Sunday, December 10, 2006

Quote of the day, 12/10/06

"It should be noted that after a revolution is over, the 'oppressed' take over and begin acting like the 'oppressors.' Of course by then it is very hard to get them on the phone and money lent for cigarettes and gum during the fighting might as well be forgotten about."

also

"How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is 'not the thing with feathers.' The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich."

--Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"

16 comments:

Ms C Qrisp said...

One doesn't know quite where to place this comment, so this little corner will have to do.

Gracious thank for visiting my own bloguette occasionally, and kindest thanks for linking. I am astonished that you have the time or energy; your output is prolific- I get vertigo scrolling down your pages.

Ms C Qrisp

belledame222 said...

Obsessive-compulsiveness occasionally has its useful side.

well, depending on what one views as "useful," of course.

i also tend to read and write real fast.

anyway, you're quite welcome: and welcome!

Anonymous said...

"It should be noted that after a revolution is over, the 'oppressed' take over and begin acting like the 'oppressors.' Of course by then it is very hard to get them on the phone and money lent for cigarettes and gum during the fighting might as well be forgotten about."

Please make the next book you read be Janet Halley's Split Decisions!!! (or read it soon anyway, if at all possible...)

It took nine weeks to get here and it's taken a while to get through while other stuff going on, but finally I am into the last few pages.

There's some thick theory writing in there (hard work for me), but it's so good I'm going to read it over again immediately. If I'm not very much mistaken this will be for you, as it is for me, the most important book I've read in years. Maybe only one of the most for you - that was a bit presumptuous - but yes, please join me!

belledame222 said...

okay!

mebbe tomorrow i can get it from the library; if i can face the withering stare of the Library Policepersons (i have serious overdue fees now i think...)

Rethabile said...

Ha! That's Woody alright.

belledame222 said...

Hey, welcome Rethabile. your site looks great. i've been meaning to spend more time on the more lit'ry sites...

saraeanderson said...

I have read that book soooo many times. I found it in Jr. High - about the perfect age to think that Woody Allen is brilliant - and still read it all the time.

belledame222 said...

well, he -was- brilliant, in his way, onc't. sadly, he has not improved with age, to put it mildly.

some people don't really evolve so much as ossify.

but "Annie Hall" and "Sleeper" are still classics, even if he is (currently) unfunny and (probably always, just more obvious now) a solipsistic putz.

Anonymous said...

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_stevegilliard_archive.html#116583346244487082

Hi BD222, what do you think about this post?

belledame222 said...

I'll have to read both articles more slowly and carefully, but off the top, bsed on that excerpt, i think Gilliard's knee is jerking to what was actually a pretty honest, owning-her-own shit (as in, "where I'm coming" from and understanding that that is indeed a filter) article. Yes, Gilliard's probably right about the special challenges faced by black men in this culture--"you're both right"--but i'm not sure how that really contradicts Dickerson.

and i'm a tad jaded about the "if this had been written by blahblah with the roles reversed, would it--?" yeah, and if my aunt had testicles, she -might- be my uncle; then again, maybe not. Find an actual piece of the sort you're hypothesizing to compare it to, if you must; if you pull that move, you just widen it to the point of uselessness, i think. "if." well, who the hell knows, "if?" Why not tackle the actual concrete piece in front of you on its own terms, first?

belledame222 said...

beyond that, i don't think i'm really the best person to ask, you know: i don't really have that much of a dog, there, or more important, perspective.

Anonymous said...

Who would you recommend?

I'm afraid to say that despite being somewhat colourful in skin, I don't have a terrible amount of connection to anti-racism blogs. You're one of the closest.

belledame222 said...

Uhh...

well tbh i'm not sure i could say who's best positioned to answer that particular question.

if you're generally looking for anti-racism and/or WOC feminist, or RWOC, particularly black straight feminist blogs, you could browse through the "Race and Related Matters" section of my blogroll, on the sidebar.

You might start I guess with:

Sable Feminist News

BlackFeminista

The Angry Black Woman (she doesn't seem to be updating lately though)

Having Read the Fine Print, of course


(...oh, crap, Nappy as I want to be is gone? crap)

elle, abd

Jasmyne Cannick

My Private Casbah

...just at random. these women are all very different and may talk about wimmins' stuphs and/or race-related stuphs to varying degrees and from varying perspectives.

a couple menfolk:

ebogjohnson

Prometheus 6

Temple3

btw, brown rab girl fish is a Canada-based, Pakistan-born (and raised) Muslim feminist, and an excellent writer: well worth reading.

belledame222 said...

oh, and Rachel writes primarily about anti-racism from the perspective of a white woman in an interracial relationship.

belledame222 said...

...and more generally, excellent blogs by POC, that deal with anti-racism, among other things. you may already be familiar with a few of these, but always worth a mention:

brownfemipower

nubianblackademic

Slant Truth

Republic of T

zuky (Kai)

The Silence of Our Friends (Donna)

Reappropriate

Wampum

The Unapologetic Mexican

Racialicious

Sepia Mutiny

Happy browsing...

Anonymous said...

The rot in Woody Allen was present in the beginning, in the profound pessimism reflected in the former quote. Allen hit a dead end at the beginning of his career, and decided to stay there and make a career writing how everything leads to a dead end. Naturally, he stagnated.