Ron Silliman's review of Barbara Jane's Poeta en San Francisco... quite a revelation. The Chatelaine blogs about the ensuing discussion, and it was quite interesting to read those choice ilocano expressions .
Leny's post regarding the discussion places a finger on the sore spot and the reason for the racist comments after the review. Now, I am waiting for the rest of that blog entry as Leny ended it by saying to Barb..."more later".
Yesterday, this subject of how racist people feel threatened when a person of race is in the spotlight was a topic of conversation too between myself and a good friend. How, in this place that was once considered the most tolerant country in the Western World, tolerance has given way to hostility, racism and prejudice.
Reading Poeta en San Francisco, I can't help but applaud the courage of the poet. Barbara Jane Reyes, mabuhay ka!
Leny's post regarding the discussion places a finger on the sore spot and the reason for the racist comments after the review. Now, I am waiting for the rest of that blog entry as Leny ended it by saying to Barb..."more later".
Yesterday, this subject of how racist people feel threatened when a person of race is in the spotlight was a topic of conversation too between myself and a good friend. How, in this place that was once considered the most tolerant country in the Western World, tolerance has given way to hostility, racism and prejudice.
Reading Poeta en San Francisco, I can't help but applaud the courage of the poet. Barbara Jane Reyes, mabuhay ka!
posted by rcloenen-ruiz at 2:39 AM
1 Comments:
salamat, rochita, for making your thoughts public :-) this is the thing i think warrants much discussion: the fact that we are making a place within the institution of american literature. the fact that the place we are making for ourselves is not in the margins-peripheries. i believe much of this unintelligent backlash, even (especially) for those who refuse to read much less engage the work is because they simply will not accept the fact of our prominent place within *their* institution, esp. when they believe themselves to be so marginalized.
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