Just thinking... September 2021

Just Thinking is where I share random thoughts, inspirational quotes, good news and ideas. For instance...

I just love this silly post at BuzzFeed comparing MetGala outfits to book covers.

My friend Vicky Alvear Shecter turned me on (ahem) to this fantastic review of Magic Mike XXL: Magic Mike XXL Is Basically “The Odyssey,” But With Butts. I'm currently using The Odyssey in teaching my "Heroes and Anti-heroes: Creating Graphic Novels class. This is relevant: "...dad stories are stories about doing things the correct way because this is the way things have always been done, about accepting traditions as correct, about achievement that gains validation and praise because it fits into the systems that already exist. Most heroes are dads because most heroes uphold the status quo. The heroes of Campbellian narratives seem to be rebels, but they are usually only the central figure in a story meant to teach us why the king is the king."

The article in the Atlantic is soooo interesting: Colleges Have a Guy Problem. It's being driven by K-12 influences, bottom line. So, what messages are being sent to our young men? We better figure this one out quickly!

I also really appreciated this article from The New Yorker: The Frustration with Productivity Culture: Why we’re so tired of optimizing our work lives, and what we should do about it. It talks about the work-life balance I've been shouting about lately, and how the onus has fallen to the individual to be more productive, when the individuals are tapped out. The onus should be on the companies once more.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this article about passive characters and how they feed into the patriarchy: Active Protagonists are a Tool of the Patriarchy by Kelsey Allagood at Writer UnBoxed.

Olympian gold-medalist and friend Joe Jacobi brings up some great thinking points, right in line with where I'm taking my blog right now, at A Full Deck of Questions on Medium (you can also subscribe to receive his thoughts directly to your in-box.

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