Category: Culture

When a Musical Achieves Liftoff

Miss Honey and Matilda in "Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical"

When a Musical Achieves Liftoff

Published by Mary Gaulke on December 16, 2022

Matilda the Musical isn’t only for children; it’s for anyone who ever was a child and remembers how it felt.

Pop Culture Syllabus: Ruinous Women, Monstrous Wives

Clytemnestra, Medea, and Amy Dunne, as depicted by John Collier, William Wetmore Story, and Rosamund Pike (© 20th Century Fox), respectively

Pop Culture Syllabus: Ruinous Women, Monstrous Wives

Published by Mary Gaulke on August 3, 2021

As a culture, we love to put a magnifying glass to a woman, fictional or real, and discover something seething and horrifying inside her. We’ve been at this for thousands of years.

Pietas, Part 5: Gentleness (feat. Peeta Mellark)

Pietas, Part 5: Gentleness (feat. Peeta Mellark)

Published by Mary Gaulke on July 1, 2021

Hello, excuse me. I hope you are dressed up for this post, because you are in the presence of royalty. Meet His Royal Highness, the Snuggle King, Peeta Mellark.

The Men Are Not OK

A street corner featuring a "La vita bella" mural and a pile of trash bags.

The Men Are Not OK

Published by Mary Gaulke on June 14, 2021

Modern masculinity is a Superfund site, and I’m tired of pretending otherwise.