It’s Saturday and APW is publishing! What the what? Now that I’m back from Maternity Leave, we’re pretty excited to try out our new experiment: Saturday Link Roundups. This is for lazy perusing of the internet from the couch, with a cup of coffee. Below is a compilation of links the APW staff was into this week, along with links you shared in the comments or on APW’s Facebook page (keep sharing there and we’ll keep rounding them up). Also, the staff has collected our very favorite APW posts from the past five years (yes, our five year anniversary is this month!) and fancied them up. We’re going to start slowly sharing them on Pinterest next week, if you want to follow along.
—Meg
Wedding-y
West Elm has a killer collection of paper flowers happening (I saw them in-store, and mmmm). Someone PLEASE stock up and make a paper bouquet? Send pictures.
Is this the next grand romantic gesture? Because our advertising rates are very reasonable.
Photographer Anne Almasy muses about the wedding industry’s near obsession with details (you can sell ’em) at the expense of human moments (which are free) on The Huffington Post.
Getting married remotely with the help of an internet connection is on the rise in some immigrant communities, and it brings with it a host of questions and concerns according to this New York Times article.
Do you see what I see in this wedding? Hint: Take a look at this post from February for a clue.
It’s a few weeks old, but if you haven’t read Dan Savage’s advice on weddings, he pretty much covers the bases. Though I remain a fervent advocate of f*cking after, too. Sorry, Dan.
Can we all just channel Jennifer Lawrence when we get asked stupid questions about our weddings? Solved!
Reclaiming Wife
Apropos of this week’s open thread about fears and decisions about having kids, get yourself over to the Rumpus to read Dear Sugar‘s advice on this very subject in “The Ghost Ship That Didn’t Carry Us.” Seriously, if you read nothing else in this roundup, read this.
Sarah Lacy’s angry and right-on post about “having it all” is a must-read, especially if you’re freaked out about having a kid and a career. I love it all, but let’s start here, “Every woman I know who feels like she ‘has it all’—and there are many—has done it in a unique way.” There is no perfect, and God knows we have to keep pushing for structural change, but don’t let people tell you there isn’t a possibility for happy.
Also from our motherhood fears discussion, Lonely Planet on traveling with wee ones.
Long time friend of the site Jessica Valenti, has written a damn fine and damn smart article: “Dear fellow feminists, ripping apart Sheryl Sandberg’s book is counterproductive.” I’d like to heartily concur to all points raised.
(Trigger Warning). Slate‘s article about the response to a photo essay of domestic violence: “Don’t blame the victim, or the photographer,” about how internet commenters attacked everyone involved in the situation except the abuser. The actual photo essay is painful and instructive, showing what appears to be a loving relationship exploding into violence behind closed doors.
General Interest
Remember when APWers decided train travel was awesome, during last year’s book tour? The New York Times has joined us in that assessment with their (excellent) story “How to Spend 47 Hours on a Train and Not Go Crazy,” about Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. You can read about my trip on the Sunset Limited here and here.
Moderating comments is the APW staff’s least favorite part of the job (and most human error prone… ah, judgement), but The New York Times explains why comment moderation is important in “This Story Stinks.”
“You can legislate tolerance, you can’t legislate acceptance.” This video on the power of words is smart and funny and important on its own, but OMG THE VISUALS. That is all. Go watch for yourself.
If you liked Not a Rom-Com month, you’ll love this piece from Talk of the Nation. It’s a rebuttal of sorts to the piece in The Atlantic, “Why Are Romantic Comedies So Bad?” It takes an honest look at the genre throughout its history, plus it name checks some really great movies if you’re looking to add things to your Netflix queue.
