Acupuncture as Prevention

Acupuncture for me is all about prevention.  I go for monthly tune-ups to keep my chi flowing.  As those familiar with Chinese Medicine know, if energy isn't blocked, illness doesn't occur.  Our society is big on detection--which means we're trying to find disease that has already set in-- but we should put a whole lot more emphasis on prevention.  The goal is not to have dis-ease.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

I haven't read Alice Hoffman's new book The Dovekeepers, but I will after reading the review of it in the New York Times on October 23.  The review, written by Sarah Fay, wasn't a good review, and that's one reason I want to read it.  But what really made me want to read it is this: "Hoffman reminds us that she is neither a historian nor a religious scholar and declares that the novel is meant to 'give voice' to the women who participated in the Jewish struggle, whose stories 'have often gone unwritten.'"  There have been many women characters throughout literature, but throughout most of literature these women characters were written by men, and some of those men have written well.  However, there are some things that simply wouldn't occur to most men who are writers writing from a woman's point of view. There's a lot we haven't heard from women characters; there are many stories that have gone unwritten.

Changing course a bit:  I'm sensitive to unflattering book reviews. What does it mean when a book blogger, and not a professional critic, writes that a novel is "okay"?  (Besides indicating the very amateurishness of the book reviewer?) Okay is neither good nor bad, and I'm supposing that the reviewer either couldn't figure out what to say, or she decided to be polite. I'm in the process of learning about the book blogging world, but what should I realistically expect when a book blogger lists as her favorite  genres: paranormal, fantasy, romance, chick lit, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and mysteries/thrillers?  Is it a mistake to solicit her review when I'm not sure exactly how a novel fits into her reading preferences?  (Probably) The only possible category of the blogger's that my novel could fall under is contemporary fiction.  But what does that mean when, according to Amazon, Nicholas Sparks' books fall into that category?

Changing direction again:  Here is some shameless self-promotion:  Momentary Mother by yours truly is a novel that gives voice to women whose stories are seldom written, and it gives a name to a common experience that has no name.

Update on November 6:  The Dovekeepers has been on many best seller lists for several weeks now, even with the lousy NYT review.  Hooray!

Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Just spreading the word about the Geena Davis Institute.  What is it?  Read below.  It's from their "about" page:


What is the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media?

Founded in 2004 by Academy Award®-winning actor and advocate Geena Davis, the Institute and its programming arm, See Jane, are at the forefront of changing female portrayals and gender stereotypes in children's media and entertainment. The Institute is uniquely positioned to spotlight gender inequalities at every media and entertainment company through cutting-edge research, education, training, strategic guidance and advocacy programs. Our mission is to work within the entertainment industry to dramatically alter how girls and women are reflected in media.

Why Did Geena Davis Create the Institute and See Jane?

While watching children's entertainment with her young daughter, Geena Davis was astounded by the dearth of female characters. Fueled to take action, she commissioned the largest research project on gender in film and television ever undertaken, conducted by Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. The research confirmed the disparity she observed: in family films, there is only one female character for every three male characters. In group scenes, only 17% of the characters are female. The repetitive viewing patterns of children ensure that these negative stereotypes are ingrained and imprinted over and over.


What Type of Work Does the Institute Do?

The Institute is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment industry to engage, educate, and influence the need for gender balance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters for entertainment targeting children 11 and under. We have amassed the largest body of research on gender prevalence in entertainment, which spans more than 20 years. Our biennial symposium is the only event convening over 300 decision makers, content creators, and thought leaders to share best practices and create a blueprint towards establishing a gender-balanced media landscape.

Our three-tiered approach of research, education and advocacy has brought the Institute to leading media and entertainment companies, organizations, educational institutions and multinational companies such as the United Nations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center, the Wall Street Journal Women in the Economy Task Force and many others. The Institute's research studies are frequently quoted in major media outlets including the The New York Times, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and MSNBC.

How the Institute is Making an Impact

• The Institute has amassed the largest body of research on gender prevalence in entertainment, which spans more than 20 years. Our research findings are in high demand by companies, NGOs and organizations interested in the empowerment of women and girls, leadership and entrepreneurship.
• The Institute is the go-to resource and thought leader on gender in media. We have effected change at major networks, studios, production companies, guilds and agencies. Our SmartBrief newsletter publishes breaking news, trends, research and insights on Gender in Media from around the world.
• The biennial Geena Davis Institute Symposium on Gender in Media convenes over 300 entertainment industry decision makers, thought leaders and content creators to work toward improving gender equality in children's media. In a survey following the December 2010 Second Symposium on Gender in Media, more than 90% of attendees stated that the information they learned will influence how they perceive gender balance and stereotypes in their work, and 98% will share and utilize our research findings with their peers and in their companies.
• The Institute continues to work on inspiring and sensitizing the next generation of content creators to focus on gender and equality in children's media through its partnerships with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences College Television Awards, student filmmakers through our "Guess Who" educational video series, and our educational outreach to middle school students through the Sarasota Film Festival.

http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org/about/

Wonderful World of Disney

A Disney cruise ship blasting "When You Wish Upon a Star" passed through the neighborhood today:

Homeland on Showtime

After giving this series a try, I've decided that yes, indeed, it's boring.  It's been boring since the first episode, but I was hoping it would get better.  Why was I hoping this?  Oh, I dunno.  But it hasn't gotten better.  The conflicts are amazingly uninteresting, and the characters aren't complicated.  RIP.

Xena

A friend for Serena:

Isn't it Romantic? Part 2

As I said in my post on September 18, I was curious about the popularity of romance novels.  I read Janice Radway's Reading the Romance hoping to find some answers.

I imagine that some of Radway's conclusions might be different today given that her book was published in 1984.  (I think there was a revised edition in the early 90s.)  Nonetheless, I came away thinking that some (maybe many) women are very unsatisfied with their lives though they might not say so, and in order to find some kind of fulfillment and enjoyment, albeit temporary, they turn to romance novels.

What I find troublesome is that though these readers of romance novels find their lives somewhat unsatisfying, they persist in believing that they can find satisfaction in precisely what is making their lives somewhat unsatisfying.  What I mean is: these women believe that men can fulfill their needs exactly how these women want to be fulfilled. And what are those needs? They want to be nurtured.  That sounds reasonable; however, they want men to be nurturing in a specific way. What to make of this?

Radway calls romance novels compensatory fiction.  It is called this "because the act of reading them fulfills certain basic psychological needs for women that have been induced by culture and its social structures but that often remain unmet in day-to-day existence as the result of the concomitant restrictions on female activity." Radway further states that romance reading compensates women in two ways:

1.  "It provides vicarious emotional nurturance by prompting identification between the reader and a fictional heroine whose identity as a woman is always confirmed by the romantic and sexual attentions of an ideal male."

2.  "It fills a woman's mental world with the varied details of simulated travel and permits her to converse imaginatively with adults from a broad spectrum of social space.  Moreover, the world-creating and instructional functions of romances provide the woman who believes in the value of individual achievement with the opportunity to feel that education has not ceased for her nor has the capacity to succeed in culturally approved terms been erased by her acceptance of the less-valued domestic roles."

I believe more women are receiving the formal education they desire, and more women are traveling by themselves or with other women.  So perhaps that second way romance reading is compensatory is not as popular as it once was.  But it's that first way that romance reading is compensatory that is disturbing, and not because I don't want women to feel nurtured, but because I wonder how realistic it is to believe that men are capable of being the type of nurturer that many women desire.

It's also puzzling that in the world of romance novels, patriarchy is so supportive of women's desire for independence.  "In the utopia of romance fiction, [female] 'independence' and a secure individual 'identity' are never compromised by the paternalistic care and protection of the male."  But then again, "the romance fantasy is not a fantasy about discovering a uniquely interesting life partner, but a ritual wish to be cared for, loved, and validated in a particular way."  Put another way, "all popular romantic fiction originates in the failure of patriarchal culture to satisfy its female members.  Consequently, the romance functions always as a utopian wish-fulfillment fantasy through which women try to imagine themselves as they often are not in day-to-day existence, that is, as happy and content."

Radway also found within her sample of women who engage in repetitive romance consumption that "their favorite romances continue to advance the ideology of romantic love, insisting thereby that marriage between a man and a woman is not an economic or social necessity or a purely sexual affiliation but an emotional bond freely forged."  (N.B.  Even Sarah Palin has admitted that marriage is a business contract.)

Radway concludes that "this literary form reaffirms its founding culture's belief that women are valuable not for their unique personalities but for their biological sameness and their ability to perform that essential role of maintaining and reconstituting others."

Now I understand a bit better why my grandmother repetitively consumed romance novels.  Yes, her unhappiness with her day-to-day life had a lot to do with it, and because of the year she was born and that she was born to immigrants with little education, I believe she was caught.  Romance novels were indeed an escape.

Baseball, Apple Pie, Chevrolet, and Steve Jobs

From Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement address:

"Death is very likely the single best invention of life.  It is life's change agent."

"The benefit of death is you know not to waste life living someone else's choices."

"Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do," Steve Jobs told Stanford grads in 2005. "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."