random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
  Junot Diaz: I'm often asked as a writer how do I think my race, culture, ethnicity influenced my writing, and none of my White peers get asked that. I think my Dominican-ness has less impact on my writing than White privilege has on, say, Rick Moody or Jonathan Francis. White privilege is an enormous bonus to White writers, yet they are never asked to interrogate it. ... This is the literary equivalent of the subway stops, where Black and Latino men are always being stopped and frisked, and White men are not. I think this is just the literary subway frisk, and till we get a better world, the only thing we can do is to point it out and constantly when given a chance to turn the tables. I always love driving White writers crazy by asking them, "So, how do you think your Whiteness influenced your writing or your success?" ... [T]hey always respond the same way. They're astonished! Because, they never have to be asked that.

ALI: They never have to defend it, criticize it, or confront it actually.

DIAZ: That's the whole thing about power. In that, power is invisible to itself.

tagged: racism, ethnicity, race, privilege, writing
  —Junot Diaz, Interview with Junot Diaz by Wajahat Ali, posted in Immigration, Interviews, Literature, Race, Uncategorized by Wajahat Ali on April 9th, 2008, reposted at DeadBroWalking (LiveJournal).

Archive for December, 2008

do people ever actually *read* Roe & Casey?

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Ross Douthat’s op-ed in the NYT is a showcase for the deceptive rhetoric of the right. The piece is a long paean to the supposed reasonableness and willingness to compromise of the anti-choice movement. He wraps up by attempting to lay the “blame” on Roe and Casey for the “failure” of Americans to reach peace [...]

new US Trade Rep; same bad Hollywood favoritism

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

see below for update 12/19 Obama has appointed the next US Trade Representative, current U.S. Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA 31); see also Becerra’s House site. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s going to be in the pocket of tank for Hollywood, just as prior USTR’s have been. A few notes from some fast research (“googling”): * [...]


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