; she had come to hold that “poetry obstructs general attainment to something better in our linguistic way-of-life than we have.”

The issues that these poets explored in their writings include the creation of economic value, the leadership of production and politics and the distribution of wealth.  These are the same themes that are central to understanding President Obama’s remarks.

That these poets are being analyzed through a Marxist lens is hammered home through repetitive use of the adjective “collective.”  In the first two dozen pages of the book, we learn of the collective world, collective body, collective virtuosity, collective life, collective existence, collective power of large groups, collective processes, collective powers of judgment and mediation, collective potentiality, collective phenomenon, collective spontaneity, collective world and collective manifestation of spirit.

The President's point is that business success is the work product of a community. There is an extensive literature that expounds the theoretical basis for the President's remark.

If you want a full discussion of the theoretical writingss for President Obama’s comments about sharing the fruits of business success, order a copy of Professor Nickels’ book. 

The book is available from Amazon and the University of Minnesota Press.

The Editorial Collective of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Postscript: today's mail includes the new issue (No. 20) of The Baffler with Christopher Lasch's "Life and Times of a Libertine" where I read "The part I played could have been played by hundreds of others; fortune alone assigned it to me."  Seems to be the same issues as in Nickels' The Poetry Of The Possible.


HELP BEXLEY PUBLIC RADIO UPGRADE ITS ANTENNA. SEND YOUR MONEY PROMPTLY. BE GENEROUS.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM Editorial Collective.






Monday, July 16, 2012

Bexley Consumer Price Index, 2d Quarter, 2012.


Laura Franks reports the Bexley Consumer Price Index, 2nd Quarter, 2012.

The Bexley CPI reports on the aggregate prices paid for a uniform basket of merchandise purchased at retail in Bexley and nearby retail stores.

The Bexley CPI measures the change of prices for typical retail purchases made by Bexley residents.

The Bexley Consumer Price Index can be compared to the price changes reported by the US Department of Labor.  The comparison can provide useful information for Bexley consumers about local price changes compared to price changes in other parts of the United States.

As of the second quarter, 2012 compared to the first quarter, 2012, Bexley prices showed no change to the aggregate cost of the uniform market basket.  An interesting note to the prices is that one item that was on sale during the first quarter, continues to be offered by the retailer as a sale item.  The unit size of the item has also decreased twice during the last year and a half.  Even controlling for changes in unit size prices remained steady during the second quarter.

With retail prices holding steady, life in Bexley is nice.

Broadcast Wednesday June 27, 2012.
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM

Monday, July 2, 2012

July 2. Things are back to normal. Still, we need your financial help. Donate now.

MONDAY JULY 2, 2012 UPDATE:  Broadcast has been restored.  BPRF's transmitter was damaged and needs repair work so  your donations are important.  The Neighborhood Network is loaning use of their transmitter to return BPRF to broadcasting status.  

SATURDAY JUNE 30, 2012 REPORT.  Windstorms and tornadoes.  It's summertime in central Ohio. Bexley Public Radio has been silent since the first windstorm blew through the area last Friday.

No music.  No jazz.

No local Bexley news and information.

No East-side Columbus news and information.

We haven't identified the problem yet but we are fearful that the Bexley Public Radio transmitter has been damaged by a lightening strike.

Whatever has caused our black-out, it will be an expense so the radio station will need money.  

If you like Jazz on 102.1 FM,  help us get back on the air. If you support local news and information for Bexley and nearby Columbus neighborhoods, make a donation.

Mail your check or money order to:

Bexley Public Radio Foundation (Jazz on 102.1 FM)
2700 E. Main St., Studio 208
Columbus, OH, 43209

Donate on-line:

Google the three words Agent of Currency and click on the "Donate" button at the radio station's blog and use your credit card or PayPal account to make a donation..

Donations by telephone:

Call (614) 235-2929 and make a credit card donation by phone.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is an Ohio nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal taxes under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).  Donations to Bexley Public Radio Foundation are deductible for businesses and individuals who itemize.






Time-line for history teachers.


Summer break is here but it is not too soon to plan for next year.

An incredible free resource that all history teachers should consider is the current Citigroup Inc. annual report.  This 298 page report to shareholders covers the financial operations of this bank and its affiliates for calendar year 2011. 

This year, 2012, is the two hundredth anniversary of the chartering of City Bank of New York by the legislature of New York and the annual report also looks at the place in history of City Bank of New York

Citigroup Inc. is the corporate successor of the original City Bank, now with 200 million customers and financial operations in 160 countries and jurisdictions.  The report is a reminder that commerce, investment and finance all take place in a world of politics, diplomacy and war.

This annual report should be of interest to history teachers because it has a nine-fold time-line that follows the major banking events in the growth and expansion of City Bank of New York and relates the bank to major American and world historical events.

For example, the time-line informs us that the bank was chartered June 16, 1812, two days before U.S. President James Madison signed into law a Congressional vote that formalized the War of 1812 against Britain; and, that the next year, 1813, City Bank paid its first dividend to shareholders and also subscribed to war bonds to help the national government finance the War of 1812.

The history this annual report provides is rich with events that shaped America.  For example, in 1837, Moses Taylor joined the board of City Bank of New York.  Taylor was a merchant specializing in sugar trade with Cuba and Latin America.   Also during 1837, one of the periodic Wall Street financial panics erupted.

In 1894, the bank became the largest New York bank.  At the same time Thomas Edison was across the Hudson River constructing at movie studio in West Orange, New Jersey.

The time-line continues down to 2011 when the bank, and all its affiliates are known as “Citi” and it launches the Global Enterprise Payment Unit that permits the bank to serve customers with worldwide businesses.  And beyond the bank in that same year, the IBM  Watson computer beats the game champions on the television show “Jeopardy.”

The time-line highlights war and peace, scientific inventions, growth of the bank, financial panics and financial innovations.

To receive a copy of this annual report and the time-line of history, contact  Citi Document Services at 1-877-936-2737 (Outside the U.S. call 716-730-8055).

Your request can also be by email docserve@citi.com.

You can also order the annual report by writing:

Citi Document Services
540 Crosspoint Parkway
Getzville, NY 14068

Teachers:  Request two copies of the current annual report covering calendar year 2011.  The time-line is printed front and back and if you want to display the full time line you need two copies so you have front and backside.



The Editorial Collective of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM
Bexley Public Radio Foundation