November 22, 2005
THANKSGIVING COPING: A MINI-LITERARY GUIDE
It should be the time of year when curling up with a good book replaces outdoor activities. Don't let the freakishly warm November weather stop you from getting your fall reading on. Here are some new-ish recommended reads for the long weekend approaching.
Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond
If nothing else, Thanksgiving generally signifies the commencement of a season's worth of binge eating and family issues. Candyfreak, which is, amongst other things, a meditation on the relationship between candy and pathos, is the perfect Thanksgiving take-home book. You will laugh at Steve Almond's antic voice; you will furnish yourself with conversational fodder for Thanksgiving dinner as you soak up lore about a bizarre slice of American industry; and you may even emit a small sigh of identification with the author's bittersweet ruminations on the elusive nature of love.
The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege by Robert Jensen
It's hard to get past the feeling that Thanksgiving (as depicted in elementary-school-style images of Pilgrims and Indians making happy together) is a giant propaganda campaign. If you're jonesing for a consciousness raising read this weekend, The Heart of Whiteness is a good beginning primer by a white person about confronting racism within and without. Jensen outlines the ongoing pervasiveness of white privilege and racism by citing gaps in income, access to education and standards of living between white and nonwhite U.S. Citizens. He moves on to talk about his own experiences both in confronting internalized racism and speaking out in his professional life. Jensen does not shy away from the uncomfortable work it takes to erode white privilege.
posted by Amanda
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