selectively bossy

just about everything interesting has gone friends-only.

let me know if you want to be added.

I've just learned from my friend Carrie that Harriet McBryde Johnson, one of my heroes in the disability rights movement, the National Lawyers Guild, and generally in life, has died.

I never got to work with or meet Harriet, but somehow I always thought it would happen. I did get to hear her read once. Her writing, like her spirit and her legal analysis, was clear and steel-strong.

baruch dayan ha'emet, blessed is the righteous judge, and G-dspeed.

that I am so proud of my party today. Yes, I'm a Democrat. And I am so glad to say that I support our nominee wholeheartedly. It's been a while since I could say that.

I'm leaving for London in about six hours.

It's been entirely out-of-control at work, so no time to do anything but work. More information upon my return.

love!

I've just learned two things that leave me somewhat nonplussed.

1. I share my birthday (today!) with Karl Marx.

??

2. I now share my birthday with Mildred Loving's yahrtzeit.

wow, that's sad.

huh.

Good thing I'm going on vacation on Thursday.

The Big-Name Feminist Blogger referenced in my most recent public entry has published a book, which she is currently promoting on a national book tour.

Said book contains the images posted here.

And said Big-Name Feminist Blogger excuses these images thusly, thusly, thusly, and thusly.

OH COME ON.

Let me be perfectly clear, if painfully insufficient: THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.

And yes, this entry is public. Comments will be screened.

**************

I am not, at heart, a writer. In all honesty, I picked law school because I didn't think I had it in me to write a master's thesis (or, chas v'shalom, a dissertation!). The irony, of course, is that I spend most of my time at work - wait for it - WRITING. I think I'm getting better, because it's like 75% of what I do all day long, but really - I am not a writer by nature. I struggle like whoa when writing. I keep this journal because it helps my mental health, not to make any points about my writing skills.

Which is by way of saying, I don't know how much sense this entry is going to make. But you know, I only billed 3.6 hours today, because I spent most of the day with my mind wandering about banality, appropriation, and evil, and hey, why else do I have a journal if not to write about things like this?

***************

So - the banality of evil is a concept that, as far as I can tell, originated with Hannah Arendt's book Eichmann in Jerusalem. The theory is that "great evils in history generally, and the Holocaust in particular, were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and therefore participated with the view that their actions were normal." Cite. (Is there an earlier originator? Please tell me if there is.)

I have not read Eichmann in Jerusalem, and based on deliriums_fish's reviews, I don't plan to. But I was thinking today about how fascinatingly horrifying a concept it is - that if you accept the premise of something (on my mind today: structural racism, appropriation, and the erasing of people of color), and what I mean by "accept" is that it's as common as the air you breathe - or part of the air you breathe even - such that you don't even notice it any more, you'll keep perpetuating those problems, because you see no reason to question whether it's normal.

****************

A confession: I read a lot of blogs. Less than I used to (really ma, I'm cutting back, I can stop any time I want to!), but still rather a great number of blogs. Real blogs, smart blogs, blogs where people are thinking about important things, in great depth, not just nattering on about their little lives like I do. One of these blogs is - was - La Chola. That link doesn't work today.

The author of La Chola, who goes by brownfemipower, writes a lot about immigration as a feminist issue. I will freely admit that I had never considered that angle before, and that this is a function of my race and class privileges. (She also is one of a few feminist bloggers out there who really engage on disability rights, who listen to the voices of people with disabilities. You have to know how much I appreciate that.) What I wish I could do is link to her brilliant, thoughtful, and extremely engaging posts, but like I said - the link doesn't work today.

brownfemipower recently gave a talk at a conference about immigration as a feminist issue. About a week later, a major feminist blogger posted this article on alternet. As outlined by Sylvia/M. here, this article is nearly a line-for-line cribbing of brownfemipower's work over the past year (possibly more?). The major feminist blogger did not link to La Chola and did not mention La Chola in her article. Most disturbing for me, though, when this striking similarity was brought to her attention, the major feminist blogger responded by (1) denying that brownfemipower was any influence on her, (2) attacking those who were upset about the appropriation, and (3) claiming that this was an attack on her career, not an attempt by an injured party trying to let her know that she had, you know, CAUSED AN INJURY.

And this made me think about the banality of evil.

*****************

Not because I believe this major feminist blogger is evil, no. Let me be clear that I do not think this woman is evil. I have my issues with her, but they do not even remotely involve evilness.

But because really - the entire interchange has been so very, very, banal.

ba·nal: adj. Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception" (James Wolcott).

This happens again and again. People of color have the work, their art, their music, their words appropriated by white folks - who go on to profit from the ideas, the music, the art in ways that the actual creators simply cannot access. Because - and I probably don't have to say this but I will anyway - of structural racism. And it kills me, it absolutely kills me, to see another feminist doing this.

*****************

We are supposed to be a movement for all women. We are supposed to be good at listening to the individual voices of individual women. We are supposed to confront oppression and try to get rid of it.

Appropriating the work of women of color should not be acceptable behavior for a feminist. Lashing out defensively when someone calls you on it should not be acceptable behavior for a feminist.

And we are losing ourselves as a movement for fighting oppression when we tolerate or support or give a free pass to this kind of behavior.

*****************

I really, really don't know what to say beyond this. I am so disappointed and saddened, and boy do I feel silly and histrionic for being this discombobulated by things going on in the internets. But I can't stop thinking about it.

*****************

I met a friend through La Chola; I read her comments, and clicked on the link to her blog, and was just delighted to find a disability rights activist. I also read a fantastic post and set of comments about product suggestions for Latina women with tightly-curled dry hair - something our fabulous receptionist has talked to me about (she is also Latina and also has kinky, dry hair). I sent her the link, and she was thrilled. That link, too, is gone.

So in addition to losing the words and voice of brownfemipower, we have also lost a crossroads, a meeting place. I don't know what to do with that, either.

I need to go to bed.

HAPPY HELL WEEK!

especially, much love and welcome to the class of 2011.

from my little cousin:

************
To: harriettheelf
From: little cousin
Subject: [none]

DEAR harriettheelf



i LOVE YOU. 3486AND100 THINGS i can count
1234567891012345678910123456789101234567891012345678910
LOVE NAOMI

************

uh?

SO CUTE!!

Just realized that my (dreadful) opposing counsel in one case is a real-life Percy Weasley.

Without the end-of-series redemption storyline.

Yeah, it's about as much fun as it sounds.

VOTE OR DIE.

I mean it.

There is a special place in hell for people who edit your documents, making only the most picayune changes, and TURN OFF THE TRACK-CHANGES FEATURE, so that you have to compare the documents as they sit side-by-side on your desk.

Especially if the document is longer than three pages.

"Here's what's in McDonald's French Fries (that they admit)

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)

Now, when I make french fries, I take a potato. I cut it into strips. I take a couple cups of vegetable oil. I get it real hot and drop the fries in. Afterwards, I put on a little salt... sometimes even some old bay. Mmm.... that's good. That's what I want to eat. Not all that crap up there. Trust me Javad, my lies were for your own good. I gave you an extra year or two of life...

Hug me.


Note: "Natural Beef Flavor"- contains hydrolyzed wheat and milk as starting ingredients. Does that sound like "natural beef flavor" to you?"

-- whd

check it:

the GOP primary field as BTVS villains

The only one I disagree with is Giuliani-Angelus, because Angelus is really Angel on a bad day, and Angel had a soul. Whereas the presence of Giuliani's soul is, at best, debatable.

ht: terra_lily

I got totally schooled by my friend's two-year-old on Saturday. She held up a little plastic pig, and said, "Piggy!"

So I made the snorting noise - I don't know how to represent it orthographically, but sort of, "hwonk hwonk."

And she frowned and said, very seriously, "No. Oink oink."

heh.

Instead, I'll brag about the package my mama sent me.

Backstory: My parents moved in January, to a new, smaller house.* My mom has been unpacking for some time now, and over Thanksgiving she asked me to go through the young-adult fiction section of their book collection - most of which books are mine. AND THEN SHE PUT THEM IN A BOX AND SENT THEM TO ME.**

So, now I have the following:
Bridge to Terabithia -- Katherine Paterson***
The Egypt Game -- Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Gypsy Game -- Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case -- Zilpha Keatley Snyder
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown -- Sydney Taylor
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown -- Sydney Taylor
Journey to an 800 Number -- E.L. Konigsburg
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William, McKinley, and me, Elizabeth -- E.L. Konigsburg
Up from Jericho Tel -- E.L. Konigsburg
The Ordinary Princess -- M.M. Kaye****
Boy -- Roald Dahl
The BFG -- Roald Dahl
Baby Island -- Carol Ryrie Brink
The Twenty-One Balloons -- William Pene DuBois
The House With a Clock in its Walls -- John Bellairs
The Figure in the Shadows -- John Bellairs
The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring -- John Bellairs
The Ghost in the Mirror -- John Bellairs

Eagle-eyed***** readers will note that I now have two copies of The Ghost in the Mirror. Anybody want the extra one?





* Smaller is, of course, relative. We all still have bedrooms, and there's a guest room. Welcome to Newton.
** WITH A BLACK PEA COAT THAT MY SISTER OUTGREW. Oh, hand-me-ups: the perk of being the little big sister.
*** This is my personal copy from the unit we did on the book in 6th grade, the year my classmate David contracted leukemia and died. This book - it is a mess, but it has so many memories in it.
**** Which LJL apparently contemplated STEALING FROM OUT MY PARENTS' OLD HOUSE, because it is out of print. Nice try, kiddo, this one's mine :)
***** Or anal-retentive. You choose.

I do love an upside down cake.

This is for a friend's birthday party (which is on Saturday, so I hope this stays yummy until then ...).

happy national bundt pan day!

I had a lulu of a nightmare this morning. I dreamed I was at a fancy event with K-Ro, and we got separated during dinner (which was on a higher floor but the access up to it was fine). I wound up sitting with two of our co-counsel, neither of whom I would call my ideal dinner dates. The performers at the event were a choir that sang a song I sang as part of the Northeastern Junior District Choir (something I did in 8th grade).

After dinner, I met back up with K-Ro, and to our chagrin, every accessible route downstairs was blocked. I thought I had found a nice ramp, but as soon as she started down it, the ramp turned into a flight of stairs, and she wound up jouncing down them in her wheelchair.

Clearly this was a dream, because her only complaint at the bottom of the stairs was, "That couldn't have been good for my shocks." We went to complain to the hotel coordinators, and the woman in charge started chastising K-Ro for not giving her more notice that she'd need to get down from the dinner.

Ack. I woke up shaking my head.

ALCS woo!