Monday, January 14, 2013

The Good, the Bad, and the Curious (Links)

It's time for me to go back to the real world this week. This morning I got to meet two of my new classes and tomorrow I'll meet two more. It's such a great feeling to get all caught up in that excitement. Many of these students are in college for the very first time. They're mixture of enthusiasm and anxiety is contagious, and it makes me feel a little like conquering the world. 

Then I remember how much work I have to do to get ready for the semester and decide the world will have to wait.

Anyway, here's what I've been reading this week that made me smile (The Good), cry (The Bad), and think (The Curious).

The Good

My daughter is obsessed with YouTube clips of Sesame Street. That's how I discovered this delightful thing:



Offbeat Mama has some good tips for enjoying a family road trip. I'm excited to try some of these out. Road trips always sound like so much fun in theory, but they never quite make it there in practice. 

The Bad

What does Howard Stern think being raped is like? Apparently like seeing Lena Dunham perform nude scenes on television. Yes. He actually said that. 

The Curious

Feministing wrote an open letter to Slate's advice columnist Dear Prudence to point out her repeated rape denials

This NY Times article about a family who actively pursued restorative justice for their daughter's murderer (and fiancĂ©) is really interesting.

From 2007 to 2011, the city I live in (St. Louis, MO) had free birth control as part of a national trial. The results?  
Abortion rates among those women were less than half the regional and national averages: just six per 1,000 participants compared with 20 per 1,000 women nationwide. 
The rate of teenage birth among study participants was just 6.3 per 1,000 compared to 34.1 per 1,000 teenagers nationwide. 
One reason for the significant improvement is because 75 percent of the women chose to use long-acting methods such as implants and intrauterine devices, Peipert said.
Renee at Womanist Musings speculates that Django Unchained may be Quentin Tarantino's "broken clock" moment:
Django Unchained is a movie worth seeing. Far too many people are willing to form an opinion on the movie based on what they have read or their discomfort with Quentin Tarantino. It adds to the dialogue about race and slavery even if Quentin Tarantino is so high on himself that he now sees himself as the sole arbiter of Black history in film.

That's what I've been reading. How about you?

3 comments:

  1. Ugh Howard Stern. Really? What a great example to set for his daughters. Thanks for the links! Off to read... I'm trying to dive in to "Far From the Tree" but instead find myself distracted by Salon, Buzz Feed, Slate and The Atlantic way too much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh. I've been wanting to read Far From the Tree, too! But you're right. There's so much great stuff to read out there that it's hard to get to it all, and when it's online it's just an endless rabbit hole.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That free birth control study is amazing. That is really great for your city.

    ReplyDelete