Monday, September 20, 2010

Monday Miscellanea

Ya know who kicks ass? Elizabeth Warren.
Consumer advocate to set up watchdog agency
Warren has been known to say such kick-ass things as this:
Motherhood is now the single-best indicator that an unmarried middle-class woman will end up bankrupt. In the world of financial devastation, there are two groups of people: single mothers and others.
Check out 5 reasons to love Elizabeth Warren here.



And while we're talking about ass-kicking women...check 'em:
Photo of starting players for the Seattle Storm WNBA team
Just sayin'...


During a recession, the effects of ageism are more clearly visible:
For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again



And according to this review, the presence of shows like Huge and Mike and Molly reflect the positive influence of the Fat Acceptance movement in mainstream culture:
And yet despite its disappointments, “Mike & Molly” is significant as the second fictional series in recent months to take weight not as a sideshow but rather as a central, animating subject, surpassing even the efforts made by “Roseanne” in the 1980s and ’90s. “Huge,” a drama about teenagers at a fat camp, which appeared this summer on ABC Family, displayed a similar sensitivity, a tone aimed at correcting for the reflexive cultural judgments levied against the overweight at a time when obesity has been cast as one of the greatest blights of our age.

Both series indicate the extent to which the countervailing sentiment, the fat-acceptance movement, begun in the 1960s, has gained traction in the mainstream as a rebuttal to political and social forces seeking to tax Mountain Dew and convince you that every time you have a second slice of pizza the devil grows an extra pair of horns. “Mike & Molly” is a mushy and human exploration of the struggle to find pleasure away from the bakery aisle, and the fight fat people wage against objectification.

I wouldn't bet the show will be unproblematic, but it seems like a step in the right direction.



What did I miss?

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/21/2010

    I live in Seattle, and it feels like the WNBA is really picking up momentum here.

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  2. Lillian9/21/2010

    I saw an ad for Mike & Molly and thought it looked pretty good. I love Melissa McCarthy, so I'll probably watch it. But I'm not expecting it to be perfect either. You almost can't avoid some kind of fail regarding weight when you're imersed in this fat-hating culture of ours.

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  3. Anonymous9/22/2010

    DADT reform is killed for now. Under the bus again. What a suprise.

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  4. Oh yeah, I did miss that. It's depressing. There have also been a depressing number of cases of violence against trans people in the news, and some fucked up reporting on it. I think I just feel overwhelmed by it, but I do plan to post about it soon.

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  5. Lizzay9/23/2010

    I heard Warren interviewed on NPR and she sounds great!

    ReplyDelete