Illustration by Isha Khanzode.

Illustration by Isha Khanzode.

Podcast: StoryCorps’s “With Pride” episode

It can often feel like there is a relentless amount of bad things happening to queer people. This episode of the StoryCorps podcast is a joyous testament to the good. It features three different conversations between members of the LGBT community and a member of their family. Each conversation involves one kid and one adult. The kids in this episode are honest and confident in a way that most adults usually are not. The adults give the children the respect they deserve and trust them to know themselves. I love that it is honest and personal and full of people that get to tell their own stories. Even though progress feels very uncertain at times, and incremental at best, these families represent a love that I hope can one day be unexceptional because it is the standard. These kids give me hope that the future is bright and queer and invincible. —Madeline Keyes-Levine

Documentary: Twinsters (2015)

Twinsters is a delightful documentary about an almost-unbelievable circumstance. Actor Samantha Futerman pieces together how she discovered the existence of her long-lost twin sister. Futerman and her sister Anaïs Bordier were born in South Korea and were both adopted—Futerman’s adoptive family lives in New York, and Bordier’s lives in France. The documentary takes the viewer through their journey to finding each other. Twinsters left me thinking about the importance of family, and my relationships with my half-sisters. It’s on Netflix if you want to take a gander. —Diamond Sharp

Video: Angel Olsen’s “Shut Up Kiss Me”

In a world where girls are constantly having their human emotions dismissed as “crazy,” I love a good exploration of desperation. Angel Olsen’s new video for “Shut Up Kiss Me” is a dissonantly upbeat dive into heartbreak and pain. The self-directed video features a dreamy roller-skating adventure, as Angel bargains with a lost love to take her back. In contrast to the pleading verses, the cheerily romantic chorus is an optimistic demand—though one that is ostensibly unfulfilled. When Angel sings, “Stop your crying, it’s all right,” she could just as easily be saying it to herself as to her former love. The climax of the video happens as Angel croons, “I’m still yours,” while being dragged backwards on skates by two strangers. In a lot of ways, it feels like a blooper real–slash–romantic comedy (à la “Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen). It’s full of the type of cathartic fun that can grow from heartbreak: like the moment you come to terms with your denial and cry a lot, but then laugh because you know that you’ll be OK. —Madeline Keyes-Levine ♦