You’ve probably read the stats: books by women are being reviewed more and more by prestigious outlets, but gender equity in the literary world has yet to be achieved. And, books by women are far less likely to win major awards.

Organizations such as VIDA work to hold reviews and awards committees accountable for not only their coverage of women, but of all kinds of women. However, they tend to focus on the so-called literary genre. So, how do women in other genres — science fiction, mystery, street lit, women’s lit — fare?

Ahead of a panel at the Bay Area Book Festival centered on “Feminist Activism Through Popular Fiction,” authors Meg Elison, Aya de Leon and Kate Raphael weighed in on the challenges they face as women writing in their respective genres. Raphael, an activist who writes mystery books, says there’s an active feminist community among her fellow mystery writers. But, she says she struggles to publish stories about women characters who indulge in the same antics as their noir-ish male counterparts.

Meanwhile, Elison and de Leon ― a dystopian writer and a street lit writer, respectively ― both say there is a dearth of the types of stories they want to tell, stories about the reality of women’s struggles, amid an action-centered plot. Below, they discuss the specific road blocks that women who write popular fiction face:

What is the genre you write in, and what specific problems does it pose as far as gender parity goes?

Meg Elison, author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife: I write speculative fiction, which comes under the big umbrella of science fiction. My first books are post-apocalyptic stories. Science fiction was invented by a woman, and most of my favorite writers in the genre are women. Post-apocalyptic fiction, however, is crazily unbalanced. Most of the stories that take place after the end of the world are by men, about men and written for men.

I read hundreds of books in the genre where women were irrelevant, used as plot devices and barely verbal. They almost never needed birth control and they definitely never needed tampons. I realized that the story that I wanted to read really hadn’t been written yet: What if the apocalypse was very asymmetrical? What if it (like everything else) was harder on women and children than it was on men?

Aya de Leon, author of the Justice Hustlers series: My Justice Hustlers series mixes elements of women’s fiction, street lit and erotic romance. They are politically charged tales of labor organizing, women’s health care and wealth redistribution that center on the planning and execution of multimillion dollar heists. 

Street lit is traditionally male-dominated, and — as in most parts of the literary industry — male gatekeepers and audiences tend to ignore women’s writing. Every genre has its trademark cover art imagery. They function like signals to genre audiences: This is your type of book. The symbols of urban fiction are guns, money, jewelry and urban landscapes. While male cover models are sometimes shirtless, they are generally heavily muscled and often armed. Typically, women’s book covers in the genre skew toward romance tropes, rather than action.

In order to be consistent with other books in the imprint, my novel covers have a single young woman of color looking sexy in a sort of “come hither” way. A more accurate representation of my series would be a sexy, multi-racial group of armed women in the midst of a heist operation. A male writer wouldn’t have the same problem, because the mainstream images of male strength and sexiness are the same: power is sexy and power is power.

Kate Raphael, author of Murder Under the Bridge: I write mysteries, and women actually make up over 50 percent of published mystery and crime fiction writers, but as Sisters in Crime has documented, get fewer than 50 percent of reviews and far fewer in the most prestigious outlets. There is also a narrower range of characters that are acceptable for women in crime fiction. An agent rejected my book because my main character, a Palestinian policewoman, disobeyed her boss. So many mysteries involve a male detective pursuing an investigation after he’s been ordered not to, having his badge and gun confiscated, that it’s a cliché. 

There’s much ado lately about the “strong female lead.” Why do you think that’s an insufficient literary exploration of feminism?

Elison: The “strong female lead” is just another trope. Too often, it means a stereotypical cool girl who eschews femininity to be one of the guys and wield weapons. Too often she carries her own internalized misogyny, or she’s just a regulation hot chick who happens to know kung fu.

It’s insufficient because the movement for the correct representation of the wild spectrum of human gender and sexuality is just getting started. We’re just staring to see tender boys in films like “Moonlight,” or fully realized tough women in books like Chuck Wendig’s Atlanta Burns. We’re just now seeing realistic trans and nonbinary characters, asexual characters and so many more. Ripley in a mecha suit is great, but not enough. A disabled Furiosa is a wonderful start, but it’s got to keep rolling.

De Leon: Pop culture stories with a strong female lead are an important component of feminism, especially in a media world that skews so strongly toward men: Male writers of books, and male protagonists on-screen with male creators behind the scenes. But Andi Zeisler’s recent book, We Were Feminists Once, reminds us that the ultimate goal of feminism isn’t to applaud an individual woman being “empowered,” but about creating gender equality for all women. I am most excited about the feminist potential of stories that have a broader scope of what they envision as far as interrupting and ultimately ending sexism in the world.

Raphael: So many of the strong female leads are still very stereotyped. There’s still an expectation that a woman can be beautiful, fashionable, f**kable, vulnerable, not shrill and at the same time be kickass. Of course some women are all those things, but many aren’t. The real-life struggles of women are often oversimplified. Like, who’s doing the childcare? And how does the driven woman cop or spy or agent or lawyer feel about leaving her kids to go running off after the murderer at all hours? If she’s heterosexual, is her husband resentful, and if so, what does she do about it? I try to introduce those dilemmas in my books. In a feminist novel, women should see characters like themselves ― women of different races and cultures, different body types, dykes, mothers, single women, poor women and hopefully not in a United Colors of Benetton way, but in the messy, complex way that exists in the real world. 

In a feminist novel, women should see characters like themselves ― women of different races and cultures, different body types, dykes, mothers, single women, poor women.
Kate Raphael

Would you say you set out to write a feminist book?

Elison: Absolutely, unequivocally, yes. There is no part of my outlook or my work that is not shaped by my experience as a woman, and my belief that we are entitled to equality and almost always denied it. Writers and artists will often try to dodge or soften this label, claiming their work is for everybody, that it’s just a story about people. My work is for everybody who agrees that women are people. That isn’t too much to ask.

De Leon: Definitely. I’m not interested in turning readers on or off with the feminist label. I’m interested in embodying feminist values.

Raphael: Feminism is really core to who I am so I can’t conceive of not writing a feminist book. 

In what way do you think your politics work alongside your storytelling abilities? Do they complement one another? Enhance one another? Work against one another, at times?

Elison: The story must come first and definitely did for me. Wrapping a story around your politics invariably turns out a monstrosity like Atlas Shrugged, where somebody just rants for 40 pages about your philosophy. Nobody is fooled. Letting your life and your truth come through in a story without fear cannot help but be built partly of your own politics. My stories contain myself, my sexuality, my identity. Those things are political; they do not come apart. If a writer finds that their politics work against their story, it is likely because there is some part of themselves about which they cannot or will not tell the truth.

De Leon: I was really interested in reaching beyond the traditional feminist audience. That’s why I wrote a book that has elements of chick lit and romance. I wanted to mainstream subversive political ideas by serving them in the forms that women have been taught to consume. And I was interested in remixing tropes of romance and chick lit that seemed to conflict with feminism: hunky men, swooning moments, stiletto heels, shopping, competition between women. I wanted to engage all those mainstream appetites, but challenge them, as well.

Raphael: It’s a tough question. Again, the crime genre lends itself to political storytelling because it’s concerned fundamentally with questions of justice and injustice. A good crime story lays bare the power relations in a society ― in my case, in Palestine and Israel. So it was well suited to what I wanted to do. I could never set aside my politics to tell a story, because a radical analysis of social relations is how I view the world. If I didn’t bring in radical politics, and activism, I wouldn’t be telling a true story and certainly not one about Palestine. I just am not interested in apolitical stories, they seem flat and devoid of meaning to me. I can barely stand to read one, so I could definitely not write one.

Have you always felt comfortable imbuing your work with your identity as an activist or feminist? What obstacles have you faced in trying to do this?

Elison: I don’t know if “comfortable” is the right word to describe it, but it has always felt right. The obstacles are mostly that people whose opinions don’t matter will shout them at me on the internet. I’m perfectly capable of handling that. I’ve had a lot of thoughtful conversations about my depictions of gender and sexuality, and it’s fascinating to hear different interpretations of my work. But the difference between that conversation and an anonymous all-caps accusation of feminazism is pretty easy to discern. Though I respect the work of authors like Roxane Gay and Lindy West who give of their time and patience to try and educate trolls, I find it a poor investment of both in my case.

De Leon: In the past, I think I was more preachy. I had a harder time writing flawed protagonists. I wanted everyone to be much more honorable, but they weren’t very interesting. […] I hope to bridge some of that with a book that is politically charged but delivers all the feels in the romantic arc, and a good heist plot, as well as upending stereotypes of race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, nationality, and class. Ultimately, that’s what I want to do, whatever the cover or the genre or the shelf in the bookstore.

Raphael: I have no choice because if anyone Googles me, the first hundred things that come up are going to be my activism. I do a feminist radio show, I used to write for feminist and queer newspapers, I was interviewed by the FBI after 9/11 because of my feminist and antiwar organizing, there are stories about me being deported from Israel ― that’s just who I am. For sure, it narrows the market. 

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“A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her development years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any.” — Ruth Van Reken

People find wonder in being in two places at once, as though one is defying her human capabilities and transcending into the impossible. But I know firsthand the suffering, the questions, the inconsistencies and the inner torment that comes with straddling two spaces at once, with no sense of belonging to one or the other. 

It’s only in the last couple of years that I starkly realized I’m a brown girl living in America. Don’t get me wrong: It’s not like I never knew I was brown, but since I was born here, I assimilated seamlessly into American culture with a quintessential American childhood – including school dances, league sports, male friends, growing pains and heartbreak.

But along with my adaptability into the American lifestyle came long discussions and arguments with my parents over the fact that I was very “American” — and whether that had to mean traditional Indian values were sidelined. Sleepovers and school dances were threats to my focus on education (and came second to community obligations). Male friends were a threat to my purity. Discussions on love weren’t even on the table until I was old enough to suitably marry. But nonetheless, I fostered and catered to my individuality, directly opposing the collective mindset deeply rooted in my family and our Indian culture.

My adaptability into the American lifestyle brought long discussions with my parents over the fact that I was very “American” — and whether that had to mean traditional Indian values were sidelined.

The constant debate of whether I was “acting” like an American or an Indian forced me to defend my choices and my third culture mindset with an intense necessity. Conversations, even now, on how thinking one way or doing one thing makes me more American, have nurtured a deep inner conflict on who I am and what I can identify as. By coming off as American in certain ways, I’ve assumed by default that it means I’m less Indian.

This was reaching a boiling point for some time, but after Trump’s victory, this idea was completely shattered. The country I was so enthusiastic to be from and identify with forced me onto the other team. 

I am realizing this is inherently the problem, though — that I’ve felt like I needed to stand on one side of the line. 

I have spent so much of my life defending being American that I have only recently started to give myself permission to embrace being Indian. 

I can be an opinionated, assertive woman who will submit to my elders and help clean up in the kitchen while the men get up and go do anything else -- not because I think it's 'my place' but rather to be respectful and helpful.

I can cut my hair and still identify as Sikh, write about our struggles and attend conferences to learn about the religion and connect with other people who practice it to varying degrees. I can be an opinionated, assertive, free-speaking woman who will submit to my elders (even if I disagree) and help clean up in the kitchen while the men get up and go do anything else — not because I think it’s “my place” but rather because I want to be respectful and helpful.

I can have male friends, get dressed up to go out dancing and unabashedly enjoy my weekends… but still prefer a modest one-piece bathing suit and female-only dorms when I travel. I can know how to take care of myself first but still struggle to not immediately drop everything to be available when a family member calls me (as so much of my identity is wrapped up in being a good daughter to my immigrant parents).

These (seemingly minute) differences in how I act and think are ways my two cultures have shaped the way I occupy space in this world. It’s most definitely a perpetual struggle, but I am realizing that I get to pick my battles as I continue on my long personal journey.

These differences in how I act and think are ways my two cultures have shaped the way I occupy space in this world.

I suppose this is my definition for what is known as biculturalism — facing the incessant inner conflict and appreciating that I have the luxury to pick and choose my favorite values from both Indian and American cultures and redefine them for what they mean to me.

I am American. I am Indian. I might feel more one than the other, but neither personal experience negates the other. 

This piece was originally published on sahajkohli.com.

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One municipality in Switzerland has instituted a fine for anyone who takes photos there, saying the pictures will cause envy and extreme unhappiness for people who see them on social media.

Lawmakers in Bergün/Bravuogn claim their region is so beautiful, footage may prompt crippling FOMO.  

“It is scientifically proven [that] beautiful vacation photos on social media make the viewers unhappy, because they themselves can not be on the spot,” the tourist office said in statement. Naturally, the office recommends visiting the village of Bergün to avoid this dreaded FOMO. 

They have a point: Every Instagram already taken there is gorgeous. 

Local lawmakers passed a law on Tuesday that threatens a fine of about $5 for anyone who takes a photo in Bergün/Bravuogn. Of course, the whole thing is mostly a marketing ploy to attract tourists, and it’s unlikely the fine will actually be enforced, tourism director Marc-Andrea Barandun told The Local. 

The ploy is clearly working: We’re newly fascinated with Bergün, a stop on the century-old Albula railway line which starts in the town of Thusis and ends in St. Moritz. Bergün boasts painted houses, an 800-year-old church and a Roman tower, and the 1952 film “Heidi” was filmed in a village nearby. There’s skiing in winter, hiking in summer and perfect vistas all year round. 

Looks like the perfect place for a camera-free trip.

H/T Travel + Leisure

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One woman’s story shows just how diverse the Chinese community actually is. 

Paula Williams Madison, a retired NBC Universal executive who’s Jamaican-Chinese-American, decided to begin actively looking years ago for ties to her Chinese grandfather, Samuel Lowe. In 2012, her search led her back to Lowe’s home country, where she not only learned about his backstory but also finally connected with her Asian relatives.  

The emotional journey is the subject of the 2014 documentary, “Finding Samuel Lowe,” which is currently streaming online for free until June 13 on PBS.org. In it, it’s clear that Madison’s Asian heritage has become a crucial part of her identity. 

“It felt like a hole in my heart and my soul has finally been filled,” told CNN of meeting her Chinese family members, who are of the Hakka ethnic group. 

Madison, who was raised in Harlem by her Jamaican-Chinese mother Nell, said she often asked about her family’s past but details were scarce. Lowe, a shopkeeper in Kingston, last saw Nell when she was about 3 years old, ABC News reported. He allegedly left Kingston and returned to China, where he died. 

Armed with the little information she had on Lowe, Madison chipped away at her heritage on genealogy websites, uncovering more about the grandfather’s immigration to Jamaica and past as a sugar plantation worker, according to Poynter. She ended up with a huge lead after attending a Hakka conference in Toronto, where she met scholar Keith Lowe, another Chinese-Jamaican with her grandfather’s last name. She asked him to help attempt to connect her with her family in China. 

Sure enough, the scholar reached out his family and gave Madison some eye-opening news ― his uncle’s father was Lowe, ABC News reported. 

Madison made the trip to China later that year and met with her Chinese relatives. Today, she’s close with her Chinese family members and visits the country often. She said she feels comfortable in the country. 

“(When I’m there) I’m very happy,” she told CNN. “I don’t feel like a foreigner. I’m feeling very at home.”

While Madison’s story is a rare one, her Jamaican-Chinese background isn’t all that uncommon. Hakka people, who hail mostly from South China, arrived in Jamaica in four main batches beginning around 1854. The Chinese Benevolent Association of Jamaica points out that although most Chinese immigrants who came to the country weren’t “coolies,” or indentured servants, those who arrived early were in fact brought there due to the “coolie” trade. They later established a social infrastructure that allowed for more migrants to follow. 

Chinese workers were initially brought to the country to fill a labor gap that opened up when the European slave trade with western and central Africa drew to a close. While these contract laborers were paid, they lived and worked in poor conditions, often similar to what slaves were subjected to. 

Several other waves of Chinese immigrants followed, many as workers from from other parts of the Caribbean, establishing a chain of migration. And by the late 19th to early 20th century, when they became a significant part of the local retail sector. 

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If last summer’s ubiquitous “Arthur” memes didn’t leave you feeling old as dirt, imagine seeing the “Arthur” cast and your other animated faves as full-blown adults.

Welp, prepare to count your every crow’s-feet. Brandon Avant is reimagining characters from classic cartoon shows as grown-ups ― and the swag is unreal. Avant, a 29-year-old Mississippi native, began putting adult spins on classic cartoons when he drew a mature version of the “Peanuts” crew in February 2016. 

The University of Portland fashion design student regularly posts his artwork ― everything from supernatural anime creatures to politically charged illustrations ― on Instagram. But his desire to reminisce on the days of dope cartoons by aging animated characters is what has really attracted thousands of double-tapping fingers to his work.

It wasn’t until March that Avant posted more of his recreated cartoon characters, this time a tatted-up version of the “Doug” gang. 

After the “Doug” drawing, which garnered nearly 3,000 likes, Avant told HuffPost he decided to continue experimenting with the cartoon faves. He committed to doing at least 10 more drawings of the same concept because he saw it was so well-received.

“I like making people happy and making their day,” Avant told HuffPost. 

He said he enjoys reminding his audience of the earlier cartoon days, especially those that helped black children understand their culture like “The Proud Family” and “The Boondocks.”

You can relive all the blissful days of aardvarks, recess and Penny Proud below. 

If you feel he’s missing any classics *cough* “Hey, Arnold” *cough* or you’d take pride in a standalone Susie Carmichael custom drawing, Avant takes commissions. 

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President Trump has officially declared June 2017 as African-American Music Appreciation Month.

On Wednesday, Trump continued the annual presidential tradition by issuing this year’s proclamation. In his announcement, President Trump credited the influences of black music pioneers for giving “all Americans” a better understanding of American culture.

“During June, we pay tribute to the contributions African Americans have made and continue to make to American music,” the statement reads. “The indelible legacy of these musicians who have witnessed our Nation’s greatest achievements, as well as its greatest injustices give all Americans a richer, deeper understanding of American culture. Their creativity has shaped every genre of music, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, hip hop, and rap.” 

The month-long observance, honoring the vast musical contributions of black artists, was first declared in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. In 2000, President Clinton signed the African-American Music Bill, which formally established Black Music Month as a national observance.

In this year’s statement, Trump called out such greats like Chuck Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald as black musicians who have exemplified how music can bring people together.

“These musicians also remind us of our humanity and of our power to overcome,” the statement reads. “They expressed the soul of blues, gospel, and rock and roll, which has so often captured the hardships of racism and injustices suffered by African Americans, as well as daily joys and celebrations.”

“Their work highlights the power music has to channel the human experience, and they remain a testament to the resilience of all freedom-loving people,” he continued. “We are grateful for their contribution to the cannon of great American art.”  

Read more of President Trump’s Black Music Month Proclamation in its entirety here.

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Speculative fiction queen Margaret Atwood has done so much great work, and she’s getting recognized more and more these days. She’s lending her newly heightened cachet to a worthy cause: Encouraging New York Public Library patrons to sign a petition in support of continued funding for the city’s libraries.

In an letter headlined “There are no public libraries in The Handmaid’s Tale’s Gilead,” Atwood drew a clear line between access to books and having a free and open society:

There are an infinite variety of tyrannies and dystopias, but they all share one trait: the ferocious opposition to free thought, open minds, and access to information. Where people are free to learn, to share, to explore, to feel and dream, liberty grows.

This is why the library matters so much. It is a democratizing and liberating force like none other.

Hear hear.

“It’s no coincidence,” she added, “that there are no public libraries in the dystopia I wrote about in my novel The Handmaid’s Tale.” For those who have been eagerly binging on the foreboding Hulu adaptation of her book, that comparison is chilling.

Atwood’s letter is part of a letter-writing campaign, headed by literary luminaries including Malcolm Gladwell and Junot Diaz, urging the city to allocate more funding in 2018 for New York City public libraries, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library: $34 million in additional operating funds and $150 million in capital funding. The requested funding would be used, respectively, to expand library services (even keeping some branches open all week) and to perform necessary maintenance, according to the NYPL. 

All too often, local governments target libraries for budget cuts at the expense of the mission of providing accessible education and literacy to the public. In the midst of all the political chaos today, Atwood and her fellow literary advocates remind us, we can’t lose sight of the power of free access to learning and literature.

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For the second time in a week, a noose was found on the grounds of a Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C.

When visitors walked into an exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Wednesday, they saw a small noose lying on the floor. It had been left in an exhibit on segregation, Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas told HuffPost.

Two of the visitors who discovered the noose “were very upset,” St. Thomas said. The gallery was “closed pretty quickly” and remained closed for about an hour. 

It’s the second time in less than a week that a noose has been found on or around museum grounds on the National Mall. Last Friday, a noose was hanging from a tree outside the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, St. Thomas said.

“We don’t know how long that was there,” St. Thomas said of Friday’s discovery. “It was in a public space outside, but this [newly discovered noose] was obviously intended to be in the segregation exhibition.” 

In an internal email to staff obtained by HuffPost, Secretary of the Smithsonian David Skorton said he must “again share with you some deeply disturbing news” about Wednesday’s incident.

“The Smithsonian family stands together in condemning this act of hatred and intolerance, especially repugnant in a museum that affirms and celebrates the American values of inclusion and diversity,” Skorton wrote.

St. Thomas said the museum has “full security,” including metal detectors and bag screening. But a small noose would not have set off any immediate alarms, she said.

The U.S. Park Police are now investigating the incident.

“We will not be intimidated,” Skorton wrote in his email. “With new urgency, we will tell the story of our nation and all its people. We will continue to fight this sort of ignorance with knowledge. Cowardly acts like these will not, for one moment, prevent us from the vital work we do. We will remain vigilant and, in spite of these deplorable acts, we will become a stronger institution for all Americans.”

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The most popular baby names in the U.S. tend to remain the same from one year to the next, but interesting trends emerge over longer periods of time.

On May 12, the Social Security Administration released the official list of the most popular baby names of 2016. Names like Emma, Noah and Liam continue to dominate the charts, with only a few notable changes from the 2015 list. 

In light of this news, we decided to look back at the most popular names 100 years ago to see how parents’ choices of the past compare to today’s trends. While some names remain popular (you’ve got your Johns, Williams and Elizabeths), others have rather fallen into obscurity these days (shout-out to Gladys, Edna and Ralph).

Without further ado, here are the 25 most popular baby names for boys and girls in 1917:

Girls

1. Mary 


2. Helen


3. Dorothy 


4. Margaret


5. Ruth


6. Mildred


7. Anna 


8. Elizabeth


9. Frances


10. Virginia


11. Evelyn


12. Marie


13. Alice


14. Florence


15. Lillian


16. Rose


17. Irene


18. Catherine


19. Louise


20. Edna


21. Josephine


22. Martha


23. Gladys


24. Ethel


25. Doris 

Boys

1. John


2. William


3. James


4. Robert


5. Joseph


6. George


7. Charles


8. Edward


9. Frank


10. Thomas


11. Walter


12. Harold


13. Paul


14. Richard


15. Henry


16. Raymond


17. Arthur


18. Albert


19. Harry


20. Donald


21. Ralph


22. Jack


23. Louis 


24. Carl


25. Clarence

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Supposedly, your third decade of life (that is, ages 20–30) is one of your most crucial. During that time, it feels like you’re generally supposed to figure out your career, your outlook on life, your love situation, your family plans — no pressure.

Luckily, if you’re in the midst of doing more flailing than to-do-list-checking during these years, there are plenty of people who’ve come before to commiserate, elucidate or simply provide a few laughs through the churning waters of young adulthood.

Behold, 12 great essay collections by women that are perfect for the 20-something in your life (which may be, well, you).

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I arrive in Charlottesville before noon on a pristine spring day, the rolling green hills a far cry from where I started my morning, before sunrise in an Uber to JFK. I’m here to learn about Virginia’s unique wine culture. My first guide is Gabriele Rausse, an old school Italian winemaker known as the father of Virginia’s modern wine renaissance.

My image of an intimidating wine expert evaporates upon meeting Rausse. With a laidback demeanor that is standard fare around here, Rausse offers to take me on a tour of the surrounding vineyards, and soon we are cruising along winding country roads in his 1979 Mercedes. Rausse begins to unfurl Virginia’s wine history. From the canopy of sun-dappled maples to the rolling hills dotted with vineyards, I am struck by the lushness of Virginia’s countryside.

Vintage Roots

Like most American success stories, Virginia has had to crush a variety of obstacles on its 400 year path to becoming a respected winemaking region. In the early 1600s, the first colonists tried to cultivate the area’s native vines to produce a cash crop, but ongoing attempts were thwarted by the region’s diverse climate.

By the 1770s, European winemakers were commissioned to try their luck with planting the European Vitis vinifera outside of Williamsburg, but even the experts couldn’t achieve a successful harvest. Construction began at Monticello, and along with Jefferson’s grand vision for a mountaintop estate, the founding father ensured that wine would always have a legacy in Virginia.

Rausse and I head back to Monticello to walk around the grounds where Jefferson planted 330 varieties of fruits and vegetables, along with two vineyards in which he planted 24 varieties of grapes sloping down the mountainside. Jefferson’s original crops didn’t survive, but he continued to establish wine as an important part of Virginia’s culture by importing more than 400 bottles from Europe a year to serve at Monticello’s famous dinner parties. He even installed dumbwaiters from the wine cellar to the dining room to keep the vino flowing without interruption.

Modern Revival

Rausse and I stop to admire the tight green clusters of grapes now flourishing in Jefferson’s original vineyard. Overseeing Monticello’s grounds and gardens for the past 22 years, Rausse has brought Jefferson’s dream to fruition by restoring the vineyards with several of the original vine varieties that Jefferson planted back in 1807. Several vintages produced from these grapes are now sold in Monticello’s Museum Shop, including a crisp Chardonnay and Bordeaux-style blends.

We pause to take in the spectacular panoramic view of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains that unfurl beyond Jefferson’s vineyards, where 30 wineries welcome guests along the Monticello Wine Trail.  All these wineries are located within 25 miles of Charlottesville, making this a great destination for wine lovers to enjoy tastings, wine festivals, live music, or just soak in the beauty of the Virginia’s countryside.

Jefferson laid roots for winemaking in Virginia, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that Virginia’s winemaking really took off. Looking to expand internationally, Italian winemaker Gianni Zonin bought a parcel of land outside of Charlottesville, taking a risk on a region where many had failed. He sent his vineyard manager, Gabriele Rausse, to find a fresh solution to get the wine flowing in Virginia.

Upon arriving in Virginia in 1976, Rausse was up against a healthy dose of skepticism from locals, who assured him that pinot noir could not be grown in Charlottesville. But these challenges invigorated him: “Before I came, I checked the climate of Charlottesville, and it was exactly the same climate of my town in Italy. So I said, why shouldn’t it grow here?”

Over the next six years, Rausse cultivated the fields of what is now Barboursville Vineyards, becoming the first vintner to successfully plant Vitis vinifera in the region. And in the spirit of generosity that Virginia seems to cultivate, Rausse shared his trade secrets with other local vintners. The number of wineries in Virginia steadily grew from a handful in 1980 to more than 300 today.

Like all great winemakers, Rausse let the land guide him. He realized that the grafting process had to be perfect to survive the region’s drastic seasonal changes. And when it comes to climate, Rausse tells me that “Virginia does whatever she wants.” While growers in California can rely on a mostly stable climate with temperate growing conditions, in Virginia, “there’s no year that the climate is the same.”

This is how underdog stories go. Every time the climate or seasonal variation throws a new challenge at Virginia’s winemakers, they adapt, and it’s this spirit of innovation that has allowed Virginian viticulture to thrive. With a harvest season that runs according to Mother Nature’s whims, the result is constant experimentation. For wine lovers, that means discovering a new and unique flavor profile with every visit to Virginia’s wineries.

History Preserved and Perfected

I say goodbye to Rausse at Monticello and make the 40-minute drive to Barboursville Vineyards, often credited as Virginia’s top winery. A quick rain shower en route leaves a pleasant earthiness in the air and the sun re-emerges to confirm the tranquility of Charlottesville. Even the highways here feel steeped in nature, reminding this longtime city dweller of the simple pleasure of cruising along a beautiful country road.

I pull into Barboursville and am struck by the size of the vineyard, a sea of rolling green hills and orderly rows of trellises stretching farther than the eye can see. It feels like a respite from the real world.  

Luca Paschina, general manager and winemaker at Barboursville, has offered to show me around. Like Rausse, Paschina comes from a family of Italian winemakers, and made his way to Virginia in 1990 to run Barboursville.

I climb into Paschina’s SUV and we make our way along sloping hillsides covered in neat rows of vines. Paschina tells me about the 18 varieties of grapes they have planted, and how even small changes in the slope can lead to hugely different yields. In his 17 years at the helm of Barboursville, he has grown the vineyard from 45 acres to almost 200, and launched a tasting room and restaurant that welcomes 80,000 visitors per year. Paschina is particularly excited about the burgeoning interest in aged red wines in Virginia, and the tasting room features a large collection of older vintages, offering yet another draw for wine connoisseurs.

The vineyard’s bestselling wine is called Octagon, a harmonious blend of Bordeaux, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot with a smooth-bodied finish. The wine is enhanced by its historical connections, with the name Octagon chosen in honor of the octagonal shaped dining room of James Barbour’s mansion, whose ruins flank the inn on the Barboursville property. Designed by Jefferson, the mansion burned to the ground in 1884.

Winemakers are preservationists, and Zonin has instituted an ongoing restoration process to shore up the crumbling ruins from further disrepair. With their stately brick remains coexisting peacefully with the bucolic countryside, the ruins are a sight to behold, and yet another reason to add Barboursville to your next wine tour itinerary.

I am staying the night at the 1804 Inn, adjacent to the ruins and built a century before. I’ve got the Vineyard Cottage all to myself, and the quaint 18th century dwelling is perfect for travelers seeking tranquility and privacy. I take a stroll to the ruins before turning in for the night, thinking that Jefferson would be pleased at how things turned out around here.

Laidback Luxury

The next morning I drive back toward Monticello, where I am meeting Kirsty Harmon, winemaker and manager at Blenheim Vineyards. Whereas Barboursville is steeped in history, Blenheim takes a more casual and contemporary approach to wines. “The nice thing about Virginia wineries is that every single place you go is going to be radically different than the next,” said Harmon. Visitors to Blenheim are encouraged to bring the whole family to enjoy music festivals, food trucks, and tastings at the 30-acre vineyard.

Blenheim is owned by musician Dave Matthews, who designs new bottle labels every year. Harmon says that some visitors come because of Dave Matthews, and learn a bit about wine in the process, and some come for the wine and learn about the Dave Matthews connection.

The vibe at Blenheim may be laid back, but its wines are rooted in Harmon’s deep scientific knowledge of winemaking. As one of only 20 or so female winemakers in Virginia, Harmon got her footing in the industry when she met Gabriele Rausse, who became her mentor. She’s been running Blenheim since 2008, and in that time has seen a huge increase in wine tourism. Blenheim welcomes 45,000 visitors a year for tastings.

True to her vineyard’s laid back vibe, Harmon creates wines that are fruit forward and approachable, meant for everyday drinking: “We try to present wine in an approachable but laid back way. Wine can get very intimidating and stuffy, but it doesn’t have to be that.”

My wine journey is nearing its end. I’ve learned firsthand that a spirit of generosity is as much a part of the winemaker’s job as a deeply ingrained knowledge of the land, from its history to its soil composition. Jefferson runs deep around here.

But the wineries of Virginia aren’t just bringing Jefferson’s dreams full circle; they’re also taking Virginia’s wine culture into bold new territory, where laid back and luxurious can coexist, making Charlottesville the perfect weekend destination for both newcomers and wine aficionados alike.

Experience the rich flavors of Virginia’s wines for yourself. Check out Virginia Tourism for a guide to the best wineries around the state and plan your next trip to relax in the laid back luxury of Virginia’s beautiful vineyards. Because Virginia is for wine lovers!

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Imagine a commodity that immediately creates an unstoppable, ridiculously lucrative industry force that invades every aspect of our socio-economic infrastructure. If I asked you this in 1920 at a corner speakeasy, you’d tell me that oil was the product in question. Fast-forward nearly a century, and we’ve seen the very same degree of monopolistic dominance brought about by an entirely different good – the privatized data of others.

Just as Rockefeller’s horizontally-integrated empire controlled the refinery of 90% of the oil sold in the US, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have continued to shock the world with egregious profits and a very similar stranglehold on the data of internet users. Whether or not you support the direction of these enterprises, one thing is for certain: your data has become the oil of the internet age, and it’s revolutionizing the way we perceive technology, economics, and social good.

I think what many of us gloss over is the sheer amount of profitable data that each of us creates on a daily basis. The music you listen to, videos you watch, articles you read, feeds you scroll through, and links you click generate terabytes of data per second, all the while producing billions of dollars. This data sharpens the ever-present edge of machine learning clusters that know you better than yourself. They know what you’re buying next and where you’re going before you grab your keys. Now, something to understand is that this isn’t all bad or as horrifying as it may seem. In fact, many of the products and services that have changed our lives for the better are constantly made improved by this infinite stream of data. Companies are provided with endless metrics that help to elevate their products. Tesla’s autopilot software becomes smarter with every mile driven, and your Facebook newsfeed curates itself with every second of screen-time.

So you get it; a shit ton of people know everything about you and there’s nothing you can do about it. So what? Well, all of this draws attention to the underlying issue of competition. Our data has made five or six companies so much money that they throw hundreds of millions at others in “shoot-out acquisitions” that eliminate potential rivals by swallowing their technology. Instead of encouraging the push for the bigger and better, we’ve devolved into stagnated creators that build something half decent to get acquired by a tech-titan that only cares to exercise your influence from the free market. Now, we can’t just break up these companies. That would be stupid because our data is webbed. It exists in every corner of the internet, and shutting down one server only makes the hard-drive of another much bigger.

What’s required is transparency. By forcing these conglomerates to reveal what information they use and the paychecks they receive because of it, we can create a shared data economy, where data is used in a much more public measure. Demanding shared access to certain types of data could greatly level the playing field, so that anyone can make a great product by having the same rights to data as a select few.

Now you may be asking yourself, isn’t that a huge security concern? And to that I’d say, ask yourself: is it better to have your data controlled by six companies that shield you from its contents, purpose, or selling price, or to build a shared community of information with restrictions and equality for all at an incredible premium?

We are talking about the internet, a tool built with the fundamental goal to encourage the global spread of information without constraints, and here we are disregarded from its most important application. It’s a scary thought, but without discussion and discourse we’ll get nowhere. It is our responsibility as internet users to control the flow of the information we create, and ensure its ethical use and equitable distribution.

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Last week, men got real mad when the Alamo Drafthouse, a movie theater in Austin, Texas, offered a women-only screening of the upcoming “Wonder Woman” film.

One of these men is Richard Ameduri, a man who took the time to write to the mayor of Austin, Steve Adler, expressing his disdain for the “sexist” screening.

In his letter, which Mayor Adler posted on his website, Ameduri threatens to boycott Austin if there is not a counter, men-only screening. He also labels women “the second rate gender” and asks Mayor Adler if he can “name something invented by a woman.”

Below is Ameduri’s email in full:

I hope every man will boycott Austin and do what he can to diminish Austin and to cause damage to the city’s image.

The theater that pandered to the sexism typical of women will, I hope, regret it’s decision. The notion of a woman hero is a fine example of women’s eagerness to accept the appearance of achievement without actual achievement.

Women learn from an early age to value make-up, that it’s OK to pretend that you are greater than you actually are. Women pretend they do not know that only men serve in combat because they are content to have an easier ride. Women gladly accept gold medals at the Olympics for coming in 10th and competing only against the second class of athletes.

Name something invented by a woman! Achievements by the second rate gender pale in comparison to virtually everything great in human history was accomplished by men, not women.

If Austin does not host a men only counter event, I will never visit Austin and will welcome it’s deteriorati on. And I will not forget that Austin is best known for Charles Whitman. Does Austin stand for gender equality or for kissing up to women?

Don’t bother to respond. I already know the answer. I do not hate women. I hate their rampant hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of the ‘women’s movement.’ Women do not want gender equality; they want more for women. Don’t bother to respond because I am sure your cowardice will generate nothing worth reading.

– Richard A. Ameduri

Despite Ameduri’s request that the mayor not “bother to respond,” Adler did in fact write back. On May 26, the mayor posted his response online in full: 

Dear Mr. Ameduri,

I am writing to alert you that your email account has been hacked by an unfortunate and unusually hostile individual. Please remedy your account’s security right away, lest this person’s uninformed and sexist rantings give you a bad name. After all, we men have to look out for each other!

Can you imagine if someone thought that you didn’t know women could serve in our combat units now without exclusion? What if someone thought you didn’t know that women invented medical syringes, life rafts, fire escapes, central and solar heating, a war-time communications system for radio-controlling torpedoes that laid the technological foundations for everything from Wi-Fi to GPS, and beer? And I hesitate to imagine how embarrassed you’d be if someone thought you were upset that a private business was realizing a business opportunity by reserving one screening this weekend for women to see a superhero movie.

You and I are serious men of substance with little time for the delicate sensitivities displayed by the pitiful creature who maligned your good name and sterling character by writing that abysmal email. I trust the news that your email account has been hacked does not cause you undue alarm and wish you well in securing your account. And in the future, should your travels take you to Austin, please know that everyone is welcome here, even people like those who wrote that email whose views are an embarrassment to modernity, decency, and common sense.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Adler

 On May 31, Alyssa Vidales, a resident of Austin, posted screenshots of both letters on Twitter.

The post picked up steam, receiving more than 12,000 likes and 7,000 retweets. Mayor Adler also received enthusiastic praise for his response.

Keep fighting the good fight, Adler!

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Crystal Kells has always loved documenting her son, Cian, as he grows up. The Canadian photographer takes pictures of her 5-year-old going through day-to-day life with his signature joy and confidence.

“My son is the light of my life,” Kells told HuffPost. “He has made me become a better person. He has taught me to love myself and others more. He is one of the happiest people I have had the pleasure of meeting in my entire life. He lights up a room with his personality and the joy he brings to others.”

When he was 4, Cian started wearing dresses and has enjoyed being creative with his wardrobe throughout the past year. The little boy also likes wearing capes and playing superheroes. He’s a fan of Iron Man, “Paw Patrol,” going on hikes, playing cars and getting his hair cut short.

“He’s my rough and tumble boy who loves to wrestle with his daddy and is my sweet caring boy who loves to play princess,” said Kells. 

Kells, who lives in Hamilton, Ontario, shared her photos and son’s story in a blog post on BoredPanda. “My husband and I are raising him without gender stereotypes,” she wrote, explaining that the fact that her son is a boy does not dictate the clothes he wears or toys he plays with. 

“He doesn’t use his penis to be able to wear a dress, nor does he use his penis to operate the dolls and cars he plays with,” she added. 

The mom told HuffPost she wrote the blog post to share Cian’s philosophy with the world: “Be yourself. Be happy. Be confident. Love yourself.”

Kells and her son have yet to face any in-person confrontations from strangers for his choice of attire. “We do get stares, glares, head shaking and snickers, but for the most part, it’s been quite positive,” she explained. “Cian never notices, and I don’t think he’d care anyway. I hold my head high and smile at them.”

The response online has been a different story, but Kells said she uses it as an opportunity to have discussions with people and raise awareness around the issues of gender stereotypes in parenting. 

Ultimately, she believes the impact of her family’s story outweighs the occasional negative comment online.

”I had a local mom reach out to me and tell me that she and her sons had seen Cian and I at our local Walmart,” the photographer recalled. “Her sons had asked her about Cian and him wearing a dress, so she took the opportunity to teach her children how we are all different and how it should be OK for boys to like ‘girl things’ and girls to like ‘boy things.’”

One of the woman’s sons “just lit up” at this lesson, Kells added. “A few days later, he announced his favorite color was pink and was excited to get a toy that was considered for girls. Both boys have since found confidence and joy.”

This kind of positive impact brings the family joy.  

Said Kells, “It’s for things like this that I write and I share our story.”

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Kirsten Dunst has no time for revamped “Spider-Man” films.

The actress starred in a “Spider-Man” trilogy opposite Tobey Maguire in the early aughts and recently spoke out about her distaste for the reboots of the franchise.

And, truly, who can blame her? She was a fantastic Mary Jane Watson. 

In the July issue of UK’s Marie Claire, the star of the upcoming remake “The Beguiled” said the “Spider-Man” franchise she starred in was the “best.”

When asked for her opinion on the Spider-Man reboot, she was also pretty unequivocal. ‘We made the best ones, so who cares? I’m like, “You make it all you want.” They’re just milking that cow for money. It’s so obvious. You know what I mean?’

Dunst likely isn’t wrong about studios “milking that cow.”

Maguire and Dunst’s “Spider-Man” brought in a whopping $821.7 million worldwide and 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, earned $757.9 million. That’s not exactly chump change. 

Dunst also told Variety in a recent interview that she’d “rather be in the first ones than the new ones,” which we’re not sure we totally agree with considering the the upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” includes the likes of Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Michael Keaton and Donald Glover.

Regardless, Dunst’s latest film has her kissing Colin Farrell, which sounds fine to us.

So, yeah, let the “Spider-Man” reboots do their thing, Kirsten. You’re doing OK without them.

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Jennifer Lopez was nearly moved to tears after watching an 11-year-old Latina’s performance during the premiere of “World of Dance” on Tuesday.

Diana Pombo was vying for a chance to compete in NBC’s new dance competition show, produced by Lopez. The young girl from Miami gave an emotional and impressive performance to Sia’s “Bird Set Free” that seemed to take Lopez by surprise. 

Nearly as soon as Diana finished dancing, Lopez asked her about her background. The preteen responded that her parents are from Colombia.

“Yes, you’ve got that Latin fire,” the Nuyorican judge said. “I can see it in you.”

“When you took your foot and looked at me backwards and wiped your forehead with your foot and looked like your face was going to cry, I ...” Lopez continued, trying to piece together her thoughts. “No, it wasn’t just all the flexibility you had. It wasn’t all the strength you had. It was the passion that you put into every move.”

Fellow judges Ne-Yo and Derek Hough echoed Lopez’s sentiments. After their comments, Diana told the singer and dancer that she was her idol, and Lopez stood up to give her a hug.

”Ms @jlo this moment is everything ❤️ You have given me a gift I will carry with me always!” Diana wrote in an Instagram caption on Wednesday, below a clip of her performance and their hug. 

Diana passed through to the next round with a score of 89.7 from the three judges, which means the Colombiana will get a chance to continue in the competition that gives dancers the opportunity to win $1 million.  

Watch Diana’s full performance in the clip above. 

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Bill O’Reilly’s film “Killing Patton” has officially been killed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, O’Reilly’s latest movie adaptation of his best-selling “Killing” book series has been scrapped by the National Geographic Channel ― but apparently not for the reasons you’re thinking. 

Despite multiple sexual harassment claims against him, and Fox News, which is also owned by 21st Century Fox, severing ties with O’Reilly, NatGeo told THR the movie was just “a difficult project to crack creatively.”

The statement continued, “Like most projects in development, it didn’t go the distance, so we passed on it.”

The movie, which is about World War II General George S. Patton, was announced in 2015 and scheduled to premiere in 2019. Four of O’Reilly’s other “Killing” films ― “Killing Jesus,” “Killing Kennedy,” “Killing Reagan” and “Killing Lincoln” ― have reportedly done well for NatGeo since 2013. THR called them “ratings drivers.”

Still, the network reportedly did not mention the allegations against O’Reilly in its statement. So, yeah, “Killing Patton” was just tough to “crack creatively.” Sure. Totally.

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“Daily Show” correspondent Hasan Minhaj is the kind of guy the Indian American community can be proud of ― he loves his immigrant parents, he adores his wife, and he’s excelling in an industry that doesn’t make enough room for brown people. He recently released his own Netflix comedy special, “Homecoming King,” where he proved once again that he isn’t letting his success stop him from speaking out about the trials facing people of color in America today. 

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the internet has also resurfaced one more factoid about Minhaj that is basically the syrup topping this delectable gulab jamun of a man.  

Minhaj can dance, guys. And he’s actually not that bad.

Watch Minhaj giving Bollywood actor Salman Khan a run for his money in the Facebook video below.

The Facebook page Bollyshake unearthed a video that appears to be from Minhaj’s wedding celebrations. In it, Minhaj and his groomsmen wear traditional Indian sherwanis and dance to the iconic wedding song, “Saajanji Ghar Aaye” from the Bollywood movie “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.”

It’s standard fare at Indian weddings these days for the bride or groom (or the entire bridal party) to break out into a dance. Minhaj seems to have mastered the classic moves ― the point and grin, the shoulder pop, the yearning, one-arm sweep. 

In “Homecoming King,” the comedian spoke about how hard it was for him to get his parents to accept his relationship with Beena, his college girlfriend. Hasan’s family is Muslim, while Beena’s family is Hindu. 

But Minhaj refused to give up his girl. The pair tied the knot in January 2015 ― and the comedian got a chance to show off his moves. 

Watch the original Bollywood song below. 

Hat tip: Buzzfeed

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“Stranger Things” Season 2 is shaping up to be an Eleven out of 10.

Finn Wolfhard and Caleb McLaughlin already told HuffPost that Season 2 of the breakout Netflix series is going to be better than Season 1, and now Gaten Matarazzo is here to hype fans up even more.

The actor is teaming up with Holiday Inn for their “Summer of Smiles” event, which, among other things, involves chocolate milk happy hours at participating hotels. One of Matarazzo’s most memorable scenes from “Stranger Things” is when his character Dustin discovers a stash of chocolate pudding in school, so chocolate milk happy hours seem right up his alley. 

While casually hanging out by a pool, the actor filled us in on what to expect in Season 2. (You can watch the interview in the video above.)

Ladies, gentlemen, Demogorgons, get ready for another cliffhanger.

Matarazzo said people can look forward to “a good amount of explanation that they’ve been looking for, but also there are some new stories coming in that you’re gonna want to hear about if there is a Season 3. Also, we got another cliffhanger in there for ya, so that’s gonna be exciting.”

The actor told HuffPost that the new season is action-packed, and you’ll learn more about the Upside Down.

But we can’t help but think, “What could the cliffhanger be? And what are the explanations we’re finally going to get?”

Of course, fans are still waiting to find out exactly what happened to Eleven, who disappeared at the end of Season 1. With Eleven actress Millie Bobby Brown appearing in the Season 2 teaser, it seems we should get answers about that pretty quickly.

One revelation you probably shouldn’t count on is that Dustin is one of the test subjects like Eleven. Matarazzo told us that’s the craziest “Stranger Things” theory he’s heard so far ... but he’s into it.

“Who doesn’t want to be like Eleven? Eleven’s awesome,” the actor said.

“Stranger Things” Season 2 is out Oct. 31.

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You might know Canadian illustrator Jillian Tamaki for This One Summer, her 2014 collaboration with cousin Mariko Tamaki that artfully chronicled a formative season between two friends and earned her a Caldecott Honor award. Now, the illustrator returns with a new book that’s all her own.

Boundless, from Drawn & Quarterly, is a series of graphic stories, some more rooted in narrative structure than others. Tamaki’s imagined scenarios — in one, a narrator becomes over-invested in the life of a bizarre Facebook mirror; in another, a lengthy cult internet recording called “Sex Coven” sparks a murky trend of teens gathering in the woods — are finely drawn, part of a world that feels eerily unfamiliar and recognizable at once. There are benchmarks of our modern lives, like short-lived television that earns a fandom online, and then Tamaki twists it into something bizarre: that television show is, in fact, a sitcom porno.

This treatment is also given to notions of femininity. In one story, a character seems to be shrinking in an attractive way. One acquaintance asks her if she’s lost weight. Her shrinking doesn’t stop, however, and soon she’s unable to work and requires tiny clothes hand-sewn by her sister, before she eventually grows smaller than what is recognizable to the eye. In another, a mostly disembodied narrator extolls the virtues of a multi-level marketing beauty product.

Bedbugs, too, and the strain the invasive creatures can put on a relationship, feel relatively modern, and Tamaki handles this deftly. In “Bedbug,” she tells the story of a couple sorting through their things, deciding which to keep for fumigation and which to toss after an infestation. The quick intimacy she creates for the reader allows you to feel the full weight of the stresses and secrets that unfurl.

Read an excerpt below:

Boundless is now available from Drawn & Quarterly.

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