I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend. Hooray for books! I got to meet Lela Lee of Angry Little Girls fame, and I had her sign my copy of her new book. Hooray for me!
At the panels I went to, most of the audience was older and white. Unfortunately, most of the panelists were, too. Except for the Jada Pinkett Smith/Sistah Souljah stage, and the Writing between Races panel (which was the best! Click these words to learn about the five fabulous panelists), almost all of the people on the panels I attended were white. Most of them were male, more of them were affluent or comfortable, most of them were over 40. All of them were over 30. At least two of the panels had only white male speakers.
No, I did no select the panels I attended based on their abundance of old, rich white men. I chose topics that interested me, like authors who also write for TV, and novelists for young adults. Seeing the panelists magnified an pernicious problem of publishing: the vicious circle of who is allowed to speak in our society. To speak on a panel at the festival, you must have published a successful book. The people who have books published are usually white and mostly male, especially in nonfiction, even if the topics of their books are not other white people. Which leaves a bunch of people, like me, discouraged and dissatisfied, about the types of stories that being told, or more precisely, the types of stories that are not being told.
Outside of the panels, the crowd of thousands milling about the booths and stages was more diverse. Thought at the Patton Oswalt stage, the audience was more diverse in age and possibly in economic background than it was in color. Mostly different sizes and shades of white people. But I did stand next to one of the other two black ladies in the audience. Progress!
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Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Celebrating books by certain successful people
Saturday, April 30, 2011
"They're wedding gnomes!"
Forget CNN or the BBC. Here is my favorite coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton:
"Oh no. Do you know what?"
"What?"
"I'm thinking about the fact that one in five public sector workers in Britain are about to lose their jobs."
"Yes, that is very sad, actually."
"Isn't it terrible?"
"Yes."
Yeah, dude. It's horrible! Though, I do like those gnomes. Funny hats.
Victoria Mather, friend of the British royal family, has a different take on the situation:
"I think the British taxpayer is being very mean about moaning about paying for this wedding. I mean, it's a privilege, isn't it?"
Thank goodness it's not my privilege. My taxes are going to better things, like three illegal wars on foreign soil.
"I'd prefer to be paying for the royal wedding and cleaning the streets afterwards and for all the security than to be paying for illegal immigrants to claim benefits and live in sinker states."
"Oh! Why not make it a race issue?"
"Yes!"
No!
Did Mr. Oliver say that the royal wedding will cost taxpayers 20 million pounds (at 2:38)? Based on current exchange rates, that's about 33 jillion dollars! You know how many British weddings I could throw for £20 million? About 20. Wedding planners don't come cheap.
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Friday, April 29, 2011
"Thank you for knowing my name . . . Brendan Fraser?"
| Jokes.com | ||||
| Kumail Nanjiani - Hey Kumar | ||||
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"I want to be so famous that I'm the pop culture reference that people would make to try and be racist to me."
So do I! Except not in a mean racist way. More in a model minority way, like when people compare me to Oprah or Queen Latifah or Whoopi Goldberg, or other successful black women on the TV who have some extra padding in the tuchis. Though I haven't gotten Mo'nique or Wendy Williams yet. I'm sure that day will come.
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"We're at a research facility, and the cat's missing!"
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| Kumail Nanjiani - Horror Movies | ||||
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"We're okay with you murdering people with your needle gloves. But racism?"
Tsk tsk.
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"Why won't Barack Obama release his elementary school report cards?"
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| America Needs to See Obama's Report Cards | ||||
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"I have no proof that he's even a black man! He could be white! And if that's the case, I don't understand why we're questioning his legitimacy."
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They're not my Republican friends.
"The issue it seems to me is with a $1.6 trillion deficit, it is insane to think that the only way you're gonna move toward a balanced budget is by slashing college Pell grants, by cutting Medicaid, by converting Medicare into a voucher program, by cutting programs that working class people and middle-class people desperately need. And at the same time, our Republican friends say, 'Well, we're gonna to do all of these terrible things to the most vulnerable people in America, but you know what, we're not going to ask billionaires to pay a nickel more in taxes.' I think that that is insane."
. . .
"Working people have rights. Health care should be a right of all people, not just a privilege of the wealthy."
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Actor? Painter? Korean pop star? Ice cream magnate?
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Renaissance Nemesis - Frank Jameso | ||||
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"I'm so Renaissance than under my suit I'm wearing a codpiece."
I'd like to fancy myself a Renaissance Lady, or a polymath, if you will. But apparently, I need to step my game up. Let's start with the ice cream. I've got ideas, Ben & Jerry.
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I do enjoy the little boy eating the Pill, but
I do have two questions about Bridesmaids:
1. Why is this the only movie with an all-female cast coming out this year? I need more movies about platonic lady-friends.
2. How does Maya Rudolph's character have only white friends? Does producer Judd Apatow want to maintain his consistency of keeping any brown people from mucking up the screen? (Watch his movies, and tell me I'm wrong.) This whitewashing syndrome is not exclusive to Mr. Apatow's projects, but it is glaringly apparent in this movie. It's worse than when Rashida Jones's character in I Love You, Man had only white friends and conveniently had no family at all. (What, Quincy couldn't make an appearance?) Or when Jennifer Lopez had no family either in Monster-in-Law.
3. Why did I watch Monster-in-Law?.
Please leave comments! :)
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Sunday, April 17, 2011
"Speaking of never intending to give factual statements, Fox and Friends."
"You can get a pap smear or a breast exam at Walgreens . . . Ladies, just look for the stirrups."
Readers, that remark was not intended to be a factual statements. Keep your pants on at the drugstore.
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Friday, April 01, 2011
"If I were you, I'd watch out for red flags."
"But what if I'm like a flag factory that only manufactures giant red flags?"
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Monday, March 21, 2011
"Why can't you hold the camera steady?"
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
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"Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow."
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Friday, March 18, 2011
"I need to keep my hand up."
"Success and likability are positively correlated for men, and negatively correlated for women."
I hear that. Preach the word, Big Bird.
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Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"The original Cosby Show, which cured racism against black people."
It's nice to see Keshia Knight Pulliam still getting work.
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"I am a huge fan of Santorum . . . the Senator!"
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Rick Santorum Internet Search | ||||
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"You can eat your nachos again."
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Saturday, February 12, 2011
"I never sleep on planes."
"I don't want to get incepted."
For those of you who watched the entire episode, I too would like to have a baby in Canada with John Cho, the famous Québécois mobile meth dealer.
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Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
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