WRITING + SCHOLARSHIP

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Dissertation (ongoing): “Overcoming The 1-Inch-Tall Barrier: How Neon is Transforming ‘Foreign Film’ Distribution in America.”

Chapter 5: “Beyond The 1-Inch-Tall Barrier: Unpacking Parasite’s US Reception” in anthology Squid Game and Beyond: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Asian Popular Culture, Volume 2. Palgrave McMillian, forthcoming Dec. 2024.

Master’s thesis: “Local Detail, Universal Appeal: Parasite’s “Best Picture” Win & Trends in South Korea-US Film Exchange.” University of Southern California (USC), 2020.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2026 Society of Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference in Chicago, IL.

• Paper: “Tradition, Transgression, Titane: NEON’s Cultivation of Cannes & Branding a "New" Cinephilia.”

2025 Pop Culture Association (PCA) National Conference in New Orleans, LA.

• Paper: “Neftlix’s Art Cinema Experiment: Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma & ‘The Global Auteur’”

2024 Pop Culture Association (PCA) National Conference in Chicago, IL.

• Paper: “The Kids Aren’t Alright: ‘Problem Children’ & Shifts in Child Representation in 21st Century Horror Films”

2024 Society of Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference in Boston, MA.

• Paper: “Meet the Producers: Fun, Fragmentation & (Mis)Identifcations in Transmedia TV.”

2023 Squid Game & Beyond: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Asian Popular Culture Conference, Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), New Britain, CT.

• MA thesis: “Local Detail, Universal Appeal: Parasite’s Best Picture Win & Trends in South Korean-U.S. Film Exchange”

***My full name is Donald Blake Collins. Older writing is published under my first name.

SELECT ARTICLES & ESSAYS

BITCH MAGAZINE

• One-Inch Barrier: How Americans Watch Netflix’s Squid Game Matters

• Queer People Reflect on 15 Years of Brokeback Mountain

VICE

• Doing Garfield Graffiti Makes Me Feel Better About Not Going to Art School

• For Trans People, Doctors Are Both Allies And Antagonists

• Life as a Trans Frat Bro (Book excerpt)

SALON

• A Little Less 'Conversation' A Little More Action On Trans Representation

POPMATTERS (all essays here)

• ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Queer Acceptance at the Edge of Oblivion

• What 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Taught Me About Unlearning Toxic Masculinity

• I Can Do Zat! Anton Yelchin's Star Trek Legacy

• Girlhood, Genre, & Stranger Things

PSYCH CENTRAL & HEALTHLINE (all articles here and here)

Select queer health articles:

• Everything You Need to Know About Gender Affirming Care (GAC)

• 'Man Enough': Why Masculinity Is a Risk to Everyone's Health

• Coming out LGBTQ Later in Life

• Support Hotlines for Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender-Expansive Folks

• All You Need to Know about Gender Dysphoria

• The Damaging Mental Health Effects of LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy

• How to Support Your Child Exploring Their Gender Identity

Select mental health articles:

• A Guide to Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder

• Bipolar Disorder and IQ: Is There a Link?

• The Power of Music to Reduce Stress

• Medications for Bipolar Disorder in Children and Teens

• What Is Debilitating Depression?

• How to Help Someone Who’s Having a Manic Episode

• Lingering Myths About Bipolar Disorder

Select clinical articles (as updates writer):

• Does COVID-19 Impact Osteoarthritis?

• Hyperthyroidism: Signs and Symptoms of an Overactive Thyroid

• Everything You Need to Know About Diabetes Tests

• What Is Inflammatory Rheumatism?

• Autoimmune Hepatitis

• Proto-Oncogenes Explained

• Concussion: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, & Treatment

• Corticosteroids: Uses, Types, Side Effects and Interactions
  
  
  Other bylines include NEXT Magazine, Original Plumbing Magazine, Cleaver, Literary Orphans, Beacon Broadside and more.

BOOK

At The Broken Places: A Mother & Trans Son Pick Up The Pieces
April 25, 2017, Beacon Press

A collaborative memoir by Donald and Mary Collins that honestly engages the difficult years following Donald's coming out as trans in 2011. ATBP alternates chapters from each author's point of view, and includes a substantial appendix of interviews with trans youth, parents, and professionals.

SELECTED PRESS

WNPR’s Where We Live
*Mary and Donald’s interview with Lucy Nalpathanchil for WNPR’s “Where We Live” won a 2020 Gracie Award!

Hartford Courant

Boston Globe

Toronto Star

Kirkus

Booklist (full review via subscription)

The Bay Area Reporter's "nonfiction matters" list

The Strand's trans lit spotlight

The Atlantic, Mary's Letter to the Editor

Literary Hub

SCRIPTS / FICTION

COMIC BOOK: Inferno Xtreme #1 (queer hell western, skeletons pals try to rescue a lost love)

COMIC SCRIPT: Jack Stay (supernatural thriller about a rescue diver)

TV PILOT: Willa Patterson’s Afterschool Special (hourlong dramedy/mystery about a psychic trans girl detective in a small town)

TV PILOT: Best Work (half hour comedy/mystery set at a remote artists commune)

TV SPECS: Our Flag Means Death, Parks & Recreation, Supernatural, Pushing Daisies

SHORT FICTION: Jeep, Red – Cleaver Magazine

SHORT FICTION: Don’t Give Up! – Literary Orphans