“Judy Blume: A Life” and the Problem of Biography

“Judy Blume: A Life” and the Problem of Biography

When Blume started writing, the market category of young-adult (as opposed to children’s) literature was defined by politically motivated novels that took up social issues, such as drugs and teen pregnancy—“problem novels,” Oppenheimer calls them, using the terminology of the time. Blume didn’t write “problem novels,” he stresses. He quotes her in an interview, somewhat…

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Dark matter experiment reaches ultracold milestone

An international collaboration, including Northwestern University, has reached a critical milestone in the search for dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of all matter in the universe. Located two kilometers below ground in Canada, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) at SNOLAB has cooled to its operating temperature, the collaboration…

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