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levinine

Published Letters: 8
Editor's Choice: 2

Thursday, November 17, 2005 04:09 PM

loved the movie, enjoyed the review

I saw the movie last night and it was the first in the series I truly enjoyed and loved. The opening scenes filmed at the quidditch world cup were exhilarating and funny and then terrifying, and the whole movie continues in the same vein. For the first time, nothing felt tacked on and too cutesy, it all seemed essential and so was much more deeply enjoyable.

Monday, November 21, 2005 11:20 AM
Original article: New Yorkers holla back

This is empowering?

From what I saw on the site, most women were "harrassed," put up with it meekly (or in the case of the woman who let the stranger walk her home and hug her, there seems to be an unthinking endorsement of his behavior), and then thought that taking a picture of the back of some guy's head makes them less of a victim?

And calling someone out on their bad behavior almost never causes them to act contrite, they respond to their embarrassment with anger and that's really not a position I want to be in when I'm walking alone down the street. When I don't have to, I don't engage. And when it's on the subway and I can't easily get away from it, I remove myself from the situation or I shoot one of my trademark, withering looks that should be a part of every New Yorker's arsenal. I don't carry myself like a victim and I don't allow anyone to see me as one.

Monday, December 12, 2005 10:50 AM

Stop blaming the skinny women...

I'm old enough now to realize that when people make fun of skinny women, it's usually because of jealousy, but I was 17 before I was able to start accepting that. Until then, I avoided all situations where I might have to show my ankles. So as a child growing up in the southwest, swim parties and sandals were both unavailable to me. If fat is a feminist issue, stop hating on the women who cannot gain any to save their lives. And don't count it as an "empowering" activity for you and your children to engage in.

Thursday, September 28, 2006 10:23 AM
Original article: Kirkus shrugged

a lackluster review is better than no review to a library

At least in my library system, we can't add books to our collection unless they've been reviewed by one of the major sources.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 01:45 PM
Original article: Miss USA keeps her crown

Mitigating Circumstance?

I liked her for being on Project Runway.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:53 AM
Original article: Prada: The new puberty

Case being overstated

As a librarian who often works with teens and their books, I just can't get worked up about this. I'm about 100 pages from being done with the whole Gossip Girls series, and I'm loving it. The books are smarter, funnier, and better written than they get credit for. And the bad behavior isn't all that bad. I've actually heard that Alloy, who produces these books, has tried to get brands to pay for placement but didn't find any takers. The brands mentioned are high-end and often obscure brands who know that teen girls are not their target audience.

YA literature as a whole has come a long way, both at its most literary and most pop-addictive.

Thursday, August 7, 2008 11:20 AM
Original article: The Natalie Portman problem

Stargirl

Jerry Spinelli's YA modern classic Stargirl is wonderful at setting a girl up to be a MPDG and then deconstructing why the narrator needed her to be that for him.

Thursday, October 1, 2009 09:24 AM

Men make it desirable?

I was with you until this: "Not to say it's a universally undesirable one. (The census found that 165,000 dads are doing it, too.)" The fact that dads are starting to do this makes you consider that maybe for some people it's a good choice? Maybe men are making it for the same reason that women are, why do you assume that they are "opting-out?"

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