August 2012
1 post
“How can it be that so many people’s ex-girlfriends are crazy? What happens...”
– Cheryl Strayed in her new book Tiny Beautiful Things. I wish I could have included this passage in my New York Times review of the book, because it is my favorite part.
June 2012
1 post
March 2012
1 post
September 2011
2 posts
It's Not Gender Warfare... It's Math.
(A shorter version of this piece appears in today’s Washington Post. Photo of Google executive and engineer Marissa Mayer via. Headline via.)
Let’s say I was designing a new piece of software to make my life as a writer a little easier. First, I’d program it count how many characters I’d typed out and in what amount of time, in order to document my productivity on any given day. Then I’d...
July 2011
4 posts
June 2011
12 posts
“Look at what Al Gore was accused of doing. He wanted a hand job, he called for a...”
– The awesome Katha Pollitt, in a quote that got cut from my WaPo story on female infidelity.
I Had No Fear Of Bull.
Another outtake from my WaPo story on female Freedom Riders. Below, Catherine Burks Brooks expands on her conversation with notorious racist and Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor as he drove her and six other Riders to the Tennessee state line in the middle of the night of May 18. As Catherine explains, after the Riders were dropped off on a dark road and...
1 tag
“If you’re as old as Weiner (46) and have never done something naughty but...”
– Jack Shafer, Slate.
It Was A Way Of Saying, 'We Are In Control.'
I gathered so much great material for my WaPo story on female Freedom Riders that I figured I should put some of the best outtakes on Tumblr. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was 19 when she was arrested on June 8, 1961. In the passages below, she sheds a little light on the involvement of Southern women vs. Northern women. (Joan is from Virginia.) She also elaborates on the vaginal searches she and...
Amazed But Not Amused.
I gathered so much great material for my WaPo story on female Freedom Riders that I figured I should put some of the best outtakes on Tumblr. First up is Helen Singleton. For those who haven’t seen Eric Etheridge’s Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Freedom Riders, Helen’s mugshot adorns the cover of the book. The decision to put Helen on the cover was an inspired one, if...
May 2011
22 posts
I forgot to post this earlier this week. The WSJ did a piece on my Twitter/Freedom Rider project: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/05/11/on-twitter-freedom-riders-get-back-on-the-bus/
April 2011
16 posts
The Wikipedia entry for “Mons pubis” is all sorts of WTF. Starting with the accompanying Girls Gone Wild-esque image and continuing on through to the “See also” section.
