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From the collection of Gendercide Posters on Polyvore 
by Lorie Ann Grover

At the close of October, China announced an end to their One Child Policy. According to the New York Times, Chris Buckley, October 29, 2015:

BEIJING — Driven by fears that an aging population could jeopardize China’s economic ascent, the Communist Party leadership ended its decades-old “one child” policy on Thursday, announcing that all married couples would be allowed to have two children.

The decision was a dramatic step away from a core Communist Party position that Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who imposed the policy in the late 1970s, once said was needed to ensure that “the fruits of economic growth are not devoured by population growth.”

For China’s leaders, the controls were a triumphant demonstration of the party’s capacity to reshape even the most intimate dimensions of citizens’ lives. But they bred intense resentment over the brutal intrusions involved, including forced abortions and crippling fines, especially in the countryside.

The efforts to limit family size also led to a skewed sex ratio of males to females, because traditional rural families favor boys over girls, sometimes even resorting to infanticide to ensure they have a son.

The One Child Policy is what motivated my writing of Firstborn. I was appalled that the practice of gendercide was still occurring in many countries around the world. The book was welcomed with a starred review from Kirkus and is now available in paperback.



Another book recently came across my desk: The Only Child, by Guojing. An illustrator from the Shanxi Province of China, she brings to the page her own memories of isolation in a wordless, graphic picture book. With starred reviews from Kirkus and PW, the book is resonating the loneliness that grew from China's earlier legislation. The black and white artwork is beautiful and captivating.



According to the Author's Note:

"The story in this book is fantasy, but it reflects the very real feelings of isolation and loneliness I experienced growing up in the 1980s under the one-child policy in China."

In celebration, we applaud the reform in China. If you'd like to make an impact, readergirlz, there are organizations dedicated to helping women carry their daughters to full term. One Christian organization is All Girls Allowed. Of course, there are many ways to #ReadReflectandReachout if you hold a different persuasion. The It's a Girl movie will do much to help you understand the worldwide situation.

As I sign copies of Firstborn, "Let them live!"

Firstborn
By Lorie Ann Grover
Blink YA Books, 2015

The Only Child
By Guojing
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2015

Porky Pig can't get any R-E-S-P-E-C-T from America's paper of record.

Discover the work of Natalie Andrewson, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

In last weekend’s NY Times Sunday Magazine, the paper published a profile of artist Paul McCarthy in connection with his new show WS (which stands for “White Snow”). The epic performance piece, which opens June 19 at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory, will consist of “a massive, fantastical forest with towering trees, two off-scale houses, equipment and props from classic film-sets, and layers of film and sound.” During the piece, McCarthy—as Walt Disney—will participate in an orgy with Snow White and the seven dwarfs.

All that is well and good, but what alarmed me about the piece is why Times writer Randy Kennedy compared McCarthy’s portrayal of Disney to Hitler in the article’s second paragraph:

The transformation was startling not only because McCarthy, 67, had succeeded in making himself look quite a bit like Walt Disney, but also because his version of Walt smacked — obviously but also hilariously — of Hitler.

It’s hard to believe that the editors at the NY Times are naive about the implications of comparing any individual to Hitler, much less an important historical figure who is commonly—and falsely—portrayed as an anti-Semite in popular culture. It’s irresponsible at best, malicious at worst.

Kennedy says in his piece that McCarthy’s Walt “obviously” channels Hitler, but in the Times photo of McCarthy, the association is far from obvious. So how did Kennedy come up with such a far-fetched observation?

Perhaps the answer lies with one of the people interviewed for tge piece: curator and former New York City Public Art Fund director Tom Eccles, who is helping organize McCarthy’s show. In an interview with another media outlet, Eccles also described McCarthy’s Walt to Hitler, calling the show a “gory, horrifying tale of Paul McCarthy as Disney, as Hitler, in love with Snow White.”

What I’d like to know is whether McCarthy himself endorses this comparison of Walt Disney to Hitler or is this something concocted by his handlers? McCarthy’s commentaries on contemporary media and pop mythology tend to be layered and thought-provoking, and I’d be surprised if he was personally promoting such simplistic, banal allusions. Whatever McCarthy’s views, it’s clear that a lot of people want to encourage this revisionist portrait of Walt Disney as monster, including, sadly, the NY Times.

A NY Times Documentary on Malala Yousafzai who was shot by the Taliban for her views on education, human rights, life and living. She is still in hospital.

I probably should save these comments so that I could actually have something to write about come Sunday, but heck! I’m on spring break and I’ve got nothing but ideas!

First, I have to share with you that I’ve gotten a new position! I’ll be working as an Assistant Reference Librarian at Indiana State University beginning this spring and if it weren’t for all the books (and other stuff) that need to be packed between now and then, I’d be flipping cartwheels!

I did take time out for a walk this morning and enjoyed the cool crisp air as much and the pink and white blossoms on the trees. Such beauty really got me to thinking… about books… Does your local Barnes and Noble have a Starbucks? Mine does and I’m wondering why the Starbucks near me doesn’t have a Barnes and Noble. I mean, many people actually sit for a spell at Starbucks, taking the time to read, computer or just chat. So, why don’t these companies increase each of their sales potential by putting books for sale in the Starbucks and heck, while they’re at it why not allow Nook access in the Starbucks just like at B&N? Seems like a no brainer to me!

Voya just shared an article based discussion on Twitter regarding “The power of Young Adult Fiction.”

Have you ever noticed how national news programs send the Latino guy to cover Latino issues and the Black guy to cover Black issues? I hate when they do that because while the network looks like they’re relating ethnically diverse issues, they’re really marginalizing the issue and stamping it as a Latino/Asia/Native American issue and not as a people issue.

To me, that’s what the New York Times has done with their piece on Young Adult fiction. Why not have a White author address diversity? An Asian address complexities and Latina talk about social networking? Why let readers continue to believe that the lack of diversity that surrounds us only continues to concern people of color? And, by the same token make it seem as if people of color have no other issues? Go on, join the discussion!

Time to pack some more boxes!