Will the Body Ever be Home?

Suzanne Pharr had me scared of what I was about to read with her foreword. I was unsure how I was possibly going to find interest and a connection with the author. How was I possibly going to connect with a cerebral palsy queer? Beginning with the metaphor of a mountain I continued through the first few pages and I instantly was able to obtain an interest much to my suprise. I was able to relate to her narrative in a personal way along with finding understanding in her message, although I'm not sure Eli Clare would agree with my opinion of Exile and Pride. I did enjoy it. I actually see Clare's counter narrative of her body as a dominant narrative to everyone elses emotions.
In the beginning Eli Clare recalls the climbing of Mount Adams with her friend Adrianne. Clare mentions Adrianne's unconscious mental defiance of the "cript" stories". Clare scripts on page nine "You made the right choice when you turned around". Adrianne never understated Clare's ability as a person. In fact Clare and Adrianne often talked of hiking trips and before they even reached the bottom of the mountain they were discussing their next trip to Mount Adams. I relate to Adrianne's desensitization to the physical disability of Eli Clare. My sister has cerebral palsy but yet I never recall extending my hand to help her. In fact people make things more difficult in helping her. She tells me it throws off her balance. That's why I thought the descriptions of the different tactics in walking she took to climb the mountain.
Clare is aggravated at the way she is mentally labeled with all of these seperate identities and life makes it impossible for her to connect one another. The seperate identities place her in a personal exile whether it is the past identity of a tomboy from the lumbering town of Port Orford or the identity she has become as urbanized queer. She is unable to find acceptance of her sexuality in a rural area nor is she able to be present for her deteriorated past home. She has lost the childhood moments of running through the woods and smelling fresh cut lumber. Even though she has lost those moments the knowledge she gained about trees and the life cycle of salmon has become apart of who she is in her queer identity. Still the identity or home she gains from being queer exiles her from the home or identity she felt from Port Orford. "But is it exile?" Clare asks. In leaving her small town of Port Orford she can find relief in her queerness and move past the awful sexual abuse she endured. She won't see the men who did unspeakable things to her and in a rural area ahd won't be the local gossip if she holds hands with another woman.
"We decide to climb that mountain, or make a pact that our children will climb it" Clare dictates an ingenious metaphor which explains basic human nature. People set goals in life and when these goals become unaccomplished or distant we seek to impose them on future generations. I have yet to become a musician and the day that I become one is not in the near future, but I know that I will relay the importance of learning to play an instrument on my children. I have reached higher education in hopes of creating a trail up the mountain for my future generations. If I become stuck in the "middle-class scramble" as Clare calls it and do not reach the summit I hope to indulge my children in the fact of moving further in their endeavors to reach the summit. Eli Clare asks, "Did my parents become middle-class in their scramble?" (p36) However Eli Clare's summit was a world where her different ability did not only label her with her inability but also label her as heroic. Her summit included urban improvement for gays and lesbians. Her summit was conquering her exile. When all of this circulated her body would become home. She climbed the mountain to conquer her physical ability and gain her mental summit.
Clare wants people to look at her without pity, that I can do. Clare also would also like us to not see her as heroic, but when she writes I find that hard to do. Exile and Pride was metaphoric narrative for the way life goes and the equilibrium imbalance many people endure. That may be because I am a person who would rather pay no attention to the very details Clare work to protect. I like to look at the more general idea or the big picture. The hunt for the summit will never end but if a person doesn't try they will end up at the bottom which Clare says for her would be the nursing home. I think its the nursing home for all of us. I must say on a pompous note to Eli Clare that she is not alone no one reaches their summit and escapes their exile. Everyone must endure the imbalance of their different identities whether it be single-mother, waitress, black, or ex-victim. Eli Clare you are the same as everyone else is that what you wanted to hear?

Freakshows

The second half of Exile and Pride by Eli Clare discusses language, bodies, gender and sexuality.

Eli discusses the reclaiming of words like "queer", "cripple", and "gimp", while explaining why the word "freak" has not been reclaimed. Through an extensive history of the "freakshows" of the late 1800's to mid 1900's, Clare expands on how those with disabilities, people of color, and people with atypical gender expressions, were exploited for the profit of white men. Many of the "freaks" that participated in freakshows were actually kidnapped from colonized parts of the world, or purchased from their parents.

Clare takes the politics of the freakshow and compares them to that of current day treatment of people with disabilities. In the freakshow many of the participants made decent money (while not as much as those running the show) because this was at many times the only form of employment that those with disabilities could find.

Through the freakshow, they also found a community of other people like themselves that were considered to be abnormal. Today, people with disabilities have had their bodies medicalized. They are considered victims of birth defects, viruses, accidents, etc. Worst of all, the freakshow still exists for them, only the freaks aren't getting paid anymore. Medical textbooks feature nameless, faceless, naked disabled bodies to be gawked at. Walking the streets people with disabilities are often exposed to gawking and staring. Clare was often called a retard growing up, not only by peers, but by doctors. Unemployment for those with disabilities is at 70%, and often benefits such as Social Security Income can be taken away if the person is to marry. Large medical organizations make millions of dollars for research (not civil action) while using the disabled body as a pitiful, helpless, dependent.

This part of the book really stuck out to me. I often consider too much of our everyday life medicalized in our allopathic healthcare system. Clare is arguing that while the freakshow was exploitative in many ways, we have only transitioned to another system of exploitation. Biological and scientific arguments have been used throughout our history to prove difference, create power structures, and define normalcy. From the dissection of Sarah Baartman, the study of cranial capacity by Morton, to the Victorian concepts of the female skeleton, biology and science have been considered the end-all of understanding. While the sciences are important and valid subjects to our lives, it is important to take a critical lens at what science is doing to people, and people's bodies. I feel society wrestles with disability because we have this idea of "birth defect", "freak of nature", engrained into our mind that it is hard to look past it and see that the

disabled can live full and productive lives. Personally, I think that one of the reasons people with disabilities are ignored and marginalized is because they make people feel uncomfortable. They don't follow the social norms of clear speech, or socially appropriate movements and gestures, or maybe they are just in a weelchair and you have to look down when talking to them. This makes mainstream society uncomfortable, so we ignore their disabilities (often to their detriment) instead of acknowledging who they are and their particular needs.

--Christine Cretser

Woman, Native, Other: Free Verse

Life is not a (Western) drama
of four or five acts
Sometimes it just drifts along

My climax arrived at birth
falling into actions of childhood
Resolving the tragicomedy
of adolescence

I have no exposition
for my youth
nor could I execute
a rising action
into adulthood

My life spirals
like an infinite sequence
unplanned
unscripted

Woman, Native, Other: Haiku Series

Tribute to Trinh T. Minh-ha

There is no catching
No pushing, no directing
No breaking through, no

This story flows free
As my mind imagines space
Deeper than black holes

She says to unsay
Others so that others may
Unsay her and say

“We will silence you”
Your voice does not matter here
Your words mean nothing

A conversation
Of “us” with “us” about “them”
In which “them” is silenced

I want “them” with me
In my words and my silence
Loosed, untied, and free

Mr. Fighter Man

This story is in response to the Newsgaming.com, September 12. (Shockwave needed to view)

I wake up in the morning at quarter to four just hours before a top secret mission destination unknown. I suit up in my flight gear. I tighten the laces on my boots. I eat a quick breakfast, drink my coffee, and out the door I go. After the briefing at the command center, I head out to the flight line along with my co pilot and initiate the starting sequence on my Apache Helicopter. The air turbine engines fire up. The fuselage begins to shudder, and the rotor blades begin to turn. I increase the rpm and we lift off in flight. I think to myself just another day of killing terrorists. I wonder how many I can kill today? My copilot and I scan the Northeast sector of Blue town from above and spot 3 terrorists trading weapons in a field. We are hovering over a small village just out of site from the terrorists. I think to myself these guys are toast and they don’t even know its coming. The apache helicopter has a kill radius of 2 miles. They never see or hear it coming.

As certain death waits for the terrorists my copilot calls the command center. We report our situation and patiently wait for the frag order. Command gives the order. “Shoot to kill.” It’s easy my co pilot sets the range, aligns the crosshairs with the target, and squeezes the trigger. No more terrorists. Nothing but grease marks left on the ground. It’s almost like a video game. We kill terrorists on a daily basis. They seem to never go away. They keep multiplying. At times I wonder what becomes of the civilians that get killed in the crossfire. I’m sure there families are not happy. They may even become enemies. They may turn to terrorism. I can only imagine what it must be like for those people who live in fear every day with bombs going off, and their loved ones dying. It must be really horrible. But it’s really not that bad for me I’m not the one with crosshairs pointed at me. I just know it’s my job and ill wake up tomorrow and do it again.

Oh and we take videos just to prove we can kill terrorists really really well. Check out the video attached. It’s kind of graphic but it shows how calm and cool the pilots are about killing and how it’s almost like a videogame.

By Jason Siska

World Peace

As I read Come September and Area Studies, Gender studies and the Cartographies of Knowledge I was drawn to Come September because the language was easy to understand. Come September is interesting in that it gives examples on how many Americans are oblivious to what’s happening both inside and outside America with politics, economics, and war. Come September describes the conflict between power and the powerless. It describes several incidents that happened on September 11 throughout history just as two planes slammed into the World Trade Center on September, 11, 2001. Many Americans do not know, or probably do not care, or are too busy with work to concentrate on what is going on in the world.

One point that the author of Come September makes about control is Saddam Hussein and how he was a puppet under control of the United States. Saddam Hussein before the first gulf war in the 90’s received weapons and traded with the U.S. Saddam constructed towns and small villages to test out machine guns and biological weapons thus slaughtering thousands of people meanwhile the U.S was funding him. According to the essay Sadaam Hussein took it upon himself to act independently from the United States and invaded Kuwait thus the first gulf war resulted. The point is that the U.S knew about the slaughtering and ignored it until Sadaam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait. Thus the U.S. went to war with Iraq to remove Sadaam from power.

Another example the Author brings up is that there are three institutions that run the world today. That’s The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and The World Trade Organization. The author describes them as secretive and are primarily dominated be the U.S. The point I believe the author is trying to make is that the current Governing system is going to break because there are too many poor people that have nothing to lose. These people will strap bombs to them and blow up civilians’ just too combat democracy and capitalization. There are many people in this world that feel bullied by the United States. According to the essay the U.S. funds Israelites with weapons and money. The Israelites in return exterminate the Palestine’s from their land so the U.S. can use the Gaza Strip for strategic purposes. They are treated as second class citizens and live in fear every day. Not a good way to treat humans. Is the United States being looked at in a good way by the world?

Many Americans are oblivious to what is going on in the world. America is sheltered and the government and its secret organizations are making power moves in the world that may have long-term negative effects not only for America but for everybody. The problem is the status quo of our current governing system is a distorted democracy. It is an illusion to blind people from seeing the truth. The United States Government which is considered to be a democracy “for the people, of the people, by the people” is more or a dictatorship with capitalism, control, and power as the primary objective, not the welfare of people. Our government t is set up to repress citizens with the burden of debt, credit cards, mortgage loans, and outrageously high interest rates. Credit card companies prey on our vulnerable youth. What a genius plan. Don’t educate people, apply a heavy financial burden and make them work their entire lives supporting the madness. The point here is that not everybody in America can focus on what is happening with the world and the government wants to keep it that way. The government has to maintain control somehow and not educating people is a good way to control them.

The Author says “It’s hard for me to say this, but ‘the American Way of life’ is simply not sustainable. Because it doesn’t acknowledge that there is a world beyond America. Fortunately, power has a shelf life.” I believe this to be true.

I hope one day the world will be a paradise where greed, money, and power are not the objectives and peace, love and happiness are. Always remember the golden rule “treat others as you would want to be treated.”

By: Jason Siska

From the Rubble of Forgotten History

Everyone I’m sure has heard that history is written by the victor. Stories recovered from the rubble of a historical battle are told by those with enough strength to stand amidst those who have perished. Gerda Lerner and Ella Shohat display the often narrow view of the master narrative of history and allow that which is forgotten to peak through.

Gerda Lerner’s article “Why History Matters,” is incredibly relevant when you consider the large gaps in the history of women and many races. She exposes the creation of the dominant narrative as she writes, “these stories of the brave and good deeds of powerful rulers serve both to legitimize power and to maintain it by establishing the official version of events as the dominant version” (202). “Doing history” is unfortunately only given to the powerful as the disadvantaged groups in society are ignored and often stereotyped as a result.

The two articles seek to continually remind the reader that history cannot be stopped and is also doomed to be repeated. The formation of history is a continual process of forgetting and remembering. However, in society today we choose to remember when it suits our needs. As Mark Twain once said, “It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.” Maybe because of the timing or merely the unfortunate example it provides, the selfish nature of what is remembered can be illustrated with the attacks on September 11, 2001. Human rights issues occurring in the Middle East surrounding the oppression of women were largely ignored by mainstream media until after the tragedy, and the targeting of terrorists. Discussions of the “heroic” nature of suicide bombers in parts of the Middle East were overshadowed by the often overwhelming loss of life of men, women, and children. The “forgetting” of certain topics and issues in the history of the world allowed for the construction of a new "story" viewing Muslims as “fundamentalists,” and “terrorists” working against the ideals of democracy which the United States was founded on.

But another dilemma surrounding the act of remembering is the possibility of remembering too much. Acknowledging the oppression of women in other countries, Americans would be forced to look back into history to witness the struggle for women to gain a voice and have the right to rule over their own lives. Remembering the use of suicide bombing on kamikaze flight missions carried out by the Japanese in World War II, we would have to acknowledge the subsequent use of the atomic bomb, to end a war which was quickly losing momentum anyway. The power of history is not solely in the hands of the victors, but rather in the selective nature of the way we write our own history in a positive light.

Remembering history is an endless cycle if those in power allow the cycle to take its course. The forgetting of events in World War II and the oppression of women in the history of America allowed society to overlook the suffering of women in other societies and the possible “terrorist” actions of our own country.

There is no mourning for the history that is forgotten and rarely a celebration for that which is remembered. Being connected to history and being allowed to play a part in its creation and remembrance, will allow the present to be transformed and affect the future in a positive way.

Blog Post Written By: Jennifer Kowalski

Pictures Courtesy of Flickr- "Flawed Fathers"- "Inside Afghanistan"

Creolization of Religion in Haiti

Traditional Haitian religion, a creolized or African and European influenced religion, Vodun, is stigmatized in many parts of the world as "devilish" because of its worship of spirits, its redefining of Catholic iconography, and its "catching of the spirit" dance rituals. Because Vodun is a combination of Europe and Africa, it's best to break apart the elements contained from both continents. I'll start with Africa, the most influential of the two.

Describing the African elements in Vodun is much easier when comparing the religions of countries of similarly displaced Africans. The French and British Caribbean were colonized with African slaves. Having a bit of knowledge of traditional Jamaican religion helps to explain Haitian religion.

Jamaican religion is heavily influenced by dance as Haitian religion is. They have traditional dances called ring shouts, and possession of dancers occurs-- usually the spirits are ancestors. Both Jamaica and Haiti's dance rituals include pocomania dancers: "the young paying homage to ancestors through dance" (Sign of the Loa). Do not be fooled by the word dance. Their religious dance rituals are very serious. An integral facet of African religion worth noting is the role of music. Drums in particular in African religion. Without the drums, one would be hard pressed to witness a possession as the rhythmic beat create an almost trance-like state in the dancers. Ancestor worship is present in both Haiti and Jamaica. In contrast to Jamaica, dancers can be possessed by ancestor spirits and by Loa, spirit gods in Haiti.

Loa symbols are where the European influence is. The Haitian spirit gods generally have a Catholic equivalent. For example, a Legba or spiritual guide is a powerful symbol in all of African religion. Haitians characterize their Legba spirit god as a St. Peter standing at the pearly gates. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others. The use of Catholic icons for their spirit gods was necessitated to safeguard their religion from slave masters, who would have attempted to destroy their foreign religion, regarding it as evil black magic. Each Loa has a sacred symbol designated to it made with ash, dust, or the like.

"The Sign of Loa" stated that the African slaves had to create their cultural religion with what they had. They were versed in their traditional African religions, and they also had a limited knowledge of other religions, particularly Catholicism from their slave masters. However, they had no scripture on which to found their religion. This means their main interest wasn't to be scripturally accurate. Their interest was in saving their African religious traditions and heritage. Three terms summarize the development of their creolized religion Loa.

Haitians had to resist Christianity in order to salvage their religion (Negation). They then had to incorporate Christian symbols to hide their spirit gods from slave masters (Appropriation). Then they had to reconcile both religions and bring them together in a cohesive form (Syncretization).

What we have is an African religion with Catholic iconography. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others.

The feared spirit of the dead, Baron Samedi, is featured as the possessor at a real Vodun ritual in this informational National Geographic video on Vodun (they're calling it voodoo). The video explores the role of the Haitian Shaman/Priest who has great spiritual, economic, political, and medical power in Haiti (The Sign of Lao). A Haitian Shaman's attributes are ironically highlighted by the fact that this Haitian Shaman is also a business man, a former mayor, and in this video, he attempts to heal a mentally insane or spirit plagued person.



By Chris Porteus

Art Without Boundaries

Judy Baca and Lorri Nandrea uses the medium of writing to reframe graffiti. In their essays, we were able to envision graffiti as something other than vandalism - we saw art, a metaphoric expression of socio-political injustice, and an underground restructuring of property and boundaries.

In my reading of "Our People Are the Internal Exiles" and "Graffiti Taught Me Everything I Know About Space," I was drawn to the shared theme of "borders." Baca's affection towards murals due to the communal element of ownership (artwork that is not purchased by an individual and assigned as personal property), and Nandrea's dismay at the visible and invisible barbed wire surrounding the urban neighborhood and its inhabitants were two feminine voices acknowledging the contrived politics of society. We live in a world of differences, and the borders drawn because of these differences are the gaping valleys between cultures, classes, and races. As society continues to maintain the "frontier" 's mystique and distance from entrenching onto the so-called "civilized" and safe world, it is the dialogue that emerges from individuals like Baca and Nandrea that gives a much needed voice to the counter-narratives of the silenced.

I would like to hear what everyone's approach was in reading and analyzing the two women's narratives - mine was to read Baca's essay under the lens of the artist's identity and Nandrea's under the lens of the artwork's identity.

In Baca's case, her multifaceted character and experiences were mirrored in her career as an artist that fought, recruited, and breathed life into the culture of muralism channeled through the gritty genre of "graffiti." Her identity as a Chicana of the 50's, set apart from Americans and even fellow Mexicans because of her background and upbringing formed a personal battle to bridge the gaps between her different worlds. Paying no heed to the invisible, yet powerful gates, she forged a connection between art/graffiti, Americanism/culture... even between gang leaders and the community! Her refusal to yield to the societal expectations (from every aspect of her life) is alive in her art that yields more power and authority displayed in an ordinary street than in a halls of a well-respected gallery.

Nandrea, on the other hand, observes a work of graffiti with the analytical eye of someone keenly aware of the potency in art. Her description of the organic, raw quality of the weathered children's mural, and her perception in marking it as an evolving piece (something alive) rather than a loss makes one rethink the deceptively simple and commonplace works of graffiti found in any city. Unexpected aestheticism occurs through Nandrea's eyes as a feminist narrative, transforming the wall of a city cemetery into a poignant work that cries out an urban neighborhoods tragedy without a single spoken word. The space of a chipping elementary school project being invaded by the tags of a local urban gang reiterates the forcible reassignment of territory and placement, upheld by those on both sides of the fence.

Boundaries are often unpleasant things - they restrict, forbid, and deter. Then we have lessons from history books and fiction novels that tell us that venturing into new frontiers and crossing borders is for heroes. After all, not everyone can boldly go where no man has gone before... but should that really be the case? After reading the words of Baca and Nandrea, I feel as though all of us should make an attempt to bridge a gap in our own realities, brandishing weapons - be it a spray can or a pen - and make a heroic attempt to create a narrative of our own.


Blog Post Written By: Clara Cho
Picture Credits: Courtesy of Flickr - "Barbed-Wire Fence" and "11 Spring"