Dave Abs
Dave Abs is the 21st century epitome of worldliness and high culture. A true sophisticate and renaissance man, Abs cut his teeth at the age of 15 with a small English theatre company called “The Pantaloons,” making the move from his home state of Kentucky to the UK. Abs’s breakthrough performance was in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, bringing new life to the character of Rosalind—the daughter of Duke Frederick.
When Tiny Ninja Theater in New York City debuted Macbeth, they sought out none other than 17 year old Abs for the role of Lady Macbeth. A slave to humility, Dave accepted the responsibility, and chose the pseudonym “Mrs. Smile” instead of his surname, so as not to steal too much limelight from the up‑and‑coming actors. One can go incognito in Lady Macbeth garb, after all.
A true rootless cosmopolitan, Abs was a globe-trotter for most of his youth, moving about from France, Vietnam, Australia, and landing in Moscow, Russia. He decided academia was his route at the age of 20, settling comfortably into “Kremlinology,” or the study of Russian/Soviet politics. For years, Abs was considered the pre-eminent Kremlinologist of his generation. Abs had been known to dine over Russian caviar with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Gorbachev.
By age 26, Abs had had enough of academia, settling down in the Twin Cities, occasionally offering his services to the Gremlin Theater, a most fortunate arrangement for this small, intimate space; this was akin to a Robert De Niro or Jack Nicholson doing a low-budget, art film. Our cosmopolitan then finally returned to his native Kentucky, taking a rather unorthodox turn: he founded a singles dating website called Louisville Mojo. For some time, Abs embraced a taste for the unrefined, jettisoning his cultured ways for a simple life—running a dating website between singing in a Kenny Chesney cover band, and watching endless hours of Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy stand‑up comedy routines. Dave Abs: an enigma, indeed.
Wandering one day through the city streets of Louisville, Kentucky, Abs—via happenstance—stumbled upon a NO BORDERS meeting. Abs was warmly welcomed, and was henceforth converted to the gospel of anarchy.
A few days ago, I submitted my tax documents to the various government agencies that require them. For me, as for many others I’m sure, this process was fraught and scary. It was fraught because I reject the legitimacy of taxation and most of the uses to which the various government agencies put my accumulated abstract labor (i.e. money). It was fraught also because many of my friends support taxation whole-heartedly, and more or less everyone submits to it as an unavoidable evil – much like searches at the airport. The process was scary because I realized I owed more than $1200. I only made a little more than $16,000 last year, working as a part-time instructor at a regional campus of the Indiana University system. I have no idea how I will come up with this money and I fear the networked bureaucracy that will likely attempt to extort a great deal more.
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Hey All!
As this is the New Year – indeed two weeks into it! – I’d like to introduce you all to my own “Resolutions to Make Revolutions.” There are projects I’m hopefully going to pursue over the course of the upcoming year. If any of you are interested in working with me on some of this, well that’d be awesome…
1) Building New Community Spaces
In the short term, this means reading groups, meet-ups, and lots of inclusive radical discussion. In the long term, of course, I mean “spaces” more literally. That is, I would definitely like to work with you wonderful radicals to establish real radical spaces for community education and organizing. I don’t necessarily mean Infoshops. Whatever you call them, I mean inclusive and inviting spaces that provide radical educational programming, reading, and community and workplace organizing space. Emphasis on the INCLUSIVE.
2) A New KY Social Forum
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Barnstorming, Copwatch, Haymarket, KY, Louisville, May Day, new year, radical, resolution, revolution, social forum, spaces
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