Category Archives: Media criticism

One Day Before Cherokee Election: The Freedmen Issue Looms Large

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Rachel S.

Rumors are swirling around everywhere, but the biggest news, which is not a rumor, is that the Congressional Black Caucus member Diane Watson introduced a bill (link is to s PDF of the full text) to sever federal ties with the Cherokee Nation. … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections and politics, Media criticism, Race, racism and related issues | 8 Comments

Maggie Gyllenhaal Breastfeeds: Sexists Go Crazy

Posted on June 17, 2007 by Rachel S.

Some paparazzi took pictures of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal breastfeeding her child in public. Somehow I missed this, when the “scandalous” photos were taken a couple weeks ago. They are posted all over the place at entertainment blogs. I thought I … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-feminists and their pals, Breastfeeding & Lactivism, Families structures, divorce, etc, Gender and the Body, Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 26 Comments

A Good Month for Nigerian (Igbo) Writers

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Rachel S.

Two Nigerian writers have garnered major prizes in literature within the past week.  Renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for fiction, which is awarded biannually for a body of work. If you are not … Continue reading →

Posted in Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture, Race, racism and related issues | 16 Comments

The Politics of Narrative: Shaping How We Think

Posted on June 10, 2007 by Mandolin

I posted this a while back on Ambling Along the Aqueduct, and Amp linked to it in one of his link farms, but given my tendency to post about political narrative, I thought it might be good to have this … Continue reading →

Posted in Media criticism | 6 Comments

Black Mother White Adopted Daughter

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Rachel S.

A reader (Sekou) at Rachel’s Tavern sent me a link to this fascinating article about a Black single mother who had to file a law suit several years ago to adopt a white child.  I have said before that I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Families structures, divorce, etc, Media criticism, Race, racism and related issues | 9 Comments

Feminist Reading Recommendations, Sci-Fi Edition

Posted on May 20, 2007 by Mandolin

(cross posted at Ambling Along the Aqueduct*). Awhile back there was a thread at I Blame the Patriarchy about feminist science fiction. Here’s an incredibly incomplete list of some feminist-minded science fiction that I love. The stories and novels won’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Media criticism, Whatever | 11 Comments

XKCD character: "Political debates… show how good smart people are at rationalizing."

Posted on May 19, 2007 by Mandolin

I’d like to comment on this recent cartoon from the webcomic xkcd. This cartoon was brought up on a message board that I read and participate in, at the end of a long conversation about politics (although the point of … Continue reading →

Posted in Abortion & reproductive rights, Elections and politics, Media criticism | 44 Comments

Feminist Billboard Repair

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Ampersand

Curtsy: Objectify This.

Posted in Media criticism | 59 Comments

The Characterless Female, as seen in Jonathan Letham's You Don't Love Me Yet and Lost

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Mandolin

Last semester, I was privileged to take a fiction workshop with Marilynne Robinson, the author of Housekeeping and Gilead. In one of our later class sessions, we were looking at a beautiful story by one of my favorite writers in … Continue reading →

Posted in Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 10 Comments

Mandolin Says Hello

Posted on May 11, 2007 by Mandolin

Hey y’all, This is Mandolin. Amp has invited me to guest blog for a month or two. In real life, my name is Rachel Swirsky. I’m a fiction writer and I just finished up the first year of my master’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Media criticism | 5 Comments