The Silence of Our Friends

8 things meme

I've been tagged by a bunch of folks--I think Nez, Kevin and Angel and then Baby Whispering Loudly said she wanted to get to know me (very much humbled, thanks :-)!!!)

So here's the 8 random things about me.

1. Honest to god, I tried to like the 90's explosion of feminist rockers (the Lilith Fair chicks), I really really and truly did--but with the exception of Ani De Franco, the Dixie Chicks (who I was introduced to through country music), and an occasional Sarah McLaughlin song, I just couldn't. I don't know what it was--but the whole thing just exasperated me.

2. I just recently found out that "track changes" on microsoft word is enough to make a person with ADD go cross eyed to the point that that person's head implodes.

3. Some times I have panic attacks when I think about money.

4. I thought that Roger Ebert's review of the fifth Harry Potter movie was a piss poor review--what's up with the moaning and groaning about the "loss of innocence"? Is it believable to me that Roger could only give this movie 2 1/2 stars because the "loss of innocence" was so disturbing to him? This, from the same man who gave The Passion of the Christ four stars?

5. I almost applied for a job a Democracy Now! once--I was too chicken shit and "I-am-not-worthy to actually go through with it, however. Even with my 100,000$ University of Michigan degree.

6. That Earth Live concert--what a crock. I couldn't even watch it. Sokari links to a great post about it.

7. Two posts that I found interesting about Frida Kahlo (and to be clear, the following rant is not directed at EITHER blogger who made the two posts!!!!). I have a love hate relationship with Frida-I think she did some of the most profound and amazing and intense art I have ever seen, and some of her stuff, I won't lie, the first time I ever saw it, I cried and cried and cried. At the same time, goddamn, the commodification shit, goddamn Madonna, and goddamn the next feminist who tells me Frida is her moon sister. Would we say that Diego Rivera was our scrotum brother? The point being that Frida's life (WHICH WAS A MEXICAN CENTERED LIFE) gets appropriated to the point that nobody really gives a damn about her MEXICAN CENTERED artwork anymore. I think all this "moon sister" bullshit is something that relegates Mexicanas/Chicanas to the "folk art" category--if we write about, say, space ships and gangsters and militarism rather than food, mysticism and intense kinda "mad" love (don't you know? Us Chicanas kill men who reject us, drown our kids and paint pictures of Diego on our heads!), we are rejected as not being "real," feminists or "real" Mexicanas/Chicanas. However Frida's artwork was steeped in "woman"--it was ALSO steeped in revolution, industrialization, technology, and examinations of race and class--and most importantly, her work was steeped in her awareness of being "Mexican." Something a lot of people would like to deny.

8. I just finished reading Brewster's Place. Book was way better than the series, IMO--I don't know why, but none of Oprah's books to movies have really been all that great.

One of my favorite Frida paintings:

posted by brownfemipower at 9:03 PM |