Featured Articles

Links of Great Interest: “You know what my kids don’t like? Being black in 1964.”

YOU can help the Split this Rock Poetry Festival make its summer fundraising goal! <3 <3 <3 SO SAY WE ALL. <3 <3 <3 How gender violence on the left takes down radical movements. Shirley Sherrod — the family farmer’s friend. Raeka wants to know what people’s thoughts are on… NO SEX PLEASE, we’re middle class. From CrescentLightning: Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka on Star Wars: The Clone Wars has started a new clothing line. It’s called Her Universe. It’s goal is to create sci-fi merchandise ... READ MORE

A Thursday Interruption: Jill Scott’s “Hate on Me,” VV Brown’s “I’m Crying Blood,” Hoku’s “Perfect Day.” Also: Fiona Apple’s “Not About Love”

This video describes my feelings on LIFE. <3 <3 <3 What fun vocals!!!! I fucking love this song. <3 <3 <3 Oh, Fiona Apple. Come back, I love you. <3 <3 <3 In other news: Anwyn talks about cyborgs and innocence in the context of Rihanna’s “Hard,” Katy Perry’s “California Girls,” and Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro.”

New comment policy: yes, you need to read this too

You may be surprised to learn it’s stressful to write at Hathor. I’ve written publicly for decades, and never experienced stress like I do when I write articles here. It’s because you guys expect so much of us – which is at once extremely rewarding and anxiety-inducing. It’s also because you’re a much bigger audience than we used to have. Stagefright, much? We’ve decided to take a page from the Big Blogs and create a new ... READ MORE

Midweek Media: Jane Austen’s Fight Club

I’m going to encourage you all to break the first rule of Jane Austen’s Fight Club, and talk about the “trailer” for Jane Austen’s Fight Club. If you haven’t seen this YouTube meme yet, here it is, with transcription: The vid opens on an idyllic mountain scene, which shifts to a field of flowers. Soft piano music plays. We see two women (I’ll identify them here as Fanny (Price, Mansfield Park) and Lizzie (Bennet, Pride & Prejudice)) walking arm-in-arm through a ... READ MORE

Women going quiet amongst men

You know that enduring stereotype that women aren’t as funny as men? I think I’ve identified part of the problem. I’ve been watching QI, a comedy panel show featuring Stephen Fry as host. Every week, he has four guests who are asked the most obscure questions about all sorts of topics. They gain or lose points depending not so much on how right their answers are as how interesting. And because the four guests are usually comedy people, it’s hilarious. It’s worth ... READ MORE

WISCON 34: System Failure

Heh, I think I must be predictable, because two of the panelists from the activism panel were also panelists at the System Failure panel. <3 Ian K. Hagemann began by recommending the Daniel Quinn books. BC Holmes pointed out that Quinn’s narrative was/is really Eurocentric, and Jessica Kaiser followed up by asking, “Is it possible to end systemic violence without ending capitalism?” Moondancer Drake asked, “When the animals around you become property, how soon before the people around you become property?” in ... READ MORE