“Using video and still imagery, the I’m Feminist Enough… project seeks to visualize the fresh face of feminism and demonstrate to our young sisters (and brothers) the value of feminist thought in our daily lives in a manner that is simple, sexy, modern and easy. Featuring: Lyani Powers, Hillary Crosley, Leilani Montes, Venus Okeke, Clover Hope and Shantrelle Lewis. Shot in New York City, 2011.”
Being the avid history nerd that I am, I was basically counting down the minutes until the opening of Iron Lady, the new film chronicling Margaret Thatcher’s life, starring Meryl Streep. I mean, what could be better than Meryl Streep (who is awesomeness in human form) taking on a complex, fascinating character like Prime Minister Thatcher, right? Regardless of your politics, Margaret Thatcher’s story is an exciting one.
I was expecting a few things from the film. First, I was expecting a kick-butt performance from Ms. Streep. Second, I was expecting to learn more about Margaret Thatcher’s political and personal story, since I don’t know that much about her. Third, I was expecting to be thoroughly entertained.
Unfortunately, only one of my three expectations was really fulfilled. Meryl…
Let’s face it: hatred on the internet is big. Hatred of all varieties including sexism, racism and homophobia (etc.) are found everywhere online, and some sites in particular are known as a breeding ground for offensive and insulting users (yes YouTube, I’m looking at you… )
Recently I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the Feminist Frequency YouTube channel. For those of you who aren’t familiar it, Feminist Frequency is a YouTube-based video series run by Anita Sarkeesian, who creates intelligent, thought-provoking videos on the rampant sexism in the pop culture of contemporary society. I very much enjoy watching all of Anita’s great videos, and was happy to find that on each there was an intellectual exchange of ideas, praise, and even debating – that’s reasonable debating- going on…
I’ve always hated chain letters. They’re never nice, like, ‘Just for receiving this, you get a free puppy’. No, it’s always, ‘If you don’t forward this to ten people you’re going to die alone and get eaten by worms.’ Most of them are, obviously enough, completely bogus, appealing to the superstitious side of us that, despite all that science has proven, never really dies. They’re annoying, but little more. You delete them after a brief glance and get on with your day.
However, I recently got an email forward that wasn’t quite so innocent. You’ve probably received one at some point yourself. The subject was something attention grabbing, but legitimate enough: Important Safety Warning, Please Read (or something to that effect.) When you open the email, there’s information about the latest method…
A few days ago, I went to school. It was a normal day until around lunchtime when I started hearing some rumors. Well, that’s not unusual: it’s high school. There will always be rumors. But these rumors were different. They were based on a newspaper article published that morning in a local online newspaper. The article told the story of a girl, age 16, who goes to my school. The article, which was based on a police report, claimed that earlier this year the girl had a stillborn baby that no one knew about. The girl didn’t know she was pregnant, had the baby in her bathtub, and then buried it in her backyard. The girl’s mother later found the body and called the police. The girl is now facing…
“When writing about myself I would always start by saying that I was ‘originally from the North of England’… in fact that’s not true but I grew up there from age 5 in Newcastle, famous for its coals and shipbuilding. The place was grimy, cold and hard but full of character and culture, with many theaters and concert venues and legendary clubs. Newcastle was frequented by the likes of Bob Dylan (Don’t Look Back) and Jimi Hendrix (his manager Chas Chandler, bassist for the famed Newcastle Band The Animals was a true Geordie and my father was his headmaster!) I love the English movie Get Carter set in Newcastle and starring a young Michael Caine, it really reflects well a lot of what this once Roman Northern garrison town…
The number one question my high school friends always ask me whenever we chat now is, “So are you sick of being around all those girls yet?” Despite the fact that I have attempted to explain my decision to attend a women’s college a seemingly infinite amount of times, I always answer no – that being around women has been a really supportive experience, a nice change of pace and a really beneficial academic experience so far. Or at least that was my answer up until finals.
The thing is, I go to an extremely competitive, academically rigorous school. I don’t really care what the official rankings are, all I know is that I am surrounded by the most hyper-motivated, incredibly intelligent people I have ever encountered. This was something that…
I’ve never really been one for New Year’s resolutions. All the promises I’ve made to myself have either been forgotten two or three days into January or are things that I’ve rationalized not doing. For example one year’s resolution was to stop eating so much chocolate (I don’t know why I even thought about attempting that one – like it was even the slightest bit plausible). Another was to walk to/from the train station on the way to/from school or uni more instead of catching the bus (“but my bag’s always too heavy!”; “my lecture’s at 9 so I’d have to wake up really early!”). But there are one or two things that have been bothering me this year that I want to act on in 2012 – a resolution…
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