Alison Tanner

Bio

Alison is a recent graduate of the University of California - Davis, where she studied political science and women's studies and served the student body as an ASUCD Senator. She is currently a legal assistant for the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project. Views expressed here are her own.
'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 1 Episode 7 Recap: A Night Of Secrets
By Alison Tanner
In Episode 7, we start to see the truly massive, bureaucratic, and morally grey side of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Agents Ward and Fitz are sent on a suicide mission. After saving Coulson from a Bond-esque torture scene, the team is called into the Hub,…
'Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 1 Episode 6 Recap: Thor is About to Rock 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'
By Alison Tanner
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned this week with a classic ghost story turned murder mystery. After a freak electrical storm, a Boy Scout troupe leader's corpse is somehow left levitating in the middle of the woods. As the body count rises,…
'Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 1 Episode 5 Recap: Whose Side is Skye Really On?
By Alison Tanner
The episode opens on Chan, a street magician in Hong Kong with moderate pyrotechnic abilities. One immediately has to wonder why Chan hasn't used his powers to become the next David Blaine. As a street magician, gaining this talent seems like a…
'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: "Seduce Him"
By Alison Tanner
In this week's episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the team must neutralize a rogue agent. The big conflict of the new series is secrecy versus openness. In episode 1, we saw the team try to maintain the secret identity of fledgling…
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 3 Recap: The Origin Of Graviton
By Alison Tanner
In the pilot episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. we saw the origin of a potential superhero, Mike Henderson. But the Marvel Universe is not all rainbows and capes. In the third episode of the new series, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are on a…
'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 1 Episode 2 Recap: Skye is Good At Stuff, Too
By Alison Tanner
Last week, the series premiere of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced us to a post-Avengers world in which the epic Battle of New York exposed superheroes — and villains. In this week's follow-up we get to see the team Agent Coulson has…
'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Premiere Review: Adapting to a World of Superheroes
By Alison Tanner
The highly anticipated first episode of the ABC show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted Tuesday night. As Agent Maria Hill explains, "The battle of New York was the end of the world. This is the new world." In the pilot, we meet the band of…
Marvel's 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.': 5 Things to Know Before the Premier
By Alison Tanner
ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is this year’s most highly anticipated fall premiere.  Cult-icon screenwriter and director Joss Whedon (who, full disclosure, is my master now) will bring his record-smashing take on the Marvel Universe to the…
Trijicon is the New HobbyLobby: Gun Company the Latest to Challenge Obamacare
By Alison Tanner
Trijicon — a leading manufacturer of sights and rifle scopes for the U.S. military — and its owners, the Bindon family, have filed a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage rule.  The ACA requires employers to provide health…
4 Biggest Threats to Women's Health That Will End Up At the Supreme Court
By Alison Tanner
Last week, noted Supreme Court analyst Jeffrey Toobin wrote a piece for The New Yorker predicting that the court will hear an abortion case next term. As Toobin notes, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of anti-abortion provisions…