Sonja Denise's Notebook

I've never been a big Obama fan. I never believed he was liberal, and always pegged him for center-right. I never thought the election of a black man signified anything except now minorities can get fucked over by our own kind. Maybe I'm cynical because that's my nature, or because I've been subjected to the Bush clusterfuck from the moment I became fully politically aware up until now. But all I ever saw Obama as was More Of The Same - a rich, detached politician who cared more about climbing a political ladder rather than actually helping anyone. Oh, he's smart, but his intelligence won't help us any.

I've been following the Rick Warren drama for the past few days, but haven't really bothered to say much about it, because it's pretty standard for Obama or any other politician without any real convictions. Or a Democrat. I and other true liberals are pissed. Some are getting disillusioned (the more, the better, I say). Then there are those Obamafreaks who think he's God or something, and insist that we all continue to trust him despite him repeatedly showing that's not such a great plan. But this rant isn't about them, or even specifically about Obama.

( This gets long. )

I've been slowly making my way through Grey's Anatomy (I'm still somewhere in Season 3); the show is so soapy and trashy and doesn't even try to pretend it isn't, and I have to give thumbs up to Shonda Rhimes for having such a diverse cast. It's the only show I know of right now that portrays a broader range of looks as being beautiful and there's no "Hollywood ugly" nonsense.

Okay, I admit it, I'm mainly watching for Cristina. But I had to point out the positives of the show.

Amid the Election frenzy, I missed out on the news that Brooke Smith was suddenly dropped from the show, and her character, Erica Hahn, is being written out (and rather half-assed, apparently), and it's apparently ABC's doing. Which is not surprising, since I'd have a hard time believing Rhimes would do this. Let's see, what are Erica Hahn's offenses? She's a strong woman, perhaps not attractive enough by some arbitrary standards, and, oh, she's in a relationship Callie, another woman! And on top of that, there was apparently going to be another bisexual character, but the scripts are being rewritten.

Jesus H. Christ, this is depressing to hear after all those bigoted ballot measures passed. It feels like we're really moving backwards in a scary way.

I'm having flashbacks to how The 4400 dropped Samantha Ferris (she played a strong woman, but a rather minor character) without warning or reason. The show got canceled the following season. I'm hoping Grey's ratings drop noticeably so ABC realizes that they fucked up big time.

Here's the best commentary I've read about the situation so far.

I am very sick of this election; I wish we could just fast forward to John McCain's inauguration. We all know it's going to happen.

But I've been reading Susan Faludi's Backlash, and the entire book is still horrifyingly relevant, seventeen years after its publication, and this section in particularly happened to be particularly apt, never mind what you think of Hillary Clinton or Geraldine Ferraro. You can predict the future by looking at the past.

( Just Not Enough Good Women )

"Dude, stop being such a ball sack."

"John Kerry is a ball sack. Barack Obama should have rejected his endorsement, because it makes him look like a ball sack, too."

"The reason a man doesn't like a strong woman is because he is a ball sack."

ball sack a wuss, a wimp, a crybaby, a coward, proof that there is no intelligent design

I mean, it makes a lot more sense than calling someone a "pussy" (the vagina is quite resilient).

And it's fun to say.

Just sayin'.

I decided to copy one of my Martha Jones (of Doctor Who) icons from my fandom journal to this one, because I'm completely smitten with this character to a degree I was not anticipating. Martha is the kind of character I'm all about - she's intelligent; she's brave; she loves, but doesn't let it control her; she's funny; she's imperfect. And she's well-loved within the show because of these qualities!

I'm often on the prowl for great female characters, but in the midst of my Martha love-fest, I realized how few great black female characters there are. In fact, I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. With more thought, I recalled Michelle Landau (Nip/Tuck) and Agent 355 (Y: The Last Man). But that's still quite a short list.

In all honesty, I never thought about race as much as gender, and I still don't, but I realize that, when I was little, I was always on the look out for black women and girls to...identify with, I suppose. I can definitely say that's why I latched on to Scary Spice (yes, yes, I just outed myself there) - that, and her glasses. I think, even now, I do that; and now I can see why.

This made me go through my works and works-in-progress; I already know I create female characters of all kinds of races and ethnicities, but now I wondered how many leads were black. One novel, The Assembly Line, is narrated by a black character. The comic series I'm working on now, Idle Spirits, there's Derica - and I can't forget her mother, Adelle. Then there's Complementary Colors, a back burner comic, led by Toni, who is biracial. All of them touch on racial issues, specifically ones relating to black women, from time-to-time, and I didn't even do it consciously. This is all honestly surprising and interesting to me!

I'm also now considering starting an InsaneJournal Asylum about the topic, even though I know the traffic will be slow here (or maybe because, since I secretly I hate moderating).

Thank you, Martha Jones, for making me think!

YES. Exactly. Regardless of whether one likes Hillary Clinton or not. Sheesh. Sexism remains strong.

I filled out my voter registration form, and just need to mail it out. Soon I shall be a registered Democrat. Yes, I'll vote Clinton in our primary, whether it'll change anything or not. Whoever gets the Democratic nomination gets my vote in the general election.

http://www.ning.com

Basically, it's a site that's set up so anyone can make up their own custom social networking site. I promptly found P.O.W.E.R. in Comics, which has an emphasis on women and minorities in the field of comics (hey, I'm both of those!), and joined. It only has 101 members, but I'm just excited to find a place about comics that I can feel at home at. My page is here.

I wonder what else I can find on Ning...