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Thought: Helena's narrative in MND
Sep. 17th, 2008 10:19 amSo most people don't like Helena from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream - she's kinda whiny, and a bit pathetic because she keeps following Demetrius around, and even tells Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander running off because she thinks he'll be indebted to her after that (and even HE asks her why she's in love with someone who hates her, although he doesn't actually hate her that much).
Anyways, at some point, Demetrius is like, all pissed off because she keeps trailing him in the forest, having followed him there, possibly because she thinks since they're now alone he HAS to pay attention to her, and because she just can't leave him alone, and maybe she thinks she can help take care of him in the omg-dangerous-forest.
So, in general, it's a pretty not-so-great situation (this is a comedy, so it's not really a BAD one, I guess), and Demetrius warns her about her reputation and the general danger she's in being alone in the woods with a man, and she tells him, basically, I trust in your goodness enough that being around you is a good thing, and when he threatens to run away and leave her to be eaten by, I dunno, monsters in the woods, she says, none of them are as bad as you, and anyway, even if you DO run, I'll chase you anyway.
Finally, he says, keep following me, and "I'll do thee mischief in these woods" - which we're, I guess, supposed to take it for a threat of rape. And she replies, oh, you're already doing that wherever I am.
And he runs away. Because the plain fact is, women aren't supposed to be so open about their love and sexuality, and he's punishing her for her honesty (because girls have cooties; they're much better when they're sexless and uninterested).
This bit used to bother me, because it seemed kind of extreme for Demetrius to threaten rape - he never appeared to hate her that much, and it all seemed a bit of a hollow threat since he basically runs off after making it. Maybe men really do hate women.
So it bugged me, until last night I was thinking about this bit for some reason, and I thought, maybe I'm focusing too much on what Demetrius is saying. What if I reframed the situation and thought about it with a focus on Helena's words?
And what IS she saying/doing, that makes Demetrius run the hell away like he does?
A few things hit me first:
She's not taking "no" for an answer. This is, obviously, a no-no for women, because we're supposed to acquiesce to whatever men want. It's creepy when men do it. It's supposed to be comical when women do it, but while the audience is laughing, Demetrius is running the fuck away!!
And then, she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS. She's making it really clear that whatever it is about him she wants, she wants it, and bad. I dunno about complaints today young men make about women never making the first move, but in this situation, Helena IS making the first move, and Demetrius finds it intimidating and he's running away! (Is it any wonder why women don't? Our traditional literature tells us not to bloody do it.)
'Scuse me while I repeat myself: she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS! She's TOTALLY blowing away traditional myths: "The story shall be changed: / Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase..." which is an interesting comparison, because Daphne runs from Apollo because she's chaste and he's, well, he was being a horny asshole (some retellings credit this to Cupid firing him with an arrow, but let's not absolve him of responsibility), and let's face it, even today there're still conservatives which encourage children to die instead of 'allowing themselves to be raped'. It's a sign of commitment to the concept of chastity. Because, you know, when a penis enters a girl, suddenly she's soiled beyond repair. (And for this women are punished; if a penis is so corrupting, why aren't we castrating more men?)
And here is Helena, who is being threatened with rape, and she flings it back with something along the lines of "you can't rape the willing, and besides, you don't actually want me, so even if you did, who'd be raping who now, big boy? Hur hur!"
Confronted with this baffling lack of control over her, of course Demetrius runs away.
And Oberon, impressed by Helena's assertion of her desires to make her story go her way, helps her out. Hilarity ensues.
Thoughts?
Anyways, at some point, Demetrius is like, all pissed off because she keeps trailing him in the forest, having followed him there, possibly because she thinks since they're now alone he HAS to pay attention to her, and because she just can't leave him alone, and maybe she thinks she can help take care of him in the omg-dangerous-forest.
So, in general, it's a pretty not-so-great situation (this is a comedy, so it's not really a BAD one, I guess), and Demetrius warns her about her reputation and the general danger she's in being alone in the woods with a man, and she tells him, basically, I trust in your goodness enough that being around you is a good thing, and when he threatens to run away and leave her to be eaten by, I dunno, monsters in the woods, she says, none of them are as bad as you, and anyway, even if you DO run, I'll chase you anyway.
Finally, he says, keep following me, and "I'll do thee mischief in these woods" - which we're, I guess, supposed to take it for a threat of rape. And she replies, oh, you're already doing that wherever I am.
And he runs away. Because the plain fact is, women aren't supposed to be so open about their love and sexuality, and he's punishing her for her honesty (because girls have cooties; they're much better when they're sexless and uninterested).
This bit used to bother me, because it seemed kind of extreme for Demetrius to threaten rape - he never appeared to hate her that much, and it all seemed a bit of a hollow threat since he basically runs off after making it. Maybe men really do hate women.
So it bugged me, until last night I was thinking about this bit for some reason, and I thought, maybe I'm focusing too much on what Demetrius is saying. What if I reframed the situation and thought about it with a focus on Helena's words?
And what IS she saying/doing, that makes Demetrius run the hell away like he does?
A few things hit me first:
She's not taking "no" for an answer. This is, obviously, a no-no for women, because we're supposed to acquiesce to whatever men want. It's creepy when men do it. It's supposed to be comical when women do it, but while the audience is laughing, Demetrius is running the fuck away!!
And then, she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS. She's making it really clear that whatever it is about him she wants, she wants it, and bad. I dunno about complaints today young men make about women never making the first move, but in this situation, Helena IS making the first move, and Demetrius finds it intimidating and he's running away! (Is it any wonder why women don't? Our traditional literature tells us not to bloody do it.)
'Scuse me while I repeat myself: she's CHASING HIM IN THE WOODS! She's TOTALLY blowing away traditional myths: "The story shall be changed: / Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase..." which is an interesting comparison, because Daphne runs from Apollo because she's chaste and he's, well, he was being a horny asshole (some retellings credit this to Cupid firing him with an arrow, but let's not absolve him of responsibility), and let's face it, even today there're still conservatives which encourage children to die instead of 'allowing themselves to be raped'. It's a sign of commitment to the concept of chastity. Because, you know, when a penis enters a girl, suddenly she's soiled beyond repair. (And for this women are punished; if a penis is so corrupting, why aren't we castrating more men?)
And here is Helena, who is being threatened with rape, and she flings it back with something along the lines of "you can't rape the willing, and besides, you don't actually want me, so even if you did, who'd be raping who now, big boy? Hur hur!"
Confronted with this baffling lack of control over her, of course Demetrius runs away.
And Oberon, impressed by Helena's assertion of her desires to make her story go her way, helps her out. Hilarity ensues.
Thoughts?
Lit Geek Spree
Apr. 9th, 2007 02:49 pmI went on a nerdy spree today, and bought books AND magazines, of various types. I'm always proud of the variety of stuff I get, no matter whether I'm in a book store or a CD store.
From the Daily Grind, magazine store:
- Harper's - Notably for its cover story "How Shakespeare Conquered The World" and this gorgeous, heroic looking picture of The Bard in front.
- Room - feminist literary magazine. I presented a short story from one of its previous issues for class.
- Neo-Opsis - a science fiction magazine. It's fairly new: this is the 10th issue I got. It looks very shiney and feels really nice. It's got so much text that I shiver.
- Fantasy & Science Fiction - I shouldn't be buying this one, considering that I still haven't gotten through the last one I bought. I'm going to hit the the editorials first this time, I think.
- Ricepaper - The magazine for Asian-Canadians. It was really hard to find this time, because it's half the size that it used to be. It's actually a lot handier and easier to carry around, I think. I'm also guessing that it's starting to do REALLY well, because there're very few advertisements in between pages.
Then from its next door neighbour, Bookmark, pure drama:
- Aristophanes - Lysistrata, the Archanians, the Clouds
- The Plays of Oscar Wilde - Vera, the Duchess of Padua, Salome (read), Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband (read), the Importance of Being Earnest (read), La Sainte Courtisane, A Florentine Tragedy.
- August Strindberg - Miss Julie, The Father, A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata, Dance of Death
- Eugene O'Neill: Collected Shorter Plays - Bound East for Cardiff, Fog, Thirst, The Long Voyage, Home, Ile, The Moon of the Caribbees, In the Zone, the Hairy Ape, Hughie
and finally, an interesting looking one: The Power of Ignorance: The Play
The latter batch is, of course, for perusal over the summer so that 100 Years of Drama @ SMU can be better encompassed by a wide variety of works. If the new SMUDS executives don't want to use these, then that's okay, they'll go straight into my personal collection.
Yeapyeap.
From the Daily Grind, magazine store:
- Harper's - Notably for its cover story "How Shakespeare Conquered The World" and this gorgeous, heroic looking picture of The Bard in front.
- Room - feminist literary magazine. I presented a short story from one of its previous issues for class.
- Neo-Opsis - a science fiction magazine. It's fairly new: this is the 10th issue I got. It looks very shiney and feels really nice. It's got so much text that I shiver.
- Fantasy & Science Fiction - I shouldn't be buying this one, considering that I still haven't gotten through the last one I bought. I'm going to hit the the editorials first this time, I think.
- Ricepaper - The magazine for Asian-Canadians. It was really hard to find this time, because it's half the size that it used to be. It's actually a lot handier and easier to carry around, I think. I'm also guessing that it's starting to do REALLY well, because there're very few advertisements in between pages.
Then from its next door neighbour, Bookmark, pure drama:
- Aristophanes - Lysistrata, the Archanians, the Clouds
- The Plays of Oscar Wilde - Vera, the Duchess of Padua, Salome (read), Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband (read), the Importance of Being Earnest (read), La Sainte Courtisane, A Florentine Tragedy.
- August Strindberg - Miss Julie, The Father, A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata, Dance of Death
- Eugene O'Neill: Collected Shorter Plays - Bound East for Cardiff, Fog, Thirst, The Long Voyage, Home, Ile, The Moon of the Caribbees, In the Zone, the Hairy Ape, Hughie
and finally, an interesting looking one: The Power of Ignorance: The Play
The latter batch is, of course, for perusal over the summer so that 100 Years of Drama @ SMU can be better encompassed by a wide variety of works. If the new SMUDS executives don't want to use these, then that's okay, they'll go straight into my personal collection.
Yeapyeap.
So Dawn and I kinda sparked a huge discussion for Dr. McLeod to think about for the next time he has a writing class. Basically, our stories were based on pre-existing universes, although Dawn's story could be even more standalone than mine was (hers was FF IX fanfiction, mine was set in the Forgotten Realms universe). None of the workshop people understood this and I suppose I could have done better with a disclaimer, except that I'd do that on a website where it would be public, whereas the workshop seemed like a smaller group that wouldn't quibble about copyright issues. Bad idea.
I think the problem could have been solved quite easily with a disclaimer, but Dr. McLeod went off on a tangent on originality and creativity and negotiating with a pre-conceived universe. He was also shocked to learn that Chewbacca died some Star Wars novels back. I don't think I've ever found the exclaimation "CHEWBACCA DIED???" more hilarious.
It's just plain difficult in general for a workshop class like that to negotiate with any sort of genre, because one needs to have knowledge of certain genres in order to make certain judgement calls on realism and acceptability. There're conventions to be followed and while it's certainly acceptable to break them, the story as a whole has to cohere - a lot of fantasy writers either fall into the rut of writing within the conventions, most of which now consist of stock characters or dilemmas or quests, or they end up trying to break the conventions with the disastrous results of the story not making any bloody sense. (Or both.)
EITHER WAY... in the short story world at least, genre is really looked down upon whereas non-genre stuff is more exalted, possibly because non-genre is so much more accessible to more people than genre. Normally we wouldn't even have to question convention of genre because the environment we write in encourages the writing of literary fiction that has no real genre.
Dawn and I, though, quite stubbornly insist on writing within genre and our writing caused a furor because not only did we write within the conventions of a genre, we were also writing within the conventions, rules and limitations of a pre-conceived universe, and most of our classmates were not prepared to meet us in that plane of writing, so to speak (sorry, bad pun). They got really confused over whose idea is whose, and who gets credit for certain ideas.
The point of this entry is: If you're going to be taking ENGL 3316 (or whatever the code of this class is) and you're going to write within a pre-conceived universe where certain creative elements are not yours, throw in a disclaimer so no one's taken for a loop.
All said and done, I was really happy with the Forgotten Realms story I wrote and I'm going to polish it some more and send it to TSR at some point.
I think the problem could have been solved quite easily with a disclaimer, but Dr. McLeod went off on a tangent on originality and creativity and negotiating with a pre-conceived universe. He was also shocked to learn that Chewbacca died some Star Wars novels back. I don't think I've ever found the exclaimation "CHEWBACCA DIED???" more hilarious.
It's just plain difficult in general for a workshop class like that to negotiate with any sort of genre, because one needs to have knowledge of certain genres in order to make certain judgement calls on realism and acceptability. There're conventions to be followed and while it's certainly acceptable to break them, the story as a whole has to cohere - a lot of fantasy writers either fall into the rut of writing within the conventions, most of which now consist of stock characters or dilemmas or quests, or they end up trying to break the conventions with the disastrous results of the story not making any bloody sense. (Or both.)
EITHER WAY... in the short story world at least, genre is really looked down upon whereas non-genre stuff is more exalted, possibly because non-genre is so much more accessible to more people than genre. Normally we wouldn't even have to question convention of genre because the environment we write in encourages the writing of literary fiction that has no real genre.
Dawn and I, though, quite stubbornly insist on writing within genre and our writing caused a furor because not only did we write within the conventions of a genre, we were also writing within the conventions, rules and limitations of a pre-conceived universe, and most of our classmates were not prepared to meet us in that plane of writing, so to speak (sorry, bad pun). They got really confused over whose idea is whose, and who gets credit for certain ideas.
The point of this entry is: If you're going to be taking ENGL 3316 (or whatever the code of this class is) and you're going to write within a pre-conceived universe where certain creative elements are not yours, throw in a disclaimer so no one's taken for a loop.
All said and done, I was really happy with the Forgotten Realms story I wrote and I'm going to polish it some more and send it to TSR at some point.
I Am Pro-Choice
Jun. 17th, 2006 12:07 amI bought a book today: "A Difficult Decision: A compassionate Book About Abortion" by Joy Gardner. Glancing through the list of contents, I decided this was a must-have in my personal library. It's not a prepossessing book - it's shoddily binded with two messy staples and it won't fold properly. The thing looks photocopied, but it's readable in stark black text on light brown sturdy paper.
I can't seem to find a date on when this was written - there's a note on the cover which says that the entire text has been reproduced, but the content has been condensed so the page numbers are inaccurate. Mysteriously, it also says, "It is unknown if the original book is still unavailable", and the text was taken from the Florida School of Midwifery. "If you are able to copy any or all of this to pass on to people, it is encouraged. No permission was received in the first place, besides information is to be shared NOT stored."
It begins with a preface that lists down Ms. Gardner's beliefs regarding abortion, most of them fair and lacking judgement towards those who do and don't. It also clearly states that this book is also geared towards the partners of the women - men.
It moves on to consider circumstances surrounding abortion - how to make the decision? What if the woman wants to keep the baby? What are her options? What comes of adoption? And what about the men? What about their considerations, their reactions and the consequences of the abortion on them? It's sympathetic to both camps, and to many sides of the story.
This book then discusses biological ways of discerning at which stage of pregnancy a woman is in, and what methods of abortion are available for certain stages of pregnancy. It talks about pregnancy and fetal stages, about pregnancy tests, and other accompaying problems. The next chapter moves onto the spiritual aspect of pregnancy - can mothers speak to their children before they're born? When does a fetus contain a living soul? There's a little exercise which helps a woman decide what she wants to do through visualization. And of course, no discussion of spirituality can end without a discussion on the sacredness of life.
(For Wiccans, this is very similar to pathworking.)
(And life is sacred. That's why we don't bring in children into the world unless we truly revere their right to the world. We don't bring children in "just because", or because we have no choice. It must be a choice. We can choose to respect a child as a life full of possibilities, or we can choose to view a child as a burden and a responsibility to shoulder, just because it furthers the species.
If you came from ShinraOnline, you might remember Galladoorn. His daughter Madison was an accident, but he says, "she's the best accident that ever happened to me!" He married the mother and they're a beautiful, loving, godly couple.)
Gardner moves on to discuss the politics attached to abortion - no surpise there, because the issue is really fraught. Her position is that pro-life is anti-choice, while pro-choice means a woman is free to choose whether she will keep the baby or not, and she should be supported in her decision. Pro-lifers also have this insistence on abolishing abortion, but lack care for the women who DO choose to keep their babies, but don't have the resources to. That was something I had never really considered before - I knew that lack of resources was a reason for abortion (it would be one of mine), but I suppose I lack faith in society to provide me with such precious resource, to help me keep my baby. So the book's not all about abortion, but what options a woman can also consider, if she wants to keep the baby.
It may be politics, but these are morality considerations too. We as a society sometimes forget that women also choose to keep their babies as they also choose to abort. We forget single mothers need our help too, and in many places in the world, they are still shunned. It's a hard choice, isn't it? Shunned as a single mother, but denied an abortion. It's hardly a position any woman would want to be in, and as a result, many of us end up shutting down our sexuality, refusing to deal with it for fear of being in such a position.
Then there are descriptions of the procedures, what is done, what a woman may feel during those times, the risks attached. There are home remedies that induce abortion (none scientifically tested, though) - and finally, ways of dealing with the grief that accompanies an abortion.
There are cruel, callous people in the world who get abortions regularly as a form of contraception. They have no respect for the possibility of life within their wombs, seeing it as a minor inconvenience and squashing the flame as easily as flicking a switch. These women may have their reasons for believing so. If I knew someone who did that and gave me no satisfactory answer ("because I didn't want it" is not a good answer for using abortion as a contraceptive), I would tell her off in her face, and possibly spit on her.
An abortion IS an inconvenience, but for many women, it's a traumatic event - it's a death. And as with all deaths, we must grieve.
There are "case studies", more like examples of people who have had abortions and how they coped with it. And finally, a satisfactory closing of a spiritual belief, and a kindly word for those who may be going through this particular tribulation in life.
With the first twenty pages, I'm moved. I can't read this without crying. As a woman who believes in sexual freedom and liberation, these are important considerations I have to make regarding my body. What do I do to prevent having children before I'm ready? What happens if I have a child? What if I'm raped? Do I keep it? Do I have the support system required for such a responsibility? Do I have the emotional strength to go through with a pregnancy of a child that wasn't wanted?
More importantly, what are my options?
As a human being, I have the right to know what my choices are in face of adversity. What if someday, while I'm off contraceptives, I'm raped and I conceive from it? What if an accident with my partner occurs? How do I deal with an unwanted / unexpected pregnancy when I'm not ready for a child? What questions do I ask, what answers will I get?
Because we still live in a feckless society that prefers to scorn women that face this adversity instead of helping them, these are important considerations for a woman. She must know she has choices before she can take responsibility for herself, and she also has the responsibility to find out for herself her choices in all aspects of life. The people who love her also have the responsibility of helping her become educated on her choices on this issue, too. All human beings have the responsibility of helping each other out in knowing our choices in life.
I don't want to be in such a position, where I'd have to make such a decision, but in the eventuality that it happens, I can't run from it, but it's MY choice to say "Yes" or "No". Normally, I"m a cynical person and I sometimes don't care about certain things - sometimes I lack empathy because I'm so involved in what's going on in my world. If I could live like that all the time (like how so many people do), I wouldn't be at this computer crying. But I feel for these people and I understand their position.
This problem may never be mine, for all I know, but it still hits close to home, as a woman and as a person who wants to be a parent someday.
It's not that I can't help it, but I am pro-choice, and I choose to care.
It's a great book. For those in Halifax, you can get it at Venus Envy.
I can't seem to find a date on when this was written - there's a note on the cover which says that the entire text has been reproduced, but the content has been condensed so the page numbers are inaccurate. Mysteriously, it also says, "It is unknown if the original book is still unavailable", and the text was taken from the Florida School of Midwifery. "If you are able to copy any or all of this to pass on to people, it is encouraged. No permission was received in the first place, besides information is to be shared NOT stored."
It begins with a preface that lists down Ms. Gardner's beliefs regarding abortion, most of them fair and lacking judgement towards those who do and don't. It also clearly states that this book is also geared towards the partners of the women - men.
It moves on to consider circumstances surrounding abortion - how to make the decision? What if the woman wants to keep the baby? What are her options? What comes of adoption? And what about the men? What about their considerations, their reactions and the consequences of the abortion on them? It's sympathetic to both camps, and to many sides of the story.
This book then discusses biological ways of discerning at which stage of pregnancy a woman is in, and what methods of abortion are available for certain stages of pregnancy. It talks about pregnancy and fetal stages, about pregnancy tests, and other accompaying problems. The next chapter moves onto the spiritual aspect of pregnancy - can mothers speak to their children before they're born? When does a fetus contain a living soul? There's a little exercise which helps a woman decide what she wants to do through visualization. And of course, no discussion of spirituality can end without a discussion on the sacredness of life.
(For Wiccans, this is very similar to pathworking.)
(And life is sacred. That's why we don't bring in children into the world unless we truly revere their right to the world. We don't bring children in "just because", or because we have no choice. It must be a choice. We can choose to respect a child as a life full of possibilities, or we can choose to view a child as a burden and a responsibility to shoulder, just because it furthers the species.
If you came from ShinraOnline, you might remember Galladoorn. His daughter Madison was an accident, but he says, "she's the best accident that ever happened to me!" He married the mother and they're a beautiful, loving, godly couple.)
Gardner moves on to discuss the politics attached to abortion - no surpise there, because the issue is really fraught. Her position is that pro-life is anti-choice, while pro-choice means a woman is free to choose whether she will keep the baby or not, and she should be supported in her decision. Pro-lifers also have this insistence on abolishing abortion, but lack care for the women who DO choose to keep their babies, but don't have the resources to. That was something I had never really considered before - I knew that lack of resources was a reason for abortion (it would be one of mine), but I suppose I lack faith in society to provide me with such precious resource, to help me keep my baby. So the book's not all about abortion, but what options a woman can also consider, if she wants to keep the baby.
It may be politics, but these are morality considerations too. We as a society sometimes forget that women also choose to keep their babies as they also choose to abort. We forget single mothers need our help too, and in many places in the world, they are still shunned. It's a hard choice, isn't it? Shunned as a single mother, but denied an abortion. It's hardly a position any woman would want to be in, and as a result, many of us end up shutting down our sexuality, refusing to deal with it for fear of being in such a position.
Then there are descriptions of the procedures, what is done, what a woman may feel during those times, the risks attached. There are home remedies that induce abortion (none scientifically tested, though) - and finally, ways of dealing with the grief that accompanies an abortion.
There are cruel, callous people in the world who get abortions regularly as a form of contraception. They have no respect for the possibility of life within their wombs, seeing it as a minor inconvenience and squashing the flame as easily as flicking a switch. These women may have their reasons for believing so. If I knew someone who did that and gave me no satisfactory answer ("because I didn't want it" is not a good answer for using abortion as a contraceptive), I would tell her off in her face, and possibly spit on her.
An abortion IS an inconvenience, but for many women, it's a traumatic event - it's a death. And as with all deaths, we must grieve.
There are "case studies", more like examples of people who have had abortions and how they coped with it. And finally, a satisfactory closing of a spiritual belief, and a kindly word for those who may be going through this particular tribulation in life.
With the first twenty pages, I'm moved. I can't read this without crying. As a woman who believes in sexual freedom and liberation, these are important considerations I have to make regarding my body. What do I do to prevent having children before I'm ready? What happens if I have a child? What if I'm raped? Do I keep it? Do I have the support system required for such a responsibility? Do I have the emotional strength to go through with a pregnancy of a child that wasn't wanted?
More importantly, what are my options?
As a human being, I have the right to know what my choices are in face of adversity. What if someday, while I'm off contraceptives, I'm raped and I conceive from it? What if an accident with my partner occurs? How do I deal with an unwanted / unexpected pregnancy when I'm not ready for a child? What questions do I ask, what answers will I get?
Because we still live in a feckless society that prefers to scorn women that face this adversity instead of helping them, these are important considerations for a woman. She must know she has choices before she can take responsibility for herself, and she also has the responsibility to find out for herself her choices in all aspects of life. The people who love her also have the responsibility of helping her become educated on her choices on this issue, too. All human beings have the responsibility of helping each other out in knowing our choices in life.
I don't want to be in such a position, where I'd have to make such a decision, but in the eventuality that it happens, I can't run from it, but it's MY choice to say "Yes" or "No". Normally, I"m a cynical person and I sometimes don't care about certain things - sometimes I lack empathy because I'm so involved in what's going on in my world. If I could live like that all the time (like how so many people do), I wouldn't be at this computer crying. But I feel for these people and I understand their position.
This problem may never be mine, for all I know, but it still hits close to home, as a woman and as a person who wants to be a parent someday.
It's not that I can't help it, but I am pro-choice, and I choose to care.
It's a great book. For those in Halifax, you can get it at Venus Envy.
Reading List
May. 7th, 2006 12:32 pmI don't know, so many cool friends seem to have a reading list, and I thought I'd share mine too.
I went over to Venus Envy yesterday for its 8th birthday after the Farmer's Market (I got myself daffodils!) and bought myself two books.
So, here are books I have but haven't read yet and should read:
- Essential Sufism (Fadiman & Frager) - Working on this one right now.
- Solitary Wicca for Life (Murhpy-Hiscock)
- Tartuffe (MOliere - why I haven't read this yet, considering it's been a year in my possession, is a mystery)
- The Broken Wings (Khalil Gibran)
- The Soul of Man (Oscar Wilde)
- Beyond Power (Marilyn French, this seems to be a leading feminist text)*
- Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out
- Children of the Waters (Ibtihal Salem)
- Unthinking Eurocentrism
- How to Write a Dirty Story (Susie Bright)*
* These books were what I bought from Venus Envy. I was tempted to throw a novelty vibrator in (it was in the shape of a lipstick!!) but decided against it, since I wouldn't really use it all that much.
Here are books I don't have but want to read:
- Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie)
- Origins of Family, Private Property & State (Friedrich Engels)
- No Exit (Sartre)
- Oscar Wilde & The Poetics of Ambiguity (Gillespie)*
- From Eve to Dawn (Marilyn French - I saw this book yesterday but what I didn't get it, is also a mystery)
- Beyond the Veil (Fatima Mernissi)*
* These books had actually been borrowed from local libraries but because they weren't pertinent to my research, I had to return them.
Okay, I'm pretty tired today since I was awake till 4am reading Johanna Lindsey's new novel Marriage Most Scandalous. I swear, that woman grows better with her mystery twists novel after novel. But because of the 4am sleeptime, I would really like to go take my new laptop out for a spin in the sun and can't because I am so dang tired.
I went over to Venus Envy yesterday for its 8th birthday after the Farmer's Market (I got myself daffodils!) and bought myself two books.
So, here are books I have but haven't read yet and should read:
- Essential Sufism (Fadiman & Frager) - Working on this one right now.
- Solitary Wicca for Life (Murhpy-Hiscock)
- Tartuffe (MOliere - why I haven't read this yet, considering it's been a year in my possession, is a mystery)
- The Broken Wings (Khalil Gibran)
- The Soul of Man (Oscar Wilde)
- Beyond Power (Marilyn French, this seems to be a leading feminist text)*
- Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out
- Children of the Waters (Ibtihal Salem)
- Unthinking Eurocentrism
- How to Write a Dirty Story (Susie Bright)*
* These books were what I bought from Venus Envy. I was tempted to throw a novelty vibrator in (it was in the shape of a lipstick!!) but decided against it, since I wouldn't really use it all that much.
Here are books I don't have but want to read:
- Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie)
- Origins of Family, Private Property & State (Friedrich Engels)
- No Exit (Sartre)
- Oscar Wilde & The Poetics of Ambiguity (Gillespie)*
- From Eve to Dawn (Marilyn French - I saw this book yesterday but what I didn't get it, is also a mystery)
- Beyond the Veil (Fatima Mernissi)*
* These books had actually been borrowed from local libraries but because they weren't pertinent to my research, I had to return them.
Okay, I'm pretty tired today since I was awake till 4am reading Johanna Lindsey's new novel Marriage Most Scandalous. I swear, that woman grows better with her mystery twists novel after novel. But because of the 4am sleeptime, I would really like to go take my new laptop out for a spin in the sun and can't because I am so dang tired.
