Phoebe Connelly is a former web editor of the Prospect. Previously, she was managing editor of In These Times. She writes on political culture, human rights and feminism.
Singer Lady Gaga and singer Cyndi Lauper attend the amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research) benefit gala on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
On Good Morning America in February, pop sensation Lady Gaga tested the limits of A.M. chatter by bringing up cavalier attitudes toward sex. Gaga (given name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), was there with 1980s pop icon Cyndi Lauper to promote their lipsticks for MAC Cosmetics' Viva Glam line, whose proceeds go toward services for those living with HIV/AIDS. The two were dressed in sedate photo-negative outfits -- Lauper in a stiff, geometric black jacket and Gaga in a ruffled white dress. The chyron billed them as "Champions for Women's Health," but the two were focused on women's attitudes toward sex.
Today, in 1954, the first trials began of the polio vaccine. The vaccine was developed using cells unknowingly donated by Henrietta Lacks, a black woman from Baltimore. Her cells -- known to researchers as HeLa cells -- have been used for everything from understanding the long-term effects of radiation to conducting experiments in space.
Update: Links have been added to some of the library's programs and partners.
On Wednesday, the Library of Congress announced it had signed an agreement with the microblogging service Twitter to archive all public tweets sent since the service began in 2006. I spoke with Martha Anderson, the director of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress, about the project and how it fits into the library's digital-archiving efforts. She warned me when we got started that her department had a cumbersome name.
Courtney Martin writes that this International Women's Day, we should look at gender inequality in our own communities. Each day this week on TAPPED we will run a profile of an organization doing exactly that.
Courtney Martin writes that this International Women's Day, we should look at gender inequality in our own communities. Each day this week on TAPPED we will run a profile of an organization doing exactly that.
When Hurricane Katrina hit Sharon Hanshaw's hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi, it destroyed her house and her beauty shop, a business she'd been building for 21 years. The few belongings she could salvage were in rough shape. After hours of cleaning off family photos, all that was left was a collection of silhouettes. "We just said we'll keep 'em, because at least we knew we did exist."
