It is hard to come up without some controversy, yes, in developing a
potential website of chapters from/of "the sixties movements". Still, it
looks as if we should more or less now work out some guidelines. For
instance, we seem to be agreed--and I think we had best NOT get into
discussion of exact parameters/boundaries on this--that we are not taking
materials from the Right (which in this country is very far to the right of
most countries' Rights!) I think we could also ask ourselves--each of
us--to, before contributing a chapter, go over it and, in fact, do a bit of
editing where some character or expression or whatever may--from ignorance at
the time of originally writing it, or whatever--be offensive to some real
group. Frankly, what we are most likely to be guilty of is not racism or
sexism but agism and/or stereotyping of "rednecks", persons poorer than
ourselves, and/or persons disabled in some way/s. I DO NOT REFER to or
mean that one should remove characters who may seem somehow sterotyped; my
Leah character ("I" in the version some of you saw) obviously fits certain
images of a self-investigatory Jewish intellectual, and maybe Brent's funny
energetic gay or feminist/lesbian duo play some culturally expected roles,
for instance). It's just that, in going over our chapters for including
them, let's do the rather normal editing "thing" of being clear in our own
(current) authorial point of view, our separation from the narrator (even if
an "I")--and in this doing, of course our separation from/recognition of any
then-character's naivete/--isms will automatically be felt. I don't mean
"self-censorship"--or revisionism--but a recognition of the layering (of
time, of author/narrator distinction even where they are close). --Now I DO
sound like a "cultural commissar," huh? Yet we want to all feel comfortable
with our association with this site, I hink, both politically and
literarily...at the same time we want to be democratic. Not a new conundrum.
I have to go copyedit a book for the local academic press now--tight
deadline--so, later--but hey, it may be better not to get bogged down,
defensive, or caught by worst-case content issues at this point, since we
have also to consider practical logistics at the same time.
Venceremos, I hope, Paula
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