WikiLeaks and monsters
During Vietnam, we in the U.S. saw the war. We saw photographs come back that froze scenes of horror in front of our eyes. During current wars, though, we have television cameras and satellites and...
Girl power aboard the International Space Station
Though many of us did not notice, April 9, 2010 was a historic day for humankind. When the shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station, three women, Naoko Yamazaki, Stephanie...
Mandatory sterilization & trans men in Australia
The fight over reproductive rights keeps dragging on in the United States, but in Australia, hot-button issues like abortion and contraception are rarely a subject for public debate. In Australia,...
Return of the Ankh: Badu is naked and beautiful
As a Black gender equality advocate, I had mixed reactions to Erykah Badu’s video “Window Seat." I worried about people cheapening the significance of the song. In the video, the artist removes...
Bob McDonnell & the battle over REAL Confederate History
This week, Governor Bob McDonnell declared that his state would honor April as “Confederate History and Heritage Month.” Typical of a white southern Republican, he completely ignored slavery in...
“Kick-Ass” is sublime, and definitely not for kids
Living in New York City, Dave Lizewski is your average kind of teenager. Not a geek or a jock. Just average. He wanks over his teacher, has a crush on the school fox Katie Deauxma, and dreams of...
Should we just leave Heidi Montag alone?
Plastic surgery has become very commonplace as the prices for procedures have dropped. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 91% of all surgeries for a total of 11 million procedures...
Cardinal Seán Brady’s real role in sex abuse scandal
Cardinal Seán Brady celebrated mass on Easter Sunday with some pretty words about rebirth, apologies and child sexual abuse. He did not mention that in the previous week he was asked by survivors of...
Child abuse & vengeance in picturesque Fort Bragg, CA
While the attention of the world has been drawn by recent shocking revelations in the ongoing abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, the Northern California town of Fort Bragg has been riveted by an...
“Clash of the Titans”: the class of 2010 has a lot to learn
Ancient Greece. Perseus, son of Zeus and a mortal Queen, is netted by the fisherman Spyros and raised as his own child. Grown to manhood, Perseus fails to save his adoptive family. Hades drowns...