Female supervisors, "feminine" men, & non-hets most likely to be sexually harassed at work

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Ampersand

From Signs of the Times:

Women who hold supervisory positions are more likely to be sexually harassed at work, according to the first-ever, large-scale longitudinal study to examine workplace power, gender and sexual harassment.

The study, “A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender, Power and Sexual Harassment in Young Adulthood,” reveals that nearly fifty percent of women supervisors, but only one-third of women who do not supervise others, reported sexual harassment in the workplace. In more conservative models with stringent statistical controls, women supervisors were 137 percent more likely to be sexually harassed than women who did not hold managerial roles.

While supervisory status increased the likelihood of harassment among women, it did not significantly impact the likelihood for men.

“This study provides the strongest evidence to date supporting the theory that sexual harassment is less about sexual desire than about control and domination,”said Heather McLaughlin, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota and the study’s primary investigator. “Male co-workers, clients and supervisors seem to be using harassment as an equalizer against women in power.”

McLaughlin and her co-authors examined data from the 2003 and 2004 waves of the Youth Development Study (YDS), a prospective study of adolescents that began in 1988 with a sample of 1,010 ninth graders in the St. Paul, Minnesota, public school district and has continued near annually since. Respondents were approximately 29 and 30 years old during the 2003 and 2004 waves. The analysis was supplemented with in-depth interviews with a subset of the YDS survey respondents.

The sociologists found that, in addition to workplace power, gender expression was a strong predictor of workplace harassment. Men who reported higher levels of femininity were more likely to have experienced harassment than less feminine men. More feminine men were at a greater risk of experiencing more severe or multiple forms of sexual harassment (as were female supervisors).

In a separate analysis examining perceived and self-reported sexual orientation, study respondents who reported being labeled as non-heterosexual by others or who self-identified as non-heterosexual (gay, lesbian, bisexual, unsure, other) were nearly twice as likely to experience harassment.

Researchers also found that those who reported harassment in the first year (2003) were 6.5 times more likely to experience harassment in the following year. The most common scenario reported by survey respondents involved male harassers and female targets, while males harassing other males was the second most frequent situation.

Via Hunter of Justice.

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer issues, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues, Sexism hurts men | 30 Comments

Mandolin's story "A Monkey Will Never Be Rid Of Its Black Hands" has been podcast

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Ampersand

Mandolin’s short story “A Monkey Will Never Be Rid Of It’s Black Hands,” previously mentioned on “Alas” when it was honored by storySouth, has now been podcasted by Escape Pod.

Mandolin has said this is her favorite of her own stories, so it’s very worth checking out. (Although I should perhaps warn folks that this is a very harsh story, and includes effects of war mutilations).

For those of you who prefer to receive stories through your eyes, the text of the story is available here.

Posted in About the Bloggers, Mandolin's fiction & poems | 3 Comments

Texas Executed An Innocent Man

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Ampersand

Strictly speaking, you can’t prove that Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent. All we can say is that there’s absolutely no plausible evidence that he set his house on fire and burned his three kids to death.

But the fire investigation team put a case together that would persuade a jury, and everyone around Willingham — his neighbors, the witnesses, even eventually his ex-wife — became convinced he was guilty. Without any conscious lying, or so I assume, people’s memories were recreated in a way that made Willingham seem guilty.

A strength of David Grann’s fascinating New Yorker article is that he does show how the case for arson was persuasive:

[Fogg] was soon joined on the case by one of the state’s leading arson sleuths, a deputy fire marshal named Manuel Vasquez, who has since died. Short, with a paunch, Vasquez had investigated more than twelve hundred fires. […] Vasquez, who had previously worked in Army intelligence, had several maxims of his own. One was “Fire does not destroy evidence—it creates it.”[…]

As he and Fogg removed some of the clutter, they noticed deep charring along the base of the walls. Because gases become buoyant when heated, flames ordinarily burn upward. But Vasquez and Fogg observed that the fire had burned extremely low down, and that there were peculiar char patterns on the floor, shaped like puddles.

Vasquez’s mood darkened. He followed the “burn trailer”—the path etched by the fire—which led from the hallway into the children’s bedroom. Sunlight filtering through the broken windows illuminated more of the irregularly shaped char patterns. A flammable or combustible liquid doused on a floor will cause a fire to concentrate in these kinds of pockets, which is why investigators refer to them as “pour patterns” or “puddle configurations.”

The fire had burned through layers of carpeting and tile and plywood flooring. Moreover, the metal springs under the children’s beds had turned white—a sign that intense heat had radiated beneath them. Seeing that the floor had some of the deepest burns, Vasquez deduced that it had been hotter than the ceiling, which, given that heat rises, was, in his words, “not normal.”

Perception is everything. Vasquez and Fogg perceived themselves as smart, experienced investigators applying real knowledge of how fires worked. And once they had convinced the cops, everyone else began perceiving Willingham as guilty, as well. Memories were rebuilt and altered to conform to the new consensus:

In Diane Barbee’s initial statement to authorities, she had portrayed Willingham as “hysterical,” and described the front of the house exploding. But on January 4th, after arson investigators began suspecting Willingham of murder, Barbee suggested that he could have gone back inside to rescue his children, for at the outset she had seen only “smoke coming from out of the front of the house”—smoke that was not “real thick.”

An even starker shift occurred with Father Monaghan’s testimony. In his first statement, he had depicted Willingham as a devastated father who had to be repeatedly restrained from risking his life. Yet, as investigators were preparing to arrest Willingham, he concluded that Willingham had been too emotional (“He seemed to have the type of distress that a woman who had given birth would have upon seeing her children die”); and he expressed a “gut feeling” that Willingham had “something to do with the setting of the fire.”

And, of course, a jailhouse informant told the cops that Willingham had confessed the crime to him. Jailhouse informants are involved in a huge proportion of the false convictions I’ve read about; they’re notoriously dishonest, but that doesn’t keep prosecutors from using them.

When I recently asked Webb, who was released from prison two years ago, about the turnabout and why Willingham would have confessed to a virtual stranger, he said that he knew only what “the dude told me.” After I pressed him, he said, “It’s very possible I misunderstood what he said.” Since the trial, Webb has been given an additional diagnosis, bipolar disorder. “Being locked up in that little cell makes you kind of crazy,” he said. “My memory is in bits and pieces. I was on a lot of medication at the time. Everyone knew that.” He paused, then said, “The statute of limitations has run out on perjury, hasn’t it?”

And that was the case against Willingham.

But it turns out, a lot of the things experienced arson investigators believe are nonsense; it’s a nice theory backed up with some common sense, but it’s contradicted by scientific experiments. It’s intuitive to think that puddle patterns on the floor prove that someone poured flammable liquid on the floor to set the fire. It makes sense. But it’s not true. Grann describes an experimental fire set by arson investigators:

After the fire was extinguished, the investigators inspected the hallway and living room. On the floor were irregularly shaped burn patterns that perfectly resembled pour patterns and puddle configurations. It turned out that these classic signs of arson can also appear on their own…

All the other evidence of arson turned out to be based on myths about how fire behaves — myths that arson investigators probably honestly believed were science.

For me, the blame for Cameron Todd Willingham’s execution lie with the Texas parole board, and with then-governor Rick Perry.

The vote was unanimous. Reaves could not offer an explanation: the board deliberates in secret, and its members are not bound by any specific criteria. The board members did not even have to review Willingham’s materials, and usually don’t debate a case in person; rather, they cast their votes by fax—a process that has become known as “death by fax.” Between 1976 and 2004, when Willingham filed his petition, the State of Texas had approved only one application for clemency from a prisoner on death row. A Texas appellate judge has called the clemency system “a legal fiction.” Reaves said of the board members, “They never asked me to attend a hearing or answer any questions.”

The Innocence Project obtained, through the Freedom of Information Act, all the records from the governor’s office and the board pertaining to Hurst’s report. “The documents show that they received the report, but neither office has any record of anyone acknowledging it, taking note of its significance, responding to it, or calling any attention to it within the government,” Barry Scheck said. “The only reasonable conclusion is that the governor’s office and the Board of Pardons and Paroles ignored scientific evidence.”

But I also blame the voters, who find this system acceptable, and if anything seem to prefer it. Not that they want innocent people put to death, exactly. But they want a system that executes people surely, and without any namby-pamby concerns about new evidence or due process. They don’t want to elect anyone who seems “soft on crime,” and in practice softness on crime means questioning the death penalty, or its application, in any way at all.

Nothing in the system would reward a governor for appointing a board who carefully considers claims of innocence. Nothing in the system would reward a prosecutor who declined to use jailhouse snitches. And nothing in the system would reward a prosecutor, or a police chief, who declined to use arson investigators who don’t actually have any scientific basis for their beliefs about evidence and arson.

Nothing in our system will in any way punish a single one of the many officials who made the decisions that led to an almost certainly innocent man’s execution.

Cameron Todd Willingham wasn’t a saint; he beat his wife, among other crimes. But there’s no reason to believe he set a fire to burn his children to death. And he was executed. There’s something wrong with that. But I doubt it’ll ever be fixed.

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police | 15 Comments

The Bechdel Test and Race in Popular Fiction

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Alaya Dawn Johnson

the-bechdel-test-and-race-in-popular-fiction

It occurred to me, after reading this excellent post on women in fiction and the Bechdel Test, that perhaps you could construct one to address issues of POC and race. The analog seemed obvious, so I just wrote  it out.

1. It has to have two POC in it.

2. Who talk to each other.

3. About something other than a white person.

Now, you see the obvious issue there, right? Yeah, it has to do with number one.

Even in stories that feature prominent POC characters, it is so rare to find more than one present, let alone who know each other well enough to talk to each other, that I came up short on television shows or popular novels that even come close to meeting it.

Obviously, “urban lit” and other books that feature a mostly POC cast will pass this easily. But these books are so well segregated from the rest of mainstream fiction (see: the African American section of your local bookstore) that I wonder how best to include them in the discussion.

So, to make this easier to discuss, I’m going to limit myself to works of fiction or visual media in the science fiction/fantasy genres, since that’s what I read.

So, back to the POC!Bechdel test.

I’m going to list the television shows I can think that pass this test.

– Battlestar Galactica : Dee and Geta had a great friendship that lasted pretty much the whole show. Also, there was the priestess from the planet of black fundamentalists, but I’m pretty sure she was only around to lead the dying white woman to her destiny.

– True Blood: I’m not sure that Lafayette and Tara have a conversation that isn’t about Sookie or Jason, but Tara does argue a lot with her mother. And also with the witch woman about the “devils” inside her.

…

Okay, sorry, drawing a blank here. No Joss Whedon show passes (ha!). Supernatural doesn’t (unless you count “Route 666” a/k/a the racist monster truck episode…which I don’t). Being Human: nope. None of the Star Treks I’m familiar with do, though I’m not close to enough of a Trekkie to be sure of this.

Other shows that do, though they’re not in the SF/F genres (that experiment sure ended quickly!)

– Grey’s Anatomy: frankly, the ease with which this show passes both the Bechdel test and my POC version of it makes me wish that it were, well, a better show. Which is not to say that the first few seasons didn’t have their charms and some snappy writing, but these days it’s just so…lugubrious and self-absorbed.

– Veronica Mars. This show had Wallace, one of the most awesome black characters on TV (until the third season ruined him, at least). It also has Weevil, who was Hispanic, and they definitely had conversations. Unfortunately, they were all about Veronica. However, it passes because Wallace has conversations with both his mom and dad (and, later, with Jackie). Weirdly enough, Veronica Mars has a way harder time passing the actual Bechdel test. I don’t think an honest f/f conversation (not about men) occurs until Mac becomes a recurring character in the second season.

I’m sure there are others. You should let me know about them in the comments!

As for fiction, there must be significantly more in the genre that passes this test. All of Octavia Butler’s work easily passes it. Liar by Justine Larbalestier (now with a much better cover!) passes it a dozen times over (along with every other novel she’s published).

However, I’ll say that when a novel is written in close third or first from the POV of someone who is not a person of color, that makes it extremely difficult to fulfill the second and third criteria of the test, since by necessity the main character  will need to be present in all conversations (or, at least, overhearing them). So, the Bechdel test (either version) is hardly a failsafe arbiter of works that are sexist or racist. It’s just a baseline, and something that can reveal problematic trends. Like the fact that I can only think of two genre television shows that meet this incredibly low bar.

So, something to think about. And in the meantime, Bechdel test (either version) your favorite creative works and see how they fare.

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The Bechdel Test and Race in Popular Fiction

Posted in Syndicated feeds | 79 Comments

"My Healthcare Has Already Been Rationed"

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Ampersand

[My sincere thanks to Virginia Frederick for her permission to reprint this letter on “Alas.” –Amp]

Dear Senator Hutchinson.

I am one of your Texas constituents that is “under-insured” and I want to speak to you about health Care.

I never thought I would be a statistic in this predicament—my husband was a corporate soldier all his working life and we had great health insurance provided by our companies. But then my husband got Leukemia. He couldn’t work and Cobra soon ended. Ironically he survived a bone marrow transplant and is now doing incredibly well—and he has health insurance. His health insurance comes through Medicare–it is a great program.

But I am not eligible for Medicare—I have 7 years to go. I was offered a job in the local school 3 years ago—but had to turn it down when my husband’s condition took a turn and I had to become his full-time caregiver. Now they don’t even respond to my applications—and I am sure I don’t have to tell you about the job market for 58 year olds. So I have to get individual health insurance.

I am not stupid—I have too much to lose if I have to go bankrupt–so I do have a high deductible HSA. But I learned a lot in the process of getting that policy. You see I had had a sports injury the year before we moved to Texas—plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of connective tissue in the foot caused when I tried to learn skate-skiing.

What I found out was this:

  • The laws that govern pre-existing conditions in group policies do not apply to individual policies
  • Insurance companies can and will deny any coverage if they choose to
  • They can and do exclude coverage for certain conditions for as many years as they want

As a result: I do have a policy but it will not cover any foot injury I might have for 5 or more years from the day of policy inception.

The GOOD NEWS IS: I don’t do much skate-skiing in Texas.

The other “GOOD NEWS” is: I LEARNED that I can’t let the insurance company know if I have any warning signs of anything that may develop into something more serious—in fact, I can’t know if I have any warning signs. If I did—and I had to change policies for any reason—those conditions would not be covered. So:

  • I can not and will not get my cholesterol checked
  • I can not and will not get a mammogram—even though my mother died of breast cancer
  • I can not and will not get a pap smear—even though my grandmother died of uterine cancer
  • I cannot and will not get tested for osteoporosis

MY HEALTHCARE HAS ALREADY BEEN RATIONED. It is a fact and I have sent a copy of my policy rider to prove it. American healthcare is already rationed: rationed by corporate profit motives. My story is not nearly as dramatic as so many others who have lost or been denied insurance coverage—but it proves to me that there must be a better way to access health care than the insurance companies have provided.

On July 10th you wrote: “Health Care Reform Needs the Right Solution, Not a Politically Expedient One.” I agree. Please be part of the solution by working for health care reform.

Sincerely,

Virginia L Frederick

Posted in Health Care and Related Issues | 22 Comments

Crazy for Cryin’, I’m Crazy for Tryin’…

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Jeff Fecke

Generally speaking, I try to avoid using the word crazy to mean “bizarrely wrong.” It wasn’t always so, but after years of online discussions with people smarter than I am, I’ve come to the conclusion that that usage of the word reinforces negative stereotypes about people suffering from mental health issues. As a person who suffers from my own share of mental health issues (depression and ADHD, plus a grab-bag assortment of behavioral issues related to those two), I should be the last person perpetuating the myth that being mentally ill is a moral failing. Being mentally ill is like having cancer — it’s probably not your fault, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Unlike, say, hoping God smites Barack Obama with brain cancer and sends him to Hell. In earlier years, I might have called Pastor Steven Anderson crazy. But he isn’t crazy. Just evil.

But while I have decided that I’m not going to use crazy to mean evil, I still intend to use crazy when I mean to describe someone as, well, crazy. After all, some people are crazy.

Take Michele Bachmann. Please. Because Rep. Bachmann, R-We There Yet, is crazy.

I don’t mean she holds a lot of bizarre right-wing views, though she most certainly does. But holding bizarre right-wing views doesn’t make one crazy. That falls more into the “evil” category, and I’m only too happy to talk about them as such.

No, I mean Michele Bachmann is crazy. She has serious, deap-seated, untreated mental health issues that are deeply affecting her ability to carry out her job.

Last night’s speech in Colorado is a fine example. Bachmann, as could be expected, spoke out against health care, using rather typical Republican rhetoric:

“Something is way crazy out there,” Bachmann said in her remarks, billed as a “personal legislative briefing” by the Golden-based Independence Institute, which bills itself as a “free market think tank.”

“This is slavery,” Bachmann said after claiming many Americans pay half their income to taxes. “It’s nothing more than slavery.”

In a speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric, Bachmann — who proudly acknowledges she is the country’s “second-most hated Republican woman,” behind only former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – drew a clear line on health care reform.

“You’re either for us or against us on this issue,” she said after deriding U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, a Fort Collins Democrat, for “[sitting] on the fence” about health care proposals at recent town halls.

Okay, well, that’s overheated and over-the-top. But it isn’t crazy. Sadly, it’s only slightly to the right of mainstream, right-wing discourse on health care these days.

No, crazy is this:

“This cannot pass,” the Minnesota Republican told a crowd at a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”

That’s crazy. As in completely disconnected from reality crazy.

Now, I don’t know if Michele Bachmann meant to call for mass suicide to stop health care reform; I frankly don’t know what exactly she was trying to say. I do know that, from calling on Americans to rise up against tyrrany to declaring that health care reform will be defeated “on our knees in prayer and fasting,” Bachmann is reaching new, messianic heights in her rhetoric, and slipping the surly bonds of sanity in the process.

I mean this sincerely: I believe Michele Bachmann is mentally ill. She’s certainly demonstrated a strong paranoid streak, including this charming anecdote from her time as a state senator:

Bachmann said both women stood in front of the bathroom door and then one woman put her hand on top of the door and her other hand on the door handle and leaned her body weight toward the door to hold it shut. The other woman put her hand on the door as well. … [Bachmann said she] was absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her.

These were not just women, of course, but lesbian women. (The complaint was dropped, as there was no evidence anybody had done anything but talk to Bachmann.)

And of course, who could forget this classic:

Michele Bachmann has a mean streak.

On May 6, 2006, the day she was endorsed by the Sixth District Republican Party for the nomination to become a U.S. Representative, she threatened to retaliate against a woman who had opposed her nomination.

“You will pay, you will pay,” Bachmann said to the woman in front of a dozen or more witnesses. The woman grew increasingly upset at the non-specific threat and demanded to know how Bachmann was going to make her pay. She didn’t get an answer. But Bachmann, continued to repeat “you will pay” until the woman was led away from the incident, in tears, by her husband.

I witnessed the confrontation myself. It was in the lobby of Monticello High School, just outside the auditorium where the delegates were in the process of endorsing Bachmann.

Quite simply, Michele Bachmann is not sane. She’s able to function in society because her insanity has been channeled into service to conservative politics, but that doesn’t mean that she’s well.

Unfortunately, rather than living in a society where this sort of behavior would lead to one’s loved ones suggesting counseling, and perhaps a psychopharmacological agent, Bachmann lives in a society where Republican politicians claim with a straight face that a provision in a health care plan to give people control over end-of-life decisions will lead inexorably to death panels. Yes, most of the Republicans know they’re lying. But Bachmann doesn’t. She believes it, with the white-hot fervor of a true believer.

I am concerned about where Bachmann is heading. She has come awfully close to calling directly for violence against Democrats, and I have a feeling that at some point, she will. Not out of malice, exactly — but because she doesn’t really seem to understand that her words have consequences. I’d pity her, except she’s got a say in how the country runs.

Ultimately, I don’t wish ill on Michele Bachmann. I’d like to see her get help, and get stable, and heck, maybe even become an effective legislator. But until she does, her behavior and her words will get more and more bizarre. And there will be at least one politician in America who I can say, without judgment or anger, is crazy. Oh, she’s evil, too. But that’s something separate entirely.

Posted in Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Health Care and Related Issues | 11 Comments

Government Run Healthcare….A Scary Story

Posted on August 31, 2009 by karnythia

government-run-healthcare-a-scary-story

So I went to VA1 this morning. Now I had no appointment (my pain only became unmanageable in the last week) so I had to go through the walk-in clinic. My preferred clinic is Women Health and their walk in hours are only on Mondays and Thursdays so when I got there at 11:20 today I was totally prepared to wait. And I did. For about 25 minutes. I spent the time explaining computers to a very nice fellow vet with a brand new Gateway and no clue how to use it. Eventually a nurse came to get me. She checked my vitals, asked for my primary complaint, and asked all the standard questions about the rest of my health. I explained my problem and she got me set up with the Nurse Practitioner. She kept me waiting for a few more minutes while she read through my electronic medical records and familiarized herself with my case.

There was some more discussion of my complaint and an exam and then the NP set me up with a laundry list of appointments (a full physical, my next mammogram, physical therapy, podiatry, and an orthopedic consult) and I did spend some time in there getting a lecture on my lifestyle and my arthritis. Because she wanted to impress upon me that my condition is progressive and my tendency to overwork myself is a bad idea. Those of you picturing a frustrated medical professional contemplating hitting me with a hammer? That picture is pretty close to correct. Bonus points if you imagined me edging toward the door blathering about the errands I needed to run. She finished her lecture and prescribed me a drug with a name like a Transformer before sending me downstairs to make sure that my prescription coverage eligibility was in the system.

I stopped at the pharmacy to get a number before I went to the eligibility desk. That took longer than expected (20 minutes) so by the time I got back to the pharmacy I had to get a new number. There was some more waiting to get my med consult (they explain the dosage instructions and all the possible side effects to you) and get my actual meds. At 1:30 I was on my way. My appointment list is pretty long because I haven’t been seen in over a year, but that’s my fault since I generally don’t go to the doctor unless I’m sick. Now I’m home again, I’ve taken the medication and for the first time in several days I am feeling no pain. Total cost? 0 dollars. That was government run healthcare from start to finish. If I wasn’t eligible for the prescription coverage? My medication would have been $8 for a 90 day supply.

If you’re thinking that I earned this because I was in the Army? Nice sentiment, but completely and totally ridiculous. I paid taxes before I was ever in the Army, and really no one should have to spend days in pain with no hope of affording treatment. Now, near as I can tell the medicine I was prescribed runs right around $1 per pill for a 90 day supply. Not insanely expensive, but not cheap either. And I’m sure there are people out there with osteoarthritis that are struggling to afford the pills, never mind trips to a podiatrist, physical therapy, or consulting with a orthopedic specialist. I want people in pain to have access to the exact same treatment I enjoyed today. My tax dollars are in the same pool as everyone else’s and if I can benefit from yours? I want you to benefit from mine.

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Government Run Healthcare….A Scary Story

Footnotes

  1. Veterans Affairs Hospital. I am a service connected disabled veteran of the US Army and as such I am entitled to healthcare through this government agency. This is a good thing because most private insurance won’t touch me. I have the dreaded pre-existing condition of osteoarthritis along with some other chronic health issues
Posted in Syndicated feeds | 74 Comments

Gatefail! I knew this was coming

Posted on August 31, 2009 by the angry black woman

gatefail-i-knew-this-was-coming

I don’t know how I missed this, but HardcoreNerdity has a wonderful (and long) post summing up Gatefail 2009. For those unaware, there have been some shady and problematic things afoot in the not-yet-aired new Stargate show Stargate: Universe. This particular fail combines several issues: disability, sexual orientation, rape. Ugh.

I can’t say I’m surprised. Ever since I started to notice the creepy racism in the Stargate shows and stopped watching, every new revelation or incident just confirms that I was right to walk away when I did. I don’t trust the producers of that show one iota. They’ve repeatedly shown themselves to be some of the biggest insensitive wankers in SF television.

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Gatefail! I knew this was coming

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Short Fiction by Writers of Color (August)

Posted on August 31, 2009 by the angry black woman

short-fiction-by-writers-of-color-august

This month’s list is very short, which makes me think I must be missing some stories. So if you’re a person of color and had a speculative fiction story published in August, please say so in comments. Also, please list your story on the Carl Brandon wiki (where everyone can go to see stories by POC pubbed in 2009 and in 2008). If you’ve got a story coming out in September or after that, please go to this form and let me know. It’s quick and easy — editors are welcome to fill it out as well!

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Short Fiction by Writers of Color (August)

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Shakesville on Ted Kennedy

Posted on August 30, 2009 by the angry black woman

shakesville-on-ted-kennedy

Senator Edward Kennedy was a tough guy. He was smart, tenacious, opinionated, strong in body, mind, and spirit. And I think because he was such a tough guy, he won’t mind if I don’t share my real and uncensored thoughts on the occasion of his passing.

Teddy, as he was known, was privileged, in every sense of the word. And he made liberal use of his privilege, in ways I admired and ways I did not. The terrible bargain we all seem to have made with Teddy is that we overlooked the occasions when he invoked his privilege as a powerful and well-connected man from a prominent family, because of the career he made using that same privilege to try to make the world a better place for the people dealt a different lot.

Twice, Teddy did despicable things with his privilege, very publicly.

Read the rest

Also: co-signed.

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Shakesville on Ted Kennedy

Posted in Syndicated feeds | 6 Comments