Damned Scribbling Women

Happy Spring! Let's celebrate by reading Dr. Marcia Chatelain's FRANCHISE and Nikole Hannah-Jones 1619 PROJECT! Also we celebrate the amazing legislative work being done by congressional superstars Lauren Underwood, Shontel Brown, and our incredible Vice President Kamala Devi Harris. Then for fun we talk shit about a mediocre white guy who was devastated and pissed he had to watch a movie that wasn't about a white man. Join us! 

Franchise: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781631493942

1619 Project: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593230572

White Male Supremacy is why it took America until 2020 to elect a Woman VPOTUS. WMS is in our classrooms and congress, feeding itself. We chat about recognizing it, and trying to end it. FYI: We invite fans of Bernard Sanders to not listen to this episode. You'll only get pissed at us, and we're not in the mood. Check out this episode's glorious women authors: 

Gloria Naylor: The Women of Brewster Place

Mikki Kendall: Hood Feminism

Amanda Gorman: Indie Bound search

Racist White Fragility, Ray Bradbury is thy name! Douse the dumpster fire of garbage that is Fahrenheit 451 with the cool, refreshing waters of far superior books by far superior women. (A partial list) 

Ruth Ozeki * A Tale for the Time Being 

Janet Campbell Hale * The Jailing of Cecelia Capture 

Zadie Smith * White Teeth * Swing Time 

Isabel Allende * The House of Spirits 

Jhumpa Lahiri * The Namesake 

Leslie Marmon Silko * Ceremony 

ZZ Packer * Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 

Maxine Hong Kingston * The Woman Warrior

Women write amazing shit today and they wrote amazing shit a long time ago and kids are missing out on these masterworks of literature and drama simply because misogyny and racism are the cornerstones of every public school English curriculum. Let Willz sit on the ‘Choice Books’ shelf for once so students can explore and love these women’s words and perspectives instead: 

Murasaki Shikibu * Diary of Lady Murasaki Shikibu * The Tale of Genji

Mary Zimmerman * Metamorphosis

Emily Wilson * The Odyssey (Translation)

Lord of the Flies is 200 pages of mediocre toxic masculinity, so how about we dump this thing for some better books that explore lateral themes, written by some far more talented and intelligent ladies that maybe include women characters portrayed as actual humans who exist? Let’s do this!

Octavia Butler * Kindred * Parable of the Sower * Parable of the Talents

Shirley Jackson * The Lottery * We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Maya Angelou * I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings * On the Pulse of Morning

I mean, a white man plagiarizing about how hard life is for white men in America is a real fresh perspective – so sure, canonize him and make kids read his crap over and over . . .or instead, let’s read these gorgeous (better) books about life in America written by incredible (better) women: 

Toni Morrison * The Bluest Eye * Beloved * Song of Solomon

Louise Erdrich * Love Medicine * The Round House * Tracks * The Beet Queen * The Bingo Palace

Alice Walker * The Color Purple * Meridian * The Temple of My Familiar

Let’s read better books of Abolition and Transcendentalism by women, none of whom took time off work to lounge around and navel-gaze in a tiny house on borrowed land and then act all serene and self-congratulatory about it, as they were too busy saving lives and changing the world. 

Frances E.W. Harper * Complete Poems of Frances E.W. Harper * Lola LeRoy

Sojourner Truth * On Women’s Rights * Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Margaret Fuller * Women in the Nineteenth Century * The Essential Margaret Fuller

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is neither great, nor worthy of the three (3) Elanor has been assigned to read it. Replace that long-winded women-hating piece of poo with these novels of depth, character, and glorious relief for the reader of not languishing for page after page of worn-out ‘green light across the water’ metaphors oh my god dude, we get it. Ladies, show him how it’s done:

Nella Larsen * Passing * Quicksand

Zora Neale Hurston * Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zelda Fitzgerald * Save Me the Waltz

www.damnedscribblingwomen.com for sources, show notes and more info.

Nathaniel’s Hathorne’s The Scarlet Letter has been read a billion times. Replace that worn-out thing with these far superior, thematic-adjacent novels, written by women who don’t throw tantrums and blame their literary success or failure on whatever it is men are up to:

Celeste Ng: Little Fires Everywhere

Jesmyn Ward: Salvage the Bones

Elizabeth George Speare: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

NOTE: The author Ta-Nehisi Coates's name is pronounced Tah-Nuh-Hah-See - not the way Leigh said it, with the weird 'sh' sound because she is an anxious and inexperienced podcaster. Note to Self: You know how this is pronounced, good god. Calm down and do better. Our sincere apologies and thank you so much for your patience.

www.damnedscribblingwomen.com for sources, show notes and more info.