The Resistance Reads: Stamped From the Beginning

Stamped from the Beginning, a history of racism in America, has just won the 2016 National Book Award for non-fiction. I hope that means a paperback edition is coming soon because my usual "go-to" book buying option (used) isn't really working here as on Amazon, the used version is twice what a new copy of the hardcover is. (How does that even happen?) 

Ibram X. Kenny, an assistant professor of African-American history at the University of Florida, also wrote a history of The Black Campus Movement.

Susan Sarandon is not the enemy

First of all, she didn't vote for Trump. It's disappointing that she gave her vote to a vaxxer, but California is the bluest of blue states and voting her conscience in a blue state is an act without too many consequences.

Second of all, she has been an activist for a lot longer than the people who suddenly woke up to a Trump presidency and said, "Holy shit, maybe I should spend a little less money on pizza and donate something to the ACLU." (I include myself in that category. I've donated here, signed a petition there, voted my Democratic conscience, marched against the war--several different wars--but have never been a true activist until now.)

So leave Susan Sarandon alone. She is not the enemy. Steve Brannon is the enemy. Jeff Sessions is the enemy. Pick your battles. There's true evil out there.

A book just for fun--Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding

In Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, a freak sports accident sets in motion events that will profoundly affect five people at a small Wisconsin college. The story-telling is occasionally a little clumsy.  (The message seems to be, “You can’t always get what you want but if you try, sometimes, you just might get what you need.”) The writing though—it’s beautiful, with some of the metaphors just stunning. 

The Resistance Reads: Infamy by Richard Reeves

I have a friend who was interned in a camp during the war. She was a child but she still remembers it vividly. She has told me a little bit about that experience and I have tried to convince her to write about it, especially now when President-elect Trump's surrogates are citing the Japanese-American internment camps as proof that similar camps for Muslims will be "constitutional." The memories, she says, are too painful, so I do not press her.

I have visited the Manzanar "War Relocation Center" in California. It's a bleak place and haunted. (Some say it's actually haunted. But take a look at these photos of daily life there, originally published in the Huffington Post.

Infamy is a book you need to read.

#REPORTHATE

If you see a hate crime, report it. Report it locally and report it using this form at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The form is pretty specific--when did the incident take place? Where was it? (Place of work, place of worship, public park?). Even if you haven't seen a hate crime, check out their website. The SPLC has been fighting the good fight since forever and they're out there fighting it now. They have reported 400 incidents of "hateful harassment" since election day. That's 50 a day. That's unacceptable.

They don't just fight hate, they also fight for justice--social justice, economic justice. They're good guys and they could also use donations.

Free Science Fiction and Fantasy books

Instafreebie is at it again with a giveaway hosted by Dean F. Wilson. Check out all the goodies here.

30 Days of Etsy--Sweaty Wisdom

Sweaty Wisdom is a small Etsy shop run by Chris Emmer. You can find #girlboss and #feminist items for sale including this sassy mug for $16. (Because really, who can't use another mug? If only to leave it in the break room and blow people's minds.) Check out her shop here. You'll be suporting a woman-owned business.