Oh, I love that the two Smithies are arguing while the Wellesley chyck remains above the fray. But let's bring you into it. I've never been a fan of Jane Eyre. 1) Hello, savage (read: biracial) wife in the attic, and 2) I loathe broody guys!

Rochester is definitely not my kind of guy. Also, even as a kid I tended to love literature for the chycks and not for the love interests -- almost to a fault in my own writing sometimes. Give me a plucky Anne of Green Gables or Jo of Little Women any day. Not only were they bad-ass, but their literary guys are (swoon!) so nice! U!S!A!

Yes, I'm looking forward to the Winter Olympics, why do you ask? And yes, I know that Anne is Canadian, but I like to include our friends to the north in my literary patrioism. Why not?

I think breaking off from Feminism lets the women pushing us away off the hook. So what if they don't acknowledge my issues. They will if I keep nagging them about it. Believe that. I also feel the same way about the Civil Rights Movement. I think black men have been doing much the same thing in regards to feminism that white women do in regards to race. Neither of them should get away with it.

These are a few of the same reasons I stopped being agnostic. At the end of the day, why should I let the bigoted Christians push me out of the spiritual conversation.

I don't think there's anything wrong with calling yourself a womanist, but I dodn't think the MSM is beating down the womanist's door for their opinions. If you want your voice to be heard, it might be best to shout out from within the feminist movement. And though, Alice Walker identifies as a womanist, the only reason we heard about her, is because she was complaining as a Ms. staffer and a feminist movement heavy. She is still very much a part of the feminist movement.

I don't think it's an either or. I think, it's up to us as black women to police both movements and make sure that they're doing what they should be doing.

You know, my mother never told me that. And therefore it was a complete surprise when it came true BEFORE I had kids!

Thanks! And it's true that my mom's voice only rings louder as I get older. I imagine I'll be carrying her throughout my day in a few more decades!

I haven't come up with a firm way to make sure that she makes good decisions yet. My mom spoke to us like little adults, and I think that was a good policy, but I also want to teach Betty follow-through, so I might end up holding her hand a little more until it's time to let it go.

Hahaha! As you do...

Yes, I had no problem with it when I lived in Japan and China. But it annoys me over here. If it's not raining and you're not Asian, then why are you asking me to take your shoes off? However, I'm used to this, b/c just about all of my aunts and a few of my cousins insist on it.

What's even weirder is that sometimes people with hardwood floors ask you to take your shoes off. Now I really hate that.

Well, you're mom's coming with us and at that point I"m sure she'll be happy to babysit rather than sit through another one of my book events. :)

This would actually be really cool! I wonder if we could mock up a space shuttle and just put a simulator inside the cockpit. If that guy could turn his apartment into the Starship Enterprise for relatively little money, we should be able to do this!

Hahaha, when I was reading, I was imagining how taken w/ it you must have been while reading it. What a discovery.

Oh, I love this story. It makes me want to do something spontaneous -- and I just might do that one of these days. One day...