The arrogance is what gets me. They call it “bad filmmaking” as though including women is some sort of cinematographic error and the thousands of people who worked on the film are all terrible at their jobs. They say it’s “pandering” as though Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon are totally unpopular and disliked. They say it’s “insulting” as though the studio executives personally decided to ruin these idiots’ lives.
Category: Medium Responses
Imposter Syndrome
I once told a therapist that I was experiencing imposter syndrome and she said, “Oh, so you’re in a job that’s beyond your skillset?”
Way to make it worse, Doc.
The Problem with Jean Twenge
I remember Jean Twenge’s book Generation Me, in which she asserted that younger Gen X/Millennials were the most narcissistic generation in history. I’m still astounded that someone with her credentials would make such an inane, unfounded, insulting, and borderline ableist assessment. In this book, she points to things such as online chat and participation trophies as “evidence” that millennials are self-absorbed brats. As countless millennials have pointed out, millennials did not give the trophies to themselves! And clearly, Twenge is a Luddite.
Narcissists occur in every generation, plain and simple.
No Shame in Being Paid to Do What You Love
Many of the people pushing this view of ‘you should write just for the love it’ can’t get paid for their writing or have never been paid for their writing.
When I was in community theatre, I experienced this attitude from people who had never been paid to act, design sets, or stage manage. As though to cover up their own insecurities, they insisted that people who are paid to work in the theatre “must not really love it.”
Read the full response on Medium.
My Writing Indulgence
The sunbeams smash through the thick white blinds, beckoning me to the world outside. Yet I am trapped at my computer, bound to my task, trying desperately to get all my ideas onto the page. I imagine what it would be like to relax by the pool, carefree and drenched in sun. I have so much work to do. There’s one thing I know will appease my anxiety.
Will Future Historians and Archaeologists Study Social Media?
People have always been writing down frivolous stuff. You think the cave paintings were all deep-thinking art? I’d venture not. And I may be biased, because I’m a marketer, but I see such a rich trove of content on social media - news article shares, musings about life, photos documenting different places - that I imagine digital archaeologists will be thrilled to examine it. Surely it has more information that a bunch of tattered diaries.
Beauty and the Beast as a Feminist Tale
It bothers me so much when people say that Beauty and the Beast is about Stockholm Syndrome. It is about a girl’s love for her father and being able to look beyond appearances — and about how amazing books are. The Beast has lessons to give too. He is a symbol of self-loathing toxic masculinity who then discovers what true masculinity, bravery, and selflessness involve.
The Singular “They”
As a writer and editor, I’m so glad that the singular “they” is becoming more accepted, for all the reasons you list and because it’s just. Damn. Easier. It’s taken some effort to convince my senior editor that it’s okay to use, and even more effort to convince my mother, who reads a lot of my stuff.