I've been taking some really interesting and challenging classes this semester. In my multicultural literature class we've been talking about hegemony, racial divide, and white supremacy (three of my favorite topics). We're currently reading Twilight by Anna Deavere Smith, a play about the 1992 LA Rodney King riots. I believe that if everyone read this book and Citizen by Claudia Rankine, the world would be a much better place. With everything going on in Ferguson, South Carolina, Baltimore, and even New York, all of my classes have really started to get into this topic of racial violence. I've written a number of essays on this topic in radically different classes. Here's a sample of some of them: for my feminist perspectives on porn class, I wrote an essay comparing these gonzo police brutality videos to pornography; in my classics in feminist thought class, I wrote an essay about the assumptions of criminality projected onto black bodies and the disparate treatment of these bodies by the justice system; and finally, in my multicultural literature class, we're going to write a final paper about the similarities between the Rodney King riots and the current events. It just goes to show how different disciplines can address a single topic in a whole variety of ways.
On a similar note, I have been reading a lot of interesting articles, books, and texts for my classes and they're all so good I just have to share some of them with you guys. First and foremost is the revelation of Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa. I'm surprised I knew nothing about border theory until now, as it is so useful in feminist theory. In fact, I read this book for two different classes this semester. We approached it from different perspectives in each class, which was fascinating. Since I'm studying so many different disciplines (philosophy, english literature, women and gender studies), there are so many different theories and perspectives that are cross-disciplinary that help me think of things in an interesting and helpful way. For example, in my philosophy class (revolutions in modern philosophy), we're learning about Hegel's social theory; it helps me think a bit about the 'ideal' or most 'actualized' society and helps me reflect on whether we really live in that society or if it is ever truly possible.
Other books/texts that I've found interesting: Assata by Assata Shakur, Regeneration by Pat Barker, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" by Judith Butler, Dora by Sigmund Freud, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
A lot of people struggle to find the connection between theory/philosophy and social transformation. One of the themes of my multicultural literature class is the connection between multicultural literatures and social transformation. A lot of people struggle with a degree such as mine, figuring that it's useless and esoteric, not understanding the value of theory. Yet another great article I would point those people to is bellhooks' piece entitled Theory as Liberatory Practice in which she explains that dealing with the social realities is important, but theory can aid in transforming those social realities. Changing reality depends so much not only on the laws we pass and the physical change that is enacted, but on the prevailing thoughts and attitudes that we inspire in others, in the tidal wave of thought. So much is changing already on so many fronts, but change is not real change unless attitudes change. Laws have been in place for a long time (nearly 50 years) against racial or sexual discrimination, yet these things happen on a daily basis because attitudes largely have not change, or have at least been pushed underground into more subtle (and, in my opinion, more sinister) forms of discrimination. Discrimination that dare not speak its name.
Sorry to get heavy on you guys (all of my classes really are this intense and thought provoking). One of my favorite classes this semester has been my pornography class. I know what you're thinking: all we do all day is sit and watch porn together, and oh wow that must be so terribly awkward. But you know, it's actually pretty great. It's nice to confront those awkward fears. The first week was all uncomfortable giggles, but my professor is unfailingly fearless in his approach to this class (it's his first time teaching it too!). He really isn't afraid to talk about these topics, and so neither are we. It's refreshing to really get an intellectual take on something you would think is so banal as pornography. There really is enough to talk about for 15 weeks. And it's even better that it's not just about denouncing porn as 100% misogynist or 100% sex-positive; there's some complexity to the subject, and we have to learn to be OK with that ambiguity it and our approach to it. There was a reason this class started with heavy readings of constitutional decisions on the attempt (and failure) to define obscenity. It really pushed a lot of people in the class to realize that there's no one way of being a "good" feminist. Even better, the teacher is really all about learning and stresses the importance of our writings assignments being a learning and exploratory experience, rather than one of assessment or grading. That attitude has really allowed me the space and freedom to take chances in writing something I wasn't totally sure of, just trying out ideas, not being afraid to try and fail. I think this is the best teaching method, one I wish all professors would adopt.
On a lighter note, this spring has become summer quite suddenly. In that vein, I have recently become obsessed (and I mean a real problem for my productivity) with looking for Lilly Pulitzer for Target clothing online and at stores. Target does limited collaborations with one designer every year and they're usually very popular. On April 19th, I lined up outside of my local Target at 7:20 AM to buy some Lilly Pulitzer dresses for cheap ($38 rather than $180?? Yes, please). It was me and 15 other crazy women in Lululemon pants and oversized sunglasses in line in front of me, all crazily caffeinated and shifting endlessly. We all had lists of our must-have items and store layouts in hand. The door opened and we rushed inside, grabbing everything we could off the racks and racing to the fitting room. I grabbed 13 pieces of clothing, but only 3 of them fit right or were worth buying. I got this lace crochet top and pom-pom shorts in a fish print, and a bikini top.
Photos: Target.com
I really wanted a shift dress (something that Lilly is famous for!) but the smallest size they had was a 2, and I'm at least a 0. I unfortunately didn't think of trying out the kids' shift dresses, as they apparently fit people my size (desperately trying to figure out how to do this)! The entire stock sold out in 20 minute, and the website crashed for hours. Now I'm looking to buy some of the kids' dresses, but I'm struggling because I never tried them on and I don't know what they would fit or look like on me. The struggle of online shopping. Sigh. To make it all worse, now people are selling things on eBay and Poshmark for 3 times the price! A $24 dress is going for prices as crazy as $75! Totally shameless vultures who just wanted the profit took away the opportunity for lots of people who wouldn't have the chance to buy regular Lilly to get it at an affordable price. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a bit of a consumerist (my dad, when I went into my parents' room that morning at 6:30 called me "the perfect consumer"), but at least I did it the fair way and gave away what didn't fit me rather than hoarding and selling it for a profit. Just goes to show what capitalism does to our country and moral values. However, I have found a beacon of light in this capitalist darkness: there is a Facebook group where women are desperately scouring their local Targets for items to send to people in different parts of the country who didn't get what they wanted. There may still be hope!
I'll wrap this up since I have a lot of work to do (it's nearing finals week, and I have like 4 papers to write...). I'll post some more soonish/whenever I can get around to it!
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