I have been an avid fan of Young Adult fiction since the third grade. I vividly remember standing in the library check out line with the rest of my class during “Library Time” eagerly digging into my Judy Blume while my classmates palmed their Judy Moody books. I think that moment can also be pointed to as the precursor to my reading Anna Karenina in eighth grade when my classmates were reading…well, they weren’t reading. But that’s a self-indulgent admittedly pretentious digression.
I think it’s this deeply ingrained love of YA that caused the low grade rage I felt when reading the recent Wall Street Journal article by Meghan Cox Gurdon. It’s worth reading (in that it’s a piece of crap but will make the rest of this post make…
Thats the question I’ve asked myself for years, and last month I finally got an answer: I am bisexual and that’s okay! I finally realized that I am sexually and emotionally attracted to both sexes and have been ever since the age of 13, if not younger. The thing is, I was taught by the media and by my religion that those feelings were wrong, that you were either gay, straight or lying.
I grew up confused. How could I like girls as much as I like boys? Though I was never homophobic, I was taught that bisexuals were different; they were slutty girls who just wanted attention to make their conservative parents angry. Good girls aren’t bisexual because it’s a choice that you make,…
Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born 30 April 1976) is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She has since started a successful solo career, and is also one half of the Evelyn Evelyn duo.
Palmer was born in New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and attended Wesleyan University where she was a member of the Eclectic Society. She staged performances based on work by the Legendary Pink Dots, an early influence. She then formed the Shadowbox Collective, devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows. Palmer is married to writer Neil Gaiman.
It is no secret to those who know me well that the women of SNL past and present are my personal pantheon of goddesses, to which I worship on a regular basis. I recently got my Tina Fey fix, reading her hilarious and surprisingly feminist book Bossypants. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph came into my life a few weeks ago in the form of the funniest movie I’ve probably ever seen, Bridesmaids. But there was a palpable absence in my life: WHERE WAS AMY POEHLER? Thankfully, I came across this video of her recent speech at Harvard. Clearly, I am now spiritually fulfilled, and can pass on the zen to you.
Seventeen’s Pretty Amazing Contest Is Pretty Amazing
ohmahgawd an actress! let's look up to her!
I’ll be honest: I have my issues with Seventeen Magazine. It’s not just that most of the magazine revolves around a traditional and restrictive definition of beauty and their idea of “health” still revolves around dieting and working out in order to achieve your “best body ever.” My biggest problem is what the magazine overall promotes as being important to its readership of teen girls. Are we really just obsessed with how to impress the guy we like and what celebrities are up to? (No, hence, the FBomb exists). And even when “real” issues are brought up – like eating disorders or sex – they’re non-committedly grazed over (Again, oh hey, FBomb).
That being said, I think Seventeen has been making some really great…
“So let’s learn about Shavuot,” my teacher said, and I dutifully began to take notes on the holiday. “Shavuot [which began Tuesday night] commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jews. When God was telling Moses to instruct the Jews how to prepare for Matan Torah [Giving of the Torah], God said to Moses, ‘So shall you say to Beit Yaakov [House of Jacob] and Bnei Yisrael [Children of Israel].’ Rashi says that Beit Yaakov refers to the women, while Bnei Yisrael refers to the men. Okay, great explanation. But why does it say the women first?
“A woman’s father has a fruit field, and it becomes part of her dowry. She gets married and her husband is out on the field, picking fruit. A guy passes by and…
For over a year not very long ago, I had a plethora of very strange rules for myself to follow. I could only eat certain things at certain times. I had numbers that dictated my actions, numbers of calories and daily intake percentages and pounds. It was a suffocating process; luckily, I never followed my regulations enough for it to impact my health. Still, it affected my mind quite a bit.
Perhaps more damaging to my self-esteem was my body image. Unlike the majority of the population, especially teenagers, I really don’t enjoy food very much. This made any disordered eating-type behaviors extremely easy for me.
Most of my friends are exceptionally thin, as in magazine-ad thin. Most of them are athletic and/or naturally thin; as far as I…
Senator Penny Wong, Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation, was speaking when she was interrupted. ‘If I could finish?’ she snapped with justified annoyance, glaring across the room. Immediately the room broke into a chorus of “oooh”, like a bunch of sniggering schoolboys.
Then Opposition Senator David Bushby made a meowing noise.
Gotta give props to Penny Wong – she let him have it: ‘It is just extraordinary. The blokes are allowed to yell but if a woman stands her ground, you want to make that kind of comment. It’s not schoolyard politics, mate!’
The issue had been hotly debated in the Australian media. There is no doubt it was inappropriate, but there is argument over whether it was sexist or not.…
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