Dawn

Dawn graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2007. She became the Fine Arts Editor, and eventually the Managing Editor of the late publication Cultureweek, based out of Bloomington, Indiana. She also worked as Copy Chief of satire publication The Robin. She was the Founding Editor of fiore, a bimonthly literary arts magazine, which she launched in 2008. She then moved to DC and became an intern at The Daily Get Up.

When she's not writing or gleefully copy editing posts, Dawn plays the didgeridoo, studies, pours and drinks wine, cocktails and coffees and tootles around irate drivers on scootering jaunts. She also likes moderating the site's comments while snickering to herself and puffing away on her imaginary cigarette.

Follow Dawn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DawnShanks

Posts by Dawn:

• Wonder Woman Finally Gets a Pair of Pants, 01 Jul 2010 In the following categories
  Culture

  Wonder Woman’s American thighs and star-spangled crotch never really appealed to me.

• Reading Chastened, 30 Jun 2010 In the following categories
  Culture

  A review of the new memoir by Hephzibah Anderson, out June 26.

• Habla Ingles? These AU Students Care and Want to Help, 23 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureThe Generation

  In a world that might seem like the odds are continually stacked against them, millennials still shine for their compassion and volunteerism. The Washington Post Metro section ran a feature today about CLASE, the American University students who tutor AU Staff in English, helping the ESL employees build confidence and giving them an opportunity to [...]

• Enough Insipid Covers, Pomplamoose, 19 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureMedia

  Your original content is so good. So why put out so many shitty covers of pop songs?

• Jessica Simpson, Please Grow Up Already, 17 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainment

  Hank Stuever (the Washington Post Style writer whose articles never disappoint) has reviewed “The Price of Beauty,” and has ultimately declared Simpson’s giggly irreverent ignorance doesn’t suit the aging, fading pop star, or do much to make this an interesting show. We couldn’t agree more. Come on Jess, a few more cues from Audrey Hepburn [...]

• Kendra Wilkinson Adds Little to Postpartum Depression Conversation, 15 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentMediaThe Issues

  Willing tabloid-fodder and ex-girlfriend of Hugh Hefner Kendra Wilkinson recently spoke up regarding the latest cover stories about her recent battle with depression. "I’m not going to sit here and say that I had postpartum depression," Kendra says. "I was depressed but it wasn’t diagnosed as postpartum depression. But it was depression. I know because [...]

• Donna Karan: Get Real, Fashion!, 15 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  Culture

  American fashion designer Donna Karan adds to her overture of “We’re killing the fashion industry” with some more insight into consumers and fashion, and how pre-fall and resort collections are ridiculous, confusing and ultimately need to go away. At least one person is on the right track to saving the fashion industry before we collectively [...]

• Muslim Women’s Front-and-Center Mosque Protest, 03 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureWorld

  Four women dared to get a little closer to the lord last Saturday by defiantly praying in the men’s-only section of the gender-segregated Islamic Center in Washington, DC. Generally, Islamic women have to remain toward the back of mosques, in a clearly defined section. Their actions were met with rebuke, then (a sign from above?) [...]

• The Faces Behind Famous Hands, 01 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentThe Hotness

  Ever wonder what the woman holding the apple on the cover of Twilight looks like? The Big Money has a slideshow putting famous hands to faces, which will make you realize half the time you don’t even think about those hands in ads being part of a whole human body; weird. Except for the Megan [...]

• Kate @ Eight, 01 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  Entertainment

  (Seven Central)

• Healthcare, Come Hell or High Water, 01 Mar 2010 In the following categories
  Politics

  Pelosi Says She’ll Get Votes Needed for Health Bill (the New York Times, March 1, 2010)

• Desiree Rogers Resigning as White House Social Secretary, 26 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentPolitics

  It’s mostly hearsay at this point, but there’s word that White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will be leaving her post next month, after a little over a year in her role. “As we turn the corner on the first year,” Rogers is quoted as saying directly to Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet, “this is a [...]

• French Anti-Smoking Ad Gets Requisite Denouncement From Feminists, 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureMedia

  L’Association des Droits des Non-Fumeurs (DNF; in English: The Non-Smokers Rights Association) has a new shock campaign to deter young adults from taking up smoking. In three versions, different adolescent youths are shown at eye level with a nondescript (though apparently middle aged male professional) person’s crotch, looking up blankly, with cigarettes in their mouths. [...]

• We’re Long Overdue for the Chick Stoner Flick, 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  Culture

  Child Actress turned America’s gamine Sweetheart Natalie Portman has chosen a few headscratcher roles in her career. But Best Buds a film she’s producing and starring in about female friends embarking on a journey of High Adventure, sounds too good to miss. We’re all familiar with perennial stoner favorites like Harold and Kumar Go To [...]

• Fashion, Forward: Fall Fashion Week 2010 not at Bryant Park, 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainment

  Despite never having attended a fashion week, when I learned about the pending switch from Bryant Park, a location that’s been synonymous with high fashion and drama every spring and fall, to Lincoln Center (…? Midtown tourist destination?) I was, as Tim Gunn might say, verklempt. Citing a need for more space, the change was [...]

• Another Elegy for the Smartphone Addict, 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  

  You all know at least one of them. You could even be one. The Crackberry’d, formerly known as Your Attentive Friends, have garnered a fair amount of media attention, as we try to puzzle out why a pixelated world is so much more fascinating than the world around them. As peers continue to set cell [...]

• Wireless, yet too plugged-in–another elegy for the smartphone addicts, 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureTechnologyThe Generation

  You all know at least one of them. You could even be one. The Crackberry’d, formerly known as Your Attentive Friends, have garnered a fair amount of media attention, as we try to puzzle out why a pixelated world is so much more fascinating than the world around them. As peers continue to set cell [...]

• Tim Gunn denounces Kardashian fashion, secures his place in our hearts., 23 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentMedia

  I just think the Kardashians have an absence of taste and I don’t think that that should be perpetuated. I’m sorry I’m sounding like an old farty snob but it bothers me.–Tim Gunn, modestly preaching the Truth The devil’s advocate in me wants to ask, does the designer have to be a paragon of couture [...]

• Baby Clouded Leopards at National Zoo, 22 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureWorld

  Just in time to help the DC region out of their mourning period for Tai Shan, The zoo announced two clouded leopards were born at the zoo’s Conservation and Research campus in Front Royal, VA on Valentine’s Day, and provided plenty of adorable pictures. The cubs are not on display at the zoo with their [...]

• Foster Kamer over at Village Voice now., 22 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  Media

  Associate editor of BlackBook and Gawker Weekend Editor Foster Kamer will join the Village Voice on March 1 as part of Runnin’ Scared, the Voice’s news blog. People keeping track of the Gawker’s quite-obvious decline into even deeper bowels of the internet can reintroduce the Village Voice into their daily reading (and still get Foster [...]

• American Oenophiles Total Weenies, 22 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEconomyWorld

  American wine consumers got hosed by 12 French winemakers intentionally mislabeling cheap red wine as Pinot Noir they sold to E and J Gallo for its Red Bicyclette brand of wines. 18 million bottles were sold before the fraud was caught. These winemakers were issued fines and jail sentences for “severely damaging the reputation of [...]

• “I’d like to thank…” Save it, says Academy, 16 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentMedia

  No longer is winning an Oscar an honor bestowed upon you that you can receive any way you wish–it’s an assignment! Oscar nominees who attended this week’s annual nominee luncheon were tasked with preparing two acceptance speeches for this year’s show, one for the TV screen, about what winning the Oscar means to them, and [...]

• Get your ducks cats in a row., 13 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEntertainmentThe Hotness

  No lolcats here, these kitties mean serious business. Keeping things in their places is integral to staying prepared and getting things done! (David Allen, take notes). How to Store and Organize Cats (The Daily Tail, February 3, 2010 via Laughing Squid)

• Suck it, Valentine’s Day!, 12 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  Culture

  Whether you’re single or taken, this film is one to avoid.

• Newsflash: chicks dig reefer and RPGs, too., 11 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureReal LifeThe Generation

  Why aren’t attractive people allowed to wind down by wasting time, too?

• MySpace CEO fired, whatthefuck does MySpace do anymore, again?, 11 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureEconomyEntertainmentMediaTechnology

  We’re not sure what this means from the aughts-mired company.

• Kids Sayeth the Darndest Things, 10 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureThe Hotness

  We love videos of little kids. Bonus points if they talk, and super bonus points if they have a cute accent. This video takes the cake with a toddler learning the opening lines of Hamlet’s famous speech from Royal Shakespeare Company master Brian Cox.

• I Didn’t Watch the Super Bowl, 10 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CultureSportsThe Generation

  I’m not smug or worried about it, either.

• Donna Karan: “We’re killing the fashion industry”, 10 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  

  Donna Karan on the Current Fashion System: “We’re Killing Our Own Industry” (Fashionologie, February 5, 2010)

• Bad Ad Spews Public Option Conservative Propaganda, 03 Feb 2010 In the following categories
  CulturePoliticsThe Issues

  Dear Conservatives for Patients’ Rights,
  Why don’t you go fuck yourselves?