Cinderella and Wonder Woman

Role models for modern women?

What do Cinderella and Wonder Woman have in common? They’re both women who succeed in getting what they want in life by very different means.

Naomi Orwin

Dec 28, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

When power becomes violence

The essential American dilemma

Like many other societies past and present, and despite its emphasis on freedom and democracy, American society has, for good or ill, grown and developed through the use of aggression as a means for enhancing self-interest and power.

Victor L. Schermerand Robert H. Klein

Dec 21, 2014 · Essays · 4 minute read

Happy holidays!

I split the holiday into the three parts to reflect the different aspects of my being: spirituality, family, and crass materialism.

Chris Predmore

Dec 20, 2014 · Essays · 4 minute read

'The Interview' and the Sony hack (two)

Free the film!

If the answer to threats about The Interview is “surrender,” then there is no doubt that more attacks will follow.

Susan Beth Lehman

Dec 19, 2014 · Essays · 3 minute read

'The Interview' and the Sony hack (one)

'The Interview' will not be released: Good news or bad?

Sony is withdrawing The Interview not because it wants to censor the subject matter of the movie, but because a backward but violent minority has scared it into submission. By withdrawing The Interview from general circulation, though, Sony may have had a good case, but it is setting a very bad precedent.

Armen Pandola

Dec 19, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Merry Christmas to all

Seeing a car with reindeer antlers evokes thoughts of the meaning of Christmas.

Kile Smith

Dec 16, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

The commercialization of Christmas is nothing new

Bought and sold

It would be easy to skewer all this as one more sick sign of commerce gone amok. But hold on just a moment, and think of your grandmothers. Or mine.

Anndee Hochman

Dec 14, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Remembering a rape

Leaving the deserted alley

After being raped as a teenager, I got on with my life and the decades slid past. Occasionally, some news story or Facebook post would trigger my memories, and I’d be right back in that room, waiting for it to end, but mostly, I shoved them away. Except now, the memories shoved back.

Wendy Rosenfield

Dec 09, 2014 · Essays · 7 minute read

Considering Cosby

The artist and the criminal

I wish people who break the law could be prosecuted, ideally without regard to their fame. And that we, as a society, could stop worshipping the extremely talented and giving them privileges they don't deserve along with the deserved adulation for their gifts.

Maria Thompson Corley

Dec 09, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Reconsidering the Neanderthals

I’m a Neanderthal, you’re a Neanderthal

We’re the Borg of the primate world. We assimilate, not just knowledge, but whole societies — like that of the Neanderthals.

Paula Berman

Nov 25, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read