We've got a two-fer for you, two issues in one update. If you're new to the feature, the photo features Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor & publisher of The Nation, meeting with her coffee fetchers (they think of themselves as "writers") in a drawing room setting so pathetic that even Tennessee Williams wouldn't have written about it.
April 9, 2007
Editorials & Comment
"ACT UP at 20" -- unsigned editorial
"Looking Out for Veterans" -- Ari Berman explores a safe topic, well covered by the mainstream media already. Cliff Notes and synopsis.
Garrett Ordower's "The Loan Shark Lobby"
"Sami Al-Arian" -- unsigned
Max Blumenthal's "Porn Cop vs. US Attorney"
5 pieces.
Score: O women, 3 men
Columns
Calvin Trillin's "Mistakes Were Made"
AlterPunk's "The Many Man-Crushes of Christ Matthews" -- coming up next, AlterPunk lists his own man crushes and tries to figure out if he has more. (Answer: Yes, he does.)
Naomi Klein's "Class War in Conrad's Court"
3 pieces.
Score: 1 woman, 2 men
Articles
Joshua Kors' "How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits" -- remember when The Nation had Cindy Sheehan on her cover, way back when, and the article was so disappointing and so out of step with Sheehan and the times? Well someone's feeling nostalgic.
Peter Schrag's "As California Goes ..." -- Ever wonder if a state like Delaware gets jealous of all the attention going elsewhere?
Mohamad Bazzi's "The CIA's Italian Job" -- No doubt, an article soon to be called into question in a book review in the magazine done by a centrist.
3 pieces.
Score: 0 women, 3 men.
Critics:
Richard Wolin's "Veiled Intolerance"
Thomas Sayers Ellis' "My Dynamite Splits"
Kate Levin's "Goodbye Baltimore"
Stuart Klawan's "That's The Way of the World"
4 pieces.
Score: 1 woman. 3 men.
Score this issue: 2 women, 11 men
Year to date score: 142 men, 37 women.
April 16, 2007
Editorials & Comments
"A Wider Corruption" -- unsigned
"A Turning Point" -- unsigned and if you wrote this factless piece of shit, you wouldn't want your name on it either
Ari Berman's "Attorneygate in Guam"
The Pooper's "Betting On Healthcare" -- as his age, he should
William Greider's "Stockman's Folly" -- sometimes journalist become too close to the sources.
5 pieces.
Score: 0 women, 3 men.
Columns
Calvin Trillin's "What Congress Is Concluding. . ."
Alexander Cockburn's "That Was an Antiwar Vote?" -- the only honesty you'll even find on the the Congressional measures in this rag come in Alexander Cockburn's column -- which you can read at CounterPunch. Make CounterPunch you destination of choice.
2 pieces.
Score: 0 women, 2 men.
Articles
Comedian Chrissy Phelps' "The New SDS"
David Moberg's "Obama's Community Roots" -- the kind of African-American that The Nation can get fully behind -- half White. "Said with no affection by Betty, Cedric and Ty. Cedric adds, 'The Nation can kiss my Black ass.'
Graham Usher's "Pakistan's Shakey Dictatorship"
Dave Zirin's "John Amaechi's Timeout"
4 articles.
Score: 0 women, 4 men.
Critics
Samuel Moyn's "Inventing Human Rights"
Laurent Dubois' "Toussaint Louverture"
Arthur C. Danto's "Jacopo Tintoretto"
3 articles.
Score: 0 women, 3 men.
Total score: 0 women, 12 men.
In case you have trouble following, The Nation magazine has printed an entire issue without one female writer receiving a byline. Why it's like we're back in the '60s! The 1760s.
Year to date score: 154 men, 37 women.
And the number of male bylines to female? For every single byline by a woman, year to date, The Nation is offering 4.16 by males. You can round that down to four. For every woman, you get four men. Four men for every female? That's one way to attempt to ensure you're the prettiest 'gal' in the room.
The lack of women being featured in the magazine was brought to C.I.'s attention by a group of women late in 2006. For a column at Polly's Brew, C.I. went back and compiled the stats for that year. What we had discussed was following 2007's issues each time they arrived in the mailbox. Ava and C.I. were in charge of the December 24, 2006 edition and that was the first week that a 2007 issue had arrived (January 1, 2007 issue). They immediately started up "The Nation Stats." "The Nation Stats" ran again in our December 31st edition (covering the magazine's January 8, 2007 issue -- a "double issue"). January 21st, we covered the January 22nd issue in "The Nation Stats." Last week, "The Nation Stats" covered two issues since two arrived the same day for three of us participating in this feature. February 4th, we covered the Feb 12th issue in "The Nation Stats." February 11th we covered the February 19th issue in "The Nation Stats." February 25th, we coved the February 26th issue in "The Nation Stats." March 4th we covered the March 5th and March 12th issues of the magainze in "The Nation Stats." March 11th, we covered the March 19th issue in "The Nation Stats. April 1st, we covered the March 26th and April 2nd issues in "The Nation Stats."