Wendy Davis—More Than Just The Filibuster? →

Robert Draper, writing for The New York Times Magazine:

That her opponents would hyperbolize any errant move by their foremost Texas enemy should come as no surprise. Still, the scrutiny of her back story speaks to more than simply a politician’s bumpy quest to win an office that no one in her party has held since Ann Richards left it in 1995 (and, in so doing, provide a road map for how Democrats could succeed in other solidly Republican states). It also calls into question whether Sheryl Sandberg’s exhortations for women to “lean in” to their careers are transferable to the more hidebound and judgmental world of political campaigning. As former Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, a Democrat, told me: “Politics is so far behind the other sectors, I guess because in a democracy you have to appeal to the broadest spectrum in order to get elected. People still expect a more traditional thing from female politicians. Calling a man ambitious is seen as a positive thing. With a woman, it’s a negative.”

Former Gov. Christie Whitman of New Jersey, a Republican, put it this way: “It’s not that the questions about the accuracy of her narrative are illegitimate. It’s the intensity of the questioning that’s so disheartening.” Whitman recalled having herself been chided for spending time on vacation with her children after her primary race for governor — proof of lacking fire in the belly — just as Davis is now being condemned as a maternally deficient careerist for not spending enough time with hers. The persistence of a gender-based double standard, Granholm said, “is the oldest story in the book.”

Several narrative threads are tugged in this piece and I’m not sure that they are all brought to a fulfilling conclusion, but the questions asked are all important. It felt good to put some actual context to the name/face that many liberals/Democrats are all in a tizzy over. The gender-related stuff was most appealing to me, probably because of my negative reaction to finding out about these fuzzy biographical spots in her “story” and because I don’t claim to much understand Texas politics, which seems to operate in its own sphere of weirdness.

I think the biggest mainstream question is this: can a female politician who has built her national recognition on, like it or not, a Pro Choice foundation, gain traction. The theorist in me thinks so.

Watching Imperial Movies →

Ilinca Calugareanu, in the description of her New York Times Op-Doc: ‘VHS vs. Communism’:

In a time when the Romanian state controlled every aspect of its citizens’ lives -- including food, heat, transportation and information -- people found a way to escape and resist the state’s far-reaching hand, through the power of movies.

Allow yourself to try and understand the world through a different filter every day and you will never stop being amazed by how good you have it.

Also, this piece is exactly why I believe that every movie—regardless of intent—deserves to be taken seriously. There are no good movies or bad movies—only movies that live up to or fail to live up to expectations.

/via Daring Fireball

Behind the Scenes of a Criterion Film Restoration

Every film buff in the world is going to watch this and feel bad about the fact that these aren’t their jobs.

/via Devour

Signal →

2014, World Press Photo of the Year, Contemporary Issues, 1st prize singles, John Stanmeyer:

African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night, raising their phones in an attempt to capture an inexpensive signal from neighboring Somalia—a tenuous link to relatives abroad. Djibouti is a common stop-off point for migrants in transit from such countries as Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, seeking a better life in Europe and the Middle East.

/via this isn’t happiness

A Real Leader →

Maria Popova, writing for Brain Pickings:

“Leadership” is one of those buzzwords — like “curation” — whose meaning has been forcibly squeezed out of them by regurgitative overuse and relentless overapplication to things that increasingly dilute the essence of the concept the word once used to capture. In a culture that calls pop culture celebrities “thought-leaders” and looks for “leadership ability” in kindergartners, we’re left wondering what leadership actually means and questioning what makes a great leader.

The best definition of the essence beneath the buzzword comes from David Foster Wallace, who would’ve been 52 this week and who, even amidst heartbreaking and ultimately fatal personal turmoil, was able to distill the meaning of life with crystalline poignancy. In his 2000 essay “Up, Simba: Seven Days on the Trail of an Anticandidate,” found in the altogether fantastic Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (public library), Wallace considers the leader.

Leadership, like design and voice in writing, is something you know when you see it or hear it and struggle to define otherwise. Of course D.F.W. would figure out a way to achieve that sentiment in words.

David Bowie’s Isolated Vocal For ‘Ziggy Stardust’ →

via Eric Alper, who adds:

The character of Ziggy was inspired by British rock ‘n’ roll singer Vince Taylor whom David Bowie met after Taylor had had a breakdown and believed himself to be a cross between a god and an alien; though Taylor was only part of the blueprint for the character, other influences included the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and Kansai Yamamoto, who designed the costumes Bowie wore during the tour. The Ziggy Stardust name came partly from the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and partly, as Bowie told Rolling Stone, because Ziggy was “one of the few Christian names I could find beginning with the letter ‘Z’”.

Kentucky Pastor, Starred In Reality Show About Snake-Handling In Church, Dies From Snakebite →

Ashley Fantz, writing for CNN:

On "Snake Salvation," the ardent Pentecostal believer said that he believed that a passage in the Bible suggests poisonous snakebites will not harm believers as long as they are anointed by God. The practice is illegal in most states, but still goes on, primarily in the rural South.

And the crushing wheel of evolution kept slowly turning.

Face to Face-Sunny Side of the Street (The Pogues Cover)

I first heard this on the Vagrant Records Another Year on the Streets compilation, a scratched-to-shit CD that I will never willingly throw out.

Google Doodle/This American Life Valentine’s Day Mashup →

Ira Glass:

This Valentine’s Day project happened because I was in San Francisco in November, and got a tour of Google’s headquarters, and met with the Doodle team. They reminded me of the radio show’s staff, the general vibe of the group, and the sense that they’re out to amuse themselves and make whatever will be fun or moving. I think our staff size is about the same too, roughly a dozen people. It’s a weird and idealistic corner in a weird and idealistic company. There was a general sort of “hey wouldn’t it be fun to try to collaborate on something together?” They pitched July 4th as a good possibility. We counter-pitched Valentine’s Day, because the stories could be more emotional. That kind of freaked them out, to have to turn so many little animations around so quickly. They weren’t sure it could be done. Now three months later, here we are. Incredible. Valentine’s Day is a day for love and these stories are a labor of love.

If you’re a fan of This American Life (or a Google Doodle groupie; do those exist?), you have to check this out. The animations are what sold me. So neat.

Thanks to my valentine for tipping me off about this.

‘…his day to try to glue what was left of his mind back together.’ →

Sven Birkerts, writing for Electric Literature:

Then I read. I took myself away from the desk. I found a private place with decent light and no phone; I did whatever one does to narrow the beam of attention down from wide-angle receptivity to full-on focus. And I made my way into a density that was, at every step, forbidding—those sentences, the micro-obsessiveness of the narrating voice, the slow unfolding of suggestive implication that Henry James, title-holder in this category, would have applauded. There was no question. This was top-drawer DFW, completely sui generis.

Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading pick for this week is David Foster Wallace’s “The Soul is Not a Smithy,” originally published in AGNI and then collected in Oblivion. You can read it for free on E.L.’s site, or you can drop $0.99 there on a Kindle or ePub edition. Either way, especially for those snowed-in today, this is a great read.