Second of all: I have a favor to ask. I've signed up another novelette for my publishing company. This is a sci-fi novelette, and depression features in the plot. I'd like to get a couple of beta readers who either have depression themselves or are close to someone who does. If you're interested, email me (wandsci at gmail dot com). This can be a paid thing, or I can owe you a favor: whichever way works better for you.
Third of all: Let's have some links!
This NY Times interactive graphic about money, race, and educational success showed up in my inbox from a couple of different sources. It isn't really surprising, and that is sad. If you've never looked at this sort of data, take a look. One limitation is that it is only by school district, so it isn't very informative about large school districts like mine. San Diego Unified comes in at about average, but I am fairly certain that educational attainment is not uniform across San Diego Unified, for exactly the reasons this graphic is highlighting.
On being angry while female. I completely missed the Kelly Ripa story, and honestly, before I read this article, I didn't really know who she was... but this is a nice article tying a lot of things together. I think it would have been stronger if it had acknowledged that women of different races experience this prohibition on being angry differently, though. But perhaps that is too big a subject to really tackle in a short article. I think there are common threads, and then also things that are different for women of each race. I'd love to read more about this, though.
This post about the men who email women who have written something is really good. Every once in awhile, something I write at Chronicle Vitae prompts a bunch of emails, always from men, always telling me either that I'm wrong, or that I failed to consider something.
The most recent one, which was about how being organized is a skill that you can learn, prompted a hilarious crop of emails earnestly explaining that maybe the writer (again, always male) could learn how to be organized, but they would never be quite as good at it as their wives are, and therefore it makes sense that their wives handle all the minutae of their lives. I don't know what they were looking for? Absolution? If so, they should be talking to their wives.
I didn't answer any of the emails. I'm not in the business of ajudicating how other people arrange their home lives. If both parties are happy, great. If not... they need to talk to each other, not me.
Lest you despair about men... this essay by Detroit Lions linebacker Deandre Levy about how men need to "man up" to address sexual assault is wonderful. What struck me is that according to the essay, his change of perspective came from attending training about domestic violence from the NFL. Also clear from the essay is that the training didn't reach everyone... but it reached him. Imagine how many men we'd reach if we'd talk with boys and young men in high school and college. We will not reach everyone, but if we reach some, I think it would be worth it.
Turning to the state of digital media... this article from Mother Jones editors Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery is really good. If we want good, independent media, we have to be willing to pay for it.
This article about the extra problems older women face in the workplace is sobering for me. What if I find I need to go back to a full time job... and run into age discrimination as well as gender discrimination? Mostly, this makes me work harder on my projects, but it also makes me worry.
This post about aphantasia is mind-blowing. Read it. Really.
The Grumpies hosted a really interesting discussion about online vs IRL personality.
Bad Mom, Good Mom talked about Facebook's privacy policy. Boy, I'm looking forward to talking about privacy settings with my kids!
Finally, here's David Frum thoughtfully considering the case for a third party run by a conservative candidate. I disagree with his politics, but I am glad there are still some Republicans who think that giving in and unifying behind Trump is a fundamentally wrong thing to do.
And now, we need something fun to end on.
Sorry, I don't have anything really light-hearted, but Alexandra Petri's post about the woman card is hilarious in a "laugh so you don't cry" sort of way.
And this made me laugh:
MSNBC: Can Hillary Clinton really pick a woman as her VP?— Ashley Spillane (@aspillane) April 23, 2016
Anita Dunn: There is some precedent for having a running mate of the same gender.
I feel like I should have a cute animal picture to end with or something, but I don't. Sorry. Have a good weekend, anyway.