The Good

It wasn’t all bad last year! Feministing rounds up some good news from 2010.

Michelle Obama’s new chief of staff sounds pretty cool. Congrats, Tina Tchen!

Two major anti-racist groups file a formal complaint with the US Department of Education against the curriculum standards of Texas. Texas’s curriculum standards unfortunately affect much of the country, since they buy so many textbooks that whatever textbooks they buy become the main ones in the US. I hope the Department of Ed takes action.

The Bad

A cop assaulted a transgender woman, and when she defended herself, she was arrested.

I got an email from Barack Obama’s Organizing for America group saying we must stand firm on the health care bill and not let it get repealed on the same day I read this article, in which Obama preemptively caves on the end-of-life planning part of the health care bill. Sounds to me like caving and I don’t like it.

An older and a newer piece on the plutocracy we’re living in — it is just mathematically true that the rich now are far richer than the poor than ever before in American history. Disgusting.

Forget everyone’s “Kanye’s record is #1!” top ten lists; his video for “Monster” is terrifying, and not in a ghosts n ghouls kinda way.

The Silly

Here’s a great piece on a man living with schizophrenia who prepares daily for the apocalypse he can see unfolding in his mind. Also, scary effects of LSD!

Here’s a wonderful round-up of some hilarious humor pieces from 2010. I especially like “Et Tu, Brooklyn?” and “Funny Women #1.”