To Rebecca Rose who asked me about my feminist thoughts:
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| Dworkin, Andrea. Mercy. 1990 Paperback, 352 pages. Published February 2nd 1993 by Thunder's Mouth Press. |
My first two attempts have only led me to list books I have loved.
And worse, I published the first half on the blog and through a mistake, deleted the second half. Wahh! I hate rewriting something so that is yet to come.
Today I was thinking that a well-crafted essay might not be our best entry point for a chat, because if I were there at your house, there would be conversations going on where feminism was the underlying foundation, but we would be talking about how it impacts our life and we would be doing this in ways that don't even include the word feminism.
Take this on the political level, for example. Before January 6, 2021 I had begun to worry about a march on the Capital Building in America. In Covid-times I try to listen to less rather than more news. I find the tone that the news produces needless anxiety sometimes. But on the 6th, when I heard that there had been windows smashed on the U.S. Capitol Building and a forced entry, I went to find out what happened. I tuned to Fox News. I never listen to Fox News, but I resorted to an old strategy, a feminist strategy. I often go to the place of disquietude and listen carefully so that I can understand what has brought people to this place.
As I was listening to Fox News, I thought, "Hey, do I have CNN by mistake?" It was the seeming factualness of what I was hearing from them that alarmed me. But knowing that was incorrect, I was indeed with Fox news, I continued to listen, finally moving off to other news outlets to see what they had to say.
Today I was thinking that a well-crafted essay might not be our best entry point for a chat, because if I were there at your house, there would be conversations going on where feminism was the underlying foundation, but we would be talking about how it impacts our life and we would be doing this in ways that don't even include the word feminism.
Take this on the political level, for example. Before January 6, 2021 I had begun to worry about a march on the Capital Building in America. In Covid-times I try to listen to less rather than more news. I find the tone that the news produces needless anxiety sometimes. But on the 6th, when I heard that there had been windows smashed on the U.S. Capitol Building and a forced entry, I went to find out what happened. I tuned to Fox News. I never listen to Fox News, but I resorted to an old strategy, a feminist strategy. I often go to the place of disquietude and listen carefully so that I can understand what has brought people to this place.
As I was listening to Fox News, I thought, "Hey, do I have CNN by mistake?" It was the seeming factualness of what I was hearing from them that alarmed me. But knowing that was incorrect, I was indeed with Fox news, I continued to listen, finally moving off to other news outlets to see what they had to say.
This act of going to either the far-left of the far-right to gather information is a trusted method of gathering information for me. In my religious practice, I have often heard Mormonism described by people who I thought had not done their due diligence in talking to Mormons. So, I'm at my most curious when I can go speak directly or listen directly to people who are espousing a certain position. I want to know what they think. I don't want to know what other's think they think.
I wouldn't have had words to describe this, or maybe I wouldn't have had a cause to describe it until you asked me directly about feminism and I decided to tell you where that journey has led me.
I thought about this more directly when I was making a list of books that have influenced me. In collecting that short list, I just used a stream of consciousness, and in that stream was the name of a radical feminist, Andrea Dworkin. I actually couldn't remember the name of any book she has written while I was doing that blogging today.
I had to go to google where I could rely on at least recall memory. One was her books is titled "Intercourse". I kept the title of the book hidden, other books on top of it or beside it when I ws reading it. An older piano student of mine came to my house and her eyes lit on it. She looked me in the eye and said, "Whatever would you be reading a book like that for." I wouldn't have been able to explain to her that I was on a journey to discover the best thought of a woman whose ideas I could understand. Dworkin was a radical feminist who believed that the root of women's oppression their bodies. I didn’t understand what that meant myself, but I wanted to.
I didn't have the time to do the thinking she had done, but I could follow her line of reasoning and respect it.
So, how can I bring this back to why I was quickly turning on Fox News a few days ago? I think you see the link.
Arta
I wouldn't have had words to describe this, or maybe I wouldn't have had a cause to describe it until you asked me directly about feminism and I decided to tell you where that journey has led me.
I thought about this more directly when I was making a list of books that have influenced me. In collecting that short list, I just used a stream of consciousness, and in that stream was the name of a radical feminist, Andrea Dworkin. I actually couldn't remember the name of any book she has written while I was doing that blogging today.
I had to go to google where I could rely on at least recall memory. One was her books is titled "Intercourse". I kept the title of the book hidden, other books on top of it or beside it when I ws reading it. An older piano student of mine came to my house and her eyes lit on it. She looked me in the eye and said, "Whatever would you be reading a book like that for." I wouldn't have been able to explain to her that I was on a journey to discover the best thought of a woman whose ideas I could understand. Dworkin was a radical feminist who believed that the root of women's oppression their bodies. I didn’t understand what that meant myself, but I wanted to.
I didn't have the time to do the thinking she had done, but I could follow her line of reasoning and respect it.
So, how can I bring this back to why I was quickly turning on Fox News a few days ago? I think you see the link.
Arta
Catherine, I read your post once, afraid of what the next sentence was going to reveal, and on finishing ther whole blog post, I settled down to a close re-read of every sentence.
ReplyDeleteSometimes like a picture, every sentence can be like 1,000 words (when I fill in what is left unspoken). I don’t know Jeannette Falls whom you quote so I took a visit to Wikipedia to learn about her and then I went to you tube: Jeannette Walls Talks about “The Glass Castle”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iPaktkrPdw). I always have a pen beside me. I heard two other beautiful quotes in that interview: “We shape our lives by which stories we tell and how we tell them”, and “Every time I step in the shower and turn on the hot water, I am astonished”. Those quotes were worth the 17 minutes of the interview, plus I got to hear and see the Jeannette Walls in an interview. Yay me!
I wonder how you came to know this author?
I would like to thank you for the pictures of the stairs in your house, ones I have run up and down myself. I have a turn like yours on the stairs in my house at the lake – a turn that positions me to a 90 degree angle from where I have come. I always think it is the trifocal lens in my glasses that makes me grab and tightly hold an possible bannister when I go down stairs now.
You ask for messages about falling. My best strategy is to always hold a bannister. That act has saved me from many a fall – I get a wrenched wrist, but that has been well worth the save from many a fall. I am not sure you have a bannister at the top of your stairs – but there is a good one on the last stretch of the stairs going down.
Thanks to Rebecca Rose for the picture of your anatomy. I wanted to show pics of my anatomy, -- everywhere where there were black and blue marks but I was prevented from showing them by those wiser than me. In my case, a good thing for I was on T-3’s, and experience has taught me I don’t make good decisions when I am on drugs.
How are your knees and your heel? Any soreness around them. Since the bruises are apparent on your buttocks; what I guess is Mad-Eye Moody’s caution about losing (bruising) half of the buttocks is too late for you. I assume that there is a certain amount of buttock tenderness which you can winge about with no judgement from me.
So glad you are alive and well and able to report on you slip on the stairs.