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https://blackgirlnerds.com/finding-a-black-therapist/

For nearly two years, we’ve experienced collective trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a flood of anxiety, stress, fear, loss, and instability across the world, creating a mental health crisis. Black people shot and killed by police, mass protests, the Capitol riot, and systemic racism have brought another level of pain.

Naturally, Black therapists have been in high demand, despite being underrepresented in their field. According to the American Psychological Association, in 2019 there were approximately 106,000 licensed psychologists in the U.S., yet only 3 percent are Black.

It’s difficult finding a therapist, not to mention finding a therapist that looks like you. This was important to me as a Black woman when I began my search years ago. Finding one who was a good fit and that I could establish trust with was worth the effort.

Within the Black community, there is a stigma towards seeking help for mental health. There is this notion that you don’t need to “tell all your business” to a complete stranger or that there is nothing that prayer and faith can’t fix. These things have done nothing but hold us back from true healing and breaking out of emotional bondage.

After a sexual assault while I was in college, the shame prevented me from seeking professional help. I left school and returned home. My mother took it upon herself to make an appointment for me with a therapist. She did this out of love and concern; however, I walked into that office reluctant and not knowing anything about the therapist other than her name. I was uncomfortable, and she made no effort to get to know me. She barely looked up, as she asked generic questions. I felt as if she were just going through the motions. Worse, I picked up on her language towards me. It lacked empathy and at times seemed as if she was trying to get a certain reaction. The hour passed slowly. I left and never went back.

Needless to say, it would take years before I would seek therapy again. What I knew for sure was that I desired a therapist that I could connect with — a Black woman. But I did some things differently the next time around in order to achieve the outcome I needed. Truth is, you don’t have to wait until something happens or goes wrong in your life to seek therapy. I view it as part of my self-care; it’s regular maintenance as I go through life and grow in life.

Finding the Right Therapist Is Important

It is a brave step to seek mental health support and shouldn’t be taken lightly. So, it’s important to find a therapist who makes you feel comfortable and you can actually build a strong partnership with to help you achieve your goals. Trust is everything. As mentioned, the stigma of seeking treatment can be a huge barrier with cultivating trust. Research shows that over 50 percent of Black Americans subscribed to negative beliefs about seeking treatment for mental illness, despite the huge impact racism has on mental health. This fact is important to acknowledge, as you want your therapist to be understanding of the misconceptions that you may have and take a nonjudgmental approach in helping you feel at ease.

In my situation with my first therapist, I felt as though I were just a number and that she had heard it all before. But my traumatic experience was not anyone else’s; it was mine. I needed her to help me and not judge me.

Where to Find a Black Therapist

Once you’ve made a decision to seek therapy along with knowing what you’re hoping to achieve, you can begin your search. Start with asking friends and family for referrals or contact your insurance company. There are so many databases now that can connect you with therapy services (with or without insurance). The great thing is that they allow you to specifically locate Black therapists in your area:

• Therapy for Black Girls
• Therapy for Black Men
• Melanin and Mental Health
• Health in Her Hue (app)
• Open Path Collective

A couple of years ago, a friend suggested that I follow Dr. Joy Harden Bradford on Instagram. Dr. Bradford is a clinical psychologist based in Atlanta. I began watching her weekly “lives” and listening to her podcast Therapy for Black Girls. I utilized her platform of the same name to find a Black woman therapist in my area. I scheduled a free consultation to determine if we were a good fit for each other. To be honest, the first one was not a good fit. Not that she wasn’t qualified; I was seeking a particular treatment and she did not practice that approach. After going back through the process, I was able to connect with one who was perfect for me.

If you can’t find a Black therapist who is available in your area, consider searching for telehealth therapists. Some providers are out-of-state, meaning they can provide services in states they do not reside in. Check the databases mentioned above, as many will indicate whether or not they provide this service. With the pandemic, many providers have incorporated telehealth services into their practice.

I have been asked why I specifically wanted a Black therapist. It’s interesting that no one asks why I prefer a woman therapist over a man therapist. It’s because most people can understand why as a woman, I’d feel more comfortable with another one. A Black woman therapist specifically understands my experiences as a Black woman.

The beauty of creating your self-care means that you are allowed to seek and have safe spaces where you don’t have to explain your humanity, choices, have your experiences questioned (gaslighting), or deal with microaggressions. Therapy is supposed to be a nurturing space for your healing and growth. It’s all about you. Make the best choice for you. You deserve that.

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https://nerdist.com/article/are-there-any-major-character-deaths-in-stranger-things-5-volume-2/

Stranger Things 5 is back with Volume 2. And once again, we are at the edge of our seats, wondering… are there any major character deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2? After all, there were no main character deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1… So surely, we are due for some in Volume 2? Well, we’re about to tell you. So if you don’t want to know who lives and who dies in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2, we recommend you head to our spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 5, Volume 2 instead. Let’s dive in.

Are there any Major Character Deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2

No. There are NO major character deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. And we don’t know what to do with that, honestly. We kind of understood when there were no major deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1. That was just the beginning. But we imagined we’d get at least one heartbreaking character death scene in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. And yet, we did not.

Jonathan and Nancy Almost Die in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2—But Survive

Like with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, we got one intense duo death fakeout in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. In Stranger Things 5 episode six, “Escape From Camazotz,” Nancy and Jonathan are trapped in a melting Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down. The room is literally becoming liquid around them, and they can’t get out. Instead, Jonathan and Nancy climb onto a table and accept their deaths in Stranger Things 5. This leads them to have their first honest conversation… maybe in a couple of seasons. It’s beautiful and emotional, and both the audience and the characters believe it’s the end for them. But then, by some miracle, the goo solidifies, the room stops melting, and they remain alive.

Jonathan and Nancy’s Relationship Did Die in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2, RIP

That doesn’t mean there weren’t any deaths in Stranger Thing 5, Volume 2. There just wasn’t the death of a character. Instead, we got the death of a relationship. When Nancy and Jonathan found themselves on death’s door, they were finally able to open up to one another about what they wanted in life. And— fortunately/unfortunately, pending your perspective on “Jancy”—that did not include a romantic relationship with one another. And so, Nancy and Jonathan’s tumultuous seasons-long relationship found its death on Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. RIP, Jancy. We liked you, but only because that meant we didn’t have to deal with Stancy.

Steve’s Beamer Met Its Death in the Upside Down on Stranger Things 5, Volume 2

Okay, sorry, we have to add one more addendum. There were no major character deaths on Stranger Things 5, Volume 2—but, in addition to a relationship death, there was a death of a VERY important fixture of the show. Yes, in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2, Steve’s beloved Beamer met its death. Steve’s BMW has been an important part of the show since its start. Notably, in Stranger Things 2, Steve’s Beamer was driven by Max to transport the party from the Byers’ house to the Upside Down tunnels so they could help distract the Hive Mind and give El the opportunity to close the gate. It’s an iconic scene.

The Beamer was also where Steve and Dustin’s adorable pre-Snow Ball moment took place, and we’ll never forget Steve telling Dustin that he looks amazing. Aside from this, Steve’s Beamer has come in and out of the show too many times to count, a safe place for much of our team, and we’ll miss it. Poor Steve clearly loved it very much as well. The death of Steve’s Beamer is truly a sad death on Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. And once again, we say RIP.

No Deaths in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2 May Mean MANY Deaths in Volume 3/The Finale

Okay, we were laughing, but now we’re serious again. No major characters have hit us in Stranger Things‘ final season, not in Stranger Things 5, Volume 1, nor in Stranger Things 5, Volume 2. And so we shudder to think what that means for Stranger Things 5, Volume 3. Although the Duffer Brothers have assured us that Stranger Things is not Game of Thrones, and that “there’s no Red Wedding,” they’ve also promised that Stranger Things 5 contains “the most violent death of any season.” And given that we haven’t seen any deaths yet on Stranger Things 5, we know we have at least that much to look forward to in the final episode of the series.

We’ll be clutching our Peanut Butter Boppers tight as we get ready for Stranger Things‘ finale. Stranger Things 5 Volumes 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix. Stranger Things 5, Volume 3, or Stranger Things 5: The Finale will arrive on December 31 at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.

Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. She is holding out hope that Steve and Dustin will survive Stranger Things 5… and maybe Eddie Munson can come back to life too.

Originally published on December 25, 2025.

The post Are There Any Major Character Deaths in STRANGER THINGS 5, VOLUME 2? appeared first on Nerdist.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/cult-classics-breaking-gender-norms-in-but-im-a-cheerleader/

Make no mistake about it: Jamie Babbit’s feature directorial debut But I’m a Cheerleader is pitch black.

If you need evidence of this, look no further than a line spoken by Megan (Natasha Lyonne), the film’s lead character: “You’re right: I am a homosexual. But I’ll be normal soon.” Megan says this to her parents who have decided to quite literally ambush her with an involuntary trip to a “gay conversion” camp that is run by peppy autocrat Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty) and “ex-gay” helper Mike (RuPaul Charles).

Are you laughing yet?

1999’s But I’m a Cheerleader had all the potential to be a devastating drama. With just a little tweaking here and there, the film’s campy, satirical edge could have been blunted into something more dire and harder to watch. For example, this movie was released the same year as Boys Don’t Cry, the story of murdered trans man Branden Teena and another 1999 LGBTQ+ independent film that received a very limited release on a shoestring budget. 

For an example of how easily this comedy shades into tragedy, look no further than the family therapy scene with Graham’s parents. Graham (Clea DuVall) is a “boyish” girl. She presents as more masculine and, unfortunately for her rich, image-obsessed parents, she likes other women. The family therapy, part of the general “conversion” therapy, insists that her parents help her see her abnormality and that she should be “normal” by liking boys and wearing brightly pink dresses in addition to a winning smile. 

That they, and the program overall, is leaving Graham feeling annoyed at best and dehumanized at worst does not occur to them. What matters is that they maintain the image of American upper-middle class success: a wealthy, straight nuclear family that in turn produces other straight, wealthy nuclear families. Were it not for the score by Pat Irwin, which mixes surf-rock guitar licks, glockenspiels, and otherworldly vocal tracks, certain parts of the film might be unbearable to watch.

What’s most interesting about But I’m a Cheerleader is its focus on gender norms and how militantly they’re enforced. Much of the “conversion” meant to take place doesn’t center on sexuality as much as it does on gender roles. The girls are made to wear pink, and the boys are forced to wear blue. The girls are told to enjoy homemaking, while the boys are expected to like cars and sports. When looking to discover the “roots” of their homosexuality, characters have to think back on key moments of gender transgression they’ve done or witnessed (for Graham, it was that her mother got married in pants). For this particular queer 1999 film, the consequences of muddying gender roles could be played for laughs. In Boys Don’t Cry, late-1990s audiences got to see the other end of the spectrum.

Still, despite its goofier tone, But I’m a Cheerleader had some interesting insights. For example, the character Jan (Katrina Phillips) ends up in the program because she presents herself as more masculine. But, comically, she “comes out” as straight and laments that people only consider her queer (in every sense of the term) because she wears baggy clothes, plays softball, and prefers to rock a mohawk over pigtails. Once again, the movie, despite its more relaxed tone, has a pretty incisive analysis of gender presentation and how that plays into heteronormativity. 

And the scene is quite funny, too, even despite RuPaul’s character casually dismissing Jan’s claims to heterosexuality with, “Jan, remember, you were molested. I mean just look at yourself!” For people looking to revisit this film, it’s important to know that this is the film’s overall comedic sensibility — pitch black horror given a pastel top coat. And maybe, given the subject matter and how it was to make and distribute the film in the first place, that’s for the best. 

The MPAA wanted to give this movie, which contains neither nudity nor murders, an NC-17 rating. While the filmmakers had to make some cuts to get the R rating, they don’t mention if those cuts included anything pornographic or grisly — instances that actually merit such a rating. The movie’s sole crime appears to be being a gay film that contains a sex scene. Mind you, this sex scene is tame enough to merit inclusion in a PG-13 flick, but it is one that involves two women. And everyone knows if two women kiss it must be licentious, even pornographic. 

This is all to say perhaps a mainstream late 20th-century film establishment wasn’t ready to be mature about this subject matter, so films covering it had to toe a preposterous line. It’s worth noting that Boys Don’t Cry similarly had to battle the ratings board to get an R rating over an NC-17, while 1996 gay male comedy The Birdcage apparently did not. It seems that anytime a queer story involved women or people perceived as women, the ratings board caught serious, comorbid cases of misogyny and transphobia.

On a side note, But I’m a Cheerleader received flak at the time of its release for its trafficking in stereotypes. In this movie, gay boys hate cars and sports. Anything “manly” is anathema to them. A gay male character notes at one point that “there isn’t one way to be a lesbian,” but this grace isn’t extended to gay men. The ones that appear here, for the most part, seem to be typical of mainstream late-’90s sensibilities that imagined most gay men as effete, silly, and twinkish. 

This, however, is not the case with queer and masculine-presenting women. Megan genuinely enjoys cheerleading and makes a case for why there’s nothing contradictory with being a gay woman who loves this “girly” activity. Jan shows that “looking like a lesbian” actually means quite little. Meanwhile, Graham is a more masculine-presenting “tough chick” who is still able to succumb to familial and financial pressure to become more “normal” and feminine. It makes sense that a comedy hoping to have a campy tone might make its characters a bit one-dimensional; it’s just a shame that a movie so mindful of subverting stereotypes could make a habit of simultaneously playing into them.

“It’s not intellectual,” Megan says of cheerleading, “Cheers are supposed to be simple, make people feel good.” This is the character’s ethos and perhaps also the film’s. The characters tend to be one-dimensional and the humor is often predictable, but the film remains important because it attempts to say something subversive about what it means to be queer. This queerness can be extended to sexual orientation, gender presentation, or both, and, the film tells us, it is still something to be celebrated. 

1999 was an interesting year for queer films. Both Boys Don’t Cry and But I’m a Cheerleader were released almost a month apart as seeming foils for one another. One was lighthearted and the other an Academy award-nominated drama. Both were released during a codified era of homophobia in the form of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policies and bans on gay marriage. And, despite everything, these movies asked us to look at the lives of queer people even if a system like the ratings board tried to thwart that. This alone is worthy of cult status.

But I’m a Cheerleader is free to watch on YouTube Movies and TV.

The post Cult Classics: Breaking Gender Norms in ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

https://www.themarysue.com/the-10-best-one-shot-takes-in-movie-history/

The long take. The one-shot. The oner. The infamous one-shot take may go by many different names, but like art, you know it when you see it. For anyone who has never been on a film set, a one-shot take is impressive – a ballet of actors, cameras and set pieces dancing around one another with uninterrupted cinematic flair. For those who have been on a film set, a successful oner is nothing short of a miracle – a budget annihilating, sanity destroying act of Providence that can make or break a movie. Impossibly beautiful and impossible to pull off, these are the 1o best one shot takes in movie history – all in one one-take of a list.

Goodfellas

The other Greatest Mob Movie Ever™ besides The Godfather, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas gives Francis Ford Coppola’s criminal masterpiece a run for its illicitly earned money. While Coppola’s trilogy features some gorgeous takes, nothing comes close to Goodfella‘s one-shot at the Copacabana. The glitz and glamour of the mafia life is put on full display as mobster Henry Hill ushers his date through the bowels of the restaurant – from coat check to kitchen to dance floor. The sequence is seduction itself, who wouldn’t aspire to be a gangster like young Henry Hill when it means you get to live the New York City high life like this? Sure, you’ve also gotta deal with your colleagues trying to whack you and the federal government coming for your blood – but hey, sequences like this make it all worth it.