LOVE THEM TENDER: Finding the Love in Big-Hearted Books, Movies, and TV
My name is Alexandra Hidalgo, and I’m a writer, filmmaker, and the Crow Chair and associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. In LOVE THEM TENDER, I analyze and critique the kind of optimistic, drenched-in-feelings content that makes you swoon, keeps you up at night, and lingers with you for years.
Being a storyteller myself, I understand what an arduous task it is to craft characters and send them out in the world. I provide criticism that respects the blood, sweat, and tears (so MANY tears) that go into writing books and into making movies and TV shows.
Instead of piling on the vitriol, I deliver well-researched and fun-to-watch criticism from an insider’s perspective, giving you an in-depth look at why stories move us.
Please check out our content, and subscribe, share, and comment. Let me know your thoughts. I’m always happy to go down interpretation rabbit holes with you.
Alexandra Hidalgo
As we process the shock of last week's dissolution of the Conference on College Composition and Communication - CCCC, I wrote a post on my "Love in Many Genres" Substack about the unfathomable emotional toll of losing the conference for so thousands of us who spent years building professional and personal relationships in the conference centers and hotel lobbies that hosted CCCC. #CCCC #NCTE #teamrhetoric #highereducation
The post features in words and/or images: Bill Hart-Davidson, Jeff Grabill, Patricia Sullivan, Benjamin Miller, April Baker-Bell, Melissa Ianetta, Steven Alvarez, Jennifer Sano-Franchini, Donnie Johnson Sackey, Jenny Bay, Kristin Arola, Ben Lauren, Kimberly Gail Wieser-Weryackwe, Felicita Arzu-Carmichael, Ada Hubrig, Traci Gardner, and Elizabeth Wardle. substack.com/home/post/p-208770414
1 day ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
#KristenBell and #DaxShepard (who have been together since 2007 and married in 2013) tell a wild and delightful story in Hit and Run (2012). The film is a car chase extravaganza where our lovers Annie Bean and Charlie Bronson find themselves pursued by their past, which is intent on splitting them up at any cost. Co-starring #BradleyCooper, #KristinChenoweth, Tom Arnold, #RyanHansen, Joy Bryant, #JasonBateman, #SeanHayes, and #BeauBridges, its full of quirky characters and thrilling moments. https://youtu.be/t6R7ljvhy9Y
4 days ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Thank you to Staci Perryman-Clark, Vershawn Ashanti Young, Jennifer Sano-Franchini, Donnie Johnson Sackey, and many others for keeping us updated on this bizarre, unexplained, and catastrophic decision. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help as we try to make sense of this decision and soften the blow of its aftermath. #CCCC #NCTE
5 days ago | [YT] | 3
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Alexandra Hidalgo
My #boys, mid-century modern credenzas, #happy house plants, and the #afternoon light. Now that’s a delightful combination! #motherhood
1 week ago | [YT] | 4
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Yes, the #Fifa #WorldCupFinal is a nailbiter, but the first ever Half Time Show was also fabulous! My favorite girl #Shakira, the OG #Madonna, the Muppets!!!!, children singing & #TedLasso to get our hearts melting. Not to mention my beloved #Venezuela finally made it to the World Cup albeit through #Dudamel directing the orchestra. I’m not a fan of sports, but the World Cup never disappoints. How can it now with all those countries coming together?
1 week ago | [YT] | 3
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Alexandra Hidalgo
#PeeWeesBigAdventure is one of the great classic #comedies. Directed by #TimBurton. Starring #PaulReubens as #PeeWee, the boy on a quest to recover his beloved bike, it’s one of the funniest, most inspiring and off-beat #movies to share with your kids. We rewatched as a family and decided to choose our favorite characters. https://youtu.be/b9wbB7f95zA
1 week ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
For my second post in the "with" series, I had the joy of conversing with Kelly Ballantyne and Vanessa Riley, about our experiences with family vacations and why human beings engage in this practice in the first place. We had a wonderful time reflecting on family adventures, and I think you will too if you read it. Check out our #conversation here! #Summer #Vacation #WomenWriters substack.com/home/post/p-205100080
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1
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Alexandra Hidalgo
#PeeWeeHerman, the character #PaulReubens created and embodied was as delightful and groundbreaking as a character gets. Pee-wee's worlds were full of queerness, sexual innuendos, and an unabashed belief in celebrating the weird and offbeat. For #FathersDay, my husband Nathaniel Bowler, wanted to watch the 2025 Matt Wolf documentary Pee-wee as Himself (available on Max) with me and our sons William and Santiago, which set us on a journey to think about the ways in which Nate has shared his love of Pee-wee with us despite the fact that I didn’t grow up watching him. https://youtu.be/F4fUMu-c548
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Some outtakes from our #headshot #photoshoot. Hillary Demmon, the undaunted and brilliant #photographer who captured all these images, did not color correct these, because they’re outtakes and outtakes are more fun when they’re a little messy! #Nature #Photography
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 4
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Alexandra Hidalgo
Thank you to my friend Hillary Demmon for coming all the way to my house and going to my favorite woods with me so we could get some new #headshots in one of the places that gives my life meaning. Also giving my life meaning? Such generous and multi-talented #friends as Hillary. Thank you! These #photos are from our delightful post-shoot lunch. #Nature #Photoshoot
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 5
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