Race Matters is brief. So brief that it will probably take you just an hour or two to get through it. But those 2 hours crackle with incisive commentaRace Matters is brief. So brief that it will probably take you just an hour or two to get through it. But those 2 hours crackle with incisive commentary on a racist nation that, sad to say, really hasn't changed much in the 27 years since this book was published. West defines the racism of America and explores how Democrats and Republicans view this issue and how they propose to go about solving it. He uses specific examples of the Rodney King riots, the appointment of supreme court judge Clarence Thomas, black sexuality, and other flash points to discuss and dissect race matters. He has the fire of Malcolm X in his voice, which made it enjoyable for me, and I like how he points out that there is not one silver bullet approach to solve race matters (Democrats believe more social programs alone will be enough to solve racism. Republicans believe that hard work and a refusal to see oneself as a victim will solve it. Both are nowhere close to the answer).
I do think the current BLM protests are giving Cornel West some hope that the tide will turn; a hope he did not seem to have back in 1993. So this book is worth a read just to see where we have been in regards to race matters, and how much further we have yet to go....more
There's quite a few in here that seem to lack focus, or ones where I don't necessarily agree with her I seem to be on a feminist essayist kick lately.
There's quite a few in here that seem to lack focus, or ones where I don't necessarily agree with her conclusions, but when Roxane Gay discusses feminism, race, class, and rape culture, she is a force to be reckoned with, while simultaneously keeping a light and conversational writing style. This collection falls right in line with the Lindy Wests of the world....more
What started as a funny collection of pop culture hot takes became more and more personal and profound as I listened to Shrill. Lindy is funny and smaWhat started as a funny collection of pop culture hot takes became more and more personal and profound as I listened to Shrill. Lindy is funny and smart, and has made me think about subjects such as feminism, internet trolls, and fatness in new and interesting ways.
I especially love the way she responds to insecure men who complain that she is trying to end free speech in this country by daring to criticize rape jokes as the lazy, misogynistic, cheap laughs that they are. Anything can be joked about, and any subject should be fair game. All Lindy West wants is for comedians to think about who the butt of the joke actually is. She wants comedians to do better.
You will not find a greater testament to Martin Luther King’s ideals of equality, justice, and peace than this tome of his writings and speeches. A TeYou will not find a greater testament to Martin Luther King’s ideals of equality, justice, and peace than this tome of his writings and speeches. A Testament of Hope is the book I wish I had been required to read in school. Better late than never I suppose.
Read one speech or one section or every word. No matter how much of this book you read, you will get to know a man whose powers of persuasion and sense of morality are unmatched. Every line feels like a gut punch or a resounding call to action. Every conviction is delivered with the intelligence of a scholar and the thunderous might of a preacher. Martin Luther King was a radical who could ruthlessly and expertly criticize Jim Crow, segregation, white liberals, world leaders, the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, hell, even CAPITALISM while remaining a pillar of love and nonviolence. How could one man inspire such change in the world?
I can’t explain why, I can only provide some of his insights in his own words, many of which still apply to problems we see in our country today:
“It must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight.� (17)
“There is more power in socially organized masses on the march than there is in guns of a few desperate men. Our enemies would prefer to deal with a small armed group rather than with a huge, unarmed but resolute mass of people. However it is necessary that the mass-action method be persistent and unyielding� never let them rest.� (33)
“Our Congress is determined not to stifle the initiative of the poor (thought they clamor for jobs) through welfare handouts. Handouts to the rich are given more sophisticated nomenclature such as parity, subsidies, and incentives to industry.� (71)
“From a purely moral point of view, an unjust law is one that is out of harmony with the moral law of the universe. More concretely, an unjust law is one in which the minority is compelled to observe a code that is not binding on the majority. An unjust law is one in which people are required to obey a code that they had no part in making because they were denied the right to vote.� (164)
“I’m concerned about justice. I’m concerned about brotherhood. I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.� (249)
“Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was ‘well-timed,� according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the words ‘Wait!� It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait� has almost always meant ‘Never.� We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’� (292)
Probably my favorite quotes are King’s comments about “enlightened� centrists and platitude-spouting, anti-conflict moderate liberals:
“The negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order� than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action�; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.� Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.� (295)
“White Americans must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society. The comfortable, entrenched, the privileged cannot continue to tremble at the prospect of change of the status quo.� (314)
There is so much wisdom and brilliance packed into these pages that you absolutely need to read for yourself. In these troubling political times, King offers a beacon of light to generate the power of hope in anyone who will take his message to heart. Read A Testament of Hope. Receive that message. Join a cause. We can change the world. Dr. King has given us the blueprint! ...more
Moved up from a 3 to a 4-star book the longer I listened. Vacationland is a bit droll for the first half but the stories get funnier and Hodgman is clMoved up from a 3 to a 4-star book the longer I listened. Vacationland is a bit droll for the first half but the stories get funnier and Hodgman is clear-eyed about topics such as race, age, and death. I like his geeky honesty and he does an excellent job narrating his book (A rare feat for authors narrating their own books). There's even a snippet of an anecdote about Scientology included! So you know I'm on board.
Also you know how he says he owned a bunk bed as an only child? And he says that ALL only-children own bunk beds as a subconscious manifestation of their lonliness? Yeah I thought that was ridiculous too, but I asked Kate about it and guess what, she owned a bunk bed. "For sleepovers, duh." Of course.
Recommended for only children and children with siblings alike.
Read the introduction through chapter 3 and skip the rest. How can one half portray such beauty and the other half portray such boredom?
A few of the bRead the introduction through chapter 3 and skip the rest. How can one half portray such beauty and the other half portray such boredom?
A few of the better passages:
"But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet."
"The sun illuminates only the eye, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood."
"Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous."
This is my number one recommended read for climate change deniers. Part memoir, part history, part science article, and part empathetic interviews, RiThis is my number one recommended read for climate change deniers. Part memoir, part history, part science article, and part empathetic interviews, Rising tells the story of climate change in this country. It is no longer a worry for the future. It is already here.
U.S. citizens living in wetlands in Florida, Louisiana, and Staten Island are already retreating inland (if they can afford it) after experiencing year after year of record-breaking storms and constant flooding. Rush does an excellent job capturing what these people are thinking and feeling with a keen listening ear to many who are dismayed at leaving their ancestral homes, and to the few who refuse to leave. Meanwhile she looks for hope in some restoration projects around the country but I can't say I'm too optimistic based on .
I don't find this book as incisive as Elizabeth Kolbert's classic The Sixth Extinction but it is a great introduction to the greatest threat of our future, and offers more than enough proof that climate change is about to sink us.
Climate change deniers likely won't be swayed by the science and research, and they are so dogmatic in their views I doubt the plight of fellow American refugees would sway them either. But I have a question that might give them an inkling of doubt: If climate change isn't real, and rising seas aren't a problem, then why do actuaries keep raising the price of flood insurance to such an exorbitant amount? Politicians lie. Sometimes scientists lie. People in general lie. The numbers don't.
"It is no longer a question of if, but when."...more
"Self-Reliance" is a masterpiece and had so many passages that struck me and inspired me and made me think a bit more than I was prepare to on my lunc"Self-Reliance" is a masterpiece and had so many passages that struck me and inspired me and made me think a bit more than I was prepare to on my lunch break. Which is probably what I was still thinking about while I read the other essays since I don't remember anything contained within them.
"These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence."...more
You know that weird friend who buys beans in bulk and soaks them himself, or swears that vinyl sounds "warmer" than that electronic crap they record oYou know that weird friend who buys beans in bulk and soaks them himself, or swears that vinyl sounds "warmer" than that electronic crap they record on today as long as you aren't playing it on a Crosley, or compares different wines to Star Trek characters and Greek philosophers, or when people ask him what he does for a living he calls himself a "lifelong learner" or "an intellectual" or "What do any of us do to live, really? You know I was reading about the future of artificial intelligence in The New Yorker last week and I think we will soon have an existential crisis on our hands if we continually define ourselves by capitalistic means of production..."? You ever see him to himself while reading the erudite musings of a renowned "humorist" (which is another way of saying "stale comedian") just loud enough so that you'll ask him what's so funny so he can start in with the "Oh nothing, it's just that Mr. Allen's observations about Freud or so spot-on, of course I've always been a student of the Jungian school myself..."
This is the type of perspective-shifting read that I would invite anyone who does not know what a feminist is, or anyone who associates sees feministsThis is the type of perspective-shifting read that I would invite anyone who does not know what a feminist is, or anyone who associates sees feminists as pestering canker sores on society, to read. Adichie explains in simple terms, exactly how the world treats women and men differently, and how being a feminist will make us more aware and equitable to each other. I'll have to think more about it but it's the end of the year so I'm running through these reviews!...more
There’s a copy of William Saroyan’s beautiful and brilliant book ,“My Name is Aram,� sitting on the shelf in the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library. I used There’s a copy of William Saroyan’s beautiful and brilliant book ,“My Name is Aram,� sitting on the shelf in the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library. I used to pass that book daily while in the library’s employ and would practically salivate every time I read the binding in passing. It’s one of those wonderful old editions with pages as soft as linen, and aged illustrations to introduce each story. I wanted it. I wanted it so badly I was tempted to steal it. Hell, I still want it.
The only thing that was able to squelch my sudden case of kleptomania was this little gem “I Used to Believe I had Forever Now I’m not so Sure,� which I found on our library’s 10 cent table sandwiched between James Patterson and a few ancient books of poetry. How was it possible that there could be this collection by William Saroyan that I not only hadn’t heard of, but also just happened to be in the library I worked at. It must have been God’s subtle nod to me that I had passed some sort of moral test, and now would reap His reward. As is typical with my used book purchases, I brought the sucker home to proudly display on my personal library shelf, and I only got around to reading it, well, just now.
Reading this felt like I was helping William Saroyan go through his junk drawer in preparation for a downsize. He throws in a few plays (finished and unfinished), some articles and essays (published and unpublished), and a short story or two that may or may not have happened in real life. This collection is so varied in theme and time and length and mood that it’s hard to know what to make of it.
Well here’s what I make of it: It’s not Saroyan’s best, but there is still some magic in there. I don’t know what it is about Saroyan that I find so appealing. He is direct without being condescending, yet sentimental in the least sappy way possible. His language is simple and unpretentious, but it’s obvious he has a lot of big ideas. Before each story or essay or play, Saroyan includes a little introduction explaining where these things came from and I just love that. You can hear him reflecting on what he was trying to do, why he loves being a writer, admitting where he failed and defending his pieces nobody wanted. There’s a genuine quality to the whole thing. Even if some of these pieces don't exactly go anywhere, you can still enjoy being along for the ride. I have to thank Tiffin-Seneca Public Library for letting me in on the secret of this obscure book's existence, I just wish Saroyan's OTHER book could have come along with it.
Particular standouts from this collection: “My Shoes,� “Armenia and her Poet Charentz,� “How to Write a Short Story,� “Losses,� “I Don’t Get It� ...more
Bertrand Russell writes in such a clear and articulate way that he has pretty well summarized why I am not a Christian within 2 essays. He has a partiBertrand Russell writes in such a clear and articulate way that he has pretty well summarized why I am not a Christian within 2 essays. He has a particular knack for making concise and logical arguments dispelling the Christian God. And he also pinpoints what makes Christianity particularly unpalatable to me: Its individualism, its opposition to progress, science, and knowledge, its use of power, and of course its hypocrisy.
One of my own struggles when discussing my faith (or lack thereof) is defending my views and thoughts without making my religious friends offended or defensive. Sometimes that is an impossible task, but I try to follow the Michael Brooks creed to “Be kind to people. Be ruthless with systems.� Russell does this so well. He does not seem angry or contemptuous towards Christians (as later writers Hitchens and Dawkins and the like would be). Instead, he focuses on the arguments and texts and historical record of Christianity. And I think that makes his case that much stronger.
I did skip some of the essays in here as many of them were written 100 years ago and have so much context missing that I wasn’t at all sure what to make of them. Not everything Russell has said has aged perfectly, but the fact that his thoughts on religion are this clear-eyed this many years later speaks to what a thoughtful person he was....more
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