Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 3

Loitering

Published at Books & Culture on January 6, 2015. Writing an essay is a form of loitering, but life is also about loitering until we die. We can loiter with intent. Or, we can’t. Most of us do varying degrees of both, but some of us struggle for an “apparent purpose,” a proper motivation to guide …

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The Last Book I Loved: Pen & Ink

Published at The Rumpus on December 26, 2014. Now I often forget about the little dove when someone asks me how many tattoos I have. But that dove marks a moment in which I decided to become someone no one expected me to be. The act of getting tattooed was more radical than the design I …

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We Are Living Reminders

Published at Killing the Buddha on September 3, 2014. Mapleton’s Heroes Day ceremony is an attempt to limit grief and pain to a day on the calendar. If only we could dwell in our grief for a moment and abandon it just as quickly. If only grief would cooperate with our attempts to box it …

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Dear Readers: I’m A Bad Feminist

Published at Women in Higher Education on January 6, 2015. Like Gay, my relationship with the label “feminist” has been tumultuous at best. I embraced “feminist” as a seventh-grader to proclaim my support of women’s equality. This seemed like an easy choice because who wouldn’t want women to be equal to men? As a twelve-year-old, I …

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Cinderella: The Magic of Kindness

Published at Killing the Buddha on March 25, 2015. As a child, I found these films comforting: a lesson that family might wound and harm you, but you could escape and find happiness elsewhere. I learned that you just had to bide your time. That you wouldn’t be a child forever. That escape was always possible …

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The Empathy Exams

Published at Books & Culture in May 2014. Empathy emerges as fraught; it can’t exist solely as a virtue because of the ways in which we unevenly practice it. Jamison models empathy while simultaneously scrutinizing and analyzing cultural expectations of empathy. She distrusts her own impulses and reactions to those she writes about. Who do we …

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Kingsman: The One-Percent Apocalypse

Published at Killing the Buddha on February 26, 2015. When Valentine’s plan was revealed, I first thought this was a reversal of apocalyptic visions, in which the oppressed and downtrodden emerge the victors in a world torn asunder. The 1% would remain safe while the rest of humanity violently killed one another with brute force. Forget …

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Confidence Gap

Published at Women in Higher Education on December 5, 2014. Unfortunately, while confidence might offer more possibilities to women, it does not mitigate hostile or benevolent forms of sexism, change gender inequalities in pay, or guarantee that women are not harassed in the workplace. Confidence might make us feel better about ourselves, but it is no balm …

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