Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: The madness of the few obfuscates the hard work of the many.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
The solution to racism can be found in rocks. No, not in rock music, but in geology or something…
“A recent study purports to prove that geology can contribute to the ‘healing process’ from racism.
“University of San Diego professors Diane Marie Keeling and Bethany O’Shea published a study titled ‘Conceptualizing Black Humanity Through Geopoetic Intimacy and Resistance: Memory Making-with Geologic Materials’ on Jan. 27.
“‘Materials of geologic composition like soil, and those made from earth materials, such as steel and bricks, are employed to trope the bodies of lynching victims and weather racist geologic formations of subjecthood,’ the study abstract reads. ‘The holding and eroding of violent memories crafts an intimate and resistant geopoetics of Black humanity.’
“Keeling and O’Shea, professors of Communication and Environmental and Ocean Sciences respectively, spoke about their study in an interview with the University of San Diego News Center that was published on Tuesday.
“They explained that their research examined racism in U.S. history and focused on ‘how people can use rocks to heal from this horrible history.’
“The authors traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to see soil that was gathered from different states that saw lynching attacks throughout American history. They went to ‘view the soil collection and learned many other ways that geology was strategically used in the memorialization of lynching victims.’”
Nothing is more feared by beneficiaries of “White Privilege” than… a musical number that “pwns” them!
“The University of California, Irvine is hosting a ‘White Privilege’ musical performance and lecture.
“The event will run from Friday to Saturday, and will feature a “performative lecture by Thomas DeFrantz with live sound design and electronic music by Quran Karriem.” The musical performance, titled ‘White Privilege,’ ‘engages white privilege as a discourse, casting the performative space as an opportunity to enlarge care and do better.’
“The ‘performative lecture,’ which takes place Saturday, will be preceded on Friday by a panel discussion about the ‘creative heritage of the work and its importance to the ongoing conversation about equity within institutions.’”
If science doesn’t align with “Queer Theory”… then just make science queer!
“A class offered by Yale University this semester will ask students to consider ‘whether science can be made queer.’
“The course description asks, ‘Can facial recognition technology really tell if you’re queer? Why is everyone so obsessed with gay penguins? For that matter, how did science come to be the right tool for defining and knowing sex, gender, and sexuality at all?’
“The class, titled ‘Queer Science,’ will be taught by Juno Richards (pictured, right) and Joanna Radin and will give students ‘a background in the development of sex science, from evolutionary arguments that racialized sexual dimorphism to the contemporary technologies that claim to be able to get at bodily truths that are supposedly more real than identity.
“Richards, who uses “they/them” pronouns, and Radin […] have not responded to requests for comment on queer science as a field of study, their qualifications for teaching a course on the subject, and their responses to criticism of the course’s academic relevance.”
TTFN.
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