Last post

this is my last post. I've learned a lot in this class, mostly about chicano and indian representation in the media, something i hadn't thought much about before. and watching bambozzled was great fun too, along with the videos. I just loved saying to my friends, I'm watching 90's rap music videos for homework!

hope everyone else had fun too. <3!

curry westerns

dude, i'm almost done with my paper. and i will live to see another day!




I am thinking about submitting this puppy for an ATP grant. does anyone know if it is still too late to do this?

I'm writing on the "curry western", and what gets easternized in translation. I find it very interesting and could devote plenty of months of academia pouring over old bollywood and clint eastwood flicks. there is so much to write about!

a festivus for the rest of us!

as my alternative to the consumerism and cookies of the holiday season, i would like to wish everyone a happy festivus.

for those of you who don't know, festivus is a time honored tradition, dating all the way back to 1997.

here are some of it's traditions:













feats of strength -- after the traditional festivus dinner, which usually involves meat and heavy drinking, a specially selected guest must try and pin the head of the table to the ground, wrestling style. festivus is not over until the feat of strength is competed.

the airing of grievances -- you go around, and let everyone know how they have disappointed you in the last year.

festivus pole -- instead of a christmas tree, a festivus pole is used. it is sturdy, and has no tinsel on it.

and, festivus is non denominational. all accepting, bonus.

black people love us dot com

You know what show I love?













It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.



The first episode of this show ever centers around one of the main characters, Charlie, trying to prove he's not racist. He does this by bringing a black girl he just met to a coffee shop, to show off his tolerance level to the barista, and then asked the barista out on a date. Hilarity ensues.

I think this idiotic comedic blunder is addressing a common social problem, of white people showing off their anti-racist attitudes by trying too hard to get black people to like them.

please consult this website for another hilarious tongue in cheek example

hindi cowboy is storming asia and saving cows

So, while researching my paper topic, which concerns cowboys and indians (as in from india, har har!), i found my new hero:




















QUICK GUN MURUGUN!

india's coolest spoof on the good ol' boys of the wild west. you see, every cowboy needs something to fight for, and this one? his war to wage is against meat eaters:










pow pow pow! take that, cattle ranchers!






a vegetarian, indian cowboy. surely a man after my own heart.

Now, this is a fairly recent film, premiering earlier this year. Apparently, Quick Gun was a character on a commercial to advertise a new international music video channel, and became a culturally confused sensation. His catchphrases, "Mind it!" and "We are like this only!" were instantly popular and highly quoted. Now his duty is to protect the world against arch villain restaurant owner, Rice Plate Reddy, who wants to create the ultimate non-veg dosai!

(dosai being a crepe-like dish, usually made of rice and lentils):

mmmm...










and what's any shoot 'em up flick without a little saloon gal anyways? meet Quick Gun's prospective girlfriend, Mango Dolly!





sweet little hyper westernized thing, isn't she?

Devi

now that we're talking about indian culture, i would like to talk about the most the coolest religion ever, hindu.

seriously. the artwork, the narrative, epic.

i think we can learn a lot about the idealized female in ancient Indian culture through a set of goddesses, the devi. they represent female divinity.

I'm going to nerd out on everyone here and talk about a few of them briefly:

Mahadevi - the one female goddess that all of the other ones come from. in some cases, she represents the only female goddess.

Durga - a warrior goddess that calmed demons after many male gods could not contain them

Daraswati - associated with art, science and culture

Sri Lakshmi - associated with power, higher capability, knowledge, and being a good wife

Paravati - dark skinned goddess associated with the mother of time

Kali - not associated with any male god, which is unique to the other Devi. Her face turns black when she is angry, is best known for destroying a male entity, and carries a sword with a human head on it.


I think Sri Lakshmi is the most interesting, because she is an idealized wife, and yet holds a position of power. To me, this makes sense because pious Hindu women could pray to her for strength, and look up to her if they ever worried that being a wife was oppressive.

you will never think of clark kent the same way again

so, in light of the introduction from last weeks reading, where it mentions westernized indians, i would like to direct our attention to a few indian music videos with american adaptations. enjoy please.


Indian Thriller - Watch more Funny Videos

Shayna's Badasssss Post

Alright, i know this is long, but i don't know how to post a URL of a word document. I recently wrote a paper for my english senior seminar on the Blaxploitation film, "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song", which debuted in 1971 with an X rating. I thought it was relevant to this class, and would appreciate feedback.



check out the trailer, and even, my paper.

Shayna Curran

Paper, Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song

Psychoanalysis in Film

Prof Matt Bell

Realization of The Ego and Salvation in Sweetback

In 1971, American films with a black director were a rare sight indeed, and the voice of the black community was not fully articulated in popular culture. Melvin Van Peebles changed all that by writing, producing, scoring directing and starring in his own independent film, Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song. Sweetback provides a hero of religious proportions for black audiences, albeit a militant one, that is on a journey to realizing his own identity, his ego, and liberating the collective ego of Black America.

Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss song is primarily a movie about the black community banding together to facilitate Sweetback's freedom. The idea of a collective identity in the film is apparent at the very beginning, when the credits read “Starring: The Black Community”. Togetherness is represented in many ways in sweet Sweepback’s Badasssss song, one of which being the sense of duality

The importance of having an “other” in the world of Sweetback is apparent in characters presented in groups of two. There are three sets of two cops that are after Sweetback, the two young black people with afros, and the two black police officers at the end of the film. For Sweetback, the dual relationship exists concretely between himself and Mumu. But Mumu represents a larger entity, the black community. His ties with an entire race of people are represented in his political beliefs, as he is a Black Panthers member and associates himself with social progress. Mumu is a micro chasm of all the people that Sweetback intends to save. Although on the surface, Sweetback is trying to save himself, his destructive actions and salvation from the punishment of those actions set an example for other black people, and tells them that that liberation can be achieved if you take it yourself.

Because of his loner vigilante status, Sweetback is at first resistant to the idea of an “other”. When he rescues Mumu by beating the cops with their own handcuffs, he brusquely helps Mumu up, who says. “Thanks man, now where are we goin?” Sweetback replies “Where you get that we shit?”, and begins his journey to find a safe place to hide. He does not recognize himself in Mumu, and does not yet recognize his role is to help save his people, represented in a young Black Panther's member. Since the mirror stage is realization of the ego, and Sweetback has not realized himself yet, we may view Sweetback as primarily driven by the id. He is primarily driven by sex, violence, and survival. His actions do not indicate any preconceived reason, and generally lack common sense.

Sweetback is generally not shown as a whole. That is, the camera does a good job of indicating to the viewer that Sweetback has a fragmented body. He has not yet reached the stage where he can fully recognize himself. During a running montage, the animated silhouette of his legs, filled in with white, is superimposed on scenes of Sweetback running. The actual footage shows Sweetback from a distance, where the viewer cannot see his features, or he is abstracted in different ways. Running behind bushes, popping just his head out from behind walls, and achieving angles with the camera that cut off most of the body are ways that this effect was achieved. Also, throughout the film, Sweetback goes from being in focus to out of focus, either by moving out of the focus point himself, or the camera adjusting their focal lens. His tan vest and pants even blend in with the plant life in the background.

Two times we see Sweetback looking at his reflection, and both times he does not truly see himself. They are both in puddles of water, once after he beats two cops with handcuffs. It is dark out and the water is moving, so the viewer can barely see Sweepback’s features. The second time he is in the dessert and his face is covered in sand.

In addition to the visual cues that Sweetback is not fully realized, we get audio cues as well. Or rather, the absence of them. For the first third of the movie, Sweetback says nothing. His ideas, emotions, feelings ate nearly nonexistent to the viewer vocally. But, when we first hear Sweepback’s voice, it is a powerful moment. A woman he visits asks him about his handcuffs: “What do you want me to do, take em off? Beg.” Sweetback responds strongly with one word, “No”. “You too proud to beg?” she says, to which Sweetback responds, “No but you wouldn’t take em off if I did”. This conversation is short but is one of the first times we see more of who Sweetback is, both to himself and to other people. He represents strength, and although he is not below begging, he realizes that this will not get him respect, and will not get him to where he wants to be. His rapport with women helps him progress, which in turn helps him get out of jams throughout the film. And the fact that his first word in the film, “no”, is an indication of the nature of Sweepback’s ego, which is one of resistance. When he is getting what he wants, the id is manifest, but when something goes wrong, the ego steps in to take charge and make decisions. When we hear Sweetback talk, we are hearing the ego, except when he’s talking to himself.

Toward the end of the film, after he saves Mu-Mu, we hear a strange singsong monologue that occurs in Sweepback’s head, and indicates that Sweetback once again views himself as fragmented, as he has lost the whole. He shouts, internally, come one legs! Come on knees! Come on feet! He is talking to his body as if the pieces are not part of a whole, and since his stress levels are high, one can argue that he has regressed and no longer has an idea of the self.

Sweepback’s ambiguous identity is given some background when we get an abstracted, repetitive interrogation of Sweepback’s mother at the end of the film, who reveals that his real name is Leroy. His absent minded foster mother indicates that Sweetback received mothering elsewhere, at the brothel, where he was fed heavily and introduced to sex. Receiving food and sex from mother figures satisfies Sweepback’s id, and sets the precedent for his desires in the future.

Despite Sweetback being id driven unable to fully see himself, he is seen as desirable, perhaps an ideal state. Perhaps because the black community is lacking a voice or identity in this movie, at least in relation to the white world they live in, they are already lacking an ego. If that is the case, then Sweetback represents someone that is driven by pleasure and desires, and through those desires he eventually sets progress in motion. Although he is driven by primal urges, he fulfills those urges well.

Sweepback’s sexual prowess is apparent throughout the film. One of the more important scenes occurs at the beginning of the film, during the sex show. The male character in the pantomime dons a beard and a hat, but reveals herself as a woman when she takes off her shirt. This gender bending indicates the ambiguity of black identity, that they are performing whatever social role is dictated by the white community, and whatever will pay the rent. But this cross-dressing woman prays to become something else, and through the magic of seedy underground theater, turns into Sweetback, a symbol of a more stable, endowed entity. Consider it a fulfillment of the desires manifest in penis envy, or a reversal of the castration complex.

The idea of the black community lacking a voice, and that they have not realized their full identity is represented by the opening shot in the film. It is a group of women, looking forward. White noise washes over the image of the women whispering to each other, but the sound seems too loud for the women to hear what the other is saying. One woman even has glasses, and has the mannerisms of someone who is blinded. These women do not appear to have an identity or purpose, and the viewer has no idea what they are doing on the screen, either. Perhaps a loss of ego facilitates the scene where Sweetback loses his virginity to a prostitute, as the woman is viewed as id driven, that is, amoral and pleasure seeking. This scene is set to gospel music, which is a stark contrast to the actions represented on film, but ultimately feeds into the religious themes of the movie. If Sweetback is a religious figure, then this is his baptism. Indeed, before Sweetback enters the room, the woman is pouring water into a basin. And the lyrics of the gospel song give the instruction, “wade in the water”. As further proof, this is the scene where Sweetback is christened, and given the name by which he is called for the remainder of the film. There are many indications that Sweetback is a somewhat unconventional Christ figure, bent on saving his people.

The references are more apparent toward the second half of the film, starting where Sweetback happens upon a black funeral. Before this scene, beetle gets his ears shot off, and the camera cuts to a woman crying, “oh Jesus”, then immediately cuts to Sweetback running. It is as if the woman is introducing the image of Sweetback, and giving him the identity of a deity. As Sweetback enters the church, he is backlit from the front, leaving only his outline. The camera angle changes and he is shown from the back, and is once again backlit. This gives the viewer the impression that Sweetback is only a shadow, and indicates that his identity remains to be realized. But as he moves closer, the preacher cries, “we know he’s here!” Once he sees Sweetback, the preacher instructs the mourners, “let us pray”, then strides over to talk to Sweetback, perhaps in a direct conversation with the one who will save him. And indeed, the preacher recognizes that Sweetback will save people. “Mumu, and those other kids you saved”, he says, “They’re laying down the real religion”. Once again, gospel music plays in the background.

And the indications that Sweetback is a black Christ continue. When asking for money, Sweetback gets a response, “what does a dead man need bread for?” Bread was a staple at the last supper, and a response to the man’s question would perhaps be that the bread is essential and inseparable to him, because it is Sweepback’s body. And his body is indeed shown to have healing qualities, when he heals the wound in his side, a mark of the crucifixion, with his own urine. The last supper is referenced again when someone tells Sweetback, “buy yourself a last supper, you’re a dead man”. Soon after, Sweetback goes on trial, when he happens upon a group of bikers. “They gotta pay man!” someone shouts, to which someone else says “Hey, this is a democracy!” The idea of an angry mob of people putting a man on trial, and unjustly at that, mirrors the trial that Jesus got before his crucifixion.

The moment of salvation coincides with the moment where Sweetback realizes his ego, his identity, and makes a moral decision. He takes up his spot on the motorcycle, which would drive him to freedom, in exchange for Mumu to be saved. In this way, he accepts death so that another person may live freely, which mirrors the desired effect of the passion of Christ. But most importantly, Sweetback can see himself in Mu-Mu, and can see the future of the black community in his actions. He even tells the motorcycle driver, “He’s the future, man”. The recognition of Mu-Mu as a more complete mirrored image of Sweetback is visually indicated through an emotional handshake, one that is indicative of the black community at that.

The effect of Sweepback’s survival is not completely seen in the film, but we get a couple images that indicate the future. A police officer questions a black singer outside a club, and it is the white man’s turn to be silent. The woman shouts manically, and repeats phrases like, “I’m clean! Don’t lean on me! I ain't in the trade, I ain’t in the street”. Although on the surface she is talking about heroin and prostitution, her cleanliness can refer to Sweepback’s washing away of the sin of oppression, and the fact that she isn’t in the trade or the street can be seen as an affirmation of black liberation. She is not being sold and she is not on the street, she has a purpose and is fully immersed in society. When the police officer leaves, she takes off her blonde wig, revealing her natural black hair, and begins to laugh. The second scene of black people exerting their dominance is the scene of a black shoe shiner performing the job his rag would usually perform with his rear end. Although the patron and the shoe shiner are both laughing, it is apparent who has the upper hand.

Sweet Sweetback may disappear from the country, but he is not dead. Instead, he is an ominous presence for any white person who tries to keep the black man down, as indicated by the closing words that flash on the screen, “A bad assss nigger is coming back to collect some dues…”. Like an omnipresent entity that knows when you’ve been bad, Sweetback restores the balance of equality for black people, saving them and restoring their identity, by threatening to return for retributions that are more violent than white authority figures likely anticipated.

I be tossin, enforcin, my style is awesome

SO I was listening to NPR in my car the other day, like any good liberal minded undergrad with limited cassettes for her outdated stereo system, and who is being interviewed?

THE RZA



fresh air, always good radio.

so my man, the rza, is talking about all sorts of crazy shit, like how his idea for the Wu started in a porn theater that was showing old kung fu movies. and about his spiritual journey, and how he needs to meditate every day.

but one thing he said, that i thought would be pertinent to this class, was that the reason he, and the rest of the clan, embodied eastern culture and philosophy, was because of the positive message of these old kung fu movies. rza was sayin that he didn't have many positive black role models to look up to on tv. "mostly slaves and whatnot" was i think his phrasing. so they took another culture, one that still strayed from popular culture, and chose to model themselves after the positive message of of eastern movies and the tao te jing.

and NOW, the wu theyselves are positive role models for young people. well, kind of. they've cleaned up their act for the most part, and their rhyming is off the hook. good enough for me. and NPR!

mighty racist power rangers

so power rangers used their opaque visors to hide their true identity, but the race oriented color choice in their costumes is rather transparent.

did anyone else notice this as a kid? or later on in life maybe? i'm going to do a run through of the original cast, cirsca 1993, just to give you an idea of what i'm talking about.



first up, mr red ranger. the alpha wolf, in many ways. red is a symbol of aggression and power. not nessecarily race related, but certainly a deliberate color choice



then there's billy. your standard nerd, glasses and all. blue has a tranquil quality to it, and is so redolent of the blinking blue lights at power rangers HQ. technology and tranquility are what comes to mind when i think of this power rangers jumpsuit!




oh kimmy. this color is pretty straightforward. might as well have slapped a big bow on her helmet. note the skirt. and yet? that costume addition has not been made for our next character...



you got the shaft, trini, i'm afraid. no skirt, no pink, and yellow? not a very feminine color. why did they pick yellow? it doesn't seem like a coincidence that she is of asian descent. i mean, mighty morphin was a spinoff of a japanese childrens show, and the american version still involved martial arts, so i would like to think that these color choices were not made because of skin color. but then? there's...



zack! really? could they be any more blatant? did they just not know what crayola color went best with black skin? everyone else is so brightly colored. black? really? come on.


i know these observations may seem like a stretch, but color choice, clothing choice, of different races in the media are something to think about. what people wear makes you think differently of them. and the power rangers, albeit a childrens show and one i remember fondly at that, is guilty of reducing their characters to crayola stereotypes.

sexicans

okay, so much negative talk about chicanos represented in the media, and rightly so. negative images of latinos have been passively filtering into our brains via television for years. but i don't want to go away from this conversation without mentioning the most interesting man in the world:



granted, a positive stereotype is still a stereotype, but come on! this is clever advertising that gives mexico, and mexican beer, a classic sort of sex appeal.

its a strange as because this bear appears to the younger college crowd, but chooses an older gentleman as it's spokesman. I think it's kind of jumping on the chuck norris bandwagon, that showcases classic masculinity and strength, and with this commercial, maybe mixes in a james bond element as well.

also, he shows restraint. he "doesn't always drink beer". nothing at all like tony the tiger, who is constantly cracked out on sugar cereal, or the similar minded feline with sunglasses on the cheeto bags. and CERTAINLY nothing like mr frito bandito there.

i personally love these ads, they're well thought, and in my opinion, unoffensive.

maybe i just had the opening to annie hall on my mind

I read Lauren's post today about George Lopez. On the flip side, he talks about Latinos that do not have the upper hand at fast food restaurants because of the communication barrier. Hispanic frustration seems to be a theme in George Lopez's stand up, and often portrays Latino's as curt or hostile. But hey, it gets laughs. Self deprecating humor, like Woody Allen and his characterized persona of the neurotic New Yorker Jew, can be a way of showing understanding for a cultural group. In some ways, learning about the humorous complaints of people within a certain culture can be a way to bond like minded individuals and enlighten people from different cultures with poignant observations.

diversity in beer pong

okay, totally random and non academic social anomaly that i have observed:

you're at a house party. it's bumpin. there's a game of kings at a table, and you're in the zone. someone nearby flips a ten, and if you're not a freshman, you know this card means "categories". The flipper of the card says "names of famous black people".

has this ever happened to you? usually, it's an interesting category, because it will go on for a while. someone will go with the standard oprah, or p diddy, or our man barak. w.e.b dubois will come up sometimes.

then the next person with the 10 might try and jump on that bandwagon and say. "famous hispanic people" or "famous asian people"

... and sure enough, there are crickets after a short while and someone has to drink.

sure, this girl may come up..



or this dude, if you can remember his full name...


or this beautiful successful woman...


but let's face it. asian people haven't had much time in the modern american limelight.

neither have hispanics, really.

thats all. what do you think? is there starting to me more diversity on television?

peace prize controversy.

So, Barak Obama won the Nobel Peace prize, as I'm sure you've seen. We still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, so there are many editorials out there that criticize this award as coming too soon.



Me and a friend were talking about why Obama deserved the award and the argument came up, "because he's not Bush". In many ways i think this looks like a slap in the face to the Bush administration, and showing gratitude that America believes in a democratic president.

I thought this bit of information about the voting process was interesting, found here:

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the panel has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties and two right-of-center members. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-pr_n_314907.html

I don't think this is as much an issue of race, so much as a way of acknowledging other liberal minded people. maybe that's liberalism? I'm not complaining. I just hope Obama lives up to the hype Norwegian Parliament has created.

laaaaame i'm fiending

perhaps you've heard that there's a ban on flavored cigarettes now. in america. like, the whole country.

not only is this detrimental to my addiction to clove cigarettes, but i believe it to be racist.

okay, so the FDA says they're banning cigarette flavors (except menthol! i'll get to that) because they appeal to children. get this, not only is marlborough the number one brand preferred by young people (second only to menthol!), but clove smokers make up only 1 percent of the smoking population.

why are menthols still legal? two reasons.

1) they are made in america - djarum, the leading maker of clove cigarettes, is based in indonesia. menthols are made, taxed, and regulated in america.


2) young inner city kids smoke them. Heres a quote from a blog:

Philip Morris’ reasons for this stipulation are as clear as the numbers. Menthol cigarettes, which add up to 28 percent of cigarettes purchased in the United States, are used by a significant number of teenagers and an even more significant number of minority youths.

so minority youths mostly smoke menthols, and youths don't usually smoke clove cigarettes.

if they can sell bacardi raspberry and mikes hard lemonade, i have no idea why they can't sell flavored cigarettes. its much harder to mix a flavored cigarette than a drink... :(

pass the caviar, boiee

Have you ever heard of Jack and Jill of America?

it's an organization for kids with rich, well connected african american mothers. you cannot apply unless you are recommended by a current parent. here's an excerpt from the organization's home page:

"Today, Jack and Jill of America, Inc. has a membership base of over 9,500 families and it is the oldest and largest African American family organization in the United States. Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is committed to ensuring that all children have the same opportunities in life."

Now here's an excerpt from a documentary i saw today, People Like Us, which criticized Jack and Jill of America. The scene is in an african american hair salon:

BLONDE WOMAN: Here we fought to be invited into the golf clubs, the country club.
Then we start our own club, and still, we have to be invited. That’s where the rage comes
from.

WOMAN: Was there not an air of superiority with that?

SECOND WOMAN: That came along with it, yes.

WOMAN: And that’s the part I didn’t like.

SECOND WOMAN: If you don’t have an MD after your name, guess what? You’re kid is not going to get in there.

OFF-SCREEN: Or you’re a single parent.

SECOND WOMAN: Or you’re a single parent. I talked to a someone who was in Jack and Jill, I said, “send me an application.” Did I get one? So, and it’s teaching them the wrong values, so, it’s teaching the children to be like the oppressor, you know. If you’re like them then maybe they’ll accept you. But it’s never going to happen.


Upper class exclusivity in black america. is it wrong to want your kid to go to a place with pedigree? is there going to be a black version of the WASP (white anglo saxon protestant)? I don't know who they think they're fooling, but Jack and Jill doesn't want equal opportunity for all black people, just the ones that already have money. I don't know, maybe i'm being cynical...

popping, locking, and throwing down

mkay so.

i've been thinking a lot about old hollywood, and black representation of hollywood, specifically because of the ending of Bamboozled and the content of Public Enemy's nineties-licious music video.

so i would like to post this link, because i am not sure if it is racist:


i mean, i know they are all in the service industry, their costumes tell us that much. and the style of dance is a little uncouth, or vulgar. but damn. its just so impressive! when old hollywood made Hellazoopin', were they saying "hey, black people have talent! they're not just waiters!" Or was this frenzied choreographed dance a glorified spectacle, like watching animals at the zoo?

at the end of the film, when the dancers catch white people looking on and applauding, they scram, sending the message, "we're not doing this for you!" that's a directing choice that can be read a couple of ways.

well, i'm impressed. i don't come out of watching that video thinking poorly of the black community. then again, i'm not predisposed to racism. and "black people are good dancers" is a predominant racial stereotype. perhaps i would agree with ice cube and prefer to see a black female actress as a lawyer in old hollywood.

pound what?

i wanted to talk about a tweet for a second.

and to illustrate my point, and simultaneously learn about blogging, i augumented my diversity blog with a real live feed of my own PERSONAL twitter. scandalous.

if you look to the right, you will see my friends tweet about how he went to high five a black person, and was reciprocated with a fist bump. this is described as a "white guy" moment.


i find this description interesting, because the high five was so popular in african american culture. it still is, but more sophisticated hand greetings exist, such as "daps". wiki further expounds on the african american communities involvement with the gesture:

In addition to the standard high five, several types of "five" exist, and this factor adds variety to the experience, which tends to maximize the satisfaction of participants. The "low five" had already been known, during the 1940s, in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) as "giving skin" or "slapping skin".

do white people have their own hand greetings, or do they just borrow gang symbols and other forms of nonverbal communication once it becomes stale?


multiple offender


girl in middle can't do it

taking advantage of sweet sweet free wireless

still in sunny california.

every sign has a spainish translation under it.

but the barns and noble i'm sitting at only has one shelf devoted to "libros en espanol"

do the spainish speaking people go elsewhere for their books?

i'm actually suprised i found this place. there aren't a lot of bookstores around here. then again, i'm used to cambridge, working in harvard square and everything. i've never had a shortage. maybe i'm apalled at the lack of bookstores because i'm an english major (and comm, of course!)

nobody else around me seems to notice they are in a bookstore. i got a comic book guy in front of me, an old lady reading ustoday on my right, some teenybopper girl killing time with fashion magazines, another old woman reading this trashy victorian number, a dude texting, and two alleged smarties with a logical reasoning book and a million wiki tabs open, respectively.

maybe it's because i'm in the vast expanse of desert and industrial parks that is redlands, CA (apparently it's a city, i refuse to believe!) Maybe everyone has a kindle or buys books online. but i think the book buying culture in america is going way down, which also means less options for cultural and spainish publications.

am i wrong? is everyone a bookworm, but only in secret?

were you an idiot when you were 14?

okay so here's an embarrassing story for the record books:



so i'm out in california for a wedding. I'm with one of my friends from childhood who also flew out for the occasion, and we're sitting and talking at a hookah lounge. Out of the blue he says, "Hey shayna, do you remember at the mall when we were like 14, and you said 'i hope you don't get offended if i say the word nigger, i use it a lot' and i was like 'we're all people here'"



i honestly didn't remember, but i don't doubt i said that. David was one of my first black friends, and when i was a young kid, saying nigger, as an add on to the end of a sentence (ex: i just beat you in air hockey, niggaaa) was ironic or funny or cool, i don't know. and i wanted to safeguard myself from letting the "n" word slip around david. he handled the situation rather open mindedly for a young kid.

i feel pretty bad about the situation now. or i feel like i was an idiot. i would never say the word nigger out loud these days. it's a word with so much hatred behind it, and there's no reason for me to say it. i don't think words should be banned, but its not for me anymore. i get uncomfortable even typing the words.

i think the n word debate - whether it should not be used among black people, whether it should be forgotten, whatever - is a little overplayed. honestly, language changes, and words meanings change all the time. this one is bound to play out, and we've come a long way from using the n word in tobacco, toy banks, and children's songs



oh my...



but hey guys, there are so many other creative swears that don't carry that much hatred. like turd nugget. or fuck face. let's just use those.

update on california complexities

after reading my most recent post, my boyfriend also pointed out that they provided the migrant workers with water jugs and donuts. no lie, this is better treatment than the continental breakfast at our "best value" hotel. maybe i will reconsider my itinerary for the day, whats a few hours of drywalling if it means i get to mow down on some boston creams?

california complexities

i'm in california right now, and on top of all the things i've never done before - go to jack in the box, pick flowers for my hair, watch all the amazing rust free classic cars go by - there is a sight here i have never seen. outside the Home Depot, on any given morning, there will be upwards of 50 illegal immigrants looking for work. and whats more, someone, possibly home depot, has provided them two large white canopies to stand under, to protect them from the sun. I think this is a nice gesture, but i can't imagine how it must feel to sit under that tent, like cattle, looking for mamnual labor so that they may presumably support their families. I tried to put myself in those shoes, and i could imagine thinking less of myself. maybe this psychological conditioning prohibits these workers from feeling like they have the right or the intelligence or ambition to become american citizens. maybe they don't want to be american citizens. I've never been one to want to deny illegal immigrants from having work in america, but with job cuts and the recession, is it appropriate to abolish these constructs outside the home depot? is that racist, or is it racist to give these people jobs that white people have to much pride to do? what would happen if american citizens stood under these tents?

i ain't sayin he's a golddigger..

whelp, kanye has done it again!

instead of talking about the actual event, i wanna mention the online explosion of everyones reactions that followed.

here is a link to an article containing examples of the interrupting Kayne meme

does Kayne deserve all the bashing? probably. is shitting on him over the internet racist? probably not. I think that Kayne's behavior transcends race, in that nobody is looking at the color of your skin when you're that big of an asshole. But for people with racist tendencies, is Kayne's public acts of disrespect fuel for the fire? Should Kayne, in the interest of promoting black people in the public sphere in a positive light, stop pulling asshole publicity stunts like this? does this issue have anything to do with race? i have more questions than answers on this one, honestly.

come on ben stiller, you're better than this

so, a few months ago, don't ask me why, i found myself in the randolph theater, cringing over the worst movie i've seen in a while.

night at the museum: battle at the smithsonian.

giving us a little taste of BLUE STEEL










what bothered me was the stereotypes promoted in the movie. The Pharoh, who was the evil villain, was very effeminate. he talked with a lisp, commented on peoples outfits, and was ridiculed for wearing a skirt by the civil war soldiers. the other villains, like ivan the terrible and napoleon, were not american. Al capone was an evil character in the movie, and could also be seen as foreign because he belongs to the microculture of italian american gangsters.



and one part killed me. a bunch of black pilots go up to amelia earheart and say, "you know? we were the first of our kind too. we just want to say thanks"

after all that pro america gay bashing, they had the balls to throw in one line about how great america is because of how far women and black americans have come? give me a break!

and it all seemed like an advertisement for the Smithsonian. great institution though it is, this movie should not have been made.

it's okay to be racist

have you ever been on stuff white people like ?

well, you should, it's funny.
I think making fun of white people has been a safe arena for a while now. white people have been perpetrators of racism for a while, and to be honest, white culture seems devoid of, well..culture. The unifying factors aren't that strong, and often center around materialism, and competing/fitting in with the Jones's, so to speak.

and now, they've published a book, and it's one of the best sellers in the humor section of the harvard co-op bookstore.

is making fun of white people racist, or good humored fun? will it always be too soon to make a stuffblackpeoplelike.com?

reverse racism?

a while ago, i stumbled upon this picture:





I thought it was funny, because in many ways, colleges push racial diversity on their campus. There have been some photoshop disasters on college brochures, like this one from Wisconsin:




But you don't need photoshop to push diversity. in a lot of ways that above quote reminded me of BSC, who is always pushing the idea that the campus is a diverse place, specifically with their rotating images on the welcome page. Last year was pretty bad, in terms of accurately representing the campus population. Maybe i'm not too concerned with accuracy, but every time i went on bridgew.edu, i felt like they were trying way too hard. Like someone went to the photographer and said, "okay, we only want pictures of black students, or if one white guy is hanging out with a bunch of black guys at the bears den, that's okay too. make sure they're all smiling and reading books". This semester hasn't been as bad as it was last year (I have a whole new beef with the pictures. who takes a picture of an LED welcome back sign and says "that's a great picture of our welcome back sign, we should put it on the website!"), But i still feel like the website was pushing an agenda that can be resolved in a more tangible way. Clubs promoting social/racial justice, classes like this one, the carribean events going on around campus, and the college experience of everyone from different towns/backgrounds coming together to take classes seem like a good way to abolish racism.

does anyone else feel like colleges promoting diversity with their images is a little forced/racist?


and heres an added bonus, an article from the onion on the subject