News — media

So, let’s talk about the holidays and media and representation for a moment.

I’m pretty excited that we’re starting to see some diversity. Okay, it’s still kind of...bland, but honestly, most holiday-themed movies are generic. Swap out a few plot details and the protagonists’ hair colors, and you’ve got yourself a new movie. This fits with that a bit by swapping out one of the protag’s genders.

I’ll admit that doesn’t bother me much. I’m sure a few people will be skeptical, since I’m not a big reader of straight-up romance novels. But...

I’m a little late to the party on this, but I wanted to respond to the recent dust-up on social media involving some antagonistic, passive-aggressive tweets from Gaby Dunn directed at Becky Albertalli. There’s a lot to unpack here, so bear with me.

First of all, I do not agree with several of the things Dunn said in those tweets. No LGBTQIA+ person owes anyone a coming out. No one needs to be “comfy”...

There’s been a lot across social media about She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and her ongoing trans-antagonistic words and behaviors. I wanted to wait until some of the initial fury had passed to write this. (My fury, not other people’s.) The pause has given me some time to think about some bigger issues, like whether we can really separate the art from the artist and if there’s a widespread problem with “cancel culture."

First, can we enjoy a book or a film or a piece of music independently from the person who created it? That depends...

Ghosts in graveyards. Vampires and were-beasts. Creepy killer clowns. Demons in disguise. Zombies after your brains. Witches, wizards, and warlocks. Unexplained noises and things that go bump in the night.

This was always my favorite time of year. When my kids were younger, we tried to keep Halloween on the lighter side. Not so much now that they’re teenagers. My daughter loves horror, and she reminded me how much I enjoy a good scare.

This past weekend has been a fun one, in terms of the ooky-spooky. We finally went to see IT...