A short and shameless plug for a project that I was involved in many years ago, and am still very proud of...
I couldn't make a list of my favorite children's books without including the coloring book, Boys Will be Girls Will be Boys, created by Jacinta Bunnell and Irit Reinheimer and illustrated by 21 artists (including myself.)
Originally printed as a zine with cut and paste illustrations, it was reprinted by Soft Skull Press with new illustrations drawn by an impressive array of artists in 2004.
The coloring book addresses the issue of gender with page titles such as "Sometimes the princess is saved by the girl next door," and "Don't let gender box you in."
I highly recommend getting a copy of the coloring book for all the kids in your life. It is humorous and beautiful, and even includes questions for discussing gender with kids!
You can order it here
http://www.etsy.com/listing/58501475/girls-will-be-boys-will-be-girls-will
along with the wonderful follow ups, Girls are Not Chicks, and Sometimes the Spoon Runs Away With Another Spoon!!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Paper Revolutionary
"All writing is propaganda... whether a story is political or not, it's political."
- Derrick Jensen, interviewed in Mythmakers and Lawbreakers; Anarchist Writers on Fiction
I think that it easy to dismiss writing as a revolutionary act, much as it is easy to dismiss parenting, or urban homesteading as revolutionary acts. It is easy to reserve the nomenclature for those taking to the streets and engaging in (often physical) struggle against a state or institution that is oppressing them.
from Merriam-Webster's dictionary,
and for reference...
- Derrick Jensen, interviewed in Mythmakers and Lawbreakers; Anarchist Writers on Fiction
I think that it easy to dismiss writing as a revolutionary act, much as it is easy to dismiss parenting, or urban homesteading as revolutionary acts. It is easy to reserve the nomenclature for those taking to the streets and engaging in (often physical) struggle against a state or institution that is oppressing them.
from Merriam-Webster's dictionary,
rev·o·lu·tion·ary
a : of, relating to, or constituting a revolution
b : tending to or promoting revolution
c : constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change
and for reference...
rev·o·lu·tion
a : a sudden, radical, or complete change b : a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed c : activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation d : a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm
The fundamental change that it would take to make our culture stop destroying the planet and ourselves is not going to come from one specific type of action. I have always loved the phrase "unity in diversity." The idea that our different strengths, working together, makes for a stronger whole.
I read the book Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction for this project. It may seem at first glance like an unlikely book to fit into the premise of what I am doing, but I think it is incredibly pertinent. How do we convey our politics and worldview through fiction, whether consciously or unconsciously? Another question I ask myself as an aspiring writer of children's fiction is "Is this enough? Should I be putting my energy into something else?"
In one of the first interviews in the book, author Derrick Jensen talks about how as writers we should use the gifts we have in service to our community, as in that old Marxist adage, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Jensen goes on to talk about how stories create culture... "[T]here's this line by a Scottish balladeer: "If I could write all the ballads, I wouldn't care who wrote the laws." And it's so true because stories are how we learn--we are for better or worse social creatures-- and stories are how we learn to be human beings. And if the stories you see routinely show people like you committing acts of violence and getting away with it, you're going to be different than if stories routinely show you being victimized."
Jensen also quotes Bertolt Brecht who wrote, "Art is not a mirror with which to reflect life, rather a hammer with which to shape it."
Although I think it can, ideally, be a compelling balance of both.
The book goes on to interview 13 other authors about their relationship with fiction and politics, my favorite interview being with Alan Moore, author of the graphic novels V for Vendetta and Watchmen.
"Inevitably," writes Moore "if you are creating a painting or writing a story, you are making propaganda, in a sense, for the way you feel, the way that you think, the way you see the world. You are trying to express your own view of reality and existence, and that is inevitably going to be a political action..."
In conclusion the books editor, Margaret Killjoy, observes "I am not going to argue that all we need to do is write books or tell stories around the hearth. Of course not.... But fiction is part of that uprooting"
"Fiction is even more important for the young, because we model our ideal selves on role models. We need heroes to learn from, and we need anti-heroes to remember that none of us are, or will ever be, perfect."
Stories create culture. And recreate and recreate. And every author, every historian and every storyteller has their own experience in the world that colors the stories they tell. We have grown up in a world that favors stories told by a certain sector of people, coming from a very specific perspective. And the lifting of that lens, so that we can acknowledge this, makes the discussions around the stories we are telling easier to have. It also empowers us to to begin to seek out, and tell, stories from different perspectives and with values more in-line with our own. We have to be honest about the presence of bias before we can decide if we want to propagate the story being told.
The fundamental change that it would take to make our culture stop destroying the planet and ourselves is not going to come from one specific type of action. I have always loved the phrase "unity in diversity." The idea that our different strengths, working together, makes for a stronger whole.
I read the book Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction for this project. It may seem at first glance like an unlikely book to fit into the premise of what I am doing, but I think it is incredibly pertinent. How do we convey our politics and worldview through fiction, whether consciously or unconsciously? Another question I ask myself as an aspiring writer of children's fiction is "Is this enough? Should I be putting my energy into something else?"
In one of the first interviews in the book, author Derrick Jensen talks about how as writers we should use the gifts we have in service to our community, as in that old Marxist adage, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Jensen goes on to talk about how stories create culture... "[T]here's this line by a Scottish balladeer: "If I could write all the ballads, I wouldn't care who wrote the laws." And it's so true because stories are how we learn--we are for better or worse social creatures-- and stories are how we learn to be human beings. And if the stories you see routinely show people like you committing acts of violence and getting away with it, you're going to be different than if stories routinely show you being victimized."
Jensen also quotes Bertolt Brecht who wrote, "Art is not a mirror with which to reflect life, rather a hammer with which to shape it."
Although I think it can, ideally, be a compelling balance of both.
The book goes on to interview 13 other authors about their relationship with fiction and politics, my favorite interview being with Alan Moore, author of the graphic novels V for Vendetta and Watchmen.
"Inevitably," writes Moore "if you are creating a painting or writing a story, you are making propaganda, in a sense, for the way you feel, the way that you think, the way you see the world. You are trying to express your own view of reality and existence, and that is inevitably going to be a political action..."
In conclusion the books editor, Margaret Killjoy, observes "I am not going to argue that all we need to do is write books or tell stories around the hearth. Of course not.... But fiction is part of that uprooting"
"Fiction is even more important for the young, because we model our ideal selves on role models. We need heroes to learn from, and we need anti-heroes to remember that none of us are, or will ever be, perfect."
Stories create culture. And recreate and recreate. And every author, every historian and every storyteller has their own experience in the world that colors the stories they tell. We have grown up in a world that favors stories told by a certain sector of people, coming from a very specific perspective. And the lifting of that lens, so that we can acknowledge this, makes the discussions around the stories we are telling easier to have. It also empowers us to to begin to seek out, and tell, stories from different perspectives and with values more in-line with our own. We have to be honest about the presence of bias before we can decide if we want to propagate the story being told.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)