by Andrea Hairston
What to do when the Gray Men (mostly
men) be Stealing Our Time and Colonizing the Future, when they be steady
Smoking Our Dreams and Burning Down the Planet, while keeping us abstracted and
distracted, fracking and freaking, whining and tweeting? The Apocalypse has
happened. What are we doing? And where the hell is that way out of no way?
These were the not-so-hidden, very
urgent, and entertainingly dramatic questions filling the books, plays, and
films that captured me and inspired this year.
In German, I reread: Momo (oder: Die seltsameGeschichte von den Zeit-Dieben und von
dem Kind, das den Menschen diegestohlene Zeit zurückbrachte) by Michael Ende. In English this translates as Momo (or:
the strange story of the time-thieves and the child that brought stolen time
back to the people). Momo is a young girl who can listen to our spirits. In
her presence, people, young and old, abandon themselves to the moment, to each
other. They remember: play is sacred. Then comes the invasion of the Gray Men,
dressed in colorless suits with pasty complexions. The Gray Men plot to steal
people’s time. They would in fact colonize every moment and conquer eternity.
Of course, they promise to save time. Using the business model, they
will make people efficient, orderly, and super-productive. This means putting
an end to frivolous, time-wasting activities such as imaginative play and the
arts, but don’t worry. The Gray Men offer children toys and gadgets that will
play for them while forcing a twenty-four/seven work plan on adults. No one has
time to miss what they’ve lost or bother with family, community, or the
commons. The Gray Men desiccate our moments, roll them into cigars, and smoke.
Momo challenges their world view and their grand scheme. It’s a thrilling,
inspiring read!
Ende published this fantasy novel for youth (and everyone else) in
1973. I first read it in German in the late 80’s early 90’s. Every year this
story seems more prescient as our world slides into that stolen time world that
Momo had to rescue! This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs.the Climate
by Naomi Klein offers a journalist’s portrait of the parasitic Gray Men and the
Momos working to save humanity in 2014. This Changes Everything is not
just an indictment of predatory capitalists who deny climate change in the face
of overwhelming scientific evidence for profit and power. Klein challenges the
origin myths and cosmology of so-called Western Civilization that declares man
the grand subject and all else objects to be used or manipulated in his mad
monkey schemes. Klein insists:
We can’t save the world unless we change it!
So, despite the hype and techno-wizardry euphoria over the internet and
social media, we still face enormous challenges. Our technology amplifies the
challenges. We must pursue inconvenient questions. Who owns our private
moments? Who owns the public airwaves? In the name of progress, what corporate
or governmental fascism do we naturalize and tolerate? What systems of
oppression have gone virtual and viral? This is what Zero: Sie wissen, was du tust (English: Zero: They know what you do.) by Marc Elsberg and The Circle
by Dave Eggers explore. Zero is a
fast paced techno-thriller. Circle is
a laugh out loud brutal techno-satire. And talk about mad monkey schemes—Margaret
Atwood’s MaddAdam Trilogy
is a breath-taking exploration of the multinational corporate Gray Men and their techno-wizardry which aggravated me as
it captivated me.
I read an advance copy of Daniel José Older’s Half-Resurrection Blues
and enjoyed Older’s Afrofuturist cosmology and Brooklyn sensibility. Half-Resurrection Blues engages with
humanity at that crossroads of life and death. It is a delicious urban fantasy
paced like a thriller and scored like a fine piece of music. Likewise Jennifer
Brissett’s wonderful debut novel, Elysium,
is an sf jazz riff on
gender, identity, and finding that way out of no way. A blow your mind book
that you want to read again and again!
Other books and a few films that
took my mind apart and offered guidance on the road out of apocalypse were:
Paradoxa25: Africa SF edited by Mark Bould explores
African Science Fiction.
Belle directed by Amma Asante, written by Misan Sagay tells the story of an
18th century black English woman as slavery is being challenged.
Pride directed by Matthew Warchus
where gay activists help striking miners fight Thatcher’s lethal austerity.
Go For Sisters
written and directed by John Sayles starring LisaGay Hamilton,
Yolonda Ross, Edward James Olmos is an exploration of friendship and
redemption.
The Only Good Indian directed by Kevin Willmott and starring
Wes Studi.
I was a guest at Sirens
this year and had an amazing time. Here is what they say about themselves:
In fantasy literature, women are revolutionary. They are queens,
soldiers, assassins, and monsters. They are clever, kind, bold, and daring.
They adventure, they conjure, they rule, and they rise. These diverse women
inhabit worlds different from our own, where women authors have given them
extraordinary opportunities: to grow, to lead, to fight, and sometimes to save
the world. Sirens is a conference dedicated to the remarkable women of fantasy
literature
It’s all true! And the folks
running Sirens are organized, gracious, and fun! We had great conversations
about women in sf &f. They’ll be in Denver in 2015. Think about putting
Sirens in your calendar!
Finally I saw Denzel Washington,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Sophie Okonedo, and Anika Noni Rose in Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry on
Broadway. The acting was brilliant. The audience was moved by main character Walter Lee's refusal to live only for money. I confess, I was
surprised to find the 1959 play speaking so clearly to a Broadway audience in May of
2014. Yet, we are in the same sacred moment with Hansberry, who knew:
We have to change the world to save it!
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