Our Story: Tired of reading traditional news stories that didn’t represent us or our tastes, we created a website that we’d want to read. Originally intended to just focus on Pop Culture, we made the leap into Politics after the November apocalypse election.

We are young, loud, opinionated feminists here to talk about the stories and issues that no one else is talking about.

Our Dynamic Writing Staff:

Emily Miller: Creator/Writer/Targaryen/Snowflake

 Her entire life, Emily had always been a pop culture blogger, just without the actual blog. For years her friends would constantly ‘shush’ her during movies because she would start listing all the acting credits of that guy eating lobster behind Tina Fey in Date Night. Emily challenged her friends to open debates about who was better for Buffy (Spike, obviously) and she offered her Oscar picks to anyone who was foolish enough to lend her an ear. After reading a self help book (and by read, she means read the first chapter), Emily decided to actually create a website. When she’s not working at the multiple theatre companies she inhabits, Emily is either reading, binge watching a show, or googling images of Teacup piglets. She can ramble for hours about British History (Richard III & Henry VIII are her homeboys) Harry Potter and her fat cat named “Chubs.” Emily is, most definitely, with her.

Alicia Christine: Staff Writer- Books, Theatre, Life

Alicia Christine has many interests, jobs and hobbies. She adores Jesus and loves her home church. She would love to talk about Jesus anytime; hit her up! Her love for Jesus fuels her passions for social justice and she is prepared to be an active citizen. In addition to this, she works as an online English tutor, director for a show at a school for kids with Cebral Palsy, and a teacher’s aide at an after-school acting program. But who knows what combination of jobs she’ll have by the time you actually read this. That’s just millennial/show biz life. Speaking of that, Alicia is a single woman in her late 20sand has recently discovered that she can cook and clean pretty well! Take that, millennial stereotypes!! She spends her free time reading, reacting to pop culture in Ben Wyatt fashion and is involved in various aspects of theatre production (teaching, directing, stage managing, acting, ect). She also loves Disney,artistic expression, history, Netflix, good food, travel, and comedy. She is really excited to be a writer for ClashCultures and hopes you enjoy her work.

Allyssa Ellen: Staff Writer- Books, Theatre, Life

Allyssa is your resident Ravenpuff librarian, who loves to chat about education and information literacy with all of her patrons. After working hard to receive her MAT, Allyssa decided to work with kids in any and all capacities, from summer camps to theatrical productions to even a children’s fitness center. As a result of the latter, she can do a few mildly impressive trapeze tricks. In a sudden plot twist, she ended up studying for her MI and working at a library, where she plans programs, curates the book collection, and spends a lot of time with some great kids. When not working, Allyssa is at the theater, helping productions come to life through costumes and makeup. In the remains of her “spare time,” she is constantly reading, though most books she reads are of the Juvenile and YA genres, thanks to her line of work and her refusal to grow up. If Allyssa were to be a Disney character, she would be Belle, with a book in her hand, kindness in her heart for all, and a strong lust for gigantic libraries, minus the Stockholm Syndrome. Allyssa is currently owned by two rescue cats, Licorice and Jasmine, who have their own humble Instagram.

Allyssa is also a proud (but tired) Spoonie, and tries to raise awareness and acceptance of those living with invisible illnesses, especially Fibromyalgia.

Renee Hecht: Staff Writer- TV, Books, Games

Renee Hecht is a voracious reader who enjoys high fantasy settings and happy endings. He currently works as a barrista which affords him access to something else he enjoys: coffee. Renee has an obsession with character development and psychology that has served him well in all of his hobbies. From anime to western television to books to tabletop rpg games, he has always been drawn to exceptionally well written characters, and to intricate character relationship structures. Fiction is like exercise for our empathy. No matter how different a character may be from us, if they are written well, we will always be able to find some common ground.

He is also proud to identify as “ftm” and, to that end, is undergoing hormome replacement therapy.

Emma Levin: Staff Writer- Theatre, Life, Politics

Emma is a single white female who enjoys giving compliments to strangers. Her favorite pastime is starting dangerous conversations in bars in hopes of converting men to feminism. She has a 14-year-old cat named Nala and a dead fish named Freddy in her backyard. A lover of mediation, a romantic poet, and a striving writer, she believes she might actually have something important to say. She hates engaging in fights over the internet and believes everyone could be a tad bit nicer to one another.

Glynis Neely: Staff Writer- Movies, TV, Politics

Glynis is a young, entitled millennial who sits around bingeing TV and shoving food in her mouth. She loves television, movies, and podcasts and is always open to suggestions; although it might take her years to get to your suggestion, don’t worry it’s not you. She has a pop culture list a mile long that she started in middle school and hopes to one day watch everything on it, despite adding to it constantly. Glynis is a stalwart feminist and trying to increasingly get more involved in politics now that we have an orange Cheeto running the White House. She is an avid supporter of Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Emily’s List and donates as often as she can. And if there is a plan to make a Buffy movie with Joss Whedon at the helm, she will do her civic duty and give money to Kickstarter as well. Ultimately, she is here to smash the patriarchy through her insightful opinions on everything from speculating on the future of Joe Biden’s career to criticizing TV’s shows use of rape as a plot device.

Catherine Lazăr: Staff Writer- TV, Theatre, Life

Catherine Roth is a freelance writer currently living in Dublin. Her fiction and poetry has been published in Full of Crow Quarterly, First Stop Fiction, and Ink in Thirds. She has written her first short film which will be produced in 2017. She enjoys cooking, budgeting, and Hallmark Original Movies.  Her favourite animal is an owl, but she dances like a meerkat. Her greatest wish is that when she dies she will be cremated and turned into a diamond.

Alicia Whavers: Staff Writer- Books, Theatre, Games

Alicia (uh-lee-see-uh) is an actress, singer, writer, producer, and that person you call when you have a minor technical problem with your car that does not require a mechanic, but some elbow grease and a willingness to get dirty. She, like most millennials her age, has several different jobs (ranging from the medical field, to her chosen field of theatre) to stay afloat in this economy. She runs the book review blog WhyWeLikeReading when she is not busy with one of her 4 jobs. An avid feminist, equal rights supporter (because at this point don’t we all deserve more than just “civil rights”), and a geek before it was considered “cool”, she spends her down time purposefully misquoting philosophers to chauvinists, writing closet dramas reflecting the current political and social climate of her country, and reading the classics, which include Paradise Lost, Shakespeare’s Completed Works, Tolkien, and Detective Comics.

Vicky Wolak: Staff Writer – Movies, Books, Life

Vicky Wolak spent her first year out of college teaching English to cute French middle schoolers in a small town north of Paris. She is now a full-time communications professional, part-time writer, and occasional community theater actor in New York City. A passionate Catholic feminist (nope, not mutually exclusive), Vicky strives to use her writing to uphold the dignity and worth of every single human being. She spends more time on YouTube than Netflix, loves everything autumnal, and aspires to have Belle’s library one day. Her favorite form of self-care is stress-baking delicious sweets, usually late at night. She also has a head full of useless information, mostly about voice actors in Disney movies. Vicky writes for online publications, such as this one, while waiting to fulfill her true calling as a cat lady.