The door burst open. A young man stood before them. He was a tall, swarthy fellow of the type that Petunia would swoon over; rakishly handsome in a floppy way.
"In a floppy way" had me howling, and can't you just see him perfectly? I just started Chapter 5, which is titled, "Never Hurl Garlic Mash at a Man with a Crossbow."
Over at the CBC Diversity blog, Rebecca Rabinowitz has written a really wonderful post about the problematic depiction of fat characters in children's literature: Diversity 101: Who's That Fat Kid?
And a friend recently directed me to two wonderful TED talks in which men -- Jackson Katz and Tony Porter -- talk about feminism and masculinity. Katz, whose talk is entitled "Violence and Silence," mentions that men who talk about feminism get more attention than women who talk about feminism and acknowledges that this is unfair. Nonetheless, we unquestionably need more men talking about these things, encouraging other men to take responsibility when the responsibility is theirs, and thinking deeply about why we trap little boys in what Tony Porter calls the "Man Box." These are well worth watching. Rosa, thanks a million.