They Can’t Take It From Me

A rare 200-tree American chestnut grove in West Virginia may be cleared for data-center development, but the project denies the site is on its land.

Going through the process of writing up the retrospective brought up a lot of unexpected emotions. I felt such a swirl of feelings, it was hard to identify them all or to pinpoint what was triggering them. One thing that came through the swirl was a sadness around how few people saw the bulk of our work. There were so many shows that I felt very proud of, that only a handful of people ever experienced.

Songs mentioned in the blog

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · October 5 · 14m

Some of WhatsApp's most useful security features are not enabled by default. You'll need to actively go in and set them up yourself (and ask your contacts to do the same!). Download location: Google Play Store or Apple App Store System requirements: Android 5 or later, iOS 15.1 or later...

You’re not going to believe this but acting is a very ageist business. It’s a craft of illusions – so generally, actors try and avoid letting others know how old they are. This is extra magnified for women. In the last handful of years, I’ve noticed quite a few actors I know actively lying about their age. Previously folks just didn’t say.

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · September 29 · 18m

“Ladies First” Should Have Been a Better Movie

Lately, when I go to arts events in my city, I don’t know anyone. I don’t know the current artistic director of the space I’m in. I don’t recognize any faces in the crowd. When it comes time to mingle, I’m starting absolutely at ground zero, as if I just moved here, as opposed to living and making work here for over a quarter of a century.

Arts Podcast · Updated Weekly · I blogcast about Artist stuff. And Arts Related stuff. Also feminism. *In each episode, I read a post from my Songs for the Struggling Artist blog and play a song at t...

While looking for my yearbooks in anticipation of attending my high school reunion, I stumbled upon a newspaper produced by the yearbook staff. It was a compendium of Senior Wills. They are mostly sweet messages of what kids are leaving behind as they graduate, lists of memories or celebrations of friendships. Not yours truly. Nope. Mine read: “I, Emily Davis, leave you luck in surviving and changing the system.”

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · September 14 · 19m

Yes, I Know Substack is Problematic

Every year on my birthday, I take myself through a process based on Best Year Yet. I do my own condensed version, which boils down to making a list of accomplishments, a list of disappointments, a list of what I learned, setting some goals and then distilling it all into a motto for the coming year. As my theatre company approaches its…

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · September 7 · 14m

*Gen X pop music reference to a song by The Smiths, in which Morrissey sings “Hang the DJ” alongside a jaunty tune. No actual hanging wanted here! It was Gen X dance night and the DJ was spinning the hits that made the crowd of GenX-ers go crazy. But he was younger than us and so he probably did not dance to these songs when they came out.

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Shakespeare’s Wife

The Roller Coaster of Supporting an Artist

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · August 31 · 11m

If you’ve been with me on this journey for a while, you’ll know that I often catalogue my rejections.* This was at the suggestion of one of my patrons on Patreon as a way to help take a little of the sting out of rejection and also to supplement the funds lost to the myriad of application fees. Writing about rejection (and then getting paid for those pieces by my patrons) has encouraged me to apply for a lot of stuff that would have otherwise been cost prohibitive.

The Rhode Island International Film Festival, also known as Flickers, took place August 4 through August 9, bringing filmmakers, actors, industry professionals, and film lovers from around the world to the Ocean State.

Someone in the migraine subreddit made a post about curing herself of migraines by spending a month in a cottage by herself, doing some psychological exercises. This kind of post usually generates a wide split of responses. There are those that are glad to have something else to try. There are those that wish they had the privilege of taking a month in a cottage and those that have the flavor of that…

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · August 25 · 17m

Are You Still in the Arts? I went to my high school reunion for the first time recently. As I’ve discovered through my college reunions, there was not nearly as much comparing of an early self to the current self as I’d expected. There’s also a lot fewer “What do you do?” kinds of conversations than I imagined. The most specific question I got in this arena was, “Are you still in the Arts?” I said, “Yep,” and she was well satisfied.

A Spaghetti Junction of Milestones

Songs for the Struggling Artist · Episode

The wind from winning back in May led directly to the applications that yielded another win in August.

May 28, 2026, 6:46 pm Filed under: feminism, Witchery | Tags: crone, dresses, fashion, formal wear, Hag, Married to the Mob, matron, Mob…

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · August 11 · 16m

Podcast Episode · Songs for the Struggling Artist · August 4 · 13m

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Alt: Mystery Train: Jun and Mitsuko are listening to their walkmen while looking out their train window at Tennessee

Best Actor/Actress Ratios at the Oscars