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FROM THE CONNECTICUT RIVER To THE CANADIAN BORDER REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE 179 Main Street * Derby Vermont 05829 phétic (802) 766-2401 * 800-243-2401 fax 766.473] # c-mail.iiiick@veales'tatevermont.oom , . 1-03 onto \\ \\'\\.l'(‘2l (‘S H (‘\'Cl‘I‘l]f)ll .('()lll YOU'VE HAD UNPROTECTRD 533‘ OR SHARED A NEEDLE SINCE YOUR LAST TEST. NOW IS THE TIME TO GET AN HIV ‘l'E'.8T. IF YOU'VE NEVER BKKN TESTED, OR IF YOU'VE HAD UNPROT Culture Vulture: In Praise of Buffy and Anne Shirley en we think of guilty pleasures. what comes to mind first‘? Eating Ben and Jen'y's while sitting on the couch watching The 0.C.‘.’ These pleasures make us guilty because we know we're doing something that. while it feels good. is probably not too good for us in the long run. In her book review “Super Women (Januar_v. 2005) Elizabeth Allen seems to be arguing that “revisionist feminist fiction" is one of these guilty pleasures. chiding the reader not to look to fiction for role models. but to instead strive to be a superhero in her daily life. Okay. fair enough. I don‘t think, however. that reading and being are mutually exclusive. Can‘t we watch or read about superheroes and simultaneously strive to be them? In the spirit of full disclrr sure. I have to admit that l‘ve taken Allen's article a bit personally since Buflv the Vampire Slayer and Anne of Green Gables are two of my all- time-favorite pleasures. guilty or otherwise. In the sixth grade. I changed the spelling of my name from Ann to Anne. directly influ- enced by Anne Shirley's claim that Ann-without-ane looked horribly plain and incomplete. I know that Allcnfs claims of the “wonder bread" nature of Buffy are true in many ways. and I've written papers myself to that effect. making much the same point as the essay from Girls Who Bite Back she cites — that Buffy is con- sistently defined in opposition to women of color on the show. and that this doubling makes Buffy work as a feminist icon. The dan- gerous aspects of her character. like out-of-control sexuality without guilt are foisted onto these Other characters and Buffy is thus able to remain pure. I don't believe, however. that the show‘s lack of conscious- ness around race robs it of value. For instance, the relationship between Tara and Willow is perhaps the first representation of the kind of lesbian couple who begin to look the same over time, instead of being clearly differentiated along gender lines. And the show’s engagement of feminist issues doesn’t stop with Tara and Willow, eithcr——Buffy’s development over the course of the show illuminates both the possibili- ty and the socially imposed prob- lenis of female power. Since the show addresses feminist issues so explicitly. its shortcomings in addressing issues of race become almost impossible not to notice. By using the .show's lack of diversity as a reason to write it tiff altogether. Allen denies the possibility of read- er resistance. and the ability of readers to take what they want from a text and leave the rest. Her critique of Anne of Green Gables follows the same logic — because Anne settles with childhood crush Gilbert. all the power of the young Anne is just negated? Ultimately. Allen is mak- ing the same mistake in her critique that she's throwing at the people who find value in these shows — only looking at a piece of the pic- ture. not the whole thing. Even though Ally Sheedy’.s' makeover at the end of The Breakfast Club is heartbreaking and awful, which version of her character sticks with you. as a view- er‘? The Talbots-looking girl from the end of the movie. flush with excitement over her new jock boyfriend. or the witchy-crecpy- cool girl sitting in the back of detention eating a Cap'n Crunch sandwich and decorating her draw- ings with dandruff‘? This shift in attention from the later. more hetcroscxually defined version of the character to the earlier one doesn't make her transformation less awful. but the staying power of that transforma- tion is mediatcd by our choices as a viewer. The earlier version of the character is the one that carries cul- tural weight—carly-90's riot grrls were copying the Ally Shccdy from the beginning of the movie, not the end. _ At the end of the day. if we throw out all the texts that we liiid problematic. there won't be any tc.\ts left. And maybe lllls ls .-\|lcn's point - that we shouldn't be looking to lL‘\l\ for heroes. but instead should work on becoming those heroes ()llr\L'l\L‘s. But don't these lictional heroes help its to become real ones.’ Reading .-lIlIlt' of (in-vii (itrhlm as a kid. I liclt a kind_of soli- darity with Anne. the drcaiii). book- ish w cirdo. and this feeling of lL.lCll- titication helped me to bcliexe there was a world beyond my middle school where I'd be rewarded for my own weird bookisliiiess. .-\iid sure. her iiiarriagc to (iilbcn is depressing. but l was always much more interested in her relationship with Diana Ban} anyway. Pan or what we do as readers is go through texts. mining them for the bits we find meaningful. In saying this. I by no means intend to imply that we should just ignore the racist or sex- ist or homophobic aspects of the texts that surround us, but that we can use these moiiiciits as jumping- off points for analysis and critique. I'll admit. there are prob- lcms with even my favorite shows, but I don't think those problems make the shows themselves entirely worthless. ldcally. if a text is smart enough. it will spur conversation. about its failing.s. Besides which. l'iii not interested in perfect heroes. evcn fictional ones. 7 /lmw Moore /fl’(’.\ in Wi/rmis/ti (rm! trim to fool /ill/0 guilt over pI¢'u.\- llfl’.