Status
Available
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2018), Edition: Illustrated, 256 pages
Description
"In this sharp, funny, and incredibly timely collection of personal essays, veteran video blogger and star of MTV's Decoded, Franchesca Ramsey explores race, identity, online activism, and the downfall of real communication in the age of Twitter rants and call-out wars"--
Similar in this library
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins
Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South by Anne Moody
User reviews
LibraryThing member mcelhra
Franchesca Ramsey worked as a graphic designer and had a YouTube channel with a small following on the side. Remember when the YouTube video What Girls Say went viral? Franchesca decided to make a response video called What White Girls Say…to Black Girls. Her video was edgier than What Girls Say
However, she plunged in headfirst and took that role on. She quickly learned that she couldn’t engage with every person and troll who contacted her via social media and set some boundaries for herself. That’s what most of the book is about – mistakes she made while engaging with people online and the lessons she learned from them.
Eventually, she landed the role of the host of MTV’s Decoded, an online show with episodes such as Will Multicultural Kids End Racism and Do All Muslim Women Wear a Hijab? I’ve watched several Decoded episodes and have found them enlightening and informative.
Franchesca takes her position as an online activist very seriously. However, I feel like she’s a little too worried about hurting someone’s feelings and can be too apologetic at times. (And this criticism is coming from a bleeding heart liberal.) Overall, I liked the book, especially her section on calling someone out vs. calling someone in. I appreciated her brutal honesty. She is not afraid to share her missteps and owns them all. This is a great book for people engaged in social media of all types. Recommended.
Show More
because the things white girls say to black girls can actually be pretty racist. The truth of the video made it literally an overnight viral sensation. Franchesca found herself suddenly thrust into the position of being a spokesperson for black people on the subject of race and racism – something she didn’t bargain for when she posted her video and not something she originally wanted to be.However, she plunged in headfirst and took that role on. She quickly learned that she couldn’t engage with every person and troll who contacted her via social media and set some boundaries for herself. That’s what most of the book is about – mistakes she made while engaging with people online and the lessons she learned from them.
Eventually, she landed the role of the host of MTV’s Decoded, an online show with episodes such as Will Multicultural Kids End Racism and Do All Muslim Women Wear a Hijab? I’ve watched several Decoded episodes and have found them enlightening and informative.
Franchesca takes her position as an online activist very seriously. However, I feel like she’s a little too worried about hurting someone’s feelings and can be too apologetic at times. (And this criticism is coming from a bleeding heart liberal.) Overall, I liked the book, especially her section on calling someone out vs. calling someone in. I appreciated her brutal honesty. She is not afraid to share her missteps and owns them all. This is a great book for people engaged in social media of all types. Recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member fionaanne
I was really enjoying this book for the first seven chapters. And then I started to understand why she claims so many haters and trolls.
For the first part of the book, Franchesca was an insightful narrator, sharing her experiences with social media fame. She was humble, self-aware and willing to
I recommend reading chapters 1-7 and also 11 if you're bored, but just skip the rest of it, unless you're capable of mentally substituting "I" for every "you", which seems like an unnecessary burden for most readers.
Thank you to Grand Central who sent me an advance review copy of this book.
For the first part of the book, Franchesca was an insightful narrator, sharing her experiences with social media fame. She was humble, self-aware and willing to
Show More
share. But then she started dispensing her unasked-for opinions, reminding me why the term "social justice warrior" has such negative connotations for so many people . This change, interestingly, was marked by a shift in language from "I" to "you". I have no interest in the moral superiority she thinks we would all feel if we would stop listening to R. Kelly and watching Game of Thrones and this exemplifies perfectly the problem with these youngsters: they always know exactly what we're all doing wrong but have no clue how to fix the problem. Don't even get me started about her tips on "self-care," a term that healthy people employ with no real concept what it means to take care of yourself. She's not a bad writer but sigh, I cannot bear to have a narrator speak to me like I'm a recalcitrant child in need of correction.I recommend reading chapters 1-7 and also 11 if you're bored, but just skip the rest of it, unless you're capable of mentally substituting "I" for every "you", which seems like an unnecessary burden for most readers.
Thank you to Grand Central who sent me an advance review copy of this book.
Show Less
Awards
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Nominee — Biography/Autobiography — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-05-22
Physical description
9.38 inches
ISBN
1538761033 / 9781538761038