Author Archives: Cathy Borders

About Cathy Borders

Writer. Book Midwife. The Republic of Letters. Waterline Writers. Omnia Vanitas Review.

When She Woke, cafeteria Christian feminist candy

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Cathy Borders

Where to begin with Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke, a misogynistic dystopia, where criminals have their skin dyed according to their crime? Not when Hannah wakes up blood red in a Chrome Ward prison for having an abortion. Not when … Continue reading →

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The Anti-Film Tarot Art Project

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Cathy Borders

Last night I participated in The Tarot Nook’s Anti-Film Tarot Art Project with the mistress of ceremonies, Kelsey Lynore.This was not your average tarot reading. No mysticism. No bullshit. Kelsey begins every session by placing a ban on any and … Continue reading →

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Geek Love: subverting the carnivalesque and the grotesque

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Cathy Borders

In light of my forthcoming post on Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!, I’d like to reblog an older post I had written about Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love. Geek Love: subverting the carnivalesque and the grotesque I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy. … Continue reading →

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The tyranny of pink.

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Cathy Borders

My husband: The tyranny of pink. Pink is a kind of pre-pubescent white, white that blushes. And, as with every real princess in history, tyranny is the power that lurks behind every principle of feudal purity. We should resist it … Continue reading →

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Fat Girl

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Cathy Borders

Though in my last post I talked about the cumbersome baggage I’m lugging around, this post is about the film, Fat Girl, not myself. Catherine Breillat is my favorite director. This week I’m devouring her films, some for the first … Continue reading →

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Bad Feminist

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Cathy Borders

I’m overweight. At times, this consumes me. Then, immediately thereafter I feel like a bad feminist. Roxane Gay writes in her article, Bad Feminist: As Judith Butler writes in her 1988 essay, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution”: “Performing one’s gender … Continue reading →

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Mom, I love you.

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Cathy Borders

Cheryl Strayed is a badass. I picked up her memoir, Wild, because of her association with Lidia Yuknavitch (they work together in a writing group with Chuck Palahniuk), but also because the premise: lonely girl, grief-stricken and recovering from a … Continue reading →

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Excuse me,

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Cathy Borders

Lately I’ve been craving female companionship. As my living situation at the moment is precarious, I’ve substituted books, my paper heroines for flesh and bone people. Still reading Kate Zambreno, I stop: “I find myself afraid, feeling too fucked up … Continue reading →

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To break the silence, the silencing.

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Cathy Borders

From Kate Zambreno’s Heroines: I am beginning to realize that taking the self out of our essays is a form of repression. Taking the self out feels like obeying a gag order–pretending an objectivity where there is nothing objective about … Continue reading →

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Scratching at my Thanatophobia

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Cathy Borders

I’m afraid to die. Terrified, actually. My parents think it’s because I’m an atheist. Though, I was terrified when I was a Catholic too. As a kid, I couldn’t shake the idea that I was going to be trapped inside … Continue reading →

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