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Jun 6, 2023Liked by Carmen Maria Machado

YES!! THANK YOU for describing the emptiness of this show and the glimmers where it’s interesting (e.g. Mildred and Tiff talking about Mildred’s son living with them, Aussie revealing that Aussie feels weird about the fact that Sam makes significantly 3x more money than Aussie) are just the cast members being human.

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We know Vanessa's dad is some kind of "IT guy" from California right? I worked in Silicon Valley tech bros there wouldn't identify as "IT guy"s unless they worked for IBM or something. So chances are he's old school, probably got into the field in the 90s, before the first tech boom. My read of Vanessa and Xander is they're from somewhere in the bay area, but maybe a really middle class neighborhood (those still existed in the 90s and 2000s, I grew up in one), not exactly small town, but suburban and segregated. I grew up in South San Jose in the early 2000s for a bit, and the biggest thing happening was the local mall, and an abandoned coal mine from the 19th century. "But I am a cheerleader" was filmed there....

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The group nights (episode 4 or 5 I think) definitely showed the entrance to the Gaslamp District which is in downtown San Diego!

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i recognize the park and beach they go to, it’s coronado island specifically!

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