#thank you jenna this got way more introspective than I thought it would

[supportingwomenswrongs]

4, 12, 30 :))))

4. A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about

I think there's so much complexity and conflicting emotions around someone who's hurt you deeply. So there's a whole playlist I made of songs that capture all the hurt that was tangled in the relationship we had.

But I think I'd go with wait for the moment by vulfpeck largely because it's not sad. It's peaceful and simple like a warm Sunday morning, and it instantly transports me back to hearing it for the first time in the car ride home from a grocery trip together. And then whiplash hits and I'm gutted with the stark difference in reality on just how far we fell from those early, happy days.

...I don't listen to this song anymore

12. A song from your preteen years

ok on a happier note, I'd choose knock you down by keri hilson. I spent the majority of my preteens with my childhood best friend who honestly couldn't have been more different from me. But we just got each other, and we did everything together and I think when you're really safe with someone you feel free and silly. Anyways we were in the backseat of her mom's car and this song came on the radio...a pop hit at the time. Neither of us really had an attachment to the song, but we ended up creating these stupid little hand motions to act out the lyrics, based on just our nonverbal communication. It was just 3 minutes of keri's voice and our laughs as we acted out increasingly ridiculous hand motions.

I had a million little moments spent with her but that one sticks in my head and I'm sure will stay forever. Just the quirks that come with really being seen and known and understood I guess

30. A song that reminds you of yourself

this is very difficult bc I 1. don't have a very good sense of myself in the grand scheme of things (*womp womp*) and 2. use music to process my life which means it encompasses all the very different me's I've been.

But probably bambi by hippocampus. It's one of my favorites - the whole band is...I have a tattoo based on one of their albums. I think in general, songs that feel like growth and the stretch of discomfort in the name of hope tend to match me best. Something something constantly changing but hopefully in the right direction this time

based on this post - also I will absolutely answer all of these so plz send me an ask if you want to :)

[bluegrasshole]

Oooh, omg. Okay. Strange Lovers, numbers 3, 4, and 12?

ahh thank you! i don’t know why i did this before posting my notes but i’m going to do it anyway 

3: What's your favorite line of narration?

oh shit. this is like, the hardest question. but here’s a section that’s particularly dear to me:

And it wasn’t just the mine -- perhaps the people weren’t as good as he’d thought, as he knew the town was, or perhaps none of it was good at all.

But -- some of it had to be. Something more than the smell of the earth after rain and the sight of train tracks criss-crossing between the thickets of prickly brambles and cranberry shrubs. More than the rows of houses with clothes hung up between them and bicycles lying on their side on the front lawns in the summer, and in the fall and winter the smell of chimney smoke and snow and mud and coal, and yeast and flour when you walked by the bakery. More than the hockey league and the baseball league and the parades and picnics and barn dances. There had to be more that was good. If nothing at all was --

This is the part that was the most personal to me and I didn’t fully realize it until after, when Jenna and I were talking through this bit. I’ve always wanted to go back to my village after university and make a life there, and I still love it so deeply and miss it all the time, but I realized recently that it’s actually kind of a toxic place to be and while it’s easily the most beautiful (visually) place i’ve ever been to, I don’t think that can cut it. I tend to romanticize it in my head and forget about all the bad stuff that happens there and focus on the good. Which is what Will is realizing here. 

“perhaps the people weren’t as good [...] as he knew the town was” was such an epiphany for me. That the mere idea of community, the abstract concept of it, can be more powerful than the reality of it. Because of course people make a town, people make a community. So how could the people not be as good as the town as a whole? And yet that’s my reality, but it’s not at the same time because despite their shortcomings the people in my village (and Will’s) are still good, and they can be kind and generous. But again, that doesn’t always cut it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around my feelings about, especially since I did recently decide NOT to go back to my village, and stay in the town I went to school, to everyone’s surprise.

I also really like the sensory description I gave the town. Things Will would focus on, things that were important to him (and me, by extension). 

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

i’m going to take the less introspective route here and go with a section that makes me smile:

“You’ve been elected to bring Nurse home. Democratically and everything.”

“Hey! I can bring myself home!” Nurse said, spitting a little onto Will’s face, who said at the same time, “what? No. How come?”

“Well, see, I’ve got strict orders from Mother Bittle to bring Eric back in one piece, Chowder’s liable to get lost like he did last time and God knows I don’t want to go looking through the ditches for him tomorrow, and I think Jack wants to say goodnight to Millie, if you know what I mean.”

“You meddling fucker,” Will said.

Shitty nodded. “Some of the last words my father ever spoke to me, may his soul rest in peace. Now, best get going soon. That Poindexter hill don’t climb itself, you know.”

I cut some stuff out for this but Shitty is still so Shitty, you know? The idea of him being like, possibly a stoner union rep and caring about democracy and still being wildly inappropriate and hating his father is so funny to me. No matter what era you put Shitty in, his character still works. And also, Will calling Shitty ‘meddling’ fits so much in his ‘ignorance is bliss, out of sight out of mind, mind your own business’ kind of deal. Even though Shitty IS a meddling fucker.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

hm. i dislike the first few scenes because i did them first and then stared at them for a month before i got to the rest, so it’s more like i’m bored of them, and there’s a lot of backstory. yeah, i wish i would have found a way to make it less info-heavy at the beginning -- especially that whole bit in the church about will’s family situation, how his mother is in halifax with his sister, i find that clunkier and more forced than i would like it to be. the whole scene, really. but aside from that -- well maybe in a few months i’ll look back and see things i hate but right now not really. 

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Best of Man Repeller 2017: What Made Us Laugh, Cry and Think

http://fashion-trendin.com/best-of-man-repeller-2017-what-made-us-laugh-cry-and-think/

Best of Man Repeller 2017: What Made Us Laugh, Cry and Think

If the internet is to be believed, everyone spends most of December in disbelief that it’s arrived. While most of us at MR do agree, and have said as much 437 times, the point’s a bit tired, isn’t it? We need a new end-of-year shtick. How’s this for an idea: Maybe these past 12 months didn’t fly by. Maybe a shit ton of stuff happened on a practical, emotional and molecular level. Maybe we’re very tired and for good reason.

Think of how many headaches we endured! How many full-body chills we got! How many delicious meals and awkward conversations and important realizations we had. Think of all the alarms we set and snooze buttons we pressed. Think of all the good days followed by bad days following by good days we experienced. So many, too many to count!

Here’s something we can count: 1,431 articles were published on Man Repeller this year, and over 11 million people across 235 countries (hi!) spent more than a cumulative 120 years reading them. That’s over 60 million minutes, which, according to my calculations, is like, a billion. So in honor of all those minutes, and in honor of the conversations they sparked and what those conversations taught us in return, we decided to conclude our 2017 publishing schedule with a bit of ceremony. And what’s more ceremonious than superlatives?

If you care to indulge our nostalgia, below are the fruits of year-end reflections. Some of them are metric-based, some of them are emotion-based, but together they serve as a cheesy but important reminder: This year didn’t disappear. It brought us together in all manners of wonderful ways.

Let’s start with the classic: Most Popular

These were the 10 most-read stories on Man Repeller this year. A pretty good emotional spread, no?

A Different Kind of Pregnancy Announcement I Tried the Jennifer Aniston Diet, and the Results Were Chilling 5 Things I’ve Learned From Years of Keratin Treatments 3 Women on What They’ve Learned in Their 70+ Years If Sex and the City Came Out in 2017, Miranda Would Be the Protagonist Why Adult Friendship Makes Me Sad Sometimes Movie Sex is the Worst: 10 Myths That Need to Go You Know That Hairstyle You’d NEVER Try? We Tested 5 I Dressed Like Kim Kardashian for a Week I Let My Boyfriend Dress Me for a Week

Most Likely to Spark Conversation

Our loooooooongest comment section, with 784 comments!

Help Me Compile a List of Genuinely Addicting Books

Most Emotional

These stories made us cry the hardest.

Tears of happiness: A Different Kind of Pregnancy Announcement Tears of sadness: A Lie I Used to Tell Myself About Time Tears of laughter: Giving Up Shampoo: A Horror Story

Toughest Nuts to Crack

The stories that were the most emotionally challenging to work through as writers.

A Different Kind of Pregnancy Announcement How I Stopped Letting My Past Relationships Haunt My Current One I Had a Hard Month, But You Wouldn’t Know it From My Mirror Selfies  After 28 Years, I Still Don’t Know What I Look Like Why I Ended a Happy Relationship

Most Needed

The stories that came at just the right time, or struck just the right chord with us as readers.

What if You Already Are Your Best Self? 3 Women on What They’ve Learned in Their 70+ Years of Life Why I Stopped Trying to Solve My Feelings Rihanna’s Perspective on Her Weight Changed How I Think 5 Authors on How, Why and Where They Write What Michelle Obama Means to Me

Most Fun to Hang Out With

The comment section of contributor Jenna Birch’s story about adult friendship basically became a meet-up app and it was incredible.

The Case for Trying (Really Hard) to Make Friends as an Adult

Biggest Procrastinator

Amelia pitched this piece on May 10th, and put off writing it until November 16th.

Turning 29 Is Like a Second Puberty (Astrologically Speaking)

Most Inspired (by a Comment)

Under contributor Meghan Nesmith’s story about adult acne, a thoughtful commenter named Mo pointed out that our imagery shied away from showing real acne, but why? Her comment made us think, and Amelia pitched the below as a result.

What if Acne Wasn’t a Flaw? 5 Women Skip Coverup and Talk Skin

Most Challenging, Visually

Emily and Edith loved this story, but struggled for days on how to hit the right note for it with the imagery.

What I Wish People Know About Narcolepsy

Most Unexpected Traffic Hit

When Haley pitched a satire about millennials being vampires, it sounded like, shall we say, a dud. 

A Theory About Millennials You Haven’t Heard Before

Most Likely to Succeed

That is, if the success of the story is measured by how often we now use the term coined therein. 

Menocore Is the New Normcore, and it’s a Lot More Comfortable

Most Likely To Be Drunk

A.k.a. the stories we wrote while losing our damn minds.

Every horoscope Amelia has ever written Confounding Photos of Celebrities Posing Awkwardly With Animals Monocycle, Episode 56: Back With a Vengeance Millennial Survives Another Day of Nonstop Irony I Think Haim is Responsible for My Sunglasses Addiction

Most Likely to Tell it Like it Is

This piece by contributor Otegha Uwagba made 94 people say, “UGH, SAME.”

To All the People Who Have Spelled My Name Wrong

Most Prophetic

In other words, our most popular astrology-related story that told us our futures.

The Fate of Your Career, According to the Zodiac

Most Likely to Inspire Sartorial Introspection

In this piece about identity and style, Danielle Prescod was thanked by commenters for her honesty and vulnerability.

I Gave Away a Closet Full of Designer Clothes in Hopes of Finding “Me”

Most “Groundbreaking”

“MR Investigates” is a new vertical for us, with PLENTY more to come in 2018.

The Secret Lives of Big and Little Spoons: A Cuddling Investigation

Most Active

The stories that came with action items at the bottom — the ones we wrote because our times demand them.

Action After Gun Violence: How to Turn You Grief Into Purpose The Quiet Roar of #MeToo Birth Control: What’s at Risk and What You Can Do Ways to Take Action After the Women’s March Black Women Elect Doug Jones to the Alabama Senate

Most Resilient

This story was almost killed by the writer on multiple occasions, but thank goodness it wasn’t.

The Cult of Kate Middleton and Her Superfans

Most Uplifting

These ones just plain made our hearts sing as we wrote and read them.

3 Untraditional Families on How it Feels to Be Different The Women of Planned Parenthood Are Not Giving Up 51 Photos That Capture the Joy of the NYC Pride Parade

Biggest Gossip

The juiciest story in town.

Fashion Insiders Confirm Almost Every Stereotype in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’

Most High-Maintenance

These are the fashion shoots we put the most work into, purely so they’d live up to our pitch-meeting fantasies.

Gucci Cruise on a Cruise: A Feast for the Eyes The Pie-Eating Fashion Editorial You Never Knew You Wanted Reimagining the Best Summer Scenes (and Outfits!) From ‘Sex and the City’ 

Most Athletic

Our most liked photo on Instagram this year was…wait for it…a Chanel sports bra.

Cutest Couple

Our most liked tweet this year featured our social media editor Ashley and her future husband.

I would marry that type of weather where you *can* wear a jacket but you don’t *need* to wear a jacket

— Man Repeller (@ManRepeller) October 4, 2017

Okay, we’ll call it there, lest we rehash every single story we published this year. If you had a favorite, either on Man Repeller or elsewhere, please share it in the comments below and help me prove this year was a packed one.

See you in 2018!

Feature photo by Edith Young. 

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