Book Review: Side Affects - On Being Trans and Feeling Bad

Image: The cover of the book is a white background with black letters at the center. The top, in smaller letters says "side affects," under that, "on being trans and feeling bad," in larger black letters, and under that in smaller letters again, "Hil Matino," below that in even smaller letters, "author of trans care." Circling the edges of the book in large, light blue letters are the words "side affects" repeated approximately 4 times in a clockwise fashion.

 I always have a difficult time knowing how I should review texts written in such a heavily academic fashion as Hil Matino's Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad. If I'm reading a biology article, it makes sense to me when I struggle to understand parts of it as I am not a biologist. When the topic regards trans feelings and experiences though, I ask myself if most trans people would be able to read it or if they would want to. A book like this takes twice as long to read and requires a dictionary for me even though I have a somewhat academic background and experience with this subject matter in my own life. Despite my thinking that a ton of trans people from varying backgrounds could benefit from relating to this and a ton of cis people could benefit from better understanding these complexities of human experience, I don't think most will choose or be able to. I decided that I would put this statement at the beginning and review the rest of the book as the scholarly work that it is.

Despite this book being so heavy with gender studies jargon, I found Malatino's writing style to be quite poetic and enjoyable to read. He has a way with blending personal experience as a transmasculine person into a larger narrative of what other transmasc folks may face as well as trans people from many other backgrounds and identities. (Keep in mind, not all AFAB trans people, including trans men, identify as transmasculine, I am using the term specifically here.) During the first half of the book, I was completely immersed in how Malatino conveyed exactly what I have felt and thought so many times throughout my own life and transition. He included things I and trans friends have said in personal conversations that I sometimes fear saying in the larger world. 

The general thesis is that- like all humans- our experiences are very complex and varied. Furthermore, we often feel bad about parts of our transition from dysphoria, desire, envy, disappointment, loneliness, discomfort, betrayal, isolation, and a multitude of other un-fun feelings to deal with. However, in a society full of paradigms and people that would rather we not exist, or worse, we often feel the need to be publicly glued to some simplistic narrative where everything is very clear cut, we have a very clear "before" and "after," and where we are just like cis people only trans. We fear that if we are honest about things, those who seek to invalidate, destroy, or criticize our humanity will gain ground. We fear that we will lose community, lose our history or future, and lose ourselves if we are not in line with the overarching message of x transgender movement or even our trans friends and communities. In this book, Malatino focuses specifically on the feelings fatigue, numbness, envy, rage, and burnout.

I can see why Torrey Peters has a quote listed on the publisher's page for this book. I adored, "Detransition Baby," as did friends of mine. Many other people, trans and not, hated it. It's a messy book full of messy trans feelings and experiences- especially the kinds we're never supposed to say out loud- often because we disagree with ourselves or hate to admit we think or feel a certain way. I like these texts because they allow us all to be truly human. That's the toughest stuff to deal with when we talk about liberation. We're all fucked up. Malatino uses both fiction and non-fiction written by trans people to form his analyses about these emotions and experiences. This blend of sources fits with the book well as both fiction and nonfiction have excellent and differing ways of telling the truth.

I doubt you will find the same cries of oppression that Peters' polarizing novel sometimes invoked in response to Side Affects because academic analysis remains more detached from emotion for many people. But, that doesn't mean he didn't hit on very deep seated thoughts and feelings that many of us grapple with every day. We cannot be forced into the boxes that both cis and trans people try to fit us all into. Hell, most cis people can't fit into the boxes they create. 

There were some very interesting glimpses into history that I had never heard about. Learning about Rupert Raj and Dallas Denny in the sections on burnout were interesting editions to an already critically important topic. The section "On Whiteness and Healing," there are multiple explorations of appropriation, racism, eugenics, colonization, etc. But, what really stuck out to me was learning about how people I would normally associate with hippy, love everybody culture could often be ridiculously fascist in their desire to abolish queerness or gender variance through things like psychedelic drug treatments. What a wild ride.

All in all, this short little academic exercise hit me in much more intimate ways than I initially anticipated. It packs a lot into around 100 pages not including notes and acknowledgements. Malatino used that space efficiently. If you're willing to take your time and google those academic words you've never heard of, I definitely think this book is worth it. It's a great thought exercise even in the spots where I don't entirely agree. I am eager to see what other people think once it's out and reaches a larger audience.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Becoming Abolitionists

 

Image: The cover of the book is a black background. At the center is a realistic illustration of a police car. There are stylized flames bursting from the car which turn into vines and multi colored bunches of flowers. Across the top in large white letters is "becoming abolitionists." Below that in smaller yellow letters is, "Police protests, and the pursuit of freedom." Across the bottom in red letters is the author's name, "Derecka Purnell."

 

Becoming Abolitionists is likely the best modern book on prison abolition, as well as dismantling oppression at large, that I have read. I say "best modern book" because it is true that Purnell goes over ground that those who have come before her have as well. The big difference in this book for me is its inclusivity and centering of LGBTQ and Disabled people in these discussions and the poetic descriptions and analogies Purnell uses to examine these issues. It made the book feel fresh, as if I was hearing all of it for the first time.

As is expected, Purnell discusses the myriad of issues with the prison industrial complex as well as how poverty and oppression can mix together and cause our communities to become separated, lack trust, and to look to hierarchy- and agents of hierarchy such as police and prisons- for solutions. The detrimental effects of these things disproportionately affect Black, Brown, Indigenous, Disabled, poor, and LGBTQ populations- especially those who have multiple of these frequently overlapping experiences and identities. Purnell draws upon her experience as both a lawyer and an organizer and offers an extensive amount of suggestions. She addresses all of the big questions about what to do with those who commit violence on others and so forth. She gets down to many root causes of problems and always remains humble about whether or not things will work in all situations or whether or not she has all of the answers. She shares a lot about her own journey in resisting, coming to understand, and eventually believing in and fighting for abolition which helps put the reader at ease with their own challenging thoughts or feelings that may come up while reading the book.

Where this book surprised me was in its sections on LGBTQ folks and disabled folks. These sections are far more thorough than other books I have read about abolition that were not specifically focused on disabled or lgbtq people. There was impressive amount of detail in the section on disability as there should be in these discussions. Purnell also does not draw clear lines in the sand between demographics of people despite these focuses. She instead discusses how all of these overlapping communities can come together in solidarity rather than turning on one another or forcing people to separate out sections of themselves at odds with various communities as those with the most power prefer us to. 

Pittsburgh (my city) also makes an appearance when she interviewed local organizers and studied efforts in the area. She got the history spot on. It's bittersweet to see my city featured because I am both very glad the awareness has been raised and the amazing radical movements here are being noticed. But, there is a reason this city is noticed and it's because of the horrors these organizers are often responding to.

I did have a gripe here or there about how she assessed an institution or particular chunk of data, but that happens in pretty much any book I read. I do think she could have gone easier on social workers and foster parents. The system is flawed and oppressive, but it sort of read like she believes social workers get into it or primarily do their jobs to strengthen the system or for the money which is odd to say about a highly stressful, underpaid job that requires going into a good bit of student debt to qualify for. The discussions about whether or not children should be removed from households made me bristle. Particularly because I did not find the solutions offered for one example she gave to be adequate and also because I have seen severely abused kids be kept with parents who could not have cared less about them, or worse things I won't detail. However, the larger systemic changes offered would likely solve or greatly reduce the issues, so her real life example given still fits into the journey. She also acknowledges that even some abolitionist readers would believe the children should be removed and that she does not have a perfect answer for that. That's, again, a strength of the book. She offers a massive amount of workable, applicable solutions that could be implemented right now. She also acknowledges that these may work, not work, or look different in different communities.

Overall, I really loved this book, how it was written, and the information therein. It can be hard to "enjoy" a book that contains so much suffering. The fact that it features often hidden parts of the story as well as tangible lights at the end of the tunnels is what makes it all worthwhile.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: The Weight of the Stars

 

Image: The cover of the book is a wood/linocut style image of the backs of two people, sitting on a rocky landscape, staring out into the night sky. The bottom part is in black and white and the sky is an hombre gradient of dirty yellow, brown and black. There are also spots of the yellow on the lower black and white landscape. White spots dot the sky as stars and there is a very large crescent moon low on the horizon. The center of the sky in white letters says, "The Weight of the Stars." Below that in smaller letters is, "The Life of Anarchist Octavio Alberola." At the bottom of the cover is "Agustín Comotto," and below that in smaller letters, "Translated by Paul Sharkey."

It can be difficult to review a biography without reviewing the subject himself. I am not sure what is the best course of action in that regard, but this review will be a mixture of the two. The Weight of the Stars is a biography written in a style that I have not previously encountered, though I am sure has been done before. The author, Agustín Comotto met anarchist Octavio Alberola while Comotto was writing a piece about Simon Radowitzky. He inquired if Octavio would be publishing a biography some day as he had lived a very long and eventful life. Originally Octavio declined but later consulted Agustín about helping him put one together. This partnership resulted in a biography that reads much like an extended interview with the subject where the answers take the form of long story telling sections. Occasionally, Agustín would challenge or debate a point or belief of Octavio, but for the most part, compiled and included the story in much of Octavio's own words.

I will admit that part of my interest in this was learning more about a history that is important to understand- international anarchist resistance during and surrounding the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1938-1975.) I knew little about it before this aside from teachings from friends, podcasts, or online articles. I do think I would have absorbed this book better if I already had a foundation of historical knowledge. The book after all is a translated work that likely was not created purely for an ignorant USAmerican audience like myself. It is also already 348 pages and to properly detail everything one could ever want to know would make the book too heavy to carry. All this is to say that there was a lot going on in this man's life with a vast number of groups, characters, and large and small historical events all blending together in the story. Comotto did offer short snippets of the overall setting at the start of each chapter. But, I did feel overwhelmed and lost at times. This is not a critique of the book's quality as much as it is a description of how one could get the most out of it. If you don't already know about the horrors of the Franco regime and other related events, you may want to brush up on them before reading this in order to get a better picture.

Alberola's dedication to anarchism and the toppling of fascist regimes was immense. He was no doubt shaped by growing up in a militant anarchist household with a well known father- Jose Alberola- who was brutally murdered later in life. It is suspected that his father was murdered by fascists taking revenge for Octavio's actions despite Jose refusing to kill during his activism. I can only imagine what kind of mind-fuck that was for Octavio and how that affected his dedication to the cause. He doesn't speak of it much in the book, we learn this from Comotto. 

Big names pop up throughout this biography in interactions with Octavio- Castro, Che, Durruti, etc- and Alberola has different nuanced opinions on each of them. He spent much of his life bouncing around internationally, avoiding authorities, and consistently participating in a wide variety of direct actions ranging from gentle to violent. Reading a book where someone speaks so openly about militant actions like this, knowing it would be published in his lifetime, is an interesting thing. Overall, Alberola avoided violence when possible, but thought that the assassination of Franco was a necessary measure. They failed in achieving this particular goal but succeeded and grew with many other actions. 

Something that stuck out to me constantly was that this book is about men. This is unfortunate but not entirely unexpected with any book about radical men in these movements. The women in this story are girlfriends, lovers, mothers, children, and overall described as side notes or burdens. I was really disappointed, but again, not surprised that there didn't seem to be any effort on behalf of the men featured throughout the decades of this story to include women in these organizing efforts. Perhaps in a less patriarchal scenario, there would have been ways to balance the tasks of life where women did not feel as if all they could do was leave with their children. Octavio fathered many children with multiple women without all of them even knowing about it. Octavio was of course, off with the revolution that he was dedicated to and could not be bothered with children, so what were these mothers to do? Even when they wanted abortions, the illegality, inaccessibility, and dangers made them near impossible to get. He expresses no regret or remorse and also regularly criticizes anyone who left his style of militant organizing to be with their families or do more academic types of work. He does admit though that certain circumstances allowed him to take more action than others.

I know that if the story was about the life of Irene or Gloria, it would not have been so readily accepted by everyone that they leave their children behind for the revolution, expecting the fathers to raise them. I wonder what the function of women would look like in a truly anarchist society to Alberola and his kin. I get it, though. I get what it is like to be so dedicated to destroying something so vile and destructive that one develops tunnel vision and the inability to do anything else. I have certainly been there. Nonetheless, I cannot help but imagine the way the movement could have expanded if the other half of the population were more involved. I know that they were there and that Alberola's history is only one of many. I kept waiting for Octavio to come around and see this, but he does not. He reunites with many children later in life and has some relationships with them. He has interesting views on things with his current partner (for lack of a better term) where they did not want to formalize anything to avoid playing into the system of ownership of each other created by laws around marriage. We still never know much about Irene, Gloria, and Ariane by the end. I wish the author would have asked more about them, but I understand why he did not. The book is technically about Octavio and we get a good sense of how Octavio saw women playing parts in his life and the struggle.

The last sections of the book are more of a Q & A style in which Comotto asks Alberola about his views on various things and how they have evolved over time. We learn here that despite being in his 90s, Octavio still participates as much as possible in the evolving social and technological tools of time. He has continued educating himself and growing in order to adapt and thrive. Despite my critiques about how he and the men of these generations treated women, Alberola led a truly courageous existence and dedicated himself to what he believed in without compromise.

The book is finished off by an illustrated comic of a short conversation between Alberola and Comotto that was a lovely closing. This is something I really enjoy about many print books from AK Press- there is great care taken to create and design an immersive experience that goes along with the text. The translation of this book by Paul Sharkey also seems to be quite good. My Spanish is awful and I have not read the original, but it is one of those texts that flows well enough that the reader forgets it was translated from another language. This book was an immersive glimpse into the life of a man organizing as part of an inspiring revolutionary history. It left me curious about it all and motivated to read more about this tumultuous and inspiring time.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds

 

Image: The cover of the book is a purple background with a mosaic of vintage scifi book covers on top. Andra, damnation alley, The stepford wives, four dimensional nightmare, the word for world is forest are across the top. Below that is purple paint cutting across with the book's title in black stenciled letters. Below that in white letters is, Radical science fiction, 1950-1985. Below that in smaller white letters is "edited by andrew nette and iain mcintyre." Below is the rest of the mosaic showing the covers of afro-6, mind of my mind, que, motherlines, false dawn, the unicorn girl, ice, alien, and shockwave rider.

I discovered the existence of Dangerous Visions and New Worlds when a friend of mine forwarded me an email for the related "all star radical science fiction symposium" of the same name. I have loved the multitude of ways that countless science fiction authors have used their craft to raise awareness, create understanding, envision newer better (or worse) worlds, or to just shake up the status quo. I am less familiar with older science fiction of the era highlighted in this book than I would like to be, so this seemed like a great place to find ways to include more of it.

Part of my reasoning for being less familiar is that I often associated older popular scifi with random (white straight) dudes fighting mythical monsters and rescuing damsels in distress which to me was too much like a lot of older (and current) fantasy as well. This is referred to by authors in the book as the "golden age/old guard" of science fiction. While there were definitely authors creating works outside of those tropes, they were not as common, popular, or given much attention due to heavy censorship from conservative pulp magazines among other things. Following this was the "new wave" which is the focus of this book. The new wave was full of talented authors seeking to honor or motivate people to participate in or support leftist political movements along with the entertainment that comes from enjoying their stories. I was hoping to discover some new names and titles from this book and it definitely delivered (which you can likely see in my goodreads feed full of recent to-read list editions.)

It is a strange task to review literary criticism and analysis when the texts are discussing books and stories that I have not read. I was born in '82 and grew up with SF reading parents- especially my dad- and books throughout the house, but didn't get into SF heavily myself much until college. I would say I have read about 5% of the stuff included in this book, if that. Some entries managed discussion without spoilers while others had to include the whole story in order for their analysis to make the most sense. I found it interesting that another reviewer disliked some of the entries that I liked most- though I see his point that focusing on obscure texts with little influence on wider society may not have been what some readers were looking for. This fits into the whole hit or miss world of anthologies where one person's hit is another's miss. That can be a weakness or strength, but I think it works for this book. 

One of the lovely things about this book that really sets it apart from many academic and adjacent anthologies is its inclusion of vintage book covers of the books and stories discussed. It was a great choice to add this visual element and draw the reader into the time period. Some entries are more academic in style than others, so fantastical illustrations breaking that up was nice. It also reminded me of when I was a child artist and one of the jobs I wanted was to draw book covers or comic book cards because, at the time, that and museum art were the only jobs I thought the fine arts provided.

My favorite entries in the book were (without subtitles for brevity:) Flying Saucers and Black Power, 'We Change and the Whole World Changes,' Speculative Fuckbooks, Eco-Death, Stepford Wives and Supercomputers, The Stars my Destination, A New Wave in the East, Performative Gender and SF, The Moons of Leguin and Heinlein, and Black Star. There's a tie for first place between Performative Gender and SF: The Strange but True Case of Alice Sheldon and James Tiptree Jr and The Moons of Leguin and Heinlein which have both kept me thinking since I put the book down days ago. I actually did my high school senior reading project on Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land because it was the only SF book on the school's list that I hadn't heard of an my mom told me it had weird sexuality in it. My only other exposure to him was the Starship Troopers movie that I saw as a parody of militaristic authoritarianism. I actually didn't know how conservative he was until a class in college.

There were a couple things I was disappointed with. One is that Harlan Ellison is spoken about with great praise and no criticism by many authors. I admit, there were a few sections I skipped over either due to lack of interest or because there was a novel I didn't want spoiled, but for the majority that I read, this was the case. Ellison's legacy includes great creativity and strides in SF, but also misconduct and abuse. The other thing that bothered me was a section on animals. I was excited by the premise then disappointed by the length and content. I'm left wondering why it was even included. The worst part is that the author discusses animals as "space explorers" creating the same narrative of those who abused them that makes them seem like willing participants. There are a lot of heinous things about animal exploitation that haunt me, but one of the ones that does the most is the idea of someone being sent into infinite terrifying blackness through massive horrifying explosions, left alone to die surrounded by nothing but space. We should never discuss these abuses of dogs, rats, chimps, guinea pigs, and even fishes in ways that make them seem like a Disney fairytales or heroic space faring legends- especially not in a book about the liberatory nature of science fiction.

This book (and the rad online symposium) did a good job of combining interests in artistic entertainment, analysis, and social justice. I was introduced to some great history and now I have a whole new intimidating reading list that I will never complete in my lifetime. But, it's still fun to try.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Animal Revolution

Image: the cover of the book has a tan background with mostly muted red letters in the foreground. The letters are capitalized and vary in width randomly throughout each word. Between each line of the title is a red line. Across the top is "animal" below that is the first half of "revolution" and below that the second half, below that is the author's name- Ron Broglio. In small black letters underneath is "illustrations by marina zurkow" and below that in red letters again, "afterword by Eugene Thacker. The N in animal, V and U in revolution, R in Ron, G in Broglio are black. The N has a drawing of a bird on top, the V a rabbit in a boat, the U a frog holding a flag, and the R has a narwahl. There is also a boar's face with a radiation symbol on in on the second O in revolution.
 

Ron Broglio and Marina Zurkow's Animal Revolution is a truly strange book. I went into it expecting something similar to Jason Hribal's Fear of the Animal Planet (which I adored,) but ended up with something more creative. The book sort of mixes poetic story telling with factual histories and philosophical analysis. I ended up rereading the back after a while to be reminded of what the blurb was. I had not heard of "speculative nonfiction" before this as I always assumed that the "speculative" in "speculative fiction" was part of what made it fiction. Apparently, there is a whole genre which takes information from real historical facts and imagines or predicts a story. I am still unsure where the line is between the nonfiction and fiction methods of writing (as they sound pretty similar to me.) A good speculative fiction story uses reality is a catalyst for creation. Either way, I understand what the book is going for.

I do wish that Broglio would have fleshed out his understanding of other animals' behavior, consciousness, experiences, and desires just a little bit more before writing this book. There were many times that I was left thinking, "you are almost there." That said, I am coming from a pretty radical place in terms of how I see other-than-human animals (as an ethical, collective liberation style, vegan who believes in reducing or eliminating my harm and exploitation of others as far as is possible and practicable in all areas of my life.) Many other readers may find themselves at a different place, which may make this book a good jumping off point if the writing style works for you.

I found some of the speculative nonfiction to feel more fictional than actual fiction- often to the point of anthropomorphism. I do not use that word the way many people intent on excusing harm towards other animals misuse it (such as claiming any assumption that another animal is anything other than a thoughtless meat machine is "anthropomorphism.") Real anthropomorphism for instance is a barbecue place with a sign depicting a pig in human clothes happily grilling her own dismembered body parts. But, I digress. What I mean is that the way he writes nonhuman animals' stories seems not to take their experiences that we are able to predict and understand into account enough. Along with the speculative nonfiction part, the book moves through different styles which at times are quite academic.

The reason I say that Broglio is "almost there" is that he is obviously excited and fascinated by various accounts of nonhuman animals resisting their exploitation by humans. But, the ideas and ways of expressing them feel unfinished at times. There is a lot of binary language and referring to other animals with objectifying or disparaging words such as "it" or "invasive." These are common mistakes made by people who have not fully integrated their understanding of other animals as more than objects. However, I was left wondering at times if this was intentional. Many of the sections in the book seem to take the reader on an adventure, ultimately having a better respect for or understanding of other animals in the end. We begin with a story about "vermin" and end with a declaration that there are these rad creatures just living life who deserve as much.

The philosophical musings are interesting at times and brought up important points often left out of discourse around the lives and cultures of other animals. Often, in order to persuade people to have respect for them, people will describe animals as "innocent" or "babies" or "just like us," none of which is inherently true. People who seek to exploit animals will use the opposite arguments as their reasoning- that nature is savage or that animals are inferior in x way. Broglio does neither. He acknowledges that there are differences between species that mean there are things that other animals experience that we will never truly understand as we are not them (and vice versa.) But, instead of using this as a way to reduce animals to the few things humans can wrap our heads around, he uses this reality to call attention to the countless things we never could imagine that will often exceed the abilities, sensations, etc that humans are limited to. He acknowledges animal revolution, language, and culture- as those are the best human words we have- and also acknowledges that humans' exploitation and oppression of other animals is a big part of what has prevented these things from being centered or even noticed in human fields of view. Nonetheless, other animals are integral parts of our cultures and story telling. Rather than telling the reader to see other animals differently, he urges us to integrate them and who they truly are (outside of what can be taken from them by us) more into our realities.

Marina Zurkow's illustrations throughout the book were also strange and interesting. Some of them can be seen on the cover above, but there are more inside. Combining her artistic talent with Broglio's creative writing styles makes the book an almost avant-garde art project and I mean that positively. Overall, I don't know if I "love" this book or not. I am still chewing on it. But, I am glad I read it, if only for the experience of something very different. I have read many books on human and other animal liberation and have never read one quite like this.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Boys, Beasts, & Men

Image: The cover of the book is red with monochrome black illustrations of several dogs. There are 4 heads in total shown in a range from the neck forward to only showing half of their face. The dog in the center faces left and has a long, pointed, curvy tongue. Other dogs have several extra eyes on their head or embedded in their bodies. There are also eyes peeking out of the red background and splotches of black all over. Curving in and out of the illustration is the title of the book in large, capital yellow letters, one word on each line. Across the bottom in white is Sam J Miller's name. Below that in small black letters is "author of Blackfish and The Art of Starving."

I was actually introduced to Sam J. Miller via an excellent short story of his that I read in an anthology long ago. Thus, I was excited to learn that his new short story collection, "Boys, Beasts, & Men," was due out this year. Like most collections of stories, I found this to be a bit of a mixed bag. This makes it hard to rate. Overall, though, there are some great stories in here. 

As usual, Miller exhibits a ton of creativity. There are elements of horror and fantasy woven throughout the book in different ways. There are multiple stories where he takes real and major historical events (often from gay history such as the stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS plague) and adds supernatural elements to them. There are multiple stories where life is given to nonliving, inanimate objects in bizarre ways. As I hoped, there was regular exploration of gay mens lives and psyches in a variety of ways from the throes of love to the despair of self hatred and fear. There is a story set in the King Kong universe, told from a different perspective than I have ever seen. There is a soviet era story I enjoyed and wondered, as a USAmerican, what Russian readers would think of it. I thought "Calved" was probably the best story, though I have mixed feelings about the ending. "Angel Monster Man," is a very creative way of exploring gay culture, art, and propaganda with a horror element I have never seen before. 

Between each story is a snippet of a larger story tying things together. This was my first experience with this narrative tool. This spooky gay cruising journey was an interesting connecting thread with unexpected turns. I also loved the graphic design of this book. The fantastic illustrations that move beyond the front cover and throughout the pages really added to my reading experience. The end of the book tells us more about how old some of the stories are and even includes notes from Miller on each story, why and how he came up with the ideas, and so on. He also confirmed my nagging suspicion that some of the characters were familiar to me- there were a couple of Easter Egg cameos with characters from Blackfish City and The Blade Between.

The places that I think Miller could have done better were the way he wrote Black characters and his use of the r-slur. He needs to work on the whole show-don't-tell thing regarding Black characters. Any time we met one, it was as if his writing skill went downhill, relying on telling you someone was Black for you to know, but still never making me believe it. I did not have this experience with other characters of his. I also object to his use of the r-slur in multiple stories. I understand that sometimes, ugly words are written to show someone's character or what a disabled character has gone through. But, I found the prevalence of it to be unnecessary and felt that there were other ways he could have gone about it.

I did enjoy this collection overall. Even when I hit a spot in Miller's writing where I didn't exactly love the story, there was always a depth of creative risk-taking that makes me happy that he went for it. It's this sort of thing that brings new and visionary fiction into being.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Once Upon a Time We Ate Animals

 

Image: The cover of the book is a navy blue background with illustrated green leaves coating it. In large white letters is the title of the book, 1 or 2 words each forming a new line. In between these lines, in smaller orange letters with horizontal lines extending on both sides of each word is, "the future of food." Inside the "o" of "once" and "upon" is a bird and apple silhouette. Inside the "a" of "ate" and "animals" are two more bird silhouettes. Across the bottom in small white letters is the author's name: Roanne Van Voorst.

 

Once Upon a Time We Ate Animals is Roanne Van Voorst's exercise in applying her field of "futures anthropology" to the topic of the exploitation of nonhuman animals. I was expecting something different from this book. My repeated confusion about what in this book counts as anthropology led me to google the field, where I found that there is a substudy called "sociocultural anthropology" which I assume this closely resembled. I expected a book that described the past, present, and hopeful future of nonhuman animal and human interactions using the science of anthropology. This book is more a collection of disorganized thoughts on a variety of issues related to human mistreatment of other animals, often referencing fields she is not an expert in. That is not to say that this book offers nothing or has no value. It's just very scattered and if you have any knowledge on any of these topics, you may not learn much. There are better sources on these topics. 

 

I read the ARC, so I am unsure if citations within the text are supposed to be added to the final version. I have never encountered an ARC referencing a scientific topic that lacks citations. There is a bibliography at the end of the book, but sorting through it all without knowing which claims the sources are referencing in makes it even more tedious than validating a properly cited text. If she is going to choose to speak on issues outside of her field- nutrition, cosmology, climate science, etc- and make some of the sweeping claims that she does, those citations need to be there.

 

The book begins in a way that is a constant pet peeve of mine when people write about a single issue struggle. She introduces her text and multiple points and chapters by repeatedly mentioning slavery suffrage, gay rights, etc. There is a way to do this properly by discussing collective liberation, the connections between struggles, and overal authoritarian structures that seek to oppress. She does not do this well if at all. It's the same old trope of throwing out a few (very Western focused) victories and making it seem like now those struggles are over and we can wake up to the struggle against the oppression of other animals. This is incredibly flawed as a motivational tool for anyone who isn't of her demographic (which she seems to be writing solely to an audience of.) It's also unhelpful as I could say something like, "In XXXX year the Animal Welfare Act began protecting animals, in XXXX year killing endangered species became illegal in some places," and that would not at all mean animals are liberated. I let the introduction go, but then she just repeated it over and over, only once mentioning that animal oppression is not to be compared to chattel slavery. I get what she was trying to do- show us that horrific things that were once normalized are now seen as unacceptable. But, the point is not made well.

 

The next section drew me back in with her discussion of those who formerly farmed and exploited other animals for profit. The in depth stories of their journeys, their honesty, and their growth were truly inspiring and interesting. It is one thing for someone growing up in the middle of a suburb to choose veganism, it is another for someone who was raised on an animal farm- taught from birth that it was 100% necessary to abuse animals- to wake up and change. It was also a good section dispelling the myths around "humane" animal abuse and slaughter and the suffering of fishes on farms. Many of the farmers were dealing with immense trauma due to what they did to countless animals in these places. This was a very important discussion that could benefit a wide range of people to read. There are a few rude and unnecessary descriptions of interviewees appearances- I don't know why writers do this- but otherwise a great section.

 

Another thing the author did well was to discuss the ingrained nature of eating animals in peoples lives without shaming them. At first. She has decent discussions about sociocultural attitudes and how difficult they can be to overcome. That said, she seems to be duped by some of the marketing tactics for mainstream white veganism that involve health shaming and focus on a false binary of animal consumers being unhealthy and vegans being fit. She leaves no room whatsoever for disabled, fat, etc vegans. On he contrary, she maligns the image of vegans being anything other than "fit" and "sexy." Marginalized vegans exist in large numbers within vegans as a whole, but are often silenced by those who think selling plant based diets as a cure all will work. It doesn't. Studies show that the people who go and stay vegan do it for ethical reasons, not health. Yes, plant based diets can be healthier, but they aren't cures for everything. It's fine and dandy to be unhealthy, fat, and/or disabled regardless of your diet and regardless of if you take an imperfect action that contributes to ill health- we all do. 

 

These blind spots lead to cringey advice like, "...never ever let yourself be put into a retirement home and fed pre-made meals..." I don't know if being Dutch has clouded what healthcare and elder care access is for people elsewhere, but no one wants to "let" themselves be institutionalized, regardless of if it's the only (extremely shitty) option in an already bad situation. She does acknowledge places where plant based diets can be imperfect, but again, since she's not a dietician, many things are poorly organized or not well explained and citations were needed when I wanted to look up a source for a claim she made.

 

She does well to dispell the myth that veganism is a rich people thing. Historically we know that plant based diets were often practiced by the poor because animal products are extremely expensive and resource intensive and indigenous communities accross the globe have shown histories of caring for other animals (not as a noble savage trope, their are exceptions, but overall.)  She also acknowledges that due to subsidies and lobbying, in some neighborhoods, buying a pound of animal flesh at a fast food restaurant is the cheapest and only option. I was really hoping for more stuff like this- discussions of anthropological relationships with nonhuman animals- but, it only made up small chunks of the book. There are a lot of pop culture references and so on which seem more like sociology than anthropology, but to be honest, I am not educated enough on either topic to say.

 

There are a couple sections in the book where she goes off on a speculative fiction story of a post-animal consumption world, but the stories are poorly written. I would much rather have liked to see her discuss what these realities would look like rather than present them in fiction form. I really wanted more focus from her field of study.

 

Her discussion of domestication was interesting and well argued. In talking about the long history of many humans forcing nonhuman animals to change for human needs and criteria rather than changing themselves, it has strengthened oppressive systems in general. This would have been a good opportunity to discuss collective liberation, but her focus remained on other animals. Nonetheless, it was still a good section. 

 

Her section on climate change was a mixed bag. There was a lot of pertinent and correct information about both the urgency of the climate crisis as well as the massive contribution that animal agriculure adds to climate change- more than many other big sources such as transportation. Again, citations here are critical for a skeptical reader. Her solution though- that the "most effective" way to combat climate change is to go vegan- once again misses the mark and the bigger picture of authoritarianism, capitalism, and the people with the most power. The US government for instance has repeatedly bailed out the cow dairy industry here time and again when their sales tanked due to people (not just vegans) boycotting or avoiding animal dairy. Just going vegan will not be enough to stop climate change and to explain in depth why would add even more to this already long review.

 

I've been an ethical vegan for about 16 years. I've had chronic illnesses and disability since I was a child (I am now 39 and eat healthier as a vegan but it did not cure me.) I am marginalized in multiple other ways. I have also made a ton of ignorant white person mistakes that Roanne Van Voorst did in this book. That is why I am being hard on her in this review. She seems to be a little newer to veganism and animal rights. For many of us, the awakening and acceptance of what other animals can go through on such massive scales can be so overwhelming and traumatizing that we desperately grasp onto any glimmer of a solution- including non-solutions or bad ones. Human and other animal liberation is intimately connected. This book could have offered much more if the author gave us more from her anthropology background and imagined an audience that was much larger than normative, middle+ class, white, attractive westerners. Even the resources section at the end- which is a good idea, but poorly executed- is mostly a collection of mainstream white single issue vegans. If you "want to learn" about Black veganism, there are two books listed at the end. If you want animal liberation, you NEED to educate yourself about Black veganism, disabled peoples' veganism, veganarchism, etc. Single issue topics are always ok to highlight and focus on. What is not ok is to erase, neglect, or do harm to interconnected struggles. We need each other if we are ever going to get anywhere.

 

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Creative Interventions Toolkit

Image: the cover of the book is a muted orange color. In the center is a woodcut style print in black with a slightly lighter orange background. It shows an old twisted tree with a thick trunk extending up into 7 smaller interlocking branches. There are circular formations like leaves at the end and the tree is rooted in a lush landscape of plants. Across the top in white capital letters is "creative interventions toolkit" with "toolkit very large. Below that in small white letters is "a practical guide to stop interpersonal violence." On the bottom are for white circles, each containing an icon of a bee, a shell, a gear & wrench, and a wave.
 

Reading Creative Interventions Toolkit brought up a thousand thoughts and feelings. As a result, this review ended up being both a review of the book and a blog of the thoughts and feelings (moreso than usual) that it awakened in me. 

The Creative Interventions Toolkit was assembled by the organization by the same name and is available for free via PDF on their website or in print version via AK Press. I really liked the design of the print version. It was easy to read, follow, navigate, and I felt engaged by the layout. I have not examined the PDF version to be able to say if it is similar. The print version is gigantic- think of a textbook. This is intimidating, which the authors do acknowledge, and at first I found myself frustrated with it. I wanted to read it cover to cover in order to give it a proper review, but there is so much repetition. I finally reassessed how I should be reading it and that improved the experience. This book works less as a "read this cover to cover if you want a successful accountability process" and more of a combination between a textbook (where a teacher would assign only some relevant chapters throughout class) and a collection of independent sections that can be read alone (with the proper foundation set up in the beginning of the book.) Reading it like this meant "cover to cover" was more like reading only certain long form sections. 

 Even with the reading adjustment, I do think it could have been condensed into a shorter volume. I adore that this book is written with everyone in mind- not just small communities of far left organizers with extensive vocabularies and organizing skills. I think they do a good enough job explaining things that condensing a lot of it would make the book far less intimidating and more likely to be used by those who need it most. This book is clearly written by people who wanted it to be able to be used by a far larger audience. They are true abolitionists who clearly have put immense thought and care into its creation. I am very grateful it exists.

Here's where I talk about myself too much and the thoughts this brought up. Let me get one thing clear- this part of this post is me talking to an audience of "my" people. So, I am writing with the assumption that we all agree that most sexual assault accusations are the truth, much -but definitely not all- harm happens within or is worsened by oppressive and authoritarian power dynamics (patriarchy, white supremacy, etc,) capitalism is a hellscape, authoritarianism is never a good thing, and violence* should be reserved for defense or when other options don't work. Many people who rape are cis men, men who are raped are usually raped by other men, people who use sexual and domestic violence often do so repeatedly to multiple victims. The state often ignores, belittles, abuses, retraumatizes, or is violent to survivors especially of marginalized groups and is especially hard on people of marginalized groups who do harm (especially towards the dominant group such as a Black man accused of harming a white woman.) The vast majority of the time, courts and the police do not solve the problem and/or make things worse. Some people are so horrifically manipulative, devoid of empathy, purposefully predatory, and may never be ready for or interested in accountability. Some people unfortunately need their asses kicked, faces spread around, and to be kicked out for the safety of communities. Some even are killed in self defense by survivors of their violence or their community. But, these outcomes (I will argue usually) are not the case. What I am saying is that my discussion in this post of the messy nuances around violence and accountability is not meant to undermine these central realities.

*What constitutes appropriate and effective violence (or violence at all) is a whole other essay and this is already long, but you catch my drift.

I generally had a very complicated and traumatic life before I found sobriety and then organizing. I've had chronic physical and mental illnesses since childhood, a slew of really screwed up experiences and violent traumas, drug addiction from a young age that wrecked my life, all on top of being what my current psychologist calls a "hypersensor-" meaning I am generally a mess inside my head and easily overstimulated even in normal, everyday scenarios. About 15-20 years ago, I got really involved in various forms of anti-authoritarian organizing and LGBTQ communities, the former of which I ceased most participation in around 4 years ago due to my health worsening. I saw and learned a lot in that time- including how to fail at accountability and transformative justice both in my own life and watching the efforts (or lack thereof) of others. Despite our strong desires for an abolitionist society, we're all products of this world and we bring that and all of our trauma and internalized oppression with us. Despite our willingness to fight together in the streets, sometimes we struggle to call in our friends when we see abuse happening right in front of us. That is why this book brought up so much for me. It covers real life, not simply (sometimes imaginary) binaries.

Humans in general (in my limited USAmerican experience) really like to point the finger at others. We love hating rapists, abusers, and fuckups of all sorts. We love thinking of them as one dimensional monsters- completely different species from ourselves. We love calling out that Karen's racist joke on twitter or shaming the ignorant in order to prove to ourselves that we're not like them (anymore.) Get a big enough group together and those dynamics can make canceling someone incredibly intoxicating and feel like "community." Sometimes, even often, the person being canceled doesn't deserve it at the far reaching levels that canceling extends to.

We are often hypersensitive from our own traumas and experiences with oppression. We truly want to see a better world and society. The ideas that people who do harm might actually still be complex and human, that situations of violence are often very complicated, that sometimes people who make accusations can be wrong, that entire communities can be responsible for abuse (not just the person who directly did harm,) and that we can't just solve abuse and violence by tossing out the trash... well... suck. We all do harm. We all cause conflict. Sometimes we do harm because we grew up learning it was normal. Sometimes we are more vulnerable to harm because we grew up learning it was normal. 

In small communities especially, social capital can sometimes outweigh everything else.

In my own mental health struggles, I have perceived and declared things that were minor issues as being bigger forms of abuse. Sarah Schulman discusses "overstating harm" like this in Conflict is not Abuse. I have weaponized callout culture in ways that- in hindsight- I realize made the situation worse. I once completely cut off a dear friend when I found out she had been abusive to multiple women. I later realized it would have been far more helpful to do things the hard way and try to help her acknowledge the harm and do better. During a mental health crisis, a generally nonabusive partner of similar demographics was scary and violent towards me, had far more social capital, then tried to paint me as at fault/abusive to escape responsibility. I had a close friend who once helped me leave an abusive relationship, then started a partnership with the abuser 2 weeks later, never denying what he did and ghosting me. He abused her for years after that. He was celebrated as a pinnacle of trans community when he died. I have met multiple men who have done harm and agreed to "accountability processes" that were not processes at all. Some of their actions were minor and done once- even according to the survivor- but other folks took out their past trauma on them while offering them no way to do better (and they were actually willing.) It was a mess that didn't heal anyone. I have had friends deal with an extremely violent and unstable housemate who weaponized oppression lingo and community leaders to make said friends (who were also marginalized in more ways) out to be "unsafe," even while he was the one literally holding the axe. I have one parent who was an extremely neglectful and sometimes abusive alcoholic and died by suicide. I have another parent existing in a state of active paranoid psychosis, who refuses treatment, and constantly accuses people of poisoning, attacking, gang stalking, assaulting, etc her- including me at times. Regardless of reality- they are completely real experiences for her.

This book covers all of that shit. It doesn't go into the kind of detail I have here, which is why this post is more personal than a review, but it actually leaves room for real conflict resolution, discussion, and problem solving. Creative Interventions acknowledge that things can sometimes be clear cut (a man serially assaulting women and hopping from community to community) or more confusing (partners accusing one another of abuse at the same time.) They acknowledge that things can be messy (the survivor may be a straight up unlikable asshole, the person doing harm may be well loved.) They acknowledge that most if not all of us tend to feel and/or act defensive when confronted with the idea that we have done harm- especially if it was unintentional or out of ignorance. They acknowledge that some mental and intellectual disabilities may prevent someone from being able to be accountable in ways someone without said disabilities could be without ignoring the harm done and the need to do something about it. With all of these acknowledgements and many more, they offer real, concrete solutions. Neither I nor the authors have any illusions of perfection. I am sure mistakes can still be made. But, they're far less likely with these methods and far more likely to be mended in this sort of system.

Some of the stuff that was most enlightening for me were the sections on "the person doing harm" and their role in things. I have seen a lot of the survivor, community, and ally transformative justice tactics that they explain. I have rarely seen texts that go deep into what we can do when we're the one who has done harm. The section is thorough and covers a wide range of stages that a person doing harm may exist in. These range from those in a state of pure, unempathetic lack of remorse to those whose defensiveness is protection from their own shame to those who are ready, willing, and enthusiastic about doing better and healing the harm they have caused. It was freeing to read and be reminded that there will always be ways to do better, rather than wallow in shame and guilt (that can motivate, but can also take up massive space, and center the person doing harm.) Fearing and running from accountability can sometimes take more time and effort than the scary process of facing it head on. The skills in this book would apply across the board to all harm and conflict in my opinion- not just violence. I can see myself using things I learned in every day interactions with people in everything from very minor, one time mistakes to chronic, deeply entrenched problematic beliefs and behaviors. The authors acknowledge the reality that accountability does not mean a community will feel comfortable or that relationships will remain intact. It does not mean the person who was harmed will forgive everything and we'll all run off into the sunset alongside unicorns. It does mean, however, that the future is full of promise and the ability to do better and live better, regardless of how extreme the harm(s) someone has caused.

One thing on violence: Creative Interventions states that they are generally against violence used to shame or seek revenge on the person doing harm which, I admit, made me bristle for a second. I've seen some pretty awful predators do some really horrific things (including discovering I narrowly escaped a skillful grooming by a serial assailant that was committing horror movie style sexual violence against people throughout the community.) The idea of them being hurt feels perfectly justified to me. CI's explanations gave me a new outlook on how violent retribution can actually be giving the person doing harm what they want. In one of the personal stories (which are all extremely helpful and enriching to the text,) there is a description of a man who sexually assaults someone and submits himself in front of the group that confronts him, begging for forgiveness and not to receive the consequences the accountability team had planned. While some of them wished violence had happened, some said that it is exactly what he wanted in those moments- to get his ass kicked and therefore claim he had repented and to walk away from it all. If a man rapes a community member, we all go kick his ass, and tell him he's not welcome (which as I said, is occasionally all that's left to be done,) is that better than taking away his ability to access more victims, to get him to interrogate his issues, to support him in doing so, etc? It depends on the situation, but sometimes violence is the less effective way out. And, if you're a sensitive person like me, violence towards someone even if they "deserve it" can fuck you up. Sometimes the kindness of providing a process of redemption for someone who has done something despicable is really worth it.

If you made it this far, thank you for giving me your time and attention. This was actually even longer and I cut a lot out, but hopefully still made my points and intentions clear. I find that real conversations around this stuff, however difficult, can be immensely enriching and healing. If I've said some shit here you hate or just disagree with, and you want to have a real conversation about it, hit me up. Go get this book. If able, and you know someone who can't access this book due to language barriers, disability, etc, consider finding ways to help them access it. CI is also clear about that- they want everyone to be able to use these tools to prevent and heal harm in their relationships and communities. I hope to become a better human with the stuff I have learned in this book and I think others can, too.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Antiracism in Animal Advocacy

Image: The cover of the book is on a white background and centers the profile of a person from the top of the shoulder to the middle of their head. They have short cropped hair and dark brown skin barely showing through the image contained within. Inside the borders of the partial profile is a landscape of a green hillside with a group of humans of various racial backgrounds, 3 brown and white cows, and two pink pigs shown from the side walking up and down the hill. Across the top in small uppercase dark grey letters is "The Encompass Essays" with "encompass" in green. Below that in larger grey letters is "Antiracism in animal advocacy." Below that in small green letters is, "igniting cultural transformation." In the lower right corner of the cover in alternating grey and green text lines is, "Jasmin Singer, Editor. Foreword by Aryenish Birdie. Afterword by Michelle Rojas-Soto."

 Antiracism in Animal Advocacy, released in September from Lantern Press, is a tough book to review. This is not because it's a horrible book or anything, but it goes in a lot of directions that made me wonder who the best audience was for it. It is a collection of essays tackling racism and white supremacy all too present in white dominated sectors of animal rights activism. I admit I initially missed the text at the top telling the reader these are "The Encompass Essays," so I did not realize until I began reading that all of the essays would be from people involved with the organization Encompass. I am generally out of touch with all of the nonprofits out there as there are so many, but Encompass' goals seem very important and noble to try to achieve. Not everyone in this text is included on the website, but judging from the entries, all of them are or were involved in helping Encompass achieve goals of better racial inclusion in animal advocacy movements. 

Around half of the essays in the book are by self identified Black, Indigenous, & People of the Global Majority (BIPGM,) which is one of the things that makes it difficult to categorize. Because the burden of tackling white supremacy should rest on the shoulders of white people, and mainstream animal advocacy movements with the most funding are dominated by white people, sharing essays by white animal advocates discussing their antiracist journeys and practices make sense. And it is true that the representation of BIPGM in this book is much better than in animal rights organizations in the west at large. But, I wouldn't recommend essays by white folks to people who already experience racism and know what it is unless they are interested in knowing which white folks are at least working at it. At the same time, the contributions by BIPGM are stellar and I believe most if not all people of various backgrounds could benefit from their wisdom, if only for the sense of comradery. Perhaps I should just let go of my love of boxes and let this book exist outside of one. If you're white, especially if you are new to committing to truly fight racism and white supremacy within and outside of yourself, you should read this book. If you're BIPGM, you may want to stick with the half of the book written by BIPGM and even then, they may be sharing things you already know from personal experience.

 I've done a bit of the never ending work of learning about and fighting racism both within myself and systemically. (I have much more to do.) Thus, I found the dominance of white voices in this to be a little disappointing. However, if I think of myself around 15-20 years ago- embarrassingly ignorant of so many of these issues and how entrenched they are in my life and the world at large- I can see myself benefiting from these essays immensely back then. With all of this in mind, I'd say the people that need to read this book the most are the white folx who are still in the early phases of their awakening. In the promotional quotes for the book listed in the beginning, Omowale Adewale calls this collection, "an excellent springboard for white people and their entities to do antiracist work while strengthening the infrastructure of the animal advocacy community." That sums it up quite well.

I do have some criticisms of how some of the entries by white people come off as shallow in terms of their goals, particularly one essay by Rachel Huff-Wagenborg that is basically a list about how she'll think about and challenge her white privilege as the action points she's taking. That's less than the bare minimum. Michelle Graham rightfully acknowledges the racism in the "effective altruism" movement, but does not criticize EA itself for being notoriously ineffective in their research and implementation, funneling large amounts of money into already wealthy (often white) organizations (who of course are more "effective" than small ones because they are rich.) I admit it has been some time since I looked into how they operate, so perhaps they are better at this than they were years ago. Other white authors like Cailen LaBarge do a better job of discussing both personal and systemic issues and how to tackle them both. 

I especially appreciated authors of multiple racial backgrounds bringing up the shameful issue of organizations going after farm workers and not the farm owners and operators, often doing Purdue and Hormel's PR work for them by allowing the blame to fall on "bad apples" whose behaviors they "don't condone" despite literally inventing them. To add fuel to the systemic fire, they end up laying misdemeanor or felony charges at the feet of people already so down and out that they're doing some of the most traumatic, dangerous, and dirty work in the world. Overall I would have liked to see less talk about personal privilege from middle to owning class white people (whose experiences also don't translate often to many poorer or multiply marginalized white people) and more discussion overall of systemic issues and how to fight them.

The best essays in the collection are that of Malina Tran, Dana McPhall, Christopher Eubanks, and Michelle Rojas-Soto. My book is littered with page flags here and I will not include long quotes so as to hopefully entice you to go out and grab a copy of the book and read the full essays. All of their entries bring great depths of understanding as well as giving the gift of vulnerability in sharing their personal experiences with these issues as well. These, and other BIPGM in the book are people that not only have been fantastically active animal advocates, but they have done so while navigating the immense barriers placed before them by racism in white dominant animal rights groups and movements. Readers- especially white ones- should read these entries and realize not only how incredibly horrific and unjust it is that our movements for all animals often exclude the most marginalized of humans, but also realize just how much we are all missing out on by excluding them. Everyone benefits from dismantling white supremacy. Yes, everyone. 

I acknowledge the hypocrisy in devoting much of this review to critiquing white essays while complaining that too much time is spent on white people in this book. This is all very messy and I don't have easy solutions. Like many authors state, there is no perfect way to do this and there is no way to do this without failing at times. Being uncomfortable is a good thing as a white person fighting racism. Don't run from it.

I think Jasmin Singer did a decent job editing the collection overall. While I have criticisms of the demographics, I don't have an easy solution. 2 books divided into BIPGM and white accomplices? That would come with its own set of issues. Perhaps this book is right where it should be- a bit of something for everyone. Anthologies often are that way. The editors and authors of this book never claim to have all of the answers. I think this book is a valuable contribution to these ongoing conversations and the actions that hopefully grow from them. I wonder what my activism would have looked like had I been handed a book like this 20 years ago. 

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: The Blade Between

 

Image: The cover of the book shows a dark ocean portrait of a whale viewed from below. The sea surrounding her is pitch black and her body is a mix of bright teals, black, and white. Over top of the image is the cover of the book in large white capital letters, covering the top half of the cover. There is white liquid dripping from the bottom corners of the "E" in the, "B" in blade, and the second "E" in between. Below that, in grey capital letters is Sam J Miller's name. Coming down from the middle of the right edge in smaller red letters is "a novel." Across the bottom in smaller white and red letters is "author of blackfish city."

While waiting for my ARC of Sam J Miller's newest novel- The Blade Between- to arrive, I noticed that my library had procured the audio version and I decided to grab that to get started while I was waiting. I ended up finishing it quickly. The audio version has great narration and voice acting that fit the tone of the book. This book, like some of Miller's other work, straddles genres. In some ways, I found myself thinking that you could take the fantastical or paranormal elements away from it, and still have a great story about a ton of complex characters interacting in another gay boy returns to working class homophobic home town type of story. As a result, this sometimes left the paranormal elements feeling unfinished. They occasionally felt like refrigerator magnets that were part of the big picture, but not the heart of the story until we reach the end.

Nonetheless, this book explores quite well the various ways in which real life people with real life struggles find themselves in conflict and cooperation with one another. How does one fight with the white working class against encroaching gentrification and destruction of their jobs when said working class has more violently homophobic and racist members than the gentrified areas have? How do you find solidarity in groups who hate their own members like that? How do we understand concepts of sexuality? Is it only how we identify, who we love, the actions we take, what we like, or all of the above and more? Can one be proud of where they come from when it also includes immense amounts of pain? What can we do to work together and make things easier for youth that come after us? I think the paranormal parts added an interesting twist to these things, even if I wish they were more fleshed out.

To avoid spoiling this story, I will end this review here. I really have enjoyed everything I've read by this author and look forward to his next release.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Anarchism and the Black Revolution - The Definitive Edition

 

Image: The cover of the book is an illustrated version of a black background with a gray paper on top of it. The paper has rips in it revealing every alternative letter as a different color. So, the title of the book and the author's name cover the entire cover in large capital letters. "Anarchism and the black revolutions"'s letters alternate between white and black and "lorenzo kom'boa ervin"'s letters alternate between red and black.

I actually began slowly meandering through a previous edition of this book many months ago. I had an ebook on my phone that I would dig into when I was out and about and didn't have another book handy. I wasn't far in when Anarchism and the Black Revolution: The Definitive Edition was released, so I grabbed a copy and switched over to that. The newest edition includes some extras: "...an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life," making it worth revisiting even if you have read another version in the past.

As one can tell from the title and the blurb, this book merges together anarchism and Black liberation. It should go without saying that they shouldn't need to be merged because they are part of the same thing. Unfortunately, though, the reality that occurs as a result of a large majority of white people organizing: there is a critical need to carve out a space for Black people that is created and filled by Black people. Ervin is not just critical of white supremacy when it governs the actions of white people, including anarchists, though. He also has strong criticism of organizations like The New "Black Panthers," whose hierarchical structures make them unfit to use the name. He also discusses the unfortunate results of oppression such as when the oppressed turn their pain on one another through violence and other harms and offers solutions to deal with such phenomena.

What struck me most about this book while reading both the previous version and the new one is just how relevant everything in it remains. I am aware of the whole, "oppression doesn't disappear, it only changes shape," adage (though I always forget who a similar quote should be attributed to.) So, I won't say I am surprised necessarily that everything still applies. Yet, it is still striking to read Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin's assessments, and especially his predictions, and realize that they all were true and/or came true.

Another thing that makes this book standout aside from the subject matter itself is just how detailed Ervin's suggestions and guidelines are for creating a better world. They are also wonderfully ambitious. Many anarchist texts that end up being "how-to's" of sorts regarding the larger implementation of living in an anarchist world tend to focus more on smaller community structures. Ervin definitely does this. But, he also calls for international solidarity- an anarchist planet full of cultures and societies that organize among themselves as well as together across the globe. The idea is so daunting, but it makes sense. When one is left asking how it would even be possible, Ervin maps out various strategies and the importance of the methods in detail.

There are some things with room for improvement- I think that Ervin focuses a lot on the general ideas of race and class for good reason. I think he could have gone more into misogynoir, sexuality, disability, etc. There are also some parts that show Ervin's hubris. This is especially evident in the interview at the end of the book, but in a couple of other places as well. Ervin states that no one likely would have known about Black anarchism had he not written this book and that he was the only Black anarchist during the civil rights era. Aside from the fact that any claim that someone is the only one of something or the only source of information should be met with suspicion, Ervin himself  credited Martin Sostre for introducing him to anarchism and claimed he still didn't become one until the 70s. Some people also mention Lucy Parsons coming long before any of them, but it can be argued that her avoidance of the topics around racial justice does not make her a good comparison. I am not sure what prompted him to change his story in these ways, or if there is a misunderstanding on my part, but it was a strange move while calling for an anti-authoritarian worldwide movement of cooperation and solidarity.

Nonetheless, this book was and remains a critical part of any reading list for those interested in justice and liberation. I especially encourage those who are involved in racial justice, but who do not identify as anarchists or who see anarchism as a white movement, to give this book a shot. I think that when you give yourself an essay or two, you won't be able to put it down.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: The Disordered Cosmos

 

Image: The cover of the book is a cream colored background with the profile of a dark skinned person looking downward, shown facing to the right from the neck up. The photo itself is greyscale that is mostly transparent and replaced with an image of the milky way shown in a clear night sky. There are countless stars of varying brightness and the strip of the milky way stretching down through the center, composed of oranges, whites, purples, and blues. In large white letters is the title of the book and in the lower right corner outside of the profile, is the author's name.

As a layperson interested in astrophysics and cosmology, I generally get interested in any newer books coming out that cater at least somewhat to my demographic. But, just like the fields themselves, the pool of writers tends to be fairly one-dimensional in terms of gender and usually race. I also often wish scientists would expand their discussions of the specifics of their field to how social aspects fit into it and their personal experiences. As a result, I was anticipating the release of Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's "The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred" as soon as I found out about it. It took me a minute to get to, but I am glad I finally did. The author breaks many molds with this book and I think the field is better for it.

I will admit that I expected a bit more of the specifics of astrophysics and Prescod-Weinstein's focus and work in this book. It was a little disappointing that that only made up a smaller section in the beginning, and a large section of that was based on overview. I left knowing more about the author's life and views on social justice (which I also enjoyed) than I did her work in astrophysics and cosmology. So, I consider this to be more of a scientist's memoir with a science writing bend than I do a strictly pop-science book. Nonetheless, I think it is a valuable contribution to all of those genres. I actually think it could be good that the title "tricks" some readers into a book that spans all of these genres because Prescod-Weinstein touches on so many issues that have plagued the sciences for centuries.

The author captures well what it is like to straddle multiple positions and identities within and outside her profession. She is the first Black woman to receive positions and acknowledgement for many things and that is a shame. I recall that before this book existed, I searched for texts by Black women and struggled to find them. As Prescod-Weinstein shows though, that is not because they didn't exist. She takes us far back to Harriet Tubman using the North Star as a guide during her liberations of/with enslaved Africans. She discusses all of the things that go into making science happen outside of just the experiments themselves. We not only rely on principal investigators and statisticians, but also on those who take out the trash and maintain the buildings in which sciences take place. Covid-19 did wake many people up to the reality of how "essential workers" are "heroes" that hold things together. But, those people have been holding things together outside of the pandemic for as long as they've existed. What would the world look like without people working grocery stores, sanitation, etc? In places where garbage collectors have gone on strike, we can see how quickly streets can turn into a toxic wasteland without them. Furthermore, there is literal science methods and math involved in many of these professions. So, the author talking about all of these people "doing science" is a welcome addition to the long history of highlighting only a select few with the most privilege and publications.

Prescod-Weinstein talks about her childhood love of cosmology and how hard her mother worked in order to make sure she had access to learning materials and opportunities- things many people who are interested in similar topics never get to have. She discusses how even folks who make it to university can still struggle to break though any ceilings if their university is less wealthy and does not give them access to journals and materials to excel. She talks about how efforts towards "diversity and inclusion" focus far too much on adding a little color to their photos rather than actually support and understanding marginalized scientists. She discusses hardships and abuses she has dealt with more personally throughout the book in classic style of memoir. These include experiences of assault and harassment by people she chooses not to name publicly for fear of backlash and of what would happen to those she would be outing.  

The only thing that made me bristle was her discussion of transgender issues, including her own gender labels. I know that we all need to be careful with "gatekeeping" as people are often questioning and trying to figure things out. I know that any questioning of anyone will always lead to some people being pissed off about it, and I am fine with that being fired in my direction. Many of us who now ID as trans and have transitioned in many or all ways possible went through this phases of experimentation and shifting labels for ourselves- this is generally a good thing. All people- including cis people- playing with gender norms will likely result in a better world. My issue is how she is speaking as an authority with a very wide reach while coming from a place where she doesn't seem to understand what terms mean or what her personal relationship to gender is. I won't dissect every bit, but I will say that her description of herself is the definition of being a cisgender woman. Talking about being agender and marginally transgender is adding to the increasing phenomenon of LGBTQ+ terms ceasing to have any meaning whatsoever. I think that she- and she is certainly not the first- should spend more time exploring and understanding themselves before writing book sections on these topics. When questions of gender nonconformity and being trans become dominated by gender conforming, comfortable with everything associated with their AGAB/ASAB, cis/heteronormatively presenting, etc people, we get to the point where pronouns are given more space than violence, healthcare access, etc, which is precisely what Prescod-Weinstein does (though she does touch on some of the latter.) I will stop there for now because this is already dominating to much of this review as I worry failure to explain myself is going to be used as ammo against her or me- which I do not want.

Overall, this book is a great memoir and essay collection that creates many bridges with science writing. It starts many valuable conversations that I hope people will be brave enough to explore in their own lives and laboratories. I think that Chanda Prescod-Weinstein took many big risks in putting this book out there and in her public discussion of struggles with oppression in STEM fields. For that she should be commended. The book is also well written and interesting in general, so I can't recommend it enough.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Ornitherapy

Image: The cover of the book has the background of an orange and red sunset. The landscape in black is silhouetted close to the bottom with the sky taking up the rest of the page. A large sun sits close to the bottom, cut through with clouds. In the foreground are illustrated/copy-pasted silhouettes of a flying hummingbird, a flying swallow, and a perched kingfisher on a small twig cutting through the center. On the left side is a large lighthouse silhouette with the title of the book sideways in large white letters. Below that in small white letters is "changing your heart mind soul." In the bottom right corner are the names of the authors.
 

Ornitherapy is a creative and interesting text with the goal of combining self-help style psychology, meditation, and birding into practice. Holly Merker, who is the author of most of the book, briefly discusses at the end of the text how being a breast cancer survivor led her to seeing birding as medicine. She even used her hair lost in treatment as donated nesting material for birds- a really cool way to turn a struggle into a form of participation with nature and other species.

The book is hardcover with high quality, thick paper. The first half is the book, practices, and images on high gloss and the second half is for the reader's participation and journaling on appropriate matte paper. Thus, it works as both an informative book and a workbook.

Something that stands out with this book is the great appreciation for "common" birds and a strong desire to make the practices in the book accessible to people regardless of whether or not they can afford expensive equipment and fancy vacations. She teaches the reader how to meditate on birds one may find in their yard if they have one or walking down a city street. I have page flags on quite a few practices I plan to implement next time I am out birding. The journaling section also has examples at the top of the authors contributions which I found very interesting and had not seen before. I think that's a great idea to help the reader get the ball rolling.

Some species of birds are featured specifically, most all of them common birds the reader is more likely to encounter. My absolute favorite section was on scavenger birds such as vultures. Anyone who knows me knows that scavenger animals hold a very special place in my heart (and tattooed on my arm.) Merker refers to them as the "MVPs" of the bird world, appreciating how critical they are for the ecosystem and pathogen control. She also discusses the importance and beauty in the "ugly" features of vultures like their bald heads. It's not often that I see appreciation for vultures and pigeons in these ways. I really appreciated that.

There was some language I could do without such as regularly referring to birds as "it." This is very common in discussions of birding unfortunately. But, in the case of this book where the reader is encouraged to connect in such intimate ways with birds, I wish they were referred to with different pronouns than one would use with a toaster. The reader is also asked what bird is their "spirit animal" which is also a very common thing for people to say in the sphere of appreciating animals, but has been criticized for how its use has harmed indigenous people. This only happens once, so please don't take this paragraph to mean that this book is full of harmful language. 

The only thing I really did not like about this book was how most of the images were tampered with. I am sure the designer meant well, and perhaps it's a taste issue for me, but it really downgraded the book. I don't know what inspired the design choices, but the photoshopping was not only distracting, it went counter to everything taught in the texts and meditations of the book. I thought that while reading the book, the images would be sort of a meditation in and of themselves. But, all that most of them did was frustrate and irritate me. There would be a beautiful landscape sunset with a flock of birds and the designer would then copy/paste some other birds crammed together that don't fit the image or the setting. There are many instances where the way the images were designed are ways in which one would never see birds in the wild. Meditations on viewing birds in the sky are accompanied by images of 20+ birds copy/pasted into a 3 foot section of the sky that would never be there in those numbers. An image of a single common house sparrow in flight would have been more engaging. Sometimes the same bird is copy/pasted right next to another copy. I noticed a marked difference when I was reading a page with a gorgeous close up image of bird feathers or a gorgeous landscape with a single bird in their natural habitat. There were even images that already included a ton of birds, and still, more birds from another image were pasted on top of them. I was constantly wondering what the original images looked like as they all looked gorgeous underneath it all. The poor design choices made me think of why harmful and exploitative facilities like zoos and animal circuses exist- humans want to see everyone packed together for entertainment, not in their natural habitats. The text in this book is the absolute opposite of that- teaching us how to appreciate every moment in nature. So, there's just a huge clash here.

Even though I was distracted by the graphic design sometimes, this book was still very enjoyable and informative. Birding has truly changed my life and I definitely consider it to be medicine and a critical part of my healthcare. I love the idea of combining an appreciation for birds with exercises outside of merely trying to identify or "collect" as many sightings as we can (though that can be fun, too!) I will be implementing these skills for sure and anticipate much richer and more mindful experiences to come. I recommend this book to pretty much anyone who could use a break from many of our tech heavy lives as well as anyone generally interested in birding- new and veteran alike. This book opens the door for people who don't know where to start and encourages the experienced to stop and appreciate all of the birds who we have become accustomed to.

This was also posted to my goodreads.