“The Hidden History of Black Women Criminal Legal Reformers”: PrisonCulture

Last updated on: September 27, 2014 at 9:19 pm By Eve Tushnet

posts: …All of these accomplishments are impressive and don’t even begin to cover her contributions to women’s and civil rights. However, what has always captured my attention and garnered my deepest respect is the legacy of Ms. Terrell’s advocacy against the convict lease system. In 1907, she published an important article titled “Peonage in the United States: The Convict Lease System and the Chain Gangs” in a journal called “The Nineteeth Century.” In the essay, she suggests that leasing is... Read more

Misconceptions: A “Gay and Catholic” Book Extra

Last updated on: September 27, 2014 at 9:30 pm By Eve Tushnet

So I initially planned to write this post listing the many weird personal judgments people project onto me when they hear that I’m gay and celibate for religious reasons. I’d then go through the different misconceptions and point out how they’re false w/r/t my own life and/or that of other gay celibate people I know. But then I asked myself, “What are you hoping to accomplish with this post?” These projections or Internet diagnoses reflect the fact that for many... Read more

Good Cop: Radley Balko on Joseph McNamara

Last updated on: September 27, 2014 at 6:43 pm By Eve Tushnet

here: It’s a sad irony that we’ve lost Joseph McNamara just as the country has become engaged in a productive and overdue discourse about policing. McNamara, who passed away Friday at the age of 79, was an eloquent and engaging critic of the drug war, of reactionary and aggressive policing, and of the militarization of law enforcement long before those positions were popular. McNamara’s voice was particularly important for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, he had 35 years... Read more

Self-Abboting: Sin or Vice? A Very Small “Gay and Catholic” Book Extra

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 at 12:49 pm By Eve Tushnet

Chris Roberts has this thing I like, where he points out that our modern concept of being “single” is not really supported by Christian theology or historical practice. Even when we try to delineate ways that “single people” can love and serve, such as friendship, we start with the unmarried individual as an autonomous unit and seek to Lego this unit onto other units. (…Uh, I’m not liking this image. Retreat.) The celibate “single” or layperson is weird–the norm for... Read more

It’s Called AltFem, Not CtrlFem: An Eccentric Report

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 at 4:19 pm By Eve Tushnet

Yesterday I went to the launch of AltFem, a new magazine from the people who brought you AltMuslimah and AltCatholicah, which explores the intersection of feminism and what I suppose we must call “traditional” faith. It was a religiously diverse event–lots of headscarves; several babies! I spoke on the first panel, about forging a more inclusive feminism. I’m going to do at least one more post inspired by the event, which will be on an underexplored aspect of Mary’s role... Read more

Helloooooo Greensboro NC! Would You Like Me to Come Speak?

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 at 10:07 am By Eve Tushnet

Reposting from my rarely-used Facebook page: Hello! Are any of you all in the Greensboro, NC area? If so, have you ever wanted me to come speak at your church/bookstore/Oscar the Grouch garbage can in an alley? I will be in Greensboro the weekend of January 24-5 for the US National Figure Skating Championships (!!!!!) and would love to do a speaking/reading event that Saturday, which should be entirely free. My usual fee is cost plus $100 but because I’m... Read more

From David Foster Wallace, “Infinite Jest”

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 at 9:52 am By Eve Tushnet

But so some E.T.A.s [=students at Enfied Tennis Academy]–not just Hal Incandenza by any means–are involved with recreational substances, is the point. Like who isn’t, at some life-stage, in the U.S.A. and Interdependent regions, in these troubled times, for the most part. Though a decent percentage of E.T.A. students aren’t at all. I.e. involved. Some persons can give themselves away to an ambitious pursuit and have that be all the giving-themselves-away-to-something they need to do. Though sometimes this changes as... Read more

AltFem Magazine Launch Party: I’m There! Tomorrow!

Last updated on: September 23, 2014 at 2:05 pm By Eve Tushnet

I’m on the first panel at this conference/party to launch “an online magazine that seeks an inclusive definition of feminism that resonates with women of faith.” Uh, I’m not actually a feminist, but I hope to talk about the problems with the concept of “empowerment” as a goal–basically riffing on the issues I raised in this book review. Hope to see many of you there! Read more

“40 Non-Horror Movies for Horror Fans”: Kindertrauma

Last updated on: September 23, 2014 at 2:01 pm By Eve Tushnet

with a cornucopia, especially of interest to fans of that late ’70s – end of the Cold War aesthetic. Sign me up! Read more

What Whiskey Goes With Cheese?: I read “The Spectacular Now”

Last updated on: September 20, 2014 at 4:43 pm By Eve Tushnet

This is just a quick note to say that I read Tim Tharp’s Spectacular Now, the YA novel on which the movie was based, and I really enjoyed it. It’s the tale of a high-school cutup and ladies’ man who’s also a barely-functional alcoholic. He’s a generous, sweet-natured guy, fairly open about his self-deceptions, and a total cheeseball. The book is sometimes preachy in an authorial way, which I didn’t care for, but most of its occasional swerves into preachiness... Read more