In honor of the centennial of women’s suffrage, the New York Times is running an obituary series called “Overlooked,” where they write obituaries of people whose lives and deaths were overlooked by the Times the first go-around. (link)

Nothing quite like Myriam Gurba interviewing Akwaeke Emezi. I just read The Death of Vivek Oji and it was SUPERB (though with some content warnings if you want them). (link)

In this time of pandemic, the scramble to preserve endangered languages has taken on even greater urgency. (link)

“A defining characteristic of trauma, though, is the way it burrows like a tick into the subconscious, erasing the traces that might hold it accountable. You might not even know what’s pulling your strings.” Jess Zimmerman on living through this pandemic. (link)

Ellen can be a queer icon AND a boss who fostered an abusive workplace; and we can hold even our faves accountable for their racism and bad behavior. (link)

Self-hatred and self-consciousness are becoming A Lot in a specific genre of literature. (link)

Vivian Stephens is a founding mother of the romance genre, but she was pushed out of the genre’s history. https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/vivian-stephens-helped-turn-romance-writing-into-billion-dollar-industry/

“What does it mean for the canon of horror to almost exclusively be white? Is this intentional or not?” (link)

Likewise, who decides what counts as true crime? (You know the answer.) (link)

Lisa Lucas, the departing director of the National Book Foundation and soon to be publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books, talks about how she got to this point in her career, and how publishing is changing. (link)

The fandom of teenage girls deserves to be taken seriously. (link)

Numerous staff writers have left the CBS show All Rise, which centers on a Black female judge, because of the showrunner’s dismissiveness and ignorance around racial issues. (link)

Nonfiction publishers don’t pay for fact-checking. This is a mistake. (link)

In positive news, I have had the blessed experience of telling some new people about New Leverage, which is a great reminder to us all to watch Leverage if you haven’t already! The pilot is fuego, and every episode is about criminals doing a con to deprive wealthy jerks of their ill-gotten gains. You’ll love it! Watch it ASAP!

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These are just some motherfucking snails inside some motherfucking dollhouses.

Why casting Nagini as an Asian woman is so offensive.

Ron Charles considers whether we still need Banned Books Week, and reaches no real conclusion.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a writer I adore, talks about Howard Zinn and why it matters that his work was essentially and fundamentally collaborative.

I can’t wait to read Rebecca Traister’s latest book, Good and Mad. Here’s everything she was reading while she wrote it.

I typically click straight out of articles that bewail how easy it is to “cancel” somebody, but Wesley Morris has a lot of interesting, thoughtful things to say about art and morality. He also, in my opinion, missed some nuance — as people who complain about cancellation culture often do. Vulture put on a terrific round-table of responses from critics, including another forever-fave of mine, Angelica Jade Bastien. Their conversation helped me to understand something I believe but have been struggling to articulate about artistic disagreement.

What your favorite Shakespeare play says about you.

Roxane Gay reflects on the Kavanaugh hearing and harassers who claim themselves as the victims.

How to tell a good made-up language from a bad one.

Reese Witherspoon peddles a version of Southern femininity that isn’t available to everyone.

Here is a (very spoilery) superb appreciation of Practical Magic, my favorite Halloween movie.

Happy weekend!

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And now, on to the links.

Drop everything and read this profile of Jonathan Franzen. It brought such joy to my heart. It was everything I wanted it to be.

Heart of darkness: The grim, authoritarian soul of Thomas the Tank Engine. (This is not new but it is new to me and I need y’all to be aware of it.)

Which borough of New York City would win in a civil war?

Misogyny is boring as hell: A profile of writer Carmen Maria Machado.

That time England paid reparations for slavery — to slaveowners. (And other horrifying stories from the British history of slavery.)

“Alabama organizers have literally never stopped fighting.” Imani Perry on her home state.

Roxane Gay on why To Kill a Mockingbird matters (or doesn’t).

About suffering they were never wrong, the Old Masters.

While I wish this article had talked more about nonbinary folks, who also face a ton of harassment, it was still good to hear from women who have faced harassment as they talk about what they still value about the internet.

The Atlantic’s cover story for Pride Month made me really angry, but Alex Barasch had Slate has a very measured and sensible response to it.

Linda Holmes does not look with favor upon the new Roseanne-without-Roseanne show.

Just read the opening two paragraphs of this piece on women in Luke Cage, even if you don’t want the spoilers from the full article. Because they are a gut punch.

Harassers seem to apologize to everybody except the person they harassed.

Take care of yourselves, friends! Whatever care looks like for you, take the time for it. We’ll all be still here for the fight on Monday. I love y’all.

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It’s the year of our Lord 2017, and we are just now publishing the first translation of the Odyssey by a woman. (Buy it! The physical book is really beautiful!)

Angelica Jade Bastien on Now Voyager

I never don’t click on articles about the medieval historians trying to fend off Nazis. (Poor medieval historians! They really do not want Nazis at their luau.)

Men elevate foods; women ruin them. (It’s about gender bias, but not sexual assault. Yay?)

An excellently stern rebuttal to Francine Prose’s stupid piece in the New York Review of Books. I do not like Francine Prose.

Thor: Ragnarok, a movie I loved, is nevertheless fairly muddled as to its message about Empire. Noah Berlatsky unpacks some of that. But see also Gavia Baker-Whitelaw.

“Write because they are cutting out our tongues.” This piece is not about sexual assault, but it is about totalitarianism in the Philippines.

And then here are the links that are about sexual assault (partly or entirely). If you’re only going to read one of these, pick the first one. It’s real good.

How sexual harassment stories are like ghost stories, a horrifyingly accurate analysis by Jess Zimmerman.

The author of a new book about college football (FSU in particular) says scandal follows “where the excessive devotion is.” Shitdamn that’s a good point.

Alexander Chee on Kevin Spacey’s glib, yucky “coming-out” and what it says about his attitude toward the gay community.

Nobody needs to give a shit about Louie CK’s artistic legacy.

Have a great weekend! Chill outside if the weather is nice where you are! Cuddle up with a blanket and some hot cocoa if not!

The post Just Gonna Split These Down the Middle: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

Writers always wrote for money, so why do we suddenly have this idea that good writing springs purely from love?

Also, why writers are so reluctant to talk about their pay in specific terms. This article is a review of the edited collection Scratch, and the one above is an excerpt from it. Media saturation! (But also I just find this really interesting.)

That new DOJ report on patterns of abuse in the Chicago Police Department is pretty scary and upsetting. (So it’s okay to skip this link if you are scary-and-upsetting-ed out for the week.) They do bad things to children. Why again do people oppose increased transparency/accountability in police departments?

Daniel Handler on creating the new Series of Unfortunate Events Netflix show. I have some issues with the show but love how diverse the casting is! Even in crowd scenes! It is like the showrunners wanted to reflect the real world or something!

Here’s a super nifty and adorable animated representation of the Joseph Campbell model of the Hero’s Journey. It’s useful because we are all becoming heroes in this new administration! Being a hero sucks most of the time, but we can do it.

My sister sent me this v. interesting article on Afghan women’s poetry. It is fascinating but sad, so be aware before you click that sadness will ensue.

Why the band The Slants might depend on the same laws and court decisions that protect the Washington football team (or they may not) (it’s complicated).

Swapna Krishna on punching Nazis and Nick Spencer ferociously criticizing same.

My friend Alice made me cry by talking about keeping our voices lifted even when it seems like we’re not having any effect on those in power.

The myth of the peaceful women’s march (or, why it’s wrong to feel morally superior about no arrests this weekend).

That’s all for now! Have as good a weekend as you can, and I’ll see you back here on Monday to keep talking about books and protesting this presidency.

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