'The New Yorker' Does Chick LIt

This is a piece I never thought I would see in The New Yorker: a seven-page profile about Jennifer Weiner, an unapologetic writer of [very good] chick lit.

Chick lit gets a bad rep, even if you try to class it up and call it "women's fiction." It's read by millions, has afforded Weiner two homes, yet the literary establishment, as it were, likes to ignore it, like an embarrassing relative at Thanksgiving dinner. I've gotten academic about chick lit before. Good for Weiner for talking about the way the genre is treated. (Hint: not every book written by a woman is about shopping and shoes.)

Hidden City

As a graduate student at Columbia, I wrote my master's project about how homeless women find prenatal care. It was a quixotic adventure navigating homeless shelters across New York City, from the Emergency Assistance Unit to Covenant House to a women's shelter that was across the street from a chicken processing plant, deep in East New York, off of the C train.

I was very excited to see this piece in the The New Yorker this week, about the state of homelessness in New York City. I knew exactly where Ian Frazier was in many of the passages, because I had been there as well, 10 years ago. Much has certainly changed, but I was surprised by how much, according to this article, had not.

There are more homeless in New York City now than ever before, and due to cutbacks in certain housing rebates, families are very much part of that population. If you read nothing else this week, read this.

Hidden City

Subway Income Inequality

If you haven't seen this already, it's 100% worth a click. The New Yorker created an infographic that charts the shifts in median household income along New York City subway lines, based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau. It's a fascinating look at income inequality in the city.

It's also an incredible use of data and the project is sponsored by Xerox. See, sponsored content can be smart.

Income Inequality And The City Subway