1. WYPR’s Out of the Blocks Podcast
As a relative newcomer to Baltimore, I love this very human introduction to the city, block by block. With its wealth of remarkable stories and voices, it brings me into Baltimore.
2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and the Hulu TV show
Read Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel from 1985 and then watch the way Hulu updates it (with Atwood’s participation) for TV. Superb acting and cinematography bolster a thorough lesson on the politics of sex and gender, the value of reproductive rights and the separation of church and state.
3. Jezebel.com
Most of the time, I feel a little too old to be reading this feminist news site: It is bold, glossy and very first world, whereas my feminism tends to be more cerebral and dusty (an aging first world). Still, it’s absolutely alert to and unfiltered about what matters to women in this culture and doesn’t mask the power dynamics of a sexist, racist society (read them on Puerto Rico).
4. Gillian Welch
I like the roots-y ballad form when it brings me voices I’d rather not hear and makes them unforgettable. Welch’s song-writing captures such voices in music as stunning as it is disturbing. Listen to her album Time (The Revelator) check out “Elivs Presley Blues.”
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