The military conflict itself, by dominating everything in its time, diminished other issues, made people choose sides in the one contests that was publicly important, forced people onto the side of the Revolution whose interest in Independence was not at all obvious. Ruling elites seem to have learned through the generations -- consciously or not -- that war makes them more secure against internal trouble.
There is no country in world history in which racism has been more important, for so long a time, as the United States.
If there are necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not a central to hold to the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves? We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pyre the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as cleaner or present as sickness or health, life or death?
The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) -- the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress -- is only one aspect of a certain approach to history in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders.
My viewpoint, in telling the history of the United States, is different: that we must not accept the memory of states as our own. Nations are not communities and never have been.
so-soJust finished this up for this year's #BigLibraryRead. It felt a little thin in world-building and resolution, and the writing itself was underwhelming (especially coming straight out of The Hate U Give), but I think it could be a very useful text for middle grade and high school conversations about contemporary Black-white relations in the US.
pickI have mixed feelings about some elements of the ending, but that's probably to be expected. Deffo got goosebumps during the epilogue. A couple of my coworkers recommended the movie to me after I told them I was listening to the book, so it looks like that's on the to-do list now.
#BlackLivesMatter
Venturing away from my nonfiction and superheroes to listen to the only YA fiction book I've had on my to-read list in ages. Bahni Turpin is an audiobook role model, and her performance is turning a narrative I already anticipated would be emotional into a truly heartrending performance.
pickMy only regret was listening in the car rather than at home where I could jot down quotes. It's an easy read insofar as it's relatively short and deliberately avoids sociological jargon, but the tradeoff is that it is an account of a man's life and the lessons he has to impart on his son that includes preserving a body and a soul that has been commodified by the US for generations. We, "people who believe we are white," have to do better.
"Here is what I would like for you to know: in America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”
(I started listening to the audiobook a few days before Dana Fletcher was shot and killed my police in Madison, AL. I am shaken and angry. I cannot imagine how Black people continue to move through the world, but I must continue to listen. My privilege as a white person is only as good as the voices it elevates.)
"[...] the public often finds it difficult to elevate the expertise of more than one member of an underrepresented group at a time. The American Conservative, for example, praised Hillbilly Elegy for doing 'for poor white people what Ta-Nehisi Coates's book did for poor black people [...],' a warm comparison from a publication critical of Coates but one that nonetheless demonstrates that, to some, marginalized individuals need but one champion."
Stella's favorite part of reading time is getting to chew on my favorite bookmark 😸
"Also, don't blame poor people [for Trump's election]; many of them didn't vote, and besides that, data from the primaries show that Trump supporters' yearly income averaged $72,000, well above the national average and above those of Clinton and Sanders supporters. The typical Trump voter was not a poor hillbilly. And please, don't blame Trumpalachia."
I read Hillbilly Elegy when it first came out 3 years ago, and I remember feeling ambivalent toward it: on the one hand, I value memoir as a medium in which a person finds shareable truths in their own lived experience, but on the other, it was definitely an overly simplistic review of Appalachia as a whole. Three years later, here's a book in which people much smarter (and significantly more Appalchian) than me put those feelings into words.
pickI was worried this would be either a dry slog of a read or graceless propaganda, but it turns out to be a frank and well-balanced account of the Marvel entertainment empire. I'd happily buy a (reasonably-priced secondhand) copy to reread.
pickHard-hitting in its sociopolitical calls for action, cathartic in the frankness and transparency of the author's ongoing antiracist development, and compellingly written throughout -- I have to buy a copy of this to reread and share and meditate on soon.
"The problem of race has always been at its core the problem of power, not the problem of immorality or ignorance."
I've noted more quotes from this book than I'll ever be able to share with Litsy's character limit, but this is a hard truth I'm still internalizing and the key to working toward antiracism: first, we must understand what racism is and is not.
Taking a break from Marvel Comics for this gem just as it debuts on the #nytbestseller list.
"We know how to be racist. We know how to pretend to be not racist. Now let's know how to be antiracist."
"In the beginning Marvel created the Bullpen and the Style.
"And the Bullpen was without form, and was void; and darkness was upon the face of the Artists. And the Spirit of Marvel moved upon the face of the Writers.
"And Marvel said, Let there be the Fantastic Four. And there was The Fantastic Four.
"And Marvel saw The Fantastic Four. And it was good."
- Stan Lee
pickA timely extension of George Takei's 2014 "Why I love a country that once betrayed me" TED Talk, with STUNNING art by Harmony Becker, this graphic memoir is easily now one of my favorite books. I think it could have benefited from being broken down into chapters, but the narrative flow is almost seamless from beginning to end, so I'll forgive it.
I was starting to wonder if the book was going to end on talk of "participatory democracy" and how the US government is the "best in the world," but I should have known better.
"Though they responded in difference way -- caring for their families, fighting on the battlefield, or serving time for their principle -- all these Japanese Americans should incredible courage and heroism. They proved that being American is not just for some people. They all made difficult choices to demonstrate their patriotism to this country, even when it rejected them."
"Whenever we would approach a town, we were forced to draw the shade. We not to be seen by the townspeople."
"[Executive order 9066] never used the word 'Japanese' or 'camps' -- it authorized the military to declare areas 'from which any and all person may be excluded,' and to provide 'transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations' to persons excluded from those areas. Ten days later, the entire West Coast [...] was declared a 'military area.' As for what kind of 'persons' would be 'excluded'...that quickly became obvious."
This is also quality snuggle time with Stellaluna! #catsoflitsy
I've been having trouble sleeping through the night for the past several weeks, so I've decided to turn these late-night wake-ups into reading time.
pickI work at a library, and every week we get a list of the top 20 NYT Bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction. I had no idea what this book was about beyond the one-line blurb on that list except that it was a memoir of a woman seeking formal education. I'm grateful for my ignorance and that I could experience Tara Westover's story without preconceptions and excessive hype. Beautifully written, weighty, and HONEST. An exemplar of why I love memoir.
"She was not angry with me for leaving, because *leaving* was a part of her cycle. Her role was not to control the buffalo, not to gather and confine them by force. It was to celebrate their return."
"He gave me a stiff hug and said, 'I love you, you know that?'
"'I do,' I said. 'That has never been the issue.'"
"This was the price I was being asked to pay, I understood that now. What my father wanted to cast from me wasn't a demon: it was me."
"In retrospect, I see that *this* was my education, the one that would matter: the hours I spent sitting at a borrowed desk, struggling to parse narrow strands of Mormon doctrine in mimicry of the brother who'd abandoned me. The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand."
"If Dad happened by he'd turn the light off, muttering about wasted electricity. Then I'd find some excuse to go downstairs so I could turn it back on. [...] If I couldn't get back down to turn on the light, Richard would pull the book to his nose and read in the dark; he wanted to read that badly. He wanted to read the *encyclopedia* that badly."
"Dad lived in fear of time. He felt it stalking him. I could see it in the worried glances he gave the sun as it moved across the sky, the anxious way he appraised every length of pipe or cut of steel."
"The gales are strong this close to the mountain, as if the peak itself is exhaling. [...] Behind me a gentle hill slopes upward and stitches itself to the mountain base. [...] The hill is paved with wild wheat. If the conifers and sagebrush are soloists, the wheat field is a corps de ballet...as great gales dent their golden heads. The shape of the dent lasts only a moment, and is as close as anyone gets to seeing wind."
so-soI'm generally not a fan of time-travel shenanigans, but they've become a staple of Caprain America comics, and this one was at least a fun read. There are some surprising and satisfying appearances from other Avengers characters throughout, though, and the climax is pretty satisfying as long as I don't think about it too hard. I could have lived without the weird white savior-ish epilogue, though. All in all, I'll buy it secondhand if I find it.
My GOD. As if the US becoming a fascist-nationalist police state wasn't dark enough.
I want to laugh, but this is already a little more relevant than Roger Stern probably anticipated back in 2011. Americommand, Americops, Ameridroid....
John: You expect me to believe that two "future Caps" are a girl and some -- what? Asian-Hispanic?
Kiyoshi: I'm also a quarter Nez Percé, Walker. When your ancestors finally made it to America, mine were waiting for them.
[[So John Walker is a dick and Kiyoshi Morales needs to be canon, plz&thx]]
