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Our readings & viewings this week include, for Tuesday, a selection of three (Jeanne Livingstone's Paris is Burning, along with Judith Butler's and bell hooks' responses to the film) and, for Thursday, a series of excerpts from Katie Cannon's collection of essays.

On Tuesday, I'll ask you to assume the role of either Livingstone, Butler or hooks, in a conversation among them; who would you like to play, and why? Which position is most problematic for you, and why?

On Thursday, I'll ask you to think together about the connections between hooks' dislike of the way "spectacle" works in Livingstone's film, Canon's observations about womanist perspectival discourse and canon formation, and the exchange between Calderon and Jessy about how and why we might want to work our way through a canon. How are these various positions aligned, and how do they differ? Which one compels you, and why? (Or not, and why not?)