FYI, my reading last night at Poor Mouth Poetry at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale went swimmingly, and I met some fabulous people. Riverdale! Who knew?
In the interest of time (I got a hot tip on the medication I need possibly being available uptown, so I’m going to be trying to sniff it out on my lunch break), today’s post will be less me-oriented, and more awesome-pants links and fun stuff oriented.
Enjoy!
1) I love Melinda Gates. A lot. In case anyone is wondering, this is what you do when you’re married to one of the world’s richest men and have the resources to do it.
2) I find this case about the black-cab prostitution ring here in NYC verrrry interesting. The prosecution is alleging that the women they “rescued” from their “pimps” had “no control over their finances, making prostituted victims essentially helpless if they were to attempt to leave the operation,” and that they were in “an indentured situation.” Sounds totally awful, right? Totally evil. Well, New York magazine is reporting that at the alleged “victims” showed up at the courthouse yesterday, wearing homemade “Free Vincent George Jr. and Sr” t-shirts and yelling, “We are not victims!” Hm, perhaps not so evil, like a lot of prostitution. Granted, the “we’re a family” language is a little odd, but hopefully we’re hear more from the women involved soon to clarify. Leave it to the D.A. to assume any woman involved in sex work is trafficked, and leave it (thankfully) to women with a voice to speak up for themselves. It will be fascinating to see how this all shakes down.
3) Ok, this article is a little weird… Not sure how Fifty Shades of Grey fits into a discussion of feminist pornography and female empowerment, so much, but hey. It’s Australia, where porn is super-ultra-taboo, and it’s a bunch of women talking about how feminist porn rocks, so I’m cool with it.
4) Also, this. (Yes, the grammar is bad, but the idea? Oh so worth it.)
