Archive | Feminist Matters

The Unguilty Pleasure of ‘Magic Mike XXL’

It may have been Independence Day but the opening weekend of “Magic Mike XXL” didn’t exactly generate box office fireworks. It’s no surprise, really – few straight men seemed likely to attend a male stripper sequel over a holiday – but it is a shame. Against all odds, “Magic Mike XXL” is one of the most unguilty pleasures of Summer 2015. Consider it the “Godfather II” of dicks-for-chicks sequels. (An as-of-now miniscule film genre, admittedly.)

This film picks up a few years after “Magic Mike” ends. Former stripper Mike (Channing Tatum) is now running his own furniture business but is convinced to go on one final “strip trip” (road trip to a stripping convention) with his former colleagues, including Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer. Not included: Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer, who apparently weren’t up for getting the band back together. Along the way, Mike, who is nursing a broken heart (his “Magic Mike” romantic interest, Cody Horn, also is missing in action), entices former girlfriend Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith) to join up as their MC and former stripper Amber Heard to ogle him from the audience. Honest to goodness, that’s about the extent of the plot but it feels appropriate here. After all, it’s about the cute boys, stupid. Continue Reading →

The Church of Frittatas and Freedom

I got up at 5 am–the monk hour, the high priestess hour–and meditated, Gracie creeping quietly into my lotus position as we breathed in the morning’s sweet, post-rain cool drifting through the open window. Opened to light and sent it down my spine, everywhere I sensed darkness. Then, armed with strong French press coffee and heated cream, I began a new notebook as I have countless times since I was a little girl. So much happened in this last week: so much tsuris, so much joy, so many breakthroughs. I wrote into all of it and began to chart a course about where to go from here. Finally I stood and did what I’ve been doing ever since I became a grownup: I tied on an apron, pulled greenmarket booty out of my refrigerator, and began to cook my way out of the confusion. I diced spring onions, kale, red potatoes, mushrooms; sauteed them with fresh corn and thyme and olive oil in my old cast iron pan. Grated asiago cheese. Beat eggs with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Poured them over the vegetables and slid the mixture into the heated oven. Cleaned my kitchen; sang a little bit and then a lot. (Sorry, neighbors.) When the holy frittata cooled, I sliced a piece onto my favorite vintage plate, climbed on the fire escape, and toasted this Sunday morning with a fork, my quiet cat once again by my side.

This is my life today. It could be worse. It could be better. It will be both at different points in the future just as it has been in the past. But it is fully mine, and I worked hard to ensure this could be so, and I do not forget that. I celebrate that our government now legally upholds same-sex partnership just as I celebrate my right, so new in the history of humankind, to live independently as a woman.  In this moment–as in all moments of true spiritual communion–I am grateful to be grateful.

Kody Keplinger, YA’s Leslie Knope

Kody Keplinger may be the Leslie Knope of Young Adult fiction. Like the “Parks and Recreation” public servant whom she adores, the unflagging Kentucky native is all about feminist positivity and five-year plans, and so far she’s right on track. As a seventeen-year-old high school senior, she wrote The DUFF, the New York Times-bestselling YA book about Bianca, a high school student who discovers she’s the “Designated Ugly Fat Friend” of her ultra-hot besties. Now at the ripe old age of twenty-three, Keplinger is a New York City resident with four more published YA novels under her belt, and The DUFF has been adapted into a smart-as-a-whip, critically acclaimed teen flick starring Mae Whitman, Bella Thorne, Allison Janney, and Ken Jeong. I talked with Mz. Knope er Keplinger about the adaptation process, size acceptance, and the genius of Mae Whitman.

Lisa Rosman: Let’s start with brass tacks. What inspired you to write The DUFF while you were still a student?

Kody Keplinger: It was hearing the word DUFF being used in my school. That is not a word I made up. Actually, I did research on this after the fact – it apparently got popular on some reality TV dating show in the early 2000s – but I first heard it my senior year, when a girl was talking about a boy as “The DUFF.” Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy