madame zenobia's

i'm spending more time thinking about the spring course. at times, the research is hard going. i feel overwhelmed by it all and am trying not to get discouraged or dismayed. but sometimes, i feel like i'm treading water--making figure 8's with my legs, barely keeping my head up.

the other day, i learned about hattie mae cohen, but i haven't been able to find much information about her. she was killed in 1992-the victim of a hate-crime. she was an african-american lesbian and was living with brian mock, a white, gay man who was differently abled. and i'm not even sure how accurate that information is because hattie mae and brian are only mentioned in passing in the few articles i've come across. from what i have gathered, it seems that she moved in with brian after he had been attacked on previous occassions. skin-heads fire-bombed their apartment, and the two died from smoke inhalation.

i'm so frustrated...i checked the school's library: nothing. i can't think of any other key search terms to use on google. i really can't believe i can't find anything.

actually, that's not true. i have found lists of people who were victims of hate crimes. and i don't mean harrassment or name-calling--i mean murder and manslaughter.

i'm just too tired of all this bullshit.

quote of the day

"I resent people who say writers write from experience. Writers don't write from experience, though many are hesitant to admit that they don't. I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy."
Nikki Giovanni