I'M HIRING an academic writing accountability partner

That's right! I'm hiring!

I have a HUGE challenge coming up in the fall. I just realized that I have SIX academic writing projects on tap for the fall. Most of them are really on the verge of being finished; however, I need to make sure I get the rest of the stuff done.

I know that I'm not the only person in this position. I know there are a bunch of you academic writers out there who have similar challenges. So this position will benefit you as much as it will benefit me.

I would love another academic writer as an accountability partner! That's right, I'm hiring for an ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER. I want someone (who beyond this semester) would be interested in: 

• checking in with each other by phone weekly. 
• laying out what is on our plates for the next week. 
• saying where we would need that other person to support us (send me a text on Wednesday to make sure I did X).

We need not be located in the same place geographically. This is not a time suck - just 20 minutes per week. My suspicion is that if you feel pulled to answer this, you also want someone to hold you accountable for your goals so that you can publish what you want to do, but not completely on your own.

How do you apply? Just respond to me on my blog!

Thanks!

Writing can be . . . . FUN!!!

I've had a couple of great writing days! As you know, I've been following Wendy Belcher's book, How to Write an Academic Article in Twelve Weeks and I am having more fun with it the second time around. Last week's edit (I'm a week late now!) is to reorganize your article.

I outlined my article according to what actually happened as opposed to what I thought happened and that was eye-opening. I sorted out that the structure of my article did not comport with my argument. Which means that my current draft needs work.

I remembered that I used to storyboard chapters when I was in grad school and decided to do that again. I labeled each paragraph according to what it did and created a matching index card. I then taped the paragraph to the card.

Very revealing! I can then rearrange the order, delete cards, and write my comments about what the structure needs to be on the back of the cards! I'M LOVING THIS!

I love writing. But these past couple of days have been FUN!!

Just sayin'!

The Joys of Academic Writing

It's been a while and I realize that I haven't been accountable about how writing feels, with all of the stumbles and all. So here we go!

I submitted something to a different journal late last year, and a month ago, I received another rejection with a general reason attached that I didn't understand. What was different this time is that I immediately sent it to two colleagues for their feedback. I wanted to understand the way they arrived at that decision. I have their feedback and I need to get working on that article back on my calendar. I am excited about what's possible here. I just could use a few more hours per day!

I am working on another article about sources another journal said they wanted to see. It's been harder to work on it because the draft was not in as good a shape as the first article. Everything I work on though, for academic purposes, is linked, so it's exciting to have what a write reinforced by something else.

Finally, I continue to work on my book. I am working on succinctly describing what it's about. By the end of next week, I'll start reworking chapters.

I write this because no matter the rejections, I figure out how I have to carry on. I schedule time every weekday to write. To quote Chon A. Noriega: "One usually gets better at whatever one does on a regular basis. If one does not write on a regular basis, one will get better at not writing. In fact, one will develop an astonishing array of skills designed to improve and extend one's not writing." So I get better at writing.

So write I do. Just saying'.

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Back to Writing

I was excited to send a reworked article to another journal. I learned this morning it was rejected. I'm bummed out, but not the same way as last time. But I will admit I struggle with sorting out what academic journals want.

I'm not the first person who has done academic articles who has been rejected more than once, I do understand that. But this time, what is different is that I decided to pull in more resource around me while I work on the other article. I sent the article to two historians and someone who works on literature to take a look at it and address the overall critique of it.

I told them not to hold back. With their help, I will figure out how to do this.

It's important for us to be honest about the setbacks to publishing. If you're not careful, you think that no one has these struggles.

I'll just be open about them.

Just sayin'.

Congratulations Hillary!

Dear Hillary:

Congratulations on your win in Iowa! That was amazing! Actually, it was amazingly close. Wasn't it supposed to be a blow out? It was really, really close.

Here's the thing. I am your ideal demographic. I am female. I'm pushing 50. However, I am not as wealthy as many of the people who want to vote for you, but I'm persuadable.

So I have some thoughts on redirecting your campaign. You often say that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. I think you're right. Think about the campaigns that you remember. There was Barack Obama: Hope and Change.

George W. Bush campaigned on returning the surplus money of the Clinton administration back to Americans. Reagan campaigned on a new morning for America.

On the other hand, what did Gore campaign on? I don't think the lock box was the core of his campaign, I just can't remember what he promised for the country. He campaigned in prose. What did Romney campaign on? More prose. We do remember that he thought that 47% of the American people were sucking off of the government. Again, his was a completely unmemorable campaign. And your campaign is in danger of ending up in the trash heap of those who campaigned in prose.

This doesn't make sense yet, does it? Let's think of your opponent in the primary, Bernie Sanders. He campaigns in poetry: join a Revolution. Everything he wants to accomplish turns on this as a lynchpin. When I think of your campaign, all that comes to mind is a 5-point plan. And I don't even know what's in that plan because . . . well, the details.

Woman, you need to campaign in poetry! How to do this? When you build a business, you have to ask what is your vision for the world and build your mission on that. Your vision is the thing that makes your heart leap! It may bring tears to your eyes. It drags you out of bed in the morning. It isn't a 5-point plan. The 5-point plan serves the vision. It isn't the vision.

My suspicion is that your vision is something about feminism. Alternatively put, something about ending sexism. Except you are scared of it because Republicans blame you for Bill's shortcomings. So you could spin this as how feminism could benefit men. Think about that article in the New York Times about White people dying? In many ways that discusses the impact racism has had on Whites. Guns in White areas are being used to help White men commit suicide. That drug epidemic in Black neighborhoods has now resulted in Whites dying of their own drug overdoses.

Sexism works the same way. You could have a slogan of "Hillary: join me to build an America for all!" If you win the presidency, your poetry becomes the cudgel that helps you move Congress along (if you think they will be kind to you, you missed the last eight years!). After all, that would only underscore the war on women. And if you lose, you move the ball on sexism A LOT!

THIS would be poetry. And besides, this provides an antidote to Bernie: you see, solving economic inequality doesn't necessarily fix all of the other oppressions, sexism, racism, gay oppression, etc.

And you could get men and women to join a movement led by you.

Get your journal out and find your vision! Campaign in poetry. We know you're qualified and competent! The American people want something larger. Lead us there!

Just sayin'!

I turned it in

Happy New Year!

When last I wrote, I was still licking my wounds. I had submitted my very first academic article to a well esteemed academic journal and it was rejected!

Yeah. That hurt. Badly.

I know I was not the first and certainly will not be the last. But it hurt anyway.

It took me a month to even look at the feedback. They wanted me to refine my perspective on one part of my argument and this refinement was accompanied with an extensive reading list.

Let me say that the rejection did not help with the book writing project either. 

My partner kept saying hurry up and incorporate the edits. Let's just say that rejection and "hurry up" don't go together well.

This summer I plodded through their reading recommendations. I enjoyed that and my mind started grappling with changes in my argument. I loved reading this stuff just for the sake of reading it. It's part of what I live about being an historian. I found the love of doing this part of academic work. And that made the rejection worth it!

By December, though, I realized I had something new and improved! Their feedback did make it a more subtle article. I have lovely people around me and I had another journal teed up. I'm pleased that it is submitted!

I have a four month wait for that article. Meanwhile, the journal that rejected me said that they would be interested in an article using a particular clump of sources, so I shall get to work on that. I have a nice part of a draft, there's more to go. Belcher shall guide me on writing it (How to Prepare an Article  in 12 Weeks or something like that!).

And I know that I very well should possibly expect another rejection. Perhaps a revise and resubmit? That would be progress!

Stay tuned!

That Lion, #SayHerName, and Sandra Bland

My mind makes odd connections, so bear with me on this post.

I know that there is an internet uproar about how much sympathy has gone out for this guy:

Cecil the Lion

as opposed to

Women in the U.S. Killed by Law Enforcement Officers

I do get this. How come human beings who live in the Land of the Brave, the Home of the Free cannot get this much sympathy when unarmed and killed by law enforcement officers who are rarely, if ever, held responsible for their transgressions? Where was all of this outrage when Sandra Bland was dragged out of her car by a Texas "law enforcement officer" for failing to put out a cigarette? Where was the outrage when she turned up dead in her jail cell after the system decided that she "committed suicide" in her jail cell? Where is the outrage in the context of 5 women having been declared dead by suicide in other jail cells across the nation?

And now we're supposed to feel badly because some damned lion on the African continent is dead? Killed?

There is one little thing . . . the legacy of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism that yokes all of this together. Europeans, in the context of building American societies (and when I write it this way, I don't only mean it in the context of the U.S.A., but also South America, Canada, and the Caribbean), had no problem exploiting resources on the African continent for their own good. In the 16th centuries through 19th centuries, that meant purchasing Black bodies for labor, using them up, and purchasing a new one to replace it. I think the way law enforcement targets Black bodies lately (regardless of gender), is the fallout from this long-standing precedent with which we have not made peace. Given the little respect given for anything that comes from the African continent, recently or much earlier, does it surprise you that a U.S. dentist who hunts exotic game would have no qualms shooting this beautiful lion, regardless of the meaning of it to the community? There are two underlying assumptions here: Blacks have no community; and what is on the African continent is for our own good.

I do not posit solutions here. I simply insist that there are more connections between wildlife and Black bodies than we are comfortable making. Not because Black people are wild animals, but because we are yolked in a common history vis-a-vis that continent.

#SayHerName. #BlackLivesMatter

Just sayin'.

Everything is not coming up roses

There's much more work to do on this academic article, but I need to get some things off of my chest before I return to carrying on as if I was a brave warrior.

So I received my first rejection. I am not alone here, yet it feels solitary. Dr. Belcher's book, Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks would be unnecessary if scholars weathered the storms of writing and rejection well. Yes, the book is aimed at submitting an article that does not get rejected the first time out, but she is candid about the process and rejection is part of it. "The only difference between much-published authors and unpublished authors is often persistence and not worthiness." And persistent I am!

Belcher ends her book with a story of a scholar who kept submitting his work to journals and kept getting rejected. Eventually, his work got published and it was the stuff that won a Nobel Prize. There were three morals to the story: "First, just because an article is rejected—one, two, even three times—does not mean that it is a bad article. Second, it may take thirty years for the Nobel Prize committee to recognize your genius . . . so hang in there! Third, you may have to go through hell to get a good article published. Fortunately, you will be in good company."

Let's make something clear . . . I will never win a Nobel. Not my goal. Also, this is not really hell. The process of publishing in academic journals is a fascinating business though, and if your work goes to reviewers, you actually get feedback from your peers. The feedback actually has me optimistic. It will strengthen the argument not only of the article, but the book I am also working on. I will have to remember that this does not necessarily mean that this is a bad article, bad idea, not a real contribution, etc. They said nothing of the sort.

On my website, I say, as a life coach, that I am unwilling to put my clients through anything I would not be willing to do myself. So yes, I will face rejection. I will face renewed critique. It is not the first time, and it won't be the last.

Just sayin'.

The Academic Job Market

Let me reassure you that I am not finished commenting on the political issues of the day. On the other hand, the state of higher education is a political issue!

I love what I study and write academically. I love teaching. I am working on publishing all manner of things at this point and have never had this much work in progress. It is exciting to work on a book. It will be some time before I can announce a publisher or even publication, but that day will come!

It took me two and a half to even look at my dissertation again. LOOK at it. I am glad I took the time off of it. All of a sudden I could see how to breathe new life into it and change it into something else. It is different writing without a dissertation committee (and advisor) sitting on my shoulders as I gaze into the screen of my laptop!

It is upsetting that academia has shifted so much that business principles dictate what we should be doing. Each item that we write becomes product by which to evaluate what we do, and if we are not in a STEM field, the work becomes more devalued except amongst our colleagues. God forbid we provide the literary, historical, political, and linguistic context to the society we live in! For those of us who work in academia on a contingent basis, our writing and teaching is devalued that much more.

I understand that the tenure-track job is unlikely to materialize for me. State and federal governments are putting precious few dollars into humanities research. Both private and public universities refuse to fill full-time positions with new hires, instead, they hire several adjuncts to do that job. More resource is placed into administration. These institutions try to force faculty to find outside funding for their pay (there's only so much of that to go around!) and some have been at the behest of private corporations that have their own research agendas. Yet, I will go on the academic job market this fall with enthusiasm anyway. At the same time, I have to provide for myself and my son, so I will supplement my writing and teaching as a life coach.

I have witnessed the power of living one's life according to their values. I have witnessed the power of having people give you a hand in doing this, helping you to remember what you want, helping you maintain discipline. This is the power of life coaching. I love it for myself, and you would be amazed at what it can do for you.

We live in a time where Black people are targeted by both the state and individuals. We live at a time where we refuse to acknowledge sexism as an oppression that wrecks the lives of women all over the world, including comparatively affluent places such as the United States. We live at a time where the misinformation about the upsetting state of the environment is being silenced for pure economic gain. Academic teaching and publishing is one of many ways to fight these trends. Our ongoing denial about our history and our future is disheartening. I am committed to continuing that work, but I do not want the audience to only be other academics, but also with the public at large.

I write this so that if you are unsure how to proceed, know that not only are there other who are in the same spot, but there is also help for you. I honestly believe that we the people cannot continue on the path we are on. Figure out what you want and how to get there. And if you do not know how, find the resource to get there. I am always happy to help!

Just saying'.

More Writing

I earned my doctorate 3 years ago. I had not taken a single look at anything related to my dissertation until Fall 2014. That's when I started to convert a chapter of it into an academic article. I'm proud to say that the article is under review after a series of corrections. It will, for now, likely come back as a revise and resubmit, but I'm game to revise and resubmit and move it into proper publication.

But those of us who engage in academic writing cannot rely on only one piece of writing at a time (I suspect this is the case with other writers as well). The process of revising writing for an article reminded me of the following:

1. It doesn't matter whether or not I get a tenure track position (I was damned close this spring!). What does matter is that I publish my work. 
2. My work is interesting and although it is about another time and place, it provides much perspective about the U.S. today. What happened in Jamaica happened across the hemisphere!
3. I like writing. This isn't a new conclusion, but I also like academic writing. So write I shall do.

This means that I have all manner of writing projects lined up for this summer. I want to have the outlines of a book proposal based on my dissertation by the time the school year starts again. I am absurdly energized about my project again and am making better sense of what it is all about! This is refreshing. And I don't think this would be possible without taking a two-year break. The journal I submitted my piece to had a suggestion about writing up a couple of other sources, and I shall do that.

I love my dissertation, but editing makes me sleepy. 

So yes, you'll be hearing from me as I seek to keep myself accountable for writing. You all have to do that with me.

And if you need someone to keep you accountable doing your writing, oh yeah, I'm a life coach who can do just that. Or maybe you don't want to write and you want to do something else. I can help with that too!

Just sayin'

My N*****r!

As a Black female who is not a fan of the term nigger, I learned something new about "My Nigga." Check out what Trinidad has to say about it.

Trinidad was eloquent in expressing that only people who have a close relationship with him may call him that. He quickly debunked Ben Ferguson's argument about using the expression to make money by reasserting the primacy of relationships over capital.

Which brings up something very real. Most White people don't have the requisite relationship to Black people to use that term to address them. All of this noise about "rap stars use it, why can't we" is a red herring (and ignores the social, political, historical, and economic context in which that term arose). The real question, the one that actually would transcend the history of the term, is what would it take for Whites to build genuinely close relationships with Black people. Or men with women. Or the able-bodied with a person with a disability. Or a cis-gendered person with a transgendered person. Or a middle/owning class person with a working/poor class person. You get the point.

Trinidad referred to the social context he shares with his compatriots. In other words, people who are "his niggas" share solidarity with him in the ways that the state targets Black people (men and women may I add) for imprisonment and death, targets Black labor, and targets Black wealth. We've yet to hear about an unarmed White man killed by the police! To build relationships across race requires appreciating the historical, political, and social context in which Black is created. Don't presume an understanding of it. Don't whitesplain history to Black people. We don't need an explanation of why we're systematically paid less than Whites and why we have less overall wealth. One consequence of "White" is that not everything is earned by good old fashioned elbow grease. It doesn't make you bad, it just provides context.

To build relationships across race may require LOADS of listening. More listening than you're comfortable with. Making a decision not to be the center of the conversation. Not to make your experience center. There may be LOTS of quiet at first. You may feel awkward and uncool (this is what Ben Ferguson could not figure out in this segment). It may take years of such listening before Black men and women (poor people, GLBTQ people, etc.) actually open up to you about a day in the life of Blackness. And once we tell you something, we don't need your opinion or feelings about it. Smile as if it was the most important thing you've ever heard (it may well be). Think to yourself what if it was and what impact that would have on your life.

But ultimately, it's elbow grease that will build these relationships. It's the decision to make someone else central, someone else's point of view, relationships central as opposed to your own experience. Maybe then you'll become someone's "nigga." However, maybe then you won't feel as compelled to use the term at all.

Suffice it to say, the SAE house mom doesn't have that relationship with anyone Black.

So it doesn't work for her to parrot Trinidad's work.

When I set out to write this post, I didn't intend for it to be a how-to guide. However, historically, nigger was born out of a context of capital over relationships, in other words, the ownership of people over the relationship. This is a relationship; however, it is not a relationship that wins trust, respect, and admiration. It is in this history the term was born.

Soooo, put the relationships above everything else. Maybe that Black person won't take a shine to you. That's fine. Hopefully you grew as a person and learned something. Maybe take notes about what went well (for that person) and what didn't and try again.

By the by, no one has a close enough relationship to me to call me "nigga," or "bitch" for that matter. Just sayin'!

Academic Writing Again

Hmmm, I'm starting to think I need a day with an extra 5 - 6 hours. The end of the semester is nigh and this only means major crunch time. Unfortunately, I'm still grading midterm exams (aaaargh!), I have a job letter due a week from today, and I need to get the article submitted to a journal STAT!

No pressure, no pressure. I'll leave out my son's ballroom dancing, just getting through teaching, and the rest of it, but oh my! I'm not sleeping as much as I should and I'm not eating much (not much time to do that), but I'm eating crap because I'm tired.

I still love working on this article. I'm still completely psyched about it. I am still integrating my colleagues comments, they have given me much to think about and I can tell it's much better. But in the very limited time that I have this week, I have to finish incorporating their edits, rework my abstract, fix citations, check sentence structure . . . oooooh, very tired. Also, this article will be my writing sample for the job I'm applying for. No pressure, no pressure.

The Belcher book is ridiculously helpful. And stressful . . . so much to do, so little time. No pressure, no pressure.

Just sayin'.

Academic Writing Part Who Knows What . . .

I find it ridiculous that I get to incorporate journal writing into my academic writing time. Really! It kind of makes it fun. Besides, check out this article! You heal from trauma faster if your journal about it and download your feelings because you don't dwell on the feelings after you write. Who knew? But then again, I don't consider this traumatic. Finally turning my dissertation into publishable stuff is fun, but it's nice to reflect on what works well and what doesn't about my writing.

So what's gone well over the last couple of weeks? I had a phone conversation with a writing buddy who shed some light on one thing: I have no judgement about what people think about me. What do I mean? I sent inquiry letters to journals to see if they were interested in this article. They all wrote back that they would be interested in publishing it. My response: "That's sweet. They're just blowing sunshine up my ass." My writing buddy's response: "That's awesome! They're really interested! If they weren't, they'd tell you something like they have a serious backlog, or it's not quite appropriate, or they're only having special issues until the end of time. THIS IS GREAT!"

OK, so I think I need to print the emails with responses from the journals. Perhaps I should frame them (no really, I'm trying to remember this is a huge accomplishment!) . . .

I also sent a draft (OK, I'm realizing it's a big deal that I've completed a draft. My initial response was ho hum. Then again, Laura Belcher says that only 25% of academics actually publish. I'm really taking in it's a big deal that there's a draft) to a few people and got responses from two (I suspect the third is forthcoming). Lovely responses.

1. I need to restructure it and make my main subaltern characters the center of the story. I'm doing it (just not this minute - I'm writing this)!

2. I'm making HUGE interventions and I don't make them very clear. I'm doing this as well. This is a huge challenge for female writers (academic and otherwise), so I suspect I have lots of company here. Yes, the things we write make a contribution to some small corner, but often the implications of what we write are much larger and we don't frame it as such. Allow me to place another nail in sexism's coffin and ramp up my discussion of the significance of my article!

There's other stuff as well. But that's what I remember while writing this post!

It feels like the number of changes I need to make are daunting though. However, I've also publicly committed (see my c.v.) to having this under review/submitted shortly. Will do and submit within the next couple of weeks (ideally early next week). That's right (my typo was write, but that's a funny pun . . . ok, I'm suffering from insomnia, anything is funny at this point!), completed academic article ready for submission early next week (oh my . . . I have major citation cleanup to do!)

Cheer me on, wish me luck, however, you think about it, I'll need it. Did I mention that I'm applying for three academic jobs and am still grading midterms?

I have something brewing in my head about Ferguson, but haven't had a moment to write it. Hopefully, I'll get it out soon, but you see I have a lot on my platter that's not getting any larger.

Just saying'.

More Joys of Academic Writing

This week, it's been JOY! At last I've caught up . . . actually, I'm a little bit ahead! Last week, I reoutlined my article based on what I actually did (as opposed to what I thought I did), and I just finished up reworking my evidence to make sure it supported my argument. It turns out that while the evidence was proper, some of it didn't quite say what I purported it said. This step proved to be most helpful and help me cut some pages!

I can heave a big sigh of relief!

Dear unnamed college that requires a writing sample, it's forthcoming! Journals: WATCH OUT!

Just sayin'

EBOLA!

Scared yet?

I have to say this. I remember watching tv in the early 1980s, and news of the herpes virus emerged.

This virus was the one that Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, referred to as herpes-not-so-simplex, and it fueled the fear of sexually active heterosexuals and became the center of public discussions about sexuality. If memory serves me right, there were injunctions from the conservative elements of American society about the immorality of how some people (swingers) conducted themselves and how this should be a wakeup call.

And then the noise about herpes was engulfed by this new found virus that was killing gay men in San Francisco and Haitians (this was the misinformation at the time).

Yes, we call this bug HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is deadly and worked quickly. The men who succumbed had all sorts of sicknesses before they died, including Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer that was visible on the skin. In addition to the blame game, hysteria ensued. Think I'm making this up? Watch this: http://youtu.be/5oWu7FR-hZ0. The public openly questioned whether young people with this disease should be in school. Should people with HIV be allowed in swimming pools? Can we get it off of toilet seats? What about airplanes? Should we avoid gay people? Should we ban Haitians from coming in the U.S.?

Yes, we're almost thirty (30?) years into the AIDS epidemic, so it's hard to imagine the panic that struck the public about this. But it's true. No, kissing someone cannot transmit HIV. No, someone sneezing on you cannot transmit HIV. No, you can't get it from a toilet seat, and on and on. It's actually quite difficult to become infected by it. You have to have exchange body fluids with an infected person. There are only two ways to do that. Unprotected sex and blood transfusions. But no matter, let the hysteria proceed apace! It took years to diffuse it (and arguably, it's still a factor.).

And now we have this handsome virus, one ebola. And it reminds me of the HIV panic. Can we fly on airplanes if someone has it? What if someone sneezes? Are they ever asymptomatic? Should we prevent children who go to school with people known to know people with ebola be allowed to attend school? Yes, the same questions. And it's still hard to get. You have to come in contact with someone's bodily fluids. Chances are, if you are not a health care provider, you will not get it. If you haven't had vomit and diarrhea spilled on you, you are not going to get it. If you do not have sex with someone who has ebola, you will not get it. If you don't believe me, consult the CDC and the WHO!

But I see that science is not going to stop the fears (indeed, I had to give my partner an earful in return for her earful of fear mongering!). I have this nagging thought though. I wonder if the feelings about these diseases are more about the people who are associated with them and not about the disease itself. But that is just conjecture. Just sayin'.

The Joys of Academic Writing Part II

There's good news - I'm now only a half week behind and that is refreshing. However, I am concerned because this week involves restructuring the article and it looks like I will only fall behind much more!

I did accomplish adding more of a literature review, but that only made the article longer. I do look forward to the structural recommendations.

Still optimistic.

Hopefully a post about U.S. reaction to Ebola and HIV/AIDS later today!

Just saying'.

The Joys of Academic Writing

Yes, I'm going to try posting regularly again. And you will see my normal snarky commentary about events in the news affecting people of color and women and women and people of color and gay folk, and gay folk. But you will also see me mulling over the joys of academic writing.

After 2 years, I've finally been able to LOOK at my dissertation again. And I can tell I can turn something (fairly quickly) into an article. I've been waking up at 5 a.m. doing my thing. Except for this part: the resource I'm using (Laura Belcher's Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks . . . ") asks that you journal about how the last week felt.

Yes, I have fairly unintelligible mutterings in my handwritten notes (ok, I can read them). But in the spirit of public accountability, I'll post stuff here as well.

I'm a week and a half behind! Not because I've been knitting, eating bonbons and watching CNN/listening to NPR during the days while knitting or crocheting (I would rather do that. I'm not into filing and cleaning to procrastinate . . . GIVE ME YARN and news. Yes. I wrote knitting twice. I love it that much.). Because I actually have two writing projects, am teaching, and I'm trying to write journalism pieces as well (hey, check out http://amsterdamnews.com/news/harlem-focus/, because if you've missed this blog, you can catch some of my fabulousness there!). And it's getting to the point where the tasks take more time. It took me what feels like forever to find appropriate journals.

So as one who does try to meet some deadlines, I find this frustrating.

Now to move on to the business of buttressing my sources. Hopefully I won't be a month behind at the end of this!

Just saying'.

Snowden, Assange, and Responsibility

I've been chewing, quietly, about these two for some time because I just can't get my knickers in a knot about what they do. And I couldn't figure out why, until this morning.

I understand that we should be upset about corporations and governments going into our private lives, but I can't go there. Communities of color, to be more specific, Black people, have been in the gaze of government since Reconstruction. Indeed, the KKK was formed to right the South after reconstruction and government officials were part of that organization - yes, the sheriffs, etc. They monitored what Blacks did and said and had no problem with a reign on terror on people who challenged white supremacy. But government monitoring was alright then.

Marcus Garvey was the first prosecution that J. Edgar Hoover, that's right, head of the FBI for over FIFTY years, won! He targeted Garvey because he was terrified about the extent to which "negroes" were galvanized by his work. But government monitoring was alright then.

MLK and many others in the Civil Rights movement were monitored by the government (and frankly, I don't care if it's the NSA, CIA, or the FBI. It's all gov'mint). But government monitoring was alright then.

Countless Jews were monitored by the government because of the alleged connection between Jews and communism (another of countless stereotypes against Jews). But government monitoring was alright then.

Oh yeah, the Japanese internments during World War II. But government monitoring was alright then.

The FBI, with COINTELPRO, had informants in the Women's Movement during the 1960s. The irony was that they didn't understand what was going on during the meetings because they didn't understand what women were doing to fight sexism and the language that broke it down. But government monitoring was alright then.

Are you a Black woman on welfare? During the late 1980s and 1990s, the state governments through the foodstamp programs monitored how many children you had and sometimes forcibly made you use hormonal forms of birth control so your sort had no more children. But government monitoring was alright then.

Muslims have been subject to monitoring since 9/11/01 for no other reason than they're Muslim. But in the name of preventing another 9/11, government monitoring was alright then.

But another demographic has the possibility of being ensnared in government monitoring?! Horrors! Overreaching! How could you? Let's share all of the information that the government has collected on you!

I don't hold hold Assange or Snowden responsible for the historical instances of government monitoring. However, dumping information just for the sake of dumping information is not revolutionary action. Particularly if it's disconnected from people who are part of movements that are trying to dismantle oppressive structures in society.

The problem, as I see it, with government monitoring is that there is a nasty history of targeting those who are trying to create radical changes in society: ending racism, ending sexism, ending gay oppression, ending the oppression against workers, caring for the environment and many other critical causes. Thus, a damper can be put on trying to do this sort of work. I don't hear Snowden and Assange taking a stand against the oppression and how data collection intersects with them. It sounds like they're making a liberal critique: don't monitor me or people who look like me.

Further, people who work in these social change movements are willing to face the state for their actions, signs of real courage given what happens to people in prison. People were given trials that were a crock and served prison terms anyway. Not because they did anything wrong, but they knew that would have to happen to move the dial on oppression in the U.S. These two simply want to escape responsibility for their actions. I think this undermines the overarching argument that they're trying to make. Indeed, their argument seems to be I'll dump information and I'll go ahead and lead the cushy life I deserve (in Ecuador or the embassy). This is not revolutionary at all. And, let's not forget that Assange is not dodging charges for dumping information, he is dodging an investigation for RAPE. RAPE. By refusing to face the music on this investigation, to me, it looks like he defends his God-given right as a male to dominate women and use their bodies, no matter what they have to say about it, at his pleasure. No, I don't give a damn about his hiding out in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. If you didn't rape this woman, man up and say so. If you did, own your actions. That would be radical. A man who owned up to raping a woman and having genuine contrition for it. But that's asking too much.

So all of this information dumping strikes me as the work of disconnected white guys who aren't terribly concerned about the overall picture of oppression in the world. Excuse me if I pay no more attention to them. Just saying'!

Feminism and Beyonce

A thoughtful critique of the critique: http://www.gradientlair.com/post/50751492514/white-feminist-critique-beyonce-ad-perpetuum-ugh

Jason Collins, Professional Sport, and Male Domination

Before I dive into the abyss of grading, let me welcome Jason Collins and other gay male athletes lurking around the corner to the coming out party!

What Collins did was significant and the toll staying closeted took on his life was enormous, ultimately because it prevented him from developing any sort of non-superficial relationship with most people, including, I assume, platonic friends.

This story has been reported as a great blow to gay oppression, and that is true. It is a blow to gay oppression. But while we acknowledge that, let's not trivialize what women such as Martina Navratilova (voluntarily) and Billie Jean King (involuntarily) did when they were out lesbian tennis players. It's possible to imagine that Jason Collins could not do this without them having blazed the trail in a society that was much more hostile to the notion that GLB folk could participate in sports (TQ wasn't on the radar in the late 70s in the way it is now!).

However, as we keep asking "why are men so homophobic,"we miss the fact that this story may not, in some way, be about gay oppression at all. This is a story about male domination. While it's hard for some to see, I think we all have a tiny picture of how men dominate women all of the time: cut us off in conversations, deny us promotions, wolf whistle, stare at our breasts while we're talking to them, diminish the work that happens inside of the home, pay us less, beat us, rape us (and then call us too sensitive), and kill us. It's harder to see how males dominate other males. And males dominate other males all of the time because you have to have a pecking order, right? Boys often experience this from both other men and boys, particularly if they are gender noncompliant (don't play with the right toys, hang out with **gasp** GIRLS, etc.), and men experience it from other men, including rape! Males train on each other so they can keep women in line and continue to police the boundaries of sexism. And this is no clearer than in professional sports. Indeed, no other institution, aside from the Catholic Church (of which I'm a member) has gone so far to institutionalize male domination.

The biggest and toughest, clearly not f---s and sissies, are allowed into this elite club! So when a man is willing to lie with another man and actually be an elite baller, this means that this queer could beat up the average guy?! But isn't that the province of straight men? They are the ones who should be able to "handle" the gay guy because the straight guy is uber male, right? Straight men dominate gay ones. This upsets the natural order of things and upsets the very premise of professional sporting. This is why we fear what will happen the next time Jason Collins steps out on the court with whichever team he works for, how will the men assert their dominance over him (and can they?!)?

Admittedly, I find these pissing contests tiring, and that's why I hate professional sports. But this is why it's so hard to make sure that football players are protected from getting concussions, men would rather tough it out than admit they're injured, etc. Showing physical pain and weakness undermines their status as the man on top of the pack. It undermines that they are the dominant male.

The biggest toll that male domination takes on all of us is how it undermines the most basic relationships we can have in life, both the intimate and platonic ones. That's the impact of the violence and other less aggressive forms of trivializing the lives, loves, wants, and desires of those who are not at the top of the male heap (and that a whole lot of people)!

So Jason, your coming out will send several cracks through the male dominant ceiling, whether you intended it to or not. And for that, I thank you! Just sayin'!