Tag Archives: awards

Humility Is Out: Issa Rae Accepts Her Due

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Laurie and Debbie say:
Issa Rae, a very talented black actress and comedian who first gained attention for The Misadventures of  Awkward Black Girl, just won the first Emerging Entrepreneur award at the 5th Annual Women in Film Gala in Los Angeles.

Her acceptance speech is being variously described around the web as “comic,” “flipping the script,” and “nailing it.” As you will hear if you click the link above, she said “none of the artists I admire are humble,” and proceeded to give a  self-congratulatory speech (“entrepreneur means I did this shit myself”), with funny alternatives to thank-yous, and an absolutely self-possessed delivery.

In less than two minutes, Rae manages to do three skillful things:

  • She makes fun of award speeches in general, and thank-yous in particular, so her speech is funny.
  • She absolutely rejects the “humble artist” role, which women (and especially black women) are expected to occupy all the time, so her speech is pointed.
  • She embraces the competitive nature of the business she’s in (“I’m closing the door behind me”), so her speech is transgressive.

Both her speech and her delivery evoke one of the most famous songs of the 20th century: like Frank Sinatra, she delivers the loud and clear message “I did it my way.”

It shouldn’t be exceptional to see a talented artist giving herself the credit she deserves.

2008 Weblog Awards: A Tough Choice

Debbie says:

The list of blogs that made the finalists list for the 2008 Weblog Awards is very long indeed, and of course most of them are blogs I’ve never heard of (and some of the ones I’ve heard of I’ve never read).

However, not one but two blogs which I really respect and appreciate are nominated in the Best Health Blog category.

Junk Food Science by Sandy Szwarc is a blog that Laurie and I frequently link to and quote. No one does a better job of taking apart the health headlines, digging into the numbers, and revealing the truth than Sandy. I’d love to see her win.

Kristina Chew’s Autism Vox has been a voice for the confluence of science and compassion in autism. She’s closing down the blog even as the votes are being counted, moving over to a new autism blog at change.org, where I’m sure she’ll continue her clear-sighted big-hearted work.

Either one is well deserving of a “best” award. I’m not even going to tell you which one I voted for.

Other nominated blogs that Body Impolitic has taken good stuff from include The Bilerico Project, Susie Bright’s Journal (both in the best LGBT blog category), plus Majikthise, where Lindsay Beyerstein is nominated for Best Individual Blogger.

As usual, the finalists in most categories are overwhelmingly blogs by men, which is another good reason to drop by and vote if you get a chance.