disparaged the film as a “white savior narrative”—a phrase that is now a routine derogation of certain cross-racial sagas of resistance to white supremacy
When you leave the museum
of contemporary art, opening
the doors to midday, you may need
a few minutes to reset context:
the bike shackled to the sign
is only a bike, the sign only a sign,
no small white exhibit labels.
Out here birds are nothing
but their crumb-begging selv…
Here’s another way of understanding why the “self” belongs in self-help. Self-help concerns the self because it excludes others—because it actively discourages acts of intervention or compassion. Self-help is for selves because it is selfish on the giving end (that is, the not-giving end) and lonel…
pain belongs in therapy, fortified by the anodyne paintings and muted by the padded walls
Perhaps the purpose of this whole song and dance is to convince the marginalized that they are to blame for their own marginalization—to prevent ill-treated female caretakers (and of course the bulk of caretakers are female and many of them are ill-treated) from comparing notes. Or perhaps self-hel…
