Longreads and Lists
Two of our favorite long reads of the week:
1. The great Rebecca Traister, writing in The New Republic, shows us that (sadly) those portraying Wendy Davis as a bad mom or re-hashing Hillary Clinton’s marital woes are indicative of a prevalent strain of sexism in politics: an unequal focus on candidates’ proficiency with family life. In her words: “there is no accounting of female professional achievement that does not also add up the raw data on personal, familial effort.”
2. A comprehensive look back at Reality Bites, a film that “defined and defied” a generation, in the words of its stars and makers. Depending on your residual attachment to the film (or lack thereof), you’ll also likely want to have this piece from Lindy West at Jezebel handy.
And now for some lists:
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists are in. Special shout-out to John Green and Susan Straight, winners of awards for special achievement.
Women are funny! Alison Herman at Flavorwire served up this list of 25 female comedians everyone should know.
I do not like Green Eggs and Hats…while not strictly a list, how could we not post this story on a Dr. Seuss hat collection?
Writers Here, There, and Everywhere
From On the Road to Riding the Rails: Amtrak confirmed this week that it is establishing a long-term program to offer writers long, roundtrip rides as residencies. Read writer Jessica Gross’s experience in The Paris Review.
If you thought riding the rails was an adventure, think about Jynne Dilling Martin, who spent six weeks as Antarctica’s artist-in-residence and is coming out with a book of poems from the experience. She’s the cover story of the latest Poets & Writers (available in print only, so if you’re not a subscriber, you can check out more about Jynne’s work in this Fast Company profile).
On Protest in Sochi
Last week, Dvora Meyers shared the story of Czech gymnast Vera Caslavska and posed questions about the possibilities for protest in Sochi from an historical and cultural perspective. In a widely-read piece over at Grantland, former U.S. luge competitor Samantha Retrosi added a critical corporate dimension to the discussion:
I went through intensive media training each year throughout my teens to reinforce this allegiance — essentially, to learn how to be a better spokesperson for Verizon. During my Olympic year, I signed away my rights to use media time for anything other than gratitude to sponsors. It was a condition for entrance into the Olympic Village. The sad ending to this story is that in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse, Verizon broke its contract with the U.S. Luge Association, withdrawing all funding inside of one year.
Even facing loss of money and achievement sought since childhood, one athlete – Bogdana Matsotska, a skier from Ukraine – exercised the one gesture of protest left: the choice not to compete. One wonders whether she would have felt so strongly had the IOC honored the request from that country’s athlete’s to wear black armbands in honor of fellow citizens lost in the ongoing unrest (more below). Those claiming that competing in the Olympics are not an expression of national identity (and therefore inextricably bound to politics) are fooling themselves, and in our view, the desire to acknowledge a national trauma is not something one should ban from the field of play.
On Protest Elsewhere
Events in Ukraine and Venezuela have been changing by the minute this week, and we’re sure you’ve been reading about it too. For coverage on Kiev, we’ve been following the BBC and Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson reporting for NPR, among others. The Guardian‘s Shaun Walker, who has been tweeting news and video from Kiev, also had this concise piece on president Viktor Yanukovych’s flight from the capital and the release and public embrace last night of Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and opposition leader.
Meanwhile, images of violence continue to emerge from Venezuela, with American media asking (CNN) whether the country’s socialist government can survive the unrest and (Fox News) quoting First Lady Cilia Flores as saying, “Venezuela isn’t Ukraine.” Leader Nicholas Maduro is asking President Obama for talks. One great piece on the situation that caught our eye came from Veronica Bayetti Flores at Feministing: “While the right wing spews claims of dictatorship and Maduro is busy screaming about the upcoming U.S.-backed coup…the people are marching for access to food, for some sense of economic stability. People are marching for their survival.”
On the Horizon
Facebook and its new “quality” algorithm.
Treeson: “The eco-friendly, toxin-free, trash eliminating, clean energy making, tree planting, best tasting, purest natural spring water ever.”
The AWP conference is this week in Seattle and lots of our friends are going. Tweet us your updates @BklynQly!
What were you reading, writing, doing, making this week? Let us know in the comments.
Image credit: Flickr/Mundo33