Allison McNeely's Internet Collection

"You’d think that “leader” would be a defining characteristic for any politician, but only 39 percent..."

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:54:21 -0600

“You’d think that “leader” would be a defining characteristic for any politician, but only 39 percent of people described female politicians with that term; 93 percent of them described male politicians that way. Women in politics were, however, more likely to be described as “uptight” and “dictatorial.””

- The strange stereotypes we hold about women in politics. (via amandahess)
This is so depressing because it so hits home for me and I’m not even a politician.

inothernews: “Welcome to The Daily Show. I am John Oliver. And...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:36:49 -0600

inothernews:

“Welcome to The Daily Show. I am John Oliver. And let’s all just acknowledge for a moment that this is weird. This looks weird, it feels weird, it even sounds weird. It sounds weird to me, and this is my actual voice.”

— JOHN OLIVER

explore-blog: My dear John, One year ago today! I am...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:16:53 -0600

explore-blog:

My dear John,

One year ago today! I am remembering the birth of my greatest and most complete happiness on this day. I am the happiest and most grateful man. I have tried to tell you at so many times and so many ways, and I must say it again, today, that the joy I have known in being your friend has never been surpassed, and it brightens every prospect for the future. I can only wish, fervently, that all these future days we can celebrate together and weld our affections in an ever-strengthening bond.

John, I think of you and can’t wait to be with you.

MTW [more than ever],

Bill

This is the letter Bill sent John in 1957, a year after they met. They remained together for more than half a century. Their stirring story illustrates everything that’s wrong with denying gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry.

Wait until the last few seconds and try not to reach for the Kleenex.

Pair with Dan Savage on what marriage equality really means.

explore-blog: publius-esquire: Founding Father Pin-Ups, 2nd...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:07:13 -0600

How about a little XYZ Affair?

President Booty reporting for duty

Virginia is for lovers mmm

Raid my treasury

Ratify /this/

umff

explore-blog:

publius-esquire:

Founding Father Pin-Ups, 2nd Ed.: Tread on Me

And now for some subversive commentary on the objectification of women…

Photo

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:06:49 -0600

The Cottage

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:25:22 -0600

whatsdifferentincanada:

One would think that once it’s warm in a Canadian city (read: July) the streets would be crowded with people, everybody would be ready to go out, and it would generally be easy to make plans to enjoy the rare nice weather. One would be wrong. Basically everybody who has lived in Canada their whole lives has access to some kind of cottage near a lake, which is essentially a small, shitty house with maybe one working bathroom and lots of spiders.

Incomplete. It’s called the cottage in Ontario, the cabin in the West, the chalet in Quebec and the lake in other miscellaneous parts.

"It is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine of a woman without..."

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:27:06 -0600

““It is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine of a woman without her top on at any 7-11 store. So, you can sell breasts, but you cannot wear breasts, in America.””

- Violet Rose (via c-icatrix)

Talk about cognitive dissonance

(via havocados)

" 1. Don’t go out to lunch. 2. Don’t go online until lunch. 3. Don’t start writing your novel..."

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:36:19 -0600

“

1. Don’t go out to lunch.

2. Don’t go online until lunch.

3. Don’t start writing your novel until you know your characters very, very well. What they’d do if they saw somebody shoplifting. What they were like at school. What shoes they wear. Spend days – weeks, months – being them until they thicken up and start to breathe. VS Pritchett said, “There’s no such thing as plot, only characters.” Once you know them well they’ll lead you into their stories. If you start too soon you won’t have a clue what they’re going to do and all is chaos.

4. However hopeless and inadequate you feel, leave that self behind. Psych yourself up until you’re confident that the world will be interested in what happens to your characters. Confidence is key.

5. Don’t “write”. “Writing” is about showing off, or imitating other writers. “Writing” mistakes solemnity for seriousness. Just write. Have courage, be truthful, be true to your characters.

6. Don’t be daunted. Writing a novel is a huge adventure; when it’s going well it’s more fun than fun. When it stutters to a halt put it aside. Go for a swim, go for a walk, take a week off. Don’t panic or be afraid; you and your characters are in it together. Trust them to come to your rescue. Of course it’s a long haul, but you always knew that, didn’t you?

7. If a character stubbornly refuses to come alive, switch to the first person. Suddenly they’ll be speaking to you. Later you can change it back again if you need to.

8. I have to know the ending before I can begin. Map out as much as you need but don’t over-plot or you can constrict your characters. Let them change it as they go along.

9. You don’t have to know the ending.

10. In other words, you don’t have to listen to anyone’s advice. There are no rules to break. That’s the pleasure of it. Read The Paris Review interviews with writers – everyone has their own methods and if a novel is truly alive it will break all their rules too.

11. Discover the times when you’re most creative – mornings, nights, afternoons – and clear the time to work then. Many writers find the mornings are best, and the afternoons are only good for editorial corrections, or getting the washing done. Others can only work through the night, drunk.

12. Sort out your priorities. Don’t clean your home, other than as a displacement activity. There won’t be time. You’ll probably neglect your friends too, and even your personal hygiene. If you have children, however, try to keep them fed.

”

- Deborah Moggach’s rules for writing. Complement with rule sets from Henry Miller, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Helen Dunmore, Zadie Smith, Kurt Vonnegut, David Ogilvy, and John Steinbeck, and wash down with the essential collected wisdom of famous writers. (via explore-blog)
For when, like all other creative folks, I write that novel I am totally going to write.

Who pays writers?: Weekend reading: The Medium Model

Sun, 26 May 2013 19:52:40 -0600

Who pays writers?: Weekend reading: The Medium Model:

whopays:

The Medium Model: Can Writers Live Large?
John Koblin
Gawker
May 3, 2013
http://gawker.com/the-medium-model-can-writers-live-large-489249924

What comes next after unpaid microcontent? Try 4,700 words about foreskins, at about $3 a word. That, according to a source, is what Sloane Crosley…

"Alberta’s had an average of two crude oil spills a day, every day for the past 37 years."

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:20:56 -0600

"Alberta’s had an average of two crude oil spills a day, every day for the past 37 years.":

motherjones:

Well, here’s a depressing statistic.

explore-blog: Fail Safe – beautiful illustrated essay on...

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:37:32 -0600

explore-blog:

Fail Safe – beautiful illustrated essay on uncertainty, bravery, and the creative life.

gq: Ellie Kemper for GQ

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:48:23 -0600

gq:

Ellie Kemper for GQ

Today’s project was creating an outdoor dining space for...

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:44:31 -0600

Today’s project was creating an outdoor dining space for the summer. $97 all in from Ikea. And yes, I obviously went for the bird placemats because I also like townie cruiser bikes and artisanal craft beers.

motherjones: kateoplis: “Here are some broad descriptions...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:45:19 -0600

motherjones:

kateoplis:

“Here are some broad descriptions about the generation known as Millennials: They’re narcissistic. They’re lazy. They’re coddled. They’re even a bit delusional.

Those aren’t just unfounded negative stereotypes about 80 million Americans born roughly between 1980 and 2000. They’re backed up by a decade of sociological research. The National Institutes of Health found that for people in their 20s, Narcissistic Personality Disorder is three times as high than the generation that’s 65 or older. In 1992, 80 percent of people under 23 wanted to one day have a job with greater responsibility; ten years later, 60 percent did. Millennials received so many participation trophies growing up that 40 percent of them think they should be promoted every two years – regardless of performance. They’re so hopeful about the future you might think they hadn’t heard of something called the Great Recession.”

The Me Generation

Well, they’re right about the “save us all” part, anyway.

Trolling.

nprfreshair: Patricia Volk tells Terry Gross about how Elsa...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:21:03 -0600

nprfreshair:

Patricia Volk tells Terry Gross about how Elsa Schiaparelli changed women’s underwear:

Women’s underwear before World War II was kind of elaborate. It was usually made of silk and it had pleats and it had to be ironed. This was in France. There was no such thing as ‘drip dry’ and when the war started, most of the men went to the front and the women had to take jobs. There was gas rationing and so everybody had bicycles and you had to be licensed to ride a bike in Paris and in one year bike licenses tripled: it went up to 11 million. The way women dressed with these long skirts and this very elaborate underwear didn’t lend itself to riding a bike so Schiap changed panties completely. First of all, there was famine, so she got rid of the buttons and put elastic in the waist so that as you were losing weight, your panties would stay on. Then, she made them out of drip-dry material, so you didn’t need a maid to iron them … and she added a double-slung crotch and suddenly women could ride their bikes with a lot more freedom.

Image via Vintage Everyday

nparts: The Quantified Month: From Bomb Girls to the Boston...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:16:13 -0600

nparts:

The Quantified Month: From Bomb Girls to the Boston Marathon Bombing, here’s a chartified look at what happened in April 2013: natpo.st/10pZI30

theatlantic: Why Do NPR Reporters Have Such Great Names? Radio...

Mon, 06 May 2013 22:33:51 -0600

theatlantic:

Why Do NPR Reporters Have Such Great Names?

Radio figures Ira Glass, Sylvia Poggioli, Neda Ulaby, and others have inspired restaurants, pets’ names, license plates, and songs.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

The FJP: A Media Guide on Aging

Mon, 06 May 2013 22:24:59 -0600

The FJP: A Media Guide on Aging:

futurejournalismproject:

Recently came across this, a 2009 guide for media and advertising folks on how to avoid perpetuating ageism in the media, which is in itself a nuanced conversation. But it’s worth having a look at and thinking over for those who like to consume their media with wider, kinder, eyes. Here’s …

futurejournalismproject: World Press Freedom Day Today is World...

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:17:43 -0600

futurejournalismproject:

World Press Freedom Day

Today is World Press Freedom Day, a time to reflect not just on what are traditionally thought of as press freedoms, but also on ordinary citizen’s ability to share and access information via our digital networks.

Via UNESCO

[S]ecuring the safety of journalists continues to be a challenge due to an upward trend in the killings of journalists, media workers, and social media producers. In 2012 alone, UNESCO’s Director-General condemned the killings of 121 journalists, almost double the annual figures of 2011 and 2010. In addition, there continues to be widespread harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and online attacks on journalists in many parts of the world. To compound the problem, the rate of impunity for crimes against journalists, media workers and social media producers remains extremely high.

Responding to this overall context of press freedom, WPFD 2013 focuses on the theme of “Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media” and puts the spotlight in particular on the issues of safety of journalists, combating impunity for crimes against freedom of expression, and securing a free and open Internet as the precondition for safety online.

Reporters Without Borders’ annual World Press Freedom Index is a good place to explore how press freedoms work — or don’t work — globally. At the top of the list are Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. Down at the bottom are the same three that that were there a year ago: Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.

Freedom House reports that the percentage of the world’s population “living in societies with a fully free press has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade”:

At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive that media freedom is on the decline. After all, in a world in which news is being produced by a broader range of professionals – as well as citizen journalists and bloggers – information is flowing at faster rates than ever before. And with news being transmitted through a greater variety of mediums – including newspapers, radio, television, the internet, mobile phones, flash drives, and social media – one might expect the level of media freedom worldwide to be improving, not worsening.

As noted, press freedom doesn’t just affect professional journalists, but ordinary citizens committing acts of journalism, activists documenting abuses and members of civil society. Take, for instance, four men in Saudi Arabia interrogated over their attempts to launch a human rights organization. The charge against them, according to Amnesty International: ”founding and publicizing an unlicensed organization as well as launching websites without authorization.”

Related, Part 01: Al Arabiya, Iran, Syria ranked among world’s worst countries for press freedom.

Related, Part 02: UNESCO, Pressing for Freedom: 20 years of World Press Freedom Day (PDF).

Images: World Press Freedom Map (top), via Reporters Without Borders. Crime and Unpunishment: Why Journalists Fear for Their Safety (bottom), via UNESCO. Select to embiggen.

annfriedman: In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:59:11 -0600

annfriedman:

In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for understanding haters, I created The Disapproval Matrix**. (With a deep bow to its inspiration.) This is one way to separate haterade from productive feedback. Here’s how the quadrants break down:

Critics: These are smart people who know something about your field. They are taking a hard look at your work and are not loving it. You’ll probably want to listen to what they have to say, and make some adjustments to your work based on their thoughtful comments.

Lovers: These people are invested in you and are also giving you negative but rational feedback because they want you to improve. Listen to them, too.

Frenemies: Ooooh, this quadrant is tricky. These people really know how to hurt you, because they know you personally or know your work pretty well. But at the end of the day, their criticism is not actually about your work—it’s about you personally. And they aren’t actually interested in a productive conversation that will result in you becoming better at what you do. They just wanna undermine you. Dishonorable mention goes to The Hater Within, aka the irrational voice inside you that says you suck, which usually falls into this quadrant. Tell all of these fools to sit down and shut up.

Haters: This is your garden-variety, often anonymous troll who wants to tear down everything about you for no rational reason. Folks in this quadrant are easy to write off because they’re counterproductive and you don’t even know them. Ignore! Engaging won’t make you any better at what you do. And then rest easy, because having haters is proof your work is finding a wide audience and is sparking conversation. Own it.

The general rule of thumb? When you receive negative feedback that falls into one of the top two quadrants—from experts or people who care about you who are engaging with and rationally critiquing your work—you should probably take their comments to heart. When you receive negative feedback that falls into the bottom two quadrants, you should just let it roll off your back and just keep doin’ you. If you need to amp yourself up about it, may I suggest this #BYEHATER playlist on Spotify? You’re welcome.

** I presented The Disapproval Matrix to the fine folks at MoxieCon in Chicago yesterday, and they seemed to find it useful, so I figured I’d share with the class. It was originally inspired by a question my friend Channing Kennedy submitted to my #Realtalk column at the Columbia Journalism Review.