August 30, 2016 - 07:20
bell hook opens her essay on Beyonce by saying, “Lemonade is my favorite drink…" and quickly (rather breathlessly!) moves from that experience, via lemonade stands, to a critique of capitalism.
Try out this exercise, okay? What is your favorite drink? What might it tell us about you/your view of the world?
Mine is bourbon. I can drink it neat, on the rocks, in ginger ale (my simplest, and most common, cocktail, especially fine with a Moreno cherry and a little juice), or in a Manhattan. Or, each summer, in mint juleps. I muddle the mint, mix up a gallon of this, let it seep for a week, and then serve it, all summer long, to guests, in silver julep cups, on my front porch. This suggests (truly) that I am from the south (which has a lot to do with why-and-how I think about the poetics and politics of race), that I like to drink cold, sweet things on hot evenings, after a hard day of work (this is often writing; it could be apple picking; my husband is a pomster). I like to let loose. And to do so in company, but I can also manage this on my own.
