Book Review

“A GIRL’S GUIDE TO POKER”

BY RENI CANDELIER

As a lifelong poker player, it feels strange to admit that I’ve never been to a casino to play the game or traveled to Las Vegas’ famous poker casinos. Currently in my 20s, I’ve told myself that I’ll travel to Vegas for my 30th birthday, when I’ll hopefully be prepared (both financially and mentality) to gamble worry-free. I started playing poker with my cousins and siblings for fun as a child. We’d play in exchange for pennies and change we collected around the house. The feeling of being in control and simultaneously not in control during a poker game has always felt exhilarating to me. When first given the book “A Girl’s Guide to Poker” by Amanda Botfeld, I was a little skeptical by the title. I thought to myself, “Yet again, women are being compared to men by categorizing us.” However, I gave the book a chance, and I surprisingly learned not only about poker but about myself. “A Girl’s Guide to Poker” is written with a feminine touch that most women can probably relate to. Botfeld takes stereotypically female subjects and applies them to poker strategies to help readers learn how to improve their game. For example, she uses analogies like, “No-limit Texas hold’ em never gets old like Maybelline mascara.” She also adds short and fun quizzes at the end of each chapter to help memorize tips and tricks to become a better poker player.

Truth be told, this book is not intended to teach the reader the basics of poker. Instead, it’s a book that will enhance the reader’s poker skills. Before reading the book, I’d suggest knowing what full house, two-pairs, a straight, a flush and high cards mean and know which hands beat which. The book will then help you be tactical with the decisions you make throughout a game.

The life lesson I learned from reading this is that people are molded into certain characters through life lessons. As women, we are faced with certain challenges and experiences that only other women can relate too. Embracing my own feminine experiences and challenges will then help me improve the story I tell when playing poker.

RE-IMAGINING CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

TV Writer Shauna McGarry Puts a 'Woke' Spin on Comedy

BY PIERA VAN DE WIEL

March 2020 | HERS Magazine 75 C lassic Hollywood films were magical escapes for teenage Shauna McGarry. After scurrying home from school bullies, the now _-year-old said she used to find solace in watching everything from glamorous dramas to family sit-coms. However, despite her fascination with these shows, she noticed their lack of diversity and gender equality and wanted to make a change.

Today, McGarry is a TV writer with credits on popular comedy shows like “Tuca & Bertie,” “BoJack Horseman” and “Craig of the Creek.” Drawing writing inspiration from her favorite childhood shows, she now tries to “take [inspiration from] what works and feels timeless and try to forgive, leave and forget what feels archaic, sexist and racist.”

After graduating from New York University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in film production and minor in gender studies, McGarry entered an industry where TV writer’s rooms were noticeably male-driven and ruled. During her first “big break” writing jobs as a writing assistant, she decided to soak up information from her male colleagues on how to get ahead in the business as a woman. “[They taught me] how to run a show, how to not be precocious and how to craft a joke,” McGarry said.

She took that advice and put her own personal twist on it, creating her modern comedy style. In this current climate where famous comics like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock are criticizing comedy for getting “too politically correct,” McGarry continues to deliver award-winning humor while prioritizing her moral values. She chooses to listen to the complaints of comics from oppressed groups and avoid offensive jokes. “If you find yourself complaining about the sensitivities of younger comics or comics who don’t look like you, the most productive thing [to do] is look at yourself and critique your own prejudices and confusion then actively try to grow, understand and listen,” McGarry said, “Practicing how to radically listen—to different perspectives, to cadence, to meter—is everything in comedy.” This energy has attracted likeminded people. Now, she sits in more diverse writing rooms filled with people from all backgrounds. “Things are definitely changing, and I try to be very sensitive to who in the room is the sole voice being asked to represent a whole group of people,” McGarry said. “[Our fellow writers are] a team, and everyone steps in as needed.” She became a writer with a goal to comfort people who feel like outcasts, specifically young women like her teenage self. “My passion comes from a place of curiosity about how people live, love, work and think with a desire to reflect that humanity boldly and truthfully,” McGarry said.

McGarry’s passion for quality writing could also be hereditary. Her grandparents were journalists and nonfiction essayists, and their profession was always talked about reverently in their house. “I understood from an early age that [being a writer] was a powerful thing to be,” McGarry said.

When 5-year-old McGarry and her family moved to Santa Barbara, California, her mother coped with loneliness through writing. She started studying TV shows and films and passed on the knowledge to McGarry. This experience was a large inspiration for her film obsession. “She made me part of [that world],” McGarry said. Shauna at the Katy Keene writers' offices in Hollywood, CA with staff member Rebecca Hirschmann. Photo by Mia Iverson

Shauna McGarry at the Katy Keene writers' offices in Hollywood

Her love for the classics inspired her to get involved with community theater, writing plays for her friends. When her two worlds of movies and theater came together, she felt alive. “[I had] this blooming understanding that I could become the person to create these worlds of escape that I cherished so much,” McGarry said.

Just like she married movies and theater to create her destiny, she’s now combining her passion for female representation with her longtime interest in classics through her work on the new CW and HBO Max show “Katy Keene.” The “Riverdale” spin-off is based off of a 1950s Archie Comics series of the same name. It re-imagines the comics’ protagonist, a model named Katy Keene, as a young fashion designer.

Keene (Lucy Hale) shares an apartment in New York City with “Riverdale” lead Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray). The show follows the two’s adventures with Keene’s friends, Broadway performer and drag queen Jorge Lopez (Jonny Beauchamp) and writer and cunning con-artist Pepper Smith (Julia Chan). McGarry wrote the musical comedy drama’s

third episode, called “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.” She says the show has an “old world glamour, ‘Sex and the City’ vibe.”

According to McGarry, the writing room for the show was “younger and diverse.” Through her work on this show and in future opportunities, McGarry said she hopes to “inspire someone in the way [she] was inspired as a quiet, sensitive 12-year-old.”