AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our October selection is We’re Alone by Edwidge Danticat, and she will join us on October 30th at the usual time. Registration is open! And you can see our conversation with Regina Porter, on YouTube when I get back from vacation because I forgot to upload it before we left. (Hello from Spain!)
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
Join me at the Circa Queer Histories festival in Los Angeles. I will be part of the closing plenary, “The Future of Queer History: LGBTQ+ Writers on the Election,” on Sunday, October 27, 2024, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre. I will be joining Eric Cervini, Justin Torres, Tre’vell Anderson and George M. Johnson in conversation.
Debbie Millman has a new book, Love Letter to a Garden, and it will be published on April 15th, 2025. Also included in the book are 10 recipes by me—a mini cookbook if you will. Pre-orders are open!
Megan Pillow and I wrote a book called Do the Work. The Tenth Anniversary edition of Bad Feminist is available. The Portable Feminist Reader is coming out on February 18th, 2025. Pre-orders are now open and it is always a huge help when you pre-order.
Details about our new writing contest and the winner and runners-up of the inaugural contest are up!
READING MATERIAL
Israel is continuing its military campaign in Lebanon which is not where the hostages are, and is also not where Hamas is. They also bombed a refugee camp in the West Bank. France’s president, Macron, has called for the world to stop selling weapons to Israel.
Alongside this, the people who survived the October 7th attacks are grappling with the aftermath, one year on. And the families of the hostages who are still in captivity, worry that their loved ones have been forgotten.
Naomi Klein with an excellent essay about where things stand a year after October 7th and how trauma is being weaponized.
At Harvard, an institution so well known for making good decisions, several students have been banned from the library after doing a study-in, in support of Palestine. And college students at many institutions feel like they cannot speak candidly about Palestine and Israel.
An essay on the media’s failings, particularly with regard to conflating believing Palestinians are humans and deserve freedom, with antisemitism.
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jon Stewart talk about his new book The Message.
We celebrated Rosh Hoshanah with friends last week and it was so lovely. Prayers were said. There was singing. There were apples and honey and then a beautiful meal. There were adorable babies with wrist rolls. It was a beautiful way to celebrate a new year. Also, I made an exceptional honey cake. I don’t mean to brag but… it really was perfect. I also made an excellent brisket.
Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, gave her first speech and said it’s time for women to rule the world. Basically.
Installment #333 in the chronicles of how the job will never love you. And sometimes, it will get you killed.
A wonderful essay from Oliver Radclyffe with advice for parents who worry about children who are gender nonconforming. It is warm and wise, like so much of Oliver’s writing.
American longshoremen went on strike demanding better pay, working conditions and no automation that will threaten their livelihoods. It’s all very reasonable and they have every right to strike given the obscene profits that shippers have made since the pandemic. But then they paused the strike so…
In Oklahoma, where they haven’t received word of the separation of church and state, they are buying 55,000 Trump bibles, out of all the versions of the bible out there, because the bible will be taught in all public schools. The grift is grifting on multiple levels.
Over in France, Giselle Pelicot continues to demand that people see what was done to her.
The vice-presidential candidates debated. It was FINE. JD Vance lied and lied and lied and tried to sound reasonable as he auditioned for the presidency once Trump croaks. Tim Walz was earnest and maybe not the greatest debater but he said things that were true and grounded in reality. He came across as decent in a very indecent election cycle. And it’s interesting that so many pundits were talking about how he “lost” the debate. That wasn’t my impression at all. I firmly believe that Trump and all the chaos and spectacle and cruelty he brings has made people forget that political contests are supposed to be normal. Debates are suppose to showcase candidates and their ideas. It’s not supposed to be a bloody battle royale. It’s not supposed to be entertainment.
The only thing MAGA republicans have are lies because the truth will never serve their ambitions. Today, they are lying about relief for victims of Hurrican Helene. I’m so fucking over it. They are the worst human beings alive. They lie. They are cruel. They say they care about families but they do nothing to actually support families. They are racist and homophobic and transphobic and xenophobic. They create horrifying fictional visions of America to serve their need for power and millions and millions of people buy into it. That’s what really kills me—they have so much support. It’s so damning. And the two political parties are not the same. They aren’t even on the same fucking planet, however flawed the Democrats can be.
Read those terms of service because lawyers sure are lawyering overtime.
In Springfield, OH, turns out it was an older white man who was hunting geese in the public park (????) not a Haitian trying to grab a goose to eat. Of course it was.
This week, I learned about Bogg bags. So many accessories, so little time.
Brandon Taylor on Knausgaard’s latest. And Andrea Long Chu tackles Sally Rooney. I’ll be honest. I’ve not yet read Rooney’s books. I recently started Normal People but I am having a bit of a hard time sticking with it. I accept that it may be my failure to get what she’s doing. I’ve no doubt she’s great given how rhapsodic people are about her work.
This year’s NBA finalists have been announced.
The New Yorker union has authorized a strike. Power to the people!
23 and Me is struggling to stay in business. When they fold, what is going to happen to all that DNA data they have?
A really… haunting and infuriating piece about how evangelicals use Christianity to justify child abuse.
David Dennis on how the WNBA should have been better prepared to support its rookies when a segment of Caitlin Clark’s fanbase used her as an avatar for bigotry and misogynoir, in particular.
Even studios are afraid of toxic fandoms which…is quite something. I think about fandoms a lot and it is interesting to see how what starts out as a love for something can become so corrupted.
RIP John Amos, one of the greatest.
Some college students are arriving on campus having never read a whole book. This is baffling to me and such a failure of our education system.
More legal trouble for Diddy. And I mean, A LOT more.
A profile of Yuri Herrera. And a profile (ish) of Chloe Gong.
Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault.
Always keep a physical copy of things you love!
The latest in that reporter/former presidential candidate scandal.
Din Tai Fung comes to New York! Food writing is so beautiful when it is good.
Congratulations to the 2024 MacArthur fellows. As ever, a fascinating group of people. I was particularly cheered to see Alice Wong and Jason Reynolds recognized.
I tried to read Sally Rooney's "Beautiful World, Where Are You?" and couldn't make it even 50 pages. The pacing was odd. There was a giant expository dump that went at a break-neck speed and didn't give me a sense of who any of the characters were or why I should care about them.
Also, the entire paragraph about MAGA Republicans is *chef's kiss*. Love all that active language. 10/10. Also totally fucking done with them and the weird impulse for people to talk like Democrats are "just as bad."
Excellent, as always. Re: the Atlantic article, I found this essay really interesting: https://open.substack.com/pub/cmsthomas/p/the-atlantic-did-me-dirty?r=3pc48&utm_medium=ios