Mary McCarthy Journalist Profile

Articles

The Government Baby Name Book

Jan 24, 2025 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

Congratulations,new parents! Here in America we just survived the long, agonizing labor and delivery to dysfunctional divorced reality show parents of a bouncing new baby system of government. People are scrambling to describe the government that needs a Prince-like symbol as it’s formerly known as a democracy, with little input by the people. Trump seemed to admit the election was rigged by his Nazi-salutin bilionaire aide Elon Musk.
Yacht or Nyacht

Jan 17, 2025 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s-80s at an apartment complex outside Philly, the pool was the setting of many pleasant childhood memories: strappy aluminum webbed woven lawn chairs, days my grandmother would treat us to a cheeseburger, ice cream or Pop Rocks at the snack stand, lifeguard crushes, minutes of Adult Swim that passed like hours.
Winds of Climate Change

Jan 10, 2025 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

All week, I’ve listened on this tiny island in the Chesapeake Bay as the winds of a winter storm have whistled and whipped this body of water into a frenzy; whitewater pounding the already-depleted shores of a fragile coastline. It hits your nerves; you have to create sounds to avoid it—the tv, music, anything to get away from that constant sucking whistle through the chimney draining the moisture and the quiet and peace from winter’s solace.
The New Year’s Halloween Gala

Dec 27, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

I’dalways wanted to visit Biltmore, America’s largest home built for George Washington Vanderbilt II and clocking in at 178,926 sq. ft. in Asheville North Carolina. The town was devastated recently by Hurricane Helene, but the 8000-acre historic estate suffered minimal damage. As a gift for my three grown daughters (one of whom we were visiting for Thanksgiving in nearby Virginia) I’d purchased tickets to visit Biltmore for their Christmas display and their Chihuly art glass exhibit.
Don We Now Our Gay Flannel Apparel

Dec 20, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

I happened across a post from Pink News: “13 lesbian holiday films that will warm your sapphic heart.” They included both terms in the headline to be inclusive, but case you’re wondering, “sapphic” is the term kids today call gay chicks; if you use the word “lesbians,” you’re outing yourself as a boomer. I loathe Hallmark “romance” movies and most “romcoms” in general. They’re so formulaic, especially as a writer, that I just predict the ending in the first scene.
The Shot Heard Round the Girls

Dec 13, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

When Roxie Hart in Chicago rhetorically asked, “Who says murder’s not an art?”, it was a work of fiction, but you couldn’t make up the Broadway musical opening level frenzy that has swept the nation as Luigi Mangione (practically a fictional character name) and the United Healthcare murder news has gripped the news cycle by a variety of body parts.
The Future of Cursive Writing is Cursed

Dec 6, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

Excuse me while my recovering-Catholic school girl heart is completely nun-triggered about the fact that cursive handwriting is near oblivion. I got a calligraphy kit for Christmas when I was about 12, and have been writing with old-school pen and ink ever since. I’m forever complaining about my inability to find the correct calligraphy pens, like what happened to the Sharpie calligraphy pens I used to buy at Staples just because I was probably the only one buying them.
Wicked Queer

Nov 29, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

Like any good former theater major (who played the Wicked Witch in high school) and queer, I yellow-brick-road-skipped my way to the cinematic frenzy that is the new Wicked film. For over 20 years since the Broadway debut, and if you’re a real fan, even longer, since the book release in 1995, the franchise and its homage to the original (Wizard of Oz film, 1939, novel by L. Frank Baum, 1900) has had a tornado-grip on the culture in countless ways.
Are parents overreacting about their kids’ screen time?

Nov 23, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mary McCarthy

As parents, it’s stressful to watch as our children get more and more hypnotised by their phones. Not to mention the war that erupts if you try to preach about screen time, the dangers of the internet and cyberbullying. My older children received phones on their 12th birthdays, but knowing what I know now, I don’t want my 11-year-old to get a phone just yet. But a new book suggests that I may be in the wrong here.
Nancy Mace and Transphobia

Nov 22, 2024 | splicetoday.com | Mary McCarthy

DonaldTrump’s cabinet picks so far include a growing number of men (and, to be inclusive, women) accused of sexual misconduct. As Slate accurately notes, “Being accused of sexual harassment, abuse, or assault is no longer disqualifying; on the right, it has been normalized. It may even be an asset.” There was a time when allegations of sexual assault would have been disqualifying, or at least brought cries of outrage from members of Congress, and apparently those days are over.