Emma Madden

Olivia Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival will bring together artists including Chappell Roan, Shirley Manson, Eli, Sarah McLachlan, Doechii, Mitski, the Breeders, Bikini Kill and Garbage at Irvine’s Great Park on 29 August. Inspired partly by Lilith Fair, the event rejects competitive festival hierarchies, gives every act equal billing and directs all net proceeds to organizations including Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Manson says the festival is especially urgent amid a global regression in women’s rights, while Roan and Eli emphasize inclusive live spaces, charitable giving and hope for future generations.

A personal essay explains why the writer repeatedly turns to the violent Saw franchise as a comfort movie. Despite finding its plot, editing, acting and moral logic flawed, the writer values its relentless intensity and uses its depictions of pain and survival almost like meditation or physical endurance. In the context of lifelong suicidal ideation, the films prompt renewed awareness of the instinct to live and the effort required to choose survival, even while the essay acknowledges the franchise’s sensationalism and limitations.