We Need to Talk

 Dear fellow white people, 

Charlottesville is on us. All of us. We all have allowed racist sentiment to fester around us and emboldened the fascist, Nazi, and white supremacists who converged yesterday on the University of Virginia. This is the result of our silence.

Before you say, "Not me. I'm not racist. I've condemned what they're doing. I speak out against such things," I ask you to think of this: How many times have you let racist or bigoted comments from family, friends, and coworkers slide? Maybe you didn't feel like getting in an argument. Maybe you were worried about alienating someone. Maybe you didn't think that they were "serious;" that they were really joking.

Every time you, and I, let those comments slide, we fed into the nationalist hatred that we saw plastered on the media over the past 72 hours.

Every time we decided that our discomfort wasn't worth standing up for people of color and other marginalized groups, we fed it.

People of color have lived with this hate for centuries.

White people, on the other hand, have that luxury of deciding when and where to engage with these people. We are protected by the privilege of our white skin--we are unlikely to ever be on the receiving end of such hatred.

But if we truly believe what we espouse, we can't stay silent. It isn't the job of the black community and others to combat racism--it's ours, because it's our communities that are perpetuating it. These white supremacists aren't hiding under sheets anymore. And let's be honest: They never really were. They're not just in the South; they're not just in backwoods small towns. They're sitting next to us at work. They're worshipping in our churches. They're policing our streets, making our laws, sitting next to us at the dinner table.

It's time we stopped letting them be comfortable in their bigotry.

It's time we stood up for all Americans, not just those who look like us.

It's time we step out of the shadows and actively work to stop this cancer in our society.

We have to speak out. We may lose friends. Coworkers may stop socializing with us. Family members may stop speaking to us. It's not going to be easy. But it's time we stepped up and really started taking ownership for the disgusting hatred being displayed around us. And we need to do it now.

It's OUR responsibility.

Rabbit Hole #60: In/Out Dec. 11-Jan. 1

Well, we made it to the end of another year. I hope your celebrations over the past few weeks have been joyous and you are ready for what 2017 had to bring. Here's just a bit of what I've been reading the past couple of weeks. (I'll also have a 2016 reading wrap-up/2017 goals post and a top books of 2016 post coming in the next few days.)

Recently Purchased

Not technically purchased, as I was given gift cards, but these are all on their way. I have very generous family members!

 

 

Yeah, the to-be-read pile just became substantially larger.

Recently Completed

The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff (4 stars)

I've always been interested in the psychology behind the Witch Trials: what could possibly have made so many people turn on their friends and loved ones? Unfortunately, because of the lack of historical record, we may never know that answer definitively. Since I've taught Arthur Miller's The Crucible several times, I knew most of the information presented in the book from my own research. But it was still intriguing to delve into the enormous scope of the, for lack of a better word, madness. It also solidified the fact that we haven't changed all that much: one of the radical notions that the "devil" was promising the "witches" was that all people are created equal, and that terrified people. As it still does today. 

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (3.5 stars)

This is a dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel about two sisters who find themselves alone in their forest home after a mysterious illness has wiped out a large portion of the population and their father dies while trying to provide for them. Hegland doesn't waste a lot of time on the outside world, focusing instead on the realities of trying to survive when everything you take for granted is gone. I liked the sister dynamic, but it felt almost too easy for these two teenagers to survive. It was a fun, quick read, though. 

The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemison (4 stars)

I was thinking this was going to be more of a science fiction novel, but to me, it felt more fantasy. Not that fantasy's a bad thing--I like that much more than science fiction! This is the first in a duology and centers on a world where dreamblood is harvested and used to cure the sick. The Gatherers take "tithes" from those who are deemed unworthy by their order (they're really highly skilled religious assassins). But of course, in the wrong hands, dreamblood can be a weapon. Political intrigue, war, alternate realms are all beautifully crafted by Jemison, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel. 

Currently Reading

What Moves at the Margins: Selected Nonfiction by Toni Morrison

To me, Toni Morrison is the queen goddess of contemporary literary fiction. Her work is insightful, raw, thought-provoking, challenging, and inspiring: everything I need right now as we head into an uncertain time. 

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis by Anne Rice

Comfort food

I'm starting this one tonight. 

Things Worth Fighting For

Just a reminder to myself, when the world looks dark.

This is just some of what we're fighting for:

Equality
Compassion
Family
Friends
The environment
Basic necessities for all
A living wage
Equal pay
Black Lives Matter
Reproductive justice
The end of the death penalty
LGBTQIA+ rights
Quality education for all
Prison and criminal justice reform
Religious freedom--for all religions
Our veterans
Common sense gun control
Art--both visual and performance
Music
Literature
Free speech
Voting rights
And, as Lin-Manuel Miranda put it:
Love is love is love is love.

I refuse to stop believing that we are better than this moment in time. 

Rabbit Hole #56: In/Out Oct. 2-15

I've discovered the cause of my reading slump: this election and the tornado surrounding it. I've been spending far too much time focusing on it and not nearly enough time reading. I wish I could say that's going to change, but I have a feeling that's won't happen until Nov. 9.

Be that as it may, I have finished a couple of books in the last couple of weeks!

Recently Purchased

BabyLit Board books

Ok, so I didn't actually buy these for me, but for our friend's adorable two year old. They are hands down my favorite books for the younger set, using the original classics for counting, colors, animals, opposites, ocean animals...well, you get the idea. Definitely check these out if you have wee ones around!

Recently Finished

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (3 stars)

Yes! Finally finished. Nothing new was introduced about these historical characters, who are incredibly fascinating, and I still felt her characterization fell very flat, especially for Cromwell. It was interesting, but just not for me, and I won't be picking up the third installment whenever it comes out.

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (5 stars)

I loved this. Plain and simple. The insights into Miranda's thought process, his inspirations, the history, the backgrounds on the principal players: everything was on point and worth every moment. I'll be coming back to this one again and again.

Currently Reading

The Watsons by Jane Austen 

Starting in on the second novella in this collection. It's a bit better than Lady Jane so far; we shall see if it continues. 

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

This is an incredible read so far. It's set in a dystopian futuristic Sudan that in some ways feels very current, but with the added elements of magic. Okorafor's writing is engaging and her characters leap off the page. 

I will break this slump. I will break this slump. I will...

Rabbit Hole #55: September Reading Update

Still battling a weird reading slump/rut, so only seven books this month, and wondering if it's because of the three challenges. I feel a bit locked in; there's not a lot of wiggle room for me to read things outside of the tasks. I am reading a lot of amazing books, don't get me wrong, but lesson learned for next year, I think.


Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge (Current Completion: 35/41)

A National Book Award winner: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (4 stars)

A book 100 years older than you: Lady Susan by Jane Austen (3 stars)


Bustle Women/POC Challenge (Current Completion: 13/20)

YA book by an author of color: Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lai (3.5 stars)

Post-apocalyptic fiction written by a woman: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (3.5 stars)


Read Harder Challenge 2016 (Current Completion: 18/24)

A food memoir: Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Meaning by Kim Sunée (4 stars)




Non-challenge books completed: 

March, Book 3 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (4.5 stars) 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (4 stars)


Check my weekly In/Out posts for more information on the completed reads!

Rabbit Hole #54: In/Out Sep. 25-Oct. 1

Hit a reading wall again. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Recently Purchased

Still doing well on the no-book buying thing. Still miss hitting my favorite stores.



Recently Finished

Lady Susan by Jane Austen (3 stars)

This is a bit of a cheat--I've finished the first novella in here, but I haven't gotten to the others yet. Lady Susan was actually a let down after having read Austen's full length novels. It was full of completely unlikable characters, which I usually like, and multiple narrators, which I also usually like, but the combination just didn't work here. In Austen's other works, you can see a sly wit and beautiful societal commentary, but this seemed lacking in that department. 

Currently Reading

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Still reading. . . Henry VIII's first wife has just died, Anne Boleyn miscarried their son, and Henry's getting the roving eye. Again. 

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

I am taking my time and savoring this. I love the short essays on the development of the musical, and Miranda's notes on the the actual book. It's always fascinating to see a "mind at work."

Rabbit Hole #53: In/Out Sep. 18-24

Only one finished this week, but I'm ok with that. 

Recently Purchased

NONE! (I have mixed feelings about this...)


Recently Finished

Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée (4 stars)

I really enjoyed this, but then, I'm a sucker for travel memoirs and soul-searches. (I unapologetically love Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun.) This ticked all those boxes, plus having portions set in my beloved New Orleans and some amazing looking recipes, and it's no surprise that it was something I would find intriguing. Yes, it's self-indulgent and self-absorbed in places, but what memoir isn't?

Currently Reading

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

I do normally love historical fiction, but Mantel just isn't doing it for me. This is not one of those books I can't wait to pick up; I pick it up because I'm committed to finishing it (I never DNF--did not finish--a book. Some see this as a weakness, but I feel I can't truly judge something unless I've experienced it entirely, i. e., finishing the entire book). The story is fine; I'm just not thrilled with her writing. I also realize I'm in the minority here. 

Lady Susan, The Waltons, Sedition by Jane Austen

Three of Jane Austen's lesser known short novellas, some unfinished. Not too far into the first one, which is told in as an epistolary, so I'm interested to see how closely these align to her completed works.

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

I really don't think I need to say more, do I?

Tom Buchanan and the Modern GOP

Something struck me these past few weeks watching the political circus we have somehow found ourselves in: I've read this before.

In the 1920s when F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby, the United States was being turned upside down. On one hand we had unprecedented wealth and opportunity for a large number of people; on the other, a horrific rise in racism and xenophobia in response to increased immigration and small advancements for African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration.

This darker side of America is encapsulated in Fitzgerald's character of Tom Buchanan. Tom, the rich polo player who has never had to work for anything in his life, nevertheless laments the way he sees America heading:

      "Civilization's going to pieces," broke out Tom violently. "I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read 'The Rise of the Colored Empires' by this man Goddard?"

      "Why, no," I [Nick] answered, rather surprised by his tone. 

     "Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be--will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved." [. . .] "--And we've produced all the things that go to make civilization--oh, science and art, and all that. Do you see?" (12-13).

Tom sees the "other" as threatening his way of life, his rich white male privilege. For him, that hatred doesn't just extend to immigrants and people of color, it also extends to anyone whom he sees as being "beneath" him. Tom ultimately destroys lives, mirroring the very real violence that happened to people who dared strive for a dream that others deemed exclusively for the white elites.

Flash forward to the 2016 Republican Convention:

"I ask you to go back through history and figure out, where have these contributions been made by these other categories of people that you're talking about. Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?"

This time, we're not listening to a fictional character, but Congressman Steve King (R-IA) speaking to Chris Hayes on live television. Tom Buchanan has been reincarnated, but hasn't learned anything. Not long before this, David Duke, the former KKK Grand Dragon, announced that he was going to be running for senator because Donald Trump agreed with many of his ideals and made those ideals "acceptable."  If these two were the lone voices bemoaning the state of America, no one would think anything of it. But they're not. As a matter of fact, they're indicative of a much larger racist and xenophobic faction in the GOP (and the United States at large) being spurred on by the Republican Presidential nominee. If you don't believe me, just watch this (warning: graphic language and violence). And that's just a small portion on the vitriol being spewed toward anyone who doesn't agree with Trump's vision of "making America great again". 

The GOP has turned Tom Buchanan into their poster child, willingly or not. We're not supposed to root for Tom, though: he destroys all the lives he comes in contact with and walks away unscathed. He's the dark side of America, the side we are supposed to be continually striving against, not give in to. 

There is another option, though. Even if Gatsby is far from perfect, even if he has lied to get to where he is, everything his does, albeit imperfectly, is for a better life, that vision of the American Dream that dances in front of all of our faces. He pushes back against Tom Buchanan and his elitism because he knows Tom for what he is. 

We all want more for ourselves and those we love, regardless of where we come from. And we have a very clear choice to make as voters. We can give in to hatred and bigotry and allow Tom Buchanan to win once again. Or, we can refuse to let his hatred define who we are and reach out for something better, even if it isn't completely perfect. In the end, isn't that green light ultimately worth fighting for? 

Photo Credit: me

*Quote taken from the 2004 Scribner Paperback Edition of The Great Gatsby.