The moment Kurt Vonnegut entered my life is seared indelibly in my memory. It stands out starkly, like my first period or my first kiss. All of those memories share a common theme: afterwards, my life was forever changed. I was thirteen, and my friend’s unusually permissive mother left me unsupervised in her well-stocked library. I don’t know why I pulled Mother Night off the shelves. The cover was black with a picture of…
Alexis Coe’s past essays on women’s history for The Toast can be found here. Most recently: Ada Yonath: The Birth of a Scientist. This, and all subsequent editions of Alexis' columnn (!) are brought to you courtesy of a sweet and generous sponsor who wishes to be known as The Ghost of Jane Addams. Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909-2012) loved her father, but had she obeyed him, she would have never won the…
We here at The Toast are delighted and excited to formally announce our first big communal book-reading exercise, which will be challenging and fun and gripping and life-affirming and a wonderful bonding experience for us all. We are going to be reading TWO books together: George Eliot's Middlemarch, and Rebecca Mead's not-yet-on-shelves My Life in Middlemarch, which is one of the best things I've ever read about the reading life, being a woman,…
Bienvenue, Monsieur. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am the energy drink sommelier here at Le Coeur Palpitant. My goal is to help you power through tonight’s meal with grace and élan. Le Coeur Palpitant boasts one of the finest cellars of non-perishable energy drinks from all over the world, including some exciting new concoctions from up-and-coming factories throughout the Rust Belt. We offer individual cans or six-packs. In exceptional cases, and for a…
I never know when someone's on drugs or had plastic surgery, or when a poem is supposed to "really" be about sex even though it's clearly about plants. I never get metaphors. Everything always has to be explained to me, like Ax in the Animorphs series.
Welcome to “Read This With That,” the new feature that pairs old and new, complementary pieces from the Internet like so much fine cheese and wine. In today’s installment: Taffy and Sugar. Body acceptance: It’s not just for Virgie Tovar and Kate Harding anymore.
In a culture where America Ferrera is “Ugly Betty”, Rebel Wilson is “Fat Amy,” and Jennifer Hudson’s next big role after winning an Oscar is poster girl for
React Mobile is a personal safety app that acts like a blue-light emergency phone you can carry in your pocket. You can use it to stay in touch with friends and family, update specific contacts with your location, and discreetly call for help. Who could have used ReactMobile: Victims of the London Beer Flood Update: Heading home from work. Track my progress using my phone's GPS. Update: A 135,000-gallon vat of beer has erupted, destroying…
On Monday, we took down male novelists and men who talk about physics at parties. Tuesday, it was all about sentient, clothes-wearing foxes and establishing our new Toast Stances. On Wednesday, important questions about Redwall were answered.
When I think of the two cases of Renisha McBride and Jonathan Ferrell, two young Black people who were shot and killed after getting into car accidents and seeking help, I have all of the feelings. I feel a lot of heartbreak for their loved ones. And I feel fearful. For myself and other Black folks about what could happen to us if we are ever in distress. If we can’t trust human…
Other entries in the series can be found here. Most recently: Ann/Leslie Are Endgame. I feel nervous about this one, like Indiana Jones right before he stole that idol and got crushed to death by the giant rock. Talking about Joss Whedon shows on the Internet is a fraught prospect. And yet I am willing to put my head in the lion's mouth, because for all the ink that has been flung about…
Friend of The Toast Rohin Guha -- who I can personally attest has terrific hair and is profoundly charming on Twitter (he also sends very pleasant emails) -- wrote something thoughtful and important about the narratives surrounding media darling Malala Yousafzai and media just-pleasant-acquaintance Nabeela Rehman earlier this week. Yousafzai’s voice is integral. Her story has enjoyed exposure across all major news networks and outlets. But as our news cycle’s fascination with her temporarily winds…
Many people think their period is abnormal in some way, and that’s because menstruation is awful. It’s painful, kind of gross (Ed. note to all moon goddesses - not yours, obviously, yours is a Righteous Flow of Empowerment and it heals lepers), and incredibly inconvenient. But in some women, it actually is abnormal. How do you know if you’re one of them? I’m going to take several of the most common questions I get, and…
Previous installments of The Toast’s advice column from two disparate and imperfect persons can be found here. Last time: Cultural Appropriation. I have recently started seeing a Gentleman Caller. Things have not progressed too far, but they have progressed rather more quickly than I expected. This concerns me because I come with a decent amount of baggage. Like, sexual-trauma-related-mental-health-issues baggage that I am actively working on, but nevertheless seems like would be relevant…
