The life and times of a pop culture addict.

The life and times of a pop culture addict.

by Amber Strother

Part 1: The early years

My sisters and I had a giant stash of Barbies and Barbie accessories. We would destroy our bedroom to create a Barbie town complete

with our own “apartments,” a school (I always insisted on being the teacher), and a drive-in movie theater (a space in front of the

television). Barbie and the Rockers were my favorites.

She-Ra

A cartoon about He-Man’s lesser-known secret twin sister, She-Ra was one of

my favorites. My personal favorite

character was Frosta who is the queen of Castle Chill and can shoot freaking beams of ice from her

hands.

Part 2: The teenage years

I wanna know what angst is

Even before the teenage blues, I was obsessed with them. The first CD I bought

was Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill. At

fourteen I had no idea what half of what she was saying meant, but I wanted to feel

her angsty pain.

Dance

Only slightly less embarrassing than being a

cheerleader (sorry cheerleaders), I was on the

dance team at my high school.

I was obsessed with becoming a Rockette one

day.

Part 3: The Undergraduate

As an undergraduate, I left my bad taste in music (sorry Dave

Matthews) and my dancing shoes behind.

I finally started to discover music and fiction genres that I

still love today.

The dark, dark future

My obsession with dystopian fiction began

with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Aldous

Huxley’s Brave New World, and George Orwell’s 1984.

Finally! Music I don’t have to categorize as “guilty pleasures.”

I fell in love with Ryan Adams’ heartbreaker.

I discovered the weird world of The Magnetic Fields’

69 Love Songs

Part 4: Graduate School

Robots, Androids, and Cyborgs –

Oh my!My first graduate class was “American Apocalypse” and

so began my love of science fiction.

Battlestar Galactica took over my life as I

marathoned through the entire series one summer.

My descent into old age…

I became obsessed with crochet and knitting. As

more and more people in their 20s began to

rediscover the craft that we had watched our

grandmothers master, I joined in. I made scarves,

cupcakes, sushi, and Cthulu dolls out of yarn.

Part 5: The Doctoral Program

This is me faking my best horror movie scream at the EMP museum in Seattle.

If grad school doesn’t work out, there’s

always money in the cupcake stand…

I became obsessed with baking everything from scratch. Cupcakes, pies, cakes, desserts. Martha

Stewart became my hero. Perfecting pie crust, bread dough, and icing became

my culinary goal.

Steampunk Adventures!

My newest pop culture obsession is steampunk. The clothes, the jewelry,

the subculture, the literature – I love it all. It’s vintage chic meets

futuristic robots. What more could I want?