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Professor M. Gigi Durham's acclaimed study of the media sexualization of young girls will be available in a new paperback edition next week. The Lolita Effect includes a fascinating new introduction from the author in which he discusses the Miley Cyrus/Vanity Fair fiasco that occurred just as The Lolita Effect rolled off the presses and into bookstores.

M. Gigi Durham, author of The Lolita Effect, will be appear on the Dr. Phil show today! In a show called "Growing Up Too Fast," Dr. Phil talks with parents who say it’s difficult to raise their teen daughter in an oversexed, celebrity-obsessed, cosmetic surgery-seeking society. Check your local listings for the time and channel, or go online to find about more about today's provocative show and The Lolita Effect.

The Arkansas Literary Festival takes place in Little Rock this weekend, April 3-6. This celebration of books and authors is presented each spring in Little Rock by Arkansas Literacy Councils, Inc. Proceeds benefit adult literacy programs, and the general public is warmly invited to celebrate literacy through admission-free sessions with authors, musicians, spoken word performers, and costumed characters. Attending this year's festival is Gigi Durham, author of the forthcoming The Lolita Effect, and novelist Tito Perdue, author of Fields of Asphodel and Lee.

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Each year, on Rosh Hashanah mankind is judged and entered into the “book of life,” but the judgment is not final. We have ten days of atonement before Yom Kippur when the judgment is sealed. Below is a myth about atonement from The Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism by Howard Schwartz. Perhaps the example of Rabbi Abraham will inspire you. To read last year’s excerpt from The Tree of Souls click here.

A Vision at the Wailing Wall

In those days Rabbi Abraham Berukhim was known for performing the Midnight Vigil. He rose every night at midnight and walked through the streets of Safed, crying out, “Arise, for the Shekhinah is in exile, and our holy house is devoured by fire, and Israel faces great danger.” He longed, more than anything else, to bring the Shekhinah out of exile.

Now Rabbi Abraham was a follower of Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Ari. The Ari had great mystical powers. By looking at a man’s forehead he could read the history of his soul. He could overhear the angels and he knew the language of the birds. He could point out a stone in a wall and reveal whose soul was trapped in it. So too was he able to divine the future, and he always knew from the first day of Rosh ha-Shanah who among his disciples was destined to live or die. This knowledge he rarely disclosed, but once, when he learned there was a way to avert the decree, he made an exception. Summoning Rabbi Abraham Berukhim, he said: “Know, Rabbi Abraham, that a heavenly voice has gone forth to announce that this will be your last year among us—unless you do what is necessary to change the decree.” (more…)

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