Objectify This

The case Redding vs. Safford Unified School District #1 was decided by the Supreme Court this week.  The 8-to-1 decision was awarded to Savana Redding, who as 13-year old girl, was strip-searched by school officials when she was suspected of carrying prescription-strength ibuprofen to school, each of which would have had the strength of two [...]

Are women’s magazines bad for women? It might seem like a stupid question. But when, as the New York Times reports, a University of Missouri study “found that looking at women’s magazines for 1-3 minutes had a negative impact on women’s self esteem. So imagine what happens if we’re bombarded by these images every day.” [...]

Recently my girl Ashley pointed me to a post at Jack and Jill Politics. In my browsing there, I came upon yesterday’s post, “The Field Negro Smacks Down Shelby Steele’s Self-Hating BS.” While the post makes important points about the natural alignment of the black power movement and liberal politics’ focus on the government’s commitment [...]

Are spicy things sexy? Well, it’s hard to say, really. Not here in America Latina, por lo menos. There are separate words for hot (caliente) and spicy (picante) and while caliente has overt sexual overtones, picante generally does not. . . at least in the places where I’ve lived. Then again, Colombia and Costa Rica [...]

Geek chic is in. Even the New York Times knows it. While in previous years that would mean that it’s already passé, Obama has ushered in a celebration of the passé – both a revival of the cult of the individual and a trumph of sincerity. I know that it’s odd to label the onset [...]

I was recently driving around my city (and by recently, i mean two weeks ago, since I’m currently stationed in Colombia, South America, in a city that’s anything but my own) and I saw one of those cars plastered with bumper stickers- coexist, hug a tree, my other car is a broomstick, that sort of [...]

I’ve been listening to the London-based Simian Mobile Disco, a music production team who call themselves “Electro/ Psychadelic/ Alternative” on their Myspace page. They are composed of two guys named James (foreground, left) and claim to sound like “good, old-fashioned, analogue party music” (as their wacky Brit-ball spelling has it). Specifically, I’ve been listening to [...]