By Diane Vacca

By the 1960s, Wonder Woman had been enervated and diminished. Her superpowers and provocative costume had been stripped away. No more daring exploits. But then Gloria Steinem brought her back with a bang.

By Diane Vacca

When Adolf Eichmann, a former officer in the SS, was captured in Argentina and taken to Jerusalem, “The New Yorker” tapped Arendt to cover his trial, one of the most sensational of the century. Arendt was a German Jew who had experienced firsthand the pain of exile and was compelled to flee the Nazi regime, first in Germany and later in France. No one anticipated that her reportage would result in a third exile—ostracism by most of the Jewish community.

An elegance of milliners wearing fabulous chapeaux honors St. Catherine, the patron saint of hatmakers. At the service in the Millinery Center Synagogue, the cheerful cantor praises them for looking beautiful to make their husbands happy and proud.

Was The Birthday responsible for these mishaps—these signs of falling apart—coming in such rapid succession? I had survived 35, weathered 50, and pretty much sailed through 60. But 70?

Ephron was funny, witty, and sharp, and she was always honest. She was a keen observer of human foibles, her own as well as those of others. She had the courage to bare her own warts and make them funny. By making us laugh, she helped us to accept the things we most worry about but rarely discuss.

By Diane Vacca

This week, we spotlight more fantasies from the Fashion Institute of Technology exhibit—all of them dramatic, some of them delightfully wild.

By Diane Vacca

For the exhibition “One Block Many Milliners,” Linda Ashton proposed that each hatmaker begin with the same block (form), with free rein to choose materials and trimmings. The imaginative results were on display last week.

Both of them grew up in the South and transformed their experiences into best-selling novels that grappled with the traditions of Southern culture (albeit in very different ways). So PBS’s pairing of Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee in two American Masters specials tomorrow evening, April 2, is a natural.

By Diane Vacca

Sharon La Cruise’s film explores how Bates, a black feminist who stubbornly refused to be cowed by either black men or white mobs, managed to spur the desegregation of Little Rock schools.

By Diane Vacca

The film derives its power from three women—the director, whose vision harmonized diverse elements; the strong leading actress; and the subject, South African poet Ingrid Jonker.

By Diane Vacca

On the first anniversary of the shooting, Giffords decided to resign her seat, announcing her intention in a video she posted on Facebook. Most reactions included admiration for her tenacity, praise for her as a person and encouragement for her continued recovery.

By Diane Duyos Vacca

t was hard not to notice the prominence of women 40 and older at the Golden Globes awards ceremony; exactly two-thirds of the 30 women nominated for women-only categories were 40 or older.

By Diane Vacca

The super committee has failed to reach a debt-reduction deal, pretty much as expected. So where do we go from here?

By Diane Vacca

In “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) exposes the ways that millionaires use the social safety net as a luxury hammock.

By Diane Vacca

It was a spirited, thought-provoking, and intellectually expansive evening—perhaps the most fitting tribute that these three challenging thinkers of the 1960s could have had.