As with 2017, my personal life is just fine. My son is healthy and growing, Adam and I make time for work and being together and personal projects. We went to a Families Belong Together March, and I met comedy writer Pat Cassels while bowling for abortion funds. I went to Elton John’s Farewell tour and had an amazing time and had my most viral tweet ever. Karen and I made 12 episodes of Feminist Coffee Hour, which I am so proud of.
I don’t have much to say about movies or music (though I loved The Shape of Water, and Blackkklansman) or tv (two of my favorites – Portlandia and The X-Files ended this year and I also watched a lot of baking shows and 90’s sci-fi.) But here’s some recommendations for some articles, podcasts and books:
In Case You Missed It
Judge finalizes $25 million Trump University settlement for students of ‘sham university’
Ivanka Trump tried to ‘bribe’ Planned Parenthood to stop performing abortions
Counter-Protesting at Abortion Clinics Is Actually Counterproductive
Point: A year after Charlottesville, the alt-right is in shambles
Counterpoint: The White Nationalists Are Winning
If Nike Is Serious About Oppression Against People of Color, They Should Pay Their Own Workers
Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes: ‘We Need More Violence from the Trump People’
Amtrak Hijacker Participated In Neo-Nazi Chats with Charlottesville Organizers
No Joke — Real Life
No Evidence New York Legislator Died from Flu Shot
How We Know Brett Kavanaugh Is Lying
When A Woman Is Raped In Rural Alaska, Does Anyone Care?
Dean Skelos, Ex-New York Senate Leader, Gets 4 Years and 3 Months in Prison
Fox News calls Donald Trump a dictator
The Deadly Incel Movement’s Absurd Pop Culture Roots
Anti-fascists were stabbed at a neo-Nazi rally. Then police tried to charge them
Jordan Peterson’s shocking remarks remind us how Nazi apologism has crept back into our political debate
Podcast Recommendations
Of course I think you should listen to my show, Feminist Coffee Hour. We even did a year-end wrap up with almost all positive news stories from 2018 – check it out!
Scam Wow – This show about great American scams is hilarious and informative.
The Dream This is a podcast about one of my obsessions: multi level marketing and why it’s evil.
The Shadows – a work of fiction from Kaitlin Prest. A soulful, haunting romance. I listened to it in November and I am still thinking about it.
Books
My Favorite Books of 2018
Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly
Failure is an Option by H. Jon Benjamin
The Road to Unfreedom
(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump by Jonathan Weisman
Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley by Corey Pein
Song of A Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
Head On by John Scalzi
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen
Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President – What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know by Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Top books I read this year that were published in other years
Lock In
Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker
I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
RedShirts by John Scalzi
Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence by Rachel Sherman
You’ll Grow Our of It by Jessi Klein
Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for love, joy and peace to all in 2019.
Previous Year End Posts
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2011