admiration

Through a blog I follow regularly, Feminist Review, I came across this awesome new site called eco-artware.com.  The site sells eco-friendly gifts from recycled, reused and natural materials that are beautiful, trendy and thoughtful.  Naturally I'm intrigued with most of the items on the site, but one series utilizing typewriter keys has me captivated.

While I probably have no use for cuff-links, I'm also in love with the set below which continues on the typewriter key theme.

npr

Saturday morning I was listening to NPR on the walk to retrieve my car from downtown and there was a segment on about natives of Kodiak Alaska and their lack of knowledge/record of their own heritage. The journalists went on to explain how there was a private collection of the tribes’ masks in France and the owner was loaning (not returning) the collection to the people to learn from and put on display in a local museum. This was seen as a wonderful thing and a great miracle that the artifacts were preserved. 

I started thinking: How did these masks end up as a collector’s item rather than part of the local knowledge? Should the French collector be morally obligated to return the masks to their rightful holders? Who exactly should own these pieces? Should they be part of the local commons, owned by the people? Because of globalization and the homogenization of place and people, are things being lost and appropriated to ‘lovely’ home furnishings? What exactly is the ‘right’ thing to do here?

I also had issue with how NPR presented this. Essentially they were saying, that thanks to the French collector, these artifacts were saved and not lost or damaged or buried in some ditch by the native peoples. Sending the message, at least to me, that clearly these people were incapable of preserving their own traditions. Only the white Western elite could do such preservation. 

Then I started analyzing my own apartment and décor. Did I own anything that was culturally appropriated from a community or identity that I do not belong to? What about all the things I brought back from India? I tried to only buy things that were handicrafts and made specifically for consumption purposes… but what sort of message was I sending wearing or displaying such items back in the US? Were these things signifiers of wealth and ability (Look at me I went to India…)? How should I feel about this, I mean clearly my consumption in India in 2008 is vastly different than 18th century Native American masks… but still related.

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Back to work... I wish I could incorporate the above thoughts and ideas into my final project, but alas, I feel its too late in the game.  Also, so many types of things I'm being forced to include.  So much of this writing process feels so unnatural and awkward it is probably one of the reasons I'm so miserable with it.  I'm just disappointed that something I was looking forward to doing/creating for a year and a half has been one of my largest dreads for the past few months.  Square pegs simply do not fit in round holes without a lot of sanding and shaving.  Perfect metaphor for this paper.  I've sanded it down to where I barely recognize it as my own creation.  Rather it was something that was custom ordered, returned several times and continually rejected.  I hate it.  It doesn't make any sense outside the context of my instructor's class, nor is it an accurate reflection of my academic interests.  Great job Women's Studies.  Way to suck out my soul.

All will be done, for better, for worse, in two days.  Maybe I'll feel somewhat human again.

light at the end of the tunnel

As I approach the 5 month mark to my graduation date (thank goodness), several things are keeping me motivated, none of which are career or job related.  Today I was in class for 5+ hours and have about 8+ hours of other class related shit to do tonight.  Not fun.  The thought of doing fun things soon keeps me going:  knitting, spinning, reading, biking, gardening, watching movies, etc.

After some thinking and reading over blogs I love I decided to post my "to read" list that is becoming quite extensive.  

Factory Girls

From Village to City in a Changing China

Leslie T. Chang

Letter to My Daughter

Maya Angelou

The Superorganism

The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies

Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson

Paradise; Beloved; A Mercy; Jazz

Toni Morrison

Sea of Poppies

Amitav Ghosh

Ecotopia

Ernest Callenbach

Unaccustomed Earth

Jhumpa Lahiri

2666

Roberto Bolano, translated by Natasha Wimmer

The Jewel of Medina

Sherry Jones

Eat, Pray, Love

Elizabeth Gilbert

Hope’s Edge

The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Anna Lappe and Frances Moore Lappe

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver

Orlando

Virginia Wolf

Poetry of Seamus Heaney

Zodiac

Neal Stephenson

Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor

Leonard Boff

How much should a person consume?

Ramachandra Guha

Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival

Dan Jaffe

Unbowed

Wangari Maathi

Shakti: Realm of the Divine Mother

Vanamali

Girls In Trucks

Katie Crouch

What You Call Winter

Nalini Jones

Identity Work in Social Movements

Eds: Jo Reger, Daniel J. Myers, and Rachel L. Einwohner

The Politics of Identity

Solidary Building among America’s Working Poor

Erin E. O’Brien

Sciences from Below

Feminisms, Poscolonialities, and Modernities

Sandra Harding

Women in American Journalism

A New History

Jan Whitt

Digital Media and Democracy

Tactics in Hard Times

Ed. Megan Boler

Tactical Biopolitics

Art, Activism, and Technoscience

Ed. Beatriz da Costa and Kavita Philip

The Wisdom of Whores

Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS

Elizabeth Pisani

Make A Zine!

When Words and Graphics Collide

Bill Brent and Joe Biel

Outliers

The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell

Bag Bazaar

25 Stylish Bags to Sew in an Afternoon

Megan Avery

The Aftermath of Feminism

Gender, Culture, and Social Change

Angela McRobbie

Taking Back God

American women rising up for religious equality

Leora Tanenbaum

Do you have any other recommendations?  Please tell me and I'll add them to my list!  You can also email me at liz.martin0518(at)gmail(dot)com.