Mommie Dearest

Are Mothers Monsters? Revisiting Mommie Dearest

On the surface, "Mommie Dearest" is a portrait of vanity and self-obsession. Dig deeper, and it reflects society’s discomfort with mothers and single women.
library stacks

6 Tips about Academic Writing for #AcWriMo

November is Academic Writing Month. We’ve gathered six helpful tips for your scholarly writing—with academic citations of course.
Mrs Miss Ms

From the Mixed-Up History of Mrs., Miss, and Ms.

Language can reveal power dynamics, as in the terms of address, or honorifics, are used to refer to a woman's social status: Mrs., Miss, and Ms.
Gone with the Wind poster

The Dangers of Gone With The Wind‘s Romantic Vision of the Old South

Writer Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8th, 1900, at the beginning of a new century. Her novel Gone ...
Dinosaur fossil

The Popular, Lucrative, and Legally Questionable Fossil Trade

Middlemen sell fossils to the highest bidder, whether it’s a museum or a wealthy collector who wants their own stegosaurus.
Gaga poster art

What Lady Gaga Teaches us about Pain and Gender

What does GAGA: Five Foot Two teach us about pain? The documentary challenges viewers to consider how female pain is often perceived or diminished.
Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison on Race

Ralph Ellison believed fiercely in the American project and in the centrality of black people to it.
James Bond

The Marketable Misogyny of James Bond

The attitudes reflected in the James Bond franchise are wildly out of touch with social reality.
Leonid Pasternak - The Passion of Creation

7 Pieces of Expert Writing Advice

Great fiction-writing advice and commiseration from novelists that we dug out of the JSTOR vaults for you procrastinating, er, research pleasure.
USPS Forever stamps featuring illustrations from Ezra Jack Keats' book "Snowy Day"

The Man Whose Snowy Day Helped Diversify Children’s Books

Jack Ezra Keats's 1962 book The Snowy Day featured an African-American protagonist, a first for a full-color children’s book.