Friday, February 15, 2013

LongReads Round-Up Volume Fourteen: LongWeekend Edition


#Art

What its like to be an “art minion” working in the studio of a well known artist: http://theclustermag.com/blog/2013/01/making-someone-elses-art/

#Comedy

#Education

A group of New York anarchists met and organized through a progressive adult education program: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/the-strange-story-of-new-yorks-anarchist-school/266224/

“Democratic schools,” where students of all ages intermingle and hold voting rights in school and administrative decisions, are examples of radical education communities: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/12/no-teachers-no-class-no-homework-would-you-send-your-kids-here/265354/

#Energy

The way people around the world relate to weather and temperature directly affects their use of energy and productivity: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/what-does-it-mean-to-be-comfortable.html?_r=1&

#Essay

Repetitive, short-lasting labor brings a state of meditative transcendence http://thenewinquiry.com/blogs/the-beheld/the-impermanence-of-beauty-work/

#Feminism

If we're going to be honest with ourselves and our daughters, shouldn't we be teaching them early how utterly fucked the world still can be for women, instead of promising the moon and watching them hit the roof?” http://jezebel.com/5984059/you-cant-empower-girls-without-a-reality-check

#Film

Soderbergh on retiring from filmmaking, art, and Fancy Feast: http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/steven-soderbergh-in-conversation.html

“Kill Your Darlings” is all about the early years of the Beat poets: http://www.hitfix.com/awards-campaign/kill-your-darlings-director-on-the-fearless-daniel-radcliffe-and-ben-fosters-flaming-finger/  (see below article under #Literature)

#Health

Living with autoimmune diseases in an age that emphasizes capitalism and productivity http://theclustermag.com/blog/2013/01/how-to-be-a-person-in-the-age-of-autoimmunity/#

The ethical and economical weight that comes with “donating” eggs: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/03/selling_my_eggs_to_make_rent_partner/

It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Sylvia Plath’s death, and public stance and reaction to mental illness is still evolving: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/youll-love-her-shes-crazy.html

#Labor

Is it weird to include an article on the issues of unpaid internships under the tag I usually reserve for migrant workers and exploitation overseas? I don’t know. http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/unpaid-internships-are-a-rich-girl-problem-and-also-a-real-problem/273106/

#Literature

Murder, homosexual love triangles, and the Beat poet who never was, Lucien Carr. http://magazine.columbia.edu/print/1220  (felt really maudlin after the end quote, “a literary lion who never roared.”)
Is Junot Diaz confronting harmful masculinity in his literature, or perpetuating it? http://politic365.com/2012/11/24/junot-diaz-and-the-cult-of-revolutionary-machismo

One of my favorite poems, “Aristotle” by Billy Collins http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176050

#Music

Tegan and Sara on their newest album and indie vs. pop music: http://www.spin.com/articles/tegan-sara-january-2013-cover-story-heartthrob?page=0

Maya Rudolph is in a Prince cover band called Princess: http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/02/princess-maya-rudolph-prince-tribute-band 

Rio’s funk music scene, once tangibly interwoven with community, has changed and dimmed since government intervention has “pacified” high risk neighborhoods: http://theclustermag.com/blog/2012/05/ta-tudo-errado-the-future-of-funk-in-a-pacified-rio/

Frank Ocean should have won every Album of the Year countdown, awards show, amateur music blog post round up, in my opinion: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/frank-ocean-can-fly.html  

#National

Forget political blogs and national printernet magazines, for the recap of the State of the Union address I’m sending you to Autostraddle: http://www.autostraddle.com/state-of-the-union-recap-heres-what-hope-change-look-like-in-obamas-second-term-156627/

This article on the struggling US postal system made me feel strangely patriotic: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/post-office-business-trouble-0213?page=all

TNR’s interview with President Obama as he begins his second term in office: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112190/obama-interview-2013-sit-down-president#

Reading is an act of humanization and shared experience. Teju Cole critiques President Obama’s drone warfare in light of his situation as a “man of books:” http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/a-readers-war.html

Examining the Department of Justice’s legal theory behind drone warfare: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/02/05/death_by_loophole?page=full

#Religion

#Sexuality

#Technology

A new app allows for privacy of messaging and file sharing, disregarding government commands for “back door” access: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/02/silent_circle_s_latest_app_democratizes_encryption_governments_won_t_be.single.html

GoodReads book recommendation and ranking service is the new book club in the digital age: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/books/goodreadscom-is-growing-as-a-popular-book-site.html

Aziz Ansari talking about social media and texting effecting relationships: http://www.avclub.com/articles/aziz-ansari-candid-about-love-elusive-sadly-ephem,92476/

#Television

Connie Britton is in the prime of her acting career when most actresses are considered “aged out” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/connie-britton-is-a-late-bloomer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&smid=tw-nytmag&&pagewanted=all

#Theater

Theaters repeatedly favor white (the unmarked) actors, even in cases where characters are designated to be people of color: http://jezebel.com/5980419/many-major-theaters-believe-in-color-blind-casting-except-when-it-comes-to-people-of-color

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

LongReads Round-Up Volume Thirteen (aka The One All About Girls)

#Crime

Is there a scientific cure to pedophilia? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/14/130114fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all

#Development


Jared Diamond reviews Why Nations Fail, surveying economic policies, centralized governments, and natural resources along the way: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/what-makes-countries-rich-or-poor/?pagination=false


#Feminism #Literature



1993 article by Deborah Tannen about "marked" and "unmarked" in literature, in that to be female is to always be marked or derivative of the norm, which is male. Sadly, Tannen misses the mark (no pun intended) in how this also relates to intersectional forms of oppression such as race or sexualty. http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/nyt062093.htm

An argument that there is still a need and purpose for female-centric anthologies of literature, and other specially designated spaces: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/CR_532_Spahr_Young.pdf

#Health

Two part investigation into the troubling trend in labiaplasty and cashing in on physical insecurities:
http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kirsten-oregan-labiaplasty-part-i/
http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kirsten-oregan-labiaplasty-part-ii/


Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation, on mental health and self help, and being disillusioned with life: http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/01/elizabeth-wurtzel-on-self-help.html
Obligatory "how can I relate this to Girls" response article: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/01/what-would-hannah-horvath-make-of-elizabeth-wurtzel.html


#Journalism


Catching up with former executive editor of GOOD on social media, and internet publications http://therumpus.net/2013/01/saturday-special-the-rumpus-catches-up-with-ann-friedman/

#Literature

This excellent interview with poet Megan Kaminski provokes a dialogue about women's place in the modern literary canon, and offers an abundance of further readings: http://www.themillions.com/2013/01/topographies-of-desire-the-millions-interviews-megan-kaminski.html

Ethics in reading literature in an ever-globalizing age: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1244&fulltext=1&media=#article-text-cutpoint

Interview with James Franco about his poetry chapbook and his literary endeavors in general: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1237&fulltext=1

Fan Girl interview with Margaret Atwood: http://therumpus.net/2013/01/the-sunday-rumpus-interview-margaret-atwood/

A series of links on New Narrative, modern female authors, and what is "women's literature," anyway:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/08/all-the-sad-young-literary-women/61821/
http://nplusonemag.com/female-trouble
http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-semiautobiographers/


Celebrating the anniversary of literary theory text Exercises in Style, with a new edition:
http://therumpus.net/2013/01/exercises-in-style/ 
http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/staff-pick-exercises-in-style-by-raymond-queneau.html


Jeffrey Eugenide's advice to young writers, winners of the Whiting Award, and a response from The Millions:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/12/jeffrey-eugenides-advice-to-young-writers.html 
http://www.themillions.com/2013/01/jeffrey-eugenidess-killer-advice.html


#Obituary

A round up of links after young internet and free access activist Aaron Swartz's suicide last month:
http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21569674-aaron-swartz-computer-programmer-and-activist-committed-suicide-january-11th-aged-26-aaron

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/technology/aaron-swartz-internet-activist-dies-at-26.html?_r=0

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/01/20/the-tragedy-of-aaron-swartz.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-did-the-justice-system-target-aaron-swartz-20130123

http://www.infodocket.com/2013/01/12/tragic-news-internet-activist-and-developer-aaron-swartz-dead-at-26/

#Religion

How the internet is shaping (and dissolving) fundamentalist religions: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/16/religion_may_not_survive_the_internet/

#Science


Rookie interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson, maintaing its position as coolest publication for girls in print or online:  http://rookiemag.com/2012/07/an-interview-with-neil-degrasse-tyson/ (I love when she asks, do you ever get really overwhelmed by the universe?)

#Sexuality

How the sexual revolution has developed since the 1980s: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1252


#Technology

You've got a friend in the world wide web, the new hub of social activism, do-gooders, and Likers:  http://nymag.com/news/features/internet-nice-2012-11/index1.html

#Television

Girls is back, and so are all the articles about HBO's most talked about twenty minutes a week: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/lena-dunham-february-2013#_

Emily Nussbaum writing about Girls and the tradition of provocative young women in literature http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2013/02/11/130211crte_television_nussbaum?currentPage=all

Elaine Blair on the (oft non-titilating) portrayal of sex on Girls last season: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/loves-lena-dunham/?pagination=false

#Travel

Ploughshare winning essay on living in Jerusalem and attempting to understand Israel/Palestine issues as an American: https://www.pshares.org/read/article-detail.cfm?intArticleID=9725&src=longreads

Three essays from poets living in Gaza: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1205&fulltext=1