Salon.com > Eryn Loeb

The beauty of the geek

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:48:00 +0000

The information age has been good to nerds. No longer are they relegated to getting sand kicked in their faces by that other familiar archetype, the jock. We've gotten used to watching Steve Jobs grin awkwardly as he announces the latest hot techie toy, and when it comes to pop culture, nerds like "Superbad" writer/star Seth Rogen are increasingly in control of their own image. But even with the cultural cachet that comes with having your achievements validated by the masses, nerds are still high school losers.

In his absorbing new book, "American Nerd: The Story of My People," Benjamin Nugent chronicles this underdog class. He considers the etymology of the word "nerd" -- possible origins include the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss' 1950 book "If I Ran the Zoo," and a bucktoothed ventriloquist dummy dubbed "Mortimer Snerd" -- and explores the world of hipsters, "an androgynous paradise where adults of both sexes look like enlarged spelling-bee champions." He traces popular representations of nerds, from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," to Gilda Radner and Bill Murray's sketches on "Saturday Night Live," to "Napoleon Dynamite." And he asks what a person's race has to do with their chances of being a nerd. Are nerds born, or are they made? According to Nugent, it's both.

Conversations: Sheryl Crow

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:40:00 +0000

To listen to a podcast of the interview with Sheryl Crow, click here.

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Ever since lodging "All I Wanna Do" in our heads back in 1993, Sheryl Crow has been steadily writing and performing solid, decidedly nonwimpy pop music. Her self-titled 1996 record was bolder and rawer than her debut album, "Tuesday Night Music Club," and garnered the kind of mixed reviews that so often greet sophomore efforts. But the contemplative balladry of 1998's "The Globe Sessions" was greeted with raves. She showed she had friends in high places with "Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park" (1999), which included guest appearances from Eric Clapton, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks and Keith Richards. The sunshiny confection "C'mon C'mon" was released in 2002, followed in 2005 by the more pensive "Wildflower."

The abortion doctor

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:47:00 +0000

Thirty-five years after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, it is the most common minor surgery in the United States, yet 87 percent of U.S. counties are without a provider. Because of the shortage of doctors trained in providing abortions, dedicated physicians often split their time among several locations, in some cases regularly traveling hundreds of miles to perform abortions in clinics that are open only one day every other week.

Dr. Susan Wicklund is one of them. She has been providing abortion services for 20 years, first quietly skirting regulations as a general practitioner, then putting in 100-hour weeks as the abortion provider for multiple clinics in the Midwest, and later in her very own clinic in rural Montana. Wicklund's new book, "This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor," weaves her personal story with those of many women she has treated over the years. She deftly turns individual stories into indictments of abortion policies she sees as misleading, condescending and unsafe.

Their favorite things

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:16:00 +0000

Yesterday we revealed our favorite fiction and nonfiction books of 2007. As part of Salon's book week, we also asked a selection of our favorite writers, filmmakers, musicians, actors and chefs to tell us what books, music, movies (and other assorted cultural material) got them excited this year.

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Tom Bissell (author, "The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son and the Legacy of Vietnam")

Book: I read a number of books this year that impressed me (Joshua Ferris' "Then We Came to the End"), frustrated me (Robert Draper's "Dead Certain"), moved me (Dave Eggers' "What Is the What") and delighted me (Jack Pendarvis' "Your Body Is Changing"), but the best book I read this year was Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke." Publishing a book about Vietnam in the same year as Denis Johnson, as I did, leaves one feeling a little like being crucified next to Jesus: in other words, nice try. Not only does it have the most impossibly beautiful and devastating first two and a half pages I've ever read, it creates a world that seems less imagined than opened for entry.

Trick or treat with Clinton and Obama Girl

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner in what may be one of the more revealing political polls of late: the presidential candidate who "would make the scariest Halloween costume." Clinton handily trounced the competition in this Associated Press/Ipsos survey, commanding 37 percent of the vote. Trailing behind her was Rudy Giuliani, with just 14 percent. (No other candidate brought in more than 6 percent.)

We could speculate about the obvious misogyny inherent in this -- that Clinton's power and over-50 visage are what people really find terrifying -- but what's more absurd is the very theme of the poll itself, which lamely tries to extrapolate a political position from a silly question. Wouldn't it be more relevant to ask respondents to identify the candidate with the scariest policies, or the most frightening agenda, rather than the one offering the scariest costume?

And what, exactly, would that costume look like? If it looks anything like these masks, then, yeah, it's kind of ghastly. But no more so than any other vinyl caricatures: Their creepiness is pretty interchangeable, no matter who they're supposed to represent.

Harassment by design

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:05:00 +0000

The "Anti-Groping Appli," by games developer Takahashi, is becoming increasingly popular in Japan. Available as a free download for Web-enabled phones, the application flashes boldface messages on a phone's screen; the idea is that the user will stick the phone in her harasser's face as it displays messages like "Excuse me, did you just grope me?" "Groping is a crime," and "Shall we head to the police?"

How polite! Takahashi says the application is for use by women who "want to scare away perverts with minimum hassle and without attracting attention." I can see it now: a woman standing in a crowded subway car feels the all-too-familiar sensation of a hand on her butt. She rolls her eyes and pulls out her cellphone, balancing in high heels and juggling a cup of coffee and newspaper as she relays the (text) message without looking up from what she's reading. All in a day's work, ladies.

It's kind of refreshing to see support for the idea that women should react against harassment instead of ignoring it. Unfortunately, the makers of this groping deterrent also think it's undesirable to draw attention to your situation. The application assumes that harassment is a personal thing, and that it's best kept between you and the guy whose hand is on your ass.

Movies that shock and awe

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:10:00 +0000

Lately, Hollywood has turned its lens on the war in Iraq, shooting out movies -- about returning soldiers, families of returning soldiers, people trapped in the "war on terror" -- rapid-fire. Some of the movies are intimate and touching, some outraged, and some more worth your time than others. So, to help you tell your "Rendition" from your "Redacted," Salon has compiled this handy guide to the current (and upcoming) spate of movies dealing with the war.

Movie	Director / Stars	Plot	The Buzz	Politics	Violence quotient
"In the Valley of Elah" (now playing)	Paul Haggis / Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron	A soldier's parents work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance after his return from Iraq.	"A messy tangle that leads down several unexpected, unsatisfying roads and still doesn't leave us with any sort of overwhelming feeling ..." (Stephanie Zacharek)	The message: War is bad and has terrible consequences.	Not much is shown on-screen.
"The Kingdom" (now playing)	Peter Berg / Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper	A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in Saudi Arabia.	"Setting an action-thriller against terrorist activity that's all too close to real-life events is simply opportunistic and creepy ... But the picture is made with a degree of care." (SZ)	"Far from buying into the idea that Americans can stomp into any country and fix everything, 'The Kingdom' suggests that the more we try to do, the bigger a mess we tend to make." (SZ)	An unsettling mix of real-life horrors and Hollywood action-film effects.
"Rendition" (out Friday)	Gavin Hood / Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin	An Egyptian terrorism suspect "disappears"; his American wife and a CIA analyst fight for his release from a secret detention facility.	"Inoffensive, but also toothless." (SZ)	A not-so-subtle indictment of the U.S. government's policy of extraordinary rendition.	More suggested than shown. Nearly all of the violence, including the torture, is off-camera.
"No End in Sight" (on DVD Oct. 30)	Charles Ferguson / None	A documentary look at the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq war and its occupation of the country.	"A systematic and rigorous history." (Andrew O'Hehir)	"This is the film those stubborn Bush supporters in your family need to see." (AOH)	Includes footage of combat violence.
"Badland" (out Nov. 2)	Francesco Lucente / Jamie Draven, Grace Fulton	A U.S. soldier back from Afghanistan and Iraq, devastated by war and misunderstood by his family, turns violent.	The critics are yet to weigh in, but a commenter on IMDB calls the movie "stunning" and "powerful."	The movie's Web site says it's "a gut-wrenching, poignant look at the aftermath of war."	According to the MPAA, there's "strong disturbing violence."
"Redacted" (out Nov. 16)	Brian De Palma / A cast of unknown actors	A montage of re-created real-life stories of U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq.	"A jagged, reflective mosaic, a man-made mirror held up to horrible realities that are also of man's making." (SZ)	"A troubling picture about the price we pay for standing still, and for not standing up." (SZ)	The film centers on the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl at the hands of two U.S. soldiers.
"Grace Is Gone" (out Dec. 7)	James C. Strouse / John Cusack	A father takes his daughters on a road trip as he struggles to tell them that their mother has been killed in Iraq.	"There's no question about the film's integrity and good intentions," but it lacks "cinematic vitality." (AOH)	Cusack at Sundance: "We're just being lied to about this war repeatedly, and it's so frustrating. There's not much we can do about it sometimes, so making a film about grief felt like something tangible."	None (unless you count emotional anguish).

Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:31:00 +0000

Last week we learned that drinking alcohol -- any kind! -- increases women's risk of developing breast cancer. This week, just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, another study adds "stress at work" to the laundry list of factors that can add to women's chances of getting that most ubiquitous cancer. The study, published in the journal Epidemiology, found that the risk of breast cancer increased by about 30 percent for women with "stressful" jobs.

Meanwhile, a report from the American Cancer Society -- also out last week -- found that the breast cancer death rate in the U.S. continues to drop by more than 2 percent a year. This encouraging statistic isn't reflected in the deluge of reports telling women that our lifestyles are killing us.

Binge-drinking problem? Blame Amy Winehouse!

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:10:00 +0000

Amy "No Rehab" Winehouse and "Cocaine Kate" Moss may not be ideal role models, but are they really to blame for teenage binge drinking?

According to a report by British organization Women in Journalism, teenage girls find "encouragement" in "the soap opera-style lives of glamorous women," even if those women are falling over drunk and look like hell.

Sure, teens (of both genders) are attracted to images of celebrities supposedly living it up. That doesn't mean they want to replicate every aspect of their behavior. Why pin it on Winehouse? She's far from the only celebrity disaster, and hers is a pretty clear-cut cautionary tale. It's hard to believe that teens see her stumbling around with blood on her satin ballet flats and scratches all over her face and think, That should be me!