Viola Davis to Star in Shirley Chisholm Biopic!

I'm writing my final paper on the impact and importance of Shirley Chisholm––the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, the first black candidate for the President of the United States for a major party, the first black woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination (alongside congresswoman Patsy Minks), and the first woman to appear in a presidential debate. In my earlier research, I discovered that Viola Davis is starring (AND producing!!!) in a Chisholm biopic titled "The Fighting Shirley Chisholm." Davis has passionately expressed her goal of this feature film: to educate the American public on who Shirley Chisholm was/what she did, and to prevent further erasure of black female narratives in United States history. For more on the film and Davis, see this article from The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/11/29/history-making-viola-davis-will-star-history-making-shirley-chisholm-new-biopic/)

Julian AOC Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/16/two-ways-which-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-endorsement-could-keep-sanders-hunt/

This article is about AOC is shaking up the presidential race. I think it important to see how AOC is impacting the norms of the roles of female congresspeople and discussing why she did not throw her hat in for a female candidate. AOC brings a lot of interesting questions to the table, both from the standpoint of viewing her as a new role model and a divisive voice. Interestingly, she did not throw her hat in for a female candidate, instead vowing to support Bernie throughout the race. AOC is even soapboxing alongside Bernie on the campaign trail and she has may even continue without Bernie while impeachment proceedings are heard within the senate. AOC is also contributing greatly to Bernie’s ability to swing female voters.

Key Quotes:

“Warren leads Sanders by 27 points with women, for example, and by the same margin with white Democratic voters. She leads by an average of 20 points with those older than 50 and by wide margins among those making more than $50,000 a year. Narrowing those gaps is critical for Sanders to regain his footing against Warren.”

“Again, though, those margins vary by demographic. Among women with an opinion of both, Ocasio-Cortez is more favorably viewed than Sanders by 14 points. Among white Democratic voters, she’s 15 points more favorably viewed. Among the wealthiest Democratic voters? Eighteen points.”

Julian Post 3 Kara Walker

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/arts/design/a-subtlety-or-the-marvelous-sugar-baby-at-the-domino-plant.html

https://dreamscapesphotography.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/intersectionality-and-kara-walker/

Attached is a link to an article about ‘A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby’, an art piece by my favorite artist Kara walker and a piece about Kara walker and intersectionality in modern art.  Walker is an inspiration that uses many different creative mediums to talk about gender, race, and society. Most of her pieces are installations are black cutouts on wide-stretching while walls that play on the characterization of African American’s in American society. They are beautiful and quite striking, even more so in person. She is also an advocate for intersectional feminism and her work ties nicely into many of the themes of our course.  I hope you like the piece, or at least the provocative nature of her work sparks your interest! Description of the piece and her work:

“A looming 35 feet tall, Sugar Baby is ensconced toward the back of an enormous warehouse, built in the late 19th century, that Domino once used for storing raw sugar cane as it arrived by boat from the Caribbean for refinement and packaging. Once a luxury — subtleties were sugar sculptures made for the rich as edible table-decorations — sugar became more widely available due in large part to slave labor. No wonder its journey north may bring to mind the Middle Passage endured by Africans forced across the Atlantic.”

"Kara Walker is an African-American feminist artist who deals with the particular experiences of belonging to two minorities, confronting both sexism and racism. Walker challenges her audiences by recalling the realities of slavery and its role and legacy in American history. Walker’s early work explored this through an aesthetic of large, black cut-out silhouettes pasted onto the gallery walls."

Julian Post 2 All female spacewalk

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/science/space/nasa-female-spacewalk.html

An incredible step forward for 'man'kind, the new whirlwind around the first all-female spacewalk has been an incredible thing to witness, especially in concert with the topics we've covered thus far. I think it has been a unique insight into the current state of gender politics in the USA and is a particularly interesting topic of discussion.  American public servants, on both sides of the aisle and of all creeds, have been in support of the walk and used it as a postable, discussable, part of the American psyche.  I am not really sure how I feel about the use of such a momentous event as political ballast but I think it is an interesting topic of discussion.