I'm Not For, W omen's Liberation. . . But Cartoons by B'iilbul N'2W Seed Press, P.O. Box 3016 u Stanford, Ca 94305

70 Soul Secrets of Sapphire Carolyn Jetter Greene, Sapphire SENS6

No humor in the women's movement? Some Bonnie Etsenberg Bay Area women have certainly proved that statement wrong with the publication of these two new cartoon books, by and about women. I'm Not For Women's Liberation, .. .But is my idea of a cartoon book about women, our relations with men, with the society, and life in general. It hits me where I live, and I know that BiilbUl and I have experienced many things in the same way. In this book she deals with conscious­ ness raising situations, the kind of pictures that are worth a thousand words. A few examples:

70 Soul Secrets of Sapphire is a very dif­ ferent book, for it deals entirely with the ways Black women experience their lives. (This is, of course, very different from the experience of white women.) This book, with few words , goes a long way toward notJbr Women's M..Jzt/ bridging the gap in understanding between Black and White women. PICASSO, BRAQUE. CHAGAL...MRS HENRY SMITH. "'Sapphire' is a. jive name, used to refer to a Black woman. In one sense it represents an insult. In quite another sense it refers to a. collection of physical attributes, personality traits, manner­ Sapphire takes isms, feelings, attitudes, aspirations, great care in pro­ and problems most peculiar to that viding her child with unique group of super-women who have a unique name be­ weathered well the storm of the Black cause she realizes Experience in America.. . . She has that in a racist so­ survived thanks to a special set of ciety it may be his or adjustment techniques. She has sur­ her only link to indi­ viduality. vived with an unusual flair for living, loving, and 'making do. '*'

The images in this book are of that woman. This is not a book of women's liber­ However, both books are about life ation, for the problem is not seen in and being a woman, from the point of that way. The concept of liberation is view of the women who put them to­ Both books are available at the Women's entirely subjective, depending on gether. Both are humorous, serious, Center library. O where you are corning from.______and true.

Album Review Asylum Joni M itchell:'Court and Spark' 5072 ' by Kristi Hein first is too much bare complaint, al­ "The Same Situation" has a lovely There are some people, and I am most whiney, the music only average. melody of somber and impassioned one of them, to whom the music and When she sings "I deal in dreamers/ piano, with strings added at the last poetry of Joni Mitchell are a basic ne­ And telephone screamers/Lately I verse. Again, we are given a view of cessity. With each new album I go wonder what I do it for, " our sym­ the newest lover:"You've had lots of through a flexible but familiar, pro­ pathy isn't evoked as it was in her lovely women/Now you turn your gaze cess. When I found "Court and Spark" last album "For The Roses. " In to me/Weighing the beauty and the im­ out in the record shop I borrowed mon­ the title song we got a sense of the perfections/To see if I'm worthy. " ey to buy it and hurried it home. And balance the artist/star must struggle The combination of cynical experience there I was, once again trying to read for, between the inner poetic drive, and sentimental hope makes the song all the new words and listen at the and the outer clutter and insanity of belie veable. same time. Trying to chase the fa­ fame and business games. "People's "Car on a Hill" is a perfect capsule miliar patterns of her older songs Parties" continues the same theme. statement of waiting, a flowing train out of my head to make way for the It struggles but doesn't quite come of thought. "He..said he'd be over new and at the same time connect off, being too rawly close to her real three hours ago ... It always them. It took several listenings to experience and removed from most seems so righteous at the start/When begin to sort out the overload of sen­ of purs. But the tune has a nice, sad there's so much laughter/When there's sation. Then I was called away out­ shifting pull--embodying the sense of so much spark. " The easy rhythm, side, to someone else's house--and weakness, the magnetic power of the interrupted with a chorus like an anx­ thosa new tunes began to float up, in crowded, empty star scene. ious sigh, underlines the mood of half- bits and pieces, singing through my The opening song clarifies the impatience, half-resignation. This ^ ears till they drove me nuts and I had album title; she tells of a man "Danc­ to play them again and put them all ing up a river in the dark/Looking for together. a woman/To court and spark"; a I've heard people call her music compelling man who brings her his too quirky and unpredictable; others religious revelation. It's a good have said her poetry's nice but all arrangement sung with deep feeling her music is the same! She writes but, for me, leaves less impact than more specifically of the fabric of her most of the other songs here. own life than any other composer I "Help Me" is the most lightly melo­ can think of, and she weaves it into dious composition--a love song, filled the universal fabric of her audience, with the apprehension of one who's of women, of people. ' been the route, and long ago lost the Let me add that I don'c !ika all | innocent delight of the beginner. She her songs; although I admire certain ; is both participant and spectator,.- features of all of them. In this album, playing the part, and trying still to "Free Man In Paris" and "People's shake both players out of the hurtful Parties" don't really reach me. The games. The baby has been kicking for almost a I want to "hike again, and feel my blood fl JOURNAL month now, maybe longer. I feel tiny running fast'through my limbs. To hike movements all day long, sometimes a with our infant strapped happily to my foot, often a hand, and at night, I can chest, letting me feel its.warmth. feel the whole body turning, and the head We have" both come a long way already. very hard. Such a long way now, another week couln't be too much longer, but- still. . . Feeling the sound of light rain on the I in the loft with a single supposed to come "with­ by Susie Van Leuven house, and The little one is solitary light. Within the very core of in the next few days" from last Monday, my body come tiny remembrances of but I don't think so. Not too many con­ Each entry represents a new day, a new life growing, now small, but there. The tractions lately, but the baby kicks and feeling state associated with that simple, lovliest sounds are those "bird songs of pushes and makes it difficult for me to but complex process called pregnancy, morning right outside my window, re­ sleep on my right side. It must stick and its effects on a woman, her activities, minding me the day has begun. out its little feet there. v feelings, and creativity in other areas. to 10/25/73 11/6/72 Torrential rains have dropped more Alissa arrived naturally on this day at I will attempt to write with a child, to than five inches in two days, the stream five minutes before noon after, only try to do what I can without being caught roars with a passion, as the sounds of three hours of hard labor. Giving birth in a trap, and also be able to express my­ wildness and fog permeate the air. A was a difficult, ecstatic, incredible ex­ self importantly. No idea how it will land of mist, lights breaking through perience, and all three of us are happy work. I am fascinated with the idea of the trees to be dispersed by fog, and the we went through it together. The only a three inch child. I swallow all the perpetual noise of the stream. problem now is getting used to a third good things about children, and pass by demanding new member of our family, all the negative feelings I receive from Feeling pretty and large, face bright and and we need to discover just "who we are others. They want to bring me down- clear, red colorful cheeks, and not an as paieats. and I refuse to alter my positive, opti­ ounce of extra weight that could make mistic outlook. me feel fat. While others look tired, Alissa beside me and Topi asleep. Spring colorless, puffy. seems to be here at last, and I feel an Funny how things change, by themselves inner deep satisfaction. We are under sometimes, and at other moments we and_I feel lousy. The baby is growing, the shade of the bay tree, the air fresh try fo find the reasons but we can't. but it seems to me to be a longer wait and clear. Like an ocean wave, change is slow to all the time. rhythm and we really_can't see another The days go by so fast now. But the how we got there at all. grey days, drizzly days, and the beauti­ nights are long as Alissa likes to be fed ful blue sky days-sun comes strongly in sometimes every hour. I am still so Happy I can hike and hike and not get the morning, spring will be here yet. tired. It's a very great change for me tired. Deer park was a lovely hike, not Then we lie in the sun and get tan, and to be totally responsible for another steep, easy,and the changes in the wonderfully healthy. human being-especially one so helpless were marvelous. From the systems and small. We've begun to get to know tops of knolls and rolling hills, -cha­ The baby can't be too far away now. At one another-and feel more comfortable parral, to deep winding gullies with special peaceful moments I long to have now. My eyes are puffy, and I can feel streams to hidden valleys with enor­ strong, regular contractions, but I don't. my tiredness throughout my whole body. mous trees and sunlight pouring from Often I feel low back pressure but it She's eleven days old today and we've the sky. Lovely times and sandwiches goes away, though signifying my readi­ gone through ten days already! Now we when we wanted them, and apples, sweet ness. The baby will come in his or her should know each other so well. She is and cruncky. own time, but I'd like it to be now. Oh-' so sweet and beautiful, I fall in love well. with her anew each time I nurse her. and in the morning I lie in bed and ima­ She loves being touched, her skin is so gine a little girl or boy playing. soft. A marvelous opportunity to re­ awaken love and tenderness. I never knew I had so much warmth inside me. Thought I had lost it. mood, this conflict, is indeed the pre­ she'll cash in on the body game and this stage is one a lot of vailing theme of this album, outlast them all. This i Now, it is late afternoon and I attempt in her life. Call it maturity if you like; other musicians may try. . _ to write. Thinking I am alone, but for it's that looking, back on choices made, In contrast, the lyrics of "Trouble the child, fussy, who fiddles on-chewing strang­ whether freely or forced,and weighing Child" are too obscure for any making noises. She doesn't let me rest. But them from the center point of the pres­ er to absorb the total message. And I think of that time before birlth ent, with the choices still to be made. the slow, deep beat has the ebb-and when I wanted her so badly to be born. Its closest examination comes in flow, the ominous tug of the tide. . . . I dream: a peaceful drive in New Eng- "Down To You", which shows us,again; "Trouble child/Breaking like thewaves land, sitting down with a cup to tea and the wordly lover, standing back to see at Malibu. " a magazine, not wanting to be bothered. the pattern, but painfully conscious Coming at the end, "Twisted" is The floodgates of my soul have been of the worth, the guarantee still such a surprise and a real treat a>nthe opened and I find all I need is time. . . searched for. She observes, first few hearings. It's the first song "Everything comes and goes she's recorded that someone else com­ the small, round face breaking into grins lovers and posed, but she makes it her own, with I Marked by She is exploring the world's mysteries styles of clothes perfect mocking inflections. Now that i shapes, colors, sounds I rediscover. Things that you held high I've heard it a lot, it's beginning to With this gift I find a new self within me. And told yourself were true irritate me a bit. The tone is so flip­ Someone who can love a screaming child. Lost or changing as the days pant and superior--the absurdity is Her smile, worldly happiness, what makes it palatable in the long run. i hurting, is all come down to you. " and her cry, so shrill, Down to you --yourself, not the The whole album is marked by the the world lovers, the others. This is one of the fullest range of instruments and orch­ crying, weeping its sorrow like a rain. songs that only she can sing--long, estration she has yet tried; with nearly winding, but complete. complete success. This continues the I never knew the richness "Just Like This Train" has a deli­ steady trend through all her albums, of having a child cious, slow chugging rhythm. The de­ from single acoustic guitar, to guitar before. tachment of suspended travel time and piano; adding percussion, and leads to a humorous, what-the-hell woodwinds, electric guitar, horns, attitude. Here are sharp observations and finally strings. She has a remark­ of people being people, and of a famil­ able sense of the right musical pro­ iar, confused state of mind (or heart?) duction for each of her songs. With "Jealous lovin'll make you crazy/If all the writer/performers making you can't find your goodness/Cause their music today, she remains unique, women. . . you've lost your heart. " and all her recordings prove of lasting for The song that could be my favorite value as they form, step by step, a seminars & workshops as a song, to hear, to move to, is mirror of the passage of her life, and in sexual enlightenment "Raised on Robbery". It's perfect. our own. What can I say? It moves and it's wry and tough--really like nothing she's (Lyrics quoted all by Joni Mitchell, done before and it sure works. The copyright 1973, Crazy Crow Music/ P. O. Box 792, Sausalito, CA 94965 (415) 332-2149 7 woman who's down but never out-- BMI. All rights reserved. ) o