Essay Number One "The Bitch Is Back" by Sandra Tsing Loh for The Atlantic.

The essay, "The Bitch Is Back" was written by Sandra Tsing Loh. Loh, a graduate from Caltech often contributes to The Atlantic magazine and graduated from the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. Loh is the author of several books including, "Aliens In America." She is also a frequent commentator on several radio programs. In this essay on menopause, Loh discusses the physical symptoms, emotional behaviors, and all around insanity that it entails. She also describes preconceived notions about menopause and how for each woman, it is different. after reading several medical books on menopause and a single wonderful one that she could relate to, Loh took it upon herself to write this essay. She experienced personally what menopause was like and felt it necessary to provide real insight on the subject. It was through the use of humorous imagery ("like a fifteen-foot-tall Greek tragic figure..." (218) that Loh keeps readers entertained yet informed, simultaneously. She also utilizes personal anecdotes that allow the audience to relate to what she is talking about, as opposed to the dense material in medical menopause books. Throughout this essay, Loh directs her biting insight on what menopause is REALLY like directly at those who go through it. She even states, “Gentle reader, if you are a female of transitional age...let me be your Virgil to the literature of menopause. Loh writes as a guide through the stages of menopause, serving to inform and comfort along the way. As a woman who is currently going through the stages of menopause Loh can offer women not just a shoulder to lean on, but one to laugh along with as readers connect directly with what is being said. Loh discusses the unjust depiction of menopausal women in books that many women have witnesses, and shares her struggles with weight and new body changes, such as “Hadassah arms” that menopausal women understand and sympathize with. It is because of her ability to openly discuss her own experience with such brazen attitude and abandon that she does serve her purpose well.

This comic represents the menopausal woman as a bat crazy nutcase with severe anger issues. Throughout the essay the quthor discusses the misconception of menopausal women that it demonstrates.
http://www.markwoodcartoonist.myzen.co.uk/menopause1.html