those who were seen dancing

David Foster Wallace died. That's his commencement speech from somewhere a few years ago, one of many inputs that slowly shifted the way I thought about the world.

So, I'm not actually going to do any of the formatty stuff they ask for, but I will say. Seriously? People haven't read these books? ( The unread books meme )
I put questions next to some because as far as I know, I've not even heard of them.

I've read 85 of the list; I miscounted the first time.

My mom is making me read this Sylvia Browne book. Mom assumes I'm going to completely disbelieve it, like I don't believe in psychics. What I have a hard time believing is that someone who's all in touch with the truth of life beyond this plane would be so... I dunno, petty, I guess? She seems well-intentioned, but small-minded in some way. And she misspelled "triumvirate" in a way that made it clear she didn't know it translated into "a posse of 3 dudes". I'm not implying that everyone needs to know Latin, but if you're going to use 4-syllable words in a published work, a spellcheck would be swell.

Anyhow, while I'm reading this book and wondering what people are really reading when they're psychic, my vibrator starts going off. Like, constantly. Of course, Sylvia Browne says that our dead loved ones fuck with our electronics to show they love us.

I have a dead loved one who really wants me to get off! Who could it be?

[Poll #892490]

Oh, I'm glad when people (namely Poundy and Jennifer Weiner) stand up for the chick lit. I mean, I am a not even remotely apologetic fan.

But Weiner's piece points out something even more annoying. Chick lit (by which I mean most books that get shelved in the fiction but not romance section which feature flourescent pink covers) doesn't ask to be taken seriously. But there's that whole other side of "women's fiction" that wants to be taken seriously and is just absolutely overwrought and melodramatic, the stuff Weiner calls "grey ladies". I am much more offended by the idea that that is what we think women must write and read. Cause, ew.

Also. If I hear one more person say something this week like "but all fat people want to blend into the woodwork as much as possible" like any one person's experience of being anything is remotely representative of everyone else, I will totally explode.

Any of you seen the movie Wimbledon? Probably not. It's a largely forgettable romantic comedy about tennis players. I mean, yawn. But I dorkishly bought a copy of it because a) it's cute, b) Paul Bettany, yummy, and c) it's one of few portrayals of a sexually aggressive woman that doesn't even raise her sexuality as an issue.

So, if you're like me and are going to watch stupid romantic comedies anyhow, you might as well watch this one. Cause it's feministy in a way that doesn't call attention to itself.

And if you're going to read fantasy novels written for the young peeps, you really ought to be reading Tamora Pierce, to whom I really cannot give enough props. She's more intentionally feministy, and I love.

Also, I haven't posted or read others' posts - or in fact been on a computer - in 5-6 days. Good times! So if anything really important has happened with any of you and I sound like I wasn't paying attention, I apologize - it's pretty much impossible to catch up on that many days offline.

There was a discussion on one of the communities last week or this week or whatever... basically, the discussion questioned the research behind Inga Muscio's book "Cunt".

My thoughts: there was RESEARCH in that book?

It was a beautiful, moving, angry-making book in many ways. It changed my life a bit, even. I think it was the first feminist book I read and really felt pushed forward by. I love the classics of feminism, but so many of them are academic. You need a good angry-making book to mobilize you.

So, yeah, her etymology of "cunt" is totally spurious, because it's one of those unusual words for which the etymology is very unclear (but, um, Alix Olson, please note that it's not likely the same as "country" - it's not "contra"/against anything). And maybe you wouldn't take her advice on birth control or foist her opinions on your non-sex-having friends.

But it was mobilizing.

I think sometimes as feminists we get too caught up in dissection and academia (which are both very useful in their way) and forget that we need to mobilize high-school sophomores, or at least be practical, ya know? There are exceptions. bell hooks doesn't forget.

Ironically, this is something fat activists don't seem to forget, ever - as much as it seems like a new movement (though I guess, strictly speaking, it's not), there's a lot of inspiring-type resource material. And it tends to be merged with fact-based research. That is kinda cool. It's like the fire you need to get moving and the information you'll use in that movement, but in one package.

A good example is Marilyn's Fat?So! book (not to be confused with her zine), which is equal parts "you rock" and "here's some information that disproves that common knowledge about how bad fatness is". There are a few dense academic treatises, but most fat activist work tends towards accessibility (some of it also tends towards horrible assumptions about fat folk, which is less super).

Were feminists more like that at the outset? More action-oriented?