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Saturday, March 15, 2008

We Knew Them When: Three New Books Written By Bloggers

by Nanette

Walking With Zeke: a familiar story
by Chris Clarke of Creek Running North

"Zeke could wake me from a sound sleep by staring silently, his desire fully infiltrating my heart. A thousand times, in play, he would lunge for my face and snap, his bite strong enough that it would have disfigured me if he had not stopped short by a quarter inch. And I never flinched once, even when his whiskers grazed my face. I trusted him implicitly, and he me."

From the introduction of Chris Clarke's recently completed book, Walking With Zeke, "a moving naturalist’s journal about an aging dog, the people who loved him, and the wildlife-filled neighborhood in which he spent his last months."

In full disclosure I must say that, though I never actually met him, I knew Zeke - I was his friend. One of many who got to know him through the tales of love and adventure, pain, sickness and sorrow so wonderfully told by Chris over the years. From that familiarity I can assure you that this is a walk well worth taking.

Softcover, 218 pages, $17.95 US, ISBN 978-0-6151-9611-4.

You'll soon be able to order the book through online bookstores and local independent stores, but it's available now right here.

 
And two more...

It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments
by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon

From the Editorial Review on Amazon:

For all of you humming “I Will Survive” while watching the political debacles gracing the evening news, when getting an earful from your Limbaugh-loving brother-in-law, or as you’re ducking into the bathroom to avoid the date espousing the wisdom of those Mars versus Venus books, this book is for you.

It’s a Jungle Out There gives all you smart, independent women out there the funny pranks, witty comebacks, and stalwart sources of strength you need in these trying times. With her tongue firmly in cheek and her middle finger stuck straight up in the air, Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon.net) takes you on a tour through the perils that await any feminist who must navigate day-to-day life in the U.S., from the abstinence-only classrooms to the glass-ceiling of the office world.

Sure to be as snarky and ironic as the writing at Pandagon itself, the book is available (or will soon be) from Amazon here.  Softcover, 200 pages, $11.16 US

Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats
by Matthew Yglesias of The Atlantic Magazine

From the inside flap (via Amazon):

In Heads in the Sand, fast-rising political observer and commentator Matthew Yglesias reveals the wrong-headed foreign policy stance of conservatives, neocons, and the Republican Party for what it is—aggressive nationalism, or, to be impolite, a new version of old-fashioned imperialism. He then examines how Democrats and progressives have responded to the conservative agenda, from mistakenly labeling it isolationism to repeated calls for big, bold, new ideas and the failure to actually produce any.

Writing with wit, passion, and keen insight, Yglesias reminds us of the rich tradition of liberal internationalism that, developed by Democrats, was used with great success by both Democratic and Republican administrations for more than fifty years. It was, in fact, the foreign policy strategy that revived Europe after World War II, established the United Nations, and won the Cold War.

[...]

The forces opposed to liberal internationalism, however, are large and growing. And, Yglesias reveals, they're not all on the far right. He presents a startling revelation of how many moderates, liberals, and even far-left progressives seem more than happy to use America's military might to accomplish their objectives.

Hardcover, 272 pages $17.13 US. Available from Amazon, here.

There we go. I have not read any of these books, although I have read all of these blogs from time to time. Three very different books by three very different writers... something for almost everyone! As I come across more bloggers who have completed books (I'm sure there are are quite a few of them) as well as book writers who blog, I'll let you know who has what ready to go.

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Monday, March 10, 2008

What’s With SNL’s Obama Blackface Minstrel Routine?

by Nanette

"[T]he simple fact is that blackface and minstrels and house Negroes are dangerously wild and crafty memes that have been laughing at intent and virtue for over 140 years. Anyone who has been paying the slightest attention to race in America knows that these are the sort of images that tend to slip out of a user's grasp almost immediately, so deliberately handling them constitutes a form of willful recklessness."

Ebogjonson, a year or so ago, after the spate of White liberal bloggers thinking it was oh, so cool and clever to dress up politicians and pundits in blackface, to make who knows what points. With predictable results.

I literally paused with my cup of coffee halfway to my mouth Sunday morning when they played the clip of the previous night's Saturday Night Live skit. All it was lacking was the rolling eyeballs, showing the whites of the eyes and a couple of "Oh Lawsy, wut we'z gon' do, Miz Hillary? Save us poor dumb black folks!" to make it complete. Well wait... they had that, just in updated language.

Maybe ebog should do another spreadsheet, this time for the media and (apparently melanin challenged) comedy shows.

Posted by Nanette on 03/10 at 10:30 PM
blackface • I'm old and crabby and I have a pen • FP • Politics • SNL • Stupid People •
(7) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

We Will Do Anything To Win - But We Won’t Do THAT

by Nanette

(With apologies to Meatloaf. )

Oh how I wish that was the mantra of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately…

I think it’s time to finally erase the "Democrat" designation from any part of my identity. I’ve resisted doing this for years, long after friends of mine made the leap, with the excuse that well, maybe next time it’ll be different. It never is, though, sadly.

I sat down this morning to write about the primary in South Carolina (as I write this, the polls are still open so I know no results) and some of the language surrounding it, the tactics used there and leading up to it, and the Democratic primary and election in general. I had lots I wanted to say, indictments I wanted to make, predictions to entertain myself and others with and more ... but somehow I just don’t have the heart for it.

And you know what? I’ve decided that’s okay - because, while who is president of the US and which party controls the congress, which laws are made or, more importantly these days, upheld and followed by those in the highest office, and who appoints the Supreme Court members… while all of that does matter, it’s not the be all that ends all. And it’s not there that real changes get made. Not the deep, structural changes anyway. That takes more than laws and much more than politicians and more than doing the same old things in the same old ways.

Theriomorph wrote about politics online and online politics last week (very interesting and thought provoking, as usual, go read). Her post reminded me of thinking I’ve done, off and on over the years, of how to more effectively use this tool we have - the internet, with its access to brilliant minds, varying experiences and its capabilities for coalition building worldwide, to bring about real, lasting change. I believe the window for figuring that out is a fairly short one. I’ve had some ideas that I think could help, only the way my brain works, I tend to see the end result, the big goal and what it could do, but am rather iffy on the little steps to get there.

Still, that’s where the "wisdom of crowds" comes in. We don’t accomplish much by ourselves (especially me!) - even this site/magazine, which is not what it used to be and definitely not all it could be, would have probably just limped along as a thought had I not met Matthew, completely by chance, online. (And actually, I can’t remember how we met (it was about 10 years ago), as we didn’t hang out in the same places, or chat in the same rooms or anything.) And then all the others who have helped throughout the years, wonderful people all of them.

Anyway, I plan to start writing about these ideas and thoughts, in the hopes that they might strike a spark in someone who can see the little steps, or who can see the beginning or the middle, and together we can figure out how all this can work. I’m going to build off of Theriomorph’s post, as well as things bfp and others have written that have embedded themselves in my mind  but which I have been too distracted by other things to follow up on.

I hope lots of people join the conversation here, at Theriomorph’s, at your own places (if you send me a link I will start a list of who is saying what), at bfp’s or wherever you want.

(This post, by the way, is part of the Year of the Manatee (or The Manatee Uprising), which I will explain at another time.)

Posted by Nanette on 01/26 at 03:25 PM
Coalitions • FP • Friday Stuff Blogging • HumanRights • Scarcity and Abundance • ShameOnUs • Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish •
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