YA

Good morning Bitch readers!  Here's what we've been reading today.

• In light of the recent Boston Marathon Bombing, there have been countless racist responses and unfounded finger-pointing. Here's why David Sirota hopes the bomber is a white American, and how white male privilege could dramatically shape the course the U.S. will take. [Salon]
• There's lots of coverage about the sadistic and sloppy abortion-performing doctor Kermit Gosnell. Here's a rundown seperating the truth from the false info in the gruesome case and a commentary on how the situation shows the lack of access to healthcare among poor people of color [RH Reality Check]. 
• One year since three Black trans-women were murdered, we remember them. [TransGriot]
• Folks are celebrating the release of "Trans 100," a list of 100 great trans* activists. [Autostraddle]  
• Breaking the cycle: In Afghanistan, it's taboo for women to ride bikes. But a group of women have semi-secretly formed a national biking team and are getting new gear from American cyclists. [New York Times] 
• Maintaining a heritage language can be difficult enough when you live in an English-speaking country, but coupled with thehuge stigma against foreign languages results in the overwhelming loss of an ability to speak them by the second-generations of immigrants. [Racialicious]
• While there are plenty of YA novels that are a source of empowerment for girls, the focus on "beauty" is still very prevalent. [This Ain't Livin']
• Although we've seen this done before, here's a new take on recreating the all-too-common sexist advertisements using role-reversal to replace the female models with males. [The F Bomb]
• Yay for progress!  New Zealand has officially approved its bill for marriage equality. [Huffington Post]
• North Dakota lawmakers are confident that the newest in a slew of anti-abortion bills will deter women from getting abortions, when in reality, they will only be making it more difficult and, therefore, unsafe. [NY Mag]

 

Let me start by saying that I'm a Hunger Games gal. I thought that series was the end for me; the top of the bold, brave mountain of perfect Young Adult (YA) literature. I would keep reading YA, I figured, but I would be standing at the top of Everest looking down to do it. How would it get better than Suzanne Collins' frenetic pacing, allusion to contemporary politics, consice, brutal descriptions, gasp-inducing action, and the name Katniss Everdeen? Let me tell you, friends. It could be about a war that has ALREADY HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE, equally terrible to Panem's child slaughter. It could have a female protaginist infinitely more invested in directing her own fate than Katniss was, Collins forgive me. It could still be as tightly wound as a top, as intricately plotted as any good twist-ending requires, and equally stupefying in violence and intrigue. It could contain the names of monarchs and spies, Nazis and codes. It could be Code Name Verity, the best book I've read this year, and the new YA Everest.

Young adult literature features a number of depictions of mentally ill characters, from authors who both bother to do their homework and take the time to present their work well and authors who don't seem to feel that research and sensitivity are necessary. In YA especially, depictions of mental illness are critical because some readers may be struggling with emotions and experiences they do not understand, or don't have words for; some mental illnesses start to manifest during young adulthood, and can be overwhelming and alarming as people start to realize that something about their adolescence is different from that of their peers. Reading about people like them can be a reminder that no, they are not abnormal or freakish, and their experiences are not unusual.