What follows is in response to this question: "Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you." I’ve identified myself as a feminist to a few friends, all of them men, and I’ve heard strikingly similar reactions each time. “What’s in it for you?” they ask, in one form or another. It’s not a good question—being opposed to the exploitation of others should need no ulterior motive—but for...

In response to a question asking for a link between Plato and Play-Doh: “Wu-Tang is for the children,” announced American rapper and folk hero Ol’ Dirty Bastard, as he stormed the stage of the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998, protesting an unforeseen and unconscionable loss to Puff Daddy in the category of Best Rap Album. Most viewers, I imagine, disagreed. Here was a perpetually drunken, likely mentally ill, convicted felon who voluntarily referred to himself as “Ol’ Dirty Bastard.” Here also...

I think the most helpful thing to do before any interview is to read as many books as you can. Or, more realistically, make sure there are a few books you can talk about enthusiastically if the opportunity comes up, ideally both fiction and nonfiction. First of all, it’s pretty common for interviewers to ask what you’ve been reading these days, so you’ll want to be able to answer that question without either lying...