Starting this Substack is an exciting reason for me to make sure I’m writing more frequently, so thank you for being here and for reading “Mindy Kaling, It’s Getting Weird.” The response truly surpassed any expectations I had for my first publicly shared Substack piece.
I’m looking forward to sharing more with you on here in 2023, but if you’re curious about anything else I’ve worked on already outside of this platform, here’s a quick recap. In 2022, I wrote a number of pieces for CBC Arts, Chatelaine, and Food Network Canada on a variety of topics ranging from disability representations to recipe development to sexual education.
"Why Pre-Recipe Stories On Food Blogs Are Worth Reading" — Chatelaine
An analysis of the Internet's distaste for scrolling through stories before recipes and what it tells us about how we value recipe writing and food-related storytelling.
"This book is for anyone who knows what it’s like to have a ‘difficult’ name" — CBC Arts
I interviewed author and illustrator Anoosha Syed about her book That's Not My Name!, a wonderful and moving story about reclaiming and loving your name despite mispronunciations.
"How schizophrenia is misrepresented in TV and film — and how we can do better" — CBC Arts
A deep-dive into some of the most common tropes that perpetuate harmful ideas of schizophrenia, madness, and disability in media like Criminal Minds, Yellowjackets, and more.
"This book aims to make sex-ed for kids and teens a little more colourful and a little less awkward" — CBC Arts
I covered the release of Cory Silverberg's latest book You Know, Sex (illustrated by Fiona Smyth) - a beautiful, comprehensive resource that takes an inclusive, non-judgmental approach to sex-ed for tweens and teens.
"I Think Taste-Test Reaction Videos Are Seriously Outdated – Here’s Why" — Food Network Canada
A critique of the often sensational "taste-test" videos that are popular in food media despite their shallow representations of non-European cuisines.
"10 Recipes for a Festive Diwali Dinner" — Food Network Canada
A gallery of culturally relevant recipes to try while celebrating Diwali - or in any other time of year, really!
"The Year's Best Cookbooks" — Chatelaine (in print, Winter 2022 issue)
A gift-guide of 2022's most exciting cookbooks — pictured below.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting “midnight snack.” See you in 2023!
Thanks for sharing your writing beyond the Mindy Kaling article - I'd seen the CBC Arts article about schizophrenia months ago, and hadn't put two and two together. I loved that one! My area of research is disability studies/neuroscience (focused on stereotypes in storytelling), and I've written on media representation of people with FASD and autistic people. I was so happy to see someone really speak to the tropes and their consequences, and the particular pattern we see about schizophrenia specifically.