Dear Rebecca Rose,
You asked Arta, my mother, your maternal grandmother, for book recommendations. I have been holding your request in my mind ever since. The request can be at the forefront of my mind for hours, and then the topic gets nudged into the background as the ordinary or extraordinary aspects of daily life interrupt.
Putting pen to paper, moving past paralysis, past fear of picking the wrong word, choosing the wrong tone, positing the wrong proposition is tied on this topic with the pernicious worry of not passing on the politics of the past.
I think what I am trying to say is ... "I am a feminist."
No, that doesn't sound quite right, at least not in a post structuralist sense. I'll try again: "I am a Feminist."
Closer, but something still feels off. I'll try again. "I am a feminist activist who wishes she were currently working with a feminist collective."
Books I recommend? My mind goes blank. I will try instead authors I have read, read and loved.
bell hooks
Audre Lorde
Andrea Dworkin
Judith Butler
Alice Walker
Eve Ensler
Catherine McKinnon
Adrienne Rich
Mary Daly
Patricia Hill Collins
Laurel Thatcher Urich
Malala Yousafzai
Kate Millet
Monique Gray Smith
Rebecca Johnson
...
To be continued
Reading this was a surprise. I, too, have been thinking about these questions, trying to write paragraphs that will get at the answers I have to give.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by Bonnie's list of feminists she has read. I made a mental note to myself of the ones on that list i have yet to read.
Tonight I will post my first try at answering your questions.
Beautiful picture in your post, Bonnie. Is this a sunset at Secwepemculu's Shuswap Lake, looking west and north from the place Marcia loves?
ReplyDeleteIt's the view of Secwepemculu's Mt Ida from my balcony in Salmon Arm. What look like reeds are the top branches of the cherry tree in our yard.
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