Tuesday, February 07, 2006

And the count continues

This morning email rather blogs told me of another passing, Betty Berzon. I used to have a copy of Permanent Partners. I feel like the losses of late have been so huge, so powerful and leave such a gap that it scares me to think what the world will look like without these voices. My friend Ruth, Piccolo's mom (since I know a Ruthie and another Ruth I have to specify) spoke about deaths happening in groups, and that maybe it's time for these spirits to be reincarnated. That thought does give me some feelings of hope but we have so long to wait before those soul inhabit the earth again.

The Girl Friend fears that we don't have voices that are as strong to make up for the space these deaths leave. Sometimes I wonder if maybe if being in the middle of these times we don't recognize those folks who will be those voices in the future. I suppose that's the optimist in me. I read some of the great blogs out there and wonder if those folks, some of whom are currently anonymous right now, will turn into those voices. I wonder which writers and political power houses will stand the test of time. Obama? Once upon a time I had some hope for Hilary, but no longer.

Who are the writers and poets that inspire today? For me there is no substitute for Audre Lorde for example. The Girl Friend would offer up Dave Matthews, whose lyrics are truly great. Okay, tangent, the Superbowl half time show - The R*lling Stones????? WTF. I mean really. The Knitting Curmudgeon had a great quote about this today (Feb 6 if you read this later).

Another tangent, just saw a commerical for a CBS story on Louisana titled "Flooded and Forgotten". It's about healthcare down there. There's nowhere to go, the doctors are gone, etc. In stark contrast to yesterday's glowing announcement during the Bowl, that the Superdome would have it's first game September 24 2006. At the time I thought, great what about the housing situation, what about the 9th Ward. Do other countries use sports as the markers of success the way the united states does?

Who are today's voices? Where are the young, up and coming Corettas, Bettys, Gene McCarthys, Rosas, Martins, Wendys, Audres?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't see an Audre Lorde. bell hooks is still around - whatever happened to Marilyn Fry? You know, I read people like Bitch PhD, and I end up mad because academic feminism still hasn't caught up to working class women/single mothers. People like Maureen Dowd make me more irritated than affirmed or validated or whatever.

I had my own online-friend-turned-stalker a couple of years ago - it turned out that, before his current marriage (his poor wife) he lived with Catherine McKinnon. He called her "Kitty", the bastard.