I’m older now. Sweet.

• Sports subject to judgment create the opportunity for such issues. All About Eve on Ice: Creating a New Olympic Rivalry Between Blonde Girls, Just in Time (via @BitchMedia)
• More on the West Virginia water issue. Influx of ER visits reported following lifted ‘do not use’ advisories
• Ew. Just, ew. GOP Congressional Candidate: Spousal Rape Shouldn’t Be a Crime (h/t @LaurenARankin)
• Go Suey! Huffington Post’s Exploited Voices (via @SueyPark)

Last one of these before my age ticks up another year…

• Oh, Canada. Passengers Ridicule Canadian Airline For Sexist Ticket Policy (via @ThinkProgress)
• Youth incarceration. Activists push for juvenile justice system reforms (via @MollyKnefel)
• FANtastic. It’s only a matter of time now … Trademark Agency Rejects “Redskins” Application As “Derogatory” (h/t @scATX)
• In related news, at least 11% of whites are just full of it. Study Finds White Americans Believe They Experience More Racism Than African Americans
• I’ll be following this closely. A Man Is Facing Jail for Harassing Women Online, and It’s a Big Deal (via @TheLindyWest)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let’s see what the world has been up to as the calendar has flipped its page.

I only know about this story because I have relatives who are ASA members (but did not vote either way on this issue). Interesting: Why I voted for an academic boycott of Israel (h/t @raniakhalek)

– So Ani diFranco stepped in it. Hard. She issued one horrible, meandering apology, but then today issued a succinct, and pretty spot-on, additional apology. Ani Difranco’s Righteous Retreat: Please Use Both Hands to Cover Your Ears (h/t @AngryBlackLady)

– Here’s an analysis of why her initial response just made things worse. A list of problems with Ani DiFranco’s statement on slave plantation retreat (h/t @womenactmedia)

– Did not know. Saving Mr. Banks Is a Corporate, Borderline-Sexist Spoonful of Lies

– Women and coding. Stop Telling Women They Just Need to Know How to Code (h/t @AustinKelmore)

– I’m doing this! #365feministselfie – Are You In?

– Excellent. Judge Rules Rick Scott’s Welfare Drug Testing Law Unconstitutional (h/t @laurenarankin)

– Chris Kluwe on why he thinks his time on the Vikings came to an end. I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot

– And Dave Zirin’s quick take on it. Is it Getting Better? Chris Kluwe, Aaron Rodgers and LGBT Rights in Sports (via @EdgeofSports)

Last wrap-up of the year! Hope you all had a great Christmas (if that’s your thing).

– Peter Singer makes the argument that we should give to the organizations that can make the most of our money: Heartwarming causes are nice, but let’s give to charity with our heads (h/t @ClinicEscort)

– This is a disgusting refusal to honor a woman’s wishes: Texas Father Barred from Taking Pregnant Wife Off Life Support (h/t @AIsForOrg)

– Whoa. I did not know this: The Extraordinary Story Of Why A ‘Cakewalk’ Wasn’t Always Easy (via @NPR)

– Excellent: Notre Dame Dealt Big Rejection In Challenge Against Birth Control Coverage (h/t @graceishuman)

I get to see my family soon! In the meantime, here is what’s fueling my fire these days…

– I have to say I had no idea how  disrespectful Eve Ensler has been to women of color, specifically first nations / native american women: One Billion Rising: Eve Ensler’s White Feminist Low Blow (h/t @ChiefElk)

– So if Ms. Ensler’s way is wrong, what’s another possible approach? Beyond Eve Ensler: What Should Organizing Against Gender Violence Look Like? (h/t @laurenarankin)

– The headline says it all: Michigan passes ‘rape insurance’ bill (via @ProPublica)

– This is a thing that happened. Affluenza: the latest excuse for the wealthy to do whatever they want (via @scATX)

– So yeah, don’t put things in the mouths of people having seizures: If Someone Is Having a Seizure (h/t @stavvers)

– We need to get the money to keep his dog with him: Blind Man, Guide Dog, Safe After Subway Track Fall (via @AP)

– A woman’s story of late-night bus harassment: I was threatened with violence and rape and begged a bus driver to protect me from my harasser. Instead, he laughed and shook the man’s hand. (h/t @pennyred)

– The No Fly List is terrifying: Read this woman’s personal no-fly list hell

– Racism takes many forms. It doesn’t just involve slurs: Racism Up Close: How A White Woman Tried To Get My GoFundMe Shut Down (via @thetrudz)

–

This is a few days late because Thursday I was here. Then we had friends over on Friday night, and have been busy holiday-ing since. But here are a few articles I’ve been reading this week between events.

– Fascinating / disturbing: People of Color Removed from Paintings

– Lots of ‘yup’ in this one: David Simon: ‘There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show’ (h/t @tgijsola)

– Reminder: Not filing charges does NOT mean the person didn’t commit the crime. Also, this guy won the Heisman Trophy yesterday. Disgusting. Why I Believe Jameis Winston’s Accuser

– Salvation Army is fighting hard against the (deserved) image that it discriminates against LGBT folks. They may be getting better, but No Red Kettles has some evidence to suggest that they still don’t deserve the money of those who support LGBT people: Annual Reminder: Don’t Give to the Salvation Army

– The county held; now a judge decides: SeaTac’s minimum wage measure stands after recount (via @Q13Fox)

It is SO COLD here right now. Not, like, upstate New York cold, but still. Brrrrrr. Here are a few articles that might raise your temperature … as your blood boils.

– And today they announced no charges. Sigh. Jameis Winston, and the Overlapping of Football Culture and Rape Culture (via @scATX)

– Fighting for intersex rights: Special report: Intersex women speak out to protect the next generation

– The problems of low and no-wage jobs exist. It’s not ‘just’ fast food workers. And also? It’s at ‘progressive’ publications: Mother Jones Reportedly Told Its Interns to Go on Food Stamps Because It Pays So Little (h/t @RhaniaKalek)

– Oh man. I’ve got the first dozen or so books for next year’s Cannonball Read: The ‘MHP’ Black Feminism Syllabus (h/t @laurenarankin)

– Justice. Or, you know, not. What is wrong with these people? Divided Federal Court Rules Crack Cocaine Sentencing Reforms Do Not Apply To Those Already in Prison (h/t @prisonculture)

– Oh hey! Two white guys get a Black woman professor disciplined for making them uncomfortable when she talked about institutional racism. Nope, not an article in the Onion. A Few Things I Think We Should Learn From MCTC’s Attack on Professor Shannon Gibney

– Read about the fast food strikes across the country: Fast Food Strikes Hit 100 Cities Thursday (via @allisonkilkenny)

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday – I got to spend a great afternoon with friends in Seattle, and enjoyed a delicious dinner. But on to what’s going on in the world…

– I don’t think I agree, as I’ve not noticed this as unique to Seattle, but maybe it’s a thing? The Seattle NO (h/t @JillFilipovic)

– Excellent: Michael Bloomberg Loses His Fight to Keep Harassing Minorities (h/t @nyclu)

– Cosign. This was a great, sweet film: Lake Bell’s ‘In a World …’ Should Figure in Awards Race (via @LakeBell)

– If you’re facing people claiming that the cancelled policies ‘prove’ Obamacare is bad, this article is for you: The Real Story Behind the Phony Canceled Health Insurance Scandal (h/t @DrJaneChi)

– From the health files: 2009 Flu Pandemic Was 10 Times More Deadly Than Previously Thought (via @nprnews)

So, USA Today apparently assumes the default setting of films is White; anything featuring non-White actors must, therefore, be “race-themed” – If ‘The Best Man Holiday’ Is ‘Race-Themed,’ So Are These Ten Other Movies (via @ThinkProgress)

Disgusting. Disgusting – Court takes couple’s children because father is transgender (h/t @SophiaPhotos)

Rape culture article (bonus: points out some horrible things faculty at one of my alma maters has done): (via @RedLightVoices)

Wednesday was Transgender Day of Remembrance: 238 Names

I was not aware – I guess it shouldn’t surprise me though: Why I’m Not a TEDx Speaker

Great article on purity: Don’t Just ‘Reframe’ Purity Culture—Rethink the Whole Concept

Finally – the latest Feminist Frequency Video – it’s awesome as expected.

Longest short week of my life. But it’s done down, and I’m happy.

Sorry, Whedonites (and I do love me some Firefly), but he’s wrong on this one: Yay! Permission from a white cis dude not to identify as a feminist! (via @redlightvoices)

Best response to that cringe-inducing Upworthy “Marriage Isn’t for You” pose: An Open Letter to Anyone Who Thinks They Can Solve the Riddles of Marriage and Parenthood by Reading an Open Letter (via @cortenlow)

Oh good. Now anti-choice folks are advocating kidnapping. FANtastic. So Creepy. So Illegal.

This story is SO disturbing. Anger Grows After Black Woman Is Shot By White Homeowner (via @nprnews)

Must read from New York Magazine: 26 Women Share Their Abortion Stories

Bears repeating: Vaccines don’t cause autism. I’ve Got Whooping Cough. Thanks a Lot, Jenny McCarthy.

My mom told me about this. Yikes. California Headed For Driest Year On Record (via @thinkprogress)

Lily Allen Epic Fail: Lily Allen says her video for Hard Out Here isn’t to do with race. She is wrong

More on that here: Easy Out There For A (White) Bitch: A Few Words On Lily Allen and the Continued Use of Black Women’s Bodies As Props (via @blackgirldanger)

This is fascinating. I hope to write something on it this weekend: Ohio Delay’s Inmate’s Execution Over Organ Donation (via @ap)