Last night’s Mad Men episode, “Public Relations,” which kicked off the show’s fourth season, starts with a question: “Who is Don Draper?” Isn’t that what the show’s been exploring for the past three seasons? Mad Men has always been about identity, especially from a marketing/advertising perspective, as characters struggle to shape and manipulate the way [...]
About Obesity and Entertainment
By looking at the industry of entertainment and its mediums one can see how our society has enlarged to unhealthy proportions.
Suffragists on the Western Frontier
But did you know that women in many of the Western states were voting long before the passage of the 19th Amendment? Films like Iron Jawed Angels have popularized the images of women picketing the White House and holding large suffrage parades, but we often forget about the contributions of women on the Western frontier.
Hugh Hefner Superstar | A Review of Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
Celebrities, here’s a tip worthy of the Playboy Advisor: If you consent to a documentary biography, make sure you hire a pal to direct.
After making Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, the only remaining to-do items for director Brigitte Berman is to nominate her subject for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom [...]
Reflections on a Summer of Weddings
Despite knowing such good times would result, deciding to attend a wedding is always a conflicted process for me. There are two reasons for this: 1. I do not believe in marriage; 2. I find offensive many of the traditions of the American wedding. It’s not that I don’t believe in celebrating love, or that I don’t want to participate in this celebration. Rather, I take issue with much of what marriage and weddings stand for in our contemporary culture and in the history of our country.
Myth or reality? Think yourself healthy
The law of attraction. Create your own reality. Manifest the life of your dreams. The buzz sucks us in—who wouldn’t want to achieve the ideal life simply by thinking the “right thoughts?” But what are the facts? This recurring column for skeptics explores the scientific research on the mind-body connection and the power of thought [...]
Inception: A Thriller For Your Brain
Inception has saved the summer. No matter what happens the rest of the summer, with each film release from now until Labor Day, rest assured as moviegoers because one breathtakingly brilliant film has reached our cinemas. Some years are not treated to a film as good as Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece, a film wound so intricately [...]
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Culture
Mad Men Under Occupation
It would seem as though Don’s dalliance with a prostitute in last week’s episode, as out of character as it felt for him (or rather as an indication of how low the man has sunk over the past 11 months), was a sign of things to come in this episode. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is [...]
Culture
Skirting the Issues of Mad Men
It is hard for me now to imagine watching the very first episode of Mad Men four years ago and thinking, “This is an incredibly slick and gorgeous production, but I’m not sure I need to watch vintage misogyny when I get a daily dose of 21st century misogyny as it is.”
I was taken aback [...]
Culture
Girlhood, Redefined.
Eve Ensler’s latest book, I Am an Emotional Creature, explores the relation between girl and woman, suggesting that being a girl is far more powerful than previous assertions, made by feminists and misogynists alike, have suggested.
People & Community
Former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver Fights For Land and Justice
The Harris Neck Land Trust is an organization compromised of 70 African-American families and community members dedicated to returning 2,687 acres of land taken from African-American families in 1942.
Harris Neck, GA was once home to a group of Gullah Geechee people, descendants of West African slaves in South Carolina and Georgia. The Gullah have preserved a significant part [...]
News & Critical Thinking
Sarah Palin, Fear, and Mama Grizzlies
Sarah Palin’s “mama grizzlies” video fans the flames of fear that already fuel the over-parenting trend in this country. In an apparent effort to reach out to middle of-the-road women, Palin’s PAC video launches a vague attack on the “fundamental transformation of this country,” embedded with a challenge for moms to take action toward preserving [...]
Culture
That’s Amore: A Review of I Am Love
Guadagnino’s luscious Italian import is a sensualist’s delight, a feast for the eyes, but you’ll have to overlook the warmed-over love story.
News & Critical Thinking
South African LGBT Hate Crimes
Imagine living every day of your life in fear, afraid to venture into public places because you do not know if and when you could become the next victim of a hate crime solely because of your sexual orientation. Every 26 seconds, a woman is raped in South Africa. As this disturbing [...]
Culture
Forget The Bouquet, Single Ladies Need to Catch a Break
As a frequent single at weddings, catching the bouquet symbolized more than just being next up to the altar. It represented being on a team perceived as less favorable – the singles team. Identifying oneself as such to a wedding crowd is not always fun. It’s like announcing that your batting average in relationships is [...]
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