The Reading List, part 2

I’ve already written about the books I’ve read this summer that are on the reading list CCSC sent me. In this post I’ll write about the books I’ve read that are not in the CCSC list.

When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
This book has been a good distraction/break from some of the other things I’ve been reading and thinking about. Even though this book is pretty dark at times, Sedaris has the ability to write about unfunny things in hilarious ways and the darkness is nothing compared to genocide. What do I think I’ll bring from this for my year of service? Not much, but if I ever become so stressed out that I’m tempted to start smoking (not that likely) I can think about how Sedaris describes the hotels/hotel rooms where smokers can stay, and, since I like traveling, I’m sure the temptation will pass quickly.

Feminist Theory: the Intellectual Traditions of American Feminism by Josephine Donovan
I’m somewhat familiar with the modern feminist movement and modern feminist ideas, but I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about feminist theory. I’ve only really started paying attention to women’s issues and feminism for a few years and have only considered myself a feminist for about a year and a half. I paid no attention in my Women’s Studies class my first year of college (it was a three hour class on a Monday night that was taught by a monotone professor and there were a lot of annoying people in the class, what can I say?) and I hate to admit it, but I really didn’t care.

I chose this particular book because it seemed like it was a good basic overview, but mostly because it was $0.01 on Amazon. It turned out to be a good choice. I really enjoyed the book because it was so informative and gave me a lot to think about. Also, I think I can take a lot from this book—and feminism in general—and apply it to my year of service.

Feminism can be applied to almost anything that involves women, and whenever a group is oppressed or marginalized, the women of that group have it even worse than the men because not only are they faced with whatever form the oppression takes from their oppressors, but they are also faced with sexism from their oppressors and from within their own group. In addition, rape is almost always a huge component of current conflict in areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur and other attacks on groups of people that force them to be refugees.

I know that I will have to be very conscientious in my work of many, many cultural differences and among these differences is the treatment and status of women. Interestingly, women from two of the countries that a large number of the refugees are coming from this year—Burma (Myanmar) and Bhutan—have traditionally had nearly as high standing as men. However, under their current oppressive governments (a military junta in the case of Burma), the role and value of women significantly decreased.

The Journals of Judge Edward Godfrey, Vol. 2 1870-1877
I read this for my internship at the Bangor Historical Society and Museum. I doubt there is much here I can apply to my year of service—even less than in David Sedaris’ book. This book is VERY boring, and also pretty creepy because Godfrey—who was in his sixties—mostly kept the company of high school girls. Every time he mentioned a woman or girl he also mentioned if they were attractive or unattractive and if he considers them to be a lady. In addition, he included some pretty sexist poetry he’d written and published in the local newspaper (one about how society was allowing women to turn into men). He eventually married a woman who was 24 and when he was 67 (he’d been “courting” her since she was 18 and still in high school).