Stephen's got two guests again. Up first:
Prof. Amy Farrell will appear on The Colbert Report to discuss the issue of charging greater healthcare premiums to overweight and obese persons. The episode will air on Comedy Central on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 11:30 p.m. EDT.
Farrell is a professor of American studies and women's & gender studies at Dickinson College whose research includes 20th century U.S. culture, mass media, feminist theory, U.S. women's history and fat studies. She is a contributor to The Fat Studies Reader and author of the forthcoming Fat Shame.
There's a lot of stuff about the Fat Studies Reader around -- an early mention in the NYTimes three years ago took care to point out that many of the scholars are non-objective lesbian activists, and made sure to get the 'they're victim wannabes' quote to end on, but there's a lot more out there (assuming that you're willing to listen to the non-objective people in the field. Even if they turn out to be fat lesbians). But here's Publisher's Weekly:
With 40 essays that span an impressive array of academic and popular approaches, this book is the first to collect the essential texts of the blossoming discipline known as fat studies, which explores why the oppression of fat people remains acceptable in American culture. As contributor Bianca D.M. Wilson notes in her piece, fat studies is an arena where the personal, political and scientific converge, and with this book, readers can mount an informed challenge to the medical construction of obesity and size, the diet industry, insurance companies, public policy and popular culture. Arranged thematically, the essays survey the "social and historical construction of fatness," "fatness as social inequality" and even "size-ism in popular culture and literature." While one essay points out the North American biases of the current state of fat studies, new cross-cultural work would do well to attend to this volume first. It may be too soon for the movement to offer utopian alternatives, but these essays offer a rich supply of tools for the activist and scholar willing to start the revolution, including a "fat liberation manifesto."
The other guest is the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, presumably promoting his book The Tao of Wu (on sale tomorrow). Here's from Publisher's Weekly via B&N:
This hodgepodge of memoir, spiritual advice and poetry is a sincere attempt by the RZA, Wu Tang Clan founder and producer, to impart his accumulated life wisdom through the lens of hip-hop and idiosyncratic personal religion. To this end, the book opens with a series of paragraphs defining wisdom ("Wisdom is woman," "Woman is the word") and continues with the full Webster's Dictionary definition of wisdom. Repetition and generalization are problems, but serious fans of the Wu-Tang Clan, who surely are all of the potential readers for this book, will find some interesting stories of the RZA's early days through some diligent skimming. He writes about saving Method Man's life at the scene of a drug deal gone bad on Staten Island, the emotional connections shared in the projects over viewings of kung-fu movies and the marathon home production sessions during which he created the backing tracks for years' worth of albums for his cohorts. The spiritual message of the book can be hard to parse: the RZA embraces 5 Percent Nation Muslim teachings as well as Zen Buddhism—the latter is the basis for a mind-numbing section of "Hip-Hop Koans" that includes "Don't hate the player; hate the game." Chess tips and a case for vegetarianism also factor into this singular work.
I found several more reviews and mentions, almost certainly missing some. Here's from the most thoughtful:
...As the book’s jacket suggests, The Tao of Wu bares resemblance to Hermann Hesse’s cult classic Siddhartha. RZA’s tales, much like those of the young Siddhartha, are framed as a coming of age story with key parables and glimpses of enlightenment. RZA’s narrative, of course, is nonfictional; thus The Tao of Wu is part Wu-Tang fact book and, mostly, part memoir. RZA retraces the roots that led him to music and philosophy all the way back to his early years. It was his days as a child in North Carolina after all – with his Mother Goose rhyme-reciting uncle Hollis – that cultivated the inspiration behind the Gravediggaz and 6 Feet Deep...
The Wu-Tang Manual, The RZA’s previous book and first in this series of Wu-literature, was a valuable collection of facts – a primer on the foundation of the Clan. The Tao of Wu, however, goes deeper into the brain of The RZA and as such is a more absorbing reading experience. If you liked The Wu-Tang Manual, you’ll really enjoy The RZA’s follow-up. (Even Cornel West gives it a thumbs-up!) The Tao of Wu is written in a conversational style that’s both easy to digest but difficult to put down. It’s a light read, but the more spiritual-based aspects of the book may take you some time to reflect. The section on Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s passing was particularly stirring. In reading The Tao of Wu, I gained a better appreciation for RZA’s work – specifically the depth of his lyricism. And if you ever had a doubt as to why The RZA, aside from being the Wu-Tang Clan’s chief producer, is heralded as the group’s leader, The Tao of Wu will make that unmistakably clear. I highly recommend The Tao of Wu to Wu-Tang fans and the uninitiated alike. Bong, bong!
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