Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate
Voting ended onJun 13
Book summaries below:
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century, edited by Alice Wong
One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.
From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love.
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate
In 1984, a small group of gay men and lesbian women stepped away from London’s vibrant gay scene to support a beleaguered mining community in the remote valleys of South Wales. They did so in the midst of the 1984 miners’ strike—the most bitter and divisive dispute for more than half a century. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s social and fiscal policies devastated Britain’s traditional industries, as AIDS began to claim lives across the nation. As the government and police battled "the enemy within" in communities across the land and newspapers whipped up fear of the gay "perverts" who were supposedly responsible for inflicting this disease, miners and homosexuals unexpectedly made a stand together and forged a lasting friendship. It was an alliance which helped keep an entire valley clothed and fed during the darkest months of the strike. And it led directly to unions and the Labour Party accepting gay equality as a cause to be championed. Pride tells the inspiring true story of how two very different communities—each struggling to overcome its own bitter internal arguments, as well as facing the power of a hostile government and press—found common cause against overwhelming odds. And how this one simple but unlikely act of friendship would, in time, help change life in Britain—forever. This is the true story that inspired the Golden Globe Award-nominated, GLAAD-nominated, BAFTA-winning film Pride.
Alpinists are intimately familiar with death and grief. A therapist thinks he can address the unique needs of these élite athletes.
Excellent.
The therapist mentioned in the subtitle is Tim Tate from Bozeman, MT and is a sort of shaman/healer + Jungian analyst.
If you follow @hthrloooo this paragraph my bring her tumblr to mind:
Tate also became involved in the nascent men’s mythopoetic movement led by the poet Robert Bly. An article about Bly and the Grimms’ coming-of-age fairy tale “Iron John” (which would become the title of Bly’s 1990 best-seller) piqued Tate’s interest, and he attended a Bly retreat on Lake Hubert, in Minnesota. “There were more than a hundred men there,” he said. “It got pretty Western. At one point, they had set up maybe six sweat lodges. The guy who did it was way past his skill set, and at that time I was three years into my work with the Crow medicine man, and I intervened. I got it back on track.” At the men’s gatherings, you were expected to discover your animal totem. Tate’s was a moose. Bly’s was a bear. “I would do a moose strut, and then Bly and I would wrestle,” he said.
Better Living Through Birding: A Black Man in Natural World by Christian Cooper
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate
Voting ended onJun 6
Book summaries below:
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
Christian Cooper is a self-described “Blerd” (Black nerd), an avid comics fan and expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. While in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the birdwatching ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old when what might have been a routine encounter with a dog walker exploded age-old racial tensions. Cooper’s viral video of the incident would send shock waves through the nation.
In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous incident in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in America today. From sharpened senses that work just as well at a protest as in a park to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover them yourself.
Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper’s story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days at Marvel Comics introducing the first gay storylines to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas, and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding recounts Cooper’s journey through the wonderful world of birds and what they can teach us about life, if only we would look and listen.
Nonfiction, memoir, travelogue, nature
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate
In 1984, a small group of gay men and lesbian women stepped away from London’s vibrant gay scene to support a beleaguered mining community in the remote valleys of South Wales. They did so in the midst of the 1984 miners’ strike—the most bitter and divisive dispute for more than half a century. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s social and fiscal policies devastated Britain’s traditional industries, as AIDS began to claim lives across the nation. As the government and police battled "the enemy within" in communities across the land and newspapers whipped up fear of the gay "perverts" who were supposedly responsible for inflicting this disease, miners and homosexuals unexpectedly made a stand together and forged a lasting friendship. It was an alliance which helped keep an entire valley clothed and fed during the darkest months of the strike. And it led directly to unions and the Labour Party accepting gay equality as a cause to be championed. Pride tells the inspiring true story of how two very different communities—each struggling to overcome its own bitter internal arguments, as well as facing the power of a hostile government and press—found common cause against overwhelming odds. And how this one simple but unlikely act of friendship would, in time, help change life in Britain—forever. This is the true story that inspired the Golden Globe Award-nominated, GLAAD-nominated, BAFTA-winning film Pride.
Owned?: Yes
Page count: 289
My summary: The true story of striking miners in the Dulais valley in the mid 80s, and one of the groups who supported them, a London-based group called Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.
My rating: 5/5
My commentary:
Pride 2014 is one of my favourite films of all time. It tells this story, of gay people in London banding together to support striking miners and raise funds. Ultimately, the strike did not end in success, but bonds of solidarity were forged between the gay community and the mining community that benefitted both. It’s a story of solidarity, and we need more stories of solidarity out there in the world. People shouldn’t be focused on the differences between minority communities, we need to be standing together and against the forces of oppression on every axis.
On that subject, the credited author of this book outright states in the intro that, as a middle-class straight guy, he doesn’t want this book to be in his voice, so it’s presented as interviews with the people who were there at the time, with him occasionally popping in to give historical context. Which is great, and a really cool way to present the information, but sometimes I got the sense that he didn’t really get what he was talking about. Like, he mentioned a few times something to the effect of the ‘unlikely friendship’ between miners and gay people...and yet, a majority of the gay people interviewed were from working-class backgrounds, some from mining communities themselves. It’s almost like people aren’t usually one minority in isolation, but there is solidarity and interconnectivity between minority identities. Funny, that.
Overall, though, this is an excellent book, and a more in-depth look at the history than the film. I loved seeing passages about how the gay community came together in support of the miners - in particular, Derek Jarman and Paul O’Grady being mentioned as helping at various points - and how the miners responded to the disgusting attacks on their communities from the government in general and Thatcher specifically. Seriously, if there’s anyone in the world who likes Thatcher, there is something horribly wrong with them. But yeah, if you like the movie or are interested in this particular slice of history, this book is an excellent look into that period and these events.
Next, back to horror, and a town corrupted by the spiral.
history of audiobooks : Hitler's Forgotten Children by Tim Tate, Ingrid Von Oelhafen | History
Listen to Hitler's Forgotten Children new releases history of audiobooks on your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Get any BOOK by Tim Tate, Ingrid Von Oelhafen History FREE during your Free Trial
Written By: Tim Tate, Ingrid Von Oelhafen
Narrated By: Davina Porter
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Date: February 2016
Duration: 7 hours 20 minutes
