Hello everyone, and welcome to a new semester! For anyone who may be new to my blog, I write all about the queer media and pop culture that I love and has impacted me the most. The entire premise is inspired by a book I adore called “The 2000s Made Me Gay” by Grace Perry in which she discusses through brilliant essays the media and pop culture that impacted her growing up, even if very little of it was queer. In pop culture today, there has certainly been a spur of LGBTQ+ representation in the past decade or so. And while there are always improvements to be made, I believe in celebrating what exists in terms of representation while encouraging more.
To start of the spring, I thought I would do a recap of all of the media I consumed over our lovely winter break. While not all of it was queer, a decent amount was, and these beautiful pieces all kept me occupied as I wonderfully did nothing for multiple weeks. A few of these titles, specifically “Dickinson” and “Encanto”, will be getting their own posts soon, so stay tuned!
Cover of Heartstopper Vol. 4.
One habit of mine that I cannot seem to shake is an inability to read during the semester. With so much other work to do, the most brain power I can dedicate to reading at most is re-reading titles that I have read multiple times. While I was initially excited about potentially reading new books over break, I feel into my old habits and only re-read books that I have read, specifically all Romantic Comedies. The books I read over break were “Red, White, and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston, “Something to Talk about” by Meryl Wilsner, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur, and “Heartstopper” Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman.
Cover of “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur
Most of these books have been mentioned in other posts promptly because I am obsessed with them. Vol. 4 of Heartstopper was just released this winter, and when I saw it in a Barnes and Nobles one fateful Thursday, I immediately cancelled the Amazon pre-order I had placed months ago. “Something to Talk About” is a sapphic Rom-Com about a famous person in Hollywood and her assistant which does sound potentially terrible but is actually a very cute slow-burn that I highly recommend. The only other book not mentioned in a previous post is “Hang the Moon” by Alexandria Bellefleur, but the first book in the series, “Written in the Stars” (aka my favorite book of all time) is. This book is about Darcy’s brother Brendon and Darcy’s best friend Annie as he tries to rekindle her belief in romance through classic Rom-Com movie moves – cheesy perfection.
Hailee Steinfeld (left) and Florence Pugh (right)
Beyond reading, I watched a few shows and movies, including an entire re-watch of New Girl, the new Disney animated movie “Encanto”, the series “Hawkeye” (purely for Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh), and my favorite TV show, Dickinson. New Girl is just as good the fifth time around, Hawkeye was good enough, and Encanto is fantastic. Dickinson actually caused me a great amount of emotional pain over break because the series ended, but you will soon hear about my utter love and adoration for the show.
And as always, I accumulated an insane number of hours listening to music, but my favorite times were spent listening to “Speak Now” by Taylor Swift, “Extraordinary Machine” by Fiona Apple, and the Encanto Soundtrack.
I have the same issue with not being able to take the time for myself to read over the semester! I was very excited this Christmas to get back on the horse though, and I brought about 6 books back to PSU. I’m currently reading the ever-so-popular “Song of Achilles” which had a note on Barnes and Noble about being part of the LGBTQ+ collection (although I’m not very far in) if you’re looking for a new read.
My family also got Disney+ for Christmas, so I was able to watch Encanto! I loved it, and have watched it twice. Personally, Luisa is my favorite character; I think she’s so funny, and as a stressed-out college student, I appreciated “Surface Pressure”. I’ve been meaning to start Dickinson, although I doubt I’ll have time to commit to it until the summer. As a STEM major, it’s not often that I give myself the time to dive into literature anymore for fun, but I think that learning about Emily Dickinson (a girlboss before it was cool) through a slightly comical TV show sounds like a good use of my time.
Happy reading! Hopefully we both can get some books under our belts this semester!
I think this is a great post that gives an ample overview of your blog and the inspiration it stems from. Being new to your blog, I think it is wonderful that you chose to discuss a topic that not only shows societal growth in acceptance for LGBTQ+ indivduals, but also their representation in the media. Over break, I unfortunately was unable to bring myself to curl up with a good book, but I might have to check out a few of your recommendations. I also see that you listed at the bottom a few of your favorite albums from the break. This week I started listening to the Weekend’s new albulm and I enjoy it. Overall nice blog and I am excited to read more.
Great post! I definitely 100% get that inability to read much during the semester. As a potential English major who really loves reading, I still have so much trouble with this. A lot of advice people give is to just force myself through a book, but I often don’t have the brain power to do that after a long day of work and assignments (sometimes it just makes my eyes cross). And trying this often leads to me not liking or caring about the book, even if I would like reading it at normal strength. It always feels like there’s something more present or prevalent to do during that time! I think it’s great you’re focusing on this specific section of pop culture that doesn’t get much attention elsewhere. I’d love book recommendations! I haven’t read too much LGBTQ+ literature, but off the top of my head I can suggest Oscar Wilde and Angels in America (I haven’t read or seen this play, but I’ve heard it’s good). I would love some more suggestions from someone with more familiarity though! I’m curious to hear about these tv shows because I haven’t seen Dickinson or Hawkeye yet. I feel like I have an even worse issue starting and finishing tv shows than books even. Awesome job!