Five Words Meme

Let's get the rules out of the way: reply to this meme by yelling (or any other form of writing) "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them on your LJ/blog/whatever, and explain what they mean to you.

Martin Livings has given me five words that remind him of me, and I shall waffle at length about those five words, starting...now:-

DiFranco

Ah, the Righteous Babe herself. Ani DiFranco is a feminist folk singer, poet, activist, and all-round Goddess. I actually considered naming my daughter Ani; thus is the scope of my admiration. I was first introduced to Ani's music about nine years ago by a friend who thought she rocked. I was young and silly then, and didn't really "get it" (back then, I was still inclined to spend my free time gyrating in leather hotpants in clubs to vanilla hip hop whilst trying very hard not to think too much), but I did enjoy screaming "fuck you" when my friend played Ani's Untouchable Face, and even as a relatively naive young woman, I totally felt Napoleon. I dug the outspoken anger and insight, and the everywoman quality of Ani's emoting.

Flash forward a few years, and I took that same friend to see Ani in concert at the Palais Theatre. Oh, wow. Ani was sublime. It was during that concert I first heard Ani belt out the words "I am an all powerful Amazon warrior, not just some sniveling girl" (Origami) and that was a definitive moment for me. That line has become my personal motto and has pulled me up out of many a self-pitying rut over the years, and reminded me of my true face as a woman. Ani has so many definitive songs just like that - Dilate, Evolve...I could go on for weeks.

So, after that, I guess I became an official fan. I stocked up on Ani's work and devoured it all. I've been to another Ani concert since, and she was just as awesome, though a lot less angry since marrying her true love and homebirthing (yeah!) her baby girl, and that's just fine, because that sums up my own place in the world right now, too. I've cried as poetry dripped from Ani's lips about 9/11, and grinned as she sang triumphantly about Obama. Through Ani's music, I've raged, I've sobbed, I've danced, I've laughed, I've triumphed, I've failed, I've lost, I've loved, I've birthed, I've rejoiced, and I've connected to so many things ancient, female, and strong. Ani reminds me to be an activist and to give a shit about the world. She has a quote for every occasion, and she encourages me to shrug off the constant bla bla bla modern input and remember my intellect, my emotions, and my centre.

She goes off live, her voice is a miracle, and her words speak my truth.



Atheist

I don't believe in any Gods, and if I did, it wouldn't be the God of any Abrahamic religions, nor Buddha, nor any other Big Powerful Man religion, because - to quote Ani yet again - "I won't pray to a male God, because that would be insane". I have strong objections to almost all organised religion, not the least of which is that many stem from patriarchy and reinforce misogyny. I don't so much mind nature religions such as Wicca, because they seem to do very little harm, many practitioners overtly regard the religion as a metaphor (which I have no problem with - it's when people literally believe in their mythologies that I start to get a little creeped out), and lots of manifestations of Wicca seem to be based on balance and respect for all things - nature, women and men, self, etc. I've explored many religions and been an active member of several, I've read the Bible from cover to cover many times, as well as other religious books (Qur'an, Book of Mormon, etc) - I treated religion as a study, I didn't just reject it outright. I've worked hard to reach my conclusions and I'm satisfied with them. In saying that, let me quote Ani one more time: "Let the religious get religion" - if it works for you, that's fine, you go ahead and enjoy it - so long as it harms no one else. I'll strive for the same with my own personal philosophies.

Carnival

Heh, this one must come from my little chapbook Phantasy Moste Grotesk. It has a carnival (of sorts) in it. Carnivals are such rich fodder for tales of dark fantasy, aren't they? I never get tired of reading about them or watching movies about them. I love going to them. They're so weird. All that glitter and forced manic glee, eerie music, rickety rides that go nowhere, and people with strangely painted faces. What's not to love?

Feminism

Ah. Yes. Well, I'm a woman, so I'm a feminist. I don't really understand women who don't identify as feminists. How could you not attach yourself to the world's oldest and largest human right's struggle, of which your sex makes you an integral part, whether you like it or not (and I don't know anyone who likes the fact that there's a need for feminist activism, but that doesn't mean we can stick our fingers in our ears and chant lalala, surely)? How could you not notice the everyday things that slap you in the face and remind you that feminism is not dead, and is still desperately needed?

•Women are still underpaid. Women earn only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. (Former MA democratic Lt. Gov. Evelyn Murphy is doing great things to shake this up…check out www.womenaregettingeven.org) Also, can 1 million women against WalMart be hallucinating? This is serious!

•Women are still massively underrepresented in the sciences. Despite substantial gains in the number of women pursuing graduate degrees in the sciences, women currently earn only 20% of all PhDs in computer science, less than 27% in physics, and only 17% in engineering. Studies show that women in science experience discrimination and double standards (sorry Larry Summers, but its really true.)

•There are too few female tenured professors. Despite the fact that women have been at least half of all college undergraduates since 1978, women represent only 36% of all tenured faculty nationwide, and only 13% of doctoral granting universities boast women presidents. Many women in academic settings report discrimination.

•Women are underrepresented in corporate leadership. Women have made up more than 40% of the workforce since 1977, and are currently almost 50%, yet only 9 women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

•Too few women lawyers make partner. Women have been 40% of all law school students since 1995, and over half since 2001, but are only 15% of partners in law firms nationwide. Many female lawyers attest to double standards and discrimination.

•Media: Stereotypes Abound!

•Men still dominate the airwaves, music industry, film industry, etc, and are most decision makers and critics (often with a silent or not so silent male perspective.) Women make up only 11% of the national experts on Sunday morning political talk shows, and only 6% to 7% of the repeat guests. No major record label is headed by a woman. Most major film studios are headed by men, and nine out of ten music videos are produced by men. For the most part, women need to be sex objects and to be young to be successful in music and to some extent, films, TV. (Men,not so much…can you say Sean Connery? Harrison Ford? Woody Allen? David Letterman? Larry King?.) Women are chosen/allowed to direct only 5 – 7 % of major Hollywood films, and rarely are nominated for or win major awards for directing (despite some very talented female directors out there.) This is not just Hollywood insanity….it’s workplace discrimination. And when was the last time you saw a balding, fat, old woman reading the evening news? Never? Yet how many balding, fat, old men do you see doing the same thing? Yep. Getting it now?

•Women are poorer. Women constitute about 70% of the world’s absolute poor – those living on less than a dollar a day. In the United States in 2004, there were 20.1 million women living below the poverty level. Worldwide, women’s access to resources and education still lags behind boys/men due to double standards.

•Slavery still exists! Women and girls are the majority of the 800,000 to nearly 4 million people trafficked (bought and sold as property) internationally every year.

Tarantino

Love him, love him, love him. He brings out the nerdy little fangirl within and makes it ok for her to exist. He wears his influences on his sleeve and he just makes art that is great, shameless, accessible fun. He's managed to keep that cool, fresh, underground, cult feel to his work, and I love that. I mean, c'mon - Dusk Til Dawn? Kill Bill? Killing Zoe? Four Rooms? You see Tarantino's name on something, you know it's gonna be special in some way. You know you're gonna have a good time. He gets down and dirty, and I like it. He takes risks, he fucks up, he goes there. I feel like a kid hiding under the covers reading schlock vampire comics by furtive flashlight when I watch Tarantino - guilty pleasures, right? Of course, his depictions of women sometimes leave a lot to be desired. But I kinda take a lot of that as ironic, and also as homage to the characters and times he's trying to caricature. Like I said...guilty pleasures.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. Feel free to leave a shout out if you want me to come up with five words for you to write about.