Author: Stacie Kiselman

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ was the blockbuster of the summer of 2023. It was the most groundbreaking queer love story ever told. It was a love story between a British Prince and The First Son of the United States. It was a beautiful love story that showed a genuine love between two men that were in a very healthy relationship with each other. But the question remains: Is queer love really any different than any type of love? It’s a question that reporters can’t stop asking, especially since both actors portraying them are straight. But does one’s personal life and their choice of who they love make them less of a person? Let’s discus…

With the release of her new movie, ‘The Idea Of You’, which co-stars Nicholas Galitzine and is available to stream on Amazon Prime, I got to think about and analyze Anne Hathaway’s career over the years – from her early days when she starred in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, also starring Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt, up to now. Particularly, her recent interview with Vanity Fair, where she looked back at some of her movies and opened up about her pregnancy loss, made me want to answer the question, ‘Do women need men?’ It’s a question that’s been asked so many times, by so many people, both men and women, over the past few decades. It’s a question that needs to be settled once and for all, but it probably won’t because it’s a sexist, demining world out there, and this is just one opinionated answer to the million dollar question. But it begs another question: Do men need women?

We’re starting to see a lot more female storytellers as of late. ‘The Idea Of You’ is just one of them. The 2021 film, ‘Cinderella’, 2022’s ‘Purple Heart’, 2013’s ‘Red, White, & Royal Blue’, as well as 2016’s ‘High Strung’ were all made by women. All these movies have another thing in common – they all star Nicholas Galitzine. ‘The Idea Of You’ is based on the 2017 novel of the same name written by Robinne Lee, who recently wrote a beautiful and inspiring essay for Time Magazine, which asks the question, What is it about art made by women and marketed toward women that makes us view it as less than—that makes us think they can’t be complex and important?’. Let’s discuss…

Anne Hathaway has been very busy making her mark in movies. Her most recent role is Solene in the ‘Idea Of You’, which co-stars Nicolas Galitzine. Solene is a 40 year old single mom and business woman who falls in love with a 24 year boy band. The movie, which is based on 2017 novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, aims to end the stigma of an older woman dating a younger man absolutely perfectly. With that being said, it shouldn’t be seen as an issue in the first place, especially since men date younger women all the time. In fact, it make more sense for an older woman to date a younger man than an older man dating a younger woman. Let’s discuss….

Olivia Munn recently bravely revealed that she had a rough 2023 as she battled breast cancer. But not before she attended the Oscars Vanity Fair party in March. We can learn a lot through Munn’s battle with cancer, both as a woman and as a mother, on navigating a new normal as a cancer survivor and going back to work thereafter. It’s certainly hard, but not impossible, and what Munn’s words made me realize is that we take such small things that we’re all able to do for granted…And there are many reasons why it’s important to remember that. Consider this as your guide if you’re going through the same or a similar situation.

My friend and I recently had a discussion on health. More specifically, we started discussing women’s health. She and I don’t have much in common. But one thing that we do have in common is that we both have PCOS. In fact, we connected because of our shared diagnosis when initially met. In the midst of our chit chat of our shared health struggles, my friend made a really good point, and that is that women’s health isn’t taken seriously by medical professionals. There’s a certain sexism that comes with health. Her sentiment immediately reminded me of my early health struggles. No, not my early struggles with cerebral palsy; rather my early struggles with epilepsy, as these struggles I had to deal with on my own as a woman without my parents having to answer for me. It was a scary time for me, in particular. At the time, I felt that my life really depended on these health professionals that I was seeing, and I was seeing them more than I saw anyone else in my life at the time. Now, so many years later, things look different, and I want to tell you how.

We keep hearing on the news of cases where mothers murder their own children. Most of the time, it’s due to postpartum depression that leads to postpartum psychosis. But then again, there’s Kristel Candelario, the mother, if we can even call her that, left her 16 month old daughter for 10 days to go on vacation. Her lawyer argued that it was due to postpartum depression and her abruptly stopping in-taking medication. But is it a good enough reason for the despicable action that led to the torturous death of an innocent child? No, absolutely not. Let’s discuss…

While writing my previous post, I realized just how much of an effect Michelle Buteau’s ‘Survival Of The Thickest’ had on me while watching it. Though it’s labelled to be a comedy, it had multiple story-lines that were much deeper than a comedic sense of humour. Don’t get me wrong; the show was funny and witty. But it also had a deeper, much more serious side to it. It takes a lot of creativity and courage to combine such humour and wittiness with deep, emotional story-lines that really make you think and go, ‘WOW!’ But I guess that’s all you can expect from Michelle Buteau, who’s a comedian who made her debut just days following September 11, 2001. She also hosts the Netflix reality show, ‘The Circle’, and has appeared in movies like ‘Something Great’ and ‘Work It’. As I watched the entire first season, I realized that there is so much to take away from the show when it comes to how I parent my son.

Chelsea Blackwell wasn’t the only contestant on the latest season of ‘Love Is Blind’ to make headlines. Jessica Vestal did too. Coincidentally, she was involved in a love trial with Chelsea and Jimmy. I didn’t care so much about her drama with the former couple, but rather that she’s a mother and entered the ‘Love Is Blind’ franchise as a single woman looking for love. She got a lot of hate not for being a mother, but for making it look like she was labelling herself as a mother first and foremost. That made me realize that women are put under labels by society when the women themselves don’t label themselves. I’ve seen it happen in my own life. Here, we discuss the problematic ways women are put under pressure by society, as well as the harm it can cause to women around the world…

The latest ‘Love Is Blind’ season wasn’t short on drama, to say the least. This time, the most interesting and talked about contestant was none other than Chelsea Blackwell. Everything started when she compared herself to Megan Fox and told Jimmy, her suitor, that she was her look-a-like. The internet wasn’t so kind to her following this comparison. Her one little comment made waves by influencers, YouTubers and bloggers alike. Everyone was busy making content out of it. Everyone agreed that Chelsea was self-consious. I certainly agreed with that sentiment, but that wasn’t why. Her one little comment didn’t make her look self-consious, but rather her behaviour after. Not only did it make her look self-conscious, but it also made her look as someone who sees herself as disabled.