Emily Goldsher-Diamond

The Library is Open

March 24, 2015 No Comments

RuPaul would have you believe that his recent talk with Paul Holdengräber, part of the LIVE from the NYPL series, was an infomercial, an opportunity to plug a nearly endless stream of projects to an already rapt audience. While his new album, podcast, and wildly successful LOGO reality show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, now in its seventh season, were certainly featured throughout the night, RuPaul’s insistence on product placement is sleight of hand, a way to misdirect the spotlight from his […]

Events

Announcing A Night with Words After War

January 30, 2015 No Comments

“[L]et us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” – Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address Please join Words After War for a night of storytelling dedicated to service members, veterans, and military families at Housing Works Bookstore in New York City on February 25, 2015 at 7 pm. The evening’s writing will investigate issues of illness, injury, disability, and […]

Events

Call for Submissions

December 11, 2014 No Comments

Words After War and Vol. 1 Brooklyn seek submissions for fiction stories and nonfiction essays (no longer than 2500 words) that engage topics of disability, illness, injury, caretaking, and healing in veterans and military families. We are looking for powerful storytellers that evoke vivid and meaningful experiences of the body via the written word. The winning author will join three other established writers—on-stage, virtually, or by proxy—for a night of storytelling dedicated to service members, veterans, and military families at […]

Television

A Girl on Girls: I Know I’m a Mess (S2/E10, “Together”)

March 18, 2013 1 Comment

In Girls‘ last season’s finale, “She Did,” Jessa included the following prophetic statement in her wedding vows: “Your dreams are not what you thought they’d be.” It made sense then, because in the context of her wedding to Thomas John, we saw a bohemian malcontent settling for a 401K and high-rise apartment. Having spent the past few months taking in the second season, Jessa’s proclamation seems truer than ever. As a finale, “Together” shows us that finding love (or sex, […]

Television

A Girl on Girls: What Other Way is There? (S2/E9 “On All Fours”)

March 11, 2013 No Comments

“On All Fours” is a great way to jump back into what has been a largely impressive season of Girls, save for the last two episodes. It is a return to more genuinely affective plot lines without resorting to gimmicky shock plots or heavy editing. I think the only time I noticed a distinctive editing “trick” was when Charlie and Marnie were talking in his office and right before she leaves, the camera frames her point of view and then […]

Television

A Girl on Girls: Sometimes He Uses Me as the Decoy (S2/E8 “It’s Back”)

March 4, 2013 1 Comment

This week’s episode of Girls could have easily been titled “Left Turn” instead of “It’s Back,” considering all the curve balls that get thrown at the audience. I don’t want to be a sour Sally, but I may or may not have said that this episode seemed to include a potentially jumping shark. All I’m saying is that if you’re going to make Marnie a singer, Charlie a successful startup guy (which felt like wish fulfillment and a revenge fantasy […]

Television

A Girl on Girls: I Manifested the Solution (S2/E7, “Video Games”)

February 25, 2013 1 Comment

Another week, another bottle episode of Girls. “Video Games” takes place outside the show’s chronology (except for including Jessa’s split with Thomas John) and only features Hannah and Jessa from the main cast. We get to meet Jessa’s dad (Ben Mendelsohn, playing an absent father with anger issues), his girlfriend Petula (Rosanna Arquette) and Petula’s oddball son Frank. It’s nice getting a peek into Jessa’s emotional and historical life world, but I’m not convinced it was worth leaving Brooklyn.

reviews, Television

A Girl on Girls: You’re Just Babies Holding Hands (S2/E6 “Boys”)

February 18, 2013 No Comments

It’s difficult to return to Girls knowing that last week was probably a high point. I’m aware at the start of “Boys” that I will have to deal with the entire cast to make up for the spare group of actors that were in “One Man’s Trash.” But at least we begin this week with John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Itch, Shortbus) offering Hannah an e-book deal. Mitchell is the publisher of Hannah’s very favorite Pumped Mag, […]