With all the talk about Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama in the news during this presidential election, issues of racism and sexism have risen to the top of the American consciousness.  What better time than now to look back at an important moment in American feminist history? The documentary film "Sisters of '77" tells the story of the 1977 National Women's Conference held in Houston, Texas.  The weekend long meeting was attended by a wide range of prominent women including former First Ladies Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, writer Maya Angelou, and feminist activists Gloria Steinem and Betty Freidan.

The lead character on "In Plain Sight" should have been a black woman.   How's that for an opening line? But I'm serious.  She should have been a black woman.  Why do I say this?  Because after watching the pilot episode of "In Plain Sight" and several episodes since, I keep thinking:  what a bland show.  It's kind of like watching a show that's set in New York but was shot on the gritty streets of Toronto:  there's nothing special about it and it's obvious to anyone who's been there, it's not New York.

This summer on July 23 and 24, CNN is airing a 6 hour documentary on what it's like to be Black in America .  In the promo they point out that the program "isn't just about Black people, it's about Black Americans".  As I put these dates on my Outlook calendar, I got to thinking about what it's been like for me being Black in America. 

I've always said the only people worse represented throughout Hollywood history than black people, were Asian people. Just like we had our share of white actors parading around in blackface, Asians had to tolerate white actors in yellowface: that is, white actors made up to look like and play Asian characters.

Kelly Wickham of Mocha Momma recently commented on BlogHer that she'd like to see more people asking questions about the black experience so we could gain the same kind of learning we gained from discussing Dana Tuske's post on Israel. This was her comment:I always want to yell at people, "GO GET SOME BLACK FRIENDS IF YOU HAVE ALL THESE QUESTIONS. DAMN." but I don't. If they didn't surround themselves in their hygenic-hermetically sealed bubbles and hope that everyone else can please explain themselves. I try to educate instead and sometimes, yes, I do so with a lot of sighing and a mild amount of disgust, but I know they really do want to learn.I e-mailed Kelly, whom I've known and respected for a while now, to open a dialogue. Here are some excerpts from our conversation about the black and white of today's America.

I recently read BlogHer Contributing Editor Laina Dawe’s post in reaction to Barack Obama’s speech about his white grandmother. I started thinking about how much our families influence our own views about race, whether we agree or disagree. Once you hear someone make a hateful remark about another person based on the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes, it’s hard to forget your reaction.

While visiting Dubai this week to cover the Dubai Motor Show, I got an invitation to take a Chevy Tahoe four-wheel drive deep into the desert for a half-hour camel ride across the spectacular red dunes of Margham in the Arabian Desert about 40 miles outside of Dubai.

On November 11, Dubai will witness a night of spectacular glamour and style like it has never seen before. The General Motors (GM) Style event will be held there and is the first of its kind in the Middle East, aligning star names, high fashion and some of the most beautiful vehicles ever built at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena.

What do a mammy cookie jar, an Amish quilt, and a YouTube video of young white women flashing gang signs have in common? For me, they all provide teachable moments, opportunities to push students at least slightly beyond their comfort zones to address difficult issues such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. I like to provide what appears to be a low-stakes space in which to bring up these and other issues. And I effect this space with objects. I believe if we're brave and curious and skilled in cultural analysis, we can use objects to effect dramatic shifts in our students' perspectives on their own lives and others'. Why objects? Because students lack a language for talking about them, and in using a different part of their minds, they make new kinds of connections among cultural phenomena.

I have to admit, I am totally burnt out with the ‘Net. I spend most of my day reading blogs and trying to find free music. Either that or trying to block out the recurring sexual fantasies I’ve been having about Rollins (inside joke, Maria!). Because of the industry that I work in summers are incredibly slow, so slow that on some days I want to put my head down on my desk and weep out of frustration. Either that or throw myself out of the window. So I have been reading a lot.... so much that I think my head is going to explode.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a few of the financial highlights from the BlogHer conference. Nothing to write home about, but just some things that I picked up on during a few of the conversations and sessions I had attended. What I love about the BlogHer conference – and I’d say this anywhere, not just in this space – is the way it fosters a discussion and then individual bloggers expound upon this conversation as they process the happenings of the previous days.