12.05.2011

More great work by the NAACP LDF (and my incredible friend nk): "The findings of our research are gathered in this report, Defending Democrary: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America. The report reveals direct connections between the trend of increasing, unprecedented turnout among voters of color and the proliferation of restrictive measures across the country designed to thwart electoral strength among people of color—particularly those who are poor, young, or elderly."

Left: I just started reading "Blankets" by Craig Thompson. I was intimidated by it's size (over 500 pages!) but it is very absorbing. I would almost say it's a "quick" or "easy" read, but neither of these are quite true, since it's often (and pretty much immediately) heartbreaking, with powerful images and tales of an abusive childhood, religion, and first love.

I recently began listening to "Lost and Found: Unexpected Revelations About Food and Money" by Geneen Roth. As with "Women Food God," I found Geneen Roth's voice pretty grating, but the content worth sticking it out for. With this book, Roth explores the the same connections between money & worth, control, mortality that she has previously explored with food. There are definitely a lot of moments of "I don't feel sorry for you, you're rich" and "Ugh, please stop talking about those glasses that you so badly want" - but then I realized a lot of the things she's saying are the same things I get sick of hearing in my very own head. Is listening to the truth of our unhealthy attachment to money and acquisition (and it's sometimes inexplicable relationship to food) enjoyable? Nope, but neither is living with it.

Also reading: "The Impossible Dead" by Ian Rankin (always gotta have a mystery), and "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann.

Looking forward to listening to this (they do a great job of filming the talks to make them available online: Zinn Lectures: Immigration and Occupy: Aviva Chomsky, a history professor at Salem State University will be giving a talk on Wed. Dec 7 at 5pm at Occupy Boston. She will be discussing Immigration and Occupy.

5 comments:

Jen said...

"Let the Great World Spin" is my most favorite book. It is my go to book to give as a gift.

Anonymous said...

Once you're done reading Blankets, definitely, DEFINITELY, read his latest book, Habibi. So good, and so heartbreaking!

NK said...

Wow, thank you!

allison said...

Blankets was one of the first graphic novels I ever read, and it totally won over my heart. An amazing read!

Shorty said...

Yes! I've heard a lot about Habibi (not all of it good - I've definitely seen some critiques regarding perceived sexism and racism (or maybe more specifically orientalism?)), but I will for sure check it out.

"Blankets" is a heartbreaker for sure! But I keep thinking about it and looking forward to reading more...