Sarah Seltzer

By Sarah Seltzer

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  Life

  In Seders and Springsteen, Secular Spirituality

  This past weekend, the New York Times wrote about a group of Jewish Bruce Springsteen fans who rented out a room at a Madison Square Garden restaurant this past Friday night so they could participate in a Seder and still make it down to “the pit” (the general admission area) in time for their rock-and-roll…

  By Sarah Seltzer Apr 11, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Life

  Going Gaga for ‘Girls’

  I’ve felt for a long time that the problem with the rise of bromance/male slacker comedy isn’t that it elevates immature dudes into leading men, but rather that it pairs them up with too tightly wound ladies. It’s what David Denby called the “slacker-striver” pairing, and it was popularized by Judd Apatow. In short: putting…

  By Sarah Seltzer Apr 3, 2012 | 3 min read
• Life

  Is ‘Mad Men’ Finally Poised To Tackle Race?

  AMC’s “Mad Men,” which returned last night with a two-hour premiere, is a show with a relatively small audience, but a disproportionately active one. Sometimes it feels that 99% of that viewership consists of media professionals who look forward to writing their own recaps and tweets the next morning — not to mention designing animated…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 26, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Life

  Why We Pay More for Deodorant

  The debate over birth control has made many of us think about how much money we as women spend on our reproductive health care — between birth control pill co-pays, visits to the gynecologist, cancer screenings, and all the necessary pre-natal care. Because of issues attendant with our fertility and reproduction, insurance companies have regularly charged…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 23, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Life

  Sandra Fluke and the Big Jewish Conspiracy

  The latest salvo from the trenches of the extreme right against Georgetown Law student and contraception advocate Sandra Fluke is the most absurd yet, and matches the other slurs in offensiveness. Her latest crime is — wait for it — dating a Jew. Yes, it’s not enough that Fluke had the gall to stand up…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 15, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Life

  The Right Kind of ‘Slut’

  “We are all sluts now” is the rallying-cry in a post Sandra Fluke vs. Rush Limbaugh world. By smearing one young woman with that word for advocating contraception coverage, Rush attacked everyone who uses birth control, 99% of women in America. He also chose a victim who was not already in the public eye and…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 8, 2012 | 2 min read
• Life

  Byline Bias — and What We Can Do About It

  This year’s batch of VIDA numbers, detailing women’s bylines — or lack thereof — at major literary-oriented magazines and book review sections were as dismal as last year’s, as Elissa notes. I got into writing and journalism to elevate other people’s voices. I find it demoralizing that I have to fight to get my own…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 5, 2012 | 4 min read
• Life

  Limbaugh and the ‘Slut’-Shaming Epidemic

  The latest salvo in the war on women came from the microphone of the notoriously crass and offensive talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. Even for someone who offends as regularly as Limbaugh, his latest comments were beyond the pale. Limbaugh has launched an attack on Sandra Fluke — the young Georgetown law student whose testimony…

  By Sarah Seltzer Mar 4, 2012 | 2 min read