It’s February! Aquarius AND Pisces season. Shoutout to our favorite water sign, Marcelle. It’s your time!
We spent the majority of January prepping for the launch of Making Worlds, our brand new video podcast (vodcast?) for Patrons. We began with an episode about Our Flag Means Death with that got into questions of representation and queer aesthetics — and we’re so grateful for the warm welcome it received. Click here to join the party.
Otherwise, we hope you’re finding some sunshine in these gray wintry days. They are getting longer, at least here in Maryland (where Gaby lives), and spring will be here soon enough!
Stay warm,
Gaby, Hannah, Marcelle, Coach, and Zoe
We got to welcome our good friend Jackson Bird (he/him) to the show to talk all about Twilight! If you frequent fan spaces, you might know Jack through his previous work with Harry Potter Alliance; his very popular Youtube channel; guest spots on Harry Potter and the Sacred Text; his Substack ; his book, Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place; or a myriad of other Internet places. Or maybe he's a new person to you, in which case, you're welcome — he rocks!
In their conversation, Marcelle, Hannah and Jack discuss what was going on in 2005 that primed Twilight for such wide success. They ask: Why were young readers so hungry for a character like Bella? What does the plot of the novel suggest about the reading appetite of millennial readers coming of age in an era defined by impossible beauty standards and purity politics? When we refuse to disregard the interests, passions and literary preferences of young people, what can we discover about one another, our culture and ourselves?
Next, Hannah led Marcelle through an episode all about Dungeons and Dragons! Hannah, who herself plays D&D, tells Marcelle all about the history of the tabletop role-playing game created by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, tracing its origins all the way to Dungeons & Dragons 5E (the most recent edition). They then use ludology, the study of games and gaming, to understand the unique role D&D has at the intersection of gaming and narrative. And then, as always, the episode is wrapped up with a beautifully tied together thesis (from Hannah) about the transformation, or rather, realization of the game through the radical acts of people playing it.
Nothing much to report here except to say that we have 38 new paid Patreon supporters since January 1 and that is really fucking cool. You, our Patreon supporters, make every single thing we do possible — THANK YOU. And, to be clear, if you can’t join our page, that’s okay!!!! Apple Reviews and sharing the show with friends also goes a long, long way towards making our work sustainable. <3
Hannah McGregor is joining Vanessa Zoltan on the next season of Hot and Botheredas a co-host!
Hot and Bothered, a podcast from our friends over at Not Sorry Productions, has been on hiatus since wrapping up their season on Pride & Prejudice in August.
Last week, they announced that on February 13th they'll be launching a new season of the show dedicated to romantic films. The first ten episodes will be hosted by Vanessa and, following that, Hannah will join her for conversations about classics like When Harry Met Sally, Love & Basketball, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Casablanca (just to name a few…).
We'll keep you posted, but wanted to let you know that there will be more Hannah on podcasts in the world starting this summer!
me tucked in bed listening to my happy songs while I read my books - lmk if this is relatable content
I can’t take sad music right now!!! I cannot! Happy songs ONLY! Here’s a collection of some happy (mostly) tunes curated by the Witch, Please team. Maybe you need happy songs too? If so, get your February playlist on Spotify here or Apple Music here.
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And a Question for the Newcomers
We're still figuring out how best to serve our audience on this platform and a big question I have is... do you listen to our podcast(s)?
There's a world in which every single subscriber here is an avid listener of Material Girls or Witch, Please. BUT there's also a world in which you read Hannah McGregor's piece about Blackout Tuesday and just thought, “damn they're smart, I'll give them a follow.” Or maybe you read Marcelle's behind-the-episode about Star Wars and thought “I love a chart and I love what this academic has to say about that beloved franchise.” And then you were like, “wait, what? They have podcasts??”
So, if you don't mind taking a moment, will you please answer the poll?
There is simply no wrong answer. It’ll just help our team better understand the way listeners and readers are engaging with what we put into the world. And the thing is, we’re a very small team working very hard, so this is good intel for us as we move into 2024 and make decisions about how we spend our time and the funding we earn from our Patreon page. (*cough* *cough* friendly reminder that we are entirely funded by Patreon and now is as good a time as any to show your love and support).
Like so many of us, I am obsessed with stationary products. Planners, notebooks, stickers, washi tape, pens... I truly cannot get enough. That love gets really amped up in September, when the back-to-school vibes hit hard. In the interests of sustainable consumption, I have a self-imposed policy of buying myself only one back-to-school stationary product per year. This year, it was a four-pack of Paper Mate Flair felt tip pens and let me tell you, it was an excellent purchase. I carry these little guys everywhere I go: I use them to colour-code my planner (blue=teaching, green=research/podcasting, pink=administrative work, yellow=personal), plus I'm always equipped to draw a little rainbow in the corner of my notes if I'm bored during a meeting. Minimalism is over. It's time to make all your work supplies rainbow-hued. Lisa Frank would be proud.Sometimes you just need a super easy and delicious soup, you know? I know that you just got a soup recipe from Hannah last month (I made it!) but listen: it was -50⁰ Celsius the other day so you're getting another soup recipe. Soup is healing. Soup is life. Soup is Tikkun Olam. Now, here's the thing about this recipe: it is legit simple. When you google "best" + "potato leek soup" you're gonna find yourself inundated with a lot of fancy shit. People are bundling fresh herbs only to remove them later and sprinkling in fleur de sel, whatever that is. (IS IT JUST SALT?!) When it's -50⁰ on any temperature scale you are not dashing out to the corner store for some fresh fucking shallots. This recipe is amazing. It's basically just the components you'd expect (potatoes, leeks, a blender) and the end result was a masterpiece. My picky-as-heck 8-year-old ate it knowing it had vegetables in it. In fact, last night I made a vastly inferior soup and she suggested it could be improved by adding LEEK! (It was a mere -7⁰C, I have no excuse for not dashing out to acquire a leek.) One thing I have to confess about this recipe is that a) I did actually have fresh shallots, so I chopped one up and tossed it in with the leek; and 2) I didn't have nutritional yeast or ANY of the optional toppings and garnishes. The soup was STILL dynamite. Oh and it calls for one "bunch" of leeks? I just used the one I had in my fridge. It was big, I guess? Do you have a favourite comfort soup recipe? Tell us about it in the comments!I cannot recommend A Court of Thorns and Roses but it is what I'm reading. I would call this book a brain-smoother. It is smoothing my brain and likely reinforcing every hetero impulse I have (for the worse). I am not trying to shame any readers of the series (I am one of you and I'm on book two!)— I know it's wildly popular and Hannah and Marcelle have taught me time and again that there are interesting and nuanced material* reasons very smart and cool people read certain texts/certain texts become popular with the masses. BUT, I will say reading a book like this is usually a sign that I am in desperate need of going on a good date or having a new crush or generally falling back in love with the real world. SO! My rec is to read your brain-smoothing books and then go take a walk to remember that fresh air and making eye contact with strangers on the street is also cool and maybe even better than a fictional character "growling" with a "glint in his eye" "hiding a smirk." *Fun fact: Sarah J. Maas wrote the first draft of the first book in 2009 so all that Twilight DNA is not just in your head! Addendum: Since writing the above, I have gotten as far as Chapter 49 of A Court of Mist and Fury. I take all snark back. Sarah J. Maas is a master at romance fiction and Chapter 48 changed me. IYKYK. Let me know in the comments if this is oversharing. Addendum to the addendum: Nvm. That female mate and food thing in chapter 59 ruined it for me. I’ll stop updating you now.This month I did a lot of stuff that could cause a person to have a breakdown. I moved to a new country and I started a new job. *deep breath, everyone* And so, as you can imagine, I’ve been extremely anxious and my tummy hurts (I’m being very brave about it), and it’s snowing and then its raining and then its snowing again and then the busses go on strike (go unions, but very difficult timing) and then and then and then. While all of this has been happening I’ve been keeping up my tradition of calling my best friend on the phone every day. We keep this up even when we live in the same city (which we don’t anymore), even when we’ve just spent the whole day with each other. There’s always something to say, some new piece of media to chat about, some silly anime meme to share. It’s more about the time spent, the sound of her laugh, the way she can tell immediately if I’m scrolling instagram while she tells me about a K-drama I don’t really care about. She keeps me on track. She tells me to rest and go get ice cream (and I do), she ribs me about how ridiculous I am. She grounds me, as she has done since we met on the first day of kindergarten almost 25 years ago. I have spent my month listening to her. And I hope I get to do the same for the rest of my life. This month I encourage you to listen to a person you love (be that irl or on the phone or a parasocial person you connect with) and really savor the moments you spend with them. This one’s for you, Diamond. I love you.Gottttta recommend Jaqueline Novak’s Get On Your Knees this month. This is a genius comedy special about the art of the blowjob. I am, somewhat famously, a lesbian—you may be shocked to learn this, given the way I wax eloquent about certain select men, but it’s true, I am! Ask me if dykery is right for you!—and blowjobs aren’t necessarily a part of my personal narrative, but I respect them conceptually. If you love it, I love it FOR YOU! Anyway, I adored this special, and it will 100% appeal to those of you who are not interested in blowjobs. Novak has such a cute, mischievous face, and I texted Coach that she reminds me of a little sprite—it makes the dick jokes even funnier
bye! xoxo
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