Annotated Bibliography Essay #3

Essay #3: Hip’s Next Chapter:

Annotated Bibliography

Bosler, Kate. “Andrea Gibson: Nine Questions.” New Era News. n.p., 18 Jan. 2011. Web.

15 April 2011. http://www.neweranews.org/blog/andrea-gibson-nine-questions

With Bosler’s help I will show by using the complexity of the spoken word, Gibson is spreading hip to a new generation. Though her brilliant voice and the power and complexity of language she is making social changes where America feels tension the most. She challenges society and its orthodoxy through her poetry. I will show how this makes Gibson a perfect candidate for hip in the future.

Collins, Meagan. “Spoken Truth: Celebrated Poet Andrea Gibson performs at Smith College.”

            The Mount Holyoke News. n.p., 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 April 2011. http://themhnews.org/2011/02/books/spoken-truth%E2%80%88celebrated-poet-andrea-gibson-performs-at-smith-college

Collins writes Gibson reaches out to a large audience from all backgrounds promoting activism through her art. Through the power of language she will create change. Language according to Leland is one of the most powerful ways to get hip’s word out there. I will show how Gibson is using her words to create a new movement from social and political tension in this country. Gibson questions the culture of today and is bringing socially relevant issues to light in order to generate changes in equality and enlighten the masses.

Leland, John. Hip: The History. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

Leland says, “Gays have been at or near the center of every hip convergence. Their story too begins with movement” (348). By using Leland’s definition of hip I will show how Gibson and Clinton define the next generation and his next chapter of hip through the power of language, challenging orthodoxy, identity, and enlightenment.

Meers, Erik. "The Clinton years." Advocate 832 (2001): 54-56. Academic Search Complete.

            EBSCO. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.

According to Meers no one is safe from Clinton especially politicians. She is not afraid to take on the government, challenge the orthodoxy, and enlighten us all. Clinton has been around for 25 years, she has helped pave the way for others like Gibson, she is hip’s lesbian great aunt.

Ocamb, Karen. "Kate Clinton's Killer Comedy Aim High Hit High. (Cover story)." Lesbian

            News 28.8 (2003): 28. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.

Ocamb describes Clinton as a “dangerous women.” Clinton speaks the unspeakable and her fearless and stinging humor and culture commentary may just change the world.  This articles gives the background information on a women who understands the power of language and isn’t afraid to use it as a weapon for change. This sixty three year old makes YouTube video’s to get her message of equality to the country, paving the way for the future of hip.

Shah, Anita. “Andrea Gibson to Perform Slam Poetry Tonight.” The Bowdoin Orient. n.p.,

11 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 April 2011. http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/article.php?date=2011-02-11&section=4&id=6

Shah’s article is about how Gibson speaks the truth and becomes more than just her identity of a lesbian activist. Some identity is fixed but for Lesbians like Gibson identity has many different forms, this is what makes her hip. No longer will Leland’s book only have one chapter for women, the next chapter will be women like Gibson who cross the boundaries of gender identity.

Stayton, Richard. “Theatre Review: Kate Clinton’s Adult Ed Class On Gay Politics.”

            Los Angeles Times. n.p., 23 July 1993. Web. 15 April 2011. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-07-23/entertainment/ca-15973_1_kate-clinton

Stayton says Clinton is so “hysterical even a homophobe would ask her home.” Clinton uses as form of Leland’s trickster when she asks the country to look across the divide of straight and homosexuality and asks us to understand each other through the power of her words and her use of humor.

Wilkinson, Kathleen. "Kate Clinton. (Cover story)." Lesbian News 31.1 (2005): 22-23.

            Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.

Wilkinson has written that “Kate Clinton is the lesbian John Stewart.” Of course Clinton being a self described “fumerist” says “Stewart is the straight Kate Clinton.” She has been known to lampoon the lesbian stereotype in her own writings. Like Leland’s hip, or more so like Richard Pryor, she pokes fun at both sides while still making changes in our country when it comes to homosexuals and their rights. This article shows how Clinton is a strong believer in the power of humor to reveal the truth, hip personified.

The Feminine Mistake?

What I have to keep reminding myself the book, Hip: The History is about how racial differences created pop culture. John Leland is one man, defining a term that has no concrete definition, so all of this is from his own viewpoint, this is Leland’s argument. But it does make me wonder if the same subject was written by a woman would hip’s history look a little different. Sure it would, but it might look a little different to anyone regardless of gender. That is what makes hip, hip. It’s all about perception and the freedom of Americans to follow whatever pop culture trends they want.

John Leland uses the female menstrual cycle as a metaphor for hip, seriously, whatever.

He’s a little delusional when he says “Hip’s ethos is actually feminine.” Now I don’t think he is sexist, he obviously doesn’t get how unhip the woman’s cycle is, but his book is not about women, it’s about racial divide.

 If he gave females more than one chapter he would have had to call his book, Hip: The Encyclopedia. Because we are talking about a whole other division in this country that has created tension, just generally a less violent tension from both sides.

Maybe that is what is hip to Leland, violence and rage, the anger of inequality (I’ve already mentioned addiction and mental illness in another post), maybe this is why his list is mostly men.

In class I made an argument that the reason there might not have been as many women in hip’s history was because there were less women than men in avenues that pop culture uses its voice. Leland does make a good point “If you were male you could be a rebel, but if you were female your families had you locked up” (242). It’s not that there wasn’t hip in the past, it just wasn’t socially acceptable for women to live in hips world. Were these double standards, maybe, but I don’t think they apply anymore.

Sure Leland leaves out women to whom many would find hip, but I think you could argue he leaves out a few men too. He has an agenda. His book is about how race played in pop culture. Leland uses the people he needs to in order to make his point.

I’ll give Leland this, he mentions somewhere over 50 different women in one chapter, I think he is trying to give the ladies their props.

The First Step Is To Admit You Have A Problem

HIP

HIP

HIP

HIP

HIP

HIP

HIP

HIP

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Make it stop, please make it stop! Four more weeks and I swear on the life of this blog that the word HIP will never pass my lips again. My plan is to enter hip rehab, detox, get some therapy, and try to start my life over.

Cartoons and Race in America

Cartoons were racist, Americans were racist.

Cartoons today still deal with racism, and so do many Americans.

“All This and Rabbit Stew,” a Bugs Bunny cartoon, was racist. The black man was created as a stereotype of the African American community. He was depicted in black face minstrel as uneducated and illiterate. He wore field hand clothing and spoke with a southern dialect. Eventually, after five or so minutes of chasing Bugs around trying to shoot him, he is finally distracted by a set of dice. Why stop at the stereotype of a black man being a gambler.They should have gave him a forty and an Escalade to drive himself away in. Instead he was left naked except for a leaf covering his genital area saying, “Well call me Adam.” The last comment confused me, what were the creators commenting on there?  

John Leland quotes Check Jones in his book Hip: The History as saying, “You must love what you caricature.” Do you think this means to say that the white men that created Bugs Bunny loved the African American community? Bullshit! These are “crude stereotypes” and “racist depictions,” made for the white racist community. I can’t imagine anyone in the black community feeling as if this cartoon was a lovable caricature of their race.

Leland says, “Hip is not above this patronizing racism” (193), well hip should be, unless it is teaching something against hate, it should be rising up against it. That would be the true mark of a hipster. Bugs Bunny is shown as a white citified animal, controlling, tricking, and treating a black man as if he is stupid….not funny, not hip and just racist.

RACISM IS NOT HIP, NOR IS HIP ABOUT RACISM!

Hip is a fun word to call someone you know or admire; someone who seems to be ahead of everyone else when it comes to their identity and knowledge (Sorry John Leland you have not changed my mind at all). It’s nothing more than that.

Hip won’t cure cancer, it won’t create world peace.

Anyone can be hip, no matter what their race, gender, or religion. You individually get to decide what is hip. These old cartoons were banned for a reason; racist ideals should not be spread in any form within our entertainment industry. Sure racist people have the first amendment right to say what they want and even produce what they want, but we the people do not have to watch or support it.