In Which Barbara Bush Reviews 'Precious'

When the Stupak anti-choice amendment passed, and so entered the health reform bill, no congressional representative stood up on the floor of the House to recount how access to abortion had saved her life or her family’s well-being. And where were the tea-baggers when we needed them? If anything represents the true danger of “government involvement” in healthcare, it’s a health reform bill that — if the Senate enacts something similar — will snatch away all but the wealthiest women’s right to choose.

It’s not just that abortion is deemed a morally trickier issue than mammography. To some extent, pink-ribbon culture has replaced feminism as a focus of female identity and solidarity. When a corporation wants to signal that it’s “woman friendly,” what does it do? It stamps a pink ribbon on its widget and proclaims that some miniscule portion of the profits will go to breast cancer research. I’ve even seen a bottle of Shiraz called “Hope” with a pink ribbon on its label, but no information, alas, on how much you have to drink to achieve the promised effect. When Laura Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2007, what grave issue did she take up with the locals? Not women’s rights (to drive, to go outside without a man, etc.), but “breast cancer awareness.” In the post-feminist United States, issues like rape, domestic violence, and unwanted pregnancy seem to be too edgy for much public discussion, but breast cancer is all apple pie.

So welcome to the Women’s Movement 2.0: Instead of the proud female symbol — a circle on top of a cross — we have a droopy ribbon. Instead of embracing the full spectrum of human colors — black, brown, red, yellow, and white — we stick to princess pink. While we used to march in protest against sexist laws and practices, now we race or walk “for the cure.” And while we once sought full “consciousness” of all that oppresses us, now we’re content to achieve “awareness.”

Barbara Ehrenreich, Salon (via thepoliticalpartygirl)

Today in writers we love.

Today in Media Criticism by Our Staffers

From our Sarah Ball:

The best part of this artest-hennessy story is the way bloomberg is writing it up:

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) — Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest said he drank alcohol during National Basketball Association games while a member of the Chicago Bulls, according to Sporting News magazine.

Artest, who began his career in Chicago in 1999 and played there until being traded in February 2002, told the magazine he drank during games in part because the Bulls lost so often. The team went 32-132 during his first two seasons and 21-61 during the 2001-02 campaign.

“I used to drink Hennessy at halftime,” Artest told the magazine. “I (kept it) in my locker. I’d just walk to the liquor store (near the stadium) and get it.”

Hennessy, made by luxury goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, is a cognac.

Hmm. Pretty.

niemanlab:

First look at Time Inc.’s prototype for a digital magazine — their “Manhattan Project” http://tr.im/GqZX

Couple of questions come to mind: Are ads included in this? And, if this is such a good user experience, shouldn’t Time Inc. do this on their Websites as well?

nevver:

The Mid-Century Illustrated flickr pool

andrewromano:

Christmas card sent by Surrealist artist and poet Kay Sage to Eleanor Howland Bunce (1959). From a new exhibition of personal, handmade holiday cards by American artists at the Smithsonian’s Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. Image gallery here.

Interestingly enough, this is exactly how the Christmas issue of Newsweek will look.

The system is designed to track breaking news and trends and identify the best times to write about seasonal events, such as Halloween or Monday Night Football.

The Wall Street Journal, on Aol.’s new complicated new digital newsroom system.

Also: This cracks us up.

The History of the Gimlet

andrewromano:

Early color photographs by Saul Leiter:

Saul Leiter started shooting color and black-and-white street photography in New York in the 1940s. He had no formal training in photography, but the genius of his early work was quickly acknowledged by Edward Steichen, who included Leiter in two important MoMA shows in the 1950s. MoMA’s 1957 conference “Experimental Photography in Color” featured 20 color photographs by Leiter.

After that, however, Leiter’s personal color photography was, for the most part, not shared with the public. He became better-known as a successful fashion photographer in the 1950s and 60s. All the while, Leiter continued to stroll the streets wherever he was (mostly New York and Paris), making photographs for his own pleasure. He printed some of his black-and-white street photos, but kept most of his color slides tucked away in boxes. It was only in the 1990s that he began to look back at that remarkable color work and start to make prints.

meaghano:

Rick Moody is twittering a short story on Electric Literature’s twitter. It is kind of awesome.

We are reminded of the days when the Website Word would publish stories in which each word was on a separate html page. In both cases, we think this is interesting, and intensely annoying.