Burlesque Is a Power Trip

Sparkly Underwear and Ostrich Feathers Give Me More Creative Freedom Than I’ve Ever Had Before

The song is a hokey karaoke version of Frank Sinatra’s “Witchcraft.” It’s the week of Halloween, 2012, and I’m in a theater on New York’s Upper West Side. I’m wearing a short satin skirt, bright green tights, a corset beneath a fitted velvet jacket, and an enormous witch hat covered in green glitter. For the past month, I’ve been practicing the smoothest way to peel off a pair of long, black gloves as I imitate Ol’ Blue Eyes’ croon.

Lights come up over the theater’s stage, and I part black …

By Francesca Caviglia | December 11, 2015

Transitioning Genders Isn’t About Glamour

Coming out in Vanity Fair Is One Thing, But Learning to Be Open With Your Family and Friends Is Another

By Natalie Yeh | July 16, 2015

Four years ago, when I first started presenting to the world as a woman, I met my friend Jamie for lunch in West L.A. As soon as we sat down, …

The Tenacious Woman Who Helped Deliver Mother’s Day to the U.S.

For Anna Jarvis, a Holiday Devoted to Moms Was Not Sentimental Fluff, But a Practical Exercise in Patriotism

by Katharine Lane Antolini | May 8, 2015

One hundred years ago last May, President Woodrow Wilson signed the first congressional resolution and presidential proclamation calling upon all citizens to display the national flag in honor of American …

Why Can’t We Accept That Some Women Don’t Want Kids?

There Is No ‘Normal’ American Family Anymore. But Heads Still Shake When It Comes to Women’s Reproductive Choices.

April 13, 2015

It used to be that the Cleavers—dad working an office job, mom raising two boys full-time—were the model American family. But the past several decades have seen dramatic changes—recent studies …

When Will Hollywood Figure Out That Diversity Sells?

The Most Successful Movies and TV Shows Reflect America’s Demographics, But Executives, Writers, and Directors Are Still Catching On

by Sarah Rothbard | February 26, 2015

Just a few days after an Academy Awards ceremony that host Neil Patrick Harris joked honored “Hollywood’s best and whitest,” entertainment insiders at a “Thinking L.A.” event co-presented by Zócalo, …

We Miss Saudi Arabia’s ‘Humane King’

Abdullah May Have Been Slow on His Promises, But He Had to Modernize a Traditional Country Without Tearing It Apart

by Talal Al-Sheikh and Abdullah Al-Ghamdi | February 25, 2015

“I slept and my king was Abdullah. Then I woke up and my king was Salman.”

This is how some Saudis refer to the smooth transition of power after our …

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