Secondhand Sun

After Katrina, President Bush promised that federal money would be invested to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and the surrounding areas "higher and better." This morning, the Washington Post reports that he didn't really mean it.

I grew up in Louisiana. I have family and friends in the New Orleans area. And there are a great many more people there, people I don't know and have never met, but nevertheless consider to be my people. So I take this personally. The President doesn't care if my family drowns.

Not that this is a surprise.

I found out this morning that my congressman, Tom Davis, was going to be at an event just a short walk from my office. So I went down to say hello, and to ask him what he was going to do to see that the levees were rebuilt.

He assured me that he's quite sure that the levees will be rebuilt; "it's just a question of to what level you build them" and that he's certain they will be rebuilt to withstand a Category 5 hurricane - "to where they should have been in the first place."

I guess this means that any day now I can expect to see Tom Davis stand up to the President. I can expect to see a news story that Congress is making sure the levees will be rebuilt and standing solidly in place in time for the beginning of this year's hurricane season.

Any day now.

Posted by Joanna at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The assault of an African-American women by three white members of Duke's lacrosse team has been getting wide coverage in the blogosphere, and now by a few major papers as well: Washington Post article here, New York Times here and here.

The blog Justice 4 Two Sisters is covering the whole story, while Ampersand has a link round up at Alas, A Blog.

Finally, Pandagon has some analysis of gang rape: The gang rape is the essential scene of the patriarchy.

As for me, I had a dustup with a co-worker over this at lunch today, fielding questions about why "they" are trying to make a racial issue out of this, why that woman was working as 'a dancer', why she had kids, why they didn't DNA test the one black guy on the team as well.

Answer key: (1) Because when someone yells racial slurs at you and attacks you, that is a racial issue, (2) Because she needed money to put herself through school and support her family (3) Because she had sex and got pregnant, and no that does not negate her right to consent to further sexual activity for the rest of her life, and (4) Because she said the attackers were white.

You would think we'd be past the time when women attack other women for daring to be raped. You would think.

Posted by Joanna at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember Casey Casem and the Top Forty? Remember that horrible Bette Midler song, "Wind Beneath My Wings," that was used for the Request and Dedication at least once a month from the time it was released until... well, until I was too old to be interested in the Top Forty?

It must have been cold there in my shadow
To never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,
while you were the one with all the strength.
A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

I hate that song. Hate hate hate.

Could it start off any more condescending, for one? Notice that this supposed tribute to the "hero" who's suffered so long in silence never once shifts from the reference point of the speaker. It must have been cold! That must have hurt! You might have thought I didn't notice, but I did!

This song shows a kind of pseudo-respect and pseudo-empathy that comes with privilege. White privilege, male privilege, class privilege, hetero privilege, you name it. Does anyone really believe that this shadowed hero is really "everything [the speaker] would like to be," unless in some vague metaphorical sense? Who would you rather be? The bird in wondrous flight, or the flightless wonder left on the ground? Think the bird's going to offer to swap places? I've spent my whole life enjoying white privilege, and most of it enjoying class privilege (I'm poor now, but because of some fairly unusual circumstances, people rarely notice anymore) and thinking back, I don't recall ever offering seriously to trade places with someone who had less privilege than I.

But that's the thing about eagles - and people with privilege. It doesn't occur to them while they are soaring and soaking up the rays that those without would prefer something more than secondhand sun.

Posted by Joanna at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)