DFR (Daily French Roast)

Anne is reading …

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s opposition leader, in Yangon on Thursday. Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesGirls Night Out in Myanmar

Hillary Clinton announced the loosening of some restrictions on international financial assistance and development aid for Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, a country without diplomatic relations with the US for the past two decades, writes the NYTimes.

After meeting with President Thein Sein, elected last March and the man responsible for lifting the ban on Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, Secretary Clinton traveled to Yangon to meet with the dissident leader.

In a video conference with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said she would run in a special election to fill 48 parliamentary seats, a decision that does personal risk for her safety. though the date of that vote has not yet been set.

Secretary Clinton invited Myanmar to join the Lower Mekong Initiative, an American-sponsored regional association of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam devoted to water issues.

Literary Do It Yourselfers

Rachel Rosenfelt, right, read a selection from Virginia Woolf at a literary salon held by the editors of The New Inquiry, an online journal she helped start. Also at the salon, from left to right, are Rebecca Chapman, Helena Fitzgerald and Tim Barker. Deidre Schoo for The New York TimesThe New Inquiry, is described as “a scrappy online journal and roving clubhouse that functions as an Intellectuals Anonymous of sorts for desperate members of the city’s literary underclass barred from the publishing establishment.” Read on at NYTimes

Israeli Government Tells Esraelis Not to Marry American Jews The Daily Beast

Sundance 2012 lineup: Time-travel, sex, and … more sex Entertainment Weekly

Apple Vaguely Apologizes for Siri’s Abortion ‘Glitch’ Atlantic Wire

More DFR

Photograph: John Minchillo/APMale Dominance at Occupy

Critics of the machismo nature of yet another male-led social movement are happy to read the Guardian article Occupy Wall Street’s women struggle to make their voices heard.

AOC is on record refusing to support Occupy when the women are not heard on TV or as leaders of a movement that claims to have no leaders yet does produce talking heads.

This week marked an important step. On Monday, after a number of women complained of “overly aggressive” men dominating events, OWS has, for the first time, instigated a series of female-led meetings where only women can speak. It was an opportunity for “males to listen and for female marginalised voices to be heard,” (Kanene) Holder said.

The women also reflected on why they give away power so easily, a common theme at AOC.

Anne has reached out already this morning to women mentioned in the article, encouraging them to use AOC as one platform for communicating their views to our readers. With the men getting plenty of respect and face time on major media these days, it’s time we heard from the women.

Anne has been down this road once already in her life and will not support another white men-led social movement in America.

Dose Market in Chicago

Dose, which launched in June 2011, takes place each month at the River East Art Center and draws hundreds of people seeking new foodstuffs (hot sauces, spices, small-batch tea, handcrafted bitters), design pieces (refurbished tables, wooden eyeglass frames, handmade bikes) and fashion (vintage handbags, ties, funky hats, scarves). But what’s most fun is hearing everyone talk about what they ate or found, or what they ate while they found something. via Coolhunting.