Happy June Solstice all! Merry Yule/Litha to those who celebrate the circling of the seasons. This week’s whimsy features Jeremy Deller’s inflatable sculpture Sacrilege. Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.
Culture
The milieu through which we swim
Conflicted
There is at least one awesome school chaplain out there.
Talent is not enough
When talent alone may not be enough for success.
Rape Culture Observation: grooming victims *looks* like being “a good person”
Humans, even rapists, are complex entities. A rapist is capable of doing good things for some people, while doing grave harm to others. In Sandusky’s case, what appeared to be (and in some cases maybe actually was) good works was simultaneously the grooming of victims.
Shakespeare and the Bechdel Test
We all know which way the Avengers falls, but have you ever wondered whether Shakespeare passes the Bechdel test?
Signal Boost: Kickstarter for documentary on violation of workers’ rights in strip clubs
This feature documentary is about the choices that three San Francisco strippers, Lola, Daisy, and Mariko, make as their workplaces engage in illegal labor practices. Strip clubs refuse to pay strippers even minimum wages & actually charge them for the privilege to work.
Juneteenth
Happy Juneteenth
Understatement OTD: “One of the things we will be looking at urgently is the communications team”
Says the representative of the Argyll and Bute Council in Scotland, whose heavy-handed response streisand-effected a regional scandal into a worldwide media storm about attempts to censor a schoolgirl blogging their school lunches. Now the school lunch menu is being reformed, and the furore helped her raise more than £80,000 for development charity Mary’s Meals. Martha Payne is authentically awesome.
About Joan’s choice
(Lots of SPOILERS for season 5 of Mad Men in this post). It has been a fascinating season for the character of Joan, hasn’t it? This season Joan is a new mother and she’s very quickly also become a single… Read More ›
Sunday Singalong: Dolly Parton
Look at Dolly Parton in her Mad Men era, isn’t she beautiful? Parton is famous for her sly winking ‘dumb blonde’ routine but she is obviously incredibly talented as a recognised and award-winning singer-songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist, actor and philanthropist –… Read More ›