Letter From Your Editors

A funny story about this month’s Insider collage! I only take about three selfies that I genuinely love a year. I famously… am phobic about photos and cameras etc etc etc. But I did take this photo! I took it to get outfit approval from a friend before a casual zoom date thing, and immediately I knew — this was going to be one of those three times.

So the next morning I came typing straight into the office, first thing, and I asked ever so kindly “whatever is this month’s Insider photo theme, can I use this photo?”

Next thing I knew, Kayla also had a stellar mirror selfie that was just burning her phone, and so this month’s theme was born:

I’m writing you this letter from my bed (don’t worry I have a little bed desk, for posture and everything!). Usually when I’m working from bed at three in the afternoon, it means I’m sick or have terrible cramps, but today it’s just… peaceful. We got our first real snow Thanksgiving weekend and there’s a light dust everywhere, just enough to look like a Holigay card but not so much that it’s treacherous to travel, you know? Anyway, my toes are warm under a blanket, I have a makeshift cheese plate that’s really just some Ritz crackers straight from the box and pre-sliced cheddar cheese from Trader Joes. I poured some apple cider into a mug. I hope wherever you are reading this, that a similar bones-deep peace comes your way.

Speaking of Holigays, can I brag on Kayla just for a quick moment? She’s just barely now a month on the job (hard to believe!!) and she’s coordinating one of my favorite Holigays packages we’ve put forth yet! Watching her go-go-gadget has been absolutely a joy and a wonder. Our theme this year is “Cozy + Sexy” which I love because it rhymes and also because, as you can see, I love being cozy under a blanket pretty much more than I love anything else. And well… speaking of all things sexy, Shelli created and edited Strap Week and honestly we still haven’t stopped talking about it!

Across the boards from quite literally every single editor and writer, in November we have produced some of my favorite content of the year (really ending 2021 with a bang!) Just damm. What a big month for us. Thank you for your support and being a part of it.

And we have more big things coming because this train never stops! We are still hiring! We’re looking for a Senior Director of Advertising Sales — which could be you or someone you know! We’re looking for a creative self-starter who’s an ambitious and experienced salesperson, maybe ask your roommate’s friend who spends their days sadly working for some large faceless ad company but would maybe instead enjoy being the star player on a queer team? We’re also looking for an experienced and innovative graphic designer to become our new Art Director— where you will work on the website, merch, and our Instagram. QTPOC are especially encouraged to apply for both roles!! Definitely step out and join us, we can’t wait to have you on our team.

This month A+ members got Some Answers to Some Things You’ve Been Asking Us (technically this published on October 31st, but shhh that’s just between us as friends!), advice in our general advice box, advice about fears and anxieties specifically, and then Heather wrote advice for a reader who wrote in about dealing with the loneliness of chronic illness and Long Covid that should without a doubt be your must read. Ro edited two new SLICK pieces — Home for the Holidays by Jasmine and How to Fuck Your Friends by our very own Vanessa! 🔥

And that’s not all!! We are also hosting a movie watch-a-long for the holigays, just for A+ members, with Shelli on December 8th at 7pm CST. We’ll have more details on the site tomorrow about this special edition virtual event, but I was so excited… I couldn’t help but share a little Save the Date now :)

Next month when I write you, I will have officially done an entire year of these letters from the editor. Holy shit.

Protect your peace. We love you,

Carmen / Kayla / Heather / Laneia / Sarah / Nicole / Riese

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Top 10 Most Popular Posts From October 2021

These posts were hella popular last month.

1. Quiz: What Horror Movie Stock Character Are You?, by Kayla
2. The L Word Generation Q Episode 210 Recap: Last Call For Wherewithal, by Riese
3. The 2021 WNBA Finals Had Better Lesbian Storylines Than The L Word, by Natalie
4. L Word Generation Q Episode 209 Recap: Last Dance For Hopes and Dreams, by Riese
5. QUIZ: Which Generation Q Character Are You?, by Riese
6. Also.Also.Also: Elvira Gifted Us With a New Hot Photo of Her Partner, Because She Knows Halloween Is Gay Christmas, Carmen
7. October 2021: What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Peacock and Apple TV, by Riese
8. Pop Culture Fix: Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson and Bomb Girls’ Jodi Balfour Are One Year Official, by Heather
9. Wait, “The Morning Show” Got Gay?, by Christina T
10. An Obsessive Analysis of the Timeline of The L Word Generation Q Season Two, by Riese

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Nine Important Excerpts From Editorial Conversations

Drew: Just got a press email about a movie called Love is Love is Love about a bunch of straight people???
I mean that phrase always belonged to the straights but I thought it was when they were talking about us!
Valerie: wtf

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Analyssa:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JoJo Siwa (@itsjojosiwa)

Heather: wow. that just kept getting gayer and gayer with every new sentence.
“Trusting you has opened my eyes and fixed my brain. We have been through it all together in these last 86 days. We have died, survived, and thrived.”
Who said it: Virgina Woolf or JoJo Siwa?

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Shelli: damn I wish JoJo would have written a gift guide for us
Sally: desperate to play JoJo monopoly
Shelli: honestly same… while wearing my hair in a bow if I’m being completely honest
Sally: although after some research I might actually be more desperate to play “JoJo’s Juice” which was pulled from shelves for being inappropriate
Shelli: questions from the game:
“Have you ever stolen from a store?” and “Have you ever walked in on someone naked or had someone walk in on you?”sounds like the game is just teaching anti-capitalism and how stealing from big box stores is basically okay — feels like it needs a re-release because I APPROVE.

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Laneia: carmen taking over the AAA is a really strong example for how a new person doing a legacy link roundup can breathe new life into it. Carmen’s headlines are so much better than mine, her numbers are better and everything!
Carmen: that is SO KIND! thank you
I will also say that it finally made me learn how to write headlines! so!
Laneia: I was so burned out on them by the time I turned them over that I was barely writing an intro anymore, and I think a lot of my headlines were like Here We Fucking Go Again Jesus Christ Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual Shibari Knots Who Cares
Carmen: lol that is honestly an SEO trifecta
Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual Shibari Knots Who Cares — straight to the top of google search!
Kayla: lol
Laneia: we update it for 2021 with JoJo and Variant Vaccine

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Laneia: this font has toothpaste vibes and i love it so much
Sarah: elders love a teeth brushing ritual
Sarah: every tooth consented!
Carmen: sarah! every tooth consented! i just!

Sarah:LOL
i don’t know if you remember but this was the IG caption that I came up with drunk in an Uber on our way to the buffet in Vegas

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sarah Sarwar (@ssssarahsarwarrrr)

Carmen: ohsarahi remember so little from that uber, just happy drunk blurs
Carmen: wow laneia really looks gorgeous in every photo, movie star vibes
Sarah: my mom was literally like who is that girl she’s so pretty
are you in love with her??
i was like MOM wtf! lolol
Carmen: lolllllllll
Sarah: laneia my mom has a crush on you
Laneia: sarahi have a crush on your mom

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Kayla: slightly odd social question but is a photo of someone with blood on their face too graphic for social?
Valerie: i don’t remember it being an issue when i used katie mcgrath in a literal blood bath for my Love is a Lie roundup earlier this year
Kayla: LOL
Kayla: it’s just spatter (it’s the pic of Misty from the beginning of ep 2 [of Yellowjackets]) if that helps!
Valerie: sentences like that remind me how much i love this job

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Carmen: I read this Daily Mail article in the sad hopes that we were quoted as the source for the rumors that “miranda might be gay” (we’re not 😭)
Usually linking Daily Mail is against my personal code of ethics, but fyi — she’s filming with Sara and it looks emotional
Riese: I just came here to ask if we were the source for the rumors that miranda might be gay and I am sad now
Carmen: If this actually happens someone’s gonna have to pick me up from the floor

[…Two weeks later…]

Carmen: They are at Pride together… IT! IS!! HAPPENING!!!!
Drew: We have traded Samantha for gay Miranda and I have no regrets

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Kayla: latest [content] holes update is that there are no holes
Laneia:

Carmen: Is that Sigourney Weaver???
Because… respectfully… wow.
Kayla: from the feature film Holes!
Carmen: wait
wait
i love that movie
Laneia: i bet i think about the way her jeans fit in this movie at least monthly
Carmen: i never… realized that was sigourney weaver in it
omg
wait
omg
Laneia: well SOMEBODY’s gonna have a really fun rewatch later

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Laneia: i’d like to use this opportunity to say that amanda’s workplace xmas party is actually happening this year and iimmediatelybought a gold sequin romper only to find out that a) there is a theme to this party and b) the theme is DENIM
who DOES THAT
Carmen: first of all, i am so excited about this gold sequin romper
only to be immediately saddened by what came next
Kayla: DENIM FOR THE HOLIDAYS???????????
CURSED!!!!!!!!

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A Stray Dobby Appears in the Wild

Valerie: socks? dobby?
if somehow it was some kind of hilarious hip tiktok joke i’m not aware of lmk

Heather: oh god! sorry!

Carmen: lmao wow
Valerie: hahaha no worries 🙂 I happened to have tweetdeck open when it came through. If it had been up longer than 5 seconds, I’m sure our readership wouldn’t have been sad to learn it was from one of the most beloved cats on the internet
Nicole: omg
Heather: thank you for catching it! I walked into the kitchen for TEN SECONDS!
Kayla: hahahahahahahaha
Rachel: let him speak
Shelli: LET. HIM. SPEAK — he obviously just has a quick quick quick quick quick question

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What We’ve Been Reading

Vanessa: Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses and Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose by Leigh Cowart

Drew: X by Davey Davis

Carmen: Passing by Nella Larsen

Heather: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Casey: The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe and Self-Care for New Moms by Corinne Crossley

Ro: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Riese: The Turnout by Megan Abbot

Kayla: Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Nicole: A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan and The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

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Terrible Advice You’d Like to Give Your 16-Year-Old Self Just to See What Kind of Hell You Could Unleash on the World

Laneia: thank you to everyone who updated their records last week !!
Carmen: laneia I’m updating mine as we speak and I have the dumbest question I never thought to ask before — would you prefer I mark myself as the editor of the AAA/pieces I write, or leave it blank?
Laneia: you should already be listed as the editor per the regulars records!
all of the regulars should already be assigned an editor, which follows them into the publishing calendar table, so they don’t need to be specified in the other field there
Carmen: yeah that’s true — AAA was a bad example! I guess more like, my Passing review
Laneia: yeah anything you write that no one else is in charge of should be assigned to you because you’re the one who edited and scheduled it
like if you write a You Need Help then Vanessa is still the editor, but if you write a list of “5 pieces of terrible advice you’d like to give your 16 yr old self just to see what kind of hell you could unleash on the world,” you’d be the editor
Kayla: ok i want someone to write that tho
Carmen: that is honestly an amazing post, someone should write it!
Laneia:

1. when your ex-bf shows up at your mother’s place of work, which is the county courthouse and filled with all kinds of adults who’ve known you since before you were born, go ahead and set his s-10 on fire in the parking lot. just do it.

Kayla: alsdksal;dk

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What We’ve Been Watching

Introducing this new segment which is a whole lot like the books section, but with movies, instead! If you click on one of the below links and watch a movie, Autostraddle could earn a commission!

Drew: Whip It! and Point Break

Carmen: B.A.P.S.

Heather: Cruel Intentions

Ro: Little Women

Riese: The Eyes of Tammy Faye

KaeLyn: Cars 3 and Space Jam: A New Legacy (or as Remi calls it, “The LeBron James Movie”)

Laneia: Home for the Holidays

Nicole: Victor Frankenstein

Kayla: Fast Five and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

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Feeling Secure?

Ro wanted to know What’s Your Attachment Style? and look at all these very secure feeling queers. We see you!

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YELLOWJACKETS BUZZ BUZZ

Heather: question! is there a lesbian teen cannibal in yellowjackets? that is what these reviews are leading me to believe + natalie saying it was gruesome!
Valerie: i just watched this last night!!
and yes kind of!!!
it’s probably too gory for you (sorry) but it’s very good!
so far
Heather: oh i’d never even try it!
wow
well
valerie, is it just the one lesbian teen cannibal?
or are there multiple
Valerie: there are multiple teen cannibals but only one confirmed lesbian so far
well and her wife
not a cannibal
i’ll DM you lol
Heather: perfect! i will EAGERLY await you explaining this in boobs tube or a standalone of your choice!
or for you and riese to have a cannibalism convo

[…..]

Kayla: i watched every single episode of yellowjackets last night
was literally up until 2am watching yellowjackets
i love yellowjackets
Riese: i am trying so hard to save them for when i can watch with gretchen
so i’ve only seen the first two
Kayla: my entire personality is going to be yellowjackets for the rest of 2021
Riese: this is great news
Kayla: waiting to watch with gretchen is brave!!!!!!
i salute you
Riese: i watched the first two eps like two weeks ago and screamed into a pillow that i didn’t have anybody to scream YELLOWJACKETS about
Kayla: i could not stop watching
Riese: let’s become a Yellowjackets fansite
Kayla: this was me with Dare Me in 2019 except everyone took their time watching it!!!!!!!!!!!
Riese: there’s never been a better time to be a bee

[….]

Heather: do you wanna add yellowjackets to your boobs plate?
Riese: boobs plate lol
Heather: there has never been a better time to be a bee, i hear!
Riese: just ask beatrice the new york times spelling bee bee

[…]

Valerie: i watched the second ep of Yellowjackets and loved it and i remain jealous you all with screeners got to watch the rest
i got my dad into it too. he is delighted by misty’s crazy eyes.
Kayla: misty is immediately one of my favorite tv characters
in both her teen and adult iterations
trying to keep this recap “”short””
(i’m at 2k words)
Valerie: amazing. the small touch of misty drinking coconut la croix really got me good.
Kayla: I KNOW
i was like “what a fun detail!”
also her entire list of things that turn her on
Riese: Being turned on by escalators is now officially part of our lexicon we have mentioned it 10x since
Kayla: I just said this on Twitter but I feel like her attraction to escalators is v accurate 90s mall culture nostalgia that someone her age would have!
Which makes me imagine someone approx misty’s age in the writers room is turned on by escalators bc of 90s mall culture nostalgia
lmao

[…]

Carmen: Does anyone (kayla probably for tomorrow) have an image that can go with the yellowjackets buzz buzz convo?
Nicole: Carmen are you in the Insider? okay if so!! just will you let the channel know when you’re out?
Carmen: oh sorry! yes that’s me bopping around in there!
Nicole: no it’s cool!
also i do not have a yellow jackets image
Carmen: I’ll just steal one from the recaps!
oooh and add like bee emojis?
is that a thing?
Nicole:

Carmen: omg. a literal. yellow. jacket.

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It’s Tool Time

During our photoshoot, someone suggested that we all pose with various tools. We all ran off screen to grab something nearby and when we got back, Heather was looking mischievous. Use the slider below to see what we are laughing at.

XOXO

Team Autostraddle