Hot (Material) Girl(s) Summer

Hi lovely people!

Happy July! It’s hot! I’m sweating so much, all the time, constantly. Summer is summering.

I’ll keep it short and sweet and let you get to reading. It’s simply too hot to be verbose!

xoxo,

Gaby, Hannah, Marcelle, Coach, and Zoe

Our summer slowdown continues, but we have a brand new episode out all about TUPPERWARE PARTIES! Maybe you’ve been to one (or maybe your mom has)? In this episode, Marcelle guides Hannah through the history of Tupperware parties and their rising popularity post WWII. She then offers some Lauren Berlant theory (which always makes for a good episode!!); specifically, their concept of "cruel optimism." If that sounds familiar, it's because we first visited this theory in our Queer Eye episode.

We also unlocked two episodes of Making Worlds, Hannah’s Patreon-exclusive video podcast about the liberatory possibilities of imagining other worlds.

In the first unlocked episode, Hannah talks with religious, gender, race, sexuality, and politics scholar Megan Goodwin (she/her) about The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. They explore queerness as a utopia, the Catholicism of it all, and of course, swords. Megan gets deep into the religious overtones of the series, and digs into the idea of "one flesh, one end." Come for the lesbian necromancers, stay for the fact that Megan's friend was the series' sword consultant.

Next, Hannah talks with her dear friend Hilary Atleo (she/her), owner of Iron Dog Books, about Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. They discuss the way motherhood and gender roles are explored in the book, as well as the liberatory nature of reading and loving science fiction!

Making Worlds is available to all of our wonderful Patreon supporters! The episodes are released to the general public at a 3 month delay, so if being a Patron is not financially feasible at this time you can still get access. If your interest is PIQUED by these unlocked episodes, you can join our Patreon below (and we’ll send you a million virtual kisses as a thank you)!

July 25th marks one year since we launched Material Girls!!! SO….

To celebrate, we will be doing a live episode recording open to all paying Patreon supporters. Join at any tier and you’ll be invited to the recording. It’s going to rock and you can watch the bloopers happen in real time.

The topic? The final four episodes of Bridgerton Season 3!
The date? Friday, July 12th at 2 pm PST, 3 MT, 4 CST, 5 EST, etc.
The vibe? Thirst. Chaos. Joy!

We’re so excited to celebrate with you.

We wrapped our first season of Gender Playground! Have you been following the journey of this gem of a show? If not, here’s a brief timeline that will showcase just how thrilled we are to have officially shared ten full episodes with the public after years of work!

January 2022: Marcelle, Hannah and Coach have a meeting titled “Bad Charlotte,” which was what we called Gender Playground in the early days. It’s a cheeky reference to Charlotte’s behavior in And Just Like That. It’s ultimately too niche a name. :)

April 2022: We bring Raimi on as a co-host and mind behind development of the show.

June 2022: We release our pilot episode and ask for feedback from our Patreon supporters and wider Witch, Please community.

June 2023: After a year reworking the pilot (and preparing to end Witch, Please and start Material Girls), we release the first of four episodes to the public to find an audience for the show.

December 2024: We realize we need a different model for financially sustaining the show, and decide to produce episodes through sponsorships.

February 2024: We launch our public-facing feed of Gender Playground for the first time. We release episodes on a bi-weekly basis for a ten episode season. We get some lovely reviews that make us cry.

July 2024: We wrap up season one and begin the work of season two!

We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you!!!!!!!

It’s time for me to recommend some reads!

For Julia: I am going to recommend The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, since you mentioned you enjoyed historical fiction, feminism, and unconventional relationships. This one sure does have all that! This is a perfect book for a stormy day. It follows two women in a 1600s Norwegian coastal village after a storm has killed off all the island’s men, and how they struggle to survive against both natural forces and the men who have been sent to rid the community of alleged witchcraft.

For Conrad: Uh oh, time for me to recommend a book that changed me fundamentally as a person! Maybe you’ve read The Anthropocene Reviewed already, and if you have, I recommend reading it again. I have found something new and beautiful in this book every time I’ve read it and it’s such a moving way to conceptualize the world around us. Some essays are shorter and lighthearted, others WILL make you cry.

For Kristina: Queer romance readers unite! Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian is a favorite of mine. It’s a mid-century road-trip m/m novella where the angst is low and the yearning is high. It’s also part of a novella series that is equally lovely—they’re all worth reading, but this is my favorite!

A Little Playlist, As a Treat™. And you know what? We do need a revolution.

Revolt on Spotify here or Apple Music here.

Have a topic you want us to tackle? Feel free to submit to this form!

Something else you want us to know? You can always email us at ohwitchplease@gmail.com.

Want to talk to us all the time? Join our $30 Patreon tier and find us on Slack, where we live.

Want to sponsor an episode of Gender Playground? Learn more here!

Have a strongly worded comment about this newsletter? You can now reply right on Substack and we’ll be able to see it and even reply! Just be nice to us.

You can also leave us a review for Material Girls or Gender Playground on Apple Podcasts! We love that. They make us happy.

Okay, bye! xoxo

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