The Lakeview Crew #7: Hold All The Feels
Sometimes you just need to call your friends, breath together, and feel all the feels. Maya may not always be the best listener, but after a hard week, Max and Maya have a heart to heart.
Arts + Pop Culture
Things I Read That I Love #313: In A “Peeking Around The Dinner Party Host’s House On Your Way To The Bathroom” Kind of Way
Topics include Black voters, a bad reality TV show, murder, Judith Butler, how we quarantine, the tyranny of chairs, TikTok, Bath & Body Works, the Eco-Yogi slumlords of Brooklyn, Emily Ratajkowski and Ramona Quimby!
“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves
Seeing as the modern police force is an evolution of slave catchers, for a film trying to make a point about how the horrors of the past still exist in the present — it comes across as both ahistorical and like a serious misstep.
Talking with Shani Mootoo on the True Story That Became Dark Lesbian Novel “Polar Vortex”
Shani Mootoo is one of the towering lesbian novelists of our time. In her newest novel, Polar Vortex, Mootoo winds the interior lives of its three central characters like a jack- (or jill-) in-the-box: to the point of explosion.
What This Trans Survivor Wants J.K. Rowling to Know
Joanne Rowling and I might have more in common than she thinks.
Lez Liberty Lit: Reclaiming Genderqueer Monstrousness
Roxane Gay on Audre Lorde, Emily Hashimoto on writing lesbian sex, Tessa Gratton on reclaiming genderqueer monstrousness and more.
Pop Culture Fix: Lili Reinhart’s DMs Are Filled With “More Quality Human Beings” Since She Came Out as Bisexual
Also: Tracy Clayton and Lena Waithe in conversation, your guide to getting into Schitt’s Creek, no one plays the game like Billie Jean King, Roxane Gay profiles Sarah Paulson, and more!
No Filter: Yep. We Still Have a Crush on Chef Melissa King.
Sarah Paulson on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, Rahne Jones is coming through with cute cat content, Samira Wiley in silk pajamas with zebras on them (!!), and Indya Moore’s curls remain undefeated.
“Kissing Jessica Stein” Is a Classic of Queer Jewish Anxiety
I hope those of you who celebrate had a relatively joyous Rosh Hashanah. And now please join me in the High Holy Day of revisiting a Jewish queer woman classic.
8 Books Featuring Bi+ People in Longterm Relationships
Given that identities are often assumed based on the gender of a person’s current partner(s), how do bi+ folks navigate longterm relationships? What effect does being in a longterm relationship have on a bi+ person’s understanding of self? How does their bi+ identity interact with intersecting identities and those of their partner(s)? How do poly and monogamous relationships differ for bi+ people? All those questions and more are explored in these fiction and non-fiction books about bi+ people!
Queer Arabs Taking Up Space: An Interview With Zaina Arafat
Zaina Arafat’s You Exist Too Much is the bi Arab romance novel l didn’t know I needed. We chat about the book, first-gen traumas, sexual ambiguity and Arab parents.
Pop Culture Fix: Zendaya. That’s It. That’s the Headline.
Last night’s Emmys set the record for most wins by Black actors! Also: a third season for Harley Quinn, a special episode of Euphoria, an ode to Kate McKinnon’s RBG impressions, Ellen’s back with some explanations, and more!
Grease Bats: Bath Time
“We’re warm, we’re drinking and best of all we’re naked!”
“The First Time”: Drew Gregory Made a Movie in Quarantine and it’s 15 Minutes of Pure Queer Bliss
The First Time is everything I’ve come to love about Drew’s writing over the last several years: smart hilarious, powerful, and deeply generous. And just heckin’ gay and trans.
Scenes from a Gender 02: Illustrated Moments of Trans Womanhood
“I have a question!” she exclaims. Stepmom knows where this is going so she tries to head her off, but the child will not be dissuaded. “My question is,” — here it comes — “… are you transgender?” No one knows what to say, me included.
Pop Culture Fix: “Ammonite” Director Francis Lee Made Mary Anning a Lesbian to “Elevate” Her, Doesn’t Care What Straights Think
10 of the most stylish lesbian characters in cinema, Janelle Monáe on Antebellum and Chadwick Boseman, Brandi Carlile’s cover of Mad World is a real 2020 mood, Indya Moore’s NYFW debut, and more!
38 Amazing Queer Canadian Musicians You Should Know
“If this song sounds familiar, that’s because it and the band were on The L Word, in that episode where Shane shows up at Carmen’s work and they make out in the bathroom while a band plays on the balcony.”
No Filter: Samira Wiley Said “Be Cute and Wear a Mask!” We Agree.
Just Samira Wiley being a babe in tie-dye. Also: Hayley Kiyoko gets real about taking our meds, Chef Melissa King is positively crush worthy, and if we’re lucky — Janet Mock, Indya Moore, and Trace Lysette will be the next Charlie’s Angels.
Pandemic Dating
Dating looks different now.
“The Handmaiden” Dares You to Look
This movie is simultaneously sexy and fucked-up, and its paradoxes mesmerize.