Sigh

1) Had it not been for the incessant banging and being charged with keeping watch over some random people in the house, I would have finished my revisions of Chapters Two and Three yesterday. As it turns out, my mother's contact finally found time yesterday to come repair my bathroom floor (which was sinking). As it turns out of course, all the wood under the tile was rotting due to a little leak so, of course, the work isn't done yet since they spent all of yesterday evening ripping up the floor. Sigh.

2) The wise Oso Raro writes a revealing post about the tenuous position of being a woman of color in academe. I have clearly only scratched the surface in my own postings on the matter. Sigh.

3) I left a slighty incoherent comment on this matter over at LL's place--and I'm still grappling for the words to say how I feel. I am so angry about the allegations of the Duke lacrosse team raping/kidnapping/strangling a Black woman--(some national coverage). I am especially saddened that she was a full time college student just trying to get some quick money to support her kids. I am especially saddened for her father and her children. I am saddened by knowing there are people who will say she deserved such treatment because she was in a provocative line of business. I am saddened by the continual public comsumption of Black women's sexuality (nubian had a great post on this as it relates to the L Word). I am saddened that the same issues I am writing about in Chapter Two on the sexual abuse of Black women during slavery and following Reconstruction are still present today. I am saddened that some folks truly believe there is no more racism/sexism. Most of all, I am saddened that another Black woman had to experience such an awful trauma and she is in my prayers. Sigh.