We've been hoping that at least one of our online reserves would come in, as we're presently library book free. So many times a day we check our email hoping for a notice telling us that Mozart In The Jungle has arrived, only to be confronted by the usual opportunities for fake Rolexes and "male enhancement patches". It's just not the same. But don't cry for us quite yet, as we do have plenty of recent purchases from a local independent bookstore -- but why is it that our just out of reach desires seem so much more appealing than those in our grasp?
SFist Karen has been thumbing through Ink: The Not-Just-Skin-Deep Guide to Getting a Tattoo by Terisa Green, PhD and checking out the gals over at Diving Swallow Custom Tattoo in Oakland (founder Marie Wadman used to work at Black and Blue Tattoo on Guerrero and 16th). This extremely readable paperback includes chapters on finding your design, finding your artist, exactly what a real tattoo is, a detailed explanation of the typical tattoo process, and how a tattoo changes over time--or how to change it. What Karen really digs about Ink is its authoritative yet conversational tone--it's like talking with your best friend who also happens to be a tattoo expert. And virgins like Karen will appreciate sections titled "does it hurt?" as well as discussions on aftercare and the different types of tattoos--animals, military, old school, tribal. And she loves the sidebars, ranging from historical to humorous, on tattoo demographics, how a Thomas Edison patent was the precursor to the tattoo machine, glow-in-the-dark tats (don't get them), "how to irritate your tattoo artist in three easy steps" (don't do it), how to make sure those Chinese symbols really say what you think they say--in addition to lots of trivia, and, of course, photos. The only bummer, and it's a big bummer, is that the photos aren't in color. Still, Ink crams a ton of easy-to-digest info into about 200 pages, making it Karen's first and last "getting a tattoo" reference book.
SFist Cheshire is nearly done reading Authentically Black, by UC Berkeley linguistics professor John McWhorter. It's McWhorter's attempt to argue that, hey, things aren't really so bad anymore for black America. Problem is, those pesky liberal whites need to believe things are still bad or else they're going to cut off support, so African Americans -- particularly of the populist variety a la Cornel West, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson -- need to pretend in public that racism is still lurking around every corner when it's not up in black Americans' faces. McWhorter also believes that there's a "silent majority" of black Americans who agree with him. (He also uses quotes like that quite a bit, which becomes "annoying.") And finally, he repeatedly decries being labeled as a black conservative, pleading with us to believe he's the liberal of his crowd. No sale, professor. His glaring lack of data to back up his controversial claims makes him a fluffy provocateur. After a dozen years of reading bell hooks, Derrick Bell and other leftist black intellectuals, Cheshire sought out McWhorter's work to see what the other side is saying. He's not that impressed. Or even intrigued anymore.
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