a legacy of languages, poems, histories

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We own a legacy of languages, poems, histories, and it is not one that will ever be exhausted. It is there, always.

We have a bequest of stories, tales from the old storytellers, some of whose names we know, but some not. The storytellers go back and back, to a clearing in the forest where a great fire burns, and the old shamans dance and sing, for our heritage of stories began in fire, magic, the spirit world. And that is where it is held, today.

Ask any modern storyteller, and they will say there is always a moment when they are touched with fire, with what we like to call inspiration and this goes back and back to the beginning of our race, fire, ice and the great winds that shaped us and our world.

Nobel Lecture, Dorris Lessing, December 7, 2007

I can’t overstate the influence Dorris Lessing has had on how I see the world. There were days, even weeks, at several points in my life when I was simply possessed by her language and ideas. There was the Golden Notebook, of course, but also the Four Gated City. There are the series of science fiction novels, Canopus in Argos: Archives, then the Diary of Jane Somers,and The Good Terrorist. I didn’t read half of the dozens of things she wrote, I could never keep up. She is always years ahead of all of us.

Posted in: Autobiographical, Economics, Language, Online Places, War, Writing

What is the Story of Stuff?

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From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

by The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

It often feels a little bit like a well done geography film, but that may just be because it is not pitched to my demographic. In any case, it’s an effective way to speak ‘consumer to consumer’ about the production processes of U.S. capitalism. I particularly like the way the site and video is organized around the ‘material economy’: Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, and Disposal.

The problem, as always, is that consumption cannot fix consumption. You can counter capitalist marketing with green marketing but the effect is necessarily limited. In the end, you have to reconsider property. If your cell phone ends up in the dump, pouring toxic chemicals into the soil and then eventually the water, that’s not your problem, it’s everyone’s problem. There’s nothing private in that sort of property.

The limits of the approach are clearest when it comes to the list of organizations included on both the resources page and the “Another Way” call to action. The resources list is remarkable mostly becuase it’s easy to forget how many advocate groups exist. It’s an interesting exercise, too, to group them according to the ‘material economy.’ model. Groups working to protect the Amazon are under extraction, for example; groups working on foods issues under consumption.

What’s missing, of course, is a direct critical challenge to assumptions about property. A different idea of property, for example, might demand cradle to grave responsibility for certain particularly hazardous products. A car, for example, is full of all sorts of materials that should never be allowed in the dump. There are also no unions on the list, and no challenge to the work day, which is, after all, the very heart of the consumer economy.

Posted in: Economics, Online Places, Union, Writing

Save Heroes

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We need to write a detailed critique of the plot, character, race and gender elements of Heroes. We need to have one place where the producers and writers of Heroes can come and find what fandom has to say on these issues.

That’s the purpose of this website. We don’t need to Save Heroes from cancellation or network misuse, we need to Save Heroes from itself. Because it’s not a lost cause. It’s still capable of being the amazing show it was in season one. No, it’s capable of being even better.

How can you help Save Heroes? Easy. Just give your opinion on the Plot and Characters or Race and Gender issues in the show. We’re inviting all fans to contribute to a collaborative document in which we provide constructive, respectful criticism of the current season. Whether you offer your original thoughts or point to existing posts on the Internet, all ideas are welcome. Once we have enough contributions to create a coherent document, we’ll put it together in total and digitally sign it.

from Save Heroes, A Collaborative Fan Effort to Save a Great Show

I enjoy reading The Angry Black Women and I was happy to see this post, in which she announces the launching of her Save Heroes project. There seem to be two main motivations. First, the show has simply gotten worse this season. I could not agree more and apparently even the creator, Tim Kring, thinks they made some serious mistakes.

More interesting is the attempt to create a collaborative analysis of the show’s portrayal of race, and gender in U.S. culture and to offer progressive alternatives. There’s sections on plot, character, race and gender, and a timeline. Since the writers are on strike, SH notes, they “can’t create any new Heroes scripts. That makes this the perfect time to present them with our thoughts, so they can keep them in mind moving forward.”

It seems to be working, at least in terms of collecting interesting comments. At this point the gender commentary is focusing on the array of passive girlfriends and women ‘who can’t control their powers.’ In the race commentary, one reader provides statistics illustrating the various biases of the show. There are 27 total characters, 10 women and 17 men; 13 are non-white (Black: 7 (26%), Latino: 5 (19%), biracial: 1 (4%)) and 14 white (52%).

It will be fascinating to see if they succeed at helping to create a show that is both progressive and fun. I think one of the strengths of the show, especially in the first season, was that it had so many types of characters. The criticism, of course, is that the many types tended to fall into predictable stereotypes. There is nothing in the idea of the show that would make that necessary, of course. It’s unfortunate they can’t hire Octavia Butler as a writer and consultant.

Posted in: Miscellaneous, Online Places, Writing