Fledgling Blogger:  Courtnee Brinker
I’ve been charged with the completely overwhelming task of blogging about Octavia Butler’s Dawn. When I first received the course syllabus, I immediately began trying to find used bookstores that carried her work, though often times I had to call and speak to someone to find out. Without a doubt, everyone I spoke to was white, and between three different bookstores and six different people, each of them knew that Octavia was black and wrote science fiction, which made me proud and evoked the same feeling I get when a person who isn’t of color knows what Spelman is and why it is an important institution. Those in the majority often have the privilege of staying within their own world and of being ignorant of what goes on outside of it, while people of color are expected to and have learned to navigate between many different worlds, just as Lilith Iyapo does in Dawn. Often times while reading the novel, I’d forget that Lilith is a black woman and I asked myself if it mattered. And the answer is of course it does--Octavia wouldn’t have written it this way if it didn’t. Every single detail is accounted for, and that’s what makes this work special. It is Lilith’s ability to tackle so many unfathomable tasks, to cope with her captors, to relinquish her control to them, and to trust them that make her a black woman leader, and a leader in a situation where many would have given up. Lilith’s strength mirrors that of black women as a collective, both historically and presently, while Dawn itself echoes a slavery narrative—tragic and captivating. Butler seamlessly weaves together the remnants of our very real past and the scary uncertainties of our future.
The Oankali, who appear to be the future, cite humanity’s hierarchical tendencies and vast intelligence as the downfall of the human race, and yet, they themselves appear to have a similar hierarchical structure and inclination towards superiority. The Oankali soon prove that they are what Europeans were to the Native Americans, and no different than the slave-holding Christians who beat the backs of my ancestors because they knew better, because they knew “the way.” Only in Dawn, the Oankali don’t use whips to prove their point; they instead rely on a psychological degradation that is arguably worse than physical punishment. The Oankali deny Lilith human contact, instruments to record her history and the answers to her questions. This seems to me no different than what happened to an entire diaspora of people. Butler uses the Oankali to tell the reader that history repeats.
In Dawn Lilith teaches that the black woman continues to be a place of solace and strength even when history repeats itself. Five hundred years from now, she will be a leader—not because she never cracks, but because of her ability to put herself back together.

by Tananarive Due

​In March of 2013, Spelman College hosted the Octavia E. Butler Celebration of the Fantastic Arts as the year's Culminating Event for Cosby Chair Tananarive Due.  Co-panelists Samuel R. Delany, Steven Barnes, Nalo Hopkinson, Sheree Renée Thomas, Jewelle Gomez, Brandon Massey and Nisi Shawl discussed Butler's influence and, in many cases, reminisced about their personal experiences with her.  The result was an unforgettable evening of fellowship and celebration.  (Also, a poem by Opal Moore and a dramatic reading from Parable of the Sower by Spelman College drama students.)
Here's the YouTube video:

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT 

Tarshia L. Stanley

We are already a week into the new year. For many academics this also means the new semester is beginning--despite the polar vortex--this week and next. As I look at all the things that I didn't get to check off my to-do list in 2013, I'm very proud to say launching the OEB Society is not one of them!

I'm so glad to finally have connected with a group of people who see not only the importance of Butler's work but the value of organizing a society around it. I am especially glad to have allowed myself to move in this direction in my scholarship. I spent so many years admiring Butler's work, but not incorporating it into my scholarship because I am a "film and visual media" person. I didn't think I had the background in speculative fiction or the time to really study her work in a professional way. Then came OEB's untimely passing in 2006 and I deeply regretted that I did not get to meet her. Wait--let me change that. I regretted that I did not make the time to meet her. I kept thinking it would happen--one day. I kept moving it to my new year's to-do list.
As I looked at this year's list of things I really want to accomplish, I asked myself what would Lauren or Lilith or Dana put on their "things to do in 2014" list. While I'm still thinking about what Lilith and Dana would say, I'm sure that Lauren would write: Make Change--Not to-do lists! I'm also sure  Ms. Butler would concur.
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What would your favorite character from a Butler novel put on their to-do list this year?