Dang. I have this love hate relationship with your writing, Courtney. You are so brutally honest, self deprecating and insightful - I love it. But so often you wallow in a millennial-leftist, uber-insular, urbanized and skin-color-conscious world that is, frankly, foreign to me. I love that you ask the essential question 'How do I know?' And, I hate that you reference DiAngelo and am disappointed that you are an acolyte of her illogical theories. 'The Bluest Eye' blew your mind, and 'Beloved' sliced me into bits. But I don't doubt what was written for me... i chose the book. I read it and pondered it, as any savvy reader would. Who, exactly, is anything written 'for', but a reader who chooses? And finally, of course, I hate that you resort to the simplistic and dangerous categorization of people by their skin color. It's divisive - You're too smart to not know that. But more importantly, it is structurally meaningless. What, exactly do you mean when you write 'White'? Who is the White? Who is the Black? Your most splendid nuance drowns in your cauldrons of color. Dang.
Thanks for this, Beth. I consider a love-hate relationship a compliment. I think both of our worlds are probably very foreign to each other, no doubt about it. Toni Morrison herself talked about writing for Black audiences. She would probably have been fine knowing her work connected with us, but we weren't her priority. That's my point. I'm confused how someone as smart as you could argue that race is structurally meaningless. It's biologically meaningless (i.e. socially constructed). One might argue it's spiritually meaningless (and even that, I think I would disagree with). But we've got a million pieces of evidence that it is and has been structurally meaningful in this country and beyond. Thanks for hanging in there with my work. I promise I'm reading your comments with an open mind, but I do disagree fundamentally on some points here.
Beautifully written and ever so vital. Thank you, Courtney.
Dang. I have this love hate relationship with your writing, Courtney. You are so brutally honest, self deprecating and insightful - I love it. But so often you wallow in a millennial-leftist, uber-insular, urbanized and skin-color-conscious world that is, frankly, foreign to me. I love that you ask the essential question 'How do I know?' And, I hate that you reference DiAngelo and am disappointed that you are an acolyte of her illogical theories. 'The Bluest Eye' blew your mind, and 'Beloved' sliced me into bits. But I don't doubt what was written for me... i chose the book. I read it and pondered it, as any savvy reader would. Who, exactly, is anything written 'for', but a reader who chooses? And finally, of course, I hate that you resort to the simplistic and dangerous categorization of people by their skin color. It's divisive - You're too smart to not know that. But more importantly, it is structurally meaningless. What, exactly do you mean when you write 'White'? Who is the White? Who is the Black? Your most splendid nuance drowns in your cauldrons of color. Dang.
Thanks for this, Beth. I consider a love-hate relationship a compliment. I think both of our worlds are probably very foreign to each other, no doubt about it. Toni Morrison herself talked about writing for Black audiences. She would probably have been fine knowing her work connected with us, but we weren't her priority. That's my point. I'm confused how someone as smart as you could argue that race is structurally meaningless. It's biologically meaningless (i.e. socially constructed). One might argue it's spiritually meaningless (and even that, I think I would disagree with). But we've got a million pieces of evidence that it is and has been structurally meaningful in this country and beyond. Thanks for hanging in there with my work. I promise I'm reading your comments with an open mind, but I do disagree fundamentally on some points here.