This Can't Be Broccoli

  For me, it was the cancellation of Glow . The show about women wrestlers in the 1980's was a fan favorite, an acclaimed piece of television that had been named the Best of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, and the kind of niche content that proved the necessity of streamers. And Netflix unceremoniously yanked it after a mere three seasons. Part of the reason was the pandemic, but let's not kid ourselves-- Netflix has billions of dollars at its disposal. They could have greenlit another season (or at least a wrap-up movie) fifty years after the pandemic and CGI-aged all the characters down if they wanted to. That's essentially what they did for Martin Scorsese and The Irishman . That termination was the beginning of many red flags that streamers may not be the cultural salvation we were all hoping they would be. Further concern was given to us by the streamers themselves, when they let loose such undeniably corporate flexes such as "We don't need to tell you how p...

  Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were al...

  Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. But even the best make mistakes. Her latest book Whereabouts made me...so angry. Not because it's poorly written. In fact, it's not poorly written at all. I'm not sure if she would know how to write anything  that wasn't creatively immaculate. My issue with it is that it is...tone deaf in one of those astounding ways where you have to wonder how her editor, publisher, or anyone working with her didn't suggest just hiding the entire manuscript in favor of something more appropriate. As we're starting to see the end of the pandemic, Lahiri has decided that what she wants to tackle is a book written in Italian by her, then translated...by her...all about an author...in Italy...just kind of...walking around...not doing anything. Certainly not working. Lahiri taught herself Italian, wrote a book in that language, and then translated it. And while that is all very  impressive, it also smacks of the kind of elite privileg...

  Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were al...

  There's a certain type of person I meet in the arts all the time. The Precious People. You usually don't notice how precious they are at first. Most of the time, you need to get a good dose of their social media first, and then it becomes more apparent. They use many of the same expressions, and cultivate the same kind of brand. Two months ago, I was cast in a digital reading and when I friended all of the other actors, I noticed that red flag in one of their tweets. They posted about some sad news story (one that was pretty questionable, meme driven, no link to objective proof) with the caption-- This makes my heart hurt. Ruh-roh, I thought. For years, I didn't have any way to define this kind of person other than by saying they're "precious." I did not grow up with many precious people. I grew up still hearing the word "tough" as a compliment. No apologies about it. No quantifying it. You wanted to be tough. As I grew older, using words like ...

  Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were al...

  If you listen to thirteen podcasts a day, the way I do, you probably heard at least one episode dedicated to "The Population Problem." Basically, the most heavily foot-noted census of all time (due to 45's war on procedure, democracy, and Microsoft Excel) showed that the population in America is shrinking. Now, I don't know about you, but I kind of thought that was...good news? After all, most of us would agree that it's fiscally irresponsible for most of us to have children, and part of the shrinking means that teenage pregnancy rates have plummeted. For years, we've been hearing that the world is overpopulated, so a decreasing population has to be a positive thing...right? Apparently not. Every pundit in America descended upon NPR to talk all about how the baby bust is bad for everyone, and if you're thinking that it's because some people might want kids and can't afford to have them, and that's so sad-- Nope! The reason we should be upset ...