Joran Van der Sloot has finally been charged with murder. Five years after Natalie Holloway's disappearance, Van der Sloot was found to have murdered another woman, this time in Peru. I don't have much to say on the issue, except that this is an example of violence against women, of men exerting force against women and of women being killed. He is a serial killer, yes, and gender is so much a part of this. Shows like Law & Order SVU feature sexually-based offenses, and I'll admit, I watch them sometimes, but these shows do not always address the truth that while we have come a long way in stopping violence against women (the criminalization of domestic violence, for example, which used to be labeled a "private affair), violence against women continues in the same and in new, scary ways. That the victims of Van der Sloot are women is no coincidence; it is part of a larger system and phenomenon.
Info on the crime and charges:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/08/peru.murder.case/index.html?hpt=T1
Van der Sloot's blog, which disgustingly positions him as a celebrity due to suspicions regarding the Holloway case: http://joranvandersloot.blogspot.com/
Some resources and info on violence against women:
http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/
http://www.now.org/issues/violence/
http://www.womenshealth.gov/violence/
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Helen Thomas's Resignation & What it Says About Israel
I'll admit, I didn't know much about Helen Thomas before this week. I knew Jamila had seen her walking through the MSP airport a few months ago and that she was somehow significant. And now, although I don't know much, I can't stop thinking about her and her resignation.
A few weeks ago, Thomas made a crude remark about Israel, suggesting that Israel "get the hell out of Palestine." This infuriated many organizations affiliated with Israel and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher, leading to her resignation and subsequently being dropped from her agent and losing future book/speaking opportunities. Perhaps I return to this incident because I agree with Thomas. What is going on in Israel is a new incarnation of old-school colonization. A poignant speaker at Macalester this spring drew parallels between Palestinian and Native American struggles against colonialism. As a person of Jewish heritage, I am expected to demonstrate unwavering support for the small state. While I have been lucky enough to visit the country three times (lucky referring to my privilege in affording to travel as well as in experiencing a beautiful landscape), and I loved the dry Sinai desert, I am profoundly uncomfortable with Israel's position in Palestine, with the way Palestinians and Arab Israelis are treated. This same week, Israel's murdering of Palestinians in a Gaza ship raid, is not leading to anyone's resignation. Who is allowed to patrol and police borders? Who created these borders in the first place? While I understand the importance of the creation of Israel in the wake of the Holocaust, meaning the sheer acknowledgment of the rights of Jewish people, I do not believe that Israel should exist at the expense of Palestine. I hope for peace. However, I am enraged by the need for Thomas to resign. Her comments were honest and yes, controversial, but resigning? More importantly, who had the power to make her resign? Those acting via proxy of those who patrol the borders, Israel advocacy organization. I know anti-semitism and anti-Jewish hatred exist and are still very real real, but with advocates so powerful to make an esteemed White House correspondent step down, lose her agents and book and speaking engagement (essentially ruin her career), I can only think about the power that Israel holds in the United States and in the global system. I am still processing, but I know, viscerally, that we (I'm not sure who we is...Jews? US Jews? I'm still working on it) must negotiate a new self-perception and attitude when it comes to power and positionality in the United States. Because while Jews may not be accepted or able to live/worship freely everywhere in the US, in positions of influence, there is undeniable power. How will we (I need to implicate myself) negotiate this position? As a people who have suffered oppression and injustices, how will we work to stop injustice against others, particularly against Palestine?
For more information on Thomas' resignation and career: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/an-end-for-helen-thomas-and-the-helen-thomas-rules/?hp
A few weeks ago, Thomas made a crude remark about Israel, suggesting that Israel "get the hell out of Palestine." This infuriated many organizations affiliated with Israel and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher, leading to her resignation and subsequently being dropped from her agent and losing future book/speaking opportunities. Perhaps I return to this incident because I agree with Thomas. What is going on in Israel is a new incarnation of old-school colonization. A poignant speaker at Macalester this spring drew parallels between Palestinian and Native American struggles against colonialism. As a person of Jewish heritage, I am expected to demonstrate unwavering support for the small state. While I have been lucky enough to visit the country three times (lucky referring to my privilege in affording to travel as well as in experiencing a beautiful landscape), and I loved the dry Sinai desert, I am profoundly uncomfortable with Israel's position in Palestine, with the way Palestinians and Arab Israelis are treated. This same week, Israel's murdering of Palestinians in a Gaza ship raid, is not leading to anyone's resignation. Who is allowed to patrol and police borders? Who created these borders in the first place? While I understand the importance of the creation of Israel in the wake of the Holocaust, meaning the sheer acknowledgment of the rights of Jewish people, I do not believe that Israel should exist at the expense of Palestine. I hope for peace. However, I am enraged by the need for Thomas to resign. Her comments were honest and yes, controversial, but resigning? More importantly, who had the power to make her resign? Those acting via proxy of those who patrol the borders, Israel advocacy organization. I know anti-semitism and anti-Jewish hatred exist and are still very real real, but with advocates so powerful to make an esteemed White House correspondent step down, lose her agents and book and speaking engagement (essentially ruin her career), I can only think about the power that Israel holds in the United States and in the global system. I am still processing, but I know, viscerally, that we (I'm not sure who we is...Jews? US Jews? I'm still working on it) must negotiate a new self-perception and attitude when it comes to power and positionality in the United States. Because while Jews may not be accepted or able to live/worship freely everywhere in the US, in positions of influence, there is undeniable power. How will we (I need to implicate myself) negotiate this position? As a people who have suffered oppression and injustices, how will we work to stop injustice against others, particularly against Palestine?
For more information on Thomas' resignation and career: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/an-end-for-helen-thomas-and-the-helen-thomas-rules/?hp
Readings and Thoughts on Education- Shame of the Nation
Next year I will be taking a course called "Schools and Prisons," an American Studies signature course that focuses on the schools-to-prisons pipeline, a phenomenon that illustrates the ways in which students from certain public schools seem to be moved (passive voice intentional) directly into the penitentiary system. The course includes readings on educational reform, the prison-industrial complex, and more. Additionally, there is an internship component that places students at various along the pipeline, at sites varying from the Saint Paul Public Schools placement center, a prison, and a halfway house for recently incarcerated individuals. Not sure of my internship placement yet, but eager to delve into the material, I went ahead and read Jonathan Kozol's "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America". This will probably be one of many posts on education reform in general as well as reflections on my own schooling.
For those of you who do not know: I am a third generation college student, my parents are Ivy-league educated. I attended a public magnet school in Yonkers, NY, for elementary school, attended Yonkers Middle school for 6th grade, and entered Riverdale Country School, an independent school, in 7th grade. I currently attend and will be a senior at Macalester College, a private four-year liberal arts college in Saint Paul, MN.
After doing some reading on public schools in the United States (Pedro Noguera!) and trying to process and place my own experiences within a larger context, I am very excited to have an academic space as well as an internship to delve into these issues.
Kozol's book was interesting and frustrating and illuminating. I highly recommend it for anyone with remote interest in the topic, as it is very accessible and steers away from academic jargon. Nevertheless, it is extremely relevant and pertinent to my college course. Kozol's book is based on both statistical research and ethnographic interviewing, as he travels the nation, visiting public schools and speaking with administrators, teachers and students. I think it is so important that he featured the voice of young people whose opinion might normally be dismissed from the situation. However, their experiences and reflections are core to the issue and they (we) are affected the most, so it is important to listen to students, even if they are not deemed traditional "experts."
"Shame of the Nation" addresses many important issues, including something that relates to my previous post. Kozol notes that many schools claim they are "diverse" when their student body consists of many students of color, even if not many identities and backgrounds are represented. This rhetoric of diversity to describe non-diverse school is evident many public schools in the US, but I'll use the example of a small school in Roosevelt, NY, that is almost 100% African-American. Is that really diversity? Kozol outlines the ways that many schools throughout the nation are still segregated, using the strong language of apartheid, and some of his critiques hit close to home. He talks about Stuyvesant High School, an elite NYC high school touted as "the best in the city," that is an overwhelmingly White school, given the city's racial and ethnic demographics. Additionally, he looks to the physical structure of the school; Stuyvesant has a gorgeous new building that commands attention and respect in the area, but not a single new public school has been built in the Bronx since the 1970s. He poignantly states: "There is no misery index for the children of apartheid education" (163).
Kozol looks not only at schools and school systems, but goes to a macro level to address problems like federal No Child Left Behind with over-testing, utilizing military language or business language, which treats children as commodities. Students then become evaluated in capitalist terms to become workers. While some students may be encouraged to pursue a career as an artist, a teacher, a doctor, etc., Kozol visited many schools that call all students "managers," and emphasize their goals as having only one possible career choice in the global capitalist system.
While the book presents an abundance of frustrating and saddening information, Kozol is not cynical and he advocates for legal approaches and policy initiatives. But he emphasizes that legal actions do not entirely make up a movement or a mobilization. He maintains his hope, however, which, for someone who has seen and documented schools where the physical facilities are abysmal, where students lack resources or confidence, is important and proves that the system is not entirely broken. It's easy to opt out of the public schools system and then tune out the conversation, but change can be made on large and small levels.
I am excited to have this piece as an entry point into theory, reflection on lived experience, and conversation on the topic of education reform. More textual and experiential reflections to come.
Currently reading: Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
For those of you who do not know: I am a third generation college student, my parents are Ivy-league educated. I attended a public magnet school in Yonkers, NY, for elementary school, attended Yonkers Middle school for 6th grade, and entered Riverdale Country School, an independent school, in 7th grade. I currently attend and will be a senior at Macalester College, a private four-year liberal arts college in Saint Paul, MN.
After doing some reading on public schools in the United States (Pedro Noguera!) and trying to process and place my own experiences within a larger context, I am very excited to have an academic space as well as an internship to delve into these issues.
Kozol's book was interesting and frustrating and illuminating. I highly recommend it for anyone with remote interest in the topic, as it is very accessible and steers away from academic jargon. Nevertheless, it is extremely relevant and pertinent to my college course. Kozol's book is based on both statistical research and ethnographic interviewing, as he travels the nation, visiting public schools and speaking with administrators, teachers and students. I think it is so important that he featured the voice of young people whose opinion might normally be dismissed from the situation. However, their experiences and reflections are core to the issue and they (we) are affected the most, so it is important to listen to students, even if they are not deemed traditional "experts."
"Shame of the Nation" addresses many important issues, including something that relates to my previous post. Kozol notes that many schools claim they are "diverse" when their student body consists of many students of color, even if not many identities and backgrounds are represented. This rhetoric of diversity to describe non-diverse school is evident many public schools in the US, but I'll use the example of a small school in Roosevelt, NY, that is almost 100% African-American. Is that really diversity? Kozol outlines the ways that many schools throughout the nation are still segregated, using the strong language of apartheid, and some of his critiques hit close to home. He talks about Stuyvesant High School, an elite NYC high school touted as "the best in the city," that is an overwhelmingly White school, given the city's racial and ethnic demographics. Additionally, he looks to the physical structure of the school; Stuyvesant has a gorgeous new building that commands attention and respect in the area, but not a single new public school has been built in the Bronx since the 1970s. He poignantly states: "There is no misery index for the children of apartheid education" (163).
Kozol looks not only at schools and school systems, but goes to a macro level to address problems like federal No Child Left Behind with over-testing, utilizing military language or business language, which treats children as commodities. Students then become evaluated in capitalist terms to become workers. While some students may be encouraged to pursue a career as an artist, a teacher, a doctor, etc., Kozol visited many schools that call all students "managers," and emphasize their goals as having only one possible career choice in the global capitalist system.
While the book presents an abundance of frustrating and saddening information, Kozol is not cynical and he advocates for legal approaches and policy initiatives. But he emphasizes that legal actions do not entirely make up a movement or a mobilization. He maintains his hope, however, which, for someone who has seen and documented schools where the physical facilities are abysmal, where students lack resources or confidence, is important and proves that the system is not entirely broken. It's easy to opt out of the public schools system and then tune out the conversation, but change can be made on large and small levels.
I am excited to have this piece as an entry point into theory, reflection on lived experience, and conversation on the topic of education reform. More textual and experiential reflections to come.
Currently reading: Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
Monday, June 7, 2010
Reflections on my time in Berea
After five intense days at the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute, I am back from Berea!
The conference was fascinating, invigorating, disappointing, and interesting. Yes, all of that. The conference was a convergence of students and administrative staff from schools throughout the Bonner Network. For some background, the Bonner Program provides students committed to service with scholarships. This program looks different at each school, but at Macalester, it means 16 students per class year with high financial need earn their work study award at a site doing civic engagement. Some more info on the Bonner Program in general: http://www.bonner.org/
Schools from all over the country are a part of the Bonner Network, but especially schools from the South. I connected most with students from Morehouse College in Atlanta and Oberlin College in Ohio, but there were students from Kansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and one person repping Berkeley, CA! Two Bonner Congress reps (class of 2013) and myself joined the two Bonner Program coordinators for the conference.
The convergence consisted of elective workshops on a variety of topics. I attended a workshop on Tools for Social Justice, which, while it was interesting, reminded me of how advanced Macalester's work in the field truly is. I had a hard time connecting to some of the staff and students in the workshop, but I felt reaffirmed in my values. For example, the term "diversity" kept being used by participants. "My school beats diversity over the head," "Our school has a hard time with diversity," "My students don't want to talk about diversity," etc. Many of these comments were difficult to hear as they seemed closed to acknowledging and celebrating a multiplicity of backgrounds, histories and perspectives, but also because I could not tell what diversity meant. It appeared to me that people were referring to racial diversity, but the term could and should also include a diversity of many other identities and opinions. I spoke up, reminding the group that diversity is a very contextual word, meaning different things to different people, and asking for a clarification on what each person speaking meant when deploying that word. I also attended workshops on Public Policy work and how to write an issue brief, on a non-profit called Music Mobile out of Albany (It was amazing! http://www.musicmobile.org/), on perspectives regarding grad school, how to make meetings more interesting (yes, a meeting ABOUT meetings!), how an issue-based approach to civic engagement differs from a site-based approach and more. One of my disappointments came from the lack of programming regarding LGBTQ issues. There must have been over 100 elective workshop sessions, and it would been legitimizing (both personally, as an LGBTQ-identified woman, and politically) to have a space to discuss LGBTQ activism or any related theme. But people volunteered to lead workshops, and if nobody wanted to facilitate that topic, it means I should lead one at Bonner Congress in the fall! The conference also provided a special track for Senior Interns, which was an important time for me to learn about my responsibilities next year. I was able to brainstorm with other Senior Interns-to be about programming and recruitment. There were also various social events, from contra dancing to a drumming circle and an 80s-themed dance.
I met some intelligent, passionate and impressive students from all over the nation. I also had meaningful conversations with Bonner alums, the president of the foundation, and some incredibly open and insightful staff people from Oberlin College and Carson Newman College.
I also really enjoyed Berea College. The school was the first coed and desegregated school in the South. It also has an incredible program where all students work 10-15 hours a week in work-study, which pays for their entire tuition. Super super amazing. I went into a craft shop, where Berea students make pottery, weave scarves, make brooms, and more. As I purchased a wooden tic-tac-toe game, I met Dennis, a student from rural Kentucky, who told me that he did not grow up with running water and that he would not have been able to attend college had it not been for Berea's program. He also learned the skill of jewelry making and liked it so much that he hopes to make jewelry professionally and sell it in galleries. Dennis's story made me so happy, but it also made me wonder if he would have ever been able to go to a place like Macalester. Even though Macalester offers a lot of financial aid, it is still a prohibitively expensive school.
After this experience, I am still wrestling with important issues of social justice, privilege and positionality when doing service work, and the importance of asking questions. The conference was more (Christian) religious in its undertones and overtones than I was expecting, which made me feel a bit uneasy, but I tried to seek the messages of commitment and love that came from this faith-based approach. I hope to keep in touch with those I met at the conference and I am excited to be a part of the Bonner network.
The conference was fascinating, invigorating, disappointing, and interesting. Yes, all of that. The conference was a convergence of students and administrative staff from schools throughout the Bonner Network. For some background, the Bonner Program provides students committed to service with scholarships. This program looks different at each school, but at Macalester, it means 16 students per class year with high financial need earn their work study award at a site doing civic engagement. Some more info on the Bonner Program in general: http://www.bonner.org/
Schools from all over the country are a part of the Bonner Network, but especially schools from the South. I connected most with students from Morehouse College in Atlanta and Oberlin College in Ohio, but there were students from Kansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and one person repping Berkeley, CA! Two Bonner Congress reps (class of 2013) and myself joined the two Bonner Program coordinators for the conference.
The convergence consisted of elective workshops on a variety of topics. I attended a workshop on Tools for Social Justice, which, while it was interesting, reminded me of how advanced Macalester's work in the field truly is. I had a hard time connecting to some of the staff and students in the workshop, but I felt reaffirmed in my values. For example, the term "diversity" kept being used by participants. "My school beats diversity over the head," "Our school has a hard time with diversity," "My students don't want to talk about diversity," etc. Many of these comments were difficult to hear as they seemed closed to acknowledging and celebrating a multiplicity of backgrounds, histories and perspectives, but also because I could not tell what diversity meant. It appeared to me that people were referring to racial diversity, but the term could and should also include a diversity of many other identities and opinions. I spoke up, reminding the group that diversity is a very contextual word, meaning different things to different people, and asking for a clarification on what each person speaking meant when deploying that word. I also attended workshops on Public Policy work and how to write an issue brief, on a non-profit called Music Mobile out of Albany (It was amazing! http://www.musicmobile.org/), on perspectives regarding grad school, how to make meetings more interesting (yes, a meeting ABOUT meetings!), how an issue-based approach to civic engagement differs from a site-based approach and more. One of my disappointments came from the lack of programming regarding LGBTQ issues. There must have been over 100 elective workshop sessions, and it would been legitimizing (both personally, as an LGBTQ-identified woman, and politically) to have a space to discuss LGBTQ activism or any related theme. But people volunteered to lead workshops, and if nobody wanted to facilitate that topic, it means I should lead one at Bonner Congress in the fall! The conference also provided a special track for Senior Interns, which was an important time for me to learn about my responsibilities next year. I was able to brainstorm with other Senior Interns-to be about programming and recruitment. There were also various social events, from contra dancing to a drumming circle and an 80s-themed dance.
I met some intelligent, passionate and impressive students from all over the nation. I also had meaningful conversations with Bonner alums, the president of the foundation, and some incredibly open and insightful staff people from Oberlin College and Carson Newman College.
I also really enjoyed Berea College. The school was the first coed and desegregated school in the South. It also has an incredible program where all students work 10-15 hours a week in work-study, which pays for their entire tuition. Super super amazing. I went into a craft shop, where Berea students make pottery, weave scarves, make brooms, and more. As I purchased a wooden tic-tac-toe game, I met Dennis, a student from rural Kentucky, who told me that he did not grow up with running water and that he would not have been able to attend college had it not been for Berea's program. He also learned the skill of jewelry making and liked it so much that he hopes to make jewelry professionally and sell it in galleries. Dennis's story made me so happy, but it also made me wonder if he would have ever been able to go to a place like Macalester. Even though Macalester offers a lot of financial aid, it is still a prohibitively expensive school.
After this experience, I am still wrestling with important issues of social justice, privilege and positionality when doing service work, and the importance of asking questions. The conference was more (Christian) religious in its undertones and overtones than I was expecting, which made me feel a bit uneasy, but I tried to seek the messages of commitment and love that came from this faith-based approach. I hope to keep in touch with those I met at the conference and I am excited to be a part of the Bonner network.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sex & the City 2: I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar
Last weekend, while home, I went to see the over-hyped Sex & The City 2 with my parents and grandparents. We went to the Loew's Multiplex in Danbury, Connecticut on Friday night. Some women and girls dressed up with fancy apparel (I saw four Louis Vuitton handbags), and the film began with the opening beat of "Empire State of Mind."
I had read a review of the film prior to watching and came in knowing that my local newspaper rated it a D+. But as a fan of the storyline, I knew I would see it anyway. The NY Times offers a searing critique of just about everything in the movie, particularly the film's lavish nature that does not examine the privilege these 4 women possess. (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/movies/27sex.html?hpw) I had also seen previews of the film, which attempted to tantalize the audience with images of the Middle East, just a taste of the exotification to come. For a film about The City (New York City), the preview painted the movie as a travel comedy. Knowing what I was getting myself into, I went to the film on opening weekend anyway. As I left the theatre, I was extremely disappointed by the lack of City in the film, the lack of sex (I cannot believe I said that) and the cultural insensitivity that dominated the screen.
The movie opened at the (gay) wedding of Standford and Anthony, two characters who would never ever marry one another. After a string of non-funny, fairly offensive gay jokes, I knew this film would be long and painful. Like two hours too long. The wedding combined every stereotype about (White) gay men, almost to the point of a critical pastiche of pop culture, but it was actually deploying lowest common denominator humor. While Sex and the City has always used corny lines and silly puns, this was a new low that dehumanized itsgay characters.
About a half hour into the film, Samantha received an invitation from a hotel mogul to travel and relax in Abu Dhabi. Not willing to go without "her girls," the four women travel first class to Abu Dhabi. I would argue that every scene that happens in Abu Dhabi is offensive, from cultural insensitivity to generalizations to flaunting wealth in a newly ostentatious manner. One night the women party at a karaoke club and sing Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." (Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdepot.com/helen-reddy/i-am-woman.html) The lyrics of this song seem to be the theme of this trip and possible the entire film, as the women assert their womanhood in conflict to the gender roles in Abu Dhabi, as presented by the film.
As Carrie struggles with a harsh (and, in my opinion, extremely sexist) review from the New Yorker that includes an image of her mouth taped shut and Miranda grapples with quitting her law practice due to a silencing boss, the women implicate themselves in a story of feminism (one of many narratives), fighting for their voice. This happens against the backdrop of jokes about the veils that many of the Muslim women wear in the film. The jokes come from not only an insensitivity, but a clear discomfort with the issue and an attempt to make a judgment call (in the name of American "freedom"). The film even culminates with Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte comically donning veils given to them by their newfound friends as they scamper away from the marketplace incognito. These friends are women who wear veils but, fans of fashion, don Versace garments beneath them. An audience member with little knowledge about the Middle East would take their revealing of their hidden wardrobes to be a cultural lesson on the ways religious Muslim women modernize a seemingly old, traditional and oppressive culture. But I doubt that the writers and producers of SATC2 really did extensive research on the quotidian of religious Muslim women of Abu Dhabi.
Samantha, although initially enamored with Abu Dhabi, is the most disenchanted when she is arrested and loses her business connections for trying to have sex on the beach. She is enraged at how her freedom is stifled, and at one point, angrily and demonically waves a pack of condoms in front of a group of religious men. The comment being made that Abu Dhabi (and all of the Middle East) is a sexually repressed state. And how dare they infringe on Samantha's god-given right to dominate space and have public sex?
While Sex & The City 2 might try to make a feminist statement, it is a sloppy attempt to do so at the expense of Arab men & women. It essentializes the culture and human landscape of Abu Dhabi. And instead of make a true feminist statement, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda simply roar in numbers (of profit) too big to ignore.
I had read a review of the film prior to watching and came in knowing that my local newspaper rated it a D+. But as a fan of the storyline, I knew I would see it anyway. The NY Times offers a searing critique of just about everything in the movie, particularly the film's lavish nature that does not examine the privilege these 4 women possess. (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/movies/27sex.html?hpw) I had also seen previews of the film, which attempted to tantalize the audience with images of the Middle East, just a taste of the exotification to come. For a film about The City (New York City), the preview painted the movie as a travel comedy. Knowing what I was getting myself into, I went to the film on opening weekend anyway. As I left the theatre, I was extremely disappointed by the lack of City in the film, the lack of sex (I cannot believe I said that) and the cultural insensitivity that dominated the screen.
The movie opened at the (gay) wedding of Standford and Anthony, two characters who would never ever marry one another. After a string of non-funny, fairly offensive gay jokes, I knew this film would be long and painful. Like two hours too long. The wedding combined every stereotype about (White) gay men, almost to the point of a critical pastiche of pop culture, but it was actually deploying lowest common denominator humor. While Sex and the City has always used corny lines and silly puns, this was a new low that dehumanized itsgay characters.
About a half hour into the film, Samantha received an invitation from a hotel mogul to travel and relax in Abu Dhabi. Not willing to go without "her girls," the four women travel first class to Abu Dhabi. I would argue that every scene that happens in Abu Dhabi is offensive, from cultural insensitivity to generalizations to flaunting wealth in a newly ostentatious manner. One night the women party at a karaoke club and sing Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." (Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdepot.com/helen-reddy/i-am-woman.html) The lyrics of this song seem to be the theme of this trip and possible the entire film, as the women assert their womanhood in conflict to the gender roles in Abu Dhabi, as presented by the film.
As Carrie struggles with a harsh (and, in my opinion, extremely sexist) review from the New Yorker that includes an image of her mouth taped shut and Miranda grapples with quitting her law practice due to a silencing boss, the women implicate themselves in a story of feminism (one of many narratives), fighting for their voice. This happens against the backdrop of jokes about the veils that many of the Muslim women wear in the film. The jokes come from not only an insensitivity, but a clear discomfort with the issue and an attempt to make a judgment call (in the name of American "freedom"). The film even culminates with Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte comically donning veils given to them by their newfound friends as they scamper away from the marketplace incognito. These friends are women who wear veils but, fans of fashion, don Versace garments beneath them. An audience member with little knowledge about the Middle East would take their revealing of their hidden wardrobes to be a cultural lesson on the ways religious Muslim women modernize a seemingly old, traditional and oppressive culture. But I doubt that the writers and producers of SATC2 really did extensive research on the quotidian of religious Muslim women of Abu Dhabi.
Samantha, although initially enamored with Abu Dhabi, is the most disenchanted when she is arrested and loses her business connections for trying to have sex on the beach. She is enraged at how her freedom is stifled, and at one point, angrily and demonically waves a pack of condoms in front of a group of religious men. The comment being made that Abu Dhabi (and all of the Middle East) is a sexually repressed state. And how dare they infringe on Samantha's god-given right to dominate space and have public sex?
While Sex & The City 2 might try to make a feminist statement, it is a sloppy attempt to do so at the expense of Arab men & women. It essentializes the culture and human landscape of Abu Dhabi. And instead of make a true feminist statement, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda simply roar in numbers (of profit) too big to ignore.
Back to Blogging!
This blog hasn't been touched in two months! But as the summer arrives and the office job begins (I'm working as an administrative assistant for the Department of Multicultural Life at Mac), I decided to get back into blogging!
This summer I will be spending my time in the Twin Cities, living in a house with 4 other people at Grand Ave & Fairview Ave. I will be working for the Department of Multicultural Life and doing some work for the Civic Engagement Center, where I will work next year as a Bonner Senior Intern. I will be in NY twice this summer to see family and celebrate my sister's graduation from high school (yaaay Ari!) and I will travel to Berea, KY, tomorrow for a Senior Leadership Institute retreat with the Bonner Program. To top it all off, I will be performing in The Quest, an improvised myth and part of the Twin Cities Fringe Festival, this August. There are some supremely awesome people in the cast and I am so excited to be working with them and doing improv in a new context. Jamila is also sticking around in the Twin Cities and we hope to do some exploring of the parks, lakes, restaurants and museums of the area!
Let the blogging begin!
This summer I will be spending my time in the Twin Cities, living in a house with 4 other people at Grand Ave & Fairview Ave. I will be working for the Department of Multicultural Life and doing some work for the Civic Engagement Center, where I will work next year as a Bonner Senior Intern. I will be in NY twice this summer to see family and celebrate my sister's graduation from high school (yaaay Ari!) and I will travel to Berea, KY, tomorrow for a Senior Leadership Institute retreat with the Bonner Program. To top it all off, I will be performing in The Quest, an improvised myth and part of the Twin Cities Fringe Festival, this August. There are some supremely awesome people in the cast and I am so excited to be working with them and doing improv in a new context. Jamila is also sticking around in the Twin Cities and we hope to do some exploring of the parks, lakes, restaurants and museums of the area!
Let the blogging begin!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Last day
So my last day in New York before I headed down to the "Show me State", Emily and I managed to return to the Botanical Gardens after a nearly 2 years hiatus. Last time we went Emily brought the family membership, but as a "child" she could not invite me in for free. Some how we managed to get the tickets at a reduced price, but not the free trip we had imagined. It was great when we got in, but we had to skip the collection of whatever plant it was on display in the green house.
Not this time. Even though we went with expired memberships... we got free parking, free pass in, AND a free pass to the The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower display. Win-win-win situation. It was another gorgeous day which made for great pictures. All the while there was Carlos Santana playing in the background. Not only that, but it was easily 85 degrees in there and quite humid, a lot like the weather in Cuba, I imagine. Emily and I joked that now we don't need to go to Cuba... because we've been the the conservatory in the NY Botanical Gardens. Either way, it was a beautiful show.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)