Women Academics From The United States

"To other English is to make audible the imperial power sewn into the language, to slit English open so its dark histories slide out."

"In many Asian American novels, writers set trauma in a distant mother country or within an insular Asian family to ensure that their pain is not a reproof against American imperial geopolitics or domestic racism; the outlying forces that cause their pain—Asian Patriarchal Fathers, White People Back Then—are remote enough to allow everyone, including the reader, off the hook."

"I’d rather be indebted than be the kind of white man who thinks the world owes him, because to live an ethical life is to be held accountable to history."

"Racial self-hatred is seeing yourself the way the whites see you, which turns you into your own worst"

"In certain ways, the Western ideals of the frontier, of escaping regulation, are still alive today, but now they are carried on in the life of corporations rather than individuals."

"The indignity of being Asian in this country has been underreported. We have been cowed by the lie that we have it good. We keep our heads down and work hard, believing that our diligence will reward us with our dignity, but our diligence will only make us disappear. By not speaking up, we perpetuate the myth that our shame is caused by our repressive culture and the country we fled, whereas America has given us nothing but opportunity. The lie that Asians have it good is so insidious that even now as I write, I'm shadowed by doubt that I didn't have it bad compared to others. But racial trauma is not a competitive sport. The problem is not that my childhood was exceptionally traumatic but that it was in fact rather typical."

"Her vision and execution are so breathtaking."

"My term “minor feelings” is deeply indebted to theorist Sianne Ngai, who wrote extensively on the affective qualities of ugly feelings, negative emotions—like envy, irritation, and boredom—symptomatic of today’s late-capitalist gig economy."

"The problem with silence is that it can’t speak up and say why it’s silent. And so silence collects, becomes amplified, takes on a life outside our intentions, in that silence can get misread as indifference, or avoidance, or even shame, and eventually this silence passes over into forgetting."

"What Black and Asian and brown people know about each other is what white people have said about us, and this is why the real problem is still white supremacy, even if the perpetrators aren’t white."

"Patiently educating a clueless white person about race is draining. It takes all your powers of persuasion. Because it’s more than a chat about race. It’s ontological. It’s like explaining to a person why you exist, or why you feel pain, or why your reality is distinct from their reality. Except it’s even trickier than that. Because the person has all of Western history, politics, literature, and mass culture on their side, proving that you don’t exist."

"When I hear the phrase “Asians are next in line to be white,” I replace the word “white” with “disappear.” Asians are next in line to disappear."

"Americans still don’t know how to live together, and unfortunately, we don’t have a language to work through interracial violence. That was the case during the LA riots; I think it’s the case now, too."

"minor feelings — that feeling of being targeted and ashamed, but not knowing why and not having it be explained to you."

"Innocence is both a privilege and a cognitive handicap, a sheltered unknowingness that, once protracted into adulthood, hardens into entitlement."

"Asian Americans inhabit a purgatorial status: neither white enough nor black enough, unmentioned in most conversations about racial identity. In the popular imagination, Asian Americans are all high-achieving professionals. But in reality, this is the most economically divided group in the country, a tenuous alliance of people with roots from South Asia to East Asia to the Pacific Islands, from tech millionaires to service industry laborers. How do we speak honestly about the Asian American condition—if such a thing exists?"

"The frontier is always the border of something, virgin territory where we can build new worlds, remake ourselves; always there’s this obsession with remaking ourselves. So to dream of the frontier is also to desire immortality. But there is no such thing as new territory. There are always previous civilizations, societies, families, and cultures. So when we build new worlds, there will be violence."

"The most damaging legacy of the West has been its power to decide who our enemies are, turning us not only against our own people, like North and South Korea, but turning me against myself."

"She brings acute intelligence, scholarly knowledge, and recognizable vulnerability to the formation of a new school of thought she names minor feelings."

"I don’t create redemption for my characters. The narrative of redemption is a false and lazy conceit in art. Redemption through the act of violence is avoiding culpability."

"When I read Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, it felt like I was being shaken awake to something I had convinced myself wasn’t real. The subtle ways Asian Americans are dismissed; how Asian American women feel the need to apologize when taking up any sort of space. I was also floored by how she described the ripple effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act: how that fear of not wanting to stick out has been passed down through generations, and how this survival tactic limits us and can cause self-hate. And at the same time, Cathy shares stories that feel so personal, so fresh and so specific, nobody else could’ve written them. I had never read a depiction of three contemporary, young Asian American women that was so complicated, interesting or full of both love and conflict. Her writing is beautiful, funny, sharp and—most importantly to a working mother of two who has few brain cells left at the end of the day—easy to read. I annotated the hell out of Minor Feelings—it’s the kind of book you want to dog-ear and underline. Reading it was such a crazy feeling: I felt so seen that I couldn’t believe that this book existed. And it’s become even more painfully relevant in a year in which anti-Asian violence, which has always existed in America, has spiked so aggressively, putting our communities on high alert and searching for solidarity. This is the book to read when you ask me, “How can I be an ally?” This is the book to read if you want to educate yourself. This is the book to read if you want to be more in touch with your humanity."

"I remember well the moment when I first became aware of the importance of medicinal herbs at Pompeii. It was an early summer morning in 1966 when we went into the insula (city block) across from the amphitheater to clear it of over-growth before beginning our excavations. When my workmen spotted a patch of bright green weeds, they immediately rushed to dig them up and put them with their belongings, to take home at the end of the day ... I thought it very strange, and inquired why they did this. "For fegato," they told me, "it is very good." I was to learn as I worked at Pompeii that liver (fegato) ailments were a common complaint, hence the importance of the medicine made from the herb that my workmen were gathering, the common weed known as mullein ( L.)"

"At Pompeii not only public buildings and shops have been preserved, but hundreds of houses and gardens. There was at least one garden in almost every house, while some houses had three or four. The garden was an integral part of the house and a significant factor in its development. Only at Pompeii can domestic architecture be traced for a period of almost four hundred years. Pompeii preserves examples of the early Italic house with the garden at the rear, houses that date back to the late fourth or early third century They remind us that the hortus is old; it formed a significant part of the primitive heredium ("hereditary estate"). The hortus was primarily a kitchen garden, but I suspect that even so the ancient gardener tucked in a few flowers amid in the herbs and vegetables, as does the Italian gardener today."

"In epigraphy, it is a well-established principle that in restoring an inscription the shortest possible line is to be preferred. The principle is honored not so much because short lines are known to have been particularly favored (they were not) nor because the document in question is likely to have been expressed in the briefest possible terms, but in order to keep to a minimum the restored material. And for its purpose the principle is admirable, since readers of the restored inscription can be confident that, although what they read may bear comparatively little relation to the original document, at least it includes the fewest possible additional letters or words necessary to make sense of what remains to us on stone."

"It is only from the end of the 6th century that we have firm evidence for -worship anywhere; concerning his previous existence there is only a tangle of myths which seem to reflect conflicting claims and rival theories. Certainly in the Iliad Asklepios appears only as the other of the the heroes and , who both share in the fighting and are valued as physicians."

"One of the very earliest uses to which the art of writing was put, along with alphabetic exercises and marks of ownership, was sexual insult and obscenity."

"The "Garden of Hercules" takes its name from the statue worshipped in the large of the garden (II.viii.6) attached to a modest house to the W of the Great Palaestra at Pompeii. This garden was partially excavated in 1953—1954, but even in previously excavated gardens it is still sometimes possible to find evidence of ancient plants. University of Maryland excavations from 1972—1974 uncovered here a garden very different from any found thus far. The soil contours, planting pattern, provisions for watering, ancient pollen and the perfume bottles found suggest that this was a commercial flower garden, the products of which were used in making the perfume or perfumed oils, and perhaps the garlands, so important in ancient Roman life. Ancient writers speak of the importance of the flower industry in ; wall paintings at Pompeii picture the procedures of making garlands and perfume; inscriptions attest to the activities of the unguentarii. This garden, however, provides the first evidence for commercial flower growing within the city."

"The shop-houses of the humble people who made up a large part of the population at Pompeii have been little noticed, over-shadowed as they are by the more aristocratic and much studied - houses. It is now generally recognized that Pompeii was a busy commercial town and not the resort town and playground of the wealthy Romans that earlier writers believed it to be. The many shops and workshops at Pompeii are found scattered throughout the town for the residential and business sections were not rigidly separated. In many cases the shop was simply a large room, which was open to the street when the shutters were pushed back. Frequently there was a counter facing the street, especially in food shops, so that passers-by might be served without the need to enter the shop."

"Our time will be remembered as one of reconciliation for the great European enemies during the World War. Statesmen of France, Germany, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Italy, and Great Britain realized that nations were interdependent and that what was disastrous to one would be disastrous to all."

"Hundreds of babies are fed and washed and wrapped in warm, new baby flannels and placed back again into grateful mothers' arms. All day and all night they come, one constant stream from evacuated towns, with tales too pitiful to listen to, and yet always with courtesy and graciousness that almost shames."

"Before this war it was difficult to see that fair play was done to the people. I believe hearts have been softened. There is a greater sense of community. The people have gone through a fiery furnace together."

"From the horror of dead and wounded that I saw in just my little corner of war work, my mind is constantly seeking to escape. Again I see the sad, appealing eyes of the terribly disfigured men in the face and jaw hospital in Paris. Again I hear the call: 'Clear the way for the blind!' and see our sightless boys slowly making their way down the gangplank to their homeward-bound ships at Brest. And the armless ones and legless ones! And the insane! How many thousands of such has this war made!"

"despite the consciousness-raising efforts of such scholars as Evelyn Torton Beck, women's studies has neglected to fully integrate Jewish women's ethnic identity into its theoretical frameworks."

"Evelyn Torton Beck's Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology, published in April 1982, sold ten thousand copies over the next ten months and made an enormous impact on the women's community."

"The degree of public and private hatred unleashed onto Israel seems far out of proportion to what Israel has actually done (in comparison to other countries, such as England, France, Belgium, and the Soviet Union-whose right to existence is not questioned)."

"Jewish lesbian-feminists cannot help but feel critical toward the present Israeli government. Yet, Israel mirrors the pluralism behind the initial Zionist impulse. Israel was to be all things to all Jews. Instead, it became simply a nation among nations, nothing more and nothing less. Let us understand its limitations and work to change it to be a place that we can comfortably call a Jewish homeland."

"For many Jews, the question of Israel is the most complex and confusing aspect of identifying as a Jew today. Israel is undoubtedly a patriarchy and theocracy hostile to women and lesbians; there are also serious problems with its foreign policy and its treatment of Palestinians. Jews of color who live in Israel experience racism, classism, and the elitism of Ashkenazi Jews. This situation becomes even more complex when we realize the strong Sephardic backing of the present Begin administration."

"Is it not anti-Semitic for women to refuse to work with Israeli feminists solely because of their nationality, especially since many of these Israeli women are courageously taking stances against their government?"

"What I hope is that this book will also open a dialogue with the rabbonim. Well, maybe not the rabbonim, but with members of the Jewish community-at-large. I'd like them to shep naches from our contributions to Jewish life. I'd like to hear them say "mazel tov" instead of "oy gevald" when they see we've made a book of our own."

"I was born in 1933 in Vienna, Austria, the year Hitler came to power; his shadow shadowed me." So Evelyn Torton Beck began the narrative of her life as a Jewish lesbian feminist at the NYU "Women's Liberation and Jewish Identity" conference...Beck described the difficulty of including Jewish themes in feminist discourse. "First, there is the fear of attack that produces a protective silence; second, is the fear of being perceived as too 'demanding: 'pushy, or 'politically incorrect. Third, and possibly more than any other factor, the fear of being excluded keeps Jewish women silent. Speaking and writing about explicitly Jewish themes (or even including them substantially) raises the worry that the work will be perceived as marginal, and therefore not as widely read and discussed." With Jews invisible and excluded, the "benign' anti-Semitism of indifference and insensitivity took over. Feminists categorized Jews with a radical "otherness" that was denied at the very moment it was created. "If Jews do not fit in, Beck worried, "it is quite likely that other groups may not fit into the conceptual framework we have constructed." Yet Beck maintained her optimism. "Across the U.S. and in many other parts of the world, Jewish lesbian-feminist communities were in the process of coming together; their very existence was exhilarating and inspired hope that by organizing around our differences, would come unity, and that our feminist projects, in all their complexity, would succeed."

"I want the radicalism of the very outrageous, very outspoken, very political lesbian-feminists, Maxine Feldman, Robin Tyler, Alix Dobkin, and Linda Shear to be recognized as part of the Jewish radical-activist tradition in Eastern Europe. As comics, Feldman and Tyler follow the tradition of Jewish storytellers and wedding jesters (who warned the brides against marriage), whose job it was to keep the community laughing and crying, revealing it to itself: “Jewish women within the movement have often been the ones to change their names. . . . My last name is obviously very Jewish. Someone once asked me why I hadn't changed my name. I said to them, "I think you better check your anti-Semitism. Why haven't you asked Meg Christian?" (Maxine Feldman)"

"Evelyn Beck for her groundbreaking work on Jewish issues in the feminist and lesbian movement, and for Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology, where so much began."

"I feel I was very lucky, though, because when I came out, which was in 1973, New York was just hopping. It was exploding. It was after Stonewall. Lesbians started getting organized. I belonged to a group of lesbian writers. There were four of us who decided to start Conditions magazine, for example, and before that we had a group called Di Vilde Chayas [the wild animals], which was a group that had Adrienne Rich, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Gloria Greenfield, and Evelyn Beck, who did Nice Jewish Girls."

"In reading Evelyn Torton Beck's lesbian anthology, Nice Jewish Girls, in the summer of 1982 I was catapulted into a maze of strong emotion and a recognition of so many of the patterns and experiences I shared with the contributors. In her introduction, Beck had written a line that brought me right to attention. Actually it was a footnote. It said: "One wonders how anyone can wholeheartedly fight the oppression of another group when, in order to do so, she finds it necessary to denigrate and deny her own oppression." In reading this I recognized much about myself."

"Historically, Jews have been proud of our non-homogeneous thinking and our skills in seeing complexity. "Three Jews, four opinions," is a maxim quoted with pride."

"Isn't it vital for us to make connections between oppressions? To see in what ways anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of oppression are different and alike?"

"In response to an upsetting confrontation between Jewish women and women of color in a New England regional Women's Studies Conference,** Cherríe Moraga (et al.) wrote in Gay Community News, "We don't have to be the same to have a movement, but we do have to be accountable for our ignorance. In the end, finally, we must refuse to give up on each other.""

"We have come to understand that white women must work on their racism with each other, that such education is not the burden of women of color."

"To be born a Jew is to be part of a unified culture that is also extremely diverse."

"According to Jewish Law, this book is written by people who do not exist. I assure you, it's all very logical: we're not proscribed because we don't exist. If we existed, believe me, they'd be against us."