shondaland

Grey's Anatomy is easily one of the best shows on network television -- if not the best. I have a standing appointment with the creative brainchild of fellow "colored girl" Shonda Rhimes each Thursday. But, if I do happen to miss an episode, I can watch online.

It's difficult to pinpoint what makes the show so addictive. A cast of hot docs isn't new to network. E.R. remained the master of the hot doc genre for sometime but has since outlived it's time slot.

It's not McDreamy or McSteamy (well they are hot but it's not just that) or the undue attention paid to the show's wishy washy namesake Meredeth Grey. There's something about the emotional complexity of the storylines -- with a perfect dose of the comic -- that keeps viewers returning week after week. And the ensemble cast is an ethnically diverse group of actors, many of whom are skilled on the stage and haven't been typecast by Hollywood. The chemistry just works.

Losing Isaiah?
There's a bit of discord in Shondaland, however, as evidenced by recent episodes at the Golden Globes and T.R. Knight's (George) interview with Ellen Degeneres. There was some mild attention paid to the onset row between Isaiah Washington (Burke) and Patrick Dempsey (Derek aka Dr. "McDreamy") a few months ago when Washington used a homophobic slur in reference to Knight (who later came out as gay). This incident resurfaced at the Globes when a reporter asked Washington if he actually called Knight the "f" word (and I don't mean feminist). Though Washington denied the incident, Knight later confirmed it on Ellen and needless to say, all is not well in Shondaland. Washington made public apologies and appeals to lesbian and gay civil rights' groups but I wonder if the cast will be able to heal from this incident or if will be losing Isaiah.

I've been a long time fan of Washington and have always lamented the fact that there aren't enough roles for fine black actors like him (and I don't just mean fine in the vernacular sense). But his insensitivity to Knight really disappointed me. I would have felt similarly let down if Knight had called Washington a racial slur (as I've grown quite fond Knight as an actor as a result of his role of Grey's). It's just not okay to treat people that way and I think it's important as groups who are discriminated against to hold one another accountable when we enact the same kinds of violence against other marginalized groups. The best possible scenario is that the cast will work through this incident and remain intact. The thing is once people use hateful words against one another they can't be taken back. Perhaps as we watch the real people behind this vibrant cast grapple with the very diversity the show espouses, we will learn something about the kind of work and acceptance it takes to actually realize a community of difference.

good news for singletons ... maybe

Will the increasing number of women living on their own shift expectations of bourgeois heteronormative coupling as a goal for most women?

in memorium

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." These words, written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Birmingham prison, are as true today as they were in 1963.

During the King holiday, the media tends to shower us with broadcasts of King's "mountaintop speech." And while that speech is remarkable, its rhetoric of liberalism and integration tends to assuage those who would shirk at some of King's more radical sentiments-- his outspokenness on class, his condemnation of the Vietnam War, and other "less quotable" remarks. The American media prefers instead to memorialize a peaceful, pacifist fixed in one moment in time instead of appreciating the entire man and instead of acknowledging the continued relevance of his philosophies, especially in a climate in which social injustice continues unabated.

Today we must continue to speak out against injustice. As our government insists upon continuing on the path of war and devastation in the Middle East, we must agitate for peace. Let's observe this memorial holiday in protest of our government's criminal behavior. We need more than ever to let our voices be heard "from the mountaintop" and in the streets!

The L is Back

Get ready you lipstick lesbian loving ladies (yeh, I know Shane is supposed to be "butch" but look at her). Season 4 of the L word premieres tonight. And while I completely agree with Mirandala dot org that there are soooo many reasons to hate this show (or at least to kick yourself for loving it), I've been anticipating its return for several weeks now (enough to actually order a premium channel on my otherwise basic digital cable lineup).

At the end of Season 3, the girls were still mourning Dana who, to the chagrin of the cast and fans of the show, the producers killed off with breast cancer. (Come on Ilene. Did you have to ax one of the most likable characters? Why not throw Jenny off a cliff?)

After proposing to Carmen in a fit of grief, Shane left her hottie wife-to-be at the altar. Loner Shane had finally met her wayward dad and upon discovering he was a womanizing con, she assumed she could be no better.

Season 3's cliffhanger also featured Bette fleeing Canada with kidnapped baby in tow, menopausal Kit pregnant by that hippy dippy "manny" Angus, Alice and Laura comforting one another through their loss of Dana (who they were both in love with) and heiress Helena being cut off financially by her kickass mom. I know its unrealistic, borderline soap opera drama. But I can't not watch it! Plus, the show is introducing a whole new crop of ladies we'll love to hate/hate to love including Marlee Matlin.

And the show does have some redeeming moments. Their farewell to the late, great Ossie Davis (who brilliantly played Bette and Kit's curmudgeonly dad) was an amazing overlap of life and art. And the producers manage to insert politics into the show at rare moments without being overly propagandistic. And dammit, the girls are hot.

Some of my lesbian and straight girlfriends who have seen the show complain that the characters are not representative of the diverse lesbian/bi community, but I don't think the show makes any such claims anyway. The producers are clearly trying to chart out new territory with the inclusion of a transgender character (last season) and the introduction of a woman in the military and a deaf character (this season), but it's impossible to represent every segment of the lesbian population, plus it is television afterall. Titilation and elements of fantasy are par for the course.

And I'm just glad it's on the air because in spite of its flaws, it does push the envelope of popular culture a great deal. And while the show has a diverse following, I feel like the target audience is women. In a culture in which women's sexuality is usually put on display for the enjoyment of heterosexual men, it's refreshing that the creative team behind the show manages to make relationships between women sexy and entertaining but not reduce it to a male porn fantasy. For that, the show deserves some credit.

B. Smith becomes face of Betty Crocker Cornbread

For as long as I can remember, my mom has preferred Jiffy cornbread (whenever she has been disinclined to make cornbread from scratch). To be sure, Jiffy has long held sway over black consumers. Perhaps due to its sweet and "down-homey" taste. Or maybe just because the box advertises "cornbread" rather than "corn muffins."

Eager to lay claim to black consumers (and just in time for the holiday season), General Mills decided to "blacken" their Betty Crocker cornbread mix (formerly known as corn muffin mix) by adding cook show diva B. Smith's face to their product. Now I know what y'all are thinking: modern day Aunt Jemima. And you're not the only one who has made this connection. "B." contests this ready association between herself and Aunt Jemima in an interview with NPR's Farai Chideya. But what do we make of the almost intuitive move by GM to harken back to the image of a black woman--cooking with a smile--as a way to promote the "authenticity" of their cornbread mix?

While former model turned restaurateur B. Smith is not a caricature, like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, does GM's marketing strategy really differ from the R.T. Davis Milling Co.? Granted, B. Smith is getting paid better for her image, but like Nancy Green (the real woman behind the Aunt Jemima product), B. provides a "living trademark" to promote GM's product, a trademark that evokes similar associations in the American imagination. Otherwise B. wouldn't have to defend herself against the Aunt Jemima image.

At the same time, the success of GM's marketing strategy could suggest that black and white consumers alike find comfort in this iconographic figure. Perhaps the image goes beyond southern nostalgia to embrace some sense of "home" or a longing for conventional performances of mothering. Yet black women tend to get fixed in these roles. To be sure, B. Smith is exercising her freedom to market her brand as she chooses, but I think we would be remiss not to read the circulation of black female bodies critically, especially in the American marketplace (also see my earlier piece on the continued marketing of the mammy image).

2007

Some time ago I stopped making New Year's resolutions. I don't remember why exactly but it might have had something to do with the annoying way resolutionaries overcrowd the gym from January 1 until about mid-February and leave a pool of sweat on all the machines in an effort to shed 15 years of fat in 15 minutes. I wait--irritated--I-pod on full blast until the resolutionaries finally give up and I can use the crosstrainer again.

In other words, I'm not a fan of broken promises. Of those I make to myself or to other people. I stopped making those grand New Year's gestures and decided to gradually ease into better habits whenever I became inspired to do so, whether it was June, November or January.

At the same time, 2007 is pretty darn special for me as it's the first dissertation-free year I've had in about 3 years. I feel compelled to make plans! Travel plans, dating plans, plans to shed those excess "phd lbs." Most of all, I want to stop putting off the pleasures of life--the impulsive, silly, inconvenient dalliances I couldn't or didn't partake in because I had deadlines or a standing appointment with my laptop.

And I do desire to make some changes in my life now that I've achieved a long-standing goal of mine. I want to fulfill some other goals: write that novel that's been materializing in my head, do pilates, meditate more often, meet datable people, date datable people. But all these things won't happen just because the clock struck 12 and we've declared it time for new beginnings. I guess if I made resolutions I would resolve to at least act on some of my desires. To make a step toward "the new." And perhaps if I do a little bit each day, by the end of the year I'll be a few steps closer to the me I'd like to be.