16 Comments

1. October 2nd, 2009 / 4:02 pm Jakob—

   I thought this was a thoughtful and necessary piece, thank you.

2. October 2nd, 2009 / 12:02 pm Jakob—

   I thought this was a thoughtful and necessary piece, thank you.

3. October 2nd, 2009 / 4:09 pm Kyle Minor—

   Good essay, Roxane.

4. October 2nd, 2009 / 12:09 pm Kyle Minor—

   Good essay, Roxane.

5. October 2nd, 2009 / 4:24 pm john sakkis—

   “There are writers of all races and ethnicities, but we don’t hear much about anyone with a different skin tone unless they are the Person of Color Flavor of the Week (POCFOTW) and then they instantly become the spokesperson and go to reference for all things ethnic.”

   this must be a prose/fiction problem…

6. October 2nd, 2009 / 12:24 pm john sakkis—

   “There are writers of all races and ethnicities, but we don’t hear much about anyone with a different skin tone unless they are the Person of Color Flavor of the Week (POCFOTW) and then they instantly become the spokesperson and go to reference for all things ethnic.”

   this must be a prose/fiction problem…

7. October 2nd, 2009 / 4:51 pm alan—

   Good piece. “There are many active communities for writers of color”–I would like to know more about these.

8. October 2nd, 2009 / 12:51 pm alan—

   Good piece. “There are many active communities for writers of color”–I would like to know more about these.

9. October 2nd, 2009 / 5:37 pm Amber—

   Excellent, excellent piece, Roxane. And I’d go a step further and say that not only do people only want to read stuff about race that conforms to their expectations, many only want to read stuff that reflects their own racial-geographic-socioeconomic experience. Which is natural to some extent, but also drIves me batty because it just extends the status quo. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve recommended certain, fantastic Asian, black, or Hispanic authors to friends of mine or other writers, but I can tell you number of people anyone who ever bothered to read them: three (I married one of them.) And it’s especially weird with Asian lit.–when I recommend an Asian author, half the time I get asked if I’m “really into Asian culture” or something like that.

   I mean, I know everyone will naturally gravitate towards what we know, but I just don’t see how you can be an author and not be interested in the entire human experience.

10. October 2nd, 2009 / 1:37 pm Amber—

    Excellent, excellent piece, Roxane. And I’d go a step further and say that not only do people only want to read stuff about race that conforms to their expectations, many only want to read stuff that reflects their own racial-geographic-socioeconomic experience. Which is natural to some extent, but also drIves me batty because it just extends the status quo. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve recommended certain, fantastic Asian, black, or Hispanic authors to friends of mine or other writers, but I can tell you number of people anyone who ever bothered to read them: three (I married one of them.) And it’s especially weird with Asian lit.–when I recommend an Asian author, half the time I get asked if I’m “really into Asian culture” or something like that.

    I mean, I know everyone will naturally gravitate towards what we know, but I just don’t see how you can be an author and not be interested in the entire human experience.

11. October 2nd, 2009 / 9:09 pm Nathan Tyree—

    I didn’t know Roxane’s race until I read that essay. It got me thinking about the fact that I interact on the internets every day with a lot of people, and I have no clue what race many of them are (as far as “race” even exists). I like that. Maybe Sam Pink is Samoan. I cannot say for sure.

12. October 2nd, 2009 / 5:09 pm Nathan Tyree—

    I didn’t know Roxane’s race until I read that essay. It got me thinking about the fact that I interact on the internets every day with a lot of people, and I have no clue what race many of them are (as far as “race” even exists). I like that. Maybe Sam Pink is Samoan. I cannot say for sure.

13. October 2nd, 2009 / 9:27 pm Roxane—

    I didn’t know either, Nathan. Haha!

    But I think that is one of the more interesting aspects of the Internet–how certain things are almost rendered invisible. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t.

14. October 2nd, 2009 / 5:27 pm Roxane—

    I didn’t know either, Nathan. Haha!

    But I think that is one of the more interesting aspects of the Internet–how certain things are almost rendered invisible. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t.

15. October 3rd, 2009 / 9:30 pm mike—

    thank you for this. i was feeling the same “shit is not okay” sentiment after the comments here on the “15 Towering Literary Authors” post, and tried to voice this, but i am one who generally, i think, gets branded as the “this dude has an agenda and one track mind” dude, both on the internet and in real life. this is much more calm, and does not ‘feel’ to have an agenda and i think ‘people will be more open to it.’

16. October 3rd, 2009 / 5:30 pm mike—

    thank you for this. i was feeling the same “shit is not okay” sentiment after the comments here on the “15 Towering Literary Authors” post, and tried to voice this, but i am one who generally, i think, gets branded as the “this dude has an agenda and one track mind” dude, both on the internet and in real life. this is much more calm, and does not ‘feel’ to have an agenda and i think ‘people will be more open to it.’