What happens when the comedies that once made us laugh now make us ache? In this essay, I revisit National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Planes, Trains and Automobiles — two holiday classics that once celebrated middle-class comfort — and see something different. The decline of stability, the disappearance of family gatherings, and the quiet heartbreak of realizing that Cousin Eddie was never really the joke.

"My life was built on someone else’s loss, and nobody would let me talk about it." - from "The Girls That Went Away"

In this episode, host Katie Madonna Lee explores the haunting history of baby scoop era homes for unwed mothers—and how their echoes linger today.

Through Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix and The Girls That Went Away by Anne Flesser, Katie examines how shame, secrecy, and control shaped generations of women—and how those same forces still shape our culture’s view of motherhood, morality, and choice.

Cillian Murphy gives a breathtaking and heartbreaking performance in Small Things Like These, watch next https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SScFWkkxAig V I D E O S T O W A T C H N E X T : Limerence & The Parasocial Relationship: A personal video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwdnPrFxYPM Sinead O'Connor: Joan of Arc as a Pop Star: A Video Essay, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SScFWkkxAig Irish Catholic - Feature Film Movie Trailer •. https://youtu.be/R-_rRfmP2Wk?si=2W_zhXp-nUJohx2S 👉 Watch the crusty punk feature film, "Irish Catholic" full movie https://youtu.be/YrEobhdZXyQ?si=icrKDr4mzaGDpegn 👉 Listen to "Confess Yourself Podcast" on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2leLL8ssPFB5UIGbEdd5zd?si=8e53a0805b2b42e6