Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 5

In Defense of Hope

Published at Marginalia Review of Books on August 16, 2016. Hope gives us the nudge, or kick in the pants, we need. Hope requires us to learn to the embrace uncertainty over certainty, to recognize that the future is unknowable, and to admit that we have the power to change the world if we choose to […]

Being A Feminist Isn’t Easy

Published at Women in Higher Education in the June 2016 issue. What’s most depressing and infuriating about We Were Feminists Once is the realization that our culture hasn’t come as far as this new glossy form of feminism suggests we have. We’re still asking: “Are women human beings, with the same rights, access, and liberties as […]

Say Yes!

Published at Women in Higher Education in the July 2016 issue. In my favorite essay, Poehler advises to “treat your career like a bad boyfriend.” Careers can’t love us back, so why should we put the effort forth to love them? Your career, then, is like a bad boyfriend or girlfriend, who wants you more when you pretend […]

Sadness is My Favorite

Published at Killing the Buddha on December 11, 2015. I understand Sadness: her mopiness, her inability to go away, the way she lurks in the background, and her urge to touch the memories that are joyful, because maybe then joy will touch you back. I don’t find myself laying curled up on the floor (rather […]

“Prom is the least of our worries”

Published at Scalawag November 3, 2015. A segregated prom is the kind of story that shocks but also titillates white audiences outside of the South. Look, at the backward South, they say, the racism is so blatant and obvious. Southerners still have segregation and Confederate flags, they utter with horror. They whisper, Aren’t we so glad we […]

Hell House

Published at Sacred Matters on October 29, 2015. I want to go to a Hell House, the evangelical Christian alternative to the ubiquitous haunted houses that pop up every October. I say this almost every year, but I’ve yet to attend one. I’ve only had near misses. When I was in high school in the 1990s, […]