THE PIERCED POMEGRANATE TAVERN: Another Quickie!

Thirsty for a Fresh Take on All Things True Blood?

WELCOME! Thirsty for a fresh take on all things True Blood? Pull up a virtual barstool at the Pierced Pomegranate Tavern where sisters Rachel and Rebecca are serving up juicy feminist analysis with a twist and opening a vein of thoughtful sociocultural dialogue on HBO's hit series.

Like the epic literary salons of eras past - theaters for conversation and debate which were, incidentally, started and run by women; where the spirited debate about the issues of the day ran as copiously as the actual spirits did - but updated for the digital age, the Pierced Pomegranate Tavern is a fun forum for exploring questions ripe for discourse about the human condition & today's most crucial social issues through the medium of True Blood.

Your salonnières are not peddling liquor per se, but they are offering up new and alternative ideas informed by such diverse influences as pop culture, art, music, cultural history, Goddess studies, transformative theory, literature and poetry, and archaeomythology, filtered through the sieve of their own lived experiences as feminist women of a particular age, background, and culture.

This is a space where you - patrons and passersby alike - can view and engage with these perspectives through the lens of True Blood and contribute your own thoughts. So, no matter if you're a Truebie or a more casual viewer of True Blood, or your drink of choice is a pomegranate martini - one of Rachel's favorite cocktails to drink and Rebecca's to mix - an herbal tea, a frothy double mocha latte, or a can of Fresca (wink, wink) you're invited to join the conversation on the show's complexities in a way that can spark transformation.

Hopefully you'll find something to sink your teeth...err...straw, into! PLEASE ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ;-)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Another Quickie!

Just enough time for another quickie...wink wink ;-)

The Pierced Pomegranate Tavern will be opening up shop for a limited time (kinda sorta) in San Antonio, Texas from April 20-23rd, 2011.

I'll be presenting an academic paper exploring issues of sexuality and representation through the lens of True Blood at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations joint conference, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Area: Special Area: True Blood track.

The paper's entitled, True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

Here's a summary:

HBO’s hit series True Blood is not only wildly entertaining; it is also a potent medium through which to explore the human condition and to critically engage the cultural currents and provocative sociopolitical issues of today. With the surging movement of contemporary women’s studies as its guiding framework, this visual talk revolves around two True Blood sexual story arcs—one centered on Tara Thornton; the other on Sookie Stackhouse—both of which culminate in scenes featuring a white nightgown reminiscent of a wedding dress. Although similarities exist between these narratives of carnal encounter, they differ markedly; each can be seen as paralleling one of two versions of the Demeter-Persephone myth—the first being the well-known version of Persephone’s abduction and rape and the second being the feminist imagining of the original pre-Olympian sacred story in which the Goddess enjoyed a free and joyous sexuality. Cycling between True Blood and the mythology it recapitulates, we will explore the charged concepts and themes of sex and sexuality they illuminate: virginity, sex-roles and stereotypes, pleasure, initiation, the erotic, violence, dominance and rape, attitudes toward sexually autonomous women, the sacred sexual, etc. Persephone’s mysteries confront us with the divide between Goddess and patriarchal consciousness. Drawing upon 30,000 years of art, myth, histories and poetry, we will contextualize modern notions about sex and gender revealed in True Blood within the shift from egalitarian to dominator societal structure, explore woman and sex-positive cultures, and identify new models for sexual and body sacrality – both female and male.

My main challenge will be fitting all my content into the 15 minutes presenters are allotted! Think I can do it? I'm not convinced!!!

Feel like joining us deep in the heart of Texas this spring? Here's a link to the conference website for more info: http://www.swtxpca.org/

Back later...

~ Rachel

2 comments:

QuianaJanuary 9, 2011 at 10:31 PM
Congrats on being included in the conference! Trimming down to present can be tough, but I wish you the best. I'm a part of Toastmasters, and it's one of the skills they help develop. Fantastic organization to check out!
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Rachel and RebeccaJanuary 14, 2011 at 2:53 PM
Thanks for the encouragement, Quiana! Brevity has never been one of my strengths, so trimming down won't be easy, and no matter how many times I go to one of these type of events, the nerves never fade! I may just check out Toastmasters, thanks for the suggestion! Hope you're not still buried under too much snow up there in Harlem
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A SALON FOR TODAY - WE'RE YOUR SALONNIÉRES

The European literary salons of the 17th and 18th centuries had intellectuals. They had drinking. They had conversation and debate. They were social and stimulating places where Enlightenment-era movers-and-shakers could linger in pursuit of wisdom and just one more glass.

Over the centuries, salons have played a historic role in enriching literary and philosophical movements and have built bridges between artists and thought leaders, this has had a major impact on intellectual and cultural life.

Salonnières played a central role in salon life; since most paths to formal higer education were closed to them, these abitious, intelligent, self-educated, and educating women adopted and implemented Enlightenment values to shape salons as informal universities where they too could exchange ideas, receive and give criticism, read their own works and hear the works and ideas of others.

At a time when society was dominated by men, the salonnières (nicknamed "Blue Stockings"; a term that even today connotes intellectual women) exerted powerful influence in the salons they convened, selecting their guests, deciding about the subjects of their meetings, and directing the discussion.

The Pierced Pomegranate Tavern is inspired by the old-school salons and designed to carry the flavor of the Enlightenment era's venerable houses of drink and debate into the 21st century, with a few exceptions.

Where the salons of old were at times elitist and exclusive, this forum is open and inclusive.

We're your salonnières, here to foster a fun and safe atmosphere for sociocultural and political discourse through the medium of True Blood that feels more social and less academic, to get the conversation going, and to keep it on track.

Feminist philosopher Mara Keller reinterprets Persephone’s ingestion of the pomegranate seeds as being part of her sexual initiation into womanhood. She writes:

Death, life, male, female and, above all, the irrepressible power of reproduction—all are found in the image of the pomegranate seed. It is this seed that Persephone takes within her body—literally incorporating it into her own being. With this seed, she becomes a new person: whole, mature, fertile, and infinitely more complex than before. Having tasted it, she has crossed a barrier from which there can be no turning back.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Another Quickie!

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