on representation

I was going to write a long and thoughtful entry on representation in fiction and how Gail Simone, for instance, gets it right, and I will still write that entry, but I hit a point where I'm a little too angry to write it.

The thing is, representation is an important issue in more ways than in fiction, and tonight on Swedish television in a segment on Hassa Helal, the Saudi poet, there was a blatant example of Doing It Wrong. Very unfortunate: it was on a talk show I quite like (it's about literature). Even more unfortunate: it's not like this is an isolated uniquely Swedish issue.

Standard disclaimers apply: I'm very capable of being wrong, and please tell me if you think I am.

( see, it's very clear who is allowed the authority to speak )

the missing voice of the conversation

When making this entry on representation and voice last night, I asked if someone could find me a link to Hassa Helal reading her whole poem on the fatwa, the one that earned her death threats. delphinapterus found it for me. It has English subtitles, too. Worth watching. The translation is fairly awkward, but oh, do you ever get the gist of what she is saying.

Linked because I couldn't make embedding work.

I HAVE NO FOOD ICONS. TRAVESTY.

But double-posting is okay when one post is a very serious video and the other is minutiae about my life, right? I mean, I really couldn't combine them.

At any rate, I would like to tell you about the food I had today.

Breakfast: yoghurt, broken crackers as cereal, fresh strawberries.
Lunch: pasta, fresh spinach, avocado, beans, and a mustard/olive oil/apple cider vinegar dressing.
Snack: see picture under cut. Om nom nom.

( AMAZING )

But about food! I wish to know more about your food habits, flist.

( or perhaps I was just practicing making polls )