This blogaround brought to you by sunshine.
Recommended Reading:
Aura: Another Voting Rights Victory, This Time in Ohio
Pema: Romney Advisers: Romney Will Return to Foreign Policy of Truman and Reagan (So atomic warfare and/or the constant thread of mutually assured destruction? PERFECT.)
Ed: What It Always Was
Dayvoe: New Yorker Cover
Sarah: Why I Celebrate Indigenous People's Day (Not Columbus Day) [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of colonialism and associated violence.]
Reni: A Problem That Stubbornly Refuses to Budge [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism.]
Sayantani: 'Your Women Are Oppressed, But Ours Are Awesome': How Nicholas Kristof and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism, appropriation, Western supremacy, and violence against women.]
Kevin: Texan Eleanor Fairchild Arrested for "Trespassing" as Her Own Land Is Seized for TransCanada Tar Sands Pipeline; Actress Daryl Hannah Also Arrested
Lauren: Hope Larson's A Wrinkle in Time Comic Is a Love Letter to the Original
Andy: Ohio State Marching Band Performs Tribute to Zelda, Halo, Pokemon, Tetris, Other Video Games [video]
Miss Cellania: Rescuing Watson [Content Note: Evidence of animal injury; major blub warning for happy ending. / video]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Lest there be any question about who really rules Shakes Manor, it is Olivia. Exhibit A:
All The News In Fits and Spurts:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected Sunday to a new six-year term, overcoming an energetic challenge by a candidate backed by an opposition coalition.
Judy Garland's original costume from The Wizard of Oz could sell for half a million dollars when it hits the auction block next month.
Tom Tomorrow will no longer be available in The Village Voice.
Do you want to call Corey & Corey? I wish this 900 number for Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were still around. I wish Corey Haim were still around.
Hungry Hungry Hippos is being turned into a movie. It will be for kids, which sucks. I was hoping for something more akin to Jaws.
"Some children are gay. So the fuck what?" — Sally Field.
An 11-year-old Russian boy discovered a nearly intact wooly mammoth carcass in Siberia.
Madrid was chosen to host in 2017 the world's largest and most prestigious gay event, World Gay Pride.
In a new PSA, The Undeading, a horde of zombies performs CPR on a hapless victim. Okay then.
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Love Stories. Go!
Note: "Love story" can mean romantic love, platonic love, familial love, the love between a mentor and protégé, the love between an animal and its human guardian, etc. True love stories, fictional love stories—whatever you want.
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
What—did you think James Franco wasn't going to take time off from doing every single other thing ever, all of them, ALL OF THE THINGS, to direct a short film (which is definitely a commercial, but fancier) for shoe designer Stuart Weitzman? You're so weird.
Of course he is.
Actor James Franco has taken another twist in his unconventional career — directing a short film for shoe designer Stuart Weitzman.The entire film won't be available until Oct. 26, but here is the first installment, because James Franco.
Four vignettes, which will debut on the brand's Facebook page, follow model Petra Nemcova as she takes what the company describes as "a midnight fantasy stroll."
The inspiration came from the 1988 underground club-scene movie "Mondo New York," and Nemcova struts to an updated version of the Patsy Cline song, "Walking After Midnight."
Surrounded by four of his five sons, Romney makes a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Denver. [Melina Mara/The Washington Post]This just totally sums up the Romney campaign for me—Mitt Romney with four doppelgangers standing around telling him how awesome he is. It's no wonder Mitt Romney thinks the whole world is exactly like him.
This blogaround brought to you by Star Wars action figures.
Recommended Reading:
Aura: Chipotle Agrees to Respect Farmworkers
Michelle: About That Video [Content Note: Fat bias.]
George: Behold the Tomb of Lady K'abel
Rebecca: Are You Kidding Me Right Now? Woman Didn't Get Job Because "Lead Actor Hates Female Directors"
Indian Homemaker: Do you think Indian parents who do not want to have daughters would make good parents of sons? [Content Note: Violent misogyny.]
Mike: Securitization of Mortgages Worked So Well, Why Not Securitization of Rents
Andy: Baltimore Ravens Center Matt Birk Appears in Heinous Ad Opposing Marriage Equality in Maryland
Jody: Youth Rising [Content Note: Oppression; ableism; racism.]
Angry Asian Man: Red Dawn Clip: The Evil Asians Are Coming to Get Ya
Echidne: Today's Funny Picture [Content Note: Misogyny.]
Vanessa: Wonder Woman Should Be President
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Today is Shakesville's eighth blogiversary. Eight years! In blog years, that's like A MILLION!
This morning, I read this interview with Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook having acquired a billion users, and he said something I found quite moving: "It feels like an honor. We get the honor of building things that a billion people use. I mean, there's no core need. It isn't a core human need to use Facebook. It's a core human need to stay connected with the people you care about. The need to open up and connect is such a deep part of what makes us human. Being in a position where we are the company—or one of the companies—that can play a role in delivering that service is just this … it's an honor."
I relate to that, on a comparatively miniscule scale. There are other places to get news, better places. There are other feminist blogs, other LGBTQI news blogs, other fat acceptance blogs, other places that cover elections. A lot of blogs have come and gone in the eight years I've been doing this now, and it's remarkable to me that I am still here, with so many people who have joined me along the way. I feel really happy, really grateful, that Shakesville, the blog and/or the community here, means something to so many people.
Meaning something is actually the hardest part of this thing for me, to be honest. Partly because it is hard to see Shakesville from a perspective other than my own; partly because I'm frightened that if I truly understood what this space means to people who love it, the pressure of it would crush me. At a dinner with a bunch of old friends last week, someone joked that they were the most hated person at the table, and someone else exclaimed, "No one is more hated than Melissa! There are like millions of people who hate her!" And everyone laughed, including me. It's easier to deal with being hated.
But not long ago, I got an email from a young woman who'd just graduated from college. She told me she'd been reading Shakesville every day since she'd found her way here at age 16, and thanked me for being an important part of her journey to adulthood. I can't even wrap my head around that, but I'm really trying. It's a part of sticking around that you don't envision, when you start out and hope to be around awhile.
I'm honored to mean something to you.
This is the hardest and best job I've ever done. I am a better person than I was when I started. I know more about myself, both the good things and the things that need changing. I've made great friends, the greatest, and had expansively generous teachers, from whom I've learned more in this space than I ever could have imagined. I am forever changed because of Shakesville, and the people who visit or come to stay.
Onward to nine.
