Stassa Edwards
Jezebel
Miami, FL, United States
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Past articles by Stassa:
AOC's Dress Is Whatever You Need It To Be
No matter what the congresswoman wears, people will project their own political anxieties and expectations onto her. → Read More
One Small Thing: A Moisturizer Fit for Crones
Ever since I reached the official age of “extremely old crone,” my skin has decided that it should reflect that noble title, doing its best to shrivel and dry at every turn. But since I’m the product of a culture that refuses to acknowledge the reality of aging, I’ve refused to let my skin bend to nature, investing instead an obscene amount of money in crone-appropriate skincare. (There is, I… → Read More
The Capitol Insurrection Was Rooted in Misogyny
“Where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you,” says a voice belonging to one of the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists. “Nancy. Ohhh Nancy,” he continues in a singsong voice as he walks down a hallway. The video, included in house manager Stacey Plaskett’s Wednesday presentation during Trump’s second impeachment trial, was part of a larger narrative outlining how insurrectionists actively… → Read More
Goodbye To All That Barf
Four years ago, we launched Barf Bag shortly after Donald Trump was elected to the presidency. Jezebel’s then politics writers, which at the time included me (weirdly, the other ones have all died), felt overwhelmed by the volume and pace of the new Trumpian news cycle. We felt unable to keep up with the barrage of executive orders and the relentless racism and sexism that emerged from the White… → Read More
Four Years Later, Melania Trump Still Doesn't Deserve Your Sympathy
Shortly after Melania Trump donned a baby blue dress with matching gloves and stood by her husband on the steps of the Capitol, watching as he took the oath of office, #FreeMelania trended across social media. During Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new first lady had stopped smiling the minute he turned his back on her, a definitive sign to close watchers that she must be secretly sympathetic… → Read More
The Triumph of Fascist Aesthetics
The photograph is arresting: a bearded man stands at the top of a staircase located in the Senate wing of the Capitol bearing uniquely American symbols, marking both time and ideology. He holds in his right hand a red flag with the phrase “Trump is my president” written across it in bold white lettering. He wears a red hat on his head, close in design to the now ubiquitous MAGA hat, an accessory… → Read More
Lynsey Addario, The Photojournalist Bearing Witness
Stunned patients, exhausted doctors, overworked funeral directors, mourning families, and filled caskets lowered into the ground: This is what the world through Lynsey Addario’s camera looks like in 2020. The Pulitzer-winning photojournalist spent part of the year documenting the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom for National Geographic, and the results are arresting. Addario has… → Read More
Kamala Harris Deftly Avoided the Pitfalls History Set for Her
“I’m speaking,” Kamala Harris said twice during last night’s vice presidential debate. She said it to Vice President Mike Pence, who interrupted her early in the debate, shortly after moderator Susan Page asked her about coronavirus. (Page, incidentally, also interrupted Harris during this particular exchange). Harris’s matter of fact statement— “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking”—underpinned… → Read More
Melania Trump's Skewed Empathy
Shortly after Melania Trump promised that her husband would “bring us back... to the greatest economy and the strongest country ever known” and exited the podium in the newly remodeled Rose Garden, the accolades began rolling in for what the media quickly labeled a transformative speech. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper applauded the empathy in her Tuesday night address at the Republican… → Read More
Police Kneeling Is Meaningless
“Powerful” is how CBS News described a photograph of police kneeling at a protest over the weekend. The photograph showed police from departments across Miami-Dade county kneeling at a protest held in Coral Gables, Florida. The officers, CBS reported, kneeled in “solidarity with protesters,” promising that they would continue “dialogue” with the organizers. The gesture was performative at best,… → Read More
Dancing Through Our Bad Year
It was a warm July day when Frau Troffea began to dance. She walked out of her home, into the narrow streets of Strasbourg, and began her frenzied steps. She danced uninterrupted for nearly a week, her feet swollen and bleeding. By the time she had tired of dancing, 34 of her neighbors had joined her; by the end of August, 400 of Strasbourg’s residents were dancing wildly through the streets. → Read More
Casting the Perfect Adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that every piece about Jane Austen must begin this way. It’s also true that nothing soothes quite like watching adaptations of every single one of Jane Austen’s novels and then arguing with your friends about which actor is the best in that particular role. So that’s what we’re going to do. For the next few weeks, we’re social distancing with Emma and… → Read More
They Were There All Along
MINNEAPOLIS, MN—This was supposed to be a story about the women who had decided to cast their vote for Amy Klobuchar. The college-educated, largely suburban white women who kept Klobuchar in the race, who created her so-called Klobmentum in New Hampshire, and who, according to hundreds of pundits, are staunch moderates who are key to a Democratic victory in 2020. → Read More
A Random List of Terrible Things We Saw and Heard at CPAC
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—At this year’s CPAC, the message was clear: socialism is bad and all Democrats are socialists, but especially Bernie Sanders. Sanders isn’t just a socialist, according to one panel host, he’s a socialist/communist. More worrisome than Sanders, however, are the kids who have been lured by socialism which, according to many of CPAC’s speakers, is incredibly cool. Turning Points… → Read More
'Bye Felicia': Kimberly Guilfoyle's CPAC Appeal
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—“God, I love that guy,” Kimberly Guilfoyle said to the crowded room at CPAC on Friday, referring to her boyfriend Donald Trump Jr. who was sneaking across the back of the stage, pumping his arms and hyping Guilfoyle to the crowd shortly after her introduction. → Read More
Donald Trump Is Leading Anti-Abortion Activists to the Promised Land
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—After the CPAC crowd drowned out a protestor with chants of “USA! USA! USA!” and after they cheered the death of Qasem Soleimani and gave standing ovations to the Second Amendment, ICE agents, the border wall, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, they still had the energy to stand and cheer when Vice President Mike Pence said he was proud to be the “Vice President to a President… → Read More
Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer Renders the Women Three-Dimensional
In the black-and-white photograph of Georgann Hawkins, she beams at the camera, a big, posed smile, and a flower tucked into her long hair. Her puffed floral sleeves barely fit into the photograph’s cropped frame. She is young and looks happy. The photograph of Hawkins should be unremarkable, the kind of photograph that’s tucked away in nearly every photo album in the country. The kind of… → Read More
Karen Russell on Florida, the Surreal, and Orange World
Two women survive a night at a haunted ski resort, mutant sisters navigate a post-apocalyptic Florida, a young woman is possessed by a Joshua tree, a bog girl is transformed into modern girlfriend, and a mother makes a deal with a devil—these are the women who inhabit the stories in Karen Russell’s new collection Orange World and Other Stories. For those already acquainted with Russell’s work,… → Read More
Donald Trump Invokes the 'Murderous Mother' of Anti-Abortion Myths
During a Saturday evening speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Donald Trump invoked the increasingly familiar myth of murderous mothers, cruel doctors, and bloodthirsty Democrats: “The baby is born,” Trump told the crowd. “The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the… → Read More
Lori Loughlin Is the Hallmark Channel's Best-Loved Actor, So What Happens Now?
On Tuesday, after it was reported that actor Lori Loughlin was indicted on federal mail fraud charges stemming from $500,000 worth of bribes she and husband Mossimo Giannulli paid to ensure their daughters’ admission to the University of Southern California, #AuntBecky trended on Twitter. → Read More