From the Newsarama interview with Marjane Satrapi, writer/illustrator of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood:
There have been so many misjudgments because today’s world is divided into two parts. It’s so sad that we talk about East and West, Christian and Muslim, and the country’s north and south. It’s so stupid. In real life things aren’t that easy. If it was that easy then part of the world would be bad and the other part would be good. Your president calls us the Axis of Evil. If it was that easy then let’s exterminate the bad ones and let the good ones live happily. The human being wants to point the finger at what is bad.At one time the evil was the Soviet Union then Ayatollah Khomeini then Saddam Hussein then Osama Bin Laden then Saddam Hussein again. It could be UFOs from another planet. When I left my country again in 1994 for France, there was also a lot of misjudgment. People would ask me about being Iranian. It was real close to asking me if I was driving a camel in my country. There are no camels in my country because it’s cold in Tehran in the wintertime.
She also mentions a French proverb, “Translation is like a woman that is either beautiful or faithful.” Yes, she's from one of the Axis of Evil countries and currently resides in France. I can't imagine anyone stupid enough to hold either or both of these against her would be reading this site, but I've been wrong before.
Also on the women authors of color tip, How Deep Shall We Dig? by Arundhati Roy:
But in the heartland too, the schism between knowledge and information, between what we know and what we’re told, between what is unknown and what is asserted, between what is concealed and what is revealed, between fact and conjecture, between the ‘real’ world and the virtual world, has become a place of endless speculation and potential insanity. It’s a poisonous brew which is stirred and simmered and put to the most ugly, destructive, political purpose.
She's writing of India, but I think the passage applies equally well to the U.S. I'd prefer it didn't, but can't convince myself to even pretend otherwise. Maybe I'd fit in better in this society if I could.
Not that I really want to fit in better in this society.
Arundhati Roy is one of these people who makes me feel like I'm on the correct side of an issue...if that makes sense. When I read her writing, I can't possibly disagree with what she's saying.
Thanks for the Satrapi interview pointer. Persepolis is a terrific book.
Karin, no worries. Put in a request for the book through inter-library loan, as the one closest to me didn't have a copy. And the ones that did, listed it as YA. I expect someone should have a chat with librarians about graphic novels at some point. And it won't be me.
dru, oh yeah. And she's a very good speaker; if I was more industrious I'd find some links of her on Democracy Now or Alternative Radio.
I'll sic my friend Sarah on them. She's up there in the Chicago area already, and she's a librarian herself.