MCJ

Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11 Episode 103: 1 hour)

By |

The podcast Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11) from the You Must Remember This Podcast told the story of Grace Kelly’s life and tragic death. After watching Grace Kelly in Rear Window as well as in some other films, knowing that she was a princess, and learning of her death, I thought that this podcast would be interesting to listen to and would give a greater insight into her life. In the podcast, the host Karina Longworth started the podcast by telling the audience that most “blonde” stories are that of the “suffering” blondes like Marilyn Monroe. Grace Kelly had a different story with a sad ending. Longworth described how Kelly grew up in an unsupportive family, how she started within the acting and modeling industry, and what occurred with the fame she received.

MCJ

“What Do We Owe Her Now?” (Washington Post, 2018, 9,475 words)

By |

I read this quite a while ago, and it stuck with me so much so that I read it again. It is devastating, by the way, in case anybody didn't land on this one. Elizabeth Bruenig's five part multimedia feature for the Washington Post profiles a woman named Amber Wyatt who reported her rape by two popular boys in high school and was subsequently ridiculed by her hometown and denied her day in court by the authorities. Bruenig went to school with Wyatt but did not know her well. I remember being reminded of Sharp Objects, the Gillian Flynn novel, where the main character is asked to return to her hometown to report on a series of missing and murdered young women, and I was even more jarred reading this considering this was a real woman's life completely ruined by people who didn't believe her.

MCJ

“‘Tiny House Hunters’ and the Shrinking American Dream” (Curbed, 1704 words)

By |

(This has been sitting in a Google doc since literally February. Sorry. Ah.)

Roxane Gay contributed here to Curbed, a publication owned by the Vox Media group, in a piece denoting the experience of watching HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters (a program that I happen to love) and becoming increasingly frustrated not just with the repeated demands and the American obsession with the McMansion but then also laments the same sort of issue I have when I watch those shows: why are you looking for a tiny house when you want a lot of space? Now, it’s recently sort of occurred to me that “tiny homes” are like gentrified mobile homes, and the shrinking of the American Dream that Gay points out here is rather evident. These are people who are clearly looking for some beautiful thing to own, but the budget just isn’t there.

Uncategorized

Christopher Goffard, “Framed” (16262 words)

By |

Goffard’s piece “Framed” was truly a page-turner, or in this case, kept me scrolling. In 2011, Kelli Peters was the PTA president of the Plaza Vista School in Irvine, California. A parent called the police stating that Kelli was driving “erratically” and said he saw drugs in her car. However, Kelli was inside of the school helping a coworker at the time of the call. When Officer Shaver found the drugs in her car, Kelli’s world turned upside down.

MCJ

My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard (36619)

By |

Where do I even start? This piece took me ages to read, as it’s over 36,000 words, but it was worth every minute. I was so enthralled from start to finish. Shane Bauer, a journalist, wanted to explore the behind-the-scenes, so to speak, of private prisons. They hold around 130,000 incarcerated people at any given time, but no one really knew what happened behind closed doors.

Uncategorized

The Great Pizza Orientation Test (462)

By |

The fact that a very well-known meme arose from one simple experiment is still truly a wild concept to me. It goes to show that the dumbest details about life can be so important: a cultural reset, if you will. 

As for the 400 word post/diagram of this experiment, I don’t have much to say other than the pictures were a good aid. They took us through the whole thought process-- the shocking images of the tragic fallen beef crumbles on the RIGHT side of the za. They relayed the despair of the customer and the carelessness of the pizza designers. They made us realize that life isn’t always fair, especially to beef that has no cheese to cling to.

MCJ

The Night the Lights Went Out (7130)

By |

Aside from the fact that Drew Magary is a total badass and an extremely lucky man, he is also a very convincing writer. This is an insane story about how his brain basically just blew up, how he spent his time in recovery, what he does and doesn’t remember, and how his family coped with his illness and rehabilitation. He uses casual language that brings you into the hospital room with him. You feel the embarrassment when he has to be helped “washing his dick,” and sitting on the toilet. You understand his sarcasm and wittiness toward the nurses and his relatives, as he is basically a sitting duck.

MCJ

Is America Any Safer? (18,294 Words)

By |

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/are-we-any-safer/492761/

Before I start this, I just wanted to mention the author Steven Brill, best known for the magazine The American Lawyer, also shares the same name with a filmmaker best known for directing films like Heavyweights and Mr. Deeds, as well as the writer for the Mighty Ducks trilogy. I just think that's very funny and wanted to share that. Anyways, this article was an enlightening one. I was three years old, too young to truly understand the impact and shifts that emerged after the devastating WTC attacks. So reading how the country shifted in terms of security, with new bills, higher budgets, and different proposals was well worth a read.

MCJ

Katie Baker, “What Do We Do With These Men?” (New York Times, 1600 words)

By |

Our world seems to be changing for the better, besides the very real issue of global warming that will eventually wipe us all out. But morally speaking, we are getting better. Each day we take a step forward towards loving and accepting each other, improving equality, and punishing those who have done wrong in the past. Reading this article, however, I felt as though my optimistic bubble was burst. Baker opened my eyes on the disgusting men who I believed "get what they deserve", to realize they are actually just recycled.

MCJ

The Creepiest Things You Can Do on Facebook (800 words)

By |

https://gizmodo.com/the-creepiest-things-you-can-do-on-facebook-1683434172

This was a very clever comedy writing piece that has a lot of great moments to laugh at. Facebook is kind of an interesting site, in the sense that it's largely populated by Grandmas and baby pictures, and isn't really known as an advocacy platform (Twitter) nor one populated by young users (Instagram, TikTok). It's an original beast of a platform all its own, and has an aura of confusion and oddities all the same. But what really made me enjoy the article was its layout. It's a great set-up and there are perfect divisions with each of author Ashley Feinberg's examples.