Here’s What I picked up yesterday (some of it free and a few items I paid for)
How do you get your news? I personally subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds using Feedly. I like it for the most part though I only recently made the switch because of the death of google reader. How do you stay on top of what’s happening around the web?
Oh my friends, it has been one of the longest months of my life and it is just the beginning. What with the anniversary of my Grandmother’s death, my Mom’s 10 year sobriety, traveling for work and preparing for a busy 2 months at work I have been naughty and neglecting some of my favorite things. This last week has been my first week back on track which includes reading, writing and generally being a human being.
Part of my recuperating is reading and coming up with some new things to read. I’ll be updating my reading list soon with what I have read and also doing a post of some books I would like to read.
Also did anyone read Batgirl #19 this week? Can’t wait to read #20.
Ignominious: Shameful
Saccharin: Falsely sweet
Exegesis: scholarly explanation or interpretation
The other day I watched an episode of the New All-star Celebrity apprentice. All the old favorites are back: Dennis Rodman, LaToya Jackson, Marilu Henner and Omarosa. You may know Omarosa as one of the biggest “reality” TV villains of all-time. Every show that she is on promises drama to the nth degree. So you can understand why the Donald wants her back again and again.
Omarosa’s reputation precedes her and that reputation is as hard ass dictator. Her teammate and friend Claudia Jordan even describes her as “nasty, tough and smart” at the Donald’s suggestion. So it’s no surprise that when she cries after her team wins the challenge her cast mates are confused. What is problematic to me, however, is that rather than accepting that this may be an emotional moment for Omarosa, whose charity is dedicated to her deceased fiance, the perceptions is that strong black women who refuse to take crap from anyone are incapable of true feelings. Even LaToya Jackson doesn’t believe that Omarosa’s feelings are legit.
What’s so wrong with thinking that Omarosa is just playing the game? First let me caveat with the fact that Omarosa’s track record isn’t great. She has been known to use any means necessary to get where she needs to be. The problem is that Omarosa represents a particular stereotype when we see her on TV. She is the “overachiever black woman who will do anything to get ahead”. By taking her emotional moment and undercutting it with Dennis Rodman’s statement that she deserves an Oscar for her performance or with her entire team toasting to the fact that they know Omarosa is playing them it says that strong black women are not allowed to feel. It says that a woman who would work hard and not allow herself to be played by other people cannot ALSO have strong emotions which might over power her.
By allowing Omarosa’s emotions to be “merely” a ploy to keep her in the Donald’s good graces it also allows any woman but more specifically black woman who is a task master to be devoid of emotion and devoid of humanity. Thats a problem. It perpetuates a stereotype that does not allow women to move forward because they are constantly having to second guess themselves and change their behavior to be a perfect balance of sweet and kind and dominant and in charge. The age old story of a woman in the boardroom crying being weak but the one who fights for herself is a bitch.
Did you watch the episode? What did you think?
What I love about this video is the people who are justifying his statements in the comments. When is slavery ever ok? Absolutely and intrinsically never. How do you know when the emotional, spiritual and intellectual pain of an entire people is over? You don’t. You can never say to someone you have no relationship to this thing that happened to your ancestors and therefore you can’t talk about it. The truth is we should all–black, white, green, purple–feel pain that slavery is a part of our collective history. I’m sure I will garner some trolls for saying it but that’s what I think. That would be the same as telling Jewish people to stop talking about the Holocaust because they weren’t there. To be clear, that is NOT my position at all.
Have you taken the strengths test from the University of Pennsylvania Authentic Happiness project? If you haven’t you should. It can tell you a lot about the things that you value and the places where you are strongest. One of the places that I am strongest in is education. I value learning and when I’m not busy reading/learning/researching I can be a little lethargic and grumpy.
So in an interest to help my fellow education valuing friends, here are a couple of lists of great books that every person should read. Take a look and see what you’ve read and what you haven’t. Make your own list of books to read before you die/turn ##/any other mile stone.
