Much of my writing focuses on film, books, pop culture, and media, with particular attention to how stories shape identity, power, and everyday life.

Writing has always been a parallel practice for me, not a side project. It continues to inform how I think about narrative, audience, and interpretation, and it’s work I still return to alongside my professional leadership roles.

For many years, I was a regular contributor for publications including Slate, Vulture, Quartz, and Geek. Due to the shuttering of many feminist and independent outlets in recent years — most notably the groundbreaking Bitch Media — some of my favorite writing is not available online anymore.

Below is a selection of essays published at Slate that are still available online.

“Hot Topic”: The Complete Annotated Lyrics. Slate. Oct 2019.

Changing the Lore: N.K. Jemisin is Reimagining Other Worlds, and Ours. Slate. Dec 2018.

Looking at Kathryn Bigelow's Vampire Western Near Dark 30 Years Later. Slate. Oct 2017.

Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom and the Work of H.P. Lovecraft. Slate. March 2016.

Ancillary Mercy Reviewed: The Final Novel in Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Science Fiction Trilogy. Slate. Nov 2015.

The Mommy Trap: Four Recent Horror Movies by Women Explore the Most Troubling Aspects of Motherhood. Slate. Nov 2014.

Safe as Houses: Tana French’s extraordinary Dublin mysteries portray a city where everyone’s looking for a home. Slate. Oct 2014. 

Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are Changing the Way Readers (and Publishers) Think About Who can be a Superhero. Slate. April 2014.

Wool, Gathering: How self-pubbed best-seller Hugh Howey overturned the author-reader relationship—and wrote the next great sci-fi saga. Slate. March 2013.

Ugh, You’re Probably a Directionater: A Lesson in Pop Fandom in the Age of Tumblr. Slate. June 2012.

Anthologies & Continuing Impact 

My work has also been anthologized in the collections BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine, and Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. It continues to be cited in scholarship across a range of pop culture and media studies topics.

Recent Work

I also occasionally share new, shorter writing through a newsletter, Wish You Were Here. You can subscribe to it here.