Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
While Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, the state approved a law forcing single mothers seeking to place their children for adoption to publish their sexual histories in a newspaper in an attempt to contact the children’s fathers — even if the mothers were rape victims or minors. The measure, passed in 2001 and soon…
As you know, Superman is wildly protective of his Clark Kent identity. What you might not know is exactly how far this alien nutbag is willing to go to protect that secret. For example, above. You see, in the ’50s and ’60s, no comic book writer had any idea how to create an adventure for…
On Tuesday, Joyce Carol Oates, the American author whose Twitter feed is an jewel box of absurdist, vaguely offensive half-thoughts, showed her stripes as a true conservationist. Oh man, I bet that guy is so humiliated and will never post to another trophy hunting message board again! Just kidding, the animal in that picture is…
here there’s Internet, there are inevitably trolls spewing hateful or threatening language — even in Sweden, with its reputation for tolerance and liberalism. But Sweden has one of the highest proportions of Internet users in the world and, like many other countries, has seen online vitriol leave digital spaces with very real consequences. Faced with anonymous online trolls,…
Do you remember the first time you watched the original Jurassic Park? If, like me, you were a kid, you probably lost countless nights of sleep to that horrifying T-Rex roar. Or the sounds of two villainous raptors searching an empty cafeteria kitchen for a little bit of human child flesh. Well that’s all thanks…
Roland Martin YouTube Screenshot /sl-art-illo-cap /sl-art-illo-cntr There has been one group of people who’ve been seemingly silent since a video was released of a McKinney, Texas, police officer brutally violating a 15-year-old girl in a bikini after being called to shut down a pool party. People all over social media and black media have noticed…
It’s an unprecedented move in higher education, but a welcome one. The U.S. Secretary of Education has pledged to forgive the loans of as many as 350 thousand students who were defrauded into taking on huge student loan debts by online schools owned by Corinthian Colleges. More students may also be eligible. In the New…
The images are compelling, true, but they don’t compel due to any great variety. On the contrary, the experienced viewer will detect a certain dispiriting sameness almost from the outset. The only aspect that truly changes is the accompanying data, though this is mostly irrelevant detail. A boy (relevant detail: 12 years old) stands in a…
Yesterday, Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, announced a plan that will essentially close the books on his country’s approach to handling the financial crisis — an approach that deviated greatly from the preferences of global financial elites and succeeded quite well. Instead of embracing the orthodoxy of bank bailouts, austerity, and low inflation, Iceland did just…
She Makes Comics is a new documentary about the history of female creators and fans have who shaped the comic book scene. Featuring interviews with a diverse array people including writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and former editor of DC Comics Jenette Kahn, the film gives a comprehensive overview of the accomplishments of women in the comics…