Hey there, dear writers. Here’s another 2-minute episode hosted over at Vimeo. (I am still exploring why my own website can’t seem to host these.) This one is on one of my favorite subjects. If you hang around me too much you know I talk about it all the time.
This morning, over my usual breakfast of blueberry gluten-free pancakes and espresso, I sat down for a split second to write about something that would have depressed you to read. (It has to do with violence in Haiti.) Anyways, my body hurts a little today, so I need to wait to write on violence until another day. (The Haiti story is important; I will try to get to it tomorrow.)
So, that said, you are getting a happy post because I need to write on something happy.
A few months back, my absolutely beloved friend Lisa Fann sent me this fabulous New Yorker article about teenage fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson. I promptly found Tavi’s extraordinary blog, which she began at 11 years of age.
The more I perused Tavi’s blog, I had a growing suspicion she was one fine and evolving feminist thinker, who was unafraid of asking important questions on the portrayal of gender. For instance, read her analysis of recent images of Britney Spears. Read more »
I am starting a new video series for my blog! People, it’s really nothing short of a miracle that I am learning to do all these techy things.
My series is called “Two-Minute Tea Time for Writers,” and I hope to start posting a few a week, gradually mastering the bells and whistles of iMovie as I go. At the moment, my first video is stored over at Vimeo, but pretty soon I will be able to host them on my own website. Check it out! You might need to push the “embed” button on Vimeo to make the video run without stalling.
And write me at kimberlybgeorge AT gmail.com if you want me to take up your specific writer-esque questions in my two-minute talks.
I love the looks on adults’ faces as the camera scans the audience.
I love the line, “Losing your future is not like losing an election or points on the stock market.”
Alrighty, I am ready to try to change the world today. You?
Class Description: This four-week creative writing course teaches you to pay attention to embodied knowledge. Drawing on anthropology, philosophy, and feminist theory, we’ll discuss the historical reasons for how the “body” has been split from the “mind” in Western culture. We’ll do contemplative writing exercises that restore a sense of mind-body integration. You’ll gain skills to improve your writing, as you learn to honor the body in your creative process.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How does an online class work?: You will receive 4 lectures in mp3 format, as well as some supplementary written course materials that lead you through the course. Then, depending on what level of writing coaching you have signed up for, you will meet 1:1 over Skype with the class instructor, who will also review your writing assignments.
I’ve written on the topic of imperialism and pseudo-feminist rhetoric before. In this article re-posted yesterday at feministing.com, Harvard Divinity School professor Leila Ahmed examines the collision of colonialism, Islamophobia, and certain kinds of western feminisms. The article is a bit dense and would benefit from some better copyediting (I am wondering if it underwent translation), but it is well worth the read. (Read her work, A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman’s Journey, to get a better feel for her lyrical prose.)
In the article, Prof. Ahmed takes a really important look at how Muslim women are represented in the media in order to justify U.S. invasions of predominately Muslim countries. She also looks for connections between news media, bestselling books, and U.S. wars. For instance, she writes: Read more »
This is a fun story, with a serious point. Thanks to Chloe at feministing for writing about the feminist contributions of her dad. Yah for men who help end street harassment!
Chloe writes, “I’ve said it time and time again: street harassment will end when the men who do it can no longer rely on the approval, tacit or otherwise, of other men.”
I like that her dad used creativity; I like that he was willing to stay in the moment until he found a way to address the problem. And I agree with Chloe that men have a really important role in terms of engaging other men in these issues. If one of the women being harassed had spoken up, the action just wouldn’t have had the same effect in the moment.
So just as a friendly reminder: Men need to speak out against sexism and educate other men. White people need to speak out against racism and educate other white people. Heterosexuals need to educate other heterosexuals about homophobia. The list goes, on of course…for those of us, for instance, who are able-bodied or cisgender, or who otherwise are in positions of unearned cultural privilege.
Note: These are tips on writing, not final editing. Writing and editing are not the same process, even if they can overlap at points.
1: Start with an idea that gives you energy. How do you know it gives you energy? You should feel tingles in your body. You should want to talk about it at the dinner table. You should find yourself pondering it in the quiet, subtle places in your mind.
2: Write to discover that very idea. Write into the epiphany that hasn’t arrived yet. Don’t expect to know x-y-z about the idea before you write. Sure, you are going to know something about the idea. But stay curious. Let your fingers go faster than your conscious mind. See what your subconscious knows. See what kinds of associations lead you into rich discoveries and new juxtapositions.
3: Write and write and write. Write out three pages of flowing ideas. Be OK with messiness and non-linear thinking. You can clean up the page later.
4: Pause. Take a breath. Feel what you are feeling in your gut.
5: Now, go looking for the first sentence. Where is it? Maybe it is in the middle of the third page?
6: Look for the emotional-intellectual heart of what you are saying. Are you writing into that emotional-intellectual heart?
A friend sent me an email late last night. The subject line read: “got out of bed.” The contents read:
and came upstairs and fired up my computer to tell you:
Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook. her 1971 Introduction in the Vintage edition. Criticism of the educational system and what it does to people. Oh Kim, you must read it.
p.s. whoops. make that the Harper Perennial edition.
I was pleased to find the book already on my bookshelf, so I followed my friend’s instructions and read it over breakfast. It’s a delightful introduction.
Here’s my favorite part, which is hypothetically addressing every child within the school system: Read more »
I cannot write today.
I cannot write today because there is too much dust on my bedroom floor. It is distracting. And then there is the state of my closet. My clothes have yet to be color-coordinated, my shoes are in disheveled stacks. And you should see the state of my desk drawers: old birthday cards and flashlights and random Christmas ornaments all squished in with boxes of staples and a collection of used-up ink cartridges still waiting to be recycled.
No, I cannot write in my bedroom.
So, I am trying the kitchen table. But, I am nervous; I am bracing myself. I live with 8 housemates, all of whom I like very much. They are my family away from family. But this moment of almost beginning to write is tentative. Right as I begin to write is very fragile. Read more »
