Friday Hangovers

  • A proper post or two next week, but for now closing some tabs. Also, Christopher and I will be bopping around the exhibits hall and the general festivities at ALA in Chicago next weekend. So say hi!
  • Joss Whedon offers some good advice for being productive.
  • Coffee might not always be the best for creativity? WHAT. Flawed study. *pretends never saw this*
  • Cheryl Klein has a post on terms to help in discussing endings.
  • An interesting take on the Miss Utah answer flub at the WaPo from Alexandra Petri: "Besides, only at the Miss USA pageant would you ask a woman, teetering in heels and an evening gown, who had just strutted her stuff in a swim suit on national television in a competition redolent of the Atlantic City beach in the 1920s, to explain the question of pay inequality coherently in a minute or less. That’s the bizarre double standard, in a nutshell. It’s a microcosm of what women have to deal with, in various less ludicrous forms, everywhere they go."
  • Genevieve on Dealing With It. (Must read. Also, for the record, my RT of this post is the first time I've ever had to block someone for responding with sexist nonsense on twitter. So, there you go.)
  • Charlie Jane has a fascinating piece on research on empathy and how we might create more of it.
  • I have been semi-shocked to learn that Bennett Madison's new novel September Girls–which I have made no secret of my admiration for (I also adored Blonde of the Joke)–has apparently gotten tons of flack from being construed as misogynist. Which it is NOT. Here's an interview where Bennett discusses his intentions and the layers of a book that I very much do consider feminist, and also one of my favorites of the year. I particularly loved this point: "To me it’s better to try to say something and fail to say it in a way that everyone will understand than it is to avoid saying that same thing because I’m assuming my audience isn’t sophisticated enough for it. Pandering to an imagined audience of people who will get the “wrong” message is more than just an insult to my readers– it’s ignoring my responsibilities as a writer." This.
  • Tanita Davis gives some straight talk on diversity and the lack thereof in children's books: "This matters. Not because I am a person of color. Not because I don’t feel “comfortable” reading books that don’t feature people of color. But because the longer we tell young adults and children that they are invisible from their own imagination, the more we’re allowing them to disappear from the world’s stories. The more we’re encouraging them to be audience instead of actor, observer instead of participant." Go read the whole post.
  • Andrew Shaffer creates a quiz using "breathless physical descriptions" of authors from NYT profiles. FUN.
  • Stephen Colbert's tribute to his mother; prepare to cry.
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