FAUX REAL THO

Hell is a Teenage Girl: Yellowjackets and the Monstrous Feminine

Yellowjackets is a smart, layered show in which a team of elite high school soccer players survives a plane crash in the deep woods of Ontario in 1996, then follows them today, twenty-five years later, as they continue to piece their lives back together. It plays with a number of genres, including horror, teen dramas…

Continue Reading

For the Birds

When we had chickens, I got in the habit of giving them extra calories when it got cold out. I’d wake up on a frigid night thinking about how they needed a serving of oatmeal in the morning and research how to keep their water dish from freezing over. Chickens don’t like having their feet…

Continue Reading

Photo by Meruyert Gonullu from Pexels

The Ideological Battlefield of Motherhood

This interview by Anne Helen Petersen with researcher and writer Kathryn Jezer-Morton covers a lot of what makes me cringe whenever I see what makes a good/bad parent debated on social media. With the rise of pop therapy memes, it’s become a regular thing for folks to express and pick apart the many traumas we…

Continue Reading

Three Foolproof Methods for Removing Verdigris from Fine and Costume Jewelry

Verdigris is what happens when metals are weathered and exposed to air and moisture over time. The good news is that it’s easy to remove, and it’s easy to remove from costume jewelry and fine jewelry alike.

Learning to Quilt, Redux

Since the pandemic started, I spend a lot of time on social media watching process videos. There’s something soothing about watching people make things with their hands, especially with the soft clicking and rustling of tools and materials, papers, fabric, wrenches, and screws. One of my favorite content creators is a guy in France who…

Continue Reading

Photograph of a colorful quilt

Learning to Quilt

I have surprisingly serious mixed feelings about this trend. As a fashion enthusiast, I love a solid eco trend, especially as a take on fast and slow fashion. As a fashion enthusiast, I also know that this trend is fast-moving and will be as out as teddy bear coats in a couple of years. As…

Continue Reading

Horror Movies for Feminists: Candyman (1992)

Synopsis: A pair of grad students, Helen and Bernadette, are writing a paper on urban legends. Thanks to a tip, they explore the famed Cabrini-Green public housing development in Chicago on a hunt to find out more about “Candyman”, the ghost of an artist and son of a slave who was murdered on that land…

Continue Reading

Horror Movies for Feminists: Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Synopsis: Ana misses an emergency news bulletin one night, and wakes up the next morning to discover her world has been eclipsed by the zombie apocalypse. She and a scrappy band of survivors retreat to a suburban shopping mall where they battle zombies – and each other – in their quest to resist the zombie…

Continue Reading

Horror Movies for Feminists: Day of the Dead (1985)

This series on “horror for feminists” looks at the horror movie canon and argues for the need for contemporary feminist storytelling in the horror genre.

Horror Movies for Feminists: The Shining (1980)

This grand haunted hotel is an extended metaphor for the writer’s own alcoholism and domestic violence.

Horror Movies for Feminists: Alien (1979)

This series on “horror for feminists” looks at the horror movie canon and argues for the need for contemporary feminist storytelling in the horror genre.

Horror Movies for Feminists: Halloween (1978)

Only “good girls” like smart, chaste Laurie prevail.

1 2 3 8