Recently, Nobel Prize for Literature laureate V.S. Naipaul stated in a Guardian interview that no woman writer could ever be his equal due to her innate "sentimentality, the narrow view of the world." My impulse was to dismiss Naipaul's misogynist "tosh" as a reflection of his own impoverished psyche; alas, the luxury of dismissal is …
The Art of Contradiction
“For myself, I am never satisfied that I have handled a subject properly till I have contradicted myself at least three times: but once must do for this evening. I have just said that there is no chance of our getting good Art unless we delight in it: next say, and just as positively, that …
Remember this Elevator? “All right, driver, once around the park, slowly, and keep your eyes on the road.”
Snapshot sent to me from "the Hotel Del" in San Diego. Is it the same one? "Zowie!"
A Wider View of Authorship: Eroticizing the Past My June “The Bombshell” Column at Bookslut
Early in Eavan Boland’s dazzling new book, A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet, she tells a story: when she was a young poet and mother living in the suburbs of Dublin, she went into the city one day and happened to walk by an art gallery where she spied in the window …
Live from London: The Ultimate Field Trip! Part 1
Four students from The Bronx Academy of Letters--senior, Denise Reynoso and juniors, Renee Miller, Alison Joseph, and Kenneth Herrera--winners of a school wide essay contest visit us in London accompanied by English teacher extraordinaire Christian Clark. Listen to this amazing podcast from Christian Clark's inspiring website Minilessons.org in which the students discuss London, travel, theater …
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In Memoriam, Charles McPhee, April 24, 1962-May 8, 2011
Inspiration comes from unlikely places. Mine, for the past five years, has come from my cousin Charles who in June of 2006 learned he had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Gorgeous, funny, smart, kind, madly in love with his extraordinary wife Petra, and an ecstatic new father, he was also at the height of his career …
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GOT MILK? MY MAY COLUMN AT BOOKSLUT
THE GENDER POLITICS OF PLEASURE DAIRIES France was on the verge of Revolution, the ill-famed extravagances of Marie-Antoinette having poisoned the populace against her and the entire regime. Pornographic circulars featuring the Austrian-born Queen were rife in the streets of Paris as was an engraving entitled “La France Malade” (“France Is Sick”) representing a female …
Meshes of the Afternoon: 13 1/2 Minutes of Extraordinary Filmmaking from 1943
The key to this masterpiece by husband and wife filmmaking team Maya Deren and Alexander Hamid is The Key.
Women Write War: My April Column at Bookslut
In 1898, novelist Arnold Bennett wrote in Journalism for Women: A Practical Guide: “Is there any sexual reason why a woman should be a less accomplished journalist than a man? I can find none...” Read Bookslut column by clicking here
Filmfatale reviews Make Way For Tomorrow
I'd never heard of it, but Leo McCarey had also directed one of my favorite films, The Awful Truth (made the same year, 1937), and I had been meaning to go for some time to one of The National Gallery's Saturday afternoon screenings of classic films. Their flyer billed Make Way For Tomorrow as "one …
Jenny McPhee 