Episodit
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This week we’re joined by internet sensations Amelia and Evan of Girls Rewatch podcast to discuss Lena Dunham, two years after we first knighted her as an original Stargirl. We discuss Lena’s work and life post-Girls (Sharp Stick, her new show Too Much, and her marriage, chronic illness, and perma-hibernation mode) and assess the past 10 years of self-conscious scripted comedy (White Lotus, Broad City, Fleabag, Sex Lives of College Girls, Severance, Insecure, And Just Like That, etc.). We also analyze Gen Z’s reclamation of Marnie and reminisce about the Dream of mid-2010s creative Brooklyn advanced by the best TV show of all time.
Listen to / watch / follow Girls Rewatch podcast, and follow Amelia and Evan <3
Links:
STARGIRL Episode 12: Lena Dunham Part I (2022)
Sharp Stick Lena’s movie from 2022
Too Much, Lena’s forthcoming show
“Lena Dunham’s Change of Pace” Rachel Syme in The New Yorker (2024) -
This week we travel back in time 100 years (!) to meet Edna St. Vincent Millay, girl poet and emblem of 1920s Greenwich Village bohemia. We are joined by the writer (and my former professor) Kate Bolick, who wrote extensively about Millay in her 2015 book Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own. We discuss Edna’s passionate free spirit, her tragic end, and the self-renewing Dream of writerly collaboration in downtown New York. More importantly, we discuss the age old question of how to build a sustainable life as a woman artist — how to define “meaning” vs. “noise” for yourself, and how to live it out with poise.
Discussed:
Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, Kate Bolick (2015)
“All the Single Ladies” Kate Bolick in The Atlantic (2011)
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Nancy Milford (2002)
“How Fame Fed on Edna St. Vincent Millay” Maggie Doherty in The New Yorker (2022)
The Long Winded Lady (collection of essays by Maeve Brennan in The New Yorker)
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*Full episode on Patreon*
This week we go long on the evolution of Julia, the woman behind the cult YouTube channel Itsblitzzz. We reflect on the many lives she’s lived in her 15+ years online: DIY T-shirt reconstruction guru, yatted nightlife star, Los Angeles ASMR artist royalty, full on mommy blogger, and more. We also explore her fans’ somewhat nihilistic but understandable grief over the fact that she no longer represents a scene kid cultural underbelly, the line between being a Cool Loner and plain agoraphobic, and what you lose / gain as you grow up and life gets smaller.
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Welcome back to the next episode of The Body Series, where we go deep on all the best STARGIRL themes: embodiment, warring conceptions of “health” and “fitness,” and what a “mind-body connection” looks like in practice.
Today we’re blessed by Sasha Hanway, a coach on the Ladder app and a certified personal trainer, yoga teacher, breathwork and meditation coach, and holistic nutrition coach.
We go Back to Basics mode: the importance of building and maintaining muscle as you age, why progressive overload is the most effective way to train, why people tend to overcomplicate nutrition, and how all of this plays a role in the current metabolic crisis we face in the United States.
Sasha also shares her experience navigating social media as a fitness influencer, her duty to share reputable studies and research, and how to find trusted voices in the sea of online fitness content.
As a former college athlete, Sasha has always loved movement, but it was progressive overload strength approach combined with deep core work that truly transformed her body. She’s on a mission to help women shift their mindsets to take up space and be bold: to nourish themselves and fall in love with their bodies and movement. Her program ALIGN, found on the Ladder app, blends mindfulness, strength, yoga, mobility and deep core work, and has helped thousands of women transform their bodies and their relationship with exercise. Sasha is also a recreational runner, surfer and lives in the PNW with her husband, stepson, and rescue cat Baby Ru.
Follow Sasha on IG and work out with her on Ladder!
Links:
“Fitness startup Ladder comes for Peloton for allegedly copying their app” Sarah Perez, TechCrunch (2024)
Other voices I love on these topics: Lauren Kanski, Kelly LeVeque, Dr. Peter Attia, Dr. Casey Means, @GlucoseGoddess, @feelwellbyanna
Book a free personal training consult call with Emma! (Note: I am not currently accepting new clients, but feel free to get in touch and I’ll add you to the waitlist!) -
This week we delve into the relentless and perverted mind of Catherine Breillat, the French filmmaker and novelist who has disturbed audiences for 50 years. Broadly consideredcinéma du corps,Catherine’s movies explore the grotesqueness of sex and the body, depraved sexual longing, petulant, manipulative, and erratic women, and fraught and often violent sexual encounters.
In this episode, we explore Breillat’s ability to craft characters we can’t stand, invert the expected power dynamics between men and women, and engender such a visceral response from her audience. We also review her many capital-c Controversies and discuss how her insistence on women’s manipulative tendencies works so well in art and… less well in real life.
Plus! More on Ripe / Dead psychology, a rant on Margaret Qualley from Holly, and a rave on Eileen Kelly / @killerandasweetthang from Linnea Grace.
Mentioned:
STARGIRL Episode 50: The Body Series with Eloise Skinner
CRUSH Rachel Antonoff SS 2014 short (Margaret Qualley prototype foreshadowing…)
Movies by Catherine Breillat:A Real Young Girl(1976),36 Fillette(1988),Romance(1999),Fat Girl(2001),Sleeping Beauty(2011),Abuse of Weakness(2013),Last Summer(2024)
“Catherine Breillat’s Unselling Cinema of Desire” Victoria Uren (2025)
Catherine Breillat’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct
“State of Grace: Catherine Breillat on Last Summer” interview with Grace Byron inScreen Slate(2024)
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*Full episode on Patreon*
Today we travel back in time to the early 2010s and delve into the moody, mysterious soundscape of Kelela, the singer and dance music producer who soundtracked my early twenties. We explore her evolution from Muse to a handful of forward-thinking, UK-based producers to an Artist in her own right, why she stands above the scores of more famous Alt R&B artists (FKA Twigs, Solange, SZA, Tinashe, etc.), and the ways she’s employed more Narrative Control in recent years by explicitly defining her audience and who she will and won’t work with. We also check in on the Club — the rules of it, who it is and isn’t “for," and whether or not it's meaningfully alienating... anyone in 2025.
PLUS! This episode features exclusive voice notes from my husband, weirdo music nerd, and former club kid, David <3
Mentioned:
Kelela interview with Tanya Bunter (2023)
Raven review/profile in NYT (2023)
Interview in Dazed(2022)
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Happy New Year!
In this episode of The Body Series, I share my entire fitness journey: Growing up as a ballerina to college weight gain, inactivity, and depression, finding weightlifting and getting my sh*t together, getting injured, experimenting with different styles of training, and eventually becoming a personal trainer.
I also explore the various mindsets and motivations I’ve had with working out, examine online fitness content vs. IRL gym culture, and opine on how we could make the gym feel sexier with different tropes, narratives, and interior design :)
I believe that getting fit is a site of huge personal transformation. Doing so completely changed my identity, helped me build self trust, and even made me a stronger and more original thinker.
I have a few more 1:1 personal training spots open for both in-person (NYC) and virtual clients. Book a free 30-minute consult call with me to learn more!
If you’re into these ideas, check out the following:
The Body Series with Dr. Cameron Yuen
The Body Series with Jordan Castro
My guest episode on Nymphet Alumni
My interview in Fast Company on the rise of body-centric imagery in consumer products -
Happy Holidays! In this Christmas Special, we enter the timeless, charmed world of Dame Julie Andrews and my favorite movie of all time, The Sound of Music. We explore how Rodgers & Hammerstein evolved and elevated the musical as a form, the grand folk ideal of Maria von Trapp (vs. the self-conscious twee heroines of the 2010s), the actually-very-adult lessons of The Sound of Music, and the Dream / Threat of Unassailable Goodness.
My word for 2025 is Majestic — see you there ✨
Discussed:
The Sound of Music (1965)
“Audrey and Her Sisters” Wayne Koestenbaum in London Review of Books (1997)
Julie Andrews on Julia Louis Dreyfus podcast (2024)
“Maria von Trapp: The Preeminent Manic Pixie Dream Girl” Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic (2015)
Zendaya X On Running in the Alps
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*Full episode on Patreon*
To celebrate the end of a wild year, we’ve got a special, 2-in-1 episode for y’all:
First, Addison Rae Part II: A return to the crux of the STARGIRL project. I delve deep into my ever-evolving, sort of twisted relationship with Addison Rae and reflect on how, when I first intercepted her in 2020, she alerted me to how far I had strayed from what I actually valued and wanted in my life. This is STARGIRL theory of the universe at its best: When we let our fixations be a guiding light, rather than something to repress or indulge ironically, we shed layers of cope and allow ourselves to actually emerge and evolve.
Then, we look back at the dominant STARGIRL conversations of 2024: Spirituality, Health and Fitness, Feminine Caricature, and Nostalgia for / Mistrust of Institutions. Of note: the return to New Age dirty hippie vibes; animal based diets; the revived interest in fitness and athleticism; Brat; “Aquamarine,” modern dance, and Lexee Smith; Wicked, the totally delegitimized “arbiters of health,” Luigi….. And more.
Plus, Rants / Raves on Emma Chamberlain (c/o @tuylor) and Scout Dixon West (c/o Madeleine).
Discussed:
“As Time Goes By” Saint Laurent video starring Addison
Addison + rude reporters at Vanity Fair Oscar Party (2022)
“Grottocore” Daisy Alioto for DIRT (2024)
“The Architect” Kacey Musgraves as Gwyneth in famous Goop cover
Ballerina Farm feature in Evie magazine
“Aquamarine” music video
Horton technique trending sound on TikTok
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This week we welcome Miss Biz Sherbert and traverse the personal and cultural impact of Scarlett Johansson, perhaps the greatest sex symbol of the 21st century. We discuss the allure of pre-cultural fragmentation Hollywood, the coveted spot of Box Office Megastar X Indie Darling, and how the earthiness and wit that ScarJo pioneered got transmuted into a sarcastic hyper-relatability a la Jennifer Lawrence (shiver).
We also explore what makes ScarJo distinct among the hoards of perky blondes we roll our eyes at (Reese Witherspoon, Blake Lively, Cameron Diaz, etc.), and question if a ScarJo “lineage” is even possible.
Biz Sherbert is a writer with a focus on image-making, the internet, and identity. Follow Biz on Instagram and listen to Nymphet Alumni!
Discussed:
Ariana Grande and Michelle Yeoh being weird af at the 2024 Oscars
ScarJo on Letterman at age 13
Anywhere I Lay My Head, ScarJo’s musical debut (2008)
Scarlett Johansson Is the Sexiest Woman Alive, Esquire (2006)
Scarlett Johansson Is the Sexiest Woman Alive, Esquire (2013)
scarlett johansson shutting down sexist comments for 5 min straight
ScarJo on the Goop podcast
Scarlett Johansson Summons Her Superpowers, Gentlewoman (2021)
Isaac Mizrahi Groped Scarlett Johansson at the Golden Globes in 2006 -
Happy Thanksgiving! This week we investigate the Queen of Home Arts, Martha Stewart herself. We get inside the late ‘80s suburban decadence of Martha Stewart Living, and examine the Dream / Threat of Northeastern WASP-y frigidity. We also situate Martha in a lineage of STARGIRL domestic goddesses (Gwyneth Paltrow, Alison Roman, Ballerina Farm), explore the weirdness of transforming the Home into a stage, and reflect on who we “inherit” domesticity from in our modern era.
Discussed:
*Announcement: Emma is accepting more 1:1 personal training clients! Book a free consult call here. Martha, Netflix documentary (2024)“The Promises Martha Stewart Made — And Why We Wanted to Believe Them,” Joan Didion in the New Yorker (2000)
Set of Martha Stewart Living on the famed Turkey Hill Road
Martha’s banana bread recipe – the best!
“The Making of Book 100” The Martha Stewart Podcast (2024)
The 2024 Alison Roman Thanksgiving Special
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Announcements:
Emma is officially taking on more personal training clients, both in person and virtual! Book a free consult call to learn more here.
Listen to Emma as a guest on Nymphet Alumni! A true career high.
The next STARGIRL virtual event will be Sunday, December 8 at 4pm New York time. Subscribe to the Patreon to join in!
The Body Series returns this week with my dear friend Molly, a licensed social worker, who shares her experience working as a therapist in NYC. We discuss the cultural fatigue around therapy speak and “trauma,” how CBT, DBT, Attachment Theory, etc. got subsumed into (and weaponized by?) mainstream discourse, and the current trend toward somatic healing practices. We also explore the downsides of overidentifying with diagnoses, and put Molly’s expertise in conversation with past Body Series guests, Emmeline Clein, Eloise Skinner, and Sloane Elizabeth.
Discussed:
“Overanalyzed: A series about how we fell out of love with therapy”, The Cut (2024)
“Tell Me Why It Hurts” on The Body Keeps the Score, NY Mag (2023) Past The Body Series episodes: Emmeline Clein, Eloise Skinner, Sloane Elizabeth -
Am I a Nicki fan? This week I’m joined by my friend Enzo Escober for a proper nostalgia trip. We reminisce about the ways that Nicki’s unprecedented, cartoonish female aggression served as real catharsis during our hormonal teenage years, and why her mode of pure id is so endlessly appealing. We also discuss Nicki’s contributions to 2010s Plasticity, the “Black Gaga” comparison (incorrect), and how it feels to watch her kick, bite, and scream to avoid passing the torch.
Enzo Escober is a writer and critic from Manila. He has been published in Guernica, Slate, The Drift, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. He is the co-host of Diva Discourse, a podcast about Beyoncé, and lives in Brooklyn.
Discussed:
“Nicki Minaj: Cheeky Genius,” profile in GQ (Taffy Brodesser-Akner, 2014)
Nicki on Good Morning America (2011)
“Broke people should never laugh” Queen Radio soundbyte
“Prague” soundbyte
Clip from MTV documentary
Sophia Grace singing “Super Bass” on Ellen
Painting-like photo of Cardi B w/ shoeless foot
Nicki on Trump in Rolling Stone: 1, 2
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*Full episode on Patreon*
In this month's letter, we look at a handful of digital assets that have caught my attention this week (and affirm the STARGIRL worldview): Zendaya for On Running, Livvy Dunne's first arty editorial, and our first BTS look at Sydney Sweeney beefed up as a boxer. I also discuss Ariana Grande on SNL and explain why none of the Pop Princess contenders (Charli, Chappell, Sabrina, Tate, Camila) are Stargirls.
Plus, an emo recap on my wedding, which was maybe the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
Discussed:
Zendaya x On partnership announcement (June 2024)
Short film: “Zendaya’s fresh perspectives on movement”
The Zendaya Edit (capsule for On)
“The Body Is Art” FKA Twigs x On at London Fashion Week
Livvy Dunne x FLAUNT magazine photos
“No Room for Complacency in the Uncharted Stratosphere,” profile of Livvy in FLAUNT by Megan Armstrong, photos by Katherine Goguen, styling by Dylan Wang
Sydney BTS shots as boxer Christy Martin
GirlBossTown on TikTok predicting Sydney’s Charlize Theron Monster arc last February
Sydney x Dr. Squatch (this was a No for me)
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This week, I chat with Kristen Lynch, a business and mindset coach (and my former yoga teacher!) who helped me take STARGIRL to the next level. Through mindset and marketing support, Kristen helps her clients turn their “passion project” into a real deal business — we discuss the importance of investing in yourself and why you have to legitimize yourself to yourself first. For Kristen (and now for me), this all ties into larger self-concept work: how you treat and relate to your body, move through the world, and co-create with the universe to step into your gifts and provide real service to the people who need your work.
Kristen is a business coach for early-stage, soulful women entrepreneurs. She’s had dozens of raving testimonials, been featured on global brands, & become internationally-charted as the host of the Lead Her podcast.
Follow Kristen on Instagram
Subscribe to her podcast, Lead Her
Sign up for her free Legiz Biz email series
Learn more about 1:1 coaching
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To those who make contact. . . This week we tackle the original New Age spiritual guru, our beloved Marianne Williamson. We delve into her decades-long search for Maximum Aliveness, and discuss the principles that have most profoundly affected me in her work: personal responsibility, surrender, inner peace, and a belief in the miraculous.
Discussed:
The Money Game
“The Body Is Art” FKA Twigs x On Running at London Fashion Week
A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson (1992)
A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever, Marianne Williamson (2010)
“Marianne’s Faithful,” Leslie Bennetts in Vanity Fair, 1991
“The Divine Miss W,” Susan Schindehette in People Magazine (1992)
“Marianne Williamson Is Campaigning for a Miracle,” Amanda Fortini in ELLE (2014)
“Emotional Self-Sufficiency” lecture by Marianne given in 1988
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*Full episode on Patreon*
Felt called to share how I’m thinking about the election and, more existentially, about the value of “patriotism” and how I show up in my tiny corner of the Garden.
Discussed:
On Patriotism, Reverend Orville Dewey (1859) RFK, Jr. addresses the nation (2024) Interview with Dr. Casey and Calley Means, The Tucker Carlson Show (2024) Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health, Casey Means, MD (2024) Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, Peter Attia (2023) -
*Full episode on Patreon*
*Announcement*
Sign-ups are live for STARGIRL in-person events in September!
STARGIRL Yoga 2.0
Sunday, September 8 at 10am in Fort Greene. Meetup + 60-minute, all-levels, by-donation yoga class.
Reserve your spot here!
2. Intro to Strength Training Series
Every Tuesday in September, 6-7pm at RS Strength in Brooklyn. This is a 4-week, progressive program introducing you to the foundational movement patterns (deadlift, squat, kettlebell swing, strict press, etc.) using kettlebells. Jump in at any point!
Sign up on ClassPass here!
Show notes:
Welcome back to the next episode of The Body Series! Today we have Dr. Julia Morgan, a sports chiropractor and fitness coach, and a huge inspiration for me as I’ve stepped into a new career as a personal trainer. Julia talks about her path from chiropractic work to strength training, and offers some expertise about the unique value of training with kettlebells. She also shares her experience as a fitness influencer, joining business forces with her husband, and building confidence through movement.
Follow @drjuliamorgan on Instagram
Check out Kettlebell Coach University (signups for their next Level 1 certification open 9/9!)
Download Julia’s 6-week Bridal Bootcamp program
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*Announcement*
Sign-ups are live for STARGIRL in-person events in September!
STARGIRL Yoga 2.0
Sunday, September 8 at 10am in Fort Greene. Meetup + 60-minute, all-levels, by-donation yoga class.
Reserve your spot here
2.Intro to Strength Training Series
Every Tuesday in September, 6-7pm at RS Strength in Brooklyn. This is a 4-week, progressive program introducing you to the foundational movement patterns (deadlift, squat, kettlebell swing, strict press, etc.) using kettlebells. Jump in at any point!
Sign up on ClassPass hereShow notes:
This week we tackle Livvy Dunne, the LSU gymnast and social media star. Dunne is currently the highest-earning female college athlete (valued at $3.9M in NIL sponsorships alone) and has a chokehold on young men in America. We unpack the skepticism about her athletic abilities vs. sex appeal, fit her into a lineage of Buoyant Blondes (Kate Upton let’s go!), and feel out a new spectrum: fashion intellectualism vs. Feeling Good Naked. Omg!
Discussed:
“Diet Pepsi” Addison’s new music video
Lexee Smith “When Kitty Met Kat” video
“The Money Game” new show on Amazon Prime about LSU and NIL
On3 NIL rankings rankings
“It’s Livvy Dunne’s World” profile in Elle by Kayla Webley Adler (2023)
Sports Illustrated cover story on Livvy and Angel Reese (2023)
Livvy in SI Swim (2024)
Olga Korbut’s “Dead Loop” uneven bar routine (1972 Olympics)
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*Full episode on Patreon*
This month, we rehash the recently upwelled Ballerina Farm discourse, and I talk about what she represents to me: not a “trad wife” (outdated, meaningless term), not a hard-headed business woman, but a secret third thing.
Discussed:
“Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)” Megan Agnew in the Times
“My day with the trad wife queen and what it taught me” Follow-up article by Megan Agnew
Inspired / ridiculous TikTok edits of Hannah dancing on the prairie: here, here, here
Egg apron video
Hannah’s response: IG Reel and full statement
Christian influencers we been watching: Cecily Bachmann, Josie Conely, Lunden & Olivia on TikTok
- Näytä enemmän
