Brother Sam gives a solid case for the place of mockery in the world.

NEW YORK (AP) — Maurice Sendak didn't think of himself as a children's author, but as an author who told the truth about childhood.

"I like interesting people and kids are really interesting people," he explained to The Associated Press last fall. "And if you didn't paint them in little blue, pink and yellow, it's even more interesting."

Sendak, who died early Tuesday in Danbury, Conn., at age 83, four days after suffering a stroke, revolutionized children's books and how we think about childhood simply by leaving in what so many writers before had excluded. Dick and Jane were no match for his naughty Max. His kids misbehaved and didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places. Monstrous creatures were devised from his studio, but no more frightening than the grownups in his stories or the cloud of the Holocaust that darkened his every page.

However, it is the content of her work that differentiates Artemisia Gentileschi from her Caravagist contemporaries. Her work heavily features women as central characters. In fact, 49 of her 57 works feature women protagonists.

And by protagonist, I mean women in roles of agency and power, displaying a level of character often denied them in more… decorative roles. Her subjects were often pulled from Biblical stories of women and many times they were stories colored by power imbalance under patriarchy.

For example, her first major work (at the age of 17), Susanna and the Elders, depicts the Biblical scene of assault for the traumatic event it is– one of the few paintings to treat it so. Gentileschi paints Susanna rejecting the creep old townsmen in fear and disgust, unlike the more common portrayal of a seductive, coy Susanna.

Her most famous work, Judith Slaying Holofernes, is interesting for so many reasons. It’s feminist value is most obvious when we compare it to Caravaggio’s interpretation of the same scene. Caravaggio follows the traditional depiction: Judith is disengaged and delicate, her handmaiden subservient, and (usually, but not in Caravaggio’s case) post-violence. Next to this, Gentileschi’s painting is an utter proclamation of women’s power.

"This never happens in the comic books," he eventually says plaintively.

"That's because they're not allowed to sell porn to children," Daphne points out.

WRITER HAS CLEARLY NEVER BEEN TO JAPAN!

Notable Women in Science: Modern Chemists

Our next installment of notable women in science brings us to chemists. Many of these women were born in the early part of the 20th century and forged their paths in tough times. All are still inspiring others today. Presented in no particular order:

Stanley Cup promo using the song "The Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes. I get all verklempt in the best way possible watching it.

Stanley Cup promo using the song "The Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes. I get all verklempt in the best way possible watching it.

The right to run.