Afternoon Tea (11/5/18)

This is fascinating and important: Becoming Anne Frank

How a Woman Becomes a Lake

Now I'm curious to read this: The Children’s Classic That Secretly Brought Existentialist Philosophy Into American Homes

Awesome: A New Illustrated Database for Women Artists Spans the 15th to 19th Centuries

The future of the kilo: a weighty matter

Morning Coffee (11/5/18)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

How mass shooters practice their hate online

Abortion May Be Mobilizing More Democratic Voters Than Republicans Now

Sigh: Brian Kemp’s office opens investigation into Georgia Democratic Party days ahead of the election

SIGH: Trump’s top agriculture official calls Florida’s gubernatorial race “cotton-pickin’ important”

Not the biggest campaign issue, but interesting: Sununu Says He's An Engineer, But Whether That's Technically True Is A Judgment Call

Two Capitals, One Russian Oligarch: How Oleg Deripaska Is Trying to Escape U.S. Sanctions

How zero tolerance forces undocumented victims into the shadows

This is heartbreaking: The NYPD Does Not Believe Two Saudi Sisters Found Dead And Tied Together Near The Hudson River Were Victims Of A Crime

Origin of chocolate shifts 1,400 miles and 1,500 years

New dinosaur species unearthed in Argentina

Morning Coffee (11/4/18)

The Pentagon reportedly rejected Trump’s request to give troops extra power at the border

What a shock: Trump Administration Spares Corporate Wrongdoers Billions in Penalties

Trump’s middle-class tax cut is a fairy tale that distracts from the real midterm stakes

Climate Change Is Already Damaging American Democracy

How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream

This is an important point: Sore winners and the sidelining of a shared reality

Hate’s New Strategy: Call Trans Kindergartners Sexual Predators

How to Prepare for a World Where Abortion Is Illegal

This is a GREAT bad review: Post Malone is the perfect pop star for this American moment. That’s not a compliment.

Welsh slate region to be nominated as Unesco world heritage site

Morning Coffee (11/3/18)

Young and new voters surge in early voting

I don't know how I'm still astounded every day, but . . . Trump complains GOP momentum faltering after deadly synagogue shooting

Donald Trump’s race-baiting closing argument going into Election Day, explained

Related: Nigerian Army Uses Trump’s Words to Justify Fatal Shooting of Rock-Throwing Protesters

Sigh: Border Patrol agents now have to ask everyone they catch if they’re part of the caravan

Wow: The Trump Administration Flunked Its Math Homework

What If Only Men Voted? Only Women? Only Nonwhite Voters?

This is HORRIFYING: Middleton school district to investigate staff dressed as border wall, Mexicans

We knew this but the fact that it's in Nature is big: US proposal for defining gender has no basis in science

Oh: Rockettes To Incorporate Intel’s Drones In Traditional Christmas Spectacular Show

Afternoon Tea (11/2/18)

Witchy Wheys: Cast Spells and Predict the Future with Cheese

In other cheese news: What a cheesy sandwich looks like in 15 places around the world

How to Write Consent in Romance Novels

I can't WAIT to read this: These Witches Don’t Burn Cover Reveal and Exclusive Excerpt!

This is a nice interview: Figure skater Joe Johnson came out without a big coming-out moment

Weekly Rec: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

It's been - well, it's been a hard couple years, but it feels like it's been a PARTICULARLY rough month or so, and Jasmine Guillory's new novel The Proposal was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED RIGHT NOW, and perhaps it is what you need too! This is a romance that starts with a public proposal at a baseball game, but as everyone knows, PUBLIC PROPOSALS ARE TERRIBLE and so this goes very badly. Don't worry, the proposer is NOT the love interest. The Proposal is a feminist romance full of anger and punching and cupcakes and awesome messed up people doing their best and figuring stuff out, and it's INCREDIBLY satisfying.

Morning Coffee (11/2/18)

FRIDAY HAPPY LINKS!

Oh gosh, look at this Get Out the Vote letter from JFK to Madeleine L'Engle.

!!! 'Penny Dreadful' Revived at Showtime

This is great: Tokyo 2020 Medal Project To Turn Scrap Metal Into Precious Olympic, Paralympic Medals

Watching Jenny retweet all these was great: 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before' Costumes Make Jenny Han Cry — In A Good Way

I love them: John Legend and Chrissy Teigen will host 'legendary' Christmas special

! Harrods, Now Available at Williams Sonoma

I did not expect to read about a Thomas & Friends and the United Nations collaboration.

YAY: Lionsgate Boards Helen Hoang Romance ‘The Kiss Quotient’ From Pilgrim Media Group — AFM

Ben & Jerry's Just Released an Anti-Trump Ice Cream Flavor

10 of the Best Bookish Knitting Patterns

Afternoon Tea (11/1/18)

This piece about child rape at a school in Liberia run by an American charity is long and difficult reading but so important: Unprotected

O'Connor, Rehnquist And A Supreme Marriage Proposal

What Kind of Person Steals Their Co-workers’ Lunch?

The Ghost Story Persists in American Literature. Why?

Teen Girls Fight Back: 15 YA Books Featuring Revenge

26 Hallmark Christmas movies worth watching (if you like Hallmark Christmas movies)

Happy November! It's Christmas now! Hallmark says so! People on Twitter were asking about my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies, so here is a list of some I remember enjoying in past years. They will probably be airing multiple times between now and Christmas, so just check the listings when you're looking for something to watch.

PLEASE NOTE: I am in no way saying these movies are GREAT FILM or anything. I know. I KNOW. But Hallmark movies are all about women getting exactly what they want on their own terms, and that is definitely something I know a lot of us need this year. Plus the Christmas ones have great set decoration. ENJOY.

(My favorites are starred.)

12 Gifts of Christmas
Best Christmas Party Ever
Catch a Christmas Star
Christmas at Pemberley Manor
Christmas Cookies
The Christmas Cottage
Christmas Festival of Ice
Christmas in Evergreen
Christmas in Homestead
Christmas Land
Christmas List
Coming Home for Christmas
* Crown for Christmas
Hitched for the Holidays
Ice Sculpture Christmas
Let It Snow
Marry Me at Christmas
Miss Christmas
The Mistletoe Inn
* The Nine Lives of Christmas
Once Upon a Holiday
A Perfect Christmas
* Snow Bride
* The Sweetest Christmas
A Very Merry Mix-Up
Window Wonderland

Morning Coffee (11/1/18)

I LOVE THIS: You’re Disillusioned. That’s Fine. Vote Anyway.

And HA. (This is satire! Not real!) Why I, a young person, probably won’t vote

Wow, good for them: Son, daughter oppose father’s election to Missouri House

And good for him: Pharrell Williams Sends Trump Cease-and-Desist for Playing ‘Happy’ at Rally

Republican Campaign Mailer Fuels Anti-Semitism Complaints In State Senate Race

How the rise of conspiracy theory politics emboldens anti-Semitism

Not good! Wait times for citizenship applications stretch to 2 years

!!! The Obamas Have Optioned A Series For Netflix Based On Trump's Disastrous Start At The White House

Whoa: That Waitrose Food Editor Who Proposed A Series On Killing Vegans Has Quit

Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds