Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
At its heart, white supremacy is not about white hoods and burning crosses. EVEN AS SOUTHERN states—and GOP candidates—jumped through hoops to distance themselves from the Confederate flag, a backlash erupted among those claiming the flag was merely a symbol of “heritage.” Battle-flag waving Southerners (and Confederacy sympathizers) seemed to leap at the opportunity to…
It was a Saturday night in San Francisco, and so, of course, there was a booze-fueled start-up launch party at a hip SOMA bar. We were among the Kickstarter backers and enthusiasts invited by SpaceVR to “be an astronaut” by donning a virtual reality headset to explore a 3D-version of space pulled together from publicly…
In an interview Saturday with Britain’s Daily Mail, Herve Leger head designer Patrick Couderc said so many offensive things about women that the internet is still reeling—and fuming. The designer’s comments were so outrageously body-shaming that even the uber-tabloid Mail called the interview “dangerously outspoken.” Speaking about the fashion house’s iconic bandage dress—which has been…
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign has reportedly reached out to Black Lives Matter activists to potentially set up a face-to-face meeting in Washington. Shortly before Sanders spoke on the issue of racism at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, BuzzFeed News reported his campaign had floated having “a more formal interaction”…
By A.L. Bailey, a writer, magazine copy editor, and online editor who lives in Hoover Remember all those bikini-clad, sashaying, glitter-blowing, and spontaneous piggyback-riding days of college? Me either. But according to a new video, it’s a whirlwind of glitter and girl-on-girl piggyback rides at the University of Alabama’s Alpha Phi house. No, it’s not…
Mindy Kaling‘s secret? You have to earn that bulletproof feeling. In an excerpt from her new book, Why Not Me?, she explains. One evening last year, I was onstage at a Q&A in Manhattan hosted by a magazine to discuss my life and career. This was one of those fancy events where ticket prices are…
Last year, San Francisco released BART Watch, an app for reporting crimes on the Bay Area’s main transit system. After filing a California Public Records Act request to see what people were reporting, the East Bay Express found a disturbing pattern: Of the 763 alerts sent to BART, 198 included a description of the race…
Ever since Marissa Janae Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford commandeered the stage at a Seattle Bernie Sanders rally this past weekend, some pretty despicable attempts to smear their motives has dominated the discussion – mostly perpetuated by people who consider themselves to be “progressives” both in the blogosphere and in the comment sections. Even we…
My boss brought up the infamous Cheerios tweet on my first day. Almost a year had passed, but it was still a cautionary tale: At 8:06 pm on a casual Wednesday night, a seemingly innocuous tweet was sent out and quickly caused a firestorm. Within 24 hours, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called for…
Can art museums — bastions of beauty, sanctuaries of culture — be intimidating to racial minorities? Do they qualify as “white spaces”? First Lady Michelle Obama said as much at the dedication of the $420 million Whitney Museum. “You see, there are so many kids in this country who look at places like museums and concert halls and other cultural…