Reviews Archives - Page 2 of 3

Be Visible, Flawed and Present in the World

Published at Women in Higher Education in the September 2016 issue. Havrilesky doles out advice for how to handle fizzled-out romances, bad friends, terrible jobs and smaller traumas of everyday life. But her advice isn’t simplistic, judgmental or what might be expected. She veers toward existential: What does it mean to exist right here, right now? …

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“New Muslim Cool” as a Teaching Tool

Published at Sacred Matters on September 8, 2016. Talib notes: “You’re Muslim. You’re American. You’re Puerto Rican. You’re from the hood. You’re an artist. You’re a rapper…You sound like America’s worst nightmare.” This is the line that sticks with me after each time I’ve rewatched New Muslim Cool. Hamza appears as a threat because of his ethnicity, …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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“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 …

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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, …

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Men: Stop Explaining. Start Listening.

Published at Women in Higher Education on October 5, 2015. Men explain my areas of research, the job market, career options, my essays and even my approaches to parenting, with little knowledge about the topics or any consideration of what I might already know. They act as if I fundamentally lack knowledge. My PhD cannot trump …

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Look For The Signs

Published at Killing the Buddha on May 1, 2015. I watched a show about a shallow rendering of the end of the world while yet another black man died at the hands of the police. Gray’s spine was severed, and white people want to talk of looting and violence against the police. A human being lost his …

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