Afternoon Tea (6/6/19)

‘Archaeology of D-Day’ Aims to Preserve What the Soldiers Left Behind

This is a fascinating read about Waldorf schools in general in addition to the vaccine issue: Measles for the One Percent

Why Society Goes Easy on Rapists

Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary

Gwenda Bond's take on writing tie-ins/IP is great: Toy Stories

Afternoon Tea (3/18/19)

A must-read: White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots

I want a whole biography and a series of mysteries and also a TV show about her: Overlooked No More: Isabella Goodwin, New York City’s First Female Police Detective

Interesting piece about blinkered restaurant criticism: A Critic for All Seasons

When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online

Yet another wild scam story: Audrey Kitching is a Myspace queen turned energy healer. Critics say she’s also a fraud

Afternoon Tea (2/28/19)

The Lost World of Yiddish Anarchists

Pop culture is no longer full of apocalyptic nuclear visions. That’s too bad.

The Master of Spin

Asexual Readers Just Want Ace Characters to Live Full, Diverse Lives On the Page

Ted Bundy, Billy McFarland, and the Weaponization of White Male Charm

Afternoon Tea (12/27/18)

Todd VanDerWerff, great as always: Gritty’s evolution from googly-eyed hockey mascot to meme to leftist avatar, explained

Rising Instagram Stars Are Posting Fake Sponsored Content

This is lovely: These LGBT Bars Are Open on Christmas Day For Cheer and Company

Cooking With Fire

29 of Our Most Anticipated LGBTQAP YA Books of 2019: January-April

Afternoon Tea (12/17/18)

I knew some of this, but seeing it all laid out is quite something: Is the Women’s March Melting Down?

Chris Watts Killed His Family. Then The Love Letters Started Rolling In.

Good background for the Nicole Cliffe thing: A Penthouse Divided

The Year Star Wars Fans Finally Ruined Star Wars

This book sounds really interesting: Is Empowerment Just a Marketing Strategy?

Afternoon Tea (12/4/18)

I remember sort of following this case at the time, but . . . WOW: How a future Trump Cabinet member gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime

This is perfect: The Lady Hero's Journey

Young Women are Reviving Indigenous Food Traditions Online

6 Historical Crime Novels Set During The Gilded Age

Here are some GREAT terrible holiday workplace stories: Ho Ho No

Afternoon Tea (11/27/18)

The Stylish Socialist Who Is Trying to Save YouTube from Alt-Right Domination

This is lovely: Mosul, the city with two springs

A Mixtape for a Broken Heart

Ugh I don't want to start having to ask if my cocktails are vegetarian, too: The Secret to That Bright-Red Drink? Little Bugs

Marketing Emily Dickinson as a Children’s Poet

Morning Coffee (11/24/18)

This is horrifying: Border agent not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Mexican boy's death

Zimbabwe 'state agents' tried to cover up post-election violence, say doctors

Of course: This Thanksgiving, The Trump Administration Is Taking Land From The Tribe That Welcomed The Pilgrims

Of... course? Trump’s Nominee to Replace Kavanaugh Is a Staunch Defender of Dwarf-Tossing

Trump Administration Plots Costly Private-Care Expansion for Veterans

How California conservatives became the intellectual engine of Trumpism

Pop culture needs to give Ruth Bader Ginsburg some space

They're terrible! Don't give to them! Salvation Army warns staff against public homophobia

Oh, this is sad: Glamour Magazine to Cease Regular Print Publication

Harmless viral Facebook post is another reminder how easy it is to make online fakes

Afternoon Tea (8/23/18)

The Great Chinese Art Heist

Posting Instagram Sponsored Content Is the New Summer Job

The Lazy Trope of the Unethical Female Journalist

The Women’s Bakery

The Hardboiled Crime Fiction of Central Asia

Afternoon Tea (6/25/18)

Todd VanDerWerff, great as always: Donald Trump paints the border as a lawless hellhole. But so does American pop culture.

Tesla workers say they pay the price for Elon Musk's big promises

The Serious Business of the Literary Party

Overlooked No More: Fannie Farmer, Modern Cookery’s Pioneer

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (the Ancient Roman version)

Afternoon Tea (6/13/18)

The Deadly Incel Movement’s Absurd Pop Culture Roots

Colonialism did not just create slavery: it changed geology

A queer, diverse Nancy Drew: is this how to keep children's classics alive?

John Adams: A Liberal Congregationalist and the American Revolution

When Salad Was Manly AF

Afternoon Tea (5/15/18)

This whole thing is so fascinating: Body Con Job: Miquela Sousa has over 1 million followers on Instagram and was recently hacked by a Trump troll. But she isn’t real.

And this was way more dramatic than I expected: How the Author of ‘Madeline’ Created His Most Famous Character

The Curse of Cortés

What Snow White and the Evil Queen Taught Me About Desire

From the NYPL: A List Fit for a Royal Wedding

Afternoon Tea (5/11/18)

This piece by Laura Turner is incredible: Missing Hope: A Trio of Miscarriages, and What Happened After

I love her: Special Sauce: Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman on Not Pretending to Be Perfect

I'm not into horoscopes but this is fun: May Horoscope & Romance Reads Royally Paired For You? Yes, Please!

Lilac, the Color of Half Mourning, Doomed Hotels, and Fashionable Feelings

Fun: 50 Fictional Writers, Ranked

Morning Coffee (5/4/18)

WE MADE IT TO FRIDAY. Happy link time!

My anthology How I Resist is in great company on two lists at Bustle!
The 12 Best New Nonfiction Books Coming Out In May 2018
The 19 Best Young Adult Books Coming Out In May 2018

This is great and I am so excited to see the show: Watch Moulin Rouge's Aaron Tveit Sing 'Come What May' in Thrilling Music Video; Full Cast Revealed

Ooh yay: U.S. Figure Skating and NBC Sports Group Launch 'Figure Skating Pass' on NBC Sports Gold

OH MY GOSH: These Classic Novels Will Be Re-Released With Recipes From Ina Garten and Martha Stewart

Kinda weird but I feel I am the target audience? Make A Simple Pasta Dish And We'll Recommend You A Book

You have my attention: Jake Gyllenhaal Starring In Leonard Bernstein Biopic From Director Cary Fukunaga

Correct: Jezebel Continues to Endorse Chris Pine for Top Chris of the Famous Chrises

When I got an email about the Draper James ❤️ Crate & Barrel collaboration I honestly whispered "Oh no" out loud to my computer, because this seems dangerous.

Cute! These Powders Come In The Prettiest Birthstone Compacts

HA: These Real Life Wedding Planning Conversations Between A Mother And Daughter Might Make You Drink

Morning Coffee (11/23/17)

Happy Thanksgiving! I've got all Thanksgiving-themed links for you today, and then we're going to a weekend link schedule today/tomorrow - morning links only. (But check back tomorrow afternoon too because I'll recommend, uh, something. Suspense!)

This is basically my ideal Thanksgiving read: Hard Times at Plimoth Plantation

USEFUL ADVICE: How to Cook in Someone Else's Kitchen

I look forward to this post of Alyssa's every Thanksgiving because I, too, love tradition.

The Times has a great set of Thanksgiving essays by a variety of accomplished writers: My Thanksgiving

Here's the deal with all those turkeys terrorizing the suburbs

Americans are desperately seeking ham shops and other Thanksgiving Google-search revelations

9 Pop Culture Picks to Get You Through Thanksgiving

Tofurky: A Brief, Semi-Accidental History of Thanksgiving’s Fake Meat

Filling a Turkey With Molten Aluminum Is a Terrible Way to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner

How Pumpkin Pie Sparked a 19th-Century Culture War

Morning Coffee (11/21/17)

Back from vacation! If you missed any posts because I wasn't able to link them on Facebook, just click on my name at the top to go to the home page and scroll down.

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

I've been working on this anthology for months and I'm so excited for you all to read it: Rosie O'Donnell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and others contribute to new anthology How I Resist

I mean... true: North Korea’s latest tirade: Trump is a ‘mean trickster and human reject’

Of course: F.C.C. Is Said to Plan Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules

This is impressive work by Laura McGann - to tell her own story and do good reporting simultaneously: Exclusive: NYT White House correspondent Glenn Thrush’s history of bad judgment around young women journalists

Good for them for coordinating and coming forward on this. This guy sounds TERRIBLE: ‘One Tree Hill’ Cast, Crew Detail Assault, Harassment Claims Against Mark Schwahn

Rare genetic mutation found in Amish community could combat ageing

Ooh: BritBox to Offer Near-Simulcasts, "BritMas" Content for Holiday Season

YouTube drama is so much fun: YouTube Personality Zoella Draws Heat for Overpriced Advent Calendar (?)

Why Wounds Heal Faster During the Day Than at Night

In defense of just letting yourself like things sometimes

Taylor Swift has a new album out. You may have heard.

More to the point, you may have seen the million Hot Takes by Very Cool People about how Swift is evil for wanting to make money from her work and her image. How carefully constructing the product that she's selling - by which I mean both her album and her public persona - makes her, somehow, a bad person. How with everything else going on in the world, apparently what we should be worrying about is appropriately punishing a woman who dares to write song lyrics about a man who wrote song lyrics about her.

I don't think Taylor Swift is A PERFECT PERSON or anything - tip: life gets much easier when you stop expecting anyone to be perfect - but I'm a fan. I enjoy both her music and her determination to control her own narrative. And I have all the counterarguments and refutations ready to go, about how male and female lyricists are held to crazily different standards (because men NEVER write songs about their love lives, right????), about how it's wrong to support a system in general and castigate one person for operating profitably within it, about how I like her because she's calculating. But honestly? I just don't want to.

In another world, I can absolutely see myself writing a defense of Swift much longer than any of you would actually want to read, and finding that pretty satisfying. In this world, we are pretty busy defending statements like "Nazis are bad" and "30-year-olds shouldn't date high schoolers" and "People who have never been members of a political party shouldn't be given control of it", so I just don't have the energy. And so I'm giving myself the gift of not reading any of the Hot Takes this time, of scrolling past all the tweets from my friends about how Taylor is evil and her fans are stupid. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

I'm giving myself the gift of just listening to Reputation over and over in my car, letting myself be amused and comforted and inspired by the lyrics, singing along because it's fun and God knows we need some fun right now. And it's okay. The world will not end because I decide to sit out the argument this time. Take some time to just like something that makes you happy. It will be good for you.

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Ten Reasons Why You Should Shut Up About "Early" Christmas Stuff

1. It is 2017. Everything is terrible. Let people find a little joy where they can.

2. Related: last November and December, a lot of us were too upset to enjoy holiday stuff. If we can make up for it a bit now, please, let us.

3. Also related: lots of Christmas things are actually about the importance of family and friends and community and giving and caring about others. If there were ever a year we needed to go all in on this, it's this one.

4. What other people choose to watch/listen to/read/eat in the privacy of their own homes/cars/whatever does not hurt you. I promise. (If you also live in said home, then sure, come to some sort of compromise with the members of your household!) What other people like is not about you.

5. And as far as decorations or music in public places, I mean, come on, going to the store is always annoying. If Christmas stuff weren't there to annoy you, something else would be. What's the difference? (Note: I am not, in this particular post, talking about people of other/no religion who completely reasonably object to having to deal with Christian-based stuff shoved in their face at all times. If that's your objection, object away!)

6. What is too "early", anyway? Breaking: all of these dates or rules are arbitrary. If you're following the liturgical calendar and waiting for Advent, awesome! Otherwise, follow whatever/no rule you like!

7. Most subject matter for books and songs and movies is seen as acceptable pretty much whenever, but holiday-themed media gets a much narrower window. If the people who want to consume those media want to expand the timeframe a bit, that's probably good for the artists making those things.

8. Going to say this again because it's so important: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. One of the most important lessons to learn when talking about any kind of pop culture stuff is that other people liking things you don't like, or not liking things you do like, has zero effect on your relationship with the thing - unless one or both of the people involved decides to be unpleasant about it.

9. Also, complaining about others' happiness doesn't make you cool, sorry. Just makes you a jerk.

10. Oh my god, just let people like things!!

Afternoon Tea (9/20/17)

Romance Novelist Julia Quinn on What Makes a Character Sexy My favorite part: "In some ways, portraying a healthy relationship in literature is the most revolutionary thing you can do."

The Secret History of America's Oldest Tofu Shop

This is about the American Revolution, though it doesn't sound like it from the title: The French Bread Connection

The Making and Unmaking of Iggy Azalea

Aww: Two Pastors in Love, and Only God Knows

Afternoon Tea (9/19/17)

From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

“I’ve Always Been Political”: Celeste Ng and Nicole Chung in Conversation

How a Design Agency Helped Make Portland, Maine, the Hippest Foodie Town in New England

“Skip intro”: Netflix could’ve saved TV title sequences, but now it’s killing them

10 Years After Her Horrible 2007, Britney Spears’s Tabloid Saga Shows How Much Has Changed