2024: A Royal Review

Introducing a brand-new podcast

Dec 26, 2024

Note: I started drafting this post on Dec. 23rd.

We got the call on Christmas Eve that my grandmother had died.

It was expected, but also completely and utterly unexpected. I find some degree of comfort in the fact that she got to spend Christmas with Norm. I just deeply regret that I cannot witness their reunion and know that they are ok.

It’s been 13 months since my grandfather died and my world was upended. I’ve learned in that time to not allow grief to consume me or to treat my grief like a party of one. I’ve learned to cry when I need to—wherever I am and whoever I’m with. I take breaks from work when necessary, but I always keep going. I keep going because more than anything my grandparents would have wanted that for me.

My grandmother was born at a time and into a family where it was unfathomable that she would go to college, work full-time, and raise children. Despite our very different realities she was continuously amazed by all I did. “And as a mothahhh”, she’d exclaim in her thick Boston accent.

So this first episode is for my grandmother, Beverly Constant.

“Why don’t we have a podcast?” I asked

Amanda Matta

after another delightful Substack episode of our reoccurring Matta x Meredith Mashup series.

“Yeah, why don’t we?”

So…

We started a podcast!

Introducing Off with Their Headlines, a fresh, fearless perspective to modern news & culture.

Our first episode looks at the year that was, a breakdown of two Prince Andrew articles, plus some fashion asides.

With TikTok most likely going away in Jan., now more than ever feels like the right time to launch this podcast. Plus, we can have more control over our content.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and—if you want more—check out our Patreon! (Honestly, just check it out for the names and descriptions of the tiers alone. We had way too much fun making them.) We’re going to drop a little preview of our Patreon next week with a Royal Christmas movie recap that is part Miss. Congeniality, part Mary Poppins and my delightfully unhinged conspiracy about the movie.

So much more to come in 2025 and hopefully a lot more joy.

-Meredith