Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics

~ there are books that one reads and remembers, there are others that become family members; books that stay with one throughout longines of suffering; words from the author stoicly holding up the soul when one doesn't have the strength ~ this book lives by my nightstand; the words from bell hooks essay, "Choosing the margin," found me when i was an undergraduate and struggling; struggling with figuring out how to write the truth; moreso; how exactly to write the truth in front of everybody; how to look people in the eye; and still, write the truth; it is a painful undertaking; this writing of the truth in front of everybody; this essay will teach a writer more than any lecture on learning to live within the safe language space; it will speak to the intellectual who is figuring out still, how to say it; the truth; how to make it look good and feel good and taste good; there is no way to do this; and in a radical chess move, ms. hooks writes as if to say there is a better way to keep the flame of your soul alive learn to reside within the margin space ; learn to live within the group, by living on the outside, refuse to step inside the circle ; refuse to become one who agrees to everything ; stay here in this radical space ; this margin ; will sustain you ; by living within the margin ; this is where you will begin to thrive ; call bell hooks radical call her racist call her what you will but she too, has mastered living in the margins and this is where she will thrive and survive this is the great open radical space where no one can touch her ; she is ultimately one of the worlds purest forms of greatness ; i admire her ; and i cherish nearly every single thing she ever writes ;

Yearning is comprised of a series of essays, which identify, dissect, and communicate cultural politics with a focus on the world's lack of focus towards black women. Various overlooked and underrepresented groups in the media and world literature are given a voice too. Stereotypes and cultural ignorance is dealt with thoroughly. Not only does the author shoot down the upper-class white heterosexual male icon, she analyzes mentally, statistically and historically oppressed peoples own misgivings. All the while, the book is entertaining. bell hooks has a straight forward approach that forces one to look past his-story's rhetoric and recognize truths. hooks writes for those with a vocabulary, so if that's what you lack, grab Webster and learn a few words as you gain insight and recognition on cultural politics.