Photo via Katie Adams on Twitter
Editor’s Note:
Also in this week’s Signature Need-to-Know: A Librarian gives thanks, and Ruby Rose’s Batwoman is revealed.
Among the many highs and lows of this year’s National Book Awards, the internet held its breath as editor Katie Adams scrambled to recover from a last-minute setback: hours before the event, the restaurant she was dining at inadvertently gave the suitcase containing all her clothes to another customer. After a last minute dash to buy suitably classy evening wear in Manhattan (plus sweatpants to relax in after the awards), Adams was able to make the appearance – and as a bonus, was eventually reunited with her suitcase. Congrats are in order for this year’s winners, which include Sigrid Nunez for her novel The Friend.
Among the many other reasons to give thanks, this year Kristen Arnett is thankful for the virtues she’s learned as a librarian. In a piece for LitHub, she takes inventory in the qualities her work has instilled in her over the years, patience, humor, and empathy – and all of the above, plus exposure to a broader section of humanity, has improved her chops as a writer: “It’s meant listening to the weird and funny ways that people interact with each other. Listening to conversations and questions. Watching how people in a community fight and hope and love each other. I am a better writer because of what patrons have taught me. This is truly invaluable. I am extremely grateful for it.”
Girl, Wash Your Face author Rachel Hollis has soared to the top of bestseller lists on the strength of her down-to-earth image and the simplicity of her message, which mainly revolves around taking responsibility for the lies women tell themselves about their own limitations. Writing about this cultural phenomenon for Buzzfeed, Laura Turner traces the connections between the author’s brand of Christian faith and the particular brand of feminism that ignores challenges faced by certain sections of society, imagining that all women can overcome their particular difficulties by sheer force of will (“You are in charge of your own life, sister, and there’s not one thing in it that you’re not allowing to be there”). Hollis’s new book, Girl, Stop Apologizing, will be released in March.
Until recently, students in Texas were taught that the Civil War’s causes were “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery, in that order.” Beginning next year, the state’s Board of Education has decreed that slavery will finally be presented as playing “a central role” in the war. NPR’s reportage also mentions that the Board voted to keep figures like Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller in their curricula, after a decision to “streamline” made waves across the country earlier this year.
The play “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” has been a stalwart of school theater productions for decades, humorously cramming in as much Shakespeareian content as one show can hold. While certainly the bard’s works contain their share of “adult” content, they remain a core part of high school English and theatre curricula, but tell that to a group of parents in North Carolina, who held a prayer circle following a recent community production over what they deemed “inappropriate” content related to suicide and alcohol consumption. In other words, teenagers are to be protected from learning about issues related to being a teenager (a la Romeo and Juliet).
“My gender is Nick Cave,” announces author C.I. Fautsch, but what could just be a glib pronouncement of fan adoration proves to be far more, in which Fautsch explores “how I feel about being a woman by watching Nick Cave be a man.” A singer’s voice plays on the imagination just like a writer’s words do, and the essay that results from this exploration of gender and fandom glimmers with the kind of insights that only come from profound self-analysis accompanied many repeat listens of “From Her to Eternity.”
The election may be over, but author Rebecca Solnit points toward the work we have to do before the next election in this article about a very different kind of voter suppression – the kind that takes place in households where men “bully, silence and control their wives into voting conservative.” Compiling reports from canvassers who were out spreading the word about Democratic candidates, Solnit helps shed light on the women who are “not allowed” to vote in a way their husband disagrees with.
After retreating a bit to avoid contact with fans squabbling over her whether she’s a suitable choice to play Batwoman, Ruby Rose is back with a vengeance: an “Elseworlds” teaser trailer has been released, fully introducing her in the role. While Rose is only glimpsed briefly – a bit of brooding, a bit of leaping – Io9 sounds mollified, pointing out that this is “a very Bat-family thing to do.” The proper release date for this crossover event (featuring characters from “Arrow,” “The Flash,” and “Supergirl”) will be December 9th.
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