Obsessions Asides

A podcast about things that captivate our culture, with an emphasis on women.

[obsessions-pod]

About Me

Hi! *waves*

I'm Sarah McDonald (she/her). Do not ever tell people your full name on the Internet, by the way. I'm a 30-year-old college senior studying Communications, which means I have a podcast! And a blog! My professors might be here so keep the shenanigans to a minimum!

FAQ:

What is Obsessions?

Obsessions is my podcast! Like the bio says, it's about the things that captivate American/Western culture, with an emphasis on women's interests. I grew up in an era when women's interests were often dismissed, mocked, or even vilified in media, so when I had the opportunity to take those topics intellectually seriously, I jumped on it. I pitched the project to my professors last September and that's all she wrote!

What is this blog for?

Well, for fun, Kylie, is that allowed anymore?

If Obsessions is where I talk about women's obsessions at large, this is where I will talk about my personal obsessions.

Why tumblr?

I've had an account on tumblr since 2010, one of my childhood friends recommended this hellsite to me. I was there for SuperWhoLock. I participated in multiple Mishapocalypses. I watched DashCon live and was so bummed I couldn't be at Dash Con 2. I would've gone as Matt Smith Doctor Who Big Bang 2 version with a fez and a mop and jabbered about a Pandorica the whole time.

Do you have any other projects you're working on?

I'm a storyteller by nature so I always have a project I'm working on! I compare it to how old men often have a car they tinker with or an old boat they're fixing up. I have a fantasy novel!

There's also, like, my degree... if that's... a "project..."

What personal details are you comfortable sharing about yourself?

I live in western Oklahoma with my dog and my cat. I work at the university, where I'm hoping to graduate in May of 2027. I also have an associates from OCCC in Humanities. I have a lot of fiber arts-based hobbies and collect physical media and I have a traitorous chronically ill body and a foggy neurodivergent brain.

I like your shoelaces...

Thanks, I stole them from the president.

[obsessions-pod]

My Top 5 Greek Myths, In No Particular Order

The story of Andromeda. So, as a little kid, I was always fascinated by stars, but I really struggled to identify constellations in the actual night sky. I loved the planetarium show and begged to go every time we went to the science museum in OKC, and when I found out there was a princess with a constellation named after her that had a whole GALAXY inside it? I was so obsessed. I googled the name and learned everything I could understand, which at 9 turned out to mostly be the story of Andromeda. Andromeda's mom Queen Cassiopeia pisses off the gods by being really vain. To knock her down a peg, the gods decide that Cassiopeia should sacrifice he daughter Andromeda to the Hydra. She's chained to a rock in the ocean, when suddenly Perseus rides in on his Pegasus to save her, and take her far away from her weird family.

The myth of Cassandra. I don't know what it is about the concept of a woman burdened with truth in a world of unbelief.... Oh wait....

Persephone, as a mythological figure. I think her myth is actually quite tragic, though in the end she becomes incredibly powerful. However, I don't think we're supposed to find this power aspirational. While she is both goddess of spring and death, my personal interpretation, particularly as someone with chronic illness, has generally been that a death/rebirth cycle godhood might come with some sort of physically painful cost.

Artemis, as a mythological figure. I like the idea of an immortal feral thirteen-year-old girl roaming the forests of Europe armed with her bow and an army of tween girls. Rick Riordan nailed that interpretation of her, I think.

The Fates. I love the concept of the Fates. I love the idea of the thread of life, the idea that we may be individually different but could be woven into something greater, and that we don't get to decide how long our lives are, so we should make the most of them.

Looking forward to seeing the movie! What are your favorite Greek myths?

[obsessions-pod]

Life Update: Party Business

Hello, all! A little life update for everyone this week!

I'm back to the grind a month earlier than planned on the podcast because... spoilers, everyone... I moved to Weatherford for my senior year! I'm so excited for this new chapter of my life and I can't wait to see what the year holds for me. The move went incredibly smoothly and I'm so grateful for the support of my mom, my friends back in Yukon, and my community here in Weatherford.

The move has been slightly hectic for my pets. I have an orange cat named Crookshanks Mitchell McDonald who is approximately seven years old.

Crookshanks is my adopted son. He is strange and frail and stares pensively out the window and is prone to bouts of melancholia or unexplained rage. (This is, of course, in jest. He is, if anything, better cared for than I and extremely content.)

Daisy, my apricot miniature Poodle, I've had since she was a tiny little puppy no bigger than my hand. Her full name is Daisy May Louise.

We've all settled into Weatherford nicely and started to find our routines again.

For you, that means you'll be seeing updates and content from me again, hopefully soon and across platforms. I have some things brewing and I can confirm that I have chosen a topic and begun research for season two of the pod. However, the project is basically a zygote, so be patient and keep your eyes on the social media for updates.

I'm also workshopping YouTube content, playing with the video essay format and trying to find my footing. Once I have something I'm proud of, I'll publicly post it for you all to enjoy on the YouTube channel. If you have an idea for a topic, feel free to submit it here on the blog, or email me at [email protected] with the subject line "TOPIC."

See you later for my top five favorite Greek myths in honor of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey!

[pukicho]

The threads of fate bind us. I need 40 dollars

[ashtabharya-deactivated20240717]

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Tumblr being the "piss on the poor" reading comprehension site makes sense when you realize that 79% of adults in the US are functionally illiterate. Same goes for Twitter and TikTok.

that's a real high number, sport. where'd you get it?

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey anon

please tell me you didn't google "US literacy rates" and then make the funniest possible mistake one could make in that situation

[grumpy-potat]

I started a podcast.

Its just a fun thing that I am doing with my husband. I research topics I find interesting and tell him about them. Our most recent episode is about the concept that around 80% of television exists in a shared universe. It is a back door excuse to talk about the concept as a whole.

below the break are links to where you can listen.

Info Dump w/ Jimmy and Kendra Podcast

Society & Culture Podcast · Updated Monthly · This podcast is about whatever the hosts find interesting. Collecting a bunch of information a

T.V.s Grand Unification Theory: Tommy Wesphall's Snow Globe

In the early 2000’s a blog article talking about how shared universes made the argument that about 80% of television shows are in a shared u

[obsessions-pod]

Hi! I love this concept and I love that we've encountered each other organically in the wilds of tumblr! I'd love to pick your brain sometime. I have a long drive coming up and I think I'll add this to my rotation. :)

[strange-aeons]

Do you love the colour of the sky? I'm also in Ontario :')

NO ITS REALLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!

[riseofthecommonwoodpile]

you make one fucking post where the point is “women are encouraged to develop disordered eating from a very young age and that impacts how we view the ‘natural’ size and shape of women” and too many reblogs later i am being accused of saying short people wouldn’t exist if they ate better growing up. i’m sorry but if you genuinely think i was saying that you are just a buffoon. i cannot and will not sanction your buffoonery.

[pukicho]

Tomorrow I will be inventing the wheel

[pukicho]

Dude, hold on

[tranthony]

grout white shark

[joy-and-whimsy-official]

Joy and whimsy detected! 🦈 <- this grout white shark is joyful and whimsical!

[obsessions-pod]

What made you choose to start a podcast?

One of the questions I've been asked most frequently throughout the course of creating season one is why I chose to start a podcast in the first place. In order to answer that question, we must travel back to the year 2010.

It is August 2010. We are in the golden age of the entertainment media franchise. Lady Gaga's sick vocals blast from every speaker in every shopping mall in North America. Hot Topic has become unrecognizable to the goths it once catered to. The national average for gas is roughly $2.78. This is Barack Obama's America.

I am a chubby, frizzy-haired fourteen-year-old ninth grader with braces and many, many loud opinions that my English teachers are consistently exasperated by. One of the kinder teachers recommends that I start a blog, and I do so, with the intention to chronicle my writing journey as I draft the Next Great American Novel by the time I graduate college. Eventually a friend of mine recommends that I switch from my Wordpress account to tumblr, and I've been here pretty much ever since.

I certainly did not finish the Next Great American Novel before I finished college--in fact, no one seems particularly preoccupied with the task. I did, however, find community, make lifelong friends, and discover a passion for what is now my field: Communications!

I promise this next bit is relevant.

As an adult, I spent a cumulative career of about ten years wearing various hats in the childcare field. Ultimately, I was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic condition that has several comorbidities that I deal with on a daily basis. At one point, I relied on a wheelchair to do simple things like grocery shopping, cooking for myself, and so on. I've had many fractures and surgeries related to my hEDS diagnosis, as well has a handful related to another chronic health diagnosis, and between 2018 and 2023 I had, if I remember correctly, nine surgeries altogether.

Obviously it's rather difficult to maintain a physically demanding career, like childcare--or indeed any career--when one is averaging about two surgeries per year plus medical testing, specialist appointments, flare-ups, and regular bouts of seasonal illness. I am very fortunate to have a loving an supportive mother who carried me through this time of my life, and I will always be grateful for her support.

About two years ago my health improved to the point that I resolved to return to school and finish my elusive Bachelor's in something that might be more conducive to my situation. I thought of my escapades online as a tweenage nerd, and my goals as adult with a creative streak, a business sense, and a desire to make a positive impact on the world. I chose Communications and have been absolutely thrilled with the decision. It plays to all my strengths.

A year ago, I finished my Associate's in Humanities at Oklahoma City Community College and decided to finish my B.A. at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. I love it here, truly. It's been an oasis for me and it has been such a pleasure to learn from the tremendous faculty in our CMVA department, as well as bonding with the kids on campus, who make me feel like a kid myself sometimes!

Last fall, when I started at SWOSU as a Junior, one of my professors mentioned the opportunity to pitch a podcast or short film to the department and receive university resources for production if greenlit. This was my opportunity! It was like I was nerdy teen again yelling about Lord of the Flies in the back of my English class.

I think for me--and I think this is the case for a lot of people--tumblr is a place where we congregate when the rest of the world has told us, over and over again, to shut up. That we're too loud. And I think podcasting might also be a place some people go to scratch a similar itch. I just think people aren't always super thoughtful about the ways they scratch that itch.

For better, or for worse, here we all are screaming into the void, trying to be heard. I want my scream to matter.

[evilwizard]

it’s time for demons to come out of the ground and for everyone to get special powers

[obsessions-pod]

hey guys so it turns out my special power is not podcasting

[obsessions-pod]

well, more accurate, my special power is maybe podcasting, but it is probably not VIRAL podcast.

[valtsv]

i love the part of making art where you feel like you need to go missing

[evilwizard]

it’s time for demons to come out of the ground and for everyone to get special powers

[obsessions-pod]

hey guys so it turns out my special power is not podcasting

[recurring-polynya]

never lose hope. somewhere, a middle-aged, gender ambiguous person with an advanced degree in an esoteric field and a fiber arts hobby could be crashing out and pinning all their remaining mental health on getting obsessed with your otp. any day now, the most elegantly written 100k fanfic you have ever read is going to hit ao3. it could happen. it has happened.

[cryptidfuckery]

Hey so like omen wise how are we doing. Are we doing okay

[greatmountainfloofsquatch]

Could mean good things!

[lets-nuke-it-from-orbit]

Hey @evilwizard. So, you up to anything new lately?

[evilwizard]

haha it’s funny you ask