Earlier this afternoon, the House of Representatives voted 240-185 to "bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other live-saving care." To say I'm upset would be putting it lightly.
Luckily, Shelley over at Fair and Feminist has wasted no time putting together a blog carnival in support of Planned Parenthood.
If you'd like to participate (and I hope you will), click here. Leave your name, blog title, and URL as a comment, and add this badge to your blog.
If you've had it with the GOP's anti-choice bullshit, I hope you'll blog about why you stand with Planned Parenthood on Friday, February 25. Be sure to tag your post "I stand with PP."
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
A few words on education
Yesterday my friend Dan (who is a student at SVSU) posted a note on Facebook titled "The Cold War of Life." It's about what he's learning at school, and how that contributes to the greater picture (which is a topic I've wanted to write about). But until I read what Dan wrote, I wasn't sure how to frame what I wanted to say.
I'll start with an excerpt from his post. It's kind of long, but I wouldn't be sharing it if I didn't think it was worth your while to read it.
I have just come to the realization that my current semester is a bit of a downer. In one class, I am learning the historical beginnings of colonization and enslavement of native peoples by capitalists, leading to the current international economy and the division of labor that exploits the weak by multi-national corporations, who use economical power to control corrupt, undemocratic, resource-rich governments. In another class, I am learning about the Cold War. Additionally, during the day, I am being bombarded by negative information whenever I try to catch up on current events. But what I thought was another internal, moral crisis actually led me back to upholding my original principles and values.
Learning about the Cold War has taught me that it was just like life. George Kennan, writing from his insightful vantage point as a post-WWII diplomat, outlined what was to become the main American policy towards the Soviet Union for the next four decades, with an article (and a byline of “Mr. X”) called “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in the magazine Foreign Policy. In the article, he notes that the Russian Revolution demonstrated the youthful impatience of revolutionaries who tried to industrialize a mostly-agrarian society too quickly. This swift change of policy and ideology led to distrust from Lenin and Stalin, on down to the peasant, and created a culture of fear and totalitarianism. Additionally, Kennan notes that because one ideology (capitalism or communism) will eventually “win” due to the fatal flaws of the other. Although Stalin believed capitalism would implode under the weight of its own greed and imperialism, Kennan believed the opposite, that communism would fall due to the rigid top-down nature of the Communist Party system and the lack of easy governmental transition upon the death of the Chairman. Kennan turned out to be right, while Stalin is remembered as a paranoid genocidal maniac and Russia is a shadow of what he knew when he lived. To meet this end, Kennan focused on a policy of vigorous “containment” toward the Russians, that if communism can be prevented to spread, the system would eventually splinter and bring change to an oppressive government that had to keep its people in with barbed wire.
Reading that, I thought about how school has been making me feel lately. I love it, but feel that it needs to be a bigger part of my life, because I cannot possibly keep the experience contained to the classroom.
And yet, that's what I find myself doing. I'm a transfer student who lives with her parents twenty minutes from campus. So I often feel really lonely. The only people I spend a significant amount of time with are my parents (who didn't go to college) and the girls I babysit (they're four and seven--so it's not exactly possible to discuss my 5000-level English and women's studies classes with them).
Last night in class, my professor was talking about the importance of critical pedagogy. And my internal monologue was like, "Oh. This is why you feel so crazy and alone. Because you understand that this needs to be an ongoing discussion. And yet you feel as if the only person you have to talk to is yourself."
I got really mopey when I realized that everything I'm learning at school (and pretty much everything I believe in, for that matter) stands in direct opposition to the structure and belief system of the world in which I live. For example, we were talking in English class recently about how it's bullshit that college has basically been an unlearning of K-12's version of American history. What did we learn about Columbus? That he came over to what is now the United States and had a nice dinner with the people who lived there before he did. And what did we learn about slaves? That they were freed.
That in particular is really hard for me, because I babysit a first grader and see how that's exactly what she's being taught to accept as fact. And I feel helpless to stop it. What's the point of even teaching that? Her options are to either go to college and unlearn it all, or keep believing that forever. I have a hard time seeing how we've supposedly "come so far" as a nation when we're still teaching children this stuff, you know?
So I see a great danger in isolation: my keeping what I learn at school confined to a classroom at Wayne State; or telling first graders that what happened in the past will stay there, and has nothing to do with life as it is now.
Yesterday in class, we were talking about how Harriet Jacobs, who wrote _Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl_, tried to get white women in the north to understand her perspective. And to do that, she had to try to identify with them, even though she knew that her experience was vastly different from theirs. Her audience embraced the "cult of true womanhood," believing that women should be pious, religious, confined to the domestic sphere, and above all else, completely devoted to their children.
In order to get them to sympathize with her, Jacobs had to prove that she actually fit into that very mold. She justified the decisions she made by making her audience aware of the circumstances surrounding her situation as a slave. Even though she spent seven years hiding in an attic, she explained that she still loved her children; she made clothes for them. She used these examples to explain why she should not be held to the same standard as the white women to whom she told her story (thus dismantling the idea of the "cult of true womanhood," woo hoo)!
I got home last night and started thinking about how relevant that still is, almost two hundred years later. The next book I have to read for that class is _Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty_ by Dorothy Roberts. I haven't actually opened it yet, but I don't see how it's such a dramatic shift from our discussion of motherhood in the time of slavery in the U.S. There's a blurb from Ms. Magazine on the cover: "Compelling...Deftly shows how distorted and racist constructions of black motherhood have affected politics, law, and policy in the United States." Um, black welfare mother stereotype, anyone?
And so, the helplessness. I worry that nothing will ever change or get better. I want to quit real life and devote all my time to activism. But instead I gotta be a grown up and spend my time doing my part to support the very structure I oppose. And I do that by earning money babysitting.
But Dan's post showed me how I can, in my own little way, carry what I'm learning in school over to other aspects of my life. The other day I had a conversation with the four-year-old I babysit. She had just gotten home from ballet class and asked me why some of her classmates are boys. We had a little chat about how boys can take ballet, too. (And girls can do things that have been traditionally only associated with boys!)
That seems so insignificant, though. Maybe my talk with her won't change a damn thing. But maybe it will. And that hope is what tells me that I ought to continue to do things like that, however small and seemingly pointless. And I'll be patient. Not lazy, not passive. But patient.
I'll start with an excerpt from his post. It's kind of long, but I wouldn't be sharing it if I didn't think it was worth your while to read it.
I have just come to the realization that my current semester is a bit of a downer. In one class, I am learning the historical beginnings of colonization and enslavement of native peoples by capitalists, leading to the current international economy and the division of labor that exploits the weak by multi-national corporations, who use economical power to control corrupt, undemocratic, resource-rich governments. In another class, I am learning about the Cold War. Additionally, during the day, I am being bombarded by negative information whenever I try to catch up on current events. But what I thought was another internal, moral crisis actually led me back to upholding my original principles and values.
Learning about the Cold War has taught me that it was just like life. George Kennan, writing from his insightful vantage point as a post-WWII diplomat, outlined what was to become the main American policy towards the Soviet Union for the next four decades, with an article (and a byline of “Mr. X”) called “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in the magazine Foreign Policy. In the article, he notes that the Russian Revolution demonstrated the youthful impatience of revolutionaries who tried to industrialize a mostly-agrarian society too quickly. This swift change of policy and ideology led to distrust from Lenin and Stalin, on down to the peasant, and created a culture of fear and totalitarianism. Additionally, Kennan notes that because one ideology (capitalism or communism) will eventually “win” due to the fatal flaws of the other. Although Stalin believed capitalism would implode under the weight of its own greed and imperialism, Kennan believed the opposite, that communism would fall due to the rigid top-down nature of the Communist Party system and the lack of easy governmental transition upon the death of the Chairman. Kennan turned out to be right, while Stalin is remembered as a paranoid genocidal maniac and Russia is a shadow of what he knew when he lived. To meet this end, Kennan focused on a policy of vigorous “containment” toward the Russians, that if communism can be prevented to spread, the system would eventually splinter and bring change to an oppressive government that had to keep its people in with barbed wire.
Which brings me to my main point: Patience will bring change. We can respect each others’ ideologies because when it comes down to it, the truth will always come out, even under the most authoritarian of regimes, both here and abroad. When Martin Luther wrote out his complaints regarding the selling of indulgences by corrupt Catholic Church officials (which was an offense punishable by death), he had no idea that his little screed would literally change the known world. One little action propelled peasants, nations, kings, and popes into the boxing ring of competing ideologies; one spark from a lowly Catholic monk set off a cultural bonfire that led to new ideas such as national sovereignty, liberalism, the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, and the expansion of capitalism and democracy, just to name a handful. All the previous events listed brought us to a new era of humanity, forever separating us from the base animal with violent, wild instinct.
He goes on to give other examples of how seemingly small acts by patient individuals have ultimately changed the world for the better. After he posted the note, he updated his status with a quote from an individual whose identity is unknown: "Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow--that is patience."Reading that, I thought about how school has been making me feel lately. I love it, but feel that it needs to be a bigger part of my life, because I cannot possibly keep the experience contained to the classroom.
And yet, that's what I find myself doing. I'm a transfer student who lives with her parents twenty minutes from campus. So I often feel really lonely. The only people I spend a significant amount of time with are my parents (who didn't go to college) and the girls I babysit (they're four and seven--so it's not exactly possible to discuss my 5000-level English and women's studies classes with them).
Last night in class, my professor was talking about the importance of critical pedagogy. And my internal monologue was like, "Oh. This is why you feel so crazy and alone. Because you understand that this needs to be an ongoing discussion. And yet you feel as if the only person you have to talk to is yourself."
I got really mopey when I realized that everything I'm learning at school (and pretty much everything I believe in, for that matter) stands in direct opposition to the structure and belief system of the world in which I live. For example, we were talking in English class recently about how it's bullshit that college has basically been an unlearning of K-12's version of American history. What did we learn about Columbus? That he came over to what is now the United States and had a nice dinner with the people who lived there before he did. And what did we learn about slaves? That they were freed.
That in particular is really hard for me, because I babysit a first grader and see how that's exactly what she's being taught to accept as fact. And I feel helpless to stop it. What's the point of even teaching that? Her options are to either go to college and unlearn it all, or keep believing that forever. I have a hard time seeing how we've supposedly "come so far" as a nation when we're still teaching children this stuff, you know?
So I see a great danger in isolation: my keeping what I learn at school confined to a classroom at Wayne State; or telling first graders that what happened in the past will stay there, and has nothing to do with life as it is now.
Yesterday in class, we were talking about how Harriet Jacobs, who wrote _Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl_, tried to get white women in the north to understand her perspective. And to do that, she had to try to identify with them, even though she knew that her experience was vastly different from theirs. Her audience embraced the "cult of true womanhood," believing that women should be pious, religious, confined to the domestic sphere, and above all else, completely devoted to their children.
In order to get them to sympathize with her, Jacobs had to prove that she actually fit into that very mold. She justified the decisions she made by making her audience aware of the circumstances surrounding her situation as a slave. Even though she spent seven years hiding in an attic, she explained that she still loved her children; she made clothes for them. She used these examples to explain why she should not be held to the same standard as the white women to whom she told her story (thus dismantling the idea of the "cult of true womanhood," woo hoo)!
I got home last night and started thinking about how relevant that still is, almost two hundred years later. The next book I have to read for that class is _Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty_ by Dorothy Roberts. I haven't actually opened it yet, but I don't see how it's such a dramatic shift from our discussion of motherhood in the time of slavery in the U.S. There's a blurb from Ms. Magazine on the cover: "Compelling...Deftly shows how distorted and racist constructions of black motherhood have affected politics, law, and policy in the United States." Um, black welfare mother stereotype, anyone?
And so, the helplessness. I worry that nothing will ever change or get better. I want to quit real life and devote all my time to activism. But instead I gotta be a grown up and spend my time doing my part to support the very structure I oppose. And I do that by earning money babysitting.
But Dan's post showed me how I can, in my own little way, carry what I'm learning in school over to other aspects of my life. The other day I had a conversation with the four-year-old I babysit. She had just gotten home from ballet class and asked me why some of her classmates are boys. We had a little chat about how boys can take ballet, too. (And girls can do things that have been traditionally only associated with boys!)
That seems so insignificant, though. Maybe my talk with her won't change a damn thing. But maybe it will. And that hope is what tells me that I ought to continue to do things like that, however small and seemingly pointless. And I'll be patient. Not lazy, not passive. But patient.
Friday, January 21, 2011
38 years of Roe vs. Wade
This post was written for NARAL's sixth annual Blog for Choice Day.
--
Whenever this time of year rolls around, I’m reminded of an argument I had a while back with a former college roommate about Roe vs. Wade.
After I explained to her why the state of reproductive health care is still such an important issue--even thirty-some years after Roe vs. Wade--she looked at me and said, “Chill out, Amelia. Abortion isn’t going anywhere.”
“You’re right,” I replied, surprising her. “Which is why it should remain a safe and legal procedure for women who need it.”
At the time, I was a nineteen-year-old freshman at Saginaw Valley State University--a small school in the middle of a cornfield. (Now in my fourth year of school, I’ve since transferred to Wayne State University in Detroit.)
I was frustrated as hell. Tired of conversations like the one I’d had with my roommate, I wanted more than anything to know that I wasn’t alone in worrying about the state of Roe vs. Wade. The 2008 presidential election was just a few short months away.
So I picked up a copy of Gloria Feldt’s book _The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women’s Rights and How to Fight Back_. All I had expected to get out of reading it was a much-needed affirmation of what I already believed in. But I got much more than I’d bargained for.
Feldt offered so many examples (some without even realizing it) of how women’s reproductive rights are jeopardized. Her book was published in 2004, one year after then-president George W. Bush signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Hopeful, Feldt had hypothesized that the US Supreme Court would fail to uphold the ban. Reading her words four years after they were published, I knew that she was wrong. For on April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court had indeed upheld it.
_The War on Choice_ made me angrier than I’d already been when I first picked it up off the shelf. It also made me feel 100% justified in being so vocal (arguments with my roommate be damned), and inspired me to keep fighting.
And there’s still so much to fight for. Recently, NARAL graded each state on its support of a woman’s right to choose. My home state of Michigan received an F. Classy. Illinois, meanwhile, received a B-. I have friends in both states who have had abortions, and know that the friend in Illinois had to deal with a lot less anti-choice bullshit than did my friend here in Michigan.
If we’re ever going to succeed in eliminating all of the bullshit, it’s especially important to put faces of real women on the issue. And because of the recent shift in Congress, we’ve got no time to lose. Props to the three women who recently shared their abortion stories on MTV’s episode of 16 and Pregnant, “No Easy Decision.”
Reproductive freedom has long been on my radar, but is now more than ever. An anti-choice governor was recently elected in my state, and the new Speaker of the House is anti-choice as well. And people like them are wasting no time checking things off their to-do list. (Repeal of health care, anyone?)
But the election this past November wasn’t a total loss. What about that huge pro-choice victory in Colorado? Such victories can (and must!) happen elsewhere. (And isn’t Colorado the birthplace of the Purity Ball? Come on, people. Anything is possible!)
Michigan may have gotten an F from NARAL, but that doesn’t mean everyone in Michigan is anti-choice. I’m sure as hell not. There are brilliant, dedicated feminists everywhere--including schools like SVSU. (Hi, Dr. Rich!) If you’re stuck in a cornfield somewhere (like I once was), speak up! Our silence gives fuel to the anti-choice movement.
Roe vs. Wade is in greater danger than most realize. I wasn’t “wasting my energy” on worrying about it during the 2008 presidential election. And I’m not wasting it now, though I really ought to be spending that energy on actually doing something about it.
Women who, like me (and ahem, my former roommate), were born in the US after 1973, have never lived in a time/place where abortion was illegal. And I hope we never will. But that’s really up to us. Just because we were lucky enough to have been born with the right to a safe and legal abortion, that right may not always be there for us. (If you’re not convinced, do some research on abortion laws on individual states. Michigan’s not the only one that got an F from NARAL.)
While I plan to drink myself stupid in celebration of Roe vs. Wade on its 38th anniversary tomorrow, I recognize that I have a responsibility: not only to those whose efforts made the passage of Roe vs. Wade possible 38 years ago, but to to my peers and to future generations of women who, I hope, will always have the freedom to choose what to do with their own bodies.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Blog for Choice Day 2011
The 38th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade--the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion for women in the US--is fast approaching.
To commemorate it, NARAL is hosting its sixth annual Blog for Choice Day this coming Friday, January 21 (one day before the anniversary of Roe). I'm going to participate. If you have a blog, I hope you will, too.
This is my first time taking part in this particular blog event. But having participated in Fair and Feminist's "THIS IS WHAT A YOUNG FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE" blog carnival this past August, I'm really looking forward to it. That was one of the coolest things I've ever been lucky enough to do. I was glad to have the chance to dialogue with other young feminists. A great sense of community developed that day, which has motivated me to keep blogging since. I can't wait to see what good will come out of NARAL's Blog for Choice event.
To sign up and get a badge for your blog, click here.
To commemorate it, NARAL is hosting its sixth annual Blog for Choice Day this coming Friday, January 21 (one day before the anniversary of Roe). I'm going to participate. If you have a blog, I hope you will, too.
This is my first time taking part in this particular blog event. But having participated in Fair and Feminist's "THIS IS WHAT A YOUNG FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE" blog carnival this past August, I'm really looking forward to it. That was one of the coolest things I've ever been lucky enough to do. I was glad to have the chance to dialogue with other young feminists. A great sense of community developed that day, which has motivated me to keep blogging since. I can't wait to see what good will come out of NARAL's Blog for Choice event.
To sign up and get a badge for your blog, click here.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Three cheers for pubic hair!
With this lovely anti-fur ad, PETA's basically inviting me to write a raging blog post in defense of women's body hair.At first, I thought sa-weet. The idea filled me with glee. It's fun to offend haters who piss me off, especially when I'm doing it for a good cause... like, you know, equality.
But then I started thinking about it, and I'm angry. Not just because of the ad, or the double standard when it comes to women's body hair, but also because why the hell should I even have to explain to the PETA folks how this is offensive? I mean, do I really need to defend myself for choosing to neglect my body hair? It's not like I'm harming anyone. (Let's flash back to seventh grade, when a couple of dudes a year ahead of me noticed my legs and told me that I looked like a "gorilla." I like to think that they were just jealous of the fact that I had more hair on my legs than they had on theirs.)
I can't possibly be the only one who finds this ad blatantly offensive. Because I'm sure as hell not the only one who isn't exactly diligent about keepin' my pubic hair trimmed.
If you know me well, odds are, you've heard my tirade on eyebrows. But in case you haven't, here's how I feel about it: They're fucking eyebrows, man. Not exactly #1 on my list of priorities. So what if they grow to look like furry cats sleeping on top of my eyes? That's not really how I like them to look. But I've let them get to that point many times. I don't have enough patience to pluck them, so the state of my eyebrows generally depends upon the amount of money in my bank account. And given that I'm a twenty-something liberal arts major, well. You know how it is.
Apply that attitude to all of the hair on my body. I deal with it when it's convenient for me to do so, or when it gets too outrageous for me to tolerate any longer. It's my body, after all.
Don't get me wrong: I feel just as awesome as anyone else after I get a new haircut, eyebrow waxing, or what have you. But that's just it; in the end, it comes down to how I feel about it, not whoever the hell's going to be (or "supposed to be") looking at me. (And don't even get me started on what this ad says about who I'm "supposed" to impress.)
Despite my refusal to base my appearance on the approval of others, I've still got many wonderful friends and a pretty healthy sex life. (And this, of course, is how I know that I'm not the only woman who doesn't put trimming my pubic hair at the top of my to-do list!)
If you'd like to hear from another such woman (as you might still need to be convinced that we do, in fact, exist), okay. I'll leave you with an awesome poem by Alix Olson called "Armpit Hair."
Monday, January 3, 2011
Cardinal Sins in the spotlight
During the 2009-2010 school year, I was the editor-in-chief of an art & literary magazine called Cardinal Sins. It's been in existence since 1981 and is published twice annually, during the fall and winter semesters at SVSU.I found out today from my former faculty adviser that the winter 2010 issue (my last as editor-in-chief) received a first place award from the American Scholastic Press Association. :-)
This really says very little about me (even though my editor's note--which referenced something like seven Lady GaGa songs--was pretty awesome). It's more about my editorial staff and the others who found themselves tangled up in this project (like Katie Karnes, a graphic design major whose ability to reason with Adobe InDesign saved us from a huge technological mess).
Being in charge of Cardinal Sins was the most exasperating thing I've ever done. The experience forced me to question my entire career path. If I may be 100% honest, I found it incredibly unfulfilling at times, so much so that I questioned why I'd ever taken the job in the first place.
That isn't to say that it was an entirely negative experience--it wasn't. It just isn't something I'd like to do again. I'm glad that Cardinal Sins gave me the opportunity to figure that out as an undergraduate, while I'm still in a good position to change my mind.
It's about damn time I learn to have faith in my abilities--including my ability to recognize when I'm not as happy as I could be and move on to something else.
As editor of Sins, I shared an office with Sara Kitchen, editor of The Valley Vanguard--a student newspaper on campus (the two of us are pictured above). Whenever we'd find ourselves still working in the office after 10 p.m. on a weeknight, we'd listen to this song and lip sync with gusto.
Add that to the list of things that made this whole experience worthwhile.
Ridiculous, but worthwhile.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Books I read in 2010
I didn't read very many books this past year, but am trying not to be too hard on myself about it. After all, I discovered a bunch of blogs, and therefore, did read stuff, even if it's not the kind of reading material I can post on Good Reads.
Speaking of Good Reads, I thought I'd make a list of all the books I read in 2010, since it has kept track of that for me all year. I won't comment on all of them, but will add a few words about some that I didn't blog about when I read them initially.
FICTION
_Goldengrove_ by Francine Prose (2008)
_The Devil's Arithmetic_ by Jane Yolen (YA, 1988)
This Holocaust story bears a striking resemblance to a book that was published six years later, in 1994. Han Nolan's _If I Should Die Before I Wake_, like _The Devil's Arithmetic_, is also about a girl who travels back in time and experiences life in a concentration camp. I think I like Nolan's book best, but am biased, because I'm the biggest Nolan fan on Earth. If there's anyone out there who has read both, which do you prefer and why? I'm curious.
_Push_ by Sapphire (1996)
_Schooled_ by Gordon Korman (YA, 2007)
I loved this book so much, and don't know why I didn't blog about it at length when I read it ten months ago. It reminded me a lot of _Stargirl_ by Jerry Spinelli. It's about a teenager (Cap Anderson) who has lived on an "alternate farm commune" all his life. And when his grandmother (who is his legal guardian) is injured, he is forced into foster care and attends a regular high school for the first time.
Culture shock ensues. He has no concept of money. And when he is elected class president, he's put in charge of organizing a school dance. The principal, in an attempt to teach him how to be financially responsible, gives him a checkbook. Cap realizes that checks make people happy. And in a completely altruistic attempt at making his classmates happy, he writes large dollar amounts on a bunch of checks and gives them away.
That incident (among others) really struck me, and made me realize that although we may think we hold certain values/beliefs, the society in which we live really limits the extent to which we practice that. Cap Anderson, having come from a totally different lifestyle, lived by what he believed better than anyone else. It was really sweet (and also really sad to see how he suffered for it).
_Number the Stars_ by Lois Lowry (YA, 1989)
_My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike_ by Joyce Carol Oates (2008)
_A Face in Every Window_ by Han Nolan (YA, 1999)
I loved this book because it affirmed my belief that it's okay to have an alternate definition of family; you're not just limited to blood relatives. An uptight teenager named JP finds himself living in a house full of social outcasts when his mother wins the house in a contest and invites a bunch of lonely strangers to move in. I don't think I've ever read a book with such a colorful and affecting cast of characters. And I loved watching JP learn to accept and love all of them.
I am so glad Han Nolan writes for young adults. She is using her talent to make the world a better place. I can't say it enough: If you haven't read her books yet, get with the program already. (There. I've just made your New Years resolution for you.)
_Household Saints_ by Francine Prose (1981)
_The Robber Bride_ by Margaret Atwood (1993)
_Voyage in the Dark_ by Jean Rhys (1934)
_Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 1996)
_Keep Smiling Through_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 1996)
_Crazy_ by Han Nolan (YA, 2010)
_The Letter Writer_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 2008)
NONFICTION
_Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation_ by Leora Tenenbaum (2000)
_To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism_ edited by Rebecca Walker (1995)
_Slouching Towards Bethlehem_ essays by Joan Didion (1968)
_Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History_ by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (2007)
A lot of people have criticized this book for covering too much ground in too few pages. It did read a lot like a survey course in history. But I loved it. There were a lot of resources in the back of the book for more in-depth information on the topics covered. And because I am a nerd, I sure as hell poked around on the Internet/in the library learning things after I finished reading this. So I'll count it as a win.
_Zami: A New Spelling of My Name_ by Audre Lorde (1983)
I loved this book for so many reasons and can't possibly list them all here. What's funny is that this is a good example of how books teach me things I don't expect to learn when I first start reading them. Take, for instance, the definition of "biomythography." That's this book's genre. At first, I thought that was something Lorde made up (I had even expected an explanation similar to the one about the symmetry of her name). But no. When I Googled the word, I found a list of other "biomythographies" instead of a definition.
_When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple_ edited by Sandra Martz (1991)
_Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists_ edited by Courtney Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan (2010)
_Cunt: A Declaration of Independence_ by Inga Muscio (1998, 2002)
_Rose: Love in Violent Times_ by Inga Muscio (2010)
I actually wrote a lengthy post about this, but Blogger decided it wanted a midnight snack and ate it. I'm still too upset to redo it. But I'm sure I'll get over it eventually, and when I do, the post will go up. Suffice it to say for now that I liked this book a lot. I was drawn to it because it was published very recently (in it, Muscio quotes former BP CEO Tony Hayward saying he'd like his life back). Goes nicely with my recent need for new and relevant information, yes? I've been a blog-reading fiend all year.
POETRY
_The Best American Poetry, 2009_ edited by David Wagoner (2009)
_Book of Longing_ by Leonard Cohen (2006)
_Beautiful Rust_ by Ken Meisel (2009)
_Beauty Breaks In_ by Mary Ann Samyn (2009)
_Mother Love_ by Rita Dove (1996)
Speaking of Good Reads, I thought I'd make a list of all the books I read in 2010, since it has kept track of that for me all year. I won't comment on all of them, but will add a few words about some that I didn't blog about when I read them initially.
FICTION
_Goldengrove_ by Francine Prose (2008)
_The Devil's Arithmetic_ by Jane Yolen (YA, 1988)
This Holocaust story bears a striking resemblance to a book that was published six years later, in 1994. Han Nolan's _If I Should Die Before I Wake_, like _The Devil's Arithmetic_, is also about a girl who travels back in time and experiences life in a concentration camp. I think I like Nolan's book best, but am biased, because I'm the biggest Nolan fan on Earth. If there's anyone out there who has read both, which do you prefer and why? I'm curious.
_Push_ by Sapphire (1996)
_Schooled_ by Gordon Korman (YA, 2007)
I loved this book so much, and don't know why I didn't blog about it at length when I read it ten months ago. It reminded me a lot of _Stargirl_ by Jerry Spinelli. It's about a teenager (Cap Anderson) who has lived on an "alternate farm commune" all his life. And when his grandmother (who is his legal guardian) is injured, he is forced into foster care and attends a regular high school for the first time.
Culture shock ensues. He has no concept of money. And when he is elected class president, he's put in charge of organizing a school dance. The principal, in an attempt to teach him how to be financially responsible, gives him a checkbook. Cap realizes that checks make people happy. And in a completely altruistic attempt at making his classmates happy, he writes large dollar amounts on a bunch of checks and gives them away.
That incident (among others) really struck me, and made me realize that although we may think we hold certain values/beliefs, the society in which we live really limits the extent to which we practice that. Cap Anderson, having come from a totally different lifestyle, lived by what he believed better than anyone else. It was really sweet (and also really sad to see how he suffered for it).
_Number the Stars_ by Lois Lowry (YA, 1989)
_My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike_ by Joyce Carol Oates (2008)
_A Face in Every Window_ by Han Nolan (YA, 1999)
I loved this book because it affirmed my belief that it's okay to have an alternate definition of family; you're not just limited to blood relatives. An uptight teenager named JP finds himself living in a house full of social outcasts when his mother wins the house in a contest and invites a bunch of lonely strangers to move in. I don't think I've ever read a book with such a colorful and affecting cast of characters. And I loved watching JP learn to accept and love all of them.
I am so glad Han Nolan writes for young adults. She is using her talent to make the world a better place. I can't say it enough: If you haven't read her books yet, get with the program already. (There. I've just made your New Years resolution for you.)
_Household Saints_ by Francine Prose (1981)
_The Robber Bride_ by Margaret Atwood (1993)
_Voyage in the Dark_ by Jean Rhys (1934)
_Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 1996)
_Keep Smiling Through_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 1996)
_Crazy_ by Han Nolan (YA, 2010)
_The Letter Writer_ by Ann Rinaldi (YA, 2008)
NONFICTION
_Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation_ by Leora Tenenbaum (2000)
_To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism_ edited by Rebecca Walker (1995)
_Slouching Towards Bethlehem_ essays by Joan Didion (1968)
_Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History_ by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (2007)
A lot of people have criticized this book for covering too much ground in too few pages. It did read a lot like a survey course in history. But I loved it. There were a lot of resources in the back of the book for more in-depth information on the topics covered. And because I am a nerd, I sure as hell poked around on the Internet/in the library learning things after I finished reading this. So I'll count it as a win.
_Zami: A New Spelling of My Name_ by Audre Lorde (1983)
I loved this book for so many reasons and can't possibly list them all here. What's funny is that this is a good example of how books teach me things I don't expect to learn when I first start reading them. Take, for instance, the definition of "biomythography." That's this book's genre. At first, I thought that was something Lorde made up (I had even expected an explanation similar to the one about the symmetry of her name). But no. When I Googled the word, I found a list of other "biomythographies" instead of a definition.
_When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple_ edited by Sandra Martz (1991)
_Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists_ edited by Courtney Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan (2010)
_Cunt: A Declaration of Independence_ by Inga Muscio (1998, 2002)
_Rose: Love in Violent Times_ by Inga Muscio (2010)
I actually wrote a lengthy post about this, but Blogger decided it wanted a midnight snack and ate it. I'm still too upset to redo it. But I'm sure I'll get over it eventually, and when I do, the post will go up. Suffice it to say for now that I liked this book a lot. I was drawn to it because it was published very recently (in it, Muscio quotes former BP CEO Tony Hayward saying he'd like his life back). Goes nicely with my recent need for new and relevant information, yes? I've been a blog-reading fiend all year.
POETRY
_The Best American Poetry, 2009_ edited by David Wagoner (2009)
_Book of Longing_ by Leonard Cohen (2006)
_Beautiful Rust_ by Ken Meisel (2009)
_Beauty Breaks In_ by Mary Ann Samyn (2009)
_Mother Love_ by Rita Dove (1996)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
