1) Peterson, Latoya. "Waking Up In America." Racialicious 11 Nov 2008 5 Dec 2008 .

The author of this article talks to Everdayfolk about the outcome of the presidential election and its relationship with how change is subtle after Obama’s election, how things are still the same yet there has been a “shift” somehow. This is relevant to my thesis and has quotes I can use to support my arguments.


2) LeBron, Marisol. "Obama and Myths of Racial Democracy." Racialicious 19 Nov 2008 5 Dec 2008 .

The author of this article discusses the myth of the media’s insistence on a post-racial society. This article has a lots of written and video information that I can use to suppose and maybe even refute my argument.

3)Wenner, Jan S.. "A Conversation With Barack Obama." Rollingstone 7 Jul 2008: 34-39.
This article conveys Barack Obama’s ideologies and conveys his attempts to relate to the younger generation. I can use this in my essay when discussing how Obama has influenced a new generation of people maybe to engage themselves more in American politics.

4) Hawley, John C.. Postcolonial and queer theories : intersections and essays . Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001.
This book discusses certain islands of identities in depth so that I can learn more about the backgrounds of how race and sexuality played among the outcome of the 2008 election.

5) Vasil, Raj K.. Politics in bi-racial societies : the Third World experience . New York: Advent Books, 1984.
This books discusses race relations in developing countries and I may utilize this text to parallel America’s relationship with race and compare our current racial relationships to other countries’.

6) Dupuis, Martin. Barack Obama, the new face of American politics . Westport: Praeger, 2008.
This book will aid me in understanding and learning more about Barack Obama’s presidential expectations and potential.

7)Rabushka, Alvin. A theory of racial harmony.. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1974.
This book will help interconnect my argument toward more optimistic patterns concerning America’s future.

8) Shulman, George. American prophecy : race and redemption in American political culture . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
This books seems very relevant to my thesis on the politics of racial theory in the outcome of the 2008 elections and will strongly reinforce my arguments.

9) Marentes, Luis A.. José Vasconcelos and the writing of the Mexican Revolution . New York: Twayne Publishers, 2000.
This book seems to talk in depth about racial theory and I can broaden my thesis to other realms of culture that spans beyond black and white.
10) Glover, Terry. "Can Michelle Be America's Hostess." Ebony JET 26 Nov 2008 5 Dec 2008 .
I can use this article to as a rebuttal against my paper, but I will have a lot to say against it because I disagree with the author that the Black First Lady, Michelle Obama, is not merely America’s “hostess”.





Jessica Ortanez
Flamer-Banks
AFRS 214
4 December 2008
Research Paper Proposal
My tentative title is: Encountering the Cross-currence of Meltingpot Dreams. This election enlightens a cross-racial/cultural feminism through a Black first lady and Black First Daughters that subsequently promote a redefinition of beauty among the women of America both past, present and future: the beauty of difference.
The preliminary issue that I will extend in this essay is how the multi-media has conditioned Americans to perceive beauty. Whether it be on television, or in Vogue magazine, the stores we go to purchase items for our wardrobes, the beauty departments at Macy’s- all of these things affect our conceptual frameworks about the double-consciousness of both being a Womyn and one of color-fullness too.
I will use information from such blogs that promote a general awareness and activism towards Womyn of color issues. Racialicious, A Woman’s Ecdysis, Queer women of Color, Angry Black Woman, La Chola… all of these blogs I will use as my online evidence in discussing Womyn of color perceptions of beauty.
(A subtle issue I will discuss how Obama’s campaign for Change is really a statement to be reckoned with because when race and politics intermingle you have to acknowledge the truth about these relationships in the most sincerest ways to really promote decolonized change--- this I will try to relate to my thesis by showing how we first have to acknowledge and accept that America has a problem with with Womyn of Color beauty (and will continue to do so) before we can allow for transformation among these things to take place. This is also the rebuttal I will openly discuss in my paper concerning the parallels that White Feminists may have in retaliation to the opening up of this new colorfull beauty corridor of this Era.
--------------------------------------- notes
Speaking of both civil rights and gender rights, Michelle Obama said, “I stand here at the cross-currence of that dream.”

After my desperate and fruitless hunt for street parking, I managed to elegantly schlep through wild lawn grass (which looks like it hasn’t been trimmed for weeks) and make my way across the naked, tree-laden courtyards to enter the most tourist-filled paradise: DeYoung!! Eager to finally explore the Jolika collection of New Guinea, I carefully walk up the stairway towards a New Guinea sort-of-heaven. But this heaven was different. Dimly lit and quiet. I guess that’s what you expect from a museum that over-advertises its designer couture collections rather than its collection of Oceanic artistry spanning centuries…
The atmosphere is mystical. There are artifacts placed in positions that command your attention, placed up high to instill a sort of “Godly” fear from those who dare to stare them down! I look around again and again, and it feels like some pieces are just floating in the air. I become entranced. There is a potent magic in the air when you feel as if you are a part of this exhibitionist ritual in a space where ancient New Guinea art looks at you with 1000 eyes while you only get to look with two eyes. Now that’s what I call entoptic phenomena!
Each artifact was displayed either in a glass case, mounted openly (without glass isolation), or both. And almost every object was illuminated by a single spot light… like the ones you see lighting up actors in a Shakespearian play. The symbolism behind this specialized lighting may be to “unique-ify” artifacts, and imply how each one speaks differently, tells something different that only the spectator can know only through their most reasoned imaginations. (Here I say “reasoned” imaginations because you are essentially given a tiny morsel of historical name-plate like information as you ponder each artifact… therefore, you are hermeneutically limited in your imaginations as well.)
Modernity was the foundation(ADD THIS LATER ON)
A reoccurring motif among this collection indicated a deeply rooted spiritual culture in the world of New Guinea inhabitants. As one typed description stated, “Ancestral spirits, recently and long deceased, were venerated almost everywhere in New Guinea.”
Ancestors are recreated or depicted or implied through an eclectic array of artifacts like skulls, hook sculpture, masks, hair and dance ornaments. Warfare and/or hunting is implied through masks (which serve as guardians for protection or “aggressive devices”) and very long spears. It is fairly apparent that the different peoples of New Guinea were hunter gatherers (hence the display of the “hunting amulet”). An example is the Abelam who subsisted off of mostly yam and sago. There is also a definite penchant for intricately beautiful woodcarving skill among the peoples of New Guinea. Nothing seemed un-inspired, everything was created with detail and many artifacts were painted. Maybe woodcarving is an artistic tradition within certain cultures of the different people of New Guinea?
Hooks are prevalent in this collection. I was in awe over an artifact labeled “Cult hook.” This hook had a small description beneath it stating: “suspension hooks were hung from the interior beams of houses to keep personal and religious objects or food out of reach from flooding or rats.” I am guessing this was their form of a multi-purpose refrigerator? If so, this is a technological form that shows these peoples were way beyond their time!
In a few pieces, there are explicit references to canoe transportations. The Biwat people, who lived by the Yuat River, transported their produce to markets by means of canoes. The wooden paddles on display were also an overt implication of this type of transport.
Some artifacts imply head hunting embedded in certain cultures not only because of their descriptions but from the abstract and concrete head imagery among many artifact such as decorated skulls and artifacts where the head is large and/or prominent from the artifacts bodily entirety.
The documentation of the exhibit gives rough, approximate estimates of each artifact (I.e. 19th century, 18th century, 1490-1660- with a C14 dating of 94.5% probability), some artifacts have unknown dates. The provenance of the artifacts had no exact location, but were moreso implied through regional areas. So yes, in a way, one is able to determine where most artifacts came from, but anything more than that is a up to the individual to research and collect by themselves.
Some of the oldest artifacts were the stone tools. The female suspension hook was also fairly ancient (1330-1470 with a C-14 95.14% probability) A Male figure from the Middle Yuat River region was also fairly ancient (1280-1400). Accelerator Mass spectrometry was helpful in dating these artifacts.
This collection really emphasized the “ancestral spiritual” aspects of certain New Guinea cultures.

Happy Sad Birthday

and we swam
in the red cups
filled with
soda

we swam so deep
bubbles fizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzed up
to our ears

my older sister
chewslapping bubble gum
AND i couldn't hear
her chewslaps

unfamiliar family running
tumbling
eating
wah wah wah-ing
the numbing sound imbues

and birthday boy lays on a big brown couch

with no friends to talk to

with no happy

just birthday

and cousinslike flies surrounding his once empty room, now full,
still empty, a red cup with no soda, a white paper plate with no rice nor adobo nor macaroni salad

i despise macaroni salad

macaroni salad fiends need a smoke
or two
three
ten
eleven
i
cant
stop
smoking
i
need
to
party
and
get
fucked
up
because
im
stupid

or just lazyliketheweedsinmyneverendingsoulfulabysslyingonagrave-ishbrowncouch

happy 18TH birthday.


(what have you done to make your life better?)
-------------------------------
(what is written here is based on an actual event NutMeg foresaw at a recent family birthday gathering for her cousin)

i'm high enough from all the waiting, to ride a wave on your inhaling

lately, i've been feeling scratchy. Si, scratchy, not just plain itchy. its feels as if the scratches are catalcylsmic evils bouncing from my unshaven shins to my mouth's duplex with throat and tongue.

lately, no one, nothing seems to motivate this nineteen-year-young who looks more like fifteeny.

she's sad for no reason, but it's going away now,she says.

A good friend, a great mom, and a bitchin quote turned thoughts into movement that flows like sips of water, permeating her system, red nile water, cleansing her stone heart.

some inspiring slice of pie from the pages of Tanuja Desai Hidier's Born Confused:
---Sometimes eveything feels so huge.
---So nebulous, he said. --I know. But I've usually found making one decision can clear up all the clouds, the way one ray of sun can light a dark room. It's funny, but it's true.