A year ago I stopped posting on facebook, and started more actively posting on the blog on this website. And as the year has brought a never-ending stream of “news” of disgusting behavior by the owners and users of facebook and all the other (anti)social media I have felt like I did the right thing. But why stop there? Apple and Google and Amazon have also shown, to say the least, a distinct lack of social and moral responsibility. Here’s an article in today’s Guardian that can help you find a way out of the bigtech jungle.
Flow sweet river
Not far from our country house there’s a lovely spot where you can watch the Rörum river flow and for a moment forget everything else and flow with it. It’s not the Thames but it sure is sweet.
Visions of Africa
This amazing tapestry, “Tied to the Other Side” by Otobong Nkanga is one of many amazing things in an exhibition, “Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. It’s a fascinating journey of discovery showing the many ways in which visions of Africa have been portrayed, both in Africa itself as well as in America. Here are some other artworks, by Arthur Bisop de Rosario, Dumile Feni, and Hale Woodruff, all of whom are well worth discovering. Check them out on ecosia.
and here’s a short film about Nkanga:
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We’re heading back to Malmö today with lots of inspiration from sunny Spain. The shop will be open tomorrow at the usual hours.
Ubo Roi on display
Ubu Roi, or Ubo the King, is a play written by 23 year-old Alfred Jarry in 1896, that has strongly influenced art and literature ever since. A grotesque, irreverent, and extremely imaginative story of the obscenity of power, it continues to be regularly performed and has never grown out of date and is perhaps especially relevant in the age of Trump. The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is hosting an exhibition about the play and its cultural influence that we went to see the other day. It’s really eye-opening, to say the least. Here are some of the works on display, by Max Ernst, Enrico Baj, Duboffet, Miro, Picasso, and Hélène Delprat.
and here’s a recent version of the play:
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How about some of you actors out there doing a performance at Andy’s Corner? We’ll be open again on Saturday if you want to come and talk about it.
Rethinking economics
The long march through the institutions continues. For someone who spent his academic career trying to rethink and change science and engineering education, mostly in vain (you can check out my last book for details: https://andrewjamison.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/the-making-of-green-engineers.pdf), this seems like something to encourage. And not just for economics!
Back to Barcelona
It’s that time of year again which means that we are off to Barcelona for a family visit and that the store will be closed, this year until February 21. We’ll try to bring some warmth and sunshine back with us.
A simple request
I have often wondered how anybody in their right mind could use Amazon since the behavior of Jeff Bezos, both as businessman and private person has always been particularly disgraceful in regard to just about any criterion of human decency. But what he has done to The Washington Post is downright disgusting. So let me make a simple request. Never use Amazon! I would be happy to help you order anything – well, just about anything – that you might want to order from Amazon.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/05/amazon-ai-robotics-bezos-washington-post
Your next phone?
While leaving antisocial media and boycotting AI you might also consider getting a Fairphone. We really don’t have to destroy the world in order to enjoy it. Check it out:
A worthy cause
Alison Luthmers has written to say that Friday’s concert with the Bellevue String Quartet and special guests Antoine Torunczyk and Antina Hugosson will be a benefit for Sweden’s oldest environmental organization, The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (Naturskyddsföreningen).
So there’s one more reason to join us on Friday. Check out “Bookstore events” for details.
The mobilization of tradition
Hearing Bruce Springsteen’s song brings back memories of a book I once wrote with Ron Eyerman, Music and Social Movements. We argued and tried to show that the interaction of music and social movements in the 20th century, in the 1960s in particular, represented a mobilization of cultural traditions that affected both politics and music and contributed to what we termed cultural transformations. I used to talk about it at academic conferences by asking the audience to stand up and sing “We Shall Overcome” with me to help bring the points all back home, so to speak. Let’s just hope that Springsteen’s song can inspire other music-makers to join him in doing something useful with their talents and mobilize their own musical traditions for a good cause. Who knows: if enough of them start writing and singing meaningful songs at their concerts it might actually help us overcome the horrors that have been brought upon us. Anyway, here’s a link to a preview of our book. And then sing along with Joan.
AndrewJamison 