Image Credit: normko (Flickr)

This week marks the beginning of Women’s History Month and yesterday was International Women’s Day. Hillary Clinton, speaking at the UN this week, named equality for women the “great unfinished business of the 21st century,” and this editorial in the Guardian gives some insight into why Clinton is exactly right. With so many necessary changes yet to be made, it’s also good to remember the strides (or road trips!) of those who have come before us and the trails being blazed by women writers today.

To Read, To Write, To Travel: check out this Twitter map of where folks spend the most time reading (hint: it isn’t the U.S. or Europe). In this cool read from Ploughshares, writer Amy Jo Burns tells us “Why Writers Need Jury Duty.” Applications for Amtrak’s writing residency are now open, but you may want to wait to see how they resolve this rights issue.

There are too many links, pics, barbs, and updates to count from #SXSW and #CPAC14, but these bits of news stood out to us: Over at CPAC, Ann Coulter built herself a whole new castle in the Kingdom of Nope by insisting on the threat that is the “browning of America.”  Meanwhile, today at SXSW, this: “Knocking Down the Door,” a chat between Jürgen Klinsmann (coach of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team) and Roger Bennett (Grantland‘s Men in Blazers) about tech in sports and America’s World Cup dreams. Wait, what?

With sports on the brain – courtesy this week of Rob Goodman’s piece on our blog, “Heroism and Humiliation” – we added the New York Times piece, “Rio’s Race to Future Intersects Slave Past,” to our #longreads list. A fascinating look at the “stunning” archeological finds related to the Atlantic slave trade being uncovered by construction crews “tearing apart areas of Rio de Janeiro in the building spree ahead of this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.”

It’s hard to think about sports, history, or the geopolitical stage without returning, as so many of us have, to events unfolding in Ukraine. If you’re interested in an overly academic and myopic take on events, you should read Stephen Cohen’s take in The Nation (or listen to his condescending and vaguely misogynistic interview with Brian Lehrer on WNYC). For fresher perspectives, we recommend giving a listen to “On the Media” or taking a look at Kateryna Panova’s arresting images and reflections in “Scenes from Maidan Square” on our blog.

What are you reading, doing, writing, or making this week? Let us know in the comments.