Arts & Culture
I Refuse to Feel Guilt for My Guilty Pleasures
The invisible fence that divides highbrow and lowbrow is largely imposed by money, those we admire, and our own social conditioning.
Lois Before Clark: In Defense of the Superhero Girlfriend
Superman whomst? Lois Lane outsold.
Seeking Culinary Guidance from God, My Mom, and Kelly Ripa
My first unkosher months weren’t especially guilt-ridden; if anything, it was the closest I had felt to coming of age.
Tiny Stitches for Big Feelings
It’s difficult to enter an anxiety spiral while cross-stitching. Believe me, I’ve tried.
Prison Visitation Isn’t Like the Movies
When my dad was incarcerated, I began noticing specific tropes that reinforce a cultural narrative about prison all around me.
‘Dorohedoro’ Helped Me Through—and Reconsider—Isolation in the Pandemic
In Q Hayashida’s wild, imaginative artwork, I found the freedom to see beyond my surroundings, all on my own.
Strange Lessons in Sex and Power from ‘Saved By the Bell’
As a preteen, I’d absorbed this dynamic—a teen girl dating adult men—as totally normal because it was embedded in the show’s wholesome package.
What Tina Turner Taught Me
In a theater, I am freed by the voices that shake the rafters, the dancing, the lights, and the colors. Musicals are my form of catharsis.
The Real Villain in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is Toxic Work Culture
Fifteen years after it premiered, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ continues to teach ambitious young people that exploitation is the price you must pay for success.
The Radical Possibilities of Virtual Theater
When stage shows went virtual, traditional directors declared that the form was “dead.” They are extremely wrong.