RBOC--start of the year, start of the term

• My afternoon class is always turned up to 10. It's a rare semester when that class is sedate or quiet. Last semester, a group of them yelled my name and commented on my outfit each day when I came into the room. This term, they mostly stared at me like they were bored. Second week of class and I've already had to give the evil eye/you're pissing me off look to a student taking out her phone. Questions hang in the air like a bad smell. I may have to start eating chocolate during class before it's over with.
• I've exhausted most of the television series I wanted to watch on Netflix. That makes me sad. Binge-watching Netflix has become quite dear to me. I started Twin Peaks, since I didn't watch it originally. I don't know if it's worth continuing. We'll see.
• The department somehow ended up with several first year students who don't have a composition course to enroll in. All of the sections are full, so new ones have to be created. But a number of students came begging to be overloaded into my sections. They balked at the idea of finding a class taught by a different instructor. A couple said that the material I chose for my classes was right up their ally. That made me feel really good, especially since I often feel like the work I do in the classroom means nothing to anyone but me. Of course, I still sent them out of my office to find another class.
• The pastor of the church we attend asked the membership to fast this month. Skipping meals gives headaches, so I was going to fast from sugar. Then I made a cup of hot tea and the honey was coming out too slowly. So I used sugar. Then I decided to fast from candy only. That's probably not really what the pastor had in mind, and it's probably rather pathetic, but it's the best I can do. And since there people keep leaving mini-chocolate candies on the lobby desk, it's not a small thing to resist.

What's the Matter Mary Jane?

BET just aired a shockingly thoughtful and engaging beginning to a dramatic/comedic series. Being Mary Jane stars Gabrielle Union (who I've loved for years) and bears the markers of Mara Brock Akil (who worked behind the scenes of Girlfriends, among other shows). It's witty and energized.

But . . .

I really wish that it didn't begin with that squirly (and dubiously conceived) statistic about black women and marriage.

Still . . .

Being Mary Jane is really enjoyable.

Tuesday Tidbits

• Maybe I change my mind about being on "The View". I just thought about what I'd look like when I hear nerve-grating assertions that kill my brain cells. As my students keep telling me, my face immediately tells whatever I'm thinking when people talk to me. Can you imagine? Of course, "The View" can still call me for a guest spot.
• I just saw a teaser for "Jeopardy" that set up the game as a sports event. What if we really did have that much fanfare for an intellectual exercise?
• In the continuing saga of television in our house, we recently watched the episode of "Little House on the Prairie" when Charles loses a bunch of money because something happens with the bank. They had planned to pay off a charge account at the Olsen's store, wanting both to release themselves from debt and to give the finger to Harriet Olsen and her self-righteous elitism. When Nellie mimics her mother's stinky attitude (saying that Charles stinks from working with the horses) Laura repeats her father: "Hard-working people only smell bad to people who have nothing else to do but stick their noses in the air."
• Know what else I love, love, love? After Laura repeats her father's sentiment, she says, "And Nellie Olsen, every time you stick your nose in the air around me, it's gonna get punched!" That girl has spunk!
• And one more thing: where is this appreciation for the dignity of work--all kinds of work--now? I hear words like "work ethic" being thrown around a lot, but it too often sounds like Harriet Olsen is saying them.
• Okay, one more: I'm watching the episode when Laura and Mary first go to school (don't look at the time stamp--the children are in school, so I'm . . . previewing it for them) and Nellie snidely calls them "country girls" aloud in class. Ms. Beadle gives her a sharp look but doesn't say anything. I had a flashback of when a boy told me, loudly and in front of everyone, to "go back to Africa"; the teacher in that class also didn't do much more than give him a look.
• The Baby Boy told his father a secret last night that he didn't want to share with me. I was so pleased that I was able to get him to tell me, too, although it took about 20 minutes of gentle prodding about how secrets are not good and he could always tell mommy anything and I wanted to know all about what he's thinking. He started and stopped several times, then finally whispered in my ear that all of the children thought the teacher's new hairstyle was really, really pretty; he thought so, too. I felt all fuzzy that he trusted me with his secret crush on his teacher.

A Few Random Things

• In my quest to have my children watch quality television, I have successfully hooked them into "Little House on the Prairie." We stumbled on the movie that began the series, and it is freaking fascinating. It's filled with danger (wolves and snow and fire!) and joy (a peppermint stick for Christmas!) and mystery (will Jack the dog find them after crossing the river?). We watched half last night and the children asked to watch the rest as soon as they woke this morning. And the bonus is that they see the thousands of chores that the Laura and her sisters have to do and it makes their chores pale in comparison. Yay!
• I'm also surprised at how unlikeable both Charles and Caroline are. They are much more gruff than in the series and Caroline's disdain for Native Americans is not nice, to say the least.
• It only now occurs to me that this story happens at the same historical moment as the play Flyin' West about black female homesteaders. Both are about the government's "opening" of Kansas to anyone who could survive settling it.
• I've also roped the children into falling in entertainment love with "The Cosby Show" and they can't get enough. And my son is in love with Clair; she "looks pretty" he says.
• During one single commercial break during the "Little House" movie there were three ads about weight loss. What in the world?

Other people who like "Reed Between the Lines"

I knew there was something very right going on with "Reed Between the Lines." Here's another comment on what this show is getting right, despite the weaknesses and writing and comedy, which they seem to be working on. Again, I'll give it an A for effort.

http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/reed-ing-gender-between-the-lines/

Why I’m liking “Reed Between the Lines”

(I'm saying "like" rather than "love" because, while I'm excited about the premise, this is not the best writing I've ever seen. And sometimes the chemistry is weird. But I think that it could be really good if given some time.)

• The allusions to “The Cosby Show”—their parenting riffs off of the ways in which the Huxtables demonstrated lessons with elaborate skits and loving logic. Keenan has had a number of Theo-like moments when he’s scheming, and doesn’t want to stress himself with school, and thinks all the girls want him.
• The ways they ramp up the old school—Carla and Alex Reed are as affectionate as Cliff and Claire Huxtable, but they are kinkier. There’s lot of role playing and more than just affection. They clearly have sex. ! And their family offers our best wishes for a blended family. The older twins call their stepfather “Dad” and their biological father “Pops”. And Alex is a loving and professional father, but he’s also a homeschooling dad.
• The reinvention of actors and actresses who we’ve known and loved—obviously Tracee Ellis Ross from “Girlfriends” and Malcolm Jamal Warner from “The Cosby Show”. But there’s also Anna Maria Horsford from “Amen” and Melissa DeSousa from “The Best Man”.
• And, of course, there’s that sexy, cool, English professor thing!

The Waltons of Oz

My daughter just walked in and saw me watching "The Wizard of Oz" and asked me why I was watching "The Waltons" with costumes.

Hilarious.

I Just Realized

I'm watching "Our America with Lisa Ling". She's exploring modern plural marriage. I just connected the dots and realized that this version of marriage includes not just one husband and several wives, but also wives who are married to each other as well as to their shared husband. This, of course, results in children who have more than one mother.

I wonder how conservative people in plural marriage deal with this weird parallel.


*Okay. I see that Ling acknowledges the link. A group of lesbian women is working with the women to help them with activism to keep the gov't out of both their bedrooms and marriages. Hmmm.

In Hair News

Twice recently black hair has shown up unexpectedly on television in interesting ways.

First, on "Reed Between the Lines" Traci Ellis-Ross and her head full of curlies tried to teach her TV daughter a lesson when the daughter straightens her hair. Initially, the straightening is about a role in a play; they give her a knotty wig to wear that looks terrible, so she decides to flat-iron her own hair instead of wearing the wig because the character is supposed to have long, flowing hair. But when her crush sees her and compliments her, she decides that she should wear it straight all the time. Ellis-Ross finds the daughter just before she applies a home relaxer and tries to get her to see the error of changing something she likes about herself in the name of pleasing some guy. Then a rather "Cosby Show"-esque skit ensues when both parents pretend to be a 1950s-ish June Cleaver, man-pleasing couple. The daughter's crush is over for dinner and seems to think this kind of man-catering is a great idea, at which point Malcolm Jamal Warner (just realized that these people have a lot of names--Anna Maria Horsford is on the show, too!) takes him into the kitchen to correct his ideas about gender. Eventually, the daughter just decides that she likes her hair and starts wearing it curly again, telling crush boy to like it or leave it. It was a surprising way to engage black women and hair. Hmmmm.

The second instance was even more surprising. Olivia on "The Waltons" (which my family has renamed "Mommy's favorite show!) is bent on making a change in her mundane, routined life. She settles on changing her hair and gets hooked up to one of those hair-curling monstrosities that you only see in books--with a thousand hooks and cords that descend from the ceiling and look like they would rip every hair out one-by-one. Unfortunately, she hates the permanent wave that results and her whole family laughs at her. So she goes over to Birdie's house because she's heard that her people know how to straighten curly hair. Well, Birdie laughs at her, too, and tells her that the women in her family don't know nothing 'bout straightening no hair because they've always worn it natural. I was pleased at the shout out for natural hair, even in the 1920s, and kind of glad that the one black person on Walton's mountain didn't end up, in this instance, simply serving the random needs of this family. But it was also kind of funny to me that Olivia seemed so desperate to learn the mysterious ways of black folks' hair.

As usual, I don't really have a take on these moments, but it's interesting to me that black women's hair is so pervasive an issue that it finds its way into stories all over the place.

Easy on the Small Screen

NBC is set to develop a new detective series based on Walter Mosley's character Easy Rawlins. This is exciting news.

I first met Easy in the movie Devil in a Blue Dress starring Denzel Washington. (It, too, is based on a Mosley novel of the same name.) Although I love Denzel, Don Cheadle stole the movie as Easy's sidekick Mouse.

I recently had my students read the novel which was actually my first time reading it as well. (Mouse does not steal the novel which leads me to say, Kudos, Don Cheadle!) It's a quick read and an intriguing story. I mean, it's a mystery novel. If you're looking for something not too heavy, but not that light, it's worth the read.

What concerns me about this series, however, are two things:

1. Non-comedic shows with black leads do not do well on broadcast television. I was so excited about NBC's Undercovers (who wouldn't be excited about Boris Kodjoe!), but, as I suspected it would, it went away. I worry how this will do.

2. It will be set in the 60's. Again, what's with the 60's nostalgia? I know, I know. The series takes place between the 1940's and 1960's. Maybe in this pro-60's era of television, this was the best time to propose this series? I don't know, but I raise an eyebrow to it.

Regardless, when it comes on, I'll watch.

Yesterday

This is what I don't get: what's with the nostalgia for the 60's? You have all this hubbub over The Help and before that there was Mad Men. Now, the Fall TV line-up includes Pan Am and The Playboy Club. The Nationalist scholar in me says this might be a backlash against Obama as president--a longing for a time when there was absolutely no chance for a black man to be the head of the PTA let alone be the POTUS. The Feminist scholar in me is suspicious of these portrayals of women in subjugated positions. Stewardess? (And I meant to use that word.) Playboy bunny? Th Gen Xer in me is just annoyed.

I remember a few years ago there was a sketch on MadTV about this 50's restaurant that had opened up. Four friends went to dine there, a white couple and a black couple. They all thought it was great with its rock and roll jukebox and the waitresses in poodle skirts. It was great until the black couple couldn't be served. They were directed to a sign on the wall that read "No coloreds." The clamor for these 60s-inspired shows seems similar. Just what is the nostalgia for?

I am open to the idea that these shows are just the result of the TV& Film industry's total lack of originality. But even if the intent is innocent,what will be the outcome? How will this nostalgia for the 60s shape our 21st century world?

Random

Is it just me, or are basic cable television shows suddenly using the "s" word left and right? I've heard it repeatedly on Lifetime's new show, "Against the Wall" and on TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles". Love the shows, but I'm not ready for the potty mouth. Cheese and crackers!

Cool and sexy--That's us

So, perhaps the universe wants to force me to watch BET.

Malcolm Jamal Warner and Tracee Ellis Ross (both of whom I heart) are starring in a new series. And get this--he play an English professor. I think he will make us look like a cool breed. And maybe sexy. But then, aren't English professors already cool and sexy? Yay!

And on a similar note

After my recent television watching weirdness, I've been totally mesmerized (anew) by "The Waltons"--now that's good TV. What a different image and public narrative about poverty and "work ethic" and family and community and compassion and even race (recently watched the episode when Pa defends the wrongly convicted black man). Good stuff.

I watch too much TV . . .

Is anyone watching "Dance Moms" on Lifetime???? OMG! What the heck?! I can hardly even describe the atrocious attitude of this dance "teacher". I've heard coaches, including dance teachers, yell at students. I've heard them push. I've heard Lydia Grant: "You want fame? Well fame costs . . . ." But the owner of this studio has more than once (I'm only on episode two) implied/stated that she feels like she is raising these children. And yet, she seems to have zero respect for the actual parents. She was annoyed because one of the moms tried to take her daughter, who'd been up since 6am and hadn't completed her homework yet, home before 9pm. After watching a teary scene in the parking lot, she said, "I don't know what all that was out there," but you need to get to tap class. Any input from the mothers ("the costume is too skimpy!" "the dance is too sexy!) is met with a "like it or screw yourself" response. Her goal, clearly, is to get them to Broadway. Whether or not they are whole or healthy or normal when (IF) they get there seem off the table. It's disturbing. The mothers seem to struggle with the weirdness of this strange world, but they also often speak in the plural when they talk about performances. I don't understand what the goal is for them. To have their daughters simply become great dancers? to have lucrative careers? to win competitions? I don't get why parents would do this much and spend this much money and time for a child who is nine years old. And, I think that there's something wrong with people who need to be famous. It's hard to watch. Maybe I won't anymore. Okay, I probably will. But it will be uncomfortable.

Even I know that

So, I'm confused. Justin Beiber (pause for applause) was on "The View" discussing his Twitter habits. About 10 times, he said something like, "when I twitter . . ." or "he sent out a twitter" and I thought, "Hmmm." Isn't "tweet" the correct terminology? I mean, I know that I'm old, but I try to keep up. Well, actually my students mock me when I get it wrong. As in, when I indignantly asked a student sitting right beside me and pressing buttons, "Are you TWITTERING????!!!!" She practically fell out of her chair laughing and the rest of the class joined her. "Professor." Laugh. Eyeroll. "It's tweeting, not twittering. OMG." More laughter.

So, there, Beiber. Get with it, man!

What I'm Watching

I'm sitting here watching Bill Maher's show from last week and wondering how in the world it is that TWO women are named Melissa Harris + hyphen. This woman looks a lot like her, I'm thinking. I was really astonished. (It's like the time when I was working the drive through at McDonald's and collected a customer's money. The person at the second window was busy, so I ran over to fill the order and handed it out to the guy. He looked at me with his eyes stretched wide, asking, "Do you know that the girl at the first window looks JUST like you? Are you twins????") Obviously, I lost track of her for a moment. Clearly, she's gotten married, changed her name, and moved to Tulane. I should pay better attention.

Also been watching "Sister Wives" and what the heck, state of Utah? Hearing them talk about police splitting of the family seems totally nuts to me. I still don't really get it. I understand that the father can be arrested, but how can they force them to move apart and not see each other? Do they enact some kind of restraining order preventing them from calling each other? How can they tell them who can live together? Or who can have contact? That's sooo wrong. I'm horrified for them.

Finally, I'm totally addicted to "Cold Case" which isn't even on the air anymore. Thank goodness for the DVR! This is a brilliant premise for a show and I love it. I also have a hair crush on Tracie Thoms.

Linking

I wanted to comment on this Common nonsense--which is all the more riDONculous because Common's name used to be Common Sense. But as usual, Jon Stewart says it far better I could, so check out this link.

Some Things Off My Chest (Not hair!)

I'm going to have to bullet point this, since I'm supposed to be grading, but man, I'm going to implode if I don't rant. So here goes:

• I'm watching the documentary about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I'm horrified. It highlights two important truths: the lives of women were clearly expendable (evidenced by the acquittal of the owners) and anybody who thinks that we should just rely on capitalism to protect the interest of anyone except business owners clearly thinks that it wasn't so bad to be trapped on the 9th floor of a building where workers were denied union protections and stuffed into overcrowded rooms with no sprinklers and few exits.



• That brings me to The Donald. I can hardly breathe because his EGO is taking up all the air. Seriously, dude? Let's start with "the blacks." As I might have mentioned before, I know lots of black folk. Perhaps with the exception of the people on Trump's show, I can't think of any who think he's great. Especially after that bassackward comment. News flash: people who use the phrase "the blacks" are no friends of the Negroes. And as for your "thoughts" on my President: I spit on your "thoughts". That's all I have to say about that. Wait, no. I also call BS on your academic "concerns"--there are enough smart and talented people of color that nobody has to pick the duds as so-called affirmative action babies. Nevertheless, can black folk finally have the right to be awesomely above average or perfectly average, just like white folk? Seriously. The people who are placing him at the top of polls must be the same people who are obsessed with the royal wedding. (Thanks GEW for giving me a nudge!--I'd love to hear what you think I'd say!)



• Okay, fine. Kate Middleton's dress was gorgeous. She looked like a full grown woman in love. A wedding gets me every time!

Okay. Now maybe I don't have to take this out on these research papers.

I must be raising her right . . .

The Babydoll just saw a diamond ring commercial on TV and whispered to The Hubby to ask if they could buy one for me.

Isn't she awesome?! Glad to see that somebody has got my back!