Wishin’ and Hopin’...

ringing in the new year. via silverlily @ flickr Dear 2009, Okay, so you weren’t all bad. You ensured we said goodbye to Bush, Cheney, et al. You let the Yankees win the World Series. Iowa legalized gay marriage. And Harpyness came into being. But on a personal level, you were a real kick-in-the-ovaries...

I’ll have an Americano with a doub...

If you thought Joe’s was bad, you’ll get a real kick out of Java Divas, a new coffee shop in Pasadena, Maryland. NBC4 in DC ran a little feature on the operation tonight, which caught my attention. It’s a drive-through coffee shop staffed by scantily-clad hotties. They serve drinks...

Harpy Book Club, December Edition...

photo via sarah.of.a.lesser.god This feature (for now in the custody of sarah.of.a.lesser.god) is our way of sharing those book titles, both fiction and nonfiction, that have been standouts in recent reading, and hopefully getting some from our readers in return. The focus is primarily, but not necessarily...

A Bitch’s Work Is Never Done...

Yesterday, while on a walking tour of the spice market in Old Delhi, I punched a guy who groped my ass on a crowded sidewalk. I only got him in the arm, but he dropped the package he was carrying and scurried away, which made me feel somewhat better. Our tour guide, a  motherly, middle-aged lady in...

Feminist Giving Guide...

If you still have money left over once your holiday shopping is done, please consider making a donation to a worthy cause that benefits women and girls. Girls Write Now Since 1998 Girls Write Now has provided guidance, support, and opportunities for New York City’s high school girls to develop...

Friday Fun Thread: Gifted....

Dear Natalie Dee, Please make notecards of your work so I can buy them by the gross and give them to my near and dear. Love, PhDork Hey, everybody!  I have, at long last, wrapped up the semester at both my jobs, which involved mega-grading and loose-end-wrapping-up, and dealing with a funny little bit...

Bitches 1, Mansplainer, 0...

Gentle readers, I know I said I was leaving you for a whole three weeks, but I simply couldn’t head off to India without sharing this story with you. Plus it’s snowing–yes, snowing–here in London and I would rather cozy up to my sister’s laptop than go out again. Anyhoo…I...

In Dreams Come Responsibilities...

A couple of days ago a friend and I went to see Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lovely Bones.  I had seen the reviews, or rather, had seen the Rotten Tomatoes rating; but I tend not to trust male film critics on the subject of movies about women.  They usually get their wires crossed somewhere,...

Harpy Hall of Fame: Phillis Wheatley...

via antydiluvian @ flickr Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753-1754, most likely in either what is now Senegal or Gambia; her native language is presumed to be Wolof. She was kidnapped and forced into slavery as a child, arriving in Boston in 1761, advertised in the following bulletin: A parcel of likely...

Annise Parker’s Victory: A Step Fo...

Well done, Ms. Parker and the city of Houston! via david ortez @ flickr Houston, Texas made history on Saturday by electing city comptroller Annise Parker to be mayor. Parker ran on the always-popular crime reduction platform, and was a solid, above-the-mudslinging-fray campaigner. But that’s...

Can I Get a Witness?...

Last week, during one leg of my hellish commute, I picked up one of the free tabloid papers that are 50% ads, 23% sports, 23% celebrity gossip, and 4% “news,” digested into its blandest, most thoughtless form.   It’s one of the last places I expect to find counter-cultural messages....

I Miss Y’All Already...

I'll be here next weekend. Gentle readers, I’m bidding you farewell for a whole three weeks. On Monday evening I head east, first to England for a black-tie party at my friend’s Kentish manor house and a festive dinner at St. John restaurant in London, then to Heathrow Terminal Five and…India,...