Pride Center’s Queerantine Guide: Media Edition
We are about one month into Vermont’s Stay at Home order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By now, we’ve all flexed those screen muscles and binged the heck out of the latest streaming series, had the same several albums on a loop, or read (or re-read) entire shelves of books. If you’ve attended any of Pride Center’s daily virtual community gatherings, you’ll know that we love to throw out our favorite shows, movies, books, and music that we just can’t stop consuming. That has inspired this post, which is our official Queerantine Guide to all things media. Our staff has been surveyed, and here are some of their picks that have gotten us through the past month of physical isolation. We will keep this updated as we trudge on and continue to #flattenthecurve.
Anne Moyerbrailean | SafeSpace Anti-Violence Coordinator
BOOKS Anne recommends Know My Name by Chanel Miller – a memoir about Chanel’s trial and life after being sexually assaulted. It’s a powerful and important – and surprisingly funny at times – read. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado Memoir about Carmen’s abusive, queer relationship. Academic, personal, and creatively written, Anne appreciated this book for addressing an important and underrepresented topic – IPV in queer women’s relationships. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Tsing is a good (albeit heady) read about Feminist ecologies and life that emerges in the destructive wake of capitalism.
TELEVISION Westworld (HBO) Wild West meets feminist-cyborg-future, Westworld is the feminist sci-fi drama we all need right now. She recommends Westworld for anyone interested in watching women robots kick ass and taking down capitalism/gross men. My Brilliant Friend (HBO) is based on Elena Ferrante’s 4-book series: The Neopolitan Series. Anne says the show is beautifully made loves that it’s in Ferrante’s native Italian and that it deals with many feminist topics through the decades that the series spans. Rosemary & Thyme (Brit Box) – the genre of British cozy mystery is getting Anne through this quarantine, and Rosemary & Thyme is one of her favorites. This show is about two middle-aged women who are horticulturalists…and also happen to solve murder mysteries along the way! Perfect if you want gardening tips along with your murder. And of course – Love Island (Hulu). Trash…but make it British! If you love reality TV (like she does), Love Island won’t disappoint. And with 60 episodes a season, it can keep you busy for a while.
MOVIE Anne has been watching lots of movies on Hulu, and here are three she’s recently watched and recommends. A Portrait of a Girl on Fire is a brilliantly made film featuring French lesbians. Great for the deep romantics or admirers of scenes of coastal France. She considers Parasite an amazing film and must-watch – I mean c’mon – it won Best Picture at the Oscars. But one film that definitely didn’t win an Oscar, is Monte Carlo. Anne admittedly loves horrible movies, and this one was terrible. Featuring Selena Gomez circa 2011, it’s a classic Prince and the Pauper tale where Selena impersonates a French Heiress in Monaco. Plot doesn’t make sense and acting is bad. 10/10 would recommend.
Johnny Chagnon | Health & Wellness Coordinator
TELEVISION It should be no shock that Johnny’s been knee-deep in the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, as they host the viewing parties for GLAM as their drag persona, Giardia B. And while it may not be picked up by a major network (yet!), Sundays at 8pm on Facebook, Johnny’s been tuning in to Ask Amber! LIVE – which is a live question and answer session with Vermont’s drag matriarch, Amber LeMay.
Reggie Condra | Health & Wellness Coordinator
MUSIC Reggie’s been listening to the latest albums by Tame Impala and Little Dragon, but perhaps the real winner of the quarantine is Megan Thee Stallion and her hit Savage from her album Suga. The song has been blowing up thanks to Tik Tok and is approaching the Top 10.
TELEVISION He’s been binging The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes (ah, isn’t it fun to dream?) on Netflix and HBO’s The Outsider. But maybe the real shining moment of his quarantine binge-list is The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo/Hulu) with the final episode of Season 12 airing this week.
Mike Bensel | Executive Director
TELEVISION Mike suggests binging BBC’s Killing Eve (starring Sandra Oh of Grey’s Anatomy fame). He says he’s “in love” with the murderer. The third season just premiered this week – so get on it!
Taylor Small | Director of Health & Wellness
BOOKS Taylor’s a big fan of Brené Brown (ask her about the Vault) and has been reading Daring Greatly during the quarantine.
MUSIC Record-breaking Australian musician, Tones & I, has been blasting through her speakers (sorry, neighbors!) – you may know her single Dance Monkey – but check out her latest single Bad Child. Prior to the pandemic, Taylor spent a couple of weeks along the coast of California and the soundtrack was Justin Bieber‘s latest album, Changes.
TELEVISION She’s also binged the series Locke & Key (Netflix) and considers the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Tom Hanks and filmed entirely in the casts’ personal homes, a real tear-jerker.
Gustavo Mercado Muñiz | Transgender Program Coordinator
BOOKS Gustavo has been diving into the Brooklyn Brujas series during the pandemic – a latinx-infused queer fantasy from decorated author Zoraida Cordova.
MUSIC If you know Gustavo, you know they ADORE Beyoncé. So it should be no surprise that their quarantine anthem has been the entire album Lemonade. Consider this the perfect occasion to consume the visual album.
TELEVISION The latest season of Insecure (HBO) and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Hulu) have been at the top of their series consumption list. The latter stars and is written by the hilarious queer Aussie Josh Thomas.
MOVIE Gustavo’s film pick for quarantine survival is Nappily Ever After, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour who is best known as being the first female film director in Saudi Arabia.
Skylar Wolfe | Director of SafeSpace Anti-Violence Program
MUSIC In what may be the musical recommendation of all quarantine musical recommendations, Skylar has been queueing up the “Happy Musical Songs” playlist on Spotify.
TELEVISION If you haven’t binged the two seasons of Sex Education, you’re definitely missing out. He recommends the series, about a teen who offers sex advice thanks to the knowledge gleaned from his sex therapist mother.
STAGE Vermont icon Alison Bechdel‘s Tony-winning Fun Home is slated to stream via Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre, so while it has yet to be consumed, Skylar is anxiously anticipating watching it.
Justin Marsh | Director of Development & Communications
PODCAST While their podcast listening has decreased severely since the cut in their commute time, Justin still manages to tune into the New York Times’ Popcast, hosted by music editor Jon Caramanica – recommended for any fan of pop music.
MUSIC Speaking of Popcast, one recent episode featured a breakdown of Dua Lipa‘s latest album, Future Nostalgia. Let’s just say this album was made to get you through quarantine. Songs like Cool and Physical should be on any dance party playlist – even if you’re just alone in your living room.
TELEVISION Countless series have been binged in their entirety this quarantine season, but the highlights include Feel Good (Netflix), Making the Cut (Amazon), and rewatching I’m Sorry.
MOVIE Although Reggie and Justin both recently commiserated over their inability to watch a movie to completion without falling asleep, Justin did make it through 2019’s Knives Out, which is a thrilling whodunnit, without catching zzz’s.