MCJ

Protected: He’s Just Not That Into You; or, Caitlin Deserves Better

By helen | April 15, 2017

Even In Real Life, There Were Screens Between Us by Caitlin Dewey

The story in this essay made me really sad, but I wasn’t particularly surprised by the outcome in the end - she wasn’t that into the guy in person when she met him, and it’s easy to see only some parts of someone and to romanticize them by filling in the missing details with stuff you do like. Will seems like a nice guy and I don’t judge Caitlin’s life choices at all - I really don’t - but it seems to me that this is less of a commentary on the general failures of online relationships (and maybe more broadly, communication in general) and more of a personal story. I know that Modern Love isn’t supposed to comment on general stuff, but the college essay contest is supposed to be an essay about something you’ve noticed about love today (maybe it was different in 2011). I think that stories like Caitlin and Will’s are probably fairly common these days, especially since it’s a lot easier to flirt over the internet than it is in real life (for a lot of people, I assume. Okay it’s easier for me anyway.).

MCJ

Protected: Keep Tumblr Weird (and socialist)

By helen | March 17, 2017

The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens by Elspeth Reeve

Another plane read, this article changed my perspective on tumblr fame a lot. I’ve been on tumblr since 2011, and although I don’t use it nearly as much now, it used to be my life. My experience with tumblr, though, was vastly different than the experiences of those discussed in this article. And to be honest, the way they use tumblr didn’t sit right with me at all. First, my experience of tumblr.

MCJ

Protected: Life’s Rich Pageant

By helen | March 17, 2017

Life’s Rich Pageant: Meet a Florida Man

First of all, I read this article on a plane and it had me struggling really hard to hold in my laughter. I’m not sure I succeeded. The problem is that when confronted with lines like “Florida Man Terrifies Vacationing Family With Gunfire Meant For Iguana” you’re not really in control anymore. I’ve long been a fan of Florida Man and his many stupid escapades. I’m pretty sure I used to look at Florida Man twitter accounts and compilations all the time a few years ago.

MCJ

Protected: Last Men Standing

By helen | March 5, 2017

Last Men Standing by Erin Allday

I feel personally, emotionally attacked by this article. And not in a good way. This was kind of brutal. If I were the author, I’m not sure I would have been able to successfully conduct these interviews without crying myself. I don’t know, maybe she did, and that was okay.

MCJ

Protected: This American Life

By helen | February 23, 2017

I listened to the Grand Gestures episode of This American Life. I'd heard so many people recommend this podcast that I had to check it out, and I have to say, it's definitely worth the listen. I was wary of spending an hour listening to something because I'm not a very patient listener and typically prefer written stories because I can read them as fast as I want. Despite this, I felt like I was doing too many written pieces for my mcj so I decided to just go for it and listen to the podcast. And I'm super glad I did.

Protected: The Future is Female

By helen | February 13, 2017

 

What Does It Mean To Be A Lesbian In 2017? By Shannon Keating

 

While I liked the premise of this article and agreed with a lot of what Keating said, I wasn’t surprised about what I found when I scrolled too far down and ended up in hell the comments section. Everyone was attacking her for what they perceived as an attack on lesbians. And honestly, that wasn’t too surprising to me. As someone who has occasionally called myself a lesbian in the past, I usually just say ‘queer’ for simplicity’s sake now.

MCJ

Protected: 9/11: The View from the Midwest

By helen | February 7, 2017

9/11: The View from the Midwest by David Foster Wallace

I feel the need to come clean right off the bat and admit to crying at this piece, which makes 2 cries out of the 3 pieces I’ve read so far for this class. Pride isn’t quite the right word. DFW starts out by telling us all about Bloomington, and then about his experience of the day it happened. And yet it was somehow...relatable? It made me think of my own - totally disconnected, innocent, and unaware - experience.

MCJ

Protected: Fire, Brimstone, Forgiveness.

By helen | January 30, 2017

Unfollow by Adrian Chen

In an in-depth piece that wavered between heartbreaking, disturbing, shocking and uplifting, Adrian Chen answered all of the questions I ever had about the Westboro Baptist Church - and then some. He introduced me to Megan Phelps-Roper through a tweet she had made celebrating AIDS, but by the end, I cried with happiness when she left the church. In the beginning, when he was laying out who Megan is and what kinds of things she had tweeted and believed in the past, I didn’t like her. I didn’t find her sympathetic and didn’t want to root for her. It was especially hard to try to forgive the picketing of soldiers’ funerals, and the celebration of horrible events like 9/11.

MCJ

Protected: Helen’s Response #1

By helen | January 23, 2017

Love Letters by Katie Barker

What I found most striking about this piece was how it didn’t try to make me hate the brides. It took what would be a normal (patriarchal, misogynistic) story about this army of "ridiculous brides who are so over-obsessed with having the perfect wedding that they actually take their invitations to some small town in Oregon so the cancellation would look nice," (as a lesser author/person would have put it) and made it mean something. By introducing Geri Canzler as a sympathetic woman, and showing that this is her job and the only thing keeping this small town relevant, Baker removes the ridiculous element of the ridiculous that runs through the core of this story. Reading it, this all made perfect sense. I was convinced of the importance of Canzler’s job, and of what these brides do to keep their wedding invitations from being ruined in the mail.