Category: Blog


  • Review: That X-Files episode where aliens came to Earth to play baseball, and what it says about race in America

    The most iconic shot from The X-Files‘ 25 year run is also the funniest one: the image of a somber grey alien gazing away unto loftier things while holding a bat and dressed in a baseball cap and a little alien baseball uniform. You see, the alien in question is the true form of Josh Exley,…

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  • For the love of all that is holy, stop putting sex noises in music

    The time has come to hold a referendum on the state of music; specifically, the presence of sex noises in music. This is a distinct and unusual trend in music production that has thrived uncurtailed for decades, multiplying like a cancer. From Naughty by Nature and Joan Jett to Tove Lo and Nelly, singers have…

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  • A conspiracy of silence: Scientology and my local thrift store

    Since 1987, the Beit T’Shuvah thrift store in Culver City has been “a high-end, charity-run resale store that supports Beit T’shuvah, a drug/alcohol rehab in Los Angeles,” as described on their Google profile. The store places emphasis on the value of charity, hiring primarily recovering addicts in its storefront. Over Thanksgiving, I visited the store only to…

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  • Kelly Ragowski’s “Personals” app embraces the queerness of personal ads

    Sixteen years ago, Anji Fipps posted a personal ad on shoe.org, “The Online Lesbian Community.” “Hi all,” she wrote. “This is my first time posting to the list although I have responded to a few posts. I just wanted to do alittle intro. [sic] I live in wonderful South Carolina. I am 29 but try not…

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  • Rom-coms, rape law, and restorative justice: Lessons with Shirin Bakhshay

    On Oct. 6, 2018, the Senate voted to confirm Justice Kavanaugh in the midst of sexual assault claims by Christine Blasey Ford. There have been new accusations that emerged on Sept. 15, 2019 by Deborah Ramirez, a student at Yale at the same time as the Supreme Court justice. These assaults took place in the 1980s through the late…

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  • Unsurprisingly, The Emmys Ignored Women and People of Color

    The 2019 Emmy Awards were a spectacle to behold; the ceremony was collateral damage of a culture war, straddling the expectations of both Old Hollywood and the growing movement advocating for more diversity in the media.

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