A Bunch of Dude Writers Congratulate Themselves on Their Inclusiveness

So, last night the National Book Awards were handed out, going to what appears to be a group of pretty white and pretty dudely dudes. Based on the NPR story I heard this morning, there was much back-slapping but also much hand-wringing over the state of publishing. Apparently, that thing called the Kindle freaks the crap out of the publishing folk.

Also interesting was the blatant self-congratulation on saving the voice of the other. Some quotes from Colum McCann, the Irish writer who won the Fiction prize:

"As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right."

AND

"As someone who's come from Ireland, I am extraordinarily honored. It seems to me that American literature is able to embrace the other."

Okay, so if McCann actually believes that American literature is completely fair, equal, and unbiased, maybe these comments are not so bad. But put into the context of a sexist and racist society, where white men are the privileged class, which sadly continues to be the case in literature as well... um, yeah, they seem pretty bad. It's almost like he's saying, as long as us menfolk are here to interpret the world and tell the untold stories, the rest of you needn't worry about it!

Then there was this from Dave Eggers, who won the Literarian Award:

"I think this is the most exciting and democratic time," he said. "There is a pluralism in publishing that is unprecedented."

Okay, guys, really? These statements are quite the head-scratchers. Could you just look around maybe, be a little self-aware, and notice who happens to NOT be standing on the platform next to you? If you're such geniuses at pluralism and noticing who's anonymous and embracing the other, then why the fuck aren't you noticing those who are invisible at your own awards ceremony?

You'd think this would have been especially apparent when Claudette Colvin, an African American woman who as a teenager in 1955 refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus (which sounds like a pretty kick-ass story and preceded the better-known Rosa Parks incident), accompanied writer Phillip Hoose on stage. However, the main focus here was on Hoose, who was accepting the award for Young People's Literature... which he won telling her story.

Sounds like a nice moment, and again, in a fair and balanced world, I would harbor no cynicism here. Absolutely none. Just wondering, though -- when women writers unearth these types of "unknown" stories, or write their own life stories, do they usually get this much attention? Just wondering...

Late author Flannery O'Connor did take honors for the Best of the National Book Awards prize (which for some reason the NYT article fails to even mention???), but according to GalleyCat's liveblogging of the event, nobody was that excited about it:

10:10
"The Complete Stories" by Flannery O'Connor wins Best of the National Book Awards award, nominated by 10,000 votes from the public. No one can come up to collect the award for the late, great author. Borowitz: "I have nothing to add."

Great. Thanks a million, National Book Awards!

This comes only a few weeks after Publisher Weekly's Best Books list completely SHUT OUT women writers from its top ten. Here's their confidence-building statement on that list, from PW director Louisa Ermelino:

"We ignored gender and genre and who had the buzz. We gave fair chance to the 'big' books of the year, but made them stand on their own two feet. It disturbed us when we were done that our list was all male."

Uh, yeah. You think? Could it be that your sexism and racism was subconscious? Because that's maybe a little bit how things like sexism and racism work?

I'm sorry, but if publishing (i.e. the world of the literary elite) is really a sinking ship, as comedian and NBA host Andy Borowitz put it, then I'm gonna hazard a wild guess here. Purely WILD on my part. That perhaps these problems might have something to do with publishing's inherent gender/race bias, perspective imbalance, and all-round exclusivity? Um, maybe?

And you know, maybe it's not so much about the Kindle. But hey, keep blaming it on the Kindle if that works for ya. :P

Finally, in the name of righteous indignation, commiseration, and learning more about awesome women writers, I would highly recommend checking out the online community She Writes, as well as the recently formed WILA (Women In Literary Arts).

Crossposted at Library Cat.

Stupak, Schmupak

To those 240 members of the House of Representatives that voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment last night, including 64 Democrats, you can all kiss. my. ASS.

NARAL agrees:

"The Stupak-Pitts amendment makes it virtually impossible for private insurance companies that participate in the new system to offer abortion coverage to women. This would have the effect of denying women the right to use their own personal private funds to purchase an insurance plan with abortion coverage in the new health system — a radical departure from the status quo. Presently, more than 85 percent of private-insurance plans cover abortion services."

So. Is this what health care reform looks like now? Actually taking rights away from half the population? Limiting our options? Getting between us and our doctors? Wtf?

And by the way, isn't that everything most of these politicians (of both parties) claim not to want?

Right, sure, whatever. Instead, women get thrown under the bus... and it's hailed as triumphant bipartisan compromise? Yeah, you're all collaborative geniuses. We get it.

Grrrrrr. Starting to feel a lot like Maine and California all over this country. However, the Stupak provision can still be removed, and the Senate is yet to have at it.

Ecofeminism... Some Thoughts

The topic of ecofeminism -- the theory that the subjugation of women and exploitation of the environment are directly connected -- interests me and intrigues me, but for some reason I have trouble finding useful stuff online for it. However, today I came across a decent article from the University of Western Ontario titled Ecofeminism: our last great hope?

The article emphasizes a point I have read elsewhere in environmental and ecofeminist literature, from theorists like Thomas Berry and James Lovelock -- which is that ecofeminism needs to be, should be, and very well could be an integral and necessary belief system in a world coping with a damaged planet. Tied up in this idea is the hypothesis that we are heading towards a new era of environmental awareness that Berry called the Ecozoic.

The following quote really cuts to the heart of the matter, pointing out the current imbalance (both between humans themselves and also between humans and nature) that needs to be corrected:

"Since women were often associated and even conflated with earth/nature it was a simple logical step to both see women as objects and as passive, with men retaining a higher position in the symbolic order as active subjects. Aristotle did not mince words on this issue. He writes in De Generatione Animalium 'the female, as female, is passive and the male, as male, is active, and the principle of movement comes from him.'"

The male as active and the female as passive? Yep, seems like classic sexism to me... pun intended. Nature has also been traditionally painted as a passive body that receives the influence and admiration of men, rather than as a prime actor in its own right (which of course it is). Until a hurricane hits or a bear attacks, that is, and then nature becomes an evil/destructive presence that really must be conquered. And the cycle of domination proceeds as before.

Another valuable resource I recently discover is Vegetarianwomen.com's (a great site, by the way) Ecofeminism bibliography.

That's all for now, but I'll probably have more to say on this topic in the future.

Mad Men: "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency"

One thing I've learned about the AMC show Mad Men is if something doesn't make sense, then I probably wasn't paying attention. E.g., the lawn tractor scene in this week's episode -- it seemed to come out of nowhere, no? And oh, uh-huh, yeah. Touché. That was entirely the point.

So what does the tractor scene represent, exactly? What does it mean? Probably only Matthew Weiner can say for sure, but I think it embodies multiple metaphors and foreshadows more than one volatile event of the 1960s.

Starting with:

• The JFK assassination. Think about it. The lurching, slow-moving vehicle. The optimistic young leader, a hybrid of sorts, as victim. Joan's (aka Jackie's) bloody dress. That feeling of horrendous tragedy coming fast and out of nowhere to blow everything apart, despite the slow-motion sensation leading up to it. More on the JFK angle at Pandagon.

But also:

• The Vietnam War. The violence of it, the blood that spattered everywhere. The mangled, lost limbs -- Guy's foot, but also Roger's reference to a severed arm. The talk about how getting drafted is no big deal. And, oh yeah, it was 4th of July weekend. British and American mingling together, in an uneasy balance of power where the British had control, yet were handed a defeat with the loss of their promising young leader. All of this recalls the violent history and original meaning of that particular day, the 4th of July. War. More on the Vietnam angle at Slate.

And we can't forget:

• The Civil Rights Movement. Here we have the lawnmower as the symbol of suburbia, a suburbia that was rumbling with discontent in the early 60s, a suburbia formerly somewhat neutralized under an American version of the Pax Romana. The fact that it's a woman on the tractor emphasizes women's close connection to suburbia, although originally there is both a man and a woman on the tractor waving and smiling at the group, almost in a political fashion (back to Kennedy again). The man (Smitty?) is driving and yelling, "I'm going home!" The next time we see the tractor, the original smiling pair is gone, which perhaps represents a white, patriarchal, mechanized society setting a seemingly benign course that ultimately spins out of control. The solitary woman on the tractor could be a nod to the forthcoming feminist movement, which, along with the other Civil Rights movements, aspired to chop up the old order through activism and protests. Or, it could also be viewed as another example of women being scapegoated for the mistakes of others, usually men, i.e., Ken shouldn't have brought the tractor to work in the first place.

One last thing that strikes me about this scene is the deep ignorance of it. No one in the room, with the exception of Ken (who doesn't try very hard to stop it), recognizes the inherent danger of a machine on the loose, not even the drivers. And only Joan has the presence of mind to deal with the aftermath. So if the lawn tractor ultimately represents a juggernaut of radical change, it is one that explodes within a society mostly ignorant of its coming, a society on the very brink of awakening and consciousness-raising.

Watch the scene again. What's your take?

Peggy Olson is Awesome, Part Deux

She asks Don for a raise, invoking equal pay for equal work. In freaking 1963.

He tells her it's not a good time.

She hits back with, "What if this is MY time?"

Swoon.

Peggy Olson is Awesome, Let Me Count the Ways (in quotes)

"I am one of those girls."

"I'm sleeping with Don. It's really working out."

"Eugene, I'm in the persuasion business, and frankly, I'm disappointed by your presentation."

"Well, one day you're there and then all of a sudden there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went, if it's living somewhere outside of you, and you keep thinking maybe you'll get it back. And then you realize, it's just gone."

"I'm Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana."

"You two can go. I'm in a very good place right now."

"I am so high."

Spotting Feminist Themes on TV

One of my favorite topics is analyzing feminist themes on television, as well as gender portrayals of both male and female characters. Having just marathoned the entire Felicity series this summer, some of my thoughts about feminism, gender roles, and relationship equality within that particular show can be found here (with an expanded version here).

Also, a couple related links that caught my eye:

Are feminist TV characters a thing of the past? via After Ellen.

20 feminist TV characters at Jezebel.

Although everyone's list of this type would probably be different, I thought three notable absences from these were Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show (& probably Sondra too), Maggie O'Connell from Northern Exposure, and Elaine Benes from Seinfeld. Who would you add?

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

And check out various blogger perspectives on "The Meaning of MJ" via Feministing.