The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Controversy hits romance writers group
NEW YORK — There’s passion but not a lot of love at the Romance Writers of America this holiday season.
The organization, which bills itself as the voice of romance writers and cites 9,000 members, has been upended over the way it has treated one of its authors, Courtney Milan, a Chinese American writer and a former chair of its Ethics Committee.
The Texasbased trade association initially accepted the vote of its Ethics Committee that Milan had violated the group’s code with negative online comments about other writers and their work. Then, just before Christmas, it reversed course, rescinding its vote “pending a legal opinion.” Now its entire leadership has changed.
The controversy began this summer when Milan, in a tweet, called Kathryn Lynn Davis’ 1999 book “Somewhere Lies the Moon” an “(expletive) racist mess.” Davis and fellow writer Suzan Tisdale filed complaints. Milan was suspended on Monday, sparking an outcry from fellow Romance Writers of America members and making #IStandWithCourtney trend.
Author Felicia Grossman announced on Twitter that she had resigned her position at the association, saying it had “proven itself inconsistent with my values.” Other writers and associated groups added to the criticism.
The group’s president and eight board members resigned.
The tumult spiraled when Milan said she had been outraged by several sections of Davis’ book, including depictions of “exotic“Asian women (with “slanted almond eyes“) and a passage spoken by the fictional Chinese elder Madam Chin that “we are demure and quiet, as our mothers have trained us to be. We walk with our eyes lowered politely, and may not look higher than a man’s breast.”
Milan blasted: “The notion of the submissive Chinese woman is a racist stereotype which fuels higher rates of violence against Asian women,” Milan wrote. “It is hard not to be upset about something that has done me and my loved ones real harm.”
Davis is white but she “immersed herself in Chinese culture for six years before writing the novel,” according to a statement by Tisdale. “Keep in mind, this book was written and published in the 1990s,” she wrote.
Linda Ronstadt taking a career victory lap
NEW YORK — Between the Kennedy Center Honors and a CNN documentary about her life debuting on television New Year’s Day, Linda Ronstadt is taking a career victory lap.
The documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” outlines two distinct stages of Ronstadt’s career.
There was the rock star, sex symbol days with hits like “You’re No Good,” “Heat Wave” and “Blue Bayou.” Part two began with her 1980 New York stage role in “The Pirates of Penzance,” ushering in adventurous projects featuring jazz standards, traditional Mexican recordings and trio discs with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. Despite the fear of record company executives, many of the projects did quite well.
She now lives a quiet life in the San Francisco area, her singing voice stilled by Parkinson’s Disease.