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Trains, Pullman Porters and a Woman’s Blues
Cross posted at Ms. What do you get when you combine passionate individuals determined to survive with multi-generational family drama and two key moments in African American history? A pretty great new play, that’s what. Opening November 23 at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, Pullman Porter Blues, by Cheryl L. West (Jar the Floor, Before…
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Cheryl L. West, Lisa Peterson, E. Faye Butler, and Christine Sumption on Pullman Porter Blues
A conversation about the new play Pullman Porter Blues with playwright Cheryl L. West, director Lisa Peterson, actor E. Faye Butler, and dramaturg Christine Sumption. Read the full article at Ms. The Ms. Magazine Blog: What would you say Pullman Porter Blues is about? West: The entire play really is about how do you survive:…
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A Feminist Guide to Horror Movies Part Three: Worlds Without Patriarchy
Cross posted at Ms. This is the third post in a three-part series on watching horror movies as a feminist spectator. Having covered films which reinforce the necessity of the patriarchy and films which question its value while still punishing challenges to patriarchal norms, let’s look at two movies in which the patriarchy is almost…
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A Feminist Guide to Watching Horror Movies, Part Two: It’s Not Just About Vampires
This piece is Part Two in a three-part series. See here for part one. Since Edward Cullen first graced the pages of a young adult novel in 2005, vampires have been the sexy bad guys du jour. But it’s not just the lingering fear that sex might lead to death that makes these nightmarish manifestations…
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Lynn Nottage Brings 80 Years of Women, Race and Hollywood to the Stage
Cross posted at Ms. Looking for an evening of entertainment that’s humorous, thought provoking, and possibly paradigm changing? The West Coast premiere of African American Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage‘s new play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is your ticket. But it’s not your typical evening of theater. Directed by Jo Bonney and featuring Sanaa…
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The Women of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Talk Hollywood, Race and Gender
The women behind Lynn Nottage’s new play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (see here for more) talk about the issues raised in the play and it’s relationship to their lives: How have race and gender functioned for you in your careers? How do you see them guiding casting in Hollywood today? Kimberly Hébert Gregory…
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A Feminist Guide to Horror Movies, Part One: Daddy Knows Best
Cross posted at Ms. Monsters in movies are us, always us, one way or the other. … John Carpenter My love of horror movies is a product of both nature and of nurture. My mother loves them. My older brother says I ended up in theaters as a child watching movies that were definitely not…
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“The Mindy Project” – Comedy and Contradiction
Cross posted at Ms. Watch it while you can: Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project, which premiered last week to mixed reviews, may or may not have a long life. Most of Kaling’s hardcore fans watched it online before it was on TV, so it probably has more devoted viewers than the disappointing ratings it received…
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pedagogy of the non-oppressed
Since I rediscovered and posted one of my favorite bell hooks quotes the other day, I have been thinking about whether her pedagogy or any of those based on Paulo Freire‘s Pedagogy of the Oppressed are actually relevant to teaching today’s American college students. I asked this question once before, when at Marlboro College I…