Friday Funny: Buffy Does Edward Cullen (In)

 

So Much to Read, So Little Time

There are several recent articles that I’ve read that I so very much wish to write about–but considering the presentation I have to give in less than 12 hours, and the 70+ researched essays needing grading, that will just have to wait.

But I post links and brief descriptions here for those who want to read ahead:

• “Social Networks and Happiness” by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler and published in Edge: The Third Culture.  I’ve been collecting articles/blog postings, etc. about Facebook for a few months now (ever since I joined, in fact). I usually get 2-4 researched essays each term on the topic, too. This article confirms other recent studies that claim happiness is contagious: it seems, according to the authors, that this is true in a social network also. 
• “Gender Bender” by Alex Morris published in New York Magazine has already been discussed on several blogs, so it will be old hat by the time I get around to writing about it. Basically, Morris suggests that feminism is partly to blame for the rise in binge drinking among professional women, a dangerous causal analysis. 
• “Shelf Lives: Paging Through Feminism’s Lost and Found Classics”  published in Bitch Magazine: This article profiles six feminist works from the 1960s-1980s, only two that I’ve read (Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room and Toni Cade’s The Black Woman: An Anthology). I’m curious about the 4 other titles now and have already added them to my pages-long book wish list.
• I love most of what Caitlin Flanagan writes, including her latest Atlantic article raving about Twilight (the film and the series), “What Girls Want”  Here she focuses particularly on the success of the film and the series to appeal to teen girls’ secret sexual desires.  She almost makes me want to read the books.
• And, while we’re on the subject of sex, here is a funny posting by Danit Brown titled “No, Really, That Wasn’t Me: Three Dangers of Writing About Sex.”  Her references to Judy Bloom’s Forever (probably the Twilight of my generation) brought back fond memories. 

Happy Reading!