Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

It’s my first week back at school and also the week of comps! You know the song and dance by now…here’s what I read this week:

1. Law Will Allow Employers to Fire Women for Using Whore Pills: In the latest iteration of the birth control controversy, Arkansas law makers want to have women provide prescriptions to their employers when they use birth control for “non-sexual” reasons. It’s just a short leap from a law like this to being denied a job based on personal details. Scary.
   
   
2. Google Begins to Scale Back Its Scanning of Books From University Libraries: Though I’m still not sure where I stand on the whole Google Books controversy, it’s interesting that the project is slowing down. I always thought that something like this project would continue indefinitely (since it would be impossible to scan all the world’s books without a constant influx of new titles).
   
3. My Roommate, Gloria: Though I could’ve chosen another of the myriad of articles published for Steinem’s birthday this one resonated with me the most. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen The Education of Shelby Knox and heard Ms. Knox speak at AAUW’s National Conference for College Women Student Leaders when I attended last year, but her story seemed powerful. All too often I get caught up in thinking icons like Gloria Steinem are personas instead of persons — a slight distinction in spelling but an important one in meaning.
   
4. Their Lotus Can’t Take Root on a Yoga Mat: As I fall more in love with yoga I’m interested to see the differing opinions on practice. This NYT article takes a look at the new trend of practicing without a mat. Sound interesting, and economical, but without that cushioning some of the poses would hurt!

    

5. 4 Things the Hunger Games Can Teach Us About the War on Women: My friends are endlessly sick of my snapping at everyone who says THG is like Twilight so it’s nice to find an article to illustrate my point. Where Bella is passive, personality-lacking, and a general curmudgeon, Katniss is strong, selfless and independent. It also helps that Suzanne Collins manages to write stories with real plot. (click on the image above for a cool Katniss braid tutorial)

As I mentioned in my previous post I haven’t had a whole lot of time to read for fun over my break since I’ve been studying (sort of) diligently for my comprehensive exams. When I popped my head out of the comps hole here is what I took a look at:

1. Mugglenet March Madness: Anyone who has met me knows that sports aren’t exactly my thing. No really, I almost managed to fail high school P.E.! The March Madness brackets are Greek to me but this one from mugglenet is right up my alley. Pick a Harry Potter character, any Harry Potter character!
   
2. Book Madness: So not to sound like I’m too caught up in this March Madness thing, but Out of Print has a great match up of books instead of teams. If you haven’t already heard of this amazing clothing company head over to their site and check out their cozy sweatshirts and the brackets at the same time.
   
3. Ebooks Interupted: I’m always interested to hear how others interact with the e-book medium. I adore my kindle but I find myself reading “real” books much more often. This article suggests that devices that do it all are poor substitutes for books because they provide too many distractions from the written word. I’m inclined to agree. When I use my (borrowed) ipad to read it’s all too easy to take a break to check twitter.
   
4. 7 Children’s Books Written in Response to Other Books: This article was a lighthearted examination of some of my favorite children’s books. Who knew that  The Lorax angered the timber industry enough to write a rebuttal book?