Reading List #27 (Patreon)

Has it gotten indescribably cold in your region of the world? If the answer is "yes" and you're anything like me, you are happy. The corny kind of happy that garners chunky sweatshirts, sassy mugs filled with freshly brewed tea, and countless candles bought on sale from Ross and Wal-Mart. Yes, that is my world when I get a moment to relax- and a good read from my bookshelf or one culled from Al Gore's internet only makes me more cozy. I hope wherever you are, you're staying warm with some good reads. Here's eight articles and a book to settle in with.

1) Do You Even Bake, Bro? (Dayna Evans) 11/19/18

I never think of tech bros when I think of bread, or vice versa. But, "If there's anything tech bros love it's mastery." This quirky piece delves into food history, the merits of sourdough, gender inequality, and more. Breadmaking is compared to coding in terms of creativity, while insight is shared on the trend of men taking over conversations about bread when it has mainly fallen on women for centuries. Also, there's talk of a fucking $600 cookbook. 

Read Length: Long

2) The Other Boleyn Girl (Phillippa Gregory) 2001

My dose of historical fiction. I've never seen the movie, but I knew a little about the Tudor reign. I knew nothing of Mary Boleyn except that she was King Henry's mistress before he married Anne. This book brought the story to life. If you love trashy yet well-written period films or books, you've either already read this and loved it or just need to read it. 

Read Length: Book (664 Pages)

3) The Lasting Effects of The Lolita Complex (Lucy Warner) November 2018

We live in a society that sexualizes young girls and romanticizes the men "seduced" by them. This is demonstrated clearly in the infamous Lolita, but also in Hollywood. This is a chilling and thought provoking piece. I had no clue that Lolita was based on a true story, either. 

Read Length: Long

Related: Lolita Comes Again (Elizabeth Kaye) 02/01/97

I have never read Lolita and I'm doubtful I ever will, but after reading Warner's piece I read this article she referenced, which offered more history on rape culture and the controversy surrounding the book and movie.

4) The Secret Syndicate Behind Nancy Drew (Cara Strickland) 11/21/18

A short piece on pop culture history. It was interesting to learn that writers of each book earned about $125, or two months equivalent of a newspaper employee's salary. If you're a slow writer that's horrible but if you're a nimble one that could have been pretty lucrative. 

Read Length: Short

5) What We're Losing When We Say Goodbye To Alt-Weeklies, The Rebels of Journalism (Paul Farhi) 8/24/17

I was sad to find out this month that my beloved hometown alt-newspaper, Creative Loafing Charlotte, ceased publication. They were free and weekly, and I always scooped one every week on my way to work growing up. It had details on events around Charlotte that I was too young to go to, features of people that I often had never heard of, and raging sex advice from a near-genius, Dan Savage. Plus there were always lush descriptions of good food in the area. But feeding my love for Creative Loafing more than anything was the fact that they featured me in March of 2017. This article summed up my feelings about the end of Creative Loafing.

Read Length: Short

6) China Rules (The New York Times) November 2018

This series contains five articles about how China and their economy are cementing their role as a global superpower. Will there be confrontation between us and China? Will it be a new Cold War or actual bloodshed? This is a time-consuming collection, but important for understanding how recent and future world events were or will be connected to this. I took elaborate notes on each article, and compiled them into this guide so you can get the full rundown quickly. 

Read Length: Long

7) Eating to America (Naz Riahi) November 2018

The only thing I have beef with in this article (pun intended) is her visceral disgust for pineapple pizza. Other than that, I enjoyed this piece on the role American food played in the assimilation of a young Iranian immigrant. 

Read Length: Long 

8) Gaming’s toxic men, explained (Colin Campbell) 7/25/18

I've been getting more into gaming recently, and I stumbled across this piece that features various experts detailing racism and sexism in the gaming world. The commentary also gives insight on what women and people of color face in the computer science field. 

Read Length: Long