Mar 14, 2022
Understanding Madness and Mental Health Through Lucha Libre
Luchas Libres remind me of the advice I got on my first roller coaster ride: “You have to scream the whole time. It’s only fun if you scream.”
How Dungeons & Dragons Helped Me Make Sense of My Mania
The simplicity and certainty of the game was precisely what I needed. Who was I to refuse the guarantee of a certain reality?
Feb 11, 2021
Moon Prism Power! Re-examining the Power of the Magical Asian Schoolgirl
When your youth is marked so clearly, by a crisp sailor collar and the deep pleats of your skirt, everyone feels like they deserve a piece of it, of you.
Sep 02, 2020
Why Wrestler Tetsuya Naito Is the Unlikely Hero I Needed
For my generation of fans, Naito embodies our time and our struggles. The closest thing he has to a superpower is survival.
Oct 01, 2019
Love, Peace, and Taco Grease: How I Left My Abusive Husband and Found Guy Fieri
Guy Fieri allowed me to ask: who do I fear noise and brightness for? Who do I fear food for? And he gave me the answer: I fear it for myself.
Jul 29, 2019
How Wrestling Saved My Life and Let Me Express My Queerness
Wrestling never stops, so I couldn’t stop, and thus I am still here.
Jul 09, 2019
What ‘The Proud Family’ Gave to Millennial Muslims
The violence of the moment, conveyed in shades of melancholy purple, is bleak even for a cartoon. But it’s also honest.
Jul 23, 2018
Melancholia, Death Motion, and the Makings of Marilyn Manson
“Manson’s magical proximity to massacres of gun violence is, we know, not magical. His practice is prismatic, his lyrics a sieve.”
Apr 24, 2018
When the Way You Love Things Is “Too Much”; or: Why I Went to Portmeirion
As an autistic child, I scrambled to figure out when my passions became too overbearing, too ‘me’ for other people.
Mar 27, 2018
“If a Girl Isn’t Pretty”: When Beauty Is the Ideal and Humor the Fallback
“Being a funny girl like Fanny continues to skew the way I see myself.”
Nov 28, 2017
On the Internet, Everybody Knows You’re a Horndog: On “Beach Rats” and Gay Chat Rooms
Remembering the online world of gay chat rooms in the digital moment before social media.
Nov 16, 2017
What Miyazaki’s Heroines Taught Me About My Mixed-Race Identity
“Miyazaki tells us something about bodies in flux: There is no easy answer; only the conflict, the question.”
Oct 11, 2017
Their Songs: The Ballad of Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin collaborated to create timeless pop songs during the 1970s.
Sep 19, 2017
They Don’t Speak For Us: Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ in the Age of Collapse
There’s a latent sense of hope tinged with rage tucked away in the album.
Aug 08, 2017
Justin Bieber Is My Lesbian Icon
It’s not about getting away with things. It’s about becoming more comfortable with myself.
Jul 20, 2017
Situational Ethics for Toddlers: Explaining ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Hamilton,’ and Stonewall Jackson to My Rebel-Obsessed Daughter
What makes one rebellion just and the next unjust?
Jul 20, 2017
True Love Will Find You: My Afternoon in Daniel Johnston’s Dining Room
Johnston’s instrumental arrangements and shrill vocal style satisfied a primitive urge in me.
Jul 19, 2017
‘The Shining,’ Domestic Violence, and the Architecture of Horror
“Horror isn’t in the gothic and ghostly, but in the people we’re taught to love. Horror is close to home.”
Jul 11, 2017
What Would Captain Janeway Do?: On Depression, My Lost Year, and Star Trek: Voyager
How rewatching ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ shed new light on a lost year of my life.
Jul 06, 2017
