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veleda-k.livejournal.com#17: Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching by Paula J. Giddings.
( Ida: A Sword Among Lions )
( Ida: A Sword Among Lions )
veleda-k.livejournal.com
Rita Williams-Garcia
Dec. 9th, 2010 02:41 pmmizchalmers.livejournal.com46. Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer
One Crazy Summer is the rare and brilliant Young Adult novel in which - without violating the constraints of the genre - every character is given his or her due. Everyone came from somewhere, everyone needs and wants something; everyone is capable of surprising depths and shallows. People change in plausible ways. Even the poetry woven into the story is convincing, and good; when does that EVER happen?
Slight as it is (I snorfled it down in a few hours) this book is as weighty as its themes, without ever losing its sense of humor. Very, very highly recommended.
Big Ma said Cecile lived on the street. The park bench was her bed. She lived in a hole in the wall.It is 1968. Three black girls fly from New York to Oakland to get acquainted with their mother, Cecile Johnson. Told in 11-year-old Delphine's wry voice, which never strains credulity, this deft book paints a vivid picture of Oakland and San Francisco at a moment of upheaval whose reverberations are still being felt around here, and elsewhere.
You can't say stuff like that to a kid asking about her mother when it's snowing outside or pouring down raining. You can't say, "Your mother lives on the street, in a hole in the wall, sleeping on park benches next to winos."
One Crazy Summer is the rare and brilliant Young Adult novel in which - without violating the constraints of the genre - every character is given his or her due. Everyone came from somewhere, everyone needs and wants something; everyone is capable of surprising depths and shallows. People change in plausible ways. Even the poetry woven into the story is convincing, and good; when does that EVER happen?
Slight as it is (I snorfled it down in a few hours) this book is as weighty as its themes, without ever losing its sense of humor. Very, very highly recommended.
ms-erupt.livejournal.com06. How Far We Slaves Have Come! by Nelson Mandela; Fidel Castro
Pages: 83
Genre: Non-fiction; World Politics; Diplomacy and International Relations; South Africa; Latin America
Rating: 5/10; May or May Not Recommend
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
Pages: 83
Genre: Non-fiction; World Politics; Diplomacy and International Relations; South Africa; Latin America
Rating: 5/10; May or May Not Recommend
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
Tags:
ms-erupt.livejournal.com05. Nelson Mandela, Speeches 1990: Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apartheid by Nelson Mandela; Greg McCartan
Pages: 74
Genre(s): Non-fiction; World History; World Politics; African History; African Studies
Rating: 8/10; Would Recommend
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
Pages: 74
Genre(s): Non-fiction; World History; World Politics; African History; African Studies
Rating: 8/10; Would Recommend
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
ms-erupt.livejournal.com04. Two Speeches by Malcolm X by Malcolm X; Kroonm Thompson
Pages: 58
Genre: Non-fiction; Black History; U.S. History; Race Relations
Rating: 8/10; Would recommend.
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
Pages: 58
Genre: Non-fiction; Black History; U.S. History; Race Relations
Rating: 8/10; Would recommend.
( Short review and possibly spoilery review. )
Comments may contain spoilers.
whereweather.livejournal.com#12. Wounded in the House of a Friend, Sonia Sanchez
1997, Beacon Press
Sonia Sanchez is a poet and professor, and was involved in the Black Arts movement of the 1960s. (Some background from Wikipedia). She lives in Philadelphia, where I live, and teaches at Temple University. I have seen her once or twice on panels and things, and thought I would check out her poetry. This book was the one I found on the library shelf, and I was intrigued by the title.
I was... disappointed by the book. Criticizing it is somewhat difficult for me; can we separate the aesthetic from the cultural, the critical preference from the conditioned one? I will say that I find most of the work here far too literal; it uses very prosey language; and it sometimes seem as if it might work well as a spoken-word performance, but on the page it falls flat. I am not sure whether it is okay for me to say that some of this work feels very amateurish to me. But that was my response to it. I don't know; does that response inherently imply that I'm missing the point?
( Let's see what the issues are... )
Let it be noted that, myself, I do like Ntozake Shange; I did like the prose/poetry mix about the unfaithful husband; and I thought the "Harlem woman struggling with... her junkie granddaughter" was idiotic (not in concept, but in execution; that literalism again, plus tear-jerking sentimentality and stereotype, plus it's a longish poem with an ending you can see coming miles away). So neither of these reviews entirely voices my feeling. However, I am certainly closer to the second one than the first.
Well, we will try Homegirls and Hand Grenades, and see what that yields.
Has anyone else read Sanchez? Or is anyone more familiar with this particular movement, and school, than I am?
1997, Beacon Press
Sonia Sanchez is a poet and professor, and was involved in the Black Arts movement of the 1960s. (Some background from Wikipedia). She lives in Philadelphia, where I live, and teaches at Temple University. I have seen her once or twice on panels and things, and thought I would check out her poetry. This book was the one I found on the library shelf, and I was intrigued by the title.
I was... disappointed by the book. Criticizing it is somewhat difficult for me; can we separate the aesthetic from the cultural, the critical preference from the conditioned one? I will say that I find most of the work here far too literal; it uses very prosey language; and it sometimes seem as if it might work well as a spoken-word performance, but on the page it falls flat. I am not sure whether it is okay for me to say that some of this work feels very amateurish to me. But that was my response to it. I don't know; does that response inherently imply that I'm missing the point?
( Let's see what the issues are... )
Let it be noted that, myself, I do like Ntozake Shange; I did like the prose/poetry mix about the unfaithful husband; and I thought the "Harlem woman struggling with... her junkie granddaughter" was idiotic (not in concept, but in execution; that literalism again, plus tear-jerking sentimentality and stereotype, plus it's a longish poem with an ending you can see coming miles away). So neither of these reviews entirely voices my feeling. However, I am certainly closer to the second one than the first.
Well, we will try Homegirls and Hand Grenades, and see what that yields.
Has anyone else read Sanchez? Or is anyone more familiar with this particular movement, and school, than I am?
#15: Yep; #16: Taylor; #17: Smith
Jun. 10th, 2009 12:52 pmgwyneira.livejournal.com#15: Laurence Yep, Dragonwings
It is 1903, and Moon Shadow lives in China with his mother; a few months before Moon Shadow was born, his father, Windrider, left for America, the Land of the Golden Mountain, to earn money which he sends back to his family in China. Now Windrider has sent for the eight-year-old Moon Shadow to join him. When Moon Shadow meets his father, he finds out Windrider's true dream, to fly, and slowly he grows to believe in Windrider's dream, even though it's keeping them from sending for Moon Shadow's mother. I wish Yep had explored that issue a little more, but overall, I liked the book's historical and cultural details very much and probably will read more of Yep's historical fiction (although I liked Dragon of the Lost Sea more).
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#16: Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Cassie Logan doesn't understand why possessing land means so much to her family, nor does she realize that so many of the white people around her think she's inferior to them. Then the night riders appear, threatening the black people in her community with tar and feathers and burning, and Cassie herself is humiliated by a white girl. Taylor's depiction of the moral choices the Logans must make is complex: though they may want to resist (and Cassie does several times), there's a fine and dangerous line they cannot afford to cross, lest they be the next targets of the night riders. The characterization is excellent, not only of Cassie, but of her whole family and her friends, of the white people who target them and the few who support them. This is one of those books I can't believe I missed when I was growing up, but at least I can make sure my son reads it in a few years. And I already have Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Road to Memphis on the way from Bookmooch!
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#17: Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide
I've been wanting to read this since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oyceter reviewed it (and see also sanguinity's review). It's an utterly eye-opening, fierce, and challenging book which makes a compelling link between sexual violence and American colonialism, both historical and contemporary. Some of what she writes about historical violence against American Indians was known to me, but her exploration of present-day abuses was much newer to me, surprising and horrifying. I was particularly struck by the chapters on environmental racism (and will be looking much more closely at the mail I get from the Sierra Club), medical experimentation, and sterilization abuse, and the penultimate chapter on strategies for fighting gender violence. I was especially impressed, in fact, with the way that Smith doesn't stop with documenting the issues; she also focuses on how to solve them. It wasn't an easy book to read, but it is shocking and illuminating and important, and I'm glad I read it.
It is 1903, and Moon Shadow lives in China with his mother; a few months before Moon Shadow was born, his father, Windrider, left for America, the Land of the Golden Mountain, to earn money which he sends back to his family in China. Now Windrider has sent for the eight-year-old Moon Shadow to join him. When Moon Shadow meets his father, he finds out Windrider's true dream, to fly, and slowly he grows to believe in Windrider's dream, even though it's keeping them from sending for Moon Shadow's mother. I wish Yep had explored that issue a little more, but overall, I liked the book's historical and cultural details very much and probably will read more of Yep's historical fiction (although I liked Dragon of the Lost Sea more).
-----
#16: Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Cassie Logan doesn't understand why possessing land means so much to her family, nor does she realize that so many of the white people around her think she's inferior to them. Then the night riders appear, threatening the black people in her community with tar and feathers and burning, and Cassie herself is humiliated by a white girl. Taylor's depiction of the moral choices the Logans must make is complex: though they may want to resist (and Cassie does several times), there's a fine and dangerous line they cannot afford to cross, lest they be the next targets of the night riders. The characterization is excellent, not only of Cassie, but of her whole family and her friends, of the white people who target them and the few who support them. This is one of those books I can't believe I missed when I was growing up, but at least I can make sure my son reads it in a few years. And I already have Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Road to Memphis on the way from Bookmooch!
-----
#17: Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide
I've been wanting to read this since
oyceter reviewed it (and see also sanguinity's review). It's an utterly eye-opening, fierce, and challenging book which makes a compelling link between sexual violence and American colonialism, both historical and contemporary. Some of what she writes about historical violence against American Indians was known to me, but her exploration of present-day abuses was much newer to me, surprising and horrifying. I was particularly struck by the chapters on environmental racism (and will be looking much more closely at the mail I get from the Sierra Club), medical experimentation, and sterilization abuse, and the penultimate chapter on strategies for fighting gender violence. I was especially impressed, in fact, with the way that Smith doesn't stop with documenting the issues; she also focuses on how to solve them. It wasn't an easy book to read, but it is shocking and illuminating and important, and I'm glad I read it.#7 Liberian Women Peacemakers
Mar. 28th, 2009 10:06 pmwaelisc.livejournal.comThe full title is Liberian Women Peacemakers: Fighting for the Right to Be Seen, Heard, and Counted, compiled by the African Women and Peace Support Network, published by Africa World Press in 2004.
This book recounts the work of numerous women and women's groups in Liberia to end a civil war that lasted for 14 long years. They were courageous, persistent, creative, patient, and single-minded in their pursuit of peace. They held demonstrations, facilitated meetings between rival warlords, talked rebel soldiers out of violent acts, kept a disarmament period from dissolving into chaos, and invited themselves to peace talks held in neighboring countries and demanded to be allowed to address the assembled leaders. What they did was mindblowingly inspiring.
Half of the book gives an overview of the civil war years (1989-2003) and the peacemaking efforts that went on all through that period. The other half is interviews with women of all walks of life on their contributions to the work of making peace. These two quotes stand out for me:
To be an effective peacemaker you must be a very patient person. You must be calm and a very, very good listener. You must listen not only with your ears but with your eyes. You must listen with your heart, your soul, and your mind, because sometimes people say one thing and they mean something completely different. You must be very slow to speak on what you hear.
--Gloria Musu-Scott, Chief Justice
I worked for peace with LWI, NAWOCOL, Women Action for Good Will, Concern for Women. We all joined together to bring peace in this country. We went round from village to village to talk with those boys to put the gun down. We went to Po River, to Mount Barclay, to Lofa, even to the border. When the leaders were in town, we demonstrated on the streets: we wanted peace.
--Martha Nagbe, farmer
I looked for a book on this topic at the library after seeing Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a documentary that focuses on the last year of women's peacemaking efforts before the civil war was finally ended, and on women's efforts to nurture the fragile peace through a period of transitional government and elections in 2006. (On my journal here. I didn't post to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
12films_poc because the director & producer are white.)
This book recounts the work of numerous women and women's groups in Liberia to end a civil war that lasted for 14 long years. They were courageous, persistent, creative, patient, and single-minded in their pursuit of peace. They held demonstrations, facilitated meetings between rival warlords, talked rebel soldiers out of violent acts, kept a disarmament period from dissolving into chaos, and invited themselves to peace talks held in neighboring countries and demanded to be allowed to address the assembled leaders. What they did was mindblowingly inspiring.
Half of the book gives an overview of the civil war years (1989-2003) and the peacemaking efforts that went on all through that period. The other half is interviews with women of all walks of life on their contributions to the work of making peace. These two quotes stand out for me:
To be an effective peacemaker you must be a very patient person. You must be calm and a very, very good listener. You must listen not only with your ears but with your eyes. You must listen with your heart, your soul, and your mind, because sometimes people say one thing and they mean something completely different. You must be very slow to speak on what you hear.
--Gloria Musu-Scott, Chief Justice
I worked for peace with LWI, NAWOCOL, Women Action for Good Will, Concern for Women. We all joined together to bring peace in this country. We went round from village to village to talk with those boys to put the gun down. We went to Po River, to Mount Barclay, to Lofa, even to the border. When the leaders were in town, we demonstrated on the streets: we wanted peace.
--Martha Nagbe, farmer
I looked for a book on this topic at the library after seeing Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a documentary that focuses on the last year of women's peacemaking efforts before the civil war was finally ended, and on women's efforts to nurture the fragile peace through a period of transitional government and elections in 2006. (On my journal here. I didn't post to
12films_poc because the director & producer are white.)
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