Cosplay as Empowerment

"Cosplay is a form of empowerment for all children and adults," says Stanford Carpenter, president and cofounder of the Institute for Comics Studies, who says that he used to be dismissive of cosplay. But after attending dozens of ComicCons, he witnessed the dress-up affair changing masked heroes indefinitely. "It's about empowerment. It's about the possibility of what you can be or what you can do. And when you see people in underrepresented groups, it takes on the empowerment fantasy of not...

 Three Kinds of Chauvinists

VEDANTAM: She says she divided the men who had stereotypes about her into three categories. DUKE: One was the flirting chauvinists, and that person was really viewing me in a way that was sexual. VEDANTAM: With the guys who were like that, Annie could make nice. DUKE: I never did go out on a date with any of them, but you know, it was kind of flirtatious at the table. And I could use that to my advantage. VEDANTAM: And then there was the disrespecting chauvinist. Annie says these players ...

 Art and Science Require Both Creativity and Rationality

How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection. An artist is emotional, they think, and uses only his intuition; he sees all at once and has no need of reason. A scientist is cold, they think, and uses only his reason; he argues carefully step by step, and needs no imagination. That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true sc...