drama

The following is the first installment of a semi-regular blog highlighting books in Bitch Media's new Community Lending Library.

Lillian Hellman was a handful. She was the first female playwright on Broadway, one of the first women screenwriters in Hollywood, a controversial memoirist, a boozehound and a socialite, a Leftist sympathizer who gained fame and was subsequently blacklisted for her refusal to testify against her friends during the McCarthy hearings (she famously responded to a subpoena with, "I refuse to cut my conscience to fit the fashion of the times"), and an all-around tough cookie. This collection of plays showcases Hellman’s best talent: hard-nosed storytelling full of wit and style.

Friday nights are going to be odd without Battlestar Galactica. Yes. You read right. I'm a huge fan of the show (in case you couldn't tell by the first sentence of this post). One of the most consistently well-written and acted shows I've ever seen, Battlestar signed off last week in an epic two-hour finale. While I have mixed feelings about the finale itself, I nevertheless will always remember the show's bold tackling of important and current issues that most television shirks, as well as the obvious respect and reverence the writers and actors had for the characters.

Kowtowing to all those involved in Battlestar Galactica is definitely due in large part to the way the women of Battlestar Galactica were represented: as three-dimensional characters. As humans. What a wonderful, beautiful concept.