Mark Lukas (Longwood): Desire Satisfactionism and the Problem of Irrelevant Desires. From Rhizomes, Bill Albertini (BGSU): The Geographies of Contagion; and John Lennon (St. Francis): "Bombing" Brooklyn: Graffiti, Language and Gentrification; a review of What is Posthumanism? by Cary Wolfe; and a review of Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? by Judith Butler. Plus-Size Wars: Even as more and more women get larger and larger, what is available to outfit them remains limited. A review of The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates and Race, Class and Crime in America by Charles Ogletree (and more and more). From The New Yorker, is there any hope for our overfished oceans? A review essay by Elizabeth Kolbert. The department store makeover really is transformative: You leave feeling a whole lot uglier and poorer. From Fortean Times, Matt Salusbury on Ernst Chladni, the man who proved stones really do fall from the sky; and fantasy role-playing games are no guide to reaching cryptozoological conclusions. Bilge Ebiri reviews Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield. The Savior of Conde Nast: Scott Dadich is the new It Boy of the mag world. Midcult Revisited: Is imitation high art — like The Old Man and the Sea or the work of Matthew Barney — cheapening the real thing? A look at the sci-fi explanation of why gay people must be allowed to marry.
