237. Green is Not Diversity Panel at CONvergence
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode237GreenIsNotDiversityPanel/SandF%20–%20Episode%20237%20–%20Green%20is%20Not%20Diversity%20Panel.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDiversity bingo, Hollywood shenanigans, and Will Smith, oh my! Arriving by an extremely slow rocket ship, this panel on diversity at CONvergence featuring Dr. Rubidium, Laura Zats, Benny S, Aimee Kuzenski, and Shaun features discussion about representation in film and literature, the motivations for and against diversity, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 237 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: The Panelists: Dr. Rubidium’s (a.k.a. Raychelle Burks) Twitter Aimee Kuzenski’s website Aimee’s Twitter Laura Zats’ Twitter Red Sofa Literary Agency (where Laura works) Benny S (no website, sadly) CONvergence Con Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Book Review: Black and Brown Planets: The Politics of Race in Science Fiction edited by Isiah Lavender III
In his introduction to this collection of essays, Isiah Lavender III explains that Black and Brown Planets continues a conversation started in the science fiction community with Elisabeth Leonard’s 1997 anthology, Into Darkness Peering: Race and Color in the Fantastic. The cultural and literary criticism found here in looking at works of the recent past become particularly significant as we comprehend a future where, as Lavender III puts it, “the Western world ceases to be dominated by the white majority”: SF has charted a few of the alternatives for this unknown territory, and the change presents both opportunities and challenges for society to establish new values. In short, skin color matters in our visions of the future…[To] transcend various repetitions of the color line – black, red, and brown – we must be conscious of these repetitions.
Confessions of a Comics Junkie: The Racial Politics of Mutations (or, Mutant Passing)
One of the reasons I have always preferred Marvel over DC is the fact that it’s world, however absurd at times, at least tries to explore what might happen if a bunch of people with extraordinary powers popped up in our neighborhoods. In short, humans have a tendency to freak out. In a weird, unexpected way, the Marvel Universe (Earth 616, not the other versions, which I’m not currently following) is an exploration of evolutionary change, the likes of which we haven’t seen because the last major change in our species “group,” as far as we know, was before written records. I’m talking about the Neanderthals.[1] We’ll never know exactly how humans reacted to those funny-looking humanoids, though we’re pretty sure there was some violence, some sex, and probably some group hugging in certain parts of the world. And in a similar way, we don’t know exactly how humans would react to the rise of mutants; instead, we
