A Sense of Doubt blog post #1467 - Two riders approaching - the wind began to HOWL - a Musical Monday mix for "All Along the Watchtower"
The other day while teaching my Humanities class at Concordia University I was reminded of this phrase coined by feminist writer and scholar Carol Hanisch in her eponymous essay.
I had already created this mix for my other school -- Lower Columbia College -- as a riff on so much of our content, especially the use of the song "All Along the Watch Tower" in the book Watchmen.
And so I am wantonly copying from Wikipedia and various sites.
The content speaks for itself.
"Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political
The personal is political
The personal is political, also termed The private is political, is a political argument used as a rallying slogan of student movement and second-wave feminism from the late 1960s. It underscored the connections between personal experience and larger social and political structures. In the context of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, it was a challenge to the nuclear family and family values.[1] The phrase has been repeatedly described as a defining characterization of second-wave feminism, radical feminism, women's studies, or feminism in general.[2][3]
The phrase was popularized by the publication of a 1969 essay by feminist Carol Hanisch under the title "The Personal is Political" in 1970,[4] but she disavows authorship of the phrase. According to Kerry Burch, Shulamith Firestone, Robin Morgan, and other feminists given credit for originating the phrase have also declined authorship. "Instead," Burch writes, "they cite millions of women in public and private conversations as the phrase's collective authors."[5] Gloria Steinem has likened claiming authorship of the phrase to claiming authorship of "World War II."[5]
The phrase has heavily figured in Black Feminism, such as "A Black Feminist Statement" by the Combahee River Collective, Audre Lorde's essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House", and the anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Cherríe Moraga. More broadly, as Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw observes: "This process of recognizing as social and systemic what was formerly perceived as isolated and individual has also characterized the identity politics of African Americans, other people of color, and gays and lesbians, among others."[6]
The Carol Hanisch essay[edit]
Carol Hanisch, a member of New York Radical Women and a prominent figure in the Women's Liberation Movement, drafted an article defending the political importance of consciousness-raising groups in February 1969 in Gainesville, Florida.[7] Originally addressed to the women's caucus of the Southern Conference Educational Fund, the paper was first given the title, "Some Thoughts in Response to Dottie [Zellner]'s Thoughts on a Women's Liberation Movement". Hanisch was then a New York City-based staffer of the Fund and was advocating for it to engage in dedicated organizing for women's liberation in the American South.[7] Hanisch sought to rebut the idea that sex, appearance, abortion, childcare, and the division of household labor were merely personal issues without political importance. To confront these and other issues, she urged women to overcome self-blame, discuss their situations amongst each other, and organize collectively against male domination of society.[7] Hanisch does not use the phrase "the personal is political" in the essay, but writes:
- One of the first things we discover in these groups is that personal problems are political problems. There are no personal solutions at this time. There is only collective action for a collective solution.[7]
The essay was published under the title, "The Personal Is Political", in Notes from the Second Year: Women's Liberation in 1970. The essay's author believes that Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt, the book's editors, gave the essay its famous title.[7] It has since been reprinted in Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader.[8]
Multiple meanings[edit]
While the connection between women's personal experience and their subordination as women is highlighted by this phrase, feminists have interpreted the nature of that connection and the desired form of political action that emerges from it in widely divergent ways.
- An opening of "private" or "social" matters to political analysis and discussion.
- An explanation of the systematic nature of women's oppression. As summarized by Heidi Hartmann, "Women's discontent, radical feminists argued, is not the neurotic lament of the maladjusted, but a response to a social structure in which women are systematically dominated, exploited, and oppressed."[9]
Paula Rust compiled a list of interpretations of the phrase within feminist movements including the following: "The personal reflects the political status quo (with the implication that the personal should be examined to provide insight into the political); the personal serves the political status quo; one can make personal choices in response to or protest against the political status quo; ... one's personal choices reveal or reflect one's personal politics; one should make personal choices that are consistent with one's personal politics; personal life and personal politics are indistinguishable."[10]
Writing in 2006, Hanisch observed, "Like most of the theory created by the Pro-Woman Line radical feminists, these ideas have been revised or ripped off or even stood on their head and used against their original, radical intent."[7]
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-kids-are-alright-a-legendary-feminist-on-feminisms-future/
The Kids Are Alright: A Legendary Feminist on Feminism’s Future
Ann Snitow on freedom, Ferrante, feminism abroad, and why none of us can go it alone.
What first drew me to feminist Ann Snitow was the way she transcends feminism’s notorious generational divide. When we first met, I felt embraced. Later, I wondered how she did it. Ann was a founding member of New York Radical Feminists, the 1970s radical-feminist group that included Shulamith Firestone; now she’s a professor of gender studies at the New School and an activist who directs the Network of East-West Women, connecting feminists in America with those in Eastern Europe. She also sits on the editorial board of the democratic-socialist magazine Dissent. Ann has spent the last 45 years in a sort of guerrilla war with patriarchy—attacking it through organizing, then circling around and creating academic programs to explore its weaknesses; joining the fight abroad; bringing lessons learned back home. Recently, she published a book collecting four decades of essays. The title seems a wink to today’s too-certain call-out culture: It’s called The Feminism of Uncertainty.
https://kunsthallstavanger.no/nb/news/the-personal-is-political-an-interview-with-wencke-muhleisen
11 februar, 2014
The Personal Is Political: An interview with Wencke Mühleisen
My understanding is that you are now teaching feminist studies at universities here in Norway. Why the shift away from art towards teaching, or has your work always been about education?
Yes, I am involved in the scholarship of gender and sexuality studies. The reason for that shift was rather pragmatic in the end of the 1980’s, where nonstop traveling and performing was hard to combine with providing for two children. Besides that, I do see my work and interests in the last years as a continuation - as feminism in a broad and queer sense from youth has been my companion. My medium of choice these days is writing, which I consider a performative intervention and practice.
http://www.slvtcult.com/shop/the-personal-is-political
SLVT CULT
Bringing pro-woman people together to take a stand against misogyny and sexism, Slvt Cult is a female-run arts collective that creates subversive multimedia art for the contemporary feminist. Changing the conversation around gender, sexuality, and race with anyone who cares to listen, and plenty who don't.
"All Along the Watchtower"
There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men, they drink my wine
Plowman dig my earth
None were level on the mind
Nobody up at his word
Hey, hey
No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But, uh, but you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us stop talkin' falsely now
The hour's getting late, hey
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants, too
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
Songwriters: Bob Dylan
All Along the Watchtower lyrics © Audiam, Inc
also performed ~ Jimi Hendrix
TRACK LIST FOR THIS MIX
Two riders approaching - the wind began to HOWL mix
[1] The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower
[2] The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter (Live)
[3] The Beatles - Come Together
[4] BOB DYLAN -All Along The Watchtower (Live in Woodstock 1994)
[5] Eddie Brickell and New Bohemians - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
[6] Tom Waits - Make It Rain (Letterman 09.09.04)
[7] Pink Floyd -"Echoes" Pompeii
[8] Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
[9] Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Live in Las Vegas)
[10] Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime (Official Video)
[11] David Bowie - Cat People (Putting Out Fire) Music Video HQ
[12] The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Live at Kilburn 1977)
[13] Led Zeppelin - Black Dog (Live at Madison Square Garden 1973) (Official Video)
[14] Public Enemy - He Got Game
[15] The Clash - Train in Vain (Live at the Lewisham Odeon)
[16] The Clash - Death Or Glory
[17] PIXIES/Gouge Away (Best performance)
[18] Radiohead - Ceremony (Joy Division cover)
[19] Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (Live from Celebration Day) (Official Video)
[20] Interpol - Obstacle 1
[21] St. Vincent - Masseduction
[22] Paul Weller - Boy About Town (Live At The Royal Festival Hall)
[23] The Housemartins - Flag Day
[24] Small Faces - Tin Soldier (good quality)
[25] The Style Council - A Stones Throw Away
[26] Pete Townshend - Give Blood (featuring David Gilmour)
[27] The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Lyric Video)
[28] BOB DYLAN - All Along the Watchtower
[29] David Bowie - It's No Game (No's 1 & 2 )
[30] Bob Dylan A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul to waste
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Oh, right
What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name
Songwriters: Keith Richards / Mick Jagger
Sympathy for the Devil lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc
HERE'S the link to this mix and the video pod player link.......
Two riders approaching - the wind began to HOWL - a Musical Monday mix for "All Along the Watchtower"
We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again, no, no
I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?
Yeaah!
There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again, no no
Yeaaah!
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Same as the old boss
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded with hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner's face is always well-hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my song well before I start singin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1902.25 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1332 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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