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I really loved 5 books we read, so I’ll just mention them all and you can pick if any sound good.

First was Amina Wadud’s Quran and Woman . It’s basically exegesis on the Quran from a female perspective. It challenges a lot of what is presented as evidence that Islam is inherently sexist using textual support. It’s a controversial book, but it’s worth reading for sure. Wadud is brilliant and the perspective definitely gave me some food for thought.

We also read So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba. It’s fictional, but still extremely insightful. It’s essentially a narrative told through letters that discusses polygyny in Senegal. It is a critique of the affects of the Islamic tenet of taking multiple wives, but one from an actual Muslim perspective. It’s fair and from a place of understanding. This is also just one of the best pieces of 20c African literature in general. I love reading outside of the canon.

Next is Sex and the Citadel by Shereen El Feki. This is about sex and sexuality, primarily in urban Egypt. It was extremely readable and gave absolutely fascinating insight on a taboo topic. It’s shocking how much El Feki was able to get women to reveal.

Engaged Surrender by Carolyn Moxley Rouse focuses on African American Muslim women. Once again, we’re getting their stories on their terms. It helps to shed light on why they convert, how Islam affects their lives, and what their religion means to them. As an American, I found this really fascinating. There was a lot of valuable commentary on America within the book.

Finally, I’m gonna bring up a book that deals with men. Farha Ghannam’s Live and Die Like a Man covers the construction of masculinity in Egypt, specifically Cairo, from birth through death. Each chapter essentially tells the story of 1 or 2 men and their experiences. This book was a really important complement to the rest of the course, as it mainly focused on women. Reading an ethnography on men was a shockingly unique experience.


The last 3 I mentioned are ethnographies that I feel are extremely well-done. All of the writers were extremely fair in their analysis. There’s not really explicit praise or criticism of Islam, but just discussion of how it manifests and affects the life of Muslims. Or how Muslims navigate being Muslim in their day-to-day lives. Two of the authors are Muslims themselves and the other discusses how she considered conversion in the book.

I didn’t really leave the class with a different opinion on Islam, as I was never anti-Islam or anti-religion despite being non-religious. I just now have a much more nuanced opinion and ideally a better understanding. As it was a woman’s studies/anthropology course, we were just focused on understanding the lives of Muslims on their terms. Obviously discussion of how we felt about these things and how we can navigate morality across cultures came up, but my professor was wonderful and we primarily focused on understanding, even when we didn’t necessarily agree.

I think if you read literally any of these books, you’ll be left feeling similarly to how I do. They’re all wonderful. Hopefully this was helpful and sorry it was so long! I could talk for hours about this class.

(Also none of these actually discuss Iran even though that’s what I initially brought up. We mainly covered that through lecture)

I can almost guarantee you that it was not about a simple compliment and more about fawning over and playing with a strangers hair, which is totally a thing and comes across as patronizing and an invasion of personal space.

It's not "hey your hair looks great today" and more "omigod i love your hair can i touch it wow its so bouncy hehe"

https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Touch-My-Hair/dp/0143129201

Maybe his friend DID miss the point, I wouldn't be surprised if her only exposure to the concept of micro aggression was from a freshman training session. But from his attitude, it sounds like he's the one who misunderstood, willfully or otherwise.

ME : Dear White People, you know damn well know you aren't cancelling your subscription.

THEM : yes i am, and im not white. there's HULU. Amazon. crackle. epix.

THEM : Already did. Ever heard of Amazon prime video?

ME :
Yes, I have, and guess what? Dear White People streams for free on Amazon Video. Now that you know, are you going to protest Amazon Video now too? https://www.amazon.com/White-People-Tyler-Jame…/…/B00OSQAP6G

Also, you people appear to be living under a rock and/or have no intention of leaving Netflix... you know how I know? Because a) Hulu is no longer free. b) Dear White People is also on HULU. https://www.hulu.com/watch/850296

Since Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu all source the same material, shall I put your empty threat/entitlement to not be offended, still on notice?

I guess that leaves you with Epix, and Crackle... your empty threat will be even more empty, after you learn Dear White People is also on Epix. http://press.epixhd.com/programming/dear-white-people/

Absolutely. There were people in my drawing and live study classes from all different skill levels w no judgment (unless you acted above it all)- my pal was an absolutely amazing sculptor and literally could not draw a woman for shit. The curriculum usually works from the ground up in terms of learning perspective/ shapes/ theory if it’s not an advanced class, i don’t think a professor would expect you to come in knowing all that.

If you’re interested in landscapes, imo taking a watercolor or oils class is also helpful- the loose wrist motions associated with it lend well to depicting nature. If you’re interested in people taking a sculpture class can also be helpful- understanding the body 3D helps so much with correct poses and proportions in self drafted drawings. Figure drawing design and invention is my favorite book for self teaching and practice also.

Apparently I was wrong. The article was actually a book written by Laina Dawes.

But Straight Line Stitch is a metalcore band with a black woman on vocals. They fall more on the punk side, but they're pretty good if you're into that.

The amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1501180126

A news article about how it became an Amazon best seller. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/323253-amazon-bestseller-reasons-to-vote-for-democrats-is-a-book-of-empty-pages

If you wanna make millions off of fools, become a Conservative!

There's also Justin Barret, who is a cognitive psychologist and a Christian theist, who grapples with Theory of the Mind in his books "Why Would Anyone Believe in God?" and "Born Believers: The Science of Children's Religious Belief"

Several years back he had a discussion with another Cognitive Psychologist as part of the Veritas forum on "Faith, Psychology, and the origin of belief" which you may find interesting (and this one, unlike the books, is free!).

It's some coincidence (or providence depending on your beliefs) that I was just listening to that Veritas recording today. I got it months ago off of iTunes and just so happened to read your circlebroke post right after.
It's highly relevant.

Disagree. Somehow on the internet STEM=computer programming, even though biology, astronomy, and many other academically-oriented, non-tech-related degrees fall under STEM. Regardless of field though, if the program/department you are in doesn't prepare you very well for the job market (professionalism, resume-worthy projects, internships, career fairs, etc), it can be just as difficult to get a job with a STEM degree as a so-called "mickey mouse" degree. I "followed my passion" and got a BA, MS, and PhD in anthropology, and now work at a multi-billion dollar software company figuring out what, why, and how we should build things (in grad school, I also held a qualitative research position within an engineering department). Turns out, understanding people and context are essential to making usable and ethical technology. I also work with people with degrees in English, environmental studies, political science, and yes, art history. The simplistic view of STEM vs liberal arts is unrealistic at best and dangerous at worst. If you want to learn more, I suggest reading this book and the others list in the 'commonly bought together' section.

No your ramble makes sense don't worry. I have the same issue, if I ever see a comment by them I just skip them since it's pretty pointless to read a poem version of the comment I just read. But I mean, isn't there a poem for your sprog book? He made some sort of money off of his internet fame. Kinda like Shitty Watercolour or A Wild Sketch Appeared.

The Food Lab is really good.

If you look at the states with the lowest per capita income, a large chunk of which are the former Confederacy, it's a split. Mississippi has a large black population voting overwhelmingly Democratic, and a white population voting overwhelmingly Republican (now that the parties have finally switched polarities). The split is cultural/racial, despite the fact that the black and white working class in the state have far more things in common than differences.

My dad recommends What's the Matter with Kansas? as a way to show the split between the economic status of conservative voters and those that benefit from conservative policies.

Oh, man. You weren't kidding.

There was a thread in AskReddit about what books to recommend. I suggested Rashomon and was downvoted to 0 almost immediately. Guess it didn't have magic in it, so it's not literature.

Don't you know all the serious analysis and critique of postmodernism has come from alt-right Youtube personas like Fredric Jameson and David Harvey?

The premise of that book is such bullshit.

What a surprise, the author appears to be a libertarian and complains about SJWs and leftists on his blog...


Edit: Good god he even wrote this fucking book.