talk, picnic visit

Last night Erik and I went to a talk put on by the local Marxist school called "Public Good, Private Freedoms: The Core Values of Social Egalitarian Political Philosophy" by Jason Meyers, someone who's on the faculty at California State University, Stanislaus. Here's a description.

Why do social egalitarians argue for public goods rather than market-based approaches to meeting people's needs? In his talk, Myers will discuss the role of political philosophy in policy debates, the core values of the broad social egalitarian tradition, and ways in which to reassert those values in contemporary politics.

I know that description is really abstract. I just asked Erik to summarize the talk last night in his own words, and his summary is abstract too: "Ideas held in common by the socialist philosophical traditions." It was very educational. I learned the history of some terms, and I learned what's the difference between a liberal and a socialist. I learned how our own government has some socialist elements, but no one really talks about it (public roads, public parks--my favorite is public libraries). He talked about what socialism has to do with the recent big news stories of the economic crash and the presidential election. And he talked about how we talk about core values, like he would ask his class, "Do you believe murder should be illegal?" and "Why?" and they couldn't answer.

Anyway, it was a really good talk, and the question and answer period afterward was great too. I'm grateful to the Sacramento Marxist School for existing and putting on such fabulous events for free.

Today Erik and I are going to Oroville to visit my friend A and her two kids who live in Bangor. We're meeting at a park and having a picnic. I will stay with A and the kids while Erik goes out to a trail in the woods somewhere to hike a little bit. It will be my first time seeing A on her turf--always before, I would see her in Sacramento, or in Davis when she would bring me with her to Davis for doctors appointments. I'm excited and nervous. We're meeting them at 1. Erik and I plan to go a little early and look around. It will be my first time in that area.

For the picnic I made a fake meat sandwich for myself. I'm bringing to share bananas, carrots, sunflower seeds, nuts, and two kinds of cookies. The cookies are McVitties Digestive Biscuits that I bought at the pan-Asian market the other day (British cookies, but the labels for these ones are printed partially in an Asian language) as well as some fabulous cinnamon sugar cookies made by an all-vegan company that's here in Sacramento.