Links & Bits for 1/21/11

Black Monsters/White Corpses: Kanye's Racialized Gender Politics (Racialicious)

In some ways, the conversation around dead women in Kanye’s video reminds me of the conversations that happen around feminism and black women. The reality of black women is assumed to be exactly the same as white women – if it is mentioned at all. The fact that the majority of the women pictured lying dead where white, while black women are all part of the monster crew is generally not mentioned.

Patti Smith: Warrior Poet (American Songwriter)

Of course, she’s more than a songwriter. She’s an artist who recognizes that art needn’t be restricted to any one means of expression. Like her great friend, the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, about whom she wrote the beautiful memoir, Just Kids, she’s always been devoted to making art itself – whether a poem, a memoir, a novel, a record, a series of drawings, a play (with Sam Shepard she wrote Cowboy Mouth), or a song.

Dire Straits' Money For Nothing banned on Canadian Radio (The Guardian)

Canada's radio watchdog is defending a controversial decision to ban the uncut version of Dire Strait's 1985 hit Money for Nothing. Despite many complaints – including criticism from a member of the band – officials are not backing down, insisting the song's offensive lyrics make it unsuitable for broadcast.