OK, #nerdland, we talked taxes today to lead off the show, so I think you already know what your tax-related “MHP” Homework is — file! You have until Tuesday, April 17 this year. Don’t pull a Romney; get those 1040s completed and sent off. Once you’ve fulfilled your civic duty, curl up with a little light reading on other topics from today’s show.
If you really love cars, you will enjoy James Flink’s detailed account of how the automobile came to dominate American culture, public policy, and politics at the turn of the 20th century. Find “America Adopts the Automobile, 1895-1910” either online or at your local library. Also, if you really want to know how the car fundamentally altered the landscape of America’s cities, you should know the work of Robert Moses, who was profiled in this 2007 New York Times piece.
And of course, you can’t talk cars without talking Detroit. And we *did* talk Detroit today. Read my colleague Todd Shaw’s terrific book on Detroit politics, “Now is the Time! Detroit Black Politics and Grassroots Activism.”
In our second hour, we brought you the voices and stories of transgender Americans. #nerdland guest Kate Bornstein is an author of multiple, fantastic, highly readable and often hilariously engaging books about gender identity in America. Check out Bornstein’s “Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation” — and Kate’s latest, “A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today.”When I teach gender identity in my college courses, I often assign the bracing and revealing novel “Stone Butch Blues,” by Leslie Feinberg. This text is not about transgender identity per se, but it is a brutally honest account of gender nonconformity within gay communities. To learn more about the political, social and economic agenda of transgender Americans visit the website for the National Center for Transgender Equality, where one of our guests today, Mara Keisling, is the executive director.And if you want to get seriously nerdy, read about the new HUD LGBT rule we discussed today on the Federal Register. Folks, this exciting document is the kind of thing we use for sources around here! And finally, if you haven’t visited the “Texts from Hillary” tumblr, now is the time! See you next week. Keep it nerdy.
Melissa Harris-Perry Recommended
