Next to writing every day, I count constructive feedback from fellow writers most beneficial to my writing career. I belong to two groups. They meet on the same day, for two hours each, on the first and third Wednesdays of the month: one in the morning; one in the afternoon. Since we all live and [...]

Of the dozens of books on NPR’s Best Books of 2011 list, I’ve read none. Seems I’m always a few years—or decades—behind. Among the many titles that caught my eye, several stand out, some for no other reason than the length of their titles.
Take Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship [...]

It took 82 years for the FBI to change its naive, chauvinistic definition of rape. That’s 10 years longer than the campaign to give women the right to vote. Once again, women’s rights advocates are credited with the change.
Since 1929 the FBI has defined rape as “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her [...]