- Official site of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign Hey so this was a huge thing going on this last week–lots of great pictures and people telling their stories. In a lot of ways, this campaign reminded me of deepad’s essay from 2009, “I Didn’t Dream of Dragons”. This is an ongoing and important conversation.
- 10 Simple Words Every Girl Should Learn This is a fantastic essay about women and their voices, despite the terrible clickbait title.
- This is a bit old, but I just found it today and it resonated: A level playing field
- Thoughts on Being Professional This also resonated.
- So I asked Vidcon for a link to their harassment policy, and they said they don’t need one…
- Gabourey Sidibe’s Ms. Gala Speech
- News of Dad’s Death, Spread on Facebook
- Dr. Oz’s evolution as America’s foremost promoter of quackery continues apace
- Making, and Eating, the 1950s’ Most Nauseating Jell-O Soaked Recipes Really fascinating.
- Messiness is Not a Moral Failing Amen.
- Is The Internet Intrinsically Sexist?
- Masala Dosa to Die For
- The Next Christian Sex-Abuse Scandal This is a really long read but I think it’s worth it.
- Chicago’s Last Tannery The Distance looks to be a new online magazine with a focus on small businesses that have endured. May be worth keeping an eye on.
- Cancer Doctor Peter Bach on Losing His Wife to Cancer
- Gender-Swapping Characters: Does That Work? Jennifer Crusie has some interesting things to say about this.
- You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine
- The American Dream Also Has Wheels: Reforming Medicaid to Give People with Disabilities Equal Opportunity This is so true. The fact that persons with disabilities have to be broke in order to get necessary services that help have agency over their own lives is a gigantic shame. It’s the worst sort of paternalism and is one of the reasons sheltered workshops are still a thing. For some people, a workplace that is configured around their needs is a good and necessary thing, but everyone should be paid a fair wage for their work. Everyone. And yeah, I have a dog in this fight: I have an aunt who works in a sheltered workshop and she gets paid a pittance and if she makes too much money? Her benefits are cut. My aunt should be able to make a fair wage for her very real work and still be able to get the services she needs in order to be successful at her job. Persons with disabilities shouldn’t have to live on the edge of or in poverty just to prove to the government that they are deserving of their benefits.
- We Need A New Literary Movement With A Slightly Ludicrous Name No, we don’t. Do we really need to draw more lines and boundaries in SFF than there already are?
- How Censors Killed The Weird, Experimental, Progressive Golden Age Of Comics This is a great essay by Saladin Ahmed. I’ve been watching him tweet a lot of these images and I’m glad to see that he put it all together in one place.
- How Maureen Dowd caricatured Bill Clinton’s mistress as a crazy bimbo.
- Monica Lewinsky to speak out in Vanity Fair about Bill Clinton. What else is she supposed to do? Indeed. What else is she supposed to do? 15 years on, she’s still the butt of jokes. I’m looking forward to reading what she has to say.
- In Which John C. Wright is Wrong About Everything, Forever, World Without End, Amen: An Open Letter by Elizabeth R. McClellan. This is glorious and wonderful and I want to print it out and draw little wee hearts on it. Except that would then be weird. And do be sure to check out the tags at the end, they’re the best.
Selki says
May 9, 2014 at 7:54 pm* I stopped following the news and entertainment for a while because I was so sick of hearing about Lewinsky. People I had respected before as journalists/infotainment folks (Dowd, Maher) just could not shut up with the jokes and demeaning.
* Good for Billy Graham’s grandson, for fighting the good fight. There are some horrible stories there, but I’m glad some Christians are realizing it matters as a matter of *faith* how they handle the issue.