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lightreadsMinor Feelings
4/5. Collection of essays by an Asian-American poet. I picked this up because one of my favorite podcasts, Still Processing, was reading it. Slim and powerful, full of wonderfully concise insight, such as the discussion of identity politics in creative work in which she explained how she found that racial identity had been reduced to a kind of intellectual property. That is so perfect an explanation of the squirmingly . . . checkbox way the #ownvoices mission has been taken up by publishers that I set multiple bookmarks in my audiobook for emphasis.
Parts of this book are hard to read if you, like me, are the frequent target of microaggressions. I found myself having big physiological stress responses to parts of this book as she recounts her experiences. Though the most valuable part was when she challenged me on how I just framed that. I have always thought about it that way, more or less -- oh, I find this memoir/essay depicting racial injustice stressful because it triggers me to think of the microaggressions of ableist violence I have experienced -- even when I didn't realize that's what I was thinking. She challenged me on that framing, and what even more uncomfortable things are underneath that story I was telling myself, and I'm grateful for the extra discomfort. Also, this book is really angry, and I love an angry book.
Recommended, along with the Still Processing episode.
4/5. Collection of essays by an Asian-American poet. I picked this up because one of my favorite podcasts, Still Processing, was reading it. Slim and powerful, full of wonderfully concise insight, such as the discussion of identity politics in creative work in which she explained how she found that racial identity had been reduced to a kind of intellectual property. That is so perfect an explanation of the squirmingly . . . checkbox way the #ownvoices mission has been taken up by publishers that I set multiple bookmarks in my audiobook for emphasis.
Parts of this book are hard to read if you, like me, are the frequent target of microaggressions. I found myself having big physiological stress responses to parts of this book as she recounts her experiences. Though the most valuable part was when she challenged me on how I just framed that. I have always thought about it that way, more or less -- oh, I find this memoir/essay depicting racial injustice stressful because it triggers me to think of the microaggressions of ableist violence I have experienced -- even when I didn't realize that's what I was thinking. She challenged me on that framing, and what even more uncomfortable things are underneath that story I was telling myself, and I'm grateful for the extra discomfort. Also, this book is really angry, and I love an angry book.
Recommended, along with the Still Processing episode.
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Date: 2021-05-11 11:36 pm (UTC)Thanks for capturing why I loved this book!