Navy Steals

Article by Seth Kershner, appeared in issue Habit{at}; published in 2012; filed under Social commentary.
The military's new interest in STEM education
Habit{at}

Although women make up about half of the United States workforce, they represent just 24 percent of careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In order to correct this, major nonprofit groups have been organizing STEM enrichment camps for middle- and high-school girls, driven by the philosophy that more women will pursue STEM careers if their interest is piqued at an early age.

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Family Practice

Family Practice
An interview with Victoria Law, China Martens by Kjerstin Johnson, appeared in issue Habit{at}; published in 2012; filed under Activism.
A Q&A with Victoria Law and China Martens
Habit{at}

Whether you organize at national conferences or around the kitchen table, you should pick up the new anthology Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities (PM Press). Seven years in the making, this book is full of tales, testimonies, and tips that caretakers will relate to and nonparents can learn from.

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Co-opting the Coop

Co-opting the Coop
Article by Marianne Kirby, Illustrated by Kelsey McGilvrey, appeared in issue Habit{at}; published in 2012; filed under Consumer culture.
What's the real cost of homesteading's new hipness?
Habit{at}

Illustration by Kelsey McGilvrey.

The last several years have seen an explosion in urban homesteading. According to the American Community Gardening Association, there are currently more than 18,000 community gardens throughout the United States and Canada.

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Wide Stance

Wide Stance
Article by Andi Zeisler, appeared in issue Habit{at}; published in 2012; filed under Art.
Marianne Wex's timeless exploration of gender and space.
Habit{at}

We’ve all seen it. The guy on the subway or bus who reclines into his seat and luxuriously spreads his legs as if no one else were there. In fact, there’s a woman on either side of him, and both of them twist and tuck their legs away, bunch their handbags into their laps, squeeze their arms around themselves, and very likely glare silently in his unwitting direction.

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The Audacity of Home

The Audacity of Home
Article by Jessica Hoffmann, Illustrated by Sze Wa Cheung, appeared in issue Habit{at}; published in 2013; filed under Activism.
Poor Magazine’s New Paradigm of Place
Habit{at}

New York City’s homeless shelters are overflowing with record numbers of people desperate for a bed. The New York Times covered this story in August 2012 by quoting the Bloomberg administration’s homeless commissioner, Manhattan’s borough president (a likely mayoral candidate), the chair of an Upper West Side community board, and a policy analyst.

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Sugar Rush

Sugar Rush
An interview with Cheryl Strayed by Tina Vasquez, appeared in issue Elemental; published in 2012; filed under Books.
Speaking with author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed
Elemental

Two years ago, my mother died. She was 48, I was 25. I turned to Sugar in a voracious, all-consuming way. Not sweets—I devoured ”Dear Sugar,” an online advice column at the literary website the Rumpus.

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Life on Mars (Hill)

Life on Mars (Hill)
Article by Alison Sargent, Illustrated by Ryan Brown, appeared in issue Elemental; published in 2012; filed under Social commentary.
In the nation’s fastest-growing megachurch, faith and feminism don’t mix.
Elemental

When Jess came to the University of Washington as a freshman, she was a feminist economics major whose postcollege goal was to land a position at an organization dedicated to social entrepreneurship. Now in her early 20s and just a few years out of college, she is married, looking forward to a life as a homemaker, and involved full-time at the Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, one of the hippest, fastest-growing, and most conservative evangelical churches in the nation.

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Annals of Junk Science: G-Spotting

Article by Keely Savoie, appeared in issue Elemental; published in 2012; filed under Social commentary.
Elemental

On April 25, the online edition of the Journal of Sexual Medicine ran an article by cosmetic gynecologist Adam Ostrzenski, MD, who reported that he had teased a “blue grape-like” sac out of a dead woman’s vagina. This was proof, he claimed, of the “anatomic existence” of the G-spot, the elusive (but much-heralded) erotogenic area that can be stimulated through the vaginal wall.

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Pinned Down

Pinned Down
Article by Tammy Oler, appeared in issue Elemental; published in 2012; filed under Internet culture.
Is Pinterest as girly as the media paints it? And if so, who cares?
Elemental

In February 2012, media outlets took quite an interest in the budding social network Pinterest, and female users were at the center of nearly every story.

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Never Said Nothing

Never Said Nothing
Article by Lindsay Zoladz, Illustrated by Kristopher Pollard, appeared in issue Fame + Fortune; published in 2012; filed under Music.
A brief history of "cunt" in pop music
Fame + Fortune

Illustration by Kristopher Pollard.

Late in 2011, a song from a virtually unknown 20-year-old rapper from Harlem knocked the Internet on its ass. Azealia Banks’s “212” was a wildly original debut single that found the rapper dribbling a steady stream of elastic wordplay and oh-no-she-didn’t raunch over a skronky beat from producer Lazy Jay. And then there was the song’s hook, a repeated provocation to a male rival for the affections of another woman: “I guess that cunt gettin’ eaten.”

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