AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our August selection is The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza. We will be in conversation with Alex on August 29th and registration is open. Please do join our bookclub discussions when the threads are posted. We have great conversations and all are welcome. Also, if you missed our conversation with Gretchen, you can watch it online.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
August 24-25, I will be in Sydney, Australia, speaking at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. I’ll also be at the Wheeler Center in Melbourne on August 27th!
My essay series, Roxane Gay Presents, with Everand has launched. First up: Julia Turshen with Built For This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting and in this video, you will learn about the queer powerlifting club she started. The second essay in this series is: You Are a Teen Mom: Instructions by Randa Jarrar. You can learn more about Randa in this video. The third essay in this series is My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living by Gabrielle Bellot. The fourth essay in this series is Good Girls: Notes on Dog Rescue by Elaine Castillo. You can learn more about Elaine in this video. The final essay, by me, is called Stand Your Ground, and it will be out soon!
Megan Pillow and I wrote a book called Do the Work, out now.
I’ve been working on the Portable Feminist Reader for years now and it is finally done and coming out on February 18th, 2025. I am excited to share with you a book featuring some incredible feminist writing. Pre-orders are now open and it is always a huge help when you pre-order.
Coming sooooon, another writing contest for paid subscribers. Thank you to all who entered our inaugural competition. We are reading and enjoying your essays!
East Bay Booksellers has been devastated by a fire. Please contribute to their GoFundMe if you can.
A UN report states that Palestinian detainees have been subjected to truly horrific treatment since October 7th. Far right Israeli militants are defending the IDF’s right to rape Palestinian detainees. As is often the case, this is an absolutely surreal, repulsive reality to address but we sure cannot ignore it. Masha Gessen wrote this sobering piece on sexual violence as a weapon of war on October 7th and in the months since. These are the stories of some of the students in Gaza who should be studying and graduating but can’t because every university in Gaza has been destroyed.
The presidential campaigns continue apace. Biden dropped out. Here’s how some young people feel about that. Lots of people, from diverse demographics, are turning out to support VP Kamala Harris. There is a lot of uncertainty but maybe also optimism! It turns out that simply calling Republicans weird, which they are, is very effective. There is a lot of speculation about who Harris will pick for her VP. She has, of course, made some statements about Gaza but they aren’t much different from what Biden has said. Still, I am encouraged by her candidacy, the opportunity to push her further left, and how her running shows reflects that we don’t have to wait for several election cycles to agitate for changing our absolutely messed up system and what it means to be “politically viable.”
Trump sort of backed out of the ABC debate in September and now wants to have it on FOX. JD Vance maybe fucked a couch. Elon Musty is trying to interfere in a variety of ways including contributing to this PAC that purports to register voters in swing states but merely collects data, probably for nefarious purposes. Now that PAC is being investigated in Michigan. Trumpet is even more corrupt than we thought. The former president told some Christians they won’t have to vote after 2024 which… WTF? He also attended the NABJ, his interview was cut short by his team, he was rude and worse to the Black women interviewing him, and he shouldn’t have been platformed in the first place. That said, he did share the gem that Harris “turned Black.” He also continued to share his thoughts on “Black jobs.” Biden has some ideas about reforming the Supreme Court. The director of Project 2025 is stepping down. Mike Johnson had to tell his caucus to chill on the racism and misogyny.
The director of the Secret Service resigned.
Michigan has banned the gay panic defense.
Ballerina Farms, a prominent TikTok influencer, has a lousy husband (IMO). Trad wives have trad husbands, let’s not forget.
An essay from Lauren Hough on the importance of eliminating the tipped minimum wage and increasing the federal minimum wage for everyone to a living wage.
Pete Wells is stepping down as the Times food critic but the way he announced it was via a lousy fat joke. Exhausting. I also appreciated this essay by Virginia Sole-Smith about the messages he sent with his announcement.
An examination of the prosecutor vs felon framing which… alienates a lot of voters and is unnecessarily pejorative to a lot of people.
Navigating an adult autism diagnosis by one of my favorite essayists.
The food Olympic athletes bring with them from home.
A profile of Jeremy O. Harris. A conversation with Vince Vaughn, Libertarian. A profile of Larry Gagosian.
Politicians shift when we pressure them to. See: Biden dropping out of the race.
When a parent is prosecuted for their child’s crime.
Sometimes you go to Costco in Cancun.
The Spruceton Inn is accepting applications for its artist residency.
It is James Baldwin’s centennial. There is a podcast (on which I appeared), a new box set of his work (to which I contributed an introduction for Go Tell It on the Mountain) and much more. The NYPL is celebrating, too. Penguin Random House has created a fiction award, in Baldwin’s name, for high school writers.
Check out this documentary about FREER, a record label for prison-impacted musicians. They do incredible work.
Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and others being held by Russia have been released.
The most surprising thing I learned when I first moved to L.A. is that there are oil fields in the city.
I’m glad Bill Ackman’s IPO failed. He is an asshole.
The Olympics are happening. A guy with glasses is very good at the pommel horse. Simone Biles has won a bunch of medals. Snoop Dogg is doing things at the Olympics. A man with a sizable… dongle had a mishap. Boxer Imane Khelif, a woman, was accused of being a man, transphobes including the Harry Potter lady have run fucking wild with it, and this accomplished woman is having her Olympic moment marred by utter bullshit. Flavor Flav, who is sponsoring the U.S. women’s water polo team, also paid the rent of another Olympian and then Alexis Ohanian joined in on the fun. These soccer football lesbians have been dating for eight years.
The Astor Place Starbucks is closing.
About friendship breakups.
Another victim of Alice Munro’s husband has come forward and she maybe thought her husband was a murderer. Lots to unpack there.
Here is a list of books banned statewide in Utah.
The question of what happened to Ice Cube is a good one.
Neil Gaiman is facing more allegations of sexual assault.
Bill & Ted are going to have an excellent adventure on Broadway, waiting for a fella named Godot.
A gay couple from Supermarket Sweep are still together!
Are there problems with the team at Pod Save America? Hmmm.
The CEO of GLAAD spends a lot of money.
These behind-the-scenes details about Mr. Beast and his whole shtick are grim.
An alarming story about online scammers who themselves are victims.
Some astronauts are a little stuck in space.
A look at what’s going on in Euphoria land.
An interesting essay on nourishment.
This was a really rich collection of links. I always appreciate new perspectives on events I know about as well as learning about new things.
I've been meaning to look into this question, but haven't come across an answer. Is this new Do the Work related to Kamau Bell's book or is it just a coincidence?