the inexplicable power of queen B

Say what you will about Bey, but her new song, Grown Woman, catapulted me out of bed this morning (despite a lingering sinus infection) and got me busy doing the million things on my to do list I have been avoiding.  And in case you missed it, this recent article on the Bitch magazine site, is a must-read for Beyonce lovers and haters alike.

In other news, I recently created a spring cleaning soundtrack for the very rad Sadie Magazine, which you can listen to here.  A girl's work is never done, #amirite?

the riot grrrl collection

Beyond excited for this new book to come out by the Feminist Press.  Yesterday Papermag published excerpts from the book, which is comprised of materials from the Fales Library Riot Grrrl Collection, along with an essay from Johanna Fateman.  I love Fateman's writing and was psyched that she opened with lyrics from "Bloody Ice Cream," one of my favorite Bikini Kill songs, which I also quoted below in my essay on Sylvia Plath.  You can preorder the book now but in the meantime def. check out the excerpts.

In other news, I highly recommend checking out this new alternative web-weekly, The Media, started by former Boston Phoenix staffers (including Liz Pelly).  I love the simple layout and am super looking forward to what they cover and how their radical funding model works out.  You should read their "about" section to get inspired and feel that there is hope for the internet.

MOTHER TONGUE 1 NOW AVAILABLE!

Mother Tongue 1, the long-awaited demo from myself and Daniella Ben-Bassat aka Mother Tongue, is now available.  Mother Tongue 1 is truly full of abrasive guitars, ambient noise and piercing vocals that is unlike anything you have ever heard!! You can listen to/download the songs/order a tape here: http://mothert0ngue.bandcamp.com.  Props to DBB for her radical production skills.  Thanks to Erik for the nice shoutout on Attention All Pickpockets!  Tapes are limited so order now b4 they are gone 4ever!!  Stay tuned for news regarding summertime shows.

from the archives: the sylvia plath story

The Sylvia Plath story is told to girls who write
They want us to think that to be a girl poet means you have to die
Who is it that told me all girls who write must suicide?
I’ve another good one for you,
We are turning cursive letters into knives.
-Bikini Kill, "Bloody Ice Cream"

There is a strange connection between self-destruction and creativity.  Some of the most well-known writers, artists, and actors have either taken their own life in an obvious way (suicide) or lived so destructively they they either die or greatly harm themselves in the process.  Kurt Cobain, Darby Crash, Hunter S. Thompson, Ernest Hemingway - cultural icons that each new generation grows up idolizing and imitating.  This connection is super-interesting to me but my main focus is on this self-destruction as it relates to creative women.  A book came out recently on this subject entitled Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction ed. by Sabrina Chapadjiev.  This book was interesting and had some stellar contributors but it didn’t shed too much light on the WHY aspect.  As the Bikini Kill song says so clearly, girls are brought up with the notion that if they want to be creative, depression or suicide may be right around the corner.  Scores of girls grow up dreaming about becoming the next Marilyn Monroe.  Artsy types fancy themselves as Virginia Woolf or Diane Arbus.  We grew up glorifying depression and self-destructive behaviors.  We saw the beauty in the suffering, the brilliant work that came out of such a dark place.  Glorified girl death and destruction could be its own literary genre: The Bell Jar, Girl: Interrupted, Go Ask Alice, along with countless other books detailing the downward spirals of girls into eating disorders, cutting, substance abuse and more.  As an English major, I could look around the classroom sometimes and notice many arms with the tell-tale marks.  In high school art classes, there were always girls creating work on the depths of their despair: suicide attempts, mental hospital bouts, eating disorders.  I’ve always been one for the humanities, so maybe this pattern does exist for grrls in more science or math-based fields - but I’ve certainly never heard of it before.  Is it the glorification of these icons and their glamorous tortured artist lifestyles that is responsible for the continuation of this female self-destruction?  Is it patriarchal society brainwashing women who think outside the box once again - scaring us into obedience?  Or is there a more inherent connection?  Is it so painful to create such honest work, to share such a private part of yourself - that the self-destruction just makes it more bearable?  I don’t know the answers to these questions, this piece is a work in progress.  But I think part of the solution may be to view these women, and all our iconic “tortured” artists, in a more realistic, complete way.  Over the past year I have been delving deep into the life of Sylvia Plath.  I’ve read all her poems, her complete journals, a few biographies, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters (his poetry book largely based on their relationship), and am currently reading both Letters Home and an awesome book on her art work that my mom got me entitled Eve Rhymes: Sylvia Plath’s Art of the Visual.  I am learning so much and am increasingly fascinated by this woman whose writing resonates within so many people.  Plath first started publishing work as an adolescent and worked tirelessly all her life on her writing.  Plath worked her way through college (supported by her single mother and grandparents) and was constantly questioning the wonders of life and her place in the world.  Many argue that feminists have picked Plath as an embodiment of the cause and that Plath was never interested in political causes.  But it is clear throughout all of Plath’s writing how interested she was in politics from an early age.  She spoke out against WWII and even attended Socialist meetings while at Cambridge University!  Much of Plath’s writing explores the paradoxical world that women lived in: the unfairness of having to bear the brunt of housework and childrearing, the lack of opportunities for women, the sexual double standard - starting out in her high school journals.  It is not as if Plath wrote Ariel and that was the first time she had ever considered gender roles.  Plath was an extraordinary artist, and because of her, grrrls everywhere are turning their cursive letters into knives.

originally published in Girl Talk # 6, April 2009

pma

In the interest of positive thinking/trying not to be miserable through the last months of winter/being unemployed, some songs to start the week off on a high note.

king kong theory

It took me months to track down King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes (in English translation) in a library.  I had been interested in reading it ever since it was reviewed on Bumpidee Reader - and I wish I had reread the reviews there before tackling this.  My knowledge of the author is limited - I know she is considered pretty controversial for her work as a filmmaker, most notably for her film Baise-moi, which is a rape-revenge story with what sounds like very graphic sex and violence scenes.  (I haven't seen the film.)
The book had many interesting points - it is sort of a mix of the author's personal history and feminist theory, although it is in many ways too generalizing and does a lot of, as Marissa Magic put it, "casting femme girls into a shameful light."  I didn't actually notice on my first read that this is what the author is doing although it makes a lot of sense to view much of her ranting/writing with this in mind.  I questioned her repeated commentary such as, "I wouldn't write what I write if I were beautiful."  She often makes too simplistic either/or categories such as writing for "weirdos" and "Being competitive: manly."  I know that there is privilege that comes from being considered by society as attractive but Despentes doesn't appear too outside of that standard so to me it was curious to see her making these separations and grandiose statements.
Despentes' personal histories were particularly poignant, such as being raped while hitchhiking and continuing to hitchhike, continuing to risk rape so she could go to gigs.  She states, "What I experienced during that time, at that age, was unique, so much more intense than shutting myself up in school learning to be docile, or sitting at home reading magazines."  She goes on to point out the societal untruths of rape such as blaming the victim and the pressures of "keep[ing] it to yourself."  This occurrence leads to Despentes telling about her time spent as a prostitute.  It was fascinating to read of how she became involved in sex work, through a pre-Internet called minitel which created "near-perfect conditions of anonymity, client choice, price negotiation and independence."  At one point Despentes states that "rape creates the best hookers" because it can create a "blemished quality that men like, something desperate and seductive."  I was waiting for her to make a connection to her own rape and her entrance into sex work but she never does.  She is sure not to position sex workers as victims or depraved as we are meant to believe but it left me wondering what her thoughts were - whether she thinks she would have done this work otherwise.
Her thoughts on motherhood, while brief, were well-worded, such as, "...motherhood has become the essential female experience, valued above all others. Giving life is where it's at. 'Pro-maternity' propaganda has rarely been so extreme. They must be joking, the modern equivalent of the double constraint: 'Have babies, it's wonderful, you'll feel more fulfilled and feminine than ever,' but do it in a society in freefall in which paid work is a condition of social survival but is guaranteed to no one, and especially not to women."  The original book was published in 2006 but pro-maternity propaganda seems to still be at a high.
In general, I thought the book was a worthwhile read.  It seemed fitting that I read it in between I Love Dick and How Should A Person Be? (both of which I highly recommend.)  While the book was at times too generalizing and her theories largely lacked critical analyses from a race or class standpoint, it was interesting to hear her perspectives.  It was particularly interesting that she situates much of her thinking from a punk rock standpoint (Lydia Lunch helped to translate).  More feminist theory in 2013!

girls girls girls

I have just finished watching the first season of Girls and I liked it!  I put off watching it when it first came out b/c 1) all the chatter about it's plusses and minuses convinced me that I would be watching it too swayed by popular opinion and 2) there was too much chatter in general.  My viewing came at great timing since the second season on HBO has just gotten under way.  The show has been written, blogged and tweeted about ad nauseum so I will add only a few thoughts to the matter.

What struck me the most about all the attention the show has gotten is that much of it was levelled at the show's creator, actor, jane-of-all-trades Lena Dunham.  The fact that a pretty low-key TV show could inspire so much venom, the fact that an "I hate Lena Dunham" google search produces over a million hits, tells me that people are uncomfortable and scornful that this young woman is telling a story about young women.  You can add to that basic tenet the facts that Dunham, whose body we all know is not flawless aka pretty normal, often appears in various states of undress, that most of the characters are like Dunham or I should say like her character Hannah aka white, educated and with a decent amount of privilege and that the characters are all pretty blasé about that privilege and how it can sound coming out of their mouths.  I am thinking specifically about Hannah at the gynecologist wishing for AIDS - at least the nurse/writers had the foresight to call her out on such a ridiculous statement.  What's important to note in the controversy over the characters and their many privileges is that this show is but one show telling one kind of story in a sea of other content.  Dunham never stated that she was looking to create an everywoman's story and she isn't.  I do think that it is important that she is getting this chance to create and that it will hopefully make it easier for others who are too often marginalized and silenced to get their own stories told.  Here's a recent, interesting article touching on that topic.

What I'd really like to see come out of Girls or from some magical show in the future, is a storyline focused on the relationship between the female characters.  There is so little content out there (especially on TV) that puts female friendship at the forefront.  I am constantly yelling at the characters on my laptop to stop freaking out over Charlie/Adam/whomever and to take a moment to revel in their friendships!  More moments like Marnie and Hannah dancing to Robyn alone in their apartment.  As someone a few years older than the characters, I want to tell them that these girlfriends might not always be there so cherish them while you can.  The story of female friendship is such a complex and interesting one - it's a goldmine waiting to be explored.

Some other good articles on the web that delve into the Girls phenom:

What Would Hannah Horvath Make Of Elizabeth Wurtzel?

Literally the Best Thing Ever: Girls

Also, this interview of Lena Dunham by Miranda July is super highly recommended.  And I quote from the intro, "...this is how girls talk to one another when they really like each other, endlessly pushing deeper with growing boldness. This is why women have to talk to each other so much and for so long; it is simply more satisfying than other things..."

for my waitress sisters

miss, i need another glass, this one is smudged and my
lips are too precious for this
we want the window table clear and set it for us
it's not too busy for us
bring a million different things to my table on a silver
platter you've got nothing better to do
if you smile really big and kiss my whitey ass
maybe you'll get a dollar today
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
yeah i just do this job for a hobby so
don't worry about a tip
4.25/hr suits me fine yeah i just love to serve
sure i'll take your plate your glass your bowl and then
i'll wipe your chin
and in the end i'm covered in your shit-
you look at me like i'm the dirty one
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
what you do comes back to you
what you do comes back to
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell
i'll see you burn,
i'll see you burn in my hell
i'll see you burn,
i'll see you burn in my hell
you're going to waitress hell
you're gonna burn in my hell

seeking submissions issue #14!!

Girl Talk zine is seeking submissions for issue #14: the WORK issue!

while currently out of work, i'm thinking a lot about work, money and how economics affects us whether we're consciously considering it or not.  we are seeking submissions of writing, visuals, etc on anything relating to these topics.  a few ideas:

*thoughts on living/surviving outside of mainstream economics
*what managing our finances means as a woman/person who is not culturally expected to have this knowledge
*reviews on jobs past/present or reflections on the sorts of jobs that are accessible to you
*interviews of people at work
 *reviews of albums, books, websites that deal with these topics and if they're helpful/rad!

Submissions can be sent to girltalkzine at gmail. Deadline is approximately February 7th and release info to be disclosed!

cool things of 2012

fat creeps EP
solange - true + losing you video!
ladyfest pvd!! - especially dirt palace conversation, disband, whorepaint, slam poetry, feminist reading group + getting to hang out/meet/support so many awesome feminists!!
karaoke
sidewalk ends farm
mother tongue/world domination
bikini kill records/bikini kill ep reissue
girls' tyme