One of the thing that I was thinking about most during Pride week was the way that young people are interacting with LGBTQ+ culture. Since I’ve moved to New York, this has really hit me. It started when I went to see Kinky Boots starring Brendon Urie. There were so many young fans who came … More “It’s Not Like I Got an Instruction Pamphlet”
Sometimes it takes looking at someone and conceptualizing that person to truly understand something about your own identity. Whether this be learning of a TV show that changes your life or helping to realize your own sexuality through a role model’s coming out. That is one of the most incredibly powerful things about fiction: it … More “What Was Supposed to be Our Alternate Universe”
My first weekend in New York, I was lucky enough attend BookCon, which is basically exactly what it sounds like: ComicCon for books. Book nerds, publishers, and authors flock to a convention center in New York to sell, buy, and just generally nerd out about the books that we love. I was lucky enough to … More “Totalitarianism Will Ruin Your Sex Life”
One of my favorite things about YA books is the way some are able to delicately lay out a romance in all its complexity. Some of my favorites are novels that teeter on the brink of romance, where one little look or a joke between two characters that just seems to make them click or … More “It had felt like a Song”
What happens when your identity seems to fundamentally alter itself, when you’ve been calling yourself one thing for so long but then realize you may no longer be that word with which you’ve previously labeled yourself as? That’s one of the chief explorations of Josh Sundquist’s Love and First Sight. It’s the story of Will, … More “A Confusing Cascade of Living Color”
Over spring break, I was lucky enough to be in New York to explore the city and look for jobs. Among the rushing cabs, bright lights, and swarms of people, I felt so small, oftentimes overwhelmed, and sometimes unsafe. A lot of those feelings were because of my gender—particularly when thinking of my safety in … More “Who Would I Be if I Didn’t Live in a World that Hated Women?”
CW: Discussions of Sexual Assault and Self Harm Somehow, I’d lived my life up until now not having read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I knew of its basic premise and that it was so incredibly important for the genre and potentially for my Honors project, but I only just read it this past weekend. … More “Let me tell you about it”
CW: Discussions of Violence, Abusive Relationships, and Suicide. — What is the line between romance—or romanticization of ideals—and horror? Is there a secret line in our society that we cross over between finding something beautiful and finding something horrifying. Many modern thrillers that I’ve read this year have come toe-to-toe with that notion. I know … More “Burning Angry Anxious Fire Inside”
Over break, I had an argument with my brother in which he argued that Jane Austen and all of the Brontës were effectively the same. He was joking, but I got really upset about the whole argument. Upset is a bit of an understatement. I was furious, honestly, even though I knew, on some level, … More “Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers in that Quiet Earth”
There’s been a lot of discussion lately of the point of literature in a time like this, a time when so many people feel afraid and alone. I’m not just talking politically, but in general, people are afraid. I’ll be the first to admit that there was a good chunk of time recently when I … More “That’s different. That’s fantasy. That’s…”
Emily Will Write... 