By Olivia Haveron As we draw near the year anniversary of the Coronavirus pandemic - if it's even worth calling it an anniversary - we continue to mask up every day to protect ourselves and those around us from getting sick. Now, with a more contagious variant spreading rapidly, and already found in at least 28 states, mask guidance is cracking down and changing almost as quickly. The conversation about which mask is the right barrier is often conflicting and confusing. So wh

By David T. Valentin For any writer who may have been away from their keyboard or social media yesterday, they missed out on the trend #HarshWritingAdvice. Although I could not find what started the hashtag or what prompted the discussion, after doing some searching it seems the discussion was brought up when someone had made the comment that writers are in constant competition with one another. Whoever had written the original statement had never actually had any writer frie

Water Memory (Sentro #1) by Daniel Pyne Reviewed by Cardyn Brooks Contemporary thriller ★★★★★ In Water Memory, multiple concussions during the course of her career as a covert operative have left Aubrey Sentro unsure of what's real beyond the existence of her two young adult children, the death of her husband, and the automatic muscular recall of her deadly skill set. Most other details slip and slide, flood and trickle along the fragile connections within her traumatized bra

By David T. Valentin Despite the positive news of Elliot Page coming out as trans just two months ago, Page now announces that he and his wife, Emma Portner, will be splitting after a three-year marriage. Though the news sounds sudden, according to People the couple had split way back in the Summer of 2020 and have been on estranged ground ever since. As Page said after filing for divorce in a Manhattan court, “After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the di

By Lori Perkins Image taken from Daily Mail Is fifth time the charm? Or is this the sixth time? Anderson claims it’s the fourth, but whose counting, am I right? While we were all watching WonderWoman84 and binging Bridgerton, Pamela Anderson donned a vintage wedding dress and “a Princess Diana veil” and married her bodyguard, Dan Hayhurst, in her Vancouver home, which had once belonged to her grandparents, and was the site of her parents’ wedding. The wedding took place on

By Lori Perkins While we were all gobsmacked by how the Reddit bros were toppling Wall Street with the Game Stop stock uprising, or even being charmed by the 80 year-old sex symbol Dr. Fauci just doing his job, a small article was published in the Hollywood Reporter announcing that Charmed actress and #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano had been chosen to star in a Netflix adaptation of Nora Roberts’ Brazen Virtue. Within an hour of this news breaking, the Karens of Romancelandia,

By Lori Perkins I was today years old when I learned that “Sprite Pies” were a legitimate thing and that there were multiple recipes for them – strawberry, vanilla, BBQ (?). It turns out that these pies, made from a can of the soft drink Sprite poured into a piecrust with sugar and flour, had been cooked up during the Depression. It makes sense that this weird comfort food should make a comeback now. According to the website Southern Plate, these pies were originally called

By Lori Perkins After 10 months of sheltering in place and lockdown due to the pandemic, some people are getting vaccinated as either a work-related requirement or consequence of their health issues, or those of their family members (caregivers of the elderly and the immunocompromised are receiving the vaccine). Right now, only those 65 and over and working in the health professions are eligible for the vaccine. However, the vast majority of people under 65 are not eligible f

By David T. Valentin With two vaccines being rolled out, this nightmare of almost a year seems to be coming to an end. But even with the vaccine, progress has been slow. Many states here in the United States have been slow in their distribution of the vaccine, which makes people think that we may be dealing with soft quarantines for another six to eight months. It has been a long year for most of us, but for younger children it has been especially hard. With no way of sociali

By Olivia Haveron Joe Biden’s Presidency has finally begun. And a new presidency means the ushering in of a new administration. However, Biden’s administration is widely different than any cohort of the entire history of the United States. If every member of Joe Biden’s Cabinet is confirmed -- including vice president, 15 executive departments, and eight other positions -- his administration will be the most racially and gender diverse ever. Who is a part of this distinct and

By Lori Perkins It was such a joy to watch the swearing in and virtual inauguration ceremony yesterday. I was giddy as I watched Vice President Harris and First Gentleman Emhoff hold each other during the closing fireworks display over the Washington Monument or President and Dr. Biden come out to the White House balcony together, arms around each other. I think there might have been some playful kissing too. And then I saw the Florida footage of an annoyed, sun-glassed Melan

By David T. Valentin So as I was unwinding on Tuesday night doing my usual round of social media, I scrolled on over to the Discover tab on Twitter where I stumbled upon a very strange headline. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Vagina Candle Exploded, the headline read with a picture of the actress (beauty guru?), smiling. Naturally I cracked up laughing. But it wasn’t the headline that got me laughing. Oh, no. It was when I started scrolling through the Twitter newsfeed and witnessed some

By Olivia Haveron Ballet reigns as one of the most beautiful and artistic artforms in existence. Usually the first thing that comes to mind when someone hears ballet is The Nutcracker. And while dances such as this flourish in popularity, the one problem that continues to exist is the lack of diversity and change. Currently looking at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School — as of 2019 — 84% of the company (which includes dancers, staff, musicians, crew) are white. Similarly, na

By Lori Perkins As we celebrate this national holiday I wondered about the wedding of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott, because I didn’t recall seeing any of those photos. I know we don’t think of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a romantic, but being the editor of this romance-centric magazine, I really wanted to know about their early courtship. And it was quite romantic in the 1950’s kind of way. A mutual friend set them up. King was getting his Ph.D. from Boston Theol

By David T. Valentin After a month’s long pushback for its release date, WandaVision finally arrived just last Friday on January 15th. The show takes place in a post-Infinity War and follows the life of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) as they navigate their new life together in a small town. But there’s only one big, big problem. Vision is dead, murdered by Thanos during his quest to complete his infinity gauntlet by obtaining all six infinity stone