The Uptown Local, Or: Listening to On the 6 Might Be a Better Experience

In 1999, Jennifer Lopez released her first record, On the 6—a title that alluded to her commute from the Bronx to Manhattan while working her early jobs as a dancer. Perhaps Cory Leadbeater thought better of titling his memoir the same, opting instead for The Uptown Local, which says as little about Joan Didion as the book itself…but “at least” readers know he had to … Continue reading The Uptown Local, Or: Listening to On the 6 Might Be a Better Experience

The Woman In Me: Britney Spears Reckons With Exploitation and the Double Standard She Was Subjected to Her Entire Career

“Hello. Oh my goodness, ew. Strong Britney!” These were the words an on-the-verge-of-tears, twenty-one-year-old Britney Spears uttered while forced into doing an episode of Primetime on November 13, 2003 with Diane Sawyer. And oh, how strong (stronger than yesterday) she had to make herself in the years spent under a microscope that followed. The word “forced” vis-à-vis Primetime feels applicable because, as Spears tells it, … Continue reading The Woman In Me: Britney Spears Reckons With Exploitation and the Double Standard She Was Subjected to Her Entire Career