Before and after Aretha: “Aretha was certainly not untouched by racism, misogyny, vice, and exploitation, but she was unique in her ability to subsume these forces into her art without allowing them to shape or compromise her vision.” (The Atlantic)

Why a free press matters: “Journalists have been keeping a check on power since the creation of the First Amendment. Now they’re being tested.” (The Atlantic)

Madonna at 60: “Madonna was a pioneer of welding her voice to her image, and in a culture consumed with critiquing how women look, and controlling how they use their bodies, she’s been on the front lines — a seductress and a battering ram.” (The New York Times)

Primary women winners to be very excited about: “Funny thing that happens after a flagrant bigot and misogynist becomes president: a new crop of energetic, progressive, Democratic candidates enter the political process for the first time who do not fit the prototypical mold of straight, white, Christian Yale grads.” (Vogue)

The age that women have babies: "Becoming a mother used to be seen as a unifying milestone for women in the United States. But a new analysis of four decades of births shows that the age that women become mothers varies significantly by geography and education." (The New York Times)

How kids around the world get to school: "Back to school season in the United States brings droves of big yellow school buses and crammed carpool lanes, but in other parts of the world, how children commute to class can vary widely." (CNN)

Toxic White Feminism: "It is the type of behavior that rests under the guise of feminism only as long as it is comfortable, only as long it is personally rewarding, only as long as it keeps "on brand." (Harper's BAZAAR)