Arts & Culture | Women's Voices For Change

The Bingeable Fifth Season of ‘Grace and Frankie’

By Alexandra MacAaron

In season five, Frankie has a fling with the yurt-dwelling man mentioned earlier. Grace is still being courted by her handsome younger man, Nick (Peter Gallagher). The idea that women in their 70s and 80s are still attractive and attracted is refreshing.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Whosoever Holds This Hammer,”
by Dawn Manning

By Rebecca Foust

By the end of the poem the speaker wholly identifies with Thor, capable of destruction as well as creation and blessing, and the poem ends in a place of tremendous raw power and confidence with her joyfully striking the flat glowing disc of her “own sun.” What a wonderful affirmation of the act of creativity!

Emotional Health · Film & Television

Hollywood’s Pressure to Be Objects of Beauty

By Cecilia M. Ford, Ph.D.

If you are only valued for one thing, it scares you to lose it, especially if your career success is dependent on it.

Film & Television

Women Behind the Camera: ‘Rust Creek’ and ‘State Like Sleep’

By Alexandra MacAaron

In recent years, exploitive movies have featured female victims who turn the table on their attackers. With graphic and violent rape scenes precursing any acts of vengeance, these often feel more like male fantasies than tales of true female empowerment. 'Rust Creek' is different.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Frances of the Cadillac,”
by Laura Van Prooyen

By Rebecca Foust

This poem reminds me that part of being human is living on to wrestle with the legacy left by the people we love who leave us, sometimes under circumstances we cannot accept or even understand.

Books

Michelle Obama’s Becoming: The Power of Family

By Cecilia M. Ford, Ph.D.

Michelle Obama remains the protagonist in this book. Like her mother, she nurtures her children and her family with consummate skill. Like her family, she encountered racism and discrimination along the way. Unlike her mother, she juggled this with full-time employment, and ultimately with being the most famous woman in the world.

Film & Television

The Golden Globes: Time’s Not Up Yet

By Alexandra MacAaron

Last year, the press was encouraged to ask women substantive questions about their work, and not to default to the ubiquitous question "Who are you wearing?" Alas, we were back to that fashion-first mentality.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Yuletide,” by Hilary Sideris

By Rebecca Foust

I was hooked by "Yuletide," then drawn in by the breathless, energetic style offering a fresh take on an old story of love, loss, and redemption.

Film & Television

‘On the Basis of Sex’ — The Origin Story of the Supreme Court’s Wonder Woman

By Alexandra MacAaron

'On the Basis of Sex' begins in 1956, when Ruth Ginsburg was starting out as one of only nine women in a class of 500 at Harvard Law.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “New Year’s Eve,” by Kathryn Stripling Byer

By Rebecca Foust

This is a narrative poem, one that tells a story or focuses more on the events being described than on the speaker’s feelings in reaction to those events. As such, it allows for the passage of time rather than arresting us in one dramatic moment.

Film & Television

Extreme Childcare:
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Roma’

By Alexandra MacAaron

While you can sit back and relax through 'Mary Poppins Returns,' there is much work to do watching 'Roma.'

Poetry

Christina Rossetti, “A Christmas Carol”

By Rebecca Foust

Christina Rossetti was devoted to deep Christian conviction and a rich artistic sensibility. Both influences can be seen in this poem’s spare, even stark diction that seems to belie the intensity of its imagery and underlying religious themes.

Arts & Culture

“Baby It’s Cold Outside”: A Misunderstood Love Song

By Cecilia M. Ford Ph.D. and Karen North, Ph.D.

Let’s hope that our era produces more shows, serious and comedic, accurately reflecting our culture, with the warmth and wisdom of men like Frank Loesser and his colleagues.

Film & Television

Screen Queens:
‘The Favourite’ and ‘Mary Queen of Scots’

By Alexandra MacAaron

While we're waiting for the Windsors to return to the small screen, we can find multiple queens at the multiplex.

Poetry

Barbara Jane Reyes, “To Love as Aswang”
and “Psalm for Mary Jane Veloso”

By Rebecca Foust

There is a long tradition of writing poems in praise of specific individuals, typically epic heroes in ancient times but more and more about ordinary people in contemporary times.

Women's Voices For Change

Articles onArts & Culture

The Bingeable Fifth Season of ‘Grace and Frankie’

Poetry Sunday: “Whosoever Holds This Hammer,”
by Dawn Manning

Hollywood’s Pressure to Be Objects of Beauty

Women Behind the Camera: ‘Rust Creek’ and ‘State Like Sleep’

Poetry Sunday: “Frances of the Cadillac,”
by Laura Van Prooyen

Michelle Obama’s Becoming: The Power of Family

The Golden Globes: Time’s Not Up Yet

Poetry Sunday: “Yuletide,” by Hilary Sideris

‘On the Basis of Sex’ — The Origin Story of the Supreme Court’s Wonder Woman

Poetry Sunday: “New Year’s Eve,” by Kathryn Stripling Byer

Extreme Childcare:
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Roma’

Christina Rossetti, “A Christmas Carol”

“Baby It’s Cold Outside”: A Misunderstood Love Song

Screen Queens:
‘The Favourite’ and ‘Mary Queen of Scots’

Barbara Jane Reyes, “To Love as Aswang”
and “Psalm for Mary Jane Veloso”

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