Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is electric, but its feminist spin on Frankenstein falls flat The Bride! is a feast for the eyes with standout performances by Bale and Buckley, but it could have been a great outlaw film without the commentary.

Back posting on my personal Substack, this time a review of The Bride!. For such an innovative idea for a large Hollywood picture, The Bride! had all the dressings of a good film. It could have succeeded as an off-kilter romance, but attempts to stitch together a thoughtful commentary fall apart.

Public funding for local news stalls in WA while other states gain traction Plus, WSNA convenes steering committee to guide our growing coalition.

WA journo friends: Subscribe to the Fresh Ground Substack! The monthly newsletter is the foundation for a coalition of people who want to help more Washingtonians understand how they can contribute to and support reliable news and information.

Remembering Judith Arcana In 2017, Judith Arcana sent a postcard to the old Mercury offices in Old Town/Chinatown. I was the arts editor at the time—it was my first real journalism job—and after many stories covering local the...

I wrote about Judith Arcana, Portland's own underground abortionist-turned-poet. She was a legend. She was also my friend.

Sometimes meeting your heroes is good, actually.
www.portlandmercury.com/opinion/2026...

A brief history of the penny dreadfuls of Victorian England The cheap, serialized fiction helped boost youth literacy rates and ignited a moral panic among Britain's bourgeoisie.

Back again posting on my Substack! For this issue, I wrote about the 'penny dreadfuls' and 'penny bloods' of Victorian England, aptly nicknamed for their retail price of a penny and their often violent, salacious stories of delinquent schoolboys, blood-hungry monsters and epic adventures.

As we grow older, “loss becomes the primary condition of living,” Nick Cave says. Revisit an interview with the singer-songwriter, from 2023: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/m13dSP

Donald Trump told a journalist, “Quiet, piggy,” when she asked him about Epstein—continuing his pattern of demeaning women, Isabel Fattal argues in The Atlantic Daily: theatln.tc/1QFfSAvR

My latest on Substack: Charli xcx, Ethel Cain, "TikTok music" and how algorithms are ruining our music tastes. All this because I actually like Charli's new "Wuthering Heights" soundtrack singles! Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/redlefth...

Lily Allen making it very difficult for us Madelines out here

Doomscrolling in the 1850s The Atlantic was born in an era of information overload.

“Amid an overload of information of uncertain value, The Atlantic’s founders wanted to create something that was solid and enduring," Jake Lundberg writes. He looks back to the magazine's founding, 168 years ago, in Time-Travel Thursdays:

WHAT'S up YouTube, it's your boy Bartleby the Scrivener here, coming at you for another day of the I Would Prefer Not To challenge. Be sure to SMASH that subscribe button and hit that bell so you don't miss a single video. If you saw last week's video, you'll know I am now SLEEPING in the office.

Why is medieval fashion so popular now? Renaissance fairs, chainmail and armored fashion are taking over the runway and my social media feeds.

In my latest post, I analyze the current medieval fashion trend. Similar to the pandemic's cottagecore craze, images of chivalric battles, billowing dresses and fairy tales offer a respite from modern stressors. Unlike 2020, though, people are armored — literally.

#fashion #freelance #medievalcore

Its my first day of unemployment, and I'm saddened to hear I'll be joined by other amazing reporters at Teen Vogue. Their political coverage was influential for young voters. Too many news outlets are announcing layoffs, and I don't think its incidental. We need journalism to prosper as a democracy.

Introducing Red Left Hand! I'm taking the Substack plunge — follow along for rants, ruminations and recommendations on topics from classic literature to what's in my closet.

Today is my last day at Cascade PBS. The transition has been hard & I'm unsure of what's next.

While I've got spare time, I'll be working on creative projects I've been too scared to try. I've launched a Substack to have fun & rediscover myself apart from journalism ✨

It's free to read! Xoxo

Reporters talk mobile home owners’ rights at Pierce County library At a public screening of Cascade PBS’s documentary ‘Priced Out,’ the journalists behind the investigation answered questions from community members.

Cascade PBS teamed with the University Place Library in Pierce County Tuesday to host a screening of the documentary "Priced Out," followed by a Q&A with the journalists behind the story. Miss the event? Find an excerpt of the Q&A here:

Cascade PBS, Pierce Co. Library to host free documentary screening Cascade PBS and the Pierce County Library District are hosting a free screening of Priced Out: Fear and resistance in WA mobile home parks. In the short documentary, the Cascade PBS investigative team...

Join Cascade PBS Tuesday, Sept. 16 for a free screening of the "Priced Out: Fear & resistance in WA mobile home parks" documentary at the University Place Pierce County Library. Check out more information and RSVP here:

Seattle's No Kings protest Saturday among largest in city history The estimated 70,000+ peaceful demonstrators had various grievances with the Trump administration, but immigration policy was the prevailing theme

Thousands flooded the streets of Seattle Saturday, capping a week of protests & growing tension over the Trump administration’s immigration policies & threats to send ICE to “democrat power centers.” Officials estimated 70,000+ attended, making the No Kings protest among the largest in city history.

Today, the House of Representatives voted to rescind previously approved federal funding for public media. Federal support for public media costs just $1.60 per person each year. Eliminating this funding would have a devasting impact on local journalism, video series, events and more.

A thread 🧵