RSS

E.J. Graff

Lost in Detention

E.J. GraffOct 17, 2011

What happens to you when you sneak into the U.S. without papers, hoping for a better life? You might make a living working at jobs that the native-born wouldn't take, supporting your family back home. Or you might end up in indefinite detention. On Tuesday at 9 p.m., PBS's Frontline airs Maria Hinojosa's in-depth, year-long investigation of this system, Lost in Detention. As you may know, Hinojosa's powerful journalistic career has been dedicated to telling the stories of social injustice and exposing the machinery that perpetrates it. I suspect this will be powerful and disturbing. Here's what her production house, Futuro Media Group, says about this show:

Jane Austen Lives!

E.J. GraffOct 14, 2011

Jane Austen lives -- in India. Once upon a time, the course of your life was determined by the status you were born into. As cheeky as Jane Austen could be, she knew perfectly well that each character's income and background determined their marital fates. The young lady of the manor better not run off with the dashing blacksmith, because marrying him would cast her out of all "polite society." You might say that things aren't really so different today; if a Yale Law graduate married a janitor, the rehearsal dinner might be a bit tense. But if the janitor magically put herself through law school -- and it does happen, despite the many barriers -- allowances would be made.

When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?

E.J. GraffOct 14, 2011

Here in the People's Republic of Cambridge, you occasionally see street signs declaring that the city is a "domestic violence-free zone." Those always make me feel a little snarky: Does my city really believe that we've ended coercion, control, and violence between intimate partners and family members? But while I might roll my eyes at this symbolic gesture, I am proud that the city announces that it takes violence against women and children seriously. I remember, as a child, watching the Jackie Gleason show. His character, Ralph Kramden, would regularly threaten his TV wife with a punch that would send her "to the moon, Alice!

First They Came for Abortion ...

E.J. GraffOct 13, 2011

Do not miss Katha Pollitt's latest column, which begins:

First they came for abortion, but I didn't care because abortion was for sluts. Then they came for sex ed, but I didn't care because the kids can learn all they need to know at home. Then they came for birth control, but... Wait a minute! Birth control? They're coming for birth control?

In brief: Yes. Read the column for details.

Thanks, Frank, for Everything

E.J. GraffOct 12, 2011

So it appears to be the week for visionaries and pioneers to die. Last night, at age 86, Frank Kameny died at home. Kameny was the genuine article: a trailblazer in gay rights, suing the federal government -- in the 1950s -- for firing him for being a homosexual, back before we all graduated to being called "gay." From the Washington Blade's obituary:

Kameny, born and raised in New York City, served in combat as an Army soldier in World War II in Europe. After the war, Kameny obtained a doctorate degree in astronomy from Harvard University.

The Masculinity Patrol

E.J. GraffOct 11, 2011

Over at The Huffington Post, Soraya Chemaly absolutely nails one of the great injustices of childhood (and adulthood, although it's less visible by then): the masculinity patrol. She makes a fabulous proposal: National Let Your Boy Be a Girl Day:

Because every other day of the year they have to make sure they are NOT girls. Because if a boy acts like a girl the national press gets involved ...

What's Up With Brewster County, Continued ...

E.J. GraffOct 07, 2011

Earlier this week I wondered what was up with Brewster County, Texas -- waaay down on the Mexican border, which according to the census has 8.2 same-sex couples for every 1,000 households. While that doesn't approach the numbers you find in some of the more famously gay-friendly regions, that's almost as high a density as Dallas County (8.7), although not quite as many as Austin (11). Why?

Texas expat @AmandaMarcotte was kind enough to tweet me her answer (in six parts):

Paula Ettelbrick Dies

E.J. GraffOct 07, 2011

Another reason to grieve (and to read Hopkins): Paula Ettelbrick is dead. She was a fierce and important LGBT advocate, working in the movement for her entire adulthood, in just about every capacity, including Lambda Legal, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Stonewall Community Foundation. I didn't know her personally, although I debated her in print -- we disagreed -- but I deeply admired her dedication and feel the loss keenly. More here.

Obit Day

E.J. GraffOct 07, 2011

Today is obit day. The nation lost three visionaries, as you’ve heard by now: Steve Jobs, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, and Derrick Bell. Others have said what there is to say, brilliantly. But such a day of losses made me think of a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem I try to say to someone every autumn. Close your office door and read it aloud. 

Spring and Fall

to a young child

 

MÁRGARÉT, áre you gríeving

My Body, Myself

E.J. GraffOct 06, 2011

(Homepage photo credit: Georgia O'Keeffe, Grey Line with Black, Blue, and Yellow, 1923. Houston Museum of Fine Arts.)

So you've been watching those early '60s nostalgia shows in fascinated horror -- oh lord, women really had to live like that -- and wondering: How in the world did that world change into this one?

Where Are All the Same-Sex Couples At?

E.J. GraffOct 04, 2011

Thanks to the tireless demographer Gary Gates of UCLA's Williams Institute, NPR has an interactive map of where in the U.S., according to the census, the most same-sex couples live. (Or at least, where you can find same-sex couples who feel safe enough to tell the census that they're together.) As you'd imagine, every state has an outpost where the lesbians and gay men flock if they want to get a little bit away from their unwelcoming small town or family -- but not so far that they can't go home to visit the nephews or help with Thanksgiving.

Poor, Poor Rich People

E.J. GraffOct 04, 2011

Over at The Washington Post, Barbara Ehrenreich feels terrible, just terrible about the problems of the super-rich, who can't dress the way they want to. She describes a New Yorker profile of Daphne Guinness

The Best Man-Splanation

E.J. GraffOct 04, 2011

In response to my article yesterday about offices where sexism is a low-grade fever -- and let's be clear, this definitely happens in progressive and journalistic organizations as well as in finance, manufacturing, and all the rest -- Amanda Marcotte tweeted at me that the word "mansplaining" can sometimes help counter the problem. Aha! Yes -- naming things can help get rid of them! But this new coinage I had not yet heard, so I asked her for examples. Herewith:

Sexism's Low-Grade Fever

E.J. GraffOct 03, 2011

Last week, many in the D.C. elite were chattering about Ron Suskind's new book, Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President. While I'm not going to weigh in on the merits and demerits of the book as a whole -- too many people have done that already -- I was fascinated by a conversation it triggered about workplaces that are unfriendly, even mildly hostile, to women. Here's Politico's reporting on the quote that ricocheted around the Beltway:

Former communications director Anita Dunn is described by Suskind as feeling she worked in an overwhelmingly male environment at the White House.

In Other News

E.J. GraffSep 30, 2011
  • Yet another major public-opinion survey finds that more Americans than ever support same-sex marriage. (You can find the others here.) Guess what's trending? Even the Pentagon is doing it, now permitting chaplains to marry same-sex couples on military bases too. #goingtothechapel

Pages