All Blog Posts (21,743)

Jude Law in Hamlet

People are at their best when watching marvelous, beautiful things. They become thoughtful, entranced, enlivened. For my birthday I was glad to be part of the audience at the Broadhurst.

On the screen, Jude Law is movie-star handsome; on stage he is merely attractive, which is just as well, because his appearance does not detract from his brilliant acting. I've never seen a better Hamlet. Law's Hamlet is vulnerable, active, intelligent, and arrogant--an arrogant royal, who has good… Continue

Added by Miriam Levine on December 4, 2009 at 3:10pm — No Comments

NY Times Notable Books of 2009

The NY Times list of 100 Notable Books includes female authors. List just came out today, December 4, 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2009/100-notable-books-of-2009-gift-guide/list.html?ref=books&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1

Added by Tresha Barger on December 4, 2009 at 1:08pm — No Comments

Betty Lou Got A New Pair Of Shoes

Check out my beautiful new website. My old pal Arthur Avary at Twiners designed it for me. Arthur was the one who first spotted what he calls my little inner blogger. I told him no way. I’d never blog. The rest is history.

If you subscribe to by blog feed feed, re-subscribe now because the URL is slightly different.

Let me know what you think of… Continue

Added by Jillian Lauren on December 4, 2009 at 10:31am — No Comments

Are You a Parent Without Your Own Mom and Dad?

Imagine not being able to go home for the holidays. Now imagine if you couldn't go home next year either. Or, ever again. What would it be like to never smell those smells from your childhood or re-taste those special tastes? That's what it's like for me now that both my parents have passed away. Nearly every year since my parents died I've gone to my husband's family for Thanksgiving, this past Thursday included. And now that we have two children, his family's celebration is the only… Continue

Added by Allison Gilbert on December 4, 2009 at 9:44am — No Comments

An affair that doesn't involve Tiger Woods

As you may or may not know, the theme of Best Sex Writing 2010 is "Sexual Outlaws," taken from Betty Dodson's essay of the same name (click above to read the introduction) that's in the book. In a week when affairs, Tiger Woods' in this case, are omnipresent in the news, let's have a look at a wanted affair, one that nobody is going to have to usher a major public apology for because its author is claiming it happily, lustily, and… Continue

Added by Rachel Kramer Bussel on December 4, 2009 at 9:39am — No Comments

Death By Spinet by Lucille Joyner (Piano Technician)

When I go from a Steinway Grand to a spinet, I get the aural bends. In this frame of mind, people should never make the mistake of asking what I think of these little mutants because I am no longer tactful. I don't care at all how emotionally attached a person is to grandma's spinet, the piano belongs at the curb, piece by piece. If grandma is still alive and objects, put her at the curb, too. It's all her fault.

Sometimes, as I am standing before a little beast and am asked "Can you fix… Continue

Added by Lucille Joyner on December 4, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Intentional Insights: Saturn Loves Libra Loves Shadow

I read your story on what Saturn gave you. It really touched me. I am a September Libra, and as you know, I now have Saturn in Libra. Any Insights? Linda

Thanks for writing, Linda. Your concern is duly noted. I have a Libra moon, which is curiously productive and stabilizing, and is now insisting that I value and be authentic in relationships. I never thought I'd turn to the Sun for shade. Along that line, in Libra, Saturn's focus is relationships and how they are an… Continue

Added by Kelley Harrell on December 4, 2009 at 9:15am — No Comments

Today on Drinking Diaries, What Kind of Drinker Are You? The British Health Dept. stereotypes women/men in their list of drinking types

drinking diaries

Added by Leah Odze Epstein on December 4, 2009 at 6:26am — No Comments

Interviews with Julie Powell (Cleaving, Julie & Julia) and Erica Kennedy (Feminista, Bling)

Monday morning I flew home on a redeye. Monday night I went to The Meat Hook in Williamsburg to interview Julie Powell about her new memoir Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession for The Daily Beast.

Early reviews have shown as much squeamishness about the details of her affair as the gorier aspects of tearing apart hunks of meat. “My exploration of my… Continue

Added by Rachel Kramer Bussel on December 4, 2009 at 5:36am — 1 Comment

Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 21

"I don't care to say whether I'm greater than Shakespeare, and he's dead and can't say whether he's greater than I am. Time will tell." (Lecture at Wesleyan University, 1935)

What's all the fuss about?

When Stein went on her lecture tour, 75 years ago, she was so famous in America, so lionized by the press, that the proverbial man in the street recognized her. People were puzzled and amused and they all quoted her. Today, if you put a… Continue

Added by Renate Stendhal on December 3, 2009 at 11:57pm — No Comments

How do we do it?

We are all writers. Right? But many of us have families, jobs, lovers, friends and responsibilities. How then do we set aside all the things that pull at us to quietly compose something profound? I just took on a night job and am finding that my writing is suffering. I can blog - that doesn't take too much of my concentration. Poetry flows off my fingertip when I am tired; that doesn't mean it's good poetry. My novel, my non-fiction, and my children's series are talking to each other in a… Continue

Added by Leslie S Moon on December 3, 2009 at 10:07pm — No Comments

Stinky attitude

As soon as he opened the door after the tardy bell rang I knew what kind of day that he and I were going to have. He had a scowl on his face and his hoodie pulled over his head trying to cover his eyes; he, also, did not have a late pass in his hand so I had to send him back to the office to get one. Shoulders slump, moan, groan, mumble under breath, slam the door and stomp down the hall.

Oh boy, I really didn't want to deal with this. Is it wrong that when I saw that he wasn't there… Continue

Added by Mendi Davis on December 3, 2009 at 9:15pm — No Comments

FTC rules affect bloggers.

The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on the Internet and the integrity of information posted. But they are taking am at bloggers, for having opinions, and it especially affects those of us who write reviews.

The full FTC ruling is here: http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

In summary, bloggers who promote their customers or who endorse products and services must disclose that fact. If you're positioned… Continue

Added by Helen Gallagher on December 3, 2009 at 7:03pm — No Comments

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR...

MAGGIE GEE

The year after she published her first “experimental” novel Dying in Other Words (1981), Maggie Gee was selected as one of the original ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ in Granta. Since then she has published eleven more books. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Impac Dublin Literary Award, served as the first female Chair of Council of the Royal Society of Literature, and been translated into thirteen languages.… Continue

Added by Kamy Wicoff on December 3, 2009 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment

The Great (?) Twilight Debate (or Jews Have Sex)

My goodness, the Twilight hate! The Twilight love! The Internet is abuzz with one or the other--there seems to be no in between. Where do you fall on the divide?

In case you've been under a rock, here's the hater argument (taken from multiple blog postings and articles online):

The Bella/Edward relationship shows all the signs of an abusive relationship: he stalks her, breaks into her room and watches her sleep, is technically an "older man" preying… Continue

Added by Rachel Thompson on December 3, 2009 at 2:10pm — No Comments

Intelligent Hustle

I love quotes.

They can be funny, sad, ridiculous, thought-provoking, inspirational… Once or twice a quote has even driven me to change some small part of myself and, dare I say it, grow. The following is a true story.

I’ve always been shy, even when I answered my calling to become a teacher (irony at its finest). I could be myself in a middle school Language Arts classroom without fear. What did I care what a bunch of 13… Continue

Added by Misa Ramirez on December 3, 2009 at 10:15am — 1 Comment

The latest from Gina Barreca

Catch up on the new blogs from Gina Barreca here:

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Tweeze-the-Day/8998/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303064.html?referrer=emailarticle…

Continue

Added by BookPRGirl on December 3, 2009 at 9:05am — No Comments

Blank Doll

Blank Doll

If everything's being killed from the inside out

I remain the only outsides I have learned to keep

smiling.

Blank Doll.

Rosy cheeks, night-wishing eyes.

Eyelashes and pleasant raspberry lips.

Change my dress, my place, my time

undress me til you see the empty space inside.

matte plastic. soft and thick

she's not original. she's just pretty.

she sits on the windowsill… Continue

Added by Nina Chong on December 3, 2009 at 12:30am — No Comments

First Blog Entry on SheWrites!

Hey everyone!!

I'm Nina Chong and I'm a college student currently living in NYC, which is also where I am from. My school, however, is actually in Jackson, MS where I am a dance major. :)

I am in NYC for medical reasons and to undergo testing to figure out some things that are wrong with the way my body functions, but I am loving being home just the same. I am also a born-again… Continue

Added by Nina Chong on December 3, 2009 at 12:00am — No Comments

Almost Popular: A Cautionary Tale by Judy Bolton-Fasman

Here are some facts about bullying:

• Up to 25 percent of children in this country are bullied sometime during their school career.

• In a National Mental Health Association survey of 12- to 17-year-olds, 78 percent reported gay kids or kids perceived as gay were bullied. The number shoots up to 93 percent when teens were asked if they heard derogatory comments about sexual orientation.

Bullying is a national nightmare. Bullying is physical. Bullying is emotional.… Continue

Added by Judy Bolton-Fasman on December 2, 2009 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment