Michelle Obama joined Twitter today (12 Jan. 2012). For some this doesn't qualify as news in a world full of political and economic turmoil. For others, the First Lady’s first tweet -- “Hi Everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here. –mo” -- is part of a larger story about stereotyping and how it intersects with race, gender, nation and culture in the news.

Since the 1980s, news media have portrayed interracial romantic relationships as a persistently volatile fault line in America's racial divide. Other reports, in contrast, have suggested that the significance of race is declining, that religious practitioners are growing increasingly colorblind and that we've entered an era in which issues of racism are yesterday's news. Still, while national news media now report that attitudes toward interracial dating and marriage are becoming more liberal, the increasing likelihood of interracial romantic relationships continues to challenge the beliefs of some who are empowered at the local level to impose group sanctions in secular and religious circles alike.

From church pews to synod hierarchies, Christians have a long history of social discomfort with and moral conflict about same-sex relations. But news media coverage of recent cultural shifts in mainline denominations and of conservative opposition to same-sex marriage has offered a glimpse into how that history has been evolving. Before the 1980s, news stories generally framed LGBT life as a categorical perversion. More recently, however, reporting has begun to reflect the changing landscape of our cultural discussions. Two important features of this landscape are the upcoming ordination of Scott Anderson as a teaching elder at the Covenant Church in Madison, Wisc., and the move by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) toward accepting same-sex relationships.

Chances are you didn’t see Cowboys and Aliens. The film won’t get to $100 million box office in the US, and it is sinking fast overseas as well. There’s even been collateral damage – in the wake of its lackluster performance, Disney has put the brakes on the even-more-expensive Lone Ranger, to have starred Johnny Depp.

For centuries a woman’s worth has been ascribed to her womb. And for centuries some women’s wombs have been deemed more valuable than others. Over time thousands of women across North and South America were sterilized involuntarily under various eugenics laws.