It's been a month since I saw bell hooks speak. I am el horrible for procrastinating this entry. But, here it is now. On the eve after Pi Day. 3.14 hard core this year. But, the bell:
She talked a lot about The Help and how it was offensive, didn't go far enough, the author sucks etc. She also discussed race and gender today. Pretty standard. One thing she mentioned, which I knew but didn't know, is that Michelle Obama was a Harvard law student, but now she sort of plays Homemaker Susie America. Wow. I forget. I really did. Lots of good ideas, inspiring statements--but my notes aren't here in bed with me, and I'm very tired, and it't just not worth the long three foot journey to my desk.
One thing that really stuck out to me was that once a boy asked a question asking, basically, where the crossroads of gay rights and gender rights might be. And bell explained, "You know, it's a an important issue, but there's so much we don't think of." And she went on to describe how people come out of every corner to support or oppose gay rights, but meanwhile, we are burning coal and ruining the earth. That's a topic we don't really need to debate, and it's far more harmful.
And, it was sort of biting--this champion of equal rights basically dissing probably the biggest injustice in American culture right now. But, also, I really do agree. We have bigger fish to fry, and sometimes it seems like maybe the reason all this hooplah about birth control and gay marriage and abortion is purposely stirred up by people with much more power than I have to deflect me from the real issues. You know, the ones that are killing our habitat?
Anyway, that's what I have to say about bell hooks.
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