Comments on: Feisty

By: Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive » Quick Hits

Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive » Quick Hits — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:16:46 +0000

[...] Fuck ‘feisty’. [...]

By: strawhat

strawhat — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:36:54 +0000

Feisty is also used of old women. It’s so diminishing.

By: Kay Olson

Kay Olson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:48:53 +0000

So glad you covered this Jill. She’s one of the most important figures ever in the U.S. disability rights movement, I think, along with Ed Roberts and Justin Dart. I never read where either of those men were ever called “feisty” btw.

On the ableist coverage: The obit in her hometown Charleston paper, which must have covered her annual protests of the MDA for the past 20 years, says she “suffered from” her impairment and notes she was a mentor to other lawyers “despite her disability.” The mayor says she was “courageous” because she didn’t let her disability keep her from using her intellect. I hope she didn’t let the mayor get in her way much either.

Also, it’s hilarious and irritating that they included a quote from the MDA about how Jerry Lewis and the org offer their condolences. Lewis is a prick whose views on disability Johnson spent her life fighting. Gah.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:14:30 +0000

Evil Fizz — I also use that article in teaching, it’s just an amazing piece. It is very sad to hear she is gone.

By: skirt

skirt — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:04:23 +0000

I thought Latinas were fiesty, like, as a rule or something.

By: amandaw

amandaw — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:50:34 +0000

I dunno; I see how in this context it’s not great, but when I (and my group of friends) use feisty it’s a compliment.

So is “articulate” for a black man.

By: denelian

denelian — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:20:51 +0000

i don’t feel “feisty” or “brave”

i HURT

By: evil fizz

evil fizz — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:35:13 +0000

f you ever read the NYTimes article that she wrote about her encounter with Peter Singer, one of my favorite parts was where she tells a colleague about the upcoming debate, and the colleague looks at her and starts laughing and says, “That poor sorry sap. He doesn’t know what he’s in for!”

I *love* that article. It’s one of my favorite pieces, and I made my students read it when I was teaching a bioethics survey course. She was such a gifted writer. This is such a loss.

By: bibliothecaire

bibliothecaire — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:38:05 +0000

I am so sorry to hear about her death. I first came across Johnson a few years ago through her memoir, after which I went on to read her excellent young adult book, Accidents of Nature. She’ll be seriously missed. And add me to the list of people who hate words like “feisty” and “spunky” when not used to describe small dogs or something.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:16:50 +0000

The proper word to describe HMJ, in my opinion, is: motherf***ing fierce (okay, that’s two words). And not in a Tyra/Siriano way, either. If you ever read the NYTimes article that she wrote about her encounter with Peter Singer, one of my favorite parts was where she tells a colleague about the upcoming debate, and the colleague looks at her and starts laughing and says, “That poor sorry sap. He doesn’t know what he’s in for!”

Thank you for covering this, Jill.