Samantha Powell's previous work for The Toast can be found here. In my childhood and early adolescence, Boston was filled with movie theaters. Over time many of them shuttered as the city transformed from a place that felt like home to one that I had trouble recognizing. Most of those old theaters were hidden away. One neighbored a Chili’s in a corner of my local mall. Another sat tucked next to one of the…

Samantha Powell's previous work for The Toast can be found here. I didn’t know that November 29th, 2013 would be my final Black Friday working in retail. I did know that for the first time in ages I was going to buy something on that day, although it wouldn't be a gift for someone else. It would be one for myself. The business cards arrived not long after I placed the order using the…

Next week Nicole is going to take a vacation (a real one; I don't want her answering emails on the plane) and you are all going to have a guest editor, and so am I, I suppose. Her name is Samantha Powell and she has the laugh of an angel and we ate burgers together in Hollywood earlier this year before seeing Bell, Book and Candle, which was quite a lot better than I thought it…

There I was, a recently 30-year-old woman. Girl? Lady? Who knows. I spent a good amount of time in the run-up to The Birthday thinking about what I would call myself once that milestone was reached. But the many moving parts of my brain never quite settled on one choice. For now, let’s go with lady. It’ll make this story sound fancier than it is, like I’m a brooding yet whip-smart heroine in a Charlotte…

"Trophy" is never a word people use to describe something that someone loves. Trophies are about possession and pride and objectification. Above all, trophies are seen and not heard. It’s for these reasons, and many others, that so many people chafe when they’re categorized as one. I should know. I’ve been the trophy of many for longer than I’d care to mention. I don’t think that it’s overreaching to say that we live in an…