Anticonsumerist Footwear

What do y'all think about the Adbusters shoes? It's a good can of worms.

Buffy, Season Eight

Throughout the past two years, this one Iraq correspondent, Jaime Tarabey, has covered the most personal and harrowing stories of the war that I have ever heard. One of her stories was about the sharp rise of anxiety and depression since the war began, in which she profiled a high school girl whose two best friends had been killed at school.
She also did story about how the war had increased both poverty and unemployment, and how many young women were now seeking jobs as corpse washers because it was the only source of dependable employment. Her reporting has always stood out in my mind, and I really respect her. So I was happy to hear her voice the other day as part of a series where NPR people read essays about a fictional character that has inspired them in some way.
Well, come to find out that the character who kept Jaime going during her years in Baghdad was Buffy!
You can listen to her essay here.

There have been Buffy comics for several years, and they haven't amounted to much more than geeky fan fiction, if I do say so myself. Now, however, Joss is involved, and actually the comic book IS Buffy Season Eight. Joss wrote a comic book called Frey, about a future Slayer, which was good not great. But the new Buffy comics are a different story. The art is good, the writing is good, and the story lines really have the genuine feeling and depth of the show. There are two trade paperbacks out now, and the second is even better than the first - there's a story arc with Faith that was as complex as anything on the show. Its a little harder for me to relate to Buffy in the new situation, since Sunnydale went from being "an outie to an innie" as Faith said in one issue, but then again Buffy was always a little distant. I never got as into it as you did, Zoe, when it was on TV, so I could imagine you not liking the comics because they are different from the show, or maybe you just don't want to go back to getting that into Buffy again, I don't know. Comics in general take some getting used to - the feeling is different, I think its written for a geekier audience, and I get annoyed with some of the sleazy fantasy cover art, but these really are good comics. Its different from the show, but on the other hand, Joss has complete creative freedom now.

Now Joss has taken over from my favorite comics writer, Grant Morrison (of Invisibles infamy), writing the Justice League of America comics. This is his new career, so check out the Buffy comics and let me know what you think.

As Far As Cho Fu Sa

Lenya Hates This Poem.

"Falling" by Patrick Phillips, from Boy. (c) University of Georgia Press,
2008.

The truth is
that I fall in love
so easily because
it's easy. It happens

a dozen times some days.
I've lived whole lives,
had children,
grown old, and died

in the arms of other women
in no more time
than it takes the 2-train
to get from City Hall

to Brooklyn,
which always brings me
back to you:
the only one

I fall in love with
at least once every day—
not because
there are no other

lovely women in the world,
but because each time,
dying in their arms
I call your name.

Lenya read this poem today in her "daily planner" and it gave her a sharp jab. She quickly skipped over the feelings of vulnerability and inadequacy that it stirred in her and decided instead to say, "I hate this poem." "Hate" is a word that Lenya doesn't like to use - her ballet teachers have tried to tell her how self-destructive it is. So she was practiced enough to look through the veil of her hatred into the little canyon of sad feelings beyond.

"Why," she asked herself, "why do we give so much in return for the most pathetic little scrap of affection? Why would we destroy ourselves trying to believe that we are getting enough, when it is not enough? You die in their arms? You call my name? How could it possibly be enough that you call my name while dying in their arms? I have also called your name every time. You could not hear me, your ears were blocked by your own voice. Perhaps, then, it is the sound of your own voice that you love."

"I hate this poem," Lenya had thought, and then she immediately felt concerned over her own hatred. She realized that even the strength and honesty of diffusing her own hatred could be turned against her. It occurred to her that one of her main motivations in diffusing her own hatred was avoiding conflict. If she was not very careful, she would use her own strength to silence herself. And because Lenya is very strong, she is quite capable of accomplishing this. "Why do we destroy ourselves trying to believe that we are getting enough? And how, "she thought, "do we convince ourselves that it is enough?" She considered this for a while.

"Emotions arise that could lead to conflict," pondered Lenya, "and then a habitual thought process begins. It usually takes the following form:

I need more from XXX.
Why do I need more from XXX? Because of my own weakness. Because I am unreasonably demanding.
Demanding is bad. Weak is bad.
How can I can be Not-Demanding-but-Accomodating and Strong? By eliminating my need.
How can I eliminate my need? By changing it into a want.
Its a want. I want more from XXX.
Well, we can't have everything we want. Get over it! If you go after everything you want, you are demanding! Demanding is bad. People who need other people to do things for them are sissies - its the worst of the feminine.
But isn't it also the worst of the feminine to sacrifice yourself so others will be happy?
Yes, but if we call it something different than sacrifice, you can get away with it.
What should I call it?
Call it...tolerance.
Call it...the deconstruction of patriarchal jealousy.
Call it...a disciplined detachment from hysterical emotions.
Call it...working on yourself, and then pick your interpretation:
"I'm working through my issues," or "I'm having some work done so I can be beautiful."
Good, now I have some tools for "improving myself" and avoiding conflict, so
I don't want more from XXX anymore.

Well that is total BS and I'm sick of it!" thought Lenya.
"I'm not doing that ANY MORE and you shouldn't either!"

Good for Lenya! I'm very proud of her.

Miley Cyrus Exploits Young Girls.

photograph by Susan Sontag

As soon as a scandal broke out, Miley Cyrus claimed that she had been "manipulated" by Annie Liebowitz, basically pulling the "I'm just a girl!" defense. Annie Liebowitz and Vanity Fair have been accused of immorality, but in truth, what Miley Cyrus does every day of her life on the Disney Channel is far more disturbing, and far more damaging to the self-esteem and well-being of young women.

The sexual dynamics on the Disney channel are scary. Dan Savage said recently that its the only thing on TV his son is not allowed to watch. There is a superficial, materialistic, judgmental sexuality beneath every move the Disney teens make, informing both girls and boys about acceptably gendered bodies and behavior. Honesty about sex is highly offensive in this arena, because in reality girls do have beauty, agency, and sexuality, and if they found out about it they would become less efficient as consumers.

Disney accused Vanity Fair of exploiting a young girl to sell magazines, but the Disney empire is being stitched together by young girls all over the world - some of them in the sweatshops where all the cheap products Miley Cyrus advertises for them are made, and some of them being baby-sat by the TV, learning the rules of engagement.

Its clear that Miley isn't the enemy here, that there are larger market forces at work. In fact, Disney probably pressured her to denounce Liebowitz. But when she played the victim, she denied her own agency as a girl, and we shouldn't make the same mistake.

Happy Birthday, Rosa!

The second of May was Rosa's birthday.
Rosa, you go girl! I have learned so much about friendship from you - I think its fair to say that I don't have a single other truly dependable friendship that has been through so much direct conflict to become something so terrificly wonderful. You give excellent advice - insightful, pragmatic, and encouraging - and you have let me in on so many great things in life - the whale skeleton, Alex (Pepperberg, not Lipsitt, though he's great, too.), Tufte, Nude Vampire, the MIT museum, muhamara, osprey, I could go on. The bodhisatva still has the scars of the silken tofu chocolate pudding fight - I had never physically expressed so much anger and resentment, and rarely have since. Until the end of my days, I hope to hang on to my memory of us biking/running to see Eraserhead. I have the best picture of us - we both look terribly ugly and terribly happy, with toothy grins from ear to ear. You are an artist who is impressed by life. I'm so grateful that the LIC kids threw their parties so I could give you back your Shady Hill yearbook and we could start talking again.

By the way, Jane Horrocks should be so lucky.

Are you all with me now? Can I get a shout out for ROSA? I know I can!

The Brides on Tour

Pippa Bacca and Silvia Moro decided to create an art installation by hitchhiking throughout Europe and the Middle East in wedding dresses. They wrote:

Our dream is to hitch-hike across the war-torn areas of the Balkans and the Mediterranean – dressed as brides. That’s the only dress we’ll carry along - with all stains accumulated during the journey. We’ll visit artists and craftsmen along the way and stop at museums, foundations, cultural centres and youth clubs for the daily pacifist ritual/performance of personal hygiene and then interaction with the place, people, and their crafts.

Objectives
The goal is to explore and collect photographic and video evidences on the common Mediterranean culture. The expected route is through route is through North-Eastern Italy, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria. At the end of the journey the dresses shall be exposed together with other evidences of the journey.

Pippa was raped and strangled to death in Turkey two weeks ago. The website archive for her journey still has an entry entitled, "Where are you, Pippa?", asking anyone who may have seen her to provide information on her whereabouts. Her sister said that people are asking her what Pippa was doing hitchhiking - the message there is "It is naive for a woman to think she will not be attacked." I feel it working in me, contributing to an underlying sense of anxiety. As I've gotten older, I've experienced a new feeling, too - looking back on my own experiences and realizing how lucky I am that it never happened to me. Like when Rachel Corrie was killed, I feel that this easily could have happened to me. When there was a "Take Back the Night" march here in Bloomsburg recently, I thought about going but ended up staying home. I have to admit that part of me didn't take it very seriously. I'm very sorry about that.