Month: May 2024

Pat Benatar is All Fired Up to Be Invincible

Can a bank teller become a rockstar? Can ideals survive realities of misogyny? Is love a battlefield and is hell for children? Pat Benatar’s life and music says yes. Shine Pat Benatar was raised in a home where female empowerment and equality was the norm. She was taught that women were equal and could accomplish…
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May 31, 2024
The Atari 2600 Was More Important Than Nostalgia

Is the Atari 2600 nostalgic joy? Did this game console change an industry? Did it affect our culture in ways we did not think about? Oh god yes! Finding My Heart Losing the Keyboard and Grabbing a Joystick I had to stop writing and play some pac-man and pitfall to find my soul for this…
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May 29, 2024
Facing The Music: Looking Back and Looking Inward

As a Gen X adult nostalgia is a huge part of nearly every aspect of life—assume for all generations this is true. Since my formitive years I’ve looked back on my musical journey, the pop cultural archives in my mind, and the fond memories of things that likely are more romantic than reality. With these…
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May 27, 2024
The Go-Go’s Gave the World the Gift of Jane Wiedlin

Were the Go-Go’s a punk band or were they a pop band? Did their music change the game for female bands? Is the world a better place with Jane Wiedlin in it? Does Jane Matter today? Is Jane Wiedlan a great song writer and musician as well as an actor and, activist, and a comic…
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May 24, 2024
Under The Radar: Shawan Rice

Susquehanna Soul I first encountered Rice’s music at a festival along Harrisburg’s Susquehanna River waterfront. At the time she was playing with a band under Shawan & The Wonton. I was just sipping a coffee in a folding chair, enjoy the shade of a hot Memorial Day weekend. The music began and I perked up.…
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May 22, 2024
The Forgotten Feminine Power of Shoulder Pads

Were shoulder pads big in the 80’s? Are they coming back? Were they important to women in the workplace in the 80’s? Absolutely and I am all about it. Big in the 80’s but Not Created in the 80’s! When we think of big shoulder pads, images of the 80’s is what we think of,…
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May 20, 2024
The Little Earthquakes Of Tori Amos Briefly Enlightened

Is Tori Amos powerful? Does her music have something to say that matters? Are Sirens sometimes lighthouses? Yes. She almost got through to me for a season. Tori Amos in Brief Tori Amos was a minister’s kid with a deeply religious mother. At 21 she survived a horrific sexual assault at knife point. She was…
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May 17, 2024
Surviving the Upside Down: The Enduring Power of Nostalgia

Did the Duffer Brothers create one of the most powerful moments on the small screen? Does Max show us a path through the trauma? Was Stranger Things one of the inspirations of the Gen X Watch Project? Can nostalgia matter today and save us? Why do I start articles with questions? Yes. And because questions…
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May 15, 2024
Being Fearless and Wrong About Pretty in Pink

Was John Hughes wrong about Pretty in Pink? Am I wrong about Pretty in Pink? Could most of us be wrong about Pretty in Pink? Probably yes. Let me explain. But first, I want to take you in the chaos that is my mind! Do Wot You Do So after writing a TMI article about…
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May 13, 2024
You Oughta Know Alanis Morissette Played God

Could one of the most powerful bad break up songs shake up the music world? Would a break out album inspire many women? Did the singer hold true to her vision of feminism, gender equality, and marriage equality? Is God a woman? If we’re talking about the iconic Alanis Morissette, yes. That Particular Time In…
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May 10, 2024