Socially relevant, humanly accurate, femininely blount poetry that serves as a mark of the times.

"Almost everyone aspires to marriage something these books go to some lengths to explain, albeit in completely different ways. As the title suggests, I Like Being Married is an unabashed celebration of marriage; it's fluff but enjoyable fluff. Leach, executive director of Orbis Books, and Borchard, author of the children's book series "The Emerald Bible Collection," have collected bits and pieces quotes, stories, traditions, and even top-ten lists that show why people take pleasure in matrimony. The quotes and stories come from both celebrities (e.g., George Bush, Winston Churchill, Celine Dion, Natasha Richardson, C.S. Lewis, and Mel Gibson) and regular Joe and Jane Does. Charming and well edited, it contains just enough variety in length and subject to be interesting, yet it is also cohesive. Public libraries should purchase. The companion book to a PBS documentary that aired Feb. 14, Marriage Just a Piece of Paper? is far more serious in tone and scope. Although it is also a smartly chosen m lange of quotes from different people, it focuses on the societal changes that have led to increased divorce rates, cohabitation, and single motherhood despite the beneficial aspects of marriage. Sociologists, politicians, ministers, and the occasional person on the street are all given a chance to explain whether they think marriage especially as it relates to the raising of children is in decline and, if so, what might be done to stop that decline. Editors Anderson and Brian Boyer worked on the documentary as managing editor/producer and executive producer/ director, respectively, and Don Browning is a professor of ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Given that the effects of divorce on children is a major topic (see, e.g., Judith Wallerstein and others' The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce and E. Mavis Hetherington and John Kelly's For Better or for Worse) and that many patrons probably watched the PBS special..." - Library Journal

Providing ways to engage students through their popular culture interests, this collection brings together several essays, across disciplines, to show how fan practices such as writing fan fiction, creating vids, communicating via Tumblr, and participating in film tourism can invite students to invest more of themselves into their education. Both scholarship and fandom encourage passionate engagement with texts-rather than passive consumption in isolation- and editor Katherine Anderson Howell and her contributors find that when students are encouraged to partake in a remix classroom that encourages their fan interests, they participate more in their education, are more critical of experts and authorities, and actively shape the discourse themselves. Creating this remix classroom requires thoughtfulness on the instructor's part, and so the chapters in this volume come from teachers who have carefully constructed such courses, including several invaluable appendices that provide examples of methodologies, course assignments, teaching practices, and classroom setup. Each chapter also includes student responses that offer a sense of what students gained from each course. The result is an exciting and entertaining new way to motivate students and teachers alike, and it is sure to be a popular reference guide for instructors teaching classes from high school to graduate levels.

This collection studies beauty vlogging as a phenomenon operating at the intersection of celebrity culture, digital communities, and the cosmetics industry. Exploring subjects ranging from race and gender to disability and religion, the chapters examine how the genre has impacted social media landscapes and gender expression. The contributors analyze how beauty vlogging makes community and economic success seem accessible for viewers as well as how the beauty vlog itself can function as a platform for enacting and inspiring social commentary and change. Makeup in the World of Beauty Vlogging studies the cultural phenomenon of the beauty vlog as a space where audiences and vloggers find a voice and a means of personal expression via the potentially subversive power of makeup and social media.