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limejuicer1862 · 5 years ago

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Sarah Westcott

Sarah Westcott’s first poetry collection Slant Light was published by Pavilion Poetry, an imprint of Liverpool University Press, in 2016. A poem from the book was Highly Commended in the 2017 Forward Prizes. Her debut pamphlet Inklings, published by Flipped Eye, was a winner of the Venture Poetry Award and the Poetry Book Society’s Pamphlet Choice for Winter 2013.

Sarah’s poems have appeared in magazines including Poetry Review, POEM, Magma and Butcher’s Dog, on beermats, billboards and the side of buses, and in anthologies including Best British Poetry and The Forward Book of Poetry.

She was a poet-in-residence at the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve in London in 2015 and Manchester Cathedral poet of the year in 2016. She won first place in The London Magazine poetry prize in 2017 and the Poets and Players competition in 2018. Sarah grew up on the edge of Exmoor, lives on the London/Kent borders with her family and works as a freelance writer after twenty years as a Fleet Street news reporter. She has a science degree and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Sarah has run poetry workshops at schools and for the Second Light Network for women poets, and in 2019 starts work as a poetry tutor for City Lit in Covent Garden. She is an experienced and sensitive editor and offers a professional manuscript critique service for writers ranging from their first pamphlet to a full collection.

Website: https://www.sarahwestcott.co.uk

The Interview

When and why did you start writing poetry?

I had always written and doodled in notebooks and in my head as a child and teenager but I didn’t start taking any notice of it until my children were young and I was in my early thirties. I felt like something was ‘missing’ but I couldn’t put my finger on it. ~then I realised it was, without sounding pretentious, my creativity. I needed to access that part of myself. I only studied English up to GCSE level (although I kept on reading). I took an introductory OU course in poetry and another on short fiction – they were only about three months long. It was one of those light-bulb moments – you could say poetry ‘found me’. I remember going to see Jackie Kay read aloud in a church in London and I was in awe of seeing a real poet in the flesh, reading their work. She was captivating. That was the beginning of my poetry journey

1.1. What was it about Jackie Kay’s performance that had you “in awe”?

I think I had thought, maybe subconsciously, that all poets were old white men, and often dead, and almost not real. But here was a real woman with a beautiful voice speaking her poems to a packed church and suddenly poetry was accessible to someone like me.. I think I was in awe because she was able to captivate the entire audience through her voice and her words – no special equipment or anything – just her living voice and that was the first time I had heard a real poet reach people like that.

2. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

I was aware of a canon of mostly dead white men and I knew I was ignorant when it came to understanding their poetry because I stopped studying English after GCSE. It felt like these poems were full of riddles or literary allusions that I had no chance of ‘getting’. I still feel a little like that now. I think it is partly to do with the type of education you have and mine was at a comprehensive school where my abiding memories of English were marking each others’ spelling tests. I had read a little Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin and some of the war poets at school but not really any women apart from Sylvia Plath. I used to dip into an anthology called Palgrave’s Golden Treasury when I was bored at work in my twenties and I loved Gerard Manley Hopkins. But I didn’t really know any modern women poets and once I began reading them – Gillian Clark for example, a whole world opened up. I loved it that she wrote about domesticity, for example – I remember reading her poem The Sundial in which she starts by writing about a sick child and it was so heartening that women were writing about this sort of thing. These revelations were only about 12 years ago which shows how quickly things have changed.

3. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have one as I have a lot of caring responsibilities at the moment and I’m learning on the job as poetry tutor as well. But what I do try and do is find the time to read a little bit every day. I make sure I write into my notebook at least once a week when my three-year-old is asleep or at nursery. I often start with a free write or I might even just take my notebook out with me when I walk the dog and treat it like a ‘field trip’. I love doing this. I try and make the most of any time I have by getting something down – it doesn’t matter if it is rubbish or not. Sometimes 20 mins is enough, especially if it something I have ben thinking about for a while. Then I have something to work with. If I don’t read and write I start to feel restless and sad. I actually find having very little time very helpful in that I dont waste it procrastinating – I just sit down and write. Likewise, train journeys are a blessing as long as I have a seat and something to write with!

5. What motivates you to write?

I am motivated by being alive – to capture something of the extraordinary quality of being a sentient being and then to connect with others – I am also motivated by observing and being curious. I love the euphoric feeling of making or creating something new from words, something that is both idea and music, that has not been made before and which reaches to other humans. If someone responds to a poem you have written it is a wonderful feeling. I am also motivated, perhaps weirdly, to leave something behind of me when I am gone. I am increasingly driven to write about the climate crisis too. I feel you cannot write without writing of it, somehow – it is a grave backdrop to everything.

6. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I think it is more a subconscious influence – a lot of the stories I read when young seeped in and helped form me. I loved Judy Blume – her stories had a lot of darkness and humanity in them. Likewise the Chronicles of Narnia. I think they all go towards making up your psyche and also the richness of the place you draw from when you write. My dad used to read me Robert Louis Stevenson verses when I was young and their imaginative flight definitely stayed with me – that sense of possibility and play.

Maggie Smith said she was given the advice ‘write what scares you’ very early on. I spent a lot of time being terrified by what I read – I remember being terrified of witches and also reading the end of 1984 and understanding that Winston had figuratively died – I remember his gin-soaked tears. I think that writing and reading is a way of facing that existential terror within yourself because there is no where to hide – you are facing hard truths.

7. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

SO much extraordinary and powerful and important work is being made at the moment. I keep a tally of the books I read each year and put a heart by the ones that affected me most. In the last few months for me, Max Porter for his hybridity and linguistic verve, Ilya Kaminsky, Fiona Benson (her fierce and tender poems) . I also loved Sean Hewitt’s Lantern and I love the way Alice Oswald listens in to the natural world..

8. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

How do you become a writer? I love Mary Oliver’s dictum “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” I think we are all writers – stay curious, observe and read. When you are ready, come to a blank page with all your senses open and do not be afraid to just write. Like running, one foot in front of another. One word after another. I find free writing really helpful. Or writing letters. Anything that connects the subconscious mind with the hand on the page, or whatever works for you. Editing uses a different part of the brain. Do not worry about getting an audience or being published. Just write with your heart open.

9. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I am working towards my second collection with Pavilion poetry – there seem to be some poems exploring our relationship with trees and flowers and trying to have a conversation with the natural world. I feel like I am in the realm of Keat’s negative capability – that is, not knowing or being capable of mysteries. It’s quite exciting – the book is quietly forming and re-forming. There’s a sense of ripping up my old way of writing and beginning again, also of taking as long as it will take. I’m lucky to be part of a workshop group called Nevada Street Poets and we are celebrating our tenth anniversary this year and putting together a collection of essays . Mine is on looking .

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Sarah Westcott Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

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intersectionality-stuff-blog · 8 years ago

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Giovanni Barrella

Sharon Marshall

3/27/17

FYW-1000c-505

13 Ways of Looking at Intersectionality, A Numbered Multimodal Multi-Genre Research Composition

Tell a story

It was a hot summer in New York and Chrystel, fresh out of college, is looking for work. She needed the work because she’s attending graduate school and needs the money to pay for tuition, She is trying to get her masters in finance. Majoring and even mastering in finance is a risky move. Why? Because America is a white supremacy and the business world is not only a predominately white world (The Black Man’s Guide to Working in a White Man’s World, Lamay Lathan) it is also male dominated. We all know from today’s economy how hard it is to get a job. How is this a problem? Well Chrystel is a colored woman, meaning she is a double minority which further increases the odds of being against her. However, it wasn’t impossible, just really difficult. That didn’t stop her, she believed she was more than qualified. She just graduated from McGill University, one of the top three universities in Canada, with an outstanding 4.0 GPA. Chrystel also had experience from her internship, working as consultant and analyst at Rio Tinto, which is a British-Australian multinational and one of the world's largest metals and mining corporations. She was brimming with confidence that she would get offers in New York. She took a leap of faith and landed face first. Companies were reluctant on giving her offers and when she did get one, the pay-grade was not up to par with what of her contemporaries. You would think with such an impressive resume that companies would line up. Doubt started to consume her. Maybe She had to go back to Canada where she studied, which she disliked to the heavy winter seasons or give up her dream all-together and return to homeland known as Haiti and rot there. She decided to try one last time, hoping all that hard work was not in vain. Chrystel later went to this company called Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs interviewed her and welcomed her with open arms. She is now currently living the dream, making money and living that gentrified life in Brooklyn.

Write and extend an analogy or metaphor

Intersectionality is like that one dorky kid you would never had given a chance to prove himself. Like that dorky kid, he is a person who is afflicted with many things that society would classify as weird and “unnatural”. Let’s not forget that the person is in fact a person and we should judge his ability or capability just from his appearance. Who are you to say whether or not that the dorky kid is unable to fit in with the rest of the world. Instead of helping him and improve, society shuns him and puts him in a corner, not even thinking of the possibility of giving him a chance because they deem him/her beneath them. They are so many preconceptions that people make and that leads to make the wrong decisions. You have no idea what that so called dork could offer to the world. Don’t belittle him because he looks and sounds different, embrace him and try to understand him and his point of view. By humbling yourself and give that person a chance you in turn will grow in mature into a fine human being. By ignoring the dork, you will breed hate and contempt. It is not his/ her fault that no one is willing to look at and notice him, so that person is left with two options. Either to stay in that corner and hate himself for having characteristics that society deems unworthy, or he has to give up his nerdy ways and become what society deems normal and natural. The answer should be neither, we, as society must accept the person as is.

1. FACTS, STATISTICS, MEDIA

http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/10/04/issues-vs-identities-whats-better-for-progressive-social-change/

https://www.pinterest.com/djacademe/intersectionality-race-class-gender-etc/

Signs

Journal of Women in Culture and Society

By Leslie McCall

Guerrilla Girls: Estrogen Bombing - Yoko Ono's Meltdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYnTO5eed8U

Intersectionality | Social Inequality | MCAT | Khan Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2kUpKP18z8

Kimberlé Crenshaw:

The urgency of intersectionality

https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality

http://www.aauw.org/2014/04/03/race-and-the-gender-wage-gap/

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Netroots Radio After Show — #EqualPay, the #Oscars, & Intersectionality — (02/24/15)

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Quotes:

“My grandmother and my two aunts were an exhibition in resilience and resourcefulness and black womanhood. They rarely talked about the unfairness of the world with the words that I use now with my social justice friends, words like "intersectionality" and "equality", "oppression", and "discrimination". They didn't discuss those things because they were too busy living it, navigating it, surviving it.” ― Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

Janet Mock is an American writer, TV host, transgender rights activist, author of the New York Times bestseller Redefining Realness, contributing editor for Marie Claire, and former staff editor of People magazine's website.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/intersectionality

“The main point about civility is...the ability to interact with strangers without holding their strangeness against them and without pressing them to surrender it or to renounce some or all the traits that have made them strangers in the first place.” ― Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity

Zygmunt Bauman was one of the world's most eminent social theorists writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/intersectionality

5 Reasons Intersectionality Matters, Because Feminism Cannot Be Inclusive Without It

https://www.bustle.com/articles/117968-5-reasons-intersectionality-matters-because-feminism-cannot-be-inclusive-without-it

Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

http://theconversation.com/intersectionality-how-gender-interacts-with-other-social-identities-to-shape-bias-53724

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

For those who do not know, identity categories such as gender and race are more than often conflated. Due to these combination, it is easier to marginalize those who don’t follow the restrictions or confines of the most influential group. We as a society often ignore intragroup differences and this ignorance bolsters the margination of minorities, especially women of color. By overlooking these differences, it creates tension between the groups. In Kimberle Crenshaw’s paper, “Mapping the Margins of Intersectionality”, she explores and exposes this intersectionality by analyzing cases that involves women of color. Crenshaw makes the case that race and gender intersects” Concerns of minority women fall into the void between concerns about women’s issues and concerns about racism” (1282). The representation of women of color in our society demands to be closely analyzed through “representational intersectionality”. Crenshaw gave the example of the 2 Live Crew and their prosecution for obscenity. Although the people who were against the actions of the rap group had their fair criticism, Crenshaw took another perspective and focuses on the tolerance of violence against women of color. Crenshaw found it weird that the 2 Live Crew were prosecuted for obscenity because many other popular rap groups were doing the similar things. She considered that 2 live Crew being an all-black recording group played a role for them being the first recording group to be prosecuted. She proved her point by giving examples of other popular artists and groups such as Madonna, and she was ignored by prosecution. However, here lies the problem; In all this mess, the interest of the black women that were used for the performance were ignored. Since women of color are portrayed as self-objectifying, the images of the performers were used to leverage the prosecution case. Crenshaw was very analytical during her entire piece, amazing how she suppressed her emotions. She gives clear examples and sends a dagger to conclude her points. Truly a brilliant mind capable of bringing a social revolution. "At this point in history, a strong case can be made that the most critical resistance strategy for disempowered groups is to occupy and defend a politics of social location rather than to vacate and destroy it" (1297).

VISUAL ANALYSIS

This image by everyday feminism demonstrates how blind society is to intersectionality, including fellow feminists. The image is supposed to promote awareness and proving that intersectionality exists and is an issue. The image starts with an argument between a genuinely concerned male who wonders why the movement is called Feminism rather than equalist or humanist and two feminists proving their point on why the movement is indeed called so. Later, after winning the argument, since women always win those, we see the white feminist being oblivious of the problems of her fellow black feminist. She asks her, presumably, friend, why should there be a black feminism. The white woman fails to see the disadvantage of not only being a woman but also being a black woman (lowering her chances of equal pay and employment). This satire image pokes fun at people who are oblivious to the problem and shows a simple example of intersectionality. The image would be well received by those affected by the problem, mostly women of color and empowers them. The other party, those being oblivious, could enjoy the satire to some extent; willing that they have the sense of humor to do so. Since the image is just there to poke fun, I do believe it is a positive image overall. I don’t think, in my opinion, it disempowers the other party. The conclusion that I came to was that, it’s easy to feign ignorance of the effects of overlapping factors that would negatively affect people.

It is easy to feign ignorance of the effects of overlapping factors that would negatively affect people’s daily lives. Most people act on self-interest, therefore, they are oblivious to problems occurring in plain sight. The image may be in fun and games, however, this is a real and serious issue that everyone turns a blind eye. Ignorance creates a negative atmosphere, because you may harm people without even knowing. The white feminist from the image is an example of it, she fails to be aware of her friend’s disadvantages. Intersectionality disempowers people, it makes their problems invisible to the public. It’s a cruel injustice because first of all unless you experience similar problems you won’t be able to relate. Second, because of so many different factors working against the affected, it is almost impossible to solve it yet alone deal with it in a day to day basis. Third, the factors that contribute to intersectionality were implemented by society. It is deep rooted in our society, meaning it’s harder to deal with. Intersectionality doesn’t care who it affects (unless you are filthy rich), It will hit minorities of all ages including homosexuals and I daresay trans-genders.

Compare and Contrast

Intersectionality is a touchy subject with people having various stances and views on the subject. Some give praise to Kimberle Crenshaw for exposing this so called invisible problem and deem her as an activist hero. According to Noah Wingard, he believes that intersectionality is indeed real and was more evident during the women’s march against Trump “Despite the success for the protest gaining significant visibility for women’s rights issues, many were conflicted over the lack of representation for pro-life women, women of color, LGBT women, and other groups that have significance in women’s rights issues” (Why intersectionality in modern civil rights struggles is failing). He explained that intersectionality played a role in the dissatisfaction of most activists. Saying how the marches failed to represent the issues most of these people face. some downright shut her down saying that the theory of intersectionality destroys the progress that the progressive movement have made. According to Jinna Ziller, she believes that intersectionality does not solve social problems such as racism or sexism, rather it perpetuates it “White or male should NOT translate to privileged because that IS RACISM and SEXISM. It is not different from what was done in the past, just because it is a new group being discriminated against doesn’t make it okay, it doesn’t make it not racism” (Women Against Feminism). Ziller believes that intersectionality is the new racism and sexism. She argues that intersectionality promotes infighting between feminist groups. It’s amazing to see how each opinion is an extreme, are for or against. There is no sweet spot.

Create an original mind map for your issue

EXPERT OPINION

Before I even begin on the analysis, I will write down reasons why I chose this source and why I consider important. The scholar I used for this piece is Ange-Marie Hancock and the topic is on her book, Intersectionality: An Intellectual History. Ange-Marie Hancock graduated from Yale University and has wrote the award winning The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,”. She is also a globally recognized scholar on the study of Intersectionality. In her book, Intersectionality: An Intellectual History, Hancock identifies two ways that intersectionality works. One as in "an inclusionary project designed to remedy specific instances of intersectional stigma or invisibility" (34) and the other as "an analytical project designed to reshape how categories of difference are conceptually related to each other" (34). Hancock tackled on “The Activist Roots of Intersectionality," where she revealed the "multiple and overlapping movements to end violence against women" and their mobilizations of intersectional logics. She also believed that History had a tremendous effect on shaping intersectionality. In which she says "We Are Named by Others and We Are Named by Ourselves", this means that Hancock believes that history has a relationship and is conjunction with intersectionality through social constructivism. This leads her to her conclusion that historical power led to intersectionality. How society continues to avoid and forget these problems (intersectionality) which further gives power to the problem. Which further gives proof to my point that ignorance is bliss.

RESEARCH QUESTION DIALOGUE

o Research Question: How come people are blind to Intersectionality?

Gio: before you answer my research question, what is intersectionality?

Sources: Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Gio: Who came up with the term intersectionality and who is this person?

Sources: The term was first coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, Crenshaw is an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of the field known as critical race theory.

Gio: why do we use intersectionality, what are the benefits?

Sources: When applied effectively, intersectionality is a powerful tool for analyzing and addressing rights violations. Using it to guide our thinking and work means we have to move away from single- Utilizing an intersectional approach means the difference between saving lives and further worsening people’s experiences of discrimination.

Gio: Since intersectionality is the creation of overlapping systems of discrimination, it’s safe to say that only minorities are affected?

Sources: Yes, because the theory of Intersectionality is based on the concept that oppressive institutions within a society, such as racism, ageism, sexism, and homophobia.

Gio: I see, so minorities experience intersectionality in their daily lives without even knowing. This must certainly happen in the workforce right?

Sources: Take a black men’s experiences in professional occupations for instance, they reap some benefits as males in male-dominated professions, but experience challenges as racial minorities.

Gio: I saw you use black men as in an example, usually when I research about intersectionality it’s mostly about women of color, can you explain why?

Sources: Well, because women are treated unequal in the first place; they are treated more poorly when it’s a woman of color. Consider it a double minority.

Gio: All right, then explain to me How does social context influence our perceptions of race, class, and gender?

Sources: How we think, discuss, or see things when it comes race, class, and gender depends on our experiences. Recently, Penner and Saperstein find that survey interviewers sometimes classify the same person in a different racial group over time, depending on their other social statuses. Women are more likely to be reported as Black if they have received welfare. Having been incarcerated makes men more likely to be perceived as Black, but a suburban residence leads interviewers to identify people as white.

Gio: Ok since intersectionality has discrimination as a basis, how does discrimination work?

Sources: Discrimination is not simply about race or gender or class. racial discrimination against Blacks also has gender-specific components that affect Black women but not Black men and vice versa.

Gio: from what I have gathered, intersectionality also affects minorities of all ages? If so how do they experience it?

Sources: Sociologists using intersectionality have recently focused on age. Women are more concerned about looking old than men are; lesbians and Black women are less concerned than straight White women.

Gio: You mentioned lesbians in that last answer. Care to tell me how does sexuality relates to home, work, and family?

Sources: In the United States, we’ve witnessed increasing support for members of the LGBT community to have basic human rights. Intersectional approaches remind us that members of the LGBT community face pressures associated with their race, class, and gender identities. rurality, gender, and sexuality converge to privilege masculine performances of sexuality over feminine ones for White gays and lesbians. Participants talk about effeminate gay men not being compatible with rurality while more masculine lesbians are more likely to fit in.

Gio: I see, so there should be an appeal toward intersectionality if everyone is involved?

Sources: Intersectionality encourages researchers, policy makers and social change leaders to Move beyond single identities or group-specific concerns, which are ineffective in explaining the nuances of human lives; in this way, important information about the unfair impacts of politics and policies is less likely to ‘fall through the cracks.’

Gio: intersectionality, unlike other approaches, intersectionality is uniquely positioned to interrogate and understand human differences. Can you explain how Intersectionality differs from most approaches?

Sources: The intersectionality approach explicitly focuses on the relationships between factors and mutually constructed processes that create difference. As the examples at the end of this primer demonstrate, this allows for the generation of new and arguably more accurate information about any kind of problem or issue.

Gio: If society comes to terms with intersectionality, what would be the benefit in adding it into policy?

Sources: Just as important as understanding what intersectionality is, and the principles that can inform an intersectionality-informed stance, is to demonstrate

what intersectionality does. In the appendices of this primer, there are resources

for those seeking to begin the process of understanding how to think about and apply intersectionality in research (Appendix A), policy (Appendix B), activism (Appendix C) and education (Appendix D). The examples below briefly describe the potential of intersectionality to transform three important issues of policy.

Gio: Since intersectionality is a touchy issue, who benefits from this?

Sources: The correct question wouldn’t be who benefits but how can we use intersectionality to our advantage.

Gio: Would you care to tell me of those advantages then?

Sources: The use of intersectionality will allow us to not only use one standpoint but also view things on a wider scale to make sure we don’t miss any cracks.

Gio: some say that intersectionality leads to infighting between groups, feminist groups in particular. Is there a reason why?

Sources: Yes, indeed, intersectionality does lead to some infighting between women in such groups. There have been many reports in which the groups fought amongst each other due to tension between them.

Gio: You mentioned tension. Can you elaborate on what causes such tension?

Sources: The tension would surely rise from not only the mention of intersectionality but also due to lack of awareness the women have for their fellow feminists.

Gio: I find it amazing that there would actually be ignorance between women striving to achieve equality for their gender and yet they fail to realize the disadvantages of their peers. Why is that? Sources: Well it is easy to feign ignorance when a problem directly does not affects you. Since they cannot experience the problem it is therefore become invisible to them.

Gio: How can we promote awareness for people afflicted with intersectionality?

Sources: The basic response would be to talk about it with your peers, however, that would only solve your problem and not society’s. To promote awareness would not only involve events but also demand change in the social structure of society.

Gio: The world would definitely be a better place if society has this awareness of intersectionality, wouldn’t it?

Sources: Yes, it would. However, that would be a difficult task. Solving intersectionality would also mean to solve discrimination which is a hard task by itself. It is not impossible but it is difficult task to pursue.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW, OR WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO SAY?

What I’m thinking right now is as a man how can I contribute to help women of color who are afflicted by intersectionality. You have to remember that all minorities such as blacks, members of the LGBT community and other minorities are affected by intersectionality. However, intersectionality mostly affects women of color due to many social constructs. Another thing is that why can’t people who are oppressed work together to achieve equality. We all experience one form of intersectionality one way or another, why can’t we use intersectionality to our advantage. Those in power won’t help because solving intersectionality would be to be on equal terms with them, and they wouldn’t like that. I believe that the only way for me to help since I don’t have any government power is to use my platform such as social media to advocate for those who don’t have one. I should listen more to unprivileged groups even when they are criticizing my own. This one may be a hard one, I have to be conscious of my pronouns and other gendered language. I have to also examine my use of metaphors so that I don’t offend anyone.

CONCLUSION

After all my research, I have received enough information to answer my research question which was why do people turn a blind eye to intersectionality? The answer was quite simple, nothing more than a couple of clicks on google couldn’t solve. Apparently, the reason why people tend to ignore intersectionality or even criticize is simply because it causes tension between people. It is just like racism if not worst, because like racism the opposing party will not able to empathize with the one affected. It is different than racism because unlike racism it is not only about skin color but other overlapping factors that seem invisible but has devastating effect. Intersectionality does lead to many infighting, particularly between feminist groups. Due to those that feel marginalized within those groups, it creates fear and tension towards the white women. Many reports of straight-white females had left marches because they felt like they feel like they aren’t marginalized enough to be part of the group. Therefore, they ignore it and pretend it isn’t there. Because of intersectionality, white women feel like they need to “check their privileges”, which creates discomfort. Since humans dislike discomfort we turn a blind eye to it rather to solve it. Intersectionality is not saying that one oppressed group is better than any group. Rather, it is saying that oppressed person is a person too and deserves the same and equal treatment offered by the constitution and not fall between the cracks and plot holes of intersectionality. I do believe if we embrace the concept, we will certainly revolutionize society and bring forth change. You have to start from the ground up for this revolution.

Works Cited

Black feminism and intersectionality | International Socialist Review

Sharon Smith

http://isreview.org/issue/91/black-feminism-and-intersectionality

Bustle

Suzannah Weiss

https://www.bustle.com/articles/119061-6-ways-to-be-a-more-intersectional-feminist-beca

Contexts Quicklit 5 questions you need intersectionality to answer Comments

Contexts Magazine

https://contexts.org/blog/quicklit-5-questions-you-need-intersectionality-to-answer/

Du Bois review : social science research on race

Devon W.Carbado - Kimberlé WilliamsCrenshaw - Vickie M.Mays - Barbara Tomlinson

Equality Network

http://www.equality-network.org/our-work/intersectional/

http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/10/04/issues-vs-identities-whats-better-for-progressive-social-change/

Title: Framing Intersectionality Year: 2011

hypatiaphilosophy.org

http://hypatiaphilosophy.org/HRO/content/intersectionality-intellectual-history

Intersectionality | Social Inequality | MCAT | Khan Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2kUpKP18z8

Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

http://theconversation.com/intersectionality-how-gender-interacts-with-other-social-identities-to-shape-bias-53724

Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality: "I wanted to come up with an everyday metaphor that anyone could use"

http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw-intersectionality-i-wan

Netroots Radio After Show — #EqualPay, the #Oscars, & Intersectionality — (02/24/15)

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Newsela | What is intersectionality?

https://newsela.com/articles/lib-intersectionality/id/26478/

The Arena: - Ange-Marie Hancock Bio

http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/ange-marie_hancock.html

The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/intersectionality/

The Panther Online

http://www.thepantheronline.com/opinion/striving-for-intersectionality

The Washington Post

Kimberlé Crenshaw

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-can

What Is Intersectionality And Why Is It Important? | Care2 Causes

http://www.care2.com/causes/what-is-intersectionality-and-why-is-it-important.html

Vox

Jenée Desmond-Harris

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/1/17/14267766/womens-march-on-washington-in

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countingyams · 8 years ago

Text

This year, I resolve to waste time well

By Lydia Lum for The Sunday Times on January 01, 2017

New Year's resolutions can make for hard reading, especially in a year with sputtering economic growth and spiralling geopolitical risk, not to mention cost cutting and belt tightening, all of which can suck the cheer out of a festive season. Pledges to eat less, drink less and spend less just add to the gloom.

So I have decided to focus not on what I want to cut back on, but on how I want to enlarge my life.

This is no small step for a careful saver like me who has for decades embraced the Singapore ethic of squirrelling money away for a rainy day and, along with it, the modern cult of personal productivity which spurred me to purge my life of time-wasting activities such as watching television and reading storybooks.

Both seemed like indulgences I could ill afford. Instead, I have for years read almost exclusively non-fiction, the sort I need for work or for self-improvement.

Such a regimen trains you for a life that can seem awfully purposeful. But if adhered to too strictly, it fails to free you and instead tethers you to a powerful vacuum cleaner that sucks the joy out of living and leaves you wondering what you are storing away time and money for.

So this year, I resolve to do the opposite and think hard about how to waste time.

I use the word "waste" intentionally, a verb the dictionary says means to "use or expend carelessly, extravagantly or to no purpose". Its synonyms include "squander" and "fritter away".

I wish to devote this column precisely to extravagance and those aspects of life that seem to serve no purpose, at least not any that we can touch or tote up in our bank accounts or lists of achievements.

Many years ago, when I was still in school and had the time and space to wander around those magical places called libraries, linger among the shelves and delve into the books I chanced upon, I stumbled across some lines of poetry about buying "hyacinths for the soul". For some reason, that phrase enchanted me and I never forgot it, perhaps because it reminded me of that time long ago and those stories I read - stories from around the world about people and places and happenings that piqued my curiosity, fired my imagination and, yes, fed my soul.

The phrase likely comes from the work of a 13th-century Persian poet named Muslihuddin Sadi, who is said to have written these lines:

If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store two loaves

alone to thee are left,

Sell one and from the dole,

Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.

Last year, I started reading fiction again and was transported to worlds I would never be able to travel to physically, no matter how big my budget. I was moved to tears by Madeleine Thein's novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, on China's cultural revolution, and thrilled that Tan Twan Eng's Garden Of Evening Mists taught me some of the history of a place I love - Cameron Highlands. I found myself wanting to tell my family and friends about what I learnt from reading those books. I cannot wait to discover more literary gems, especially those by Asian writers.

In a lecture he delivered in October 2015 on the future of reading and libraries, British writer Neil Gaiman spoke about visiting China in 2007 for the first-ever Communist Party-approved science fiction and fantasy convention. He wondered why science fiction, which had been disapproved of for a long time, was now allowed.

He asked a top official and related what this official said in reply: "It's simple, he told me. The Chinese were brilliant at making things if people brought them the plans. But they did not innovate and they did not invent. They did not imagine.

"So they sent a delegation to the US, to Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and they asked the people there who were inventing the future about themselves. And they found out that all of them had read science fiction when they were boys and girls.

"Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you have never been. Once you have visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: Discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leaving them better, leaving them different."

American writer Maya Angelou stopped talking for five years after being raped at age seven. "In those five years," she said in an interview, "I read every book in the black school library. I read all the books I could get from the white school library. I memorised Shakespeare, whole plays, 50 sonnets. I memorised Edgar Allan Poe, all the poetry, never having heard it, I memorised it. I had Longfellow, I had Guy de Maupassant, I had Balzac, Rudyard Kipling. When I decided to speak, I had a lot to say, and many ways in which to say what I had to say... And I was able to draw from human thought, human disappointments and triumphs, enough to triumph myself."

Fiction, it seems, is a good waste of time.

What of music?

Just over a year ago, I was speaking to two friends whose seven-year-old daughter is now learning the cello. I mentioned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the three of us discovered that some 20 years ago, when we had not known each other, we had gone separately to watch him play with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at the Victoria Concert Hall. What was amazing was how well we all remembered that concert - actually I had only managed to get tickets to the lunchtime rehearsal - and how moved we had been by his playing. I had gone with a friend who is a classical music aficionado and I remember turning to him at the end of the Elgar Concerto and swallowing my words when I saw tears rolling silently down his face.

A couple of months ago, over tea in the office, a colleague surprised me by describing in vivid detail a trip he had made to Amsterdam, from Cambridge where he had then been studying, to catch a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It was clearly an experience he would cherish for the rest of his life. Since coming back to Singapore and starting work, though, he has had little time for concerts, he said. That made me sad because he spoke with such depth of feeling about the beauty of a Mahler symphony.

Why listen to classical music, or any other kind of music for that matter, especially if you have no plans to make a career of it?

Musician Andrew Balio, founder of Future Symphony Institute, a think-tank dedicated to classical music, believes classical music "opens for us a door into a space that exists beyond our physical world, and what we hear moving in the music through that space is us. The symphony takes us on a journey through the secretive shadows and the uncertain vistas of our human condition. It touches those things of value within us, and it invites them to witness the miracle of transubstantiation wherein the dross of our daily existence, however trivial or tragic, is changed into the possibility of salvation".

Mr Balio also reflects on why he thinks classical music audiences are ageing: "Obviously, our elders come to concerts not because they hope the music will make them better at maths or more successful in their careers. There is no use to which they plan to put the music they come to hear, cleverly plying it to realise their five- or 10-year plans.

"I think if we asked them, we would find that classical music for them is only about beauty. I think they would sympathise with John Ruskin, who said, 'Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless.'

"And maybe this is the real reason that audiences for classical music are aging: That it takes us so much longer to shake off the utilitarian mindset that pervades our modern world, so well-rooted it has become in our unexamined ways of thinking and being."

What would you like to waste time on this year? I leave you with that question and wish you a Happy New Year.

#life

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