“Bessie” and colorism in the Black community

I watched Bessie last night on HBO and of course Queen Latifah was radiant as the iconic and tragic blues legend who died at age 43. Early in the biopic I caught a theme before it became part of the broader story line- Bessie experienced prejudice within the black community for her skin color ( too dark) and once she had her own act she dismissed the “yellow” dancers who came out to audition.

The scene reenacted with the Blackque Swan record label was also filled with colorism from both Bessie and her husband Jack towards the effete Harlem men and towards Bessie from them. Throughout the story this colorism was more emphasized than the racism Bessie encountered from whites who were portrayed as either fetishists or outright racists which rang true to me as a white person.

Did a paragraph in The Feminine Mystique damage Autism Awareness for 2 generations?

Did a paragraph in The Feminine Mystique damage Autism Awareness for 2 generations?.

Did a paragraph in The Feminine Mystique damage Autism Awareness for 2 generations?

I had never read the Feminine Mystique until a few days ago. I am a reasonably well read woman but most of my academic interests have had a more scientific rather than sociological origin. I actually got my only C as a undergraduate in a Women’s Studies course due to the fact that my then 2 year old developed a nasty case of Croup and was hospitalized for almost a week and I was late turning in a final synthesis paper. The irony of receiving a C in a course on Women’s Studies because of having a sick toddler was not lost upon me and the young female professor deemed my “unique situation” unfortunate yet pointed out that the syllabus stated that any late work would have 10 points docked for each late day. This was in 2006. A full 15 months before the I-Phone would debut and laptops were still 500-800 dollars so if you had a paper due and a child in the hospital you were pretty much screwed. How silly of me not to plan in advance for childhood illnesses!

I chalked this insensitivity up to the professors lack of experience in dealing with non traditional students ( 26 year old single mothers with 2 children attending a 4 year university were in 2006 mostly an anomaly as we were encouraged to go to for profit colleges that could accommodate our “lifestyles”).  My enthusiasm for feminism was undiminished as the digital age was in it’s infancy and SJW’s were nowhere on the horizon. Twitter feminism was almost 7 years away from existence. No one had a smartphone or instant web access to publish inane screeds. The experiences I have had as a single mother pursuing a higher education have taught me that if a professor has an issue the course grinds to a halt but woe to the single mother whose children may cause papers to be late due to their illnesses or needs.

When I saw the paragraph in Friedan’s book blaming autism on mothers I was tempted to go to an MRA site and recant my feminism. I was tempted to go onto Jezebel’s comment forum and cause a stir. You see I have a lovely 8 year old daughter who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. She is severely autistic and non-verbal. In other words she has the “hard autism”. At age 8 I still change her training pants, help her bathe, dress, eat, brush her teeth, comb her hair, and ensure that each day we work on basic skills as well as try to have fun while learning the new language of AAC devices. A language that has it’s own rules because she can understand words but has never spoken more than 2 words together without the use of an I-Pad. Her voice is digital.

I have to imagine that Friedan’s limited understanding of autism caused her to even write such damaging and even hateful things about autistic people and their mothers ( fathers are spared her indignation making her less of a feminist in my opinion and an apologist for patriarchy- more on that another day). Calling the children “things”. Worrying about an epidemic. Part of what is wrong with the social sciences is that effects are confused with causes. Friedan rightly saw an increase in diagnosis. She also noted the increase on frozen foods, diagnostic techniques, more products ( with chemicals) for women such as make-up, hair care and home cleaning items. Instead of seeing that the environment was changing and there was an increase in autism ( worth noting is that some of her case studies took place in NJ and NY both states known for pollution and autism clusters) and making that connection she took the easy way and blamed mothers in the classic Bruno Betthelheim tradition.

Leigh Anne Tuohy Update: One Of The Teens Responds

Leigh Anne Tuohy Update: One Of The Teens Responds.

Serial: More Details About Jay’s Transcripts Than You Could Possibly Need

Like a lot of other people who are in pursuit of truth I am intrigued by this case.

The View From LL2

Full disclosure: this post is something of a cop-out, since I probably will not have time to write another substantive post until this weekend. But while I already addressed a lot of the oddities in Jay’s police interviews, in my previous post about Jay’s descriptions of how Hae was buried, people have been asking about  the rest of Jay’s transcripts. So even though, at this point, I am beating a horse that is extremely deceased, I have cleaned up some of my notes on the rest of Jay’s transcripts. But you’ve been warned — unless you happen to have an interest in the smallest details of Jay’s police statements, this post is not for you.

Also, I want to preface this by noting that, from the comments I have received on my previous posts about Jay’s questionable trial testimony, it would appear there is a large segment of Serial listeners…

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The Sickness Unto Death: how watching the 700 Club made me depressed and nauseated

Never again. Never again. I spent 5 minutes last night watching the 700 Club and I woke up this morning with my stomach feeling like an alien was about to explode from the depths of my lower intestines and pain inside of my stomach like I had never known.

Perhaps it was Pat and Terry’s smugness as they discussed how Laotians are happy “living in dirt and huts”. Or the faux sad tale of a girl who had to quit fashion college because of low estrogen and night sweats plaguing her studies.

Seeing Pat aging and weakening makes me wonder if he will repent for his false messages, his 1988 presidential bid, his hateful statements about LGBTQ individuals, minorities, Islam, and non-believers.

I doubt it though. For my stomach tells me so.

Coulter, Kaus and Those Uppity Brown People

She just looks mean- punditry to her is just insulting people. Which makes it not punditry but being rude.

CPAC 2014 my top ten tweets

I love top ten lists.

verytari

Here are my top ten tweets from CPAC 2014, chosen by a distinguished panel of one… me.

1. It would have been better to get up an hour earlier so that I could see Senator Ted Cruz’s opening speech live. But, alas, I didn’t. Next time I swear.

Note to self: next 1st day of CPAC, get up at 430. #RedNationRising

— CPAC Tari(@verytari) March 6, 2014

2. After a rather flat first day, the second day started with more promise. Dan Bongino, my candidate for Maryland District 6, guest-hosted for the Chris Plante Show and Governor Rick Perry (to use a phrase that normally sets my teeth on edge) KILLED IT!

Another day at #CPAC2014. Gov Rick Perry on stage. @dbongino on Radio Row WMAL. Good MORNING! #RedNationRising

— CPAC Tari(@verytari) March 7, 2014

3. I think of myself as rather tech-savvy. (I’m probably not, when compared to…

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CPAC. Just say no to rational thought!

Mass Delusion- CPAC be thy name-

Every year a group of Republicans attend a super secret conference where they solidify their pact with dark forces through rituals, readings, speeches, invocations, and numerous performances of inanity. This is CPAC!

The requisite appearances by conservative “babes” were amongst the most well attended and covered events. Ann Coulter’s saucy performance art brought the crowd ( well the under 65 crowd) to their knees. Her wisdom spewing like the fount of a knowledge geyser she truly let out some zingers: “poor women should keep their legs closed before marriage”. Brilliant. My grandmother couldn’t have said it better!

Sarah Palin’s rousing reading of Macbeth’s soliloquy was sublime. I truly felt her pain- oh she read Green Eggs and Ham instead? Oh well nobody cares about a broody Danish prince anyway it’s not like the medieval genre is all over television or anything. Cough. Cough. Crickets,

 

Never having been a poor single mother Ann Coulter as usual seems to have confused “crazy shit Madea says” with actual solutions for public policy issues. Surely conservatives have ideas to solve the endemic socioeconomic difficulties that result in a circular path of single motherhood that is only reversed through improved public education and access to contraception as well as exposure to ideas about respecting your body and yourself. Ah crickets again.

 

Oh Sarah you scallywag! What have you been up to? Apparently she could not think of a more erudite reading for CPAC than a children’s book. Bully for you Sarah! Katie Couric can shove it because you do read! I heard you got a subscription to Tiger Beat and In Touch Weekly. Who needs to read wonky magazines like Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, or Vogue? Not Caribou Barbie that’s for sure doncha know.

 

I am not sure whether I want to plead with Marco Rubio my fellow Floridian to get away from Chancellor Palpatine and the evil side of the force and join the Jedi. He seems like an amiable enough young fellow who is just seriously misguided. I am sure if he thought about some of the statistics reflecting a HUGE problem that is about to hit Florida he would revise his policy stances. When there are 10,000 people homeless in the Orlando Metro Area and about 3,000 homeless on the Space Coast you might worry that your state’s rep as a family destination will suffer right? This isn’t NY homelessness etc. In Florida the homeless are EVERYWHERE near the beach ( which I would be too- food, warmth, water) and it is amusing to watch the discomfitting expressions of the wealthy beachsiders as the population of homeless people increases daily. So Rubio could be a hero avoid thorny questions regarding immigration ( we are just not there yet on a few “gateways” between Canada, US, and Mexico) and can address the problems of Florida.

 

Nevermind. He won’t.  CPAC is a self congratulation fest- we aren’t poor and god damnit we hate the poor!!!

If I wanted to see drooling fan boys I will watch youtube videos of comic con because at least the people are cooler and the costumes are better.

Earthquakes, stage collapses, planes going missing. This is the end.

The weekend has seen a few strange news stories. These events could be random- the stage in California may have been old. Earthquakes always happen in California. Planes do not always go missing. That is unusual. However as we evolve past superstition and realize that weird happenings are part of life then we can stop blaming a man/woman in the sky for our piddly human problems. New hastags #humanegos #godisbusy so don’t worry. God will or won’t protect you. It is her choice.