“While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word was used this year, that nuance was lost, and we regret that its inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and justice.” – TIME apologizes for including “feminist” on its list of banned words for 2015 (but not for the fact that the entire list is basically language used by people other than straight white men, so like, whatevs, thanks TIME).
WEIRD SISTER’s own Morgan Parker’s brilliant personal essay “White People Love Me: Dispatches from the Token” over on VIDA: Women in Literary Arts’ site brings up really important ideas about tokenism and “diversity,” specifically within literary communities.
Transgender pioneer and author of Stone Butch Blues Leslie Feinberg died this week. We’re so grateful for hir incredibly important, insightful, beautiful work. Read Feinberg’s obituary, written by hir partner Minnie Bruce Pratt, here.
This year’s National Book Awards winners were announced on Wednesday. The Poetry Award went to Louise Gluck, the award for Young People’s Literature went to Jacqueline Woodson. (And the what the fuck award goes to Daniel Handler.)
“It is hard to believe that Bill Cosby is a serial rapist because the belief doesn’t just indict Cosby, it indicts us… It destroys our ability to lean on icons for our morality. And it forces us back into a world where seemingly good men do unspeakably evil things, and this is just the chaos of human history.” – Read this great piece on why the rape charges against Bill Cosby must not be ignored.
Check out the new issue of Bone Bouquet, featuring rad women poets Natalie Eilbert, Ginger Ko, Melissa Eleftherion, and many others.
And finally, sparkly confetti thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us at the WEIRD SISTER launch party in Brooklyn last night!
