Women and Identity Politics

With the degree of misogyny evident in the last U.S. presidential election and with the on-going Hollywood-led sexual harassment scandals, one would think that just being a woman would suffice to be a member of a political identity group.

But no, it apparently gets more finely sliced than that with white women under attack along with white men in the prevailing U.S. culture wars that may increasingly determine political outcomes.

Here's a Washington Post story about a recent conference in Detroit attended by about 4,000 women. What struck me about it was the following paragraph:

Identity issues were a theme of many of the convention events, which included a workshop titled “Confronting White Womanhood,” for “white women committed to being part of an intersectional feminist movement to unpack the ways white women uphold and benefit from white supremacy.”

Unpack? Then what?

Reed College and the Ongoing Culture Wars

Recently, I seem to be writing more about the fact that this is a country of two different narratives, and about the associated culture wars, than about fiction.

In brief, one narrative has it that as diversity increases, in large part due to continuing, significant, non-white immigration, the country is going to change significantly, and for the better as more voices are heard and new populations acquire power, money and command of culture.

The other narrative is that America is great because it is, in effect, the culmination of European culture that traces its values and intellectual notions to ancient Greece and Rome. Certain numbers of non-white, non-Europeans are welcome, but they should accept and adapt to the long-standing white culture and political power.

A Wellspring of Identity Culture and Politics

In a recent post that can be found here, I wrote about challenges to our traditional, northern-European-centric culture -- a culture critics argue enshrines what has become known as white privilege.

Americans of other racial and cultural backgrounds have found it hard to break through the barriers such a culture presents, but there have definitely been success stories, and they may be increasing in number. As that happens, will the country drift further and further into culture wars and identity politics?

Fertile New Ground for Fiction

Amazon just announced new devices and services that will allow the company to remotely open a locked door and deliver packages inside a person's house as opposed to leaving them outside.

But according to an article in The Seattle Times, there is much more to it than just that.

Cruelty and The Human Condition

My previous post reported on the latest annual "greats" issue of T, The New York Times Style Magazine,  in which one of the chosen seven was South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook.

According to T editor Hanya Yanagihara, "greats" are people who have made an impact so significant that the rest of us of us begin to categorize their field of art in terms of what came before them and what came afterward.

The Importance of Disruption in the Arts

When one hears the word "disruption" these days, it is generally in the economic context -- venture capitalists searching for the next big high-tech startup capable of upsetting traditional means of doing business and reaping billions of dollars in profits by so doing.

But according  the editor of T, the New York Times Style Magazine, disruption is just as important as a means of advancing the arts.  The Oct. 22, 2017 edition of T is devoted to "the greats" -- seven living persons chosen collectively by the publication's staff as being exceptional in their fields for arguably bringing about fundamental change.

Is Broadway Part of "The Problem?"

What is the problem?

In a slightly earlier post, I discussed the notion that America seems to be a nation of two narratives, and that has led to an extremely divisive political climate.

1) As a result of immigration and associated demographic shifts, whites appear to be heading toward minority status and as a result, power and culture will and should change.

2) White culture and white power should continue indefinitely, in part by curbing immigration, but also by getting rid of certain government programs and preferences for minorities such as affirmative action that are artificially and unfairly boosting such populations.

How does Broadway figure in this divide?

A Poem Pertinent to "Gina/Diane"

The other day, I came across a poem in the New York Times Sunday Magazine  entitled "Self-Portrait as Myself," which you can read by clicking on that title.

I found this particularly poignant because the sentiments expressed by the author, Meghan O'Rourke, are pertinent to my novella "Gina/Diane," which can be found in print at The Book Patch or as an e-book at Amazon.

I also like the manner in which the poem promotes additional thoughts.

For instance, one line talks in terms of "casting a lawyer of snow over our losses." This rather vividly brings to mind Gretta's sorrow and Gabriel's sense of inadequacy at the conclusion of James Joyce's story, "The Dead."

Later, the poem talks of "the propeller planes humming past."  One of the joys of sitting on our roof deck in the summer here in Seattle is watching float planes on their way to or from Lake Union. These are mostly De Havilland "Beavers," the last of which was built in 1967. Fortunately, they appear likely to keep flying more or less indefinitely.

The U.S.: A Nation of Competing Narratives?

Instead of talking about fiction, here's a brief word about society and politics.

Like a lot of people I have been puzzling over how we got where we are and in the course of doing so, I have been reading a lot more conservative commentary than I used to.