Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

I used to work at a college with a woman who had Asperger syndrome. Because we were both far more interested in animals than humans, we would convene every morning to discuss what sorts of dogs we’d seen during our respective commutes. “I saw a large German Shepard out for a walk,” she would tell me with as much as emotion as she ever showed. In response, I would tell her stories about my cat. Without fail, she would ask about him every single day. After spending a year of my life comparing notes with my co-worker, it was reassuring to come across the work of Dr. Temple Grandin.

Chocolate Rain Soy Candle

To say I was ill prepared when I moved to Denmark for love is quite an understatement. I did not research the stereotypes; when people starting shoving past me on public transit, I was surprised. The prices still startle me. And while I have a working knowledge of geography, I was not prepared for the darkness that accompanies winters so close to the Arctic Circle. A South African co-worker recently asked how I survived last winter in Copenhagen.

Headache Soother Badger Balm

I suffer from migraines. They date from the eighth year of my life, but it took until my junior year as an undergraduate to get much-needed prescription drugs. After a three-day headache left me unable to leave the house, I squinted and hobbled to the nearest bus stop and took a shuttle to the student health center. The kind physician who met with me also suffered from debilitating migraines. “Do you twist your body into weird positions for relief?” he asked. When I immediately nodded my head affirmatively, he began nodding as well.

Limited Edition Demo

Pulling together some of the best feminist talent in dance music today, MEN should be requisite listening if you intend on moving forward in your life as a party-loving progressive. I understand that feminism is not always a celebration; I have often in my life been accused of being too serious. However, I like to shake it. A lot. It would be easy to write about my fan girl love for JD Samson.

Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating

I’ve long enjoyed Lisa Jervis’ critical analysis, a woman best known in feminist circles as the co-founder of Bitch magazine. Growing into my own love of all things kitchen this past year, I fully expected to be won over by Cook Food; sadly, I was not. It seems like a complicated time to write this book.

Troubled, Shaken Etc.

British rock band Sian Alice Group’s latest effort can be categorized somewhere between prog rock, ambient folk, and experimental. Clocking in anywhere between two and eight minutes, their songs wind around and bump up against one another, creating a cohesive sophomore album.

Dear Science

Once upon a CMJ conference, I unexpectedly encountered TV On The Radio in concert. Crammed into what I think was the Bowery Ballroom, the eclectic men took the stage and took up their horns. The vision—and the music that followed—has haunted me for years. And yet, try as I might, I did not fall in love with Dear Science.

The Sun Came Out

7 Worlds Collide is like an alt-folk “We Are The World” with admittedly fewer people of color. Headed up by Crowded House frontman Neil Finn, the second release from this international supergroup is an OxFam benefit double album featuring completely new material.

Talking with Television: Women, Talk Shows, and Modern Self-Reflexivity

Some researchers, theorists, and laypeople deride women’s tendency to get together and talk. Whether you call it gossip, chatter, whine, confession, or conversation, among gendered stereotypes, it remains assumed that putting several women within close proximity will likely yield interpersonal communication.

The Freak of Araby

The Freak of Araby reminds me of my ten days in Turkey last year, touring around with an Istanbul native who is also one of my dearest friends, crammed into whizzing taxicabs and smoky pubs in which pseudo-mariachi bands crowded around our tables to encourage merriment. At midnight, we would stalk the city’s all-night, open-air diners in search of kebab and twice-baked potatoes.

Survival Strategies in a Modern World

There are many things to like about the county of Liechtenstein: its tax haven status, its unusually small size, its ski slopes, and its firm resolve to stay out of the European Union. I happen to love the EU in principle, but have an equal amount of respect for wealthy countries that opt to steer clear of large political unions. Did you know that the EU anthem is “Ode to Joy?” Would Beethoven approve? To me, the ideals of a tiny nation like Liechtenstein could easily be represented in a rock band.

©ontent: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future

He’s been dubbed the “William Gibson of his generation,” but Cory Doctorow is more than a cyberpunk novelist or futurist. He’s an activist, a Creative Commons advocate, tech blogger, and journalist. I don’t come to Doctorow’s non-fiction work by way of his sci-fi novels.

Gold Dust on His Shirt: The True Story of an Immigrant Mining Family

When you think about migrant memoirs of North America, stories of moving north from Latin America often come to mind more than those detailing moves east and west. Flipping around that common assumption, Gold Dust on His Shirt tells the story of Irene Howard’s Swedish-Norwegian immigrant family’s tumultuous life in Canada at the turn of the twentieth century. After the death of her first husband in Norway, Howard’s mother Ingeborg immigrated to Canada.

Turquoise & Gray earrings

There is something about Scandinavian design that is at once incredibly stylish and timeless. It seems that the further north you get, the more beautiful things are. Norwegian jewelry maker Hilde is an artisan whose work captures the exquisite beauty of the northern Nordic states. In addition to some of her more subtle pieces I now own, Hilde makes a lot of her jewelry from pearls and crystal. Her creations are elegant but reserved, and based on the earrings I posses, I have no doubt about her crafts(wo)manship and style.