Also.Also.Also: How to Survive the Holigays When You’re Broke AF

All I want is cupcakes and in one of life’s cruelest twists of faith, I do not have eggs nor milk to make them. It’s homophobic, really.


Queer as in F*ck You

First, of course, the biggest and most important news, let’s go ahead and bold it: President Biden Signs Respect For Marriage Act Into Law 🎉🥳🎈🎊

House Oversight Committee to Host Club Q Shooting Survivors in Hearing on Anti-LGBTQ Threats

South Korea’s LGBTQ Community Confronts Crushing Headwinds in Fight for Equality “Conservative lawmakers and religious leaders have contributed to activists’ lengthy and unsuccessful attempts to pass a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill.”


Saw This, Thought of You

‘How Do I Get Through the Holidays When I’m Already Broke?’ Tips for surviving the holidays when you’re broke include: be honest about your anxiety, make peace with the fact that debt will happen over the holidays, pay attention to your bills — but don’t let the consume you, create a spending plan, and plan ahead to avoid this same headache next year if you can. I found this to be practical, but as with all things financial, definitely take it with a grain of salt about what’s best for your own situation.

We Might Be Over the Pandemic, but It’s Not Over Us

‘Let’s Play Getting Doored!’ “Lego and Playmobil’s ambulance sets each come with an injured cyclist. But don’t worry — they’re smiling.” (I don’t understand any of these words, but Heather does and I trust her!)

What’s Truly Disturbing About Those Sci-Fi Avatars That Are Suddenly Everywhere. I have to say it, I really do hate this trend.

This isn’t related, but also it kinda is? Why Do All My AI Avatars Have Huge Boobs?

New York City To Honor Central Park Five At Park Entrance. “‘Gate of the Exonerated’ will honor the five men who, as teenagers, were wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape of a jogger and spent years in prison.”


Political Snacks

I’d love to go the rest of my life without posting about Kyrsten Sinema to be honest, but I am here and this is my job: Sinema Switches to Independent, Shaking up the Senate

This was really good! The Kids Shouldn’t Have to Save Us, “A March for Our Lives cofounder on the unrealistic pressures put on youth activists against gun violence.”

I’ve thought about this so much this week, Puerto Rico is an Abortion Haven — Just Not for Locals

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

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