I’ve been traveling throughout the month of July and will spend the next week or two catching up with “The Feminist Spectator.”

Much to discuss, including:

• The Emmy Award nomination for Kerry Washington for Scandal, the first for an African American leading actress in way too long;
• The Heat, the female buddy-cop film with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, as well as McCarthy’s Identity Thief, a horrible example of man-loving, woman-hating comedy with Jason Bateman, both of which raise huge and troubling questions about casting and writing stories for unconventionally attractive (that is, not wraith-thin and tall) women like McCarthy;
• Top of the Lake, the stupendous television mini-series written and directed by Jane Campion about a female detective sorting out the disappearance and molestation of a young girl in a remote, incestuous town in New Zealand, starring the incomparable Elizabeth Moss;
• And more!

Meanwhile, I want to call your attention to a new on-line magazine called Symposium, for which I contributed to the inaugural issue.  Here’s the mission statement:

An innovative digital magazine and blog, Symposium Magazine offers a common address for academics and non-academics alike to engage in debates on politics, culture and society. As the recent proliferation of academic blogs shows, more and more professors are looking to share their research with a broader audience. Our monthly edition of essays feeds the public’s appetite for deep coverage of debates within the academe and how they relate to the outside world, while the daily blog lets readers engage with authors. Above all, we promote rich journalism that is increasingly in peril in today’s media landscape.

Since Lingua Franca stopped publishing decades ago, few outlets have existed for this kind of public exchange.  I’m looking forward to reading and contributing to Symposium.  Take a look at the inaugural issue with my essay, “The Rebirth of Viewing Pleasure,” on teaching feminism and popular culture, here.

The Feminist Spectator