Stephen King’s IT and the Withholding of Mike Hanlon’s Race

It's not revealed that Mike Hanlon is African American until 421 pages into the Signet paperback edition of Stephen King's IT. When it is, it's done so in a rather coy way, with Mike writing in his journal about the time his father, Will Hanlon, told him about the incident at the "Black Spot" in …

Checking Your Empathy: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Cat Person”

With Christmas approaching there's been a lot of debate over the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside". It seems like this has been simmering for a few years now, but this year it's boiled over with several radio stations across the country refusing to play the song. What it gets down to is not just the …