• How would these two authors feel about each others’ work?
• In terms of advocating for feminism, how would the two of them agree and disagree?

Sara Ahmed’s A Killjoy Manifesto proved to be a very interesting read, and quite topical in these times we live in. You can’t go anywhere on Twitter or the internet as a whole without seeing someone spouting “woke” or “white genocide” or some other random assortment of words meant to victimize the majority. Sara Ahmed puts that, amongst other things, in an interesting and cohesive perspective throughout her essay. I found it particularly profound when she summarizes the fact that once people deny the reason why feminism exists, and claim it isn’t real, they can then paint a picture of the feminist as someone who is creating their own problem – or rather creating a problem strictly in order to de-platform the white man, thus victimizing themselves. This leads to the feminist having to repeatedly reaffirm themselves, making themselves into a “killjoy” of sorts. It’s a very interesting cycle that puts the entire movement into a new perspective for me.

As for The Secret to Superhuman Strength this week, the sequence in which Allison is juxtaposing her biking and her reading of the Buddha novel  is what really stood out to me, in particular how she tries to mirror it in her day-to-day adventures with the biking and almost feels as though she is faking it in a way. And the slog or bad phase she goes through toward the end with the minor alcoholism proved to be the most relatable and real part of this whole story. Obviously, not neccessarily for me but for the people around me. I’m interested to see where it goes from here.