The Audacious Round Up
Keep up with the Joel Gay Creative Fellows, Jet Toomer, Jesus Rodriguez, and Elspeth Michaels.
The September selection for the Audacious Book Club is How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo. Our conversation with Elaine takes place on September 29th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Register now! If you missed our conversation with Kirstin Chen, author of Counterfeit, you can tune in to the recording.
I am reading submissions to The Audacity’s Emerging Writer Series. Read the guidelines and submit your best writing. Submissions will be open until I have 24 essays.
Don’t Forget: Why Design Matters by Debbie Millman.
If you’re looking for a nice notebook, check out my new Draft Writing Journal from Baron Fig. It’s pretty swank if I do say so myself. (The first printing is sold out but more are on the way.)
Protests continue in Iran as women and men seek justice for Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was murdered by the Morality Police. Amini was detained for wearing her hijab “too loosely.” When Christiane Amanpour tried to interview the Iranian president, here in the United States, he insisted she wear the hijab. Amanpour refused. Meanwhile, in Iran, authorities are trying to quell the protests in exactly the ways you might expect.
Haiti is also dealing with unrest.
Performance Space New York is hosting an art show at David Zwirner and the art is for sale as a fundraiser. If you’re an art lover come on by the show. There are lots of great pieces to enjoy. If you’re a collector, there are lots of price points!
Last week I attended the U.S. Open women’s finals. It was a great game between Swiatek and Jabeur.
This man biked 870 miles for a croissant 🥐 and I understand it.
Getting to know Sharon Sprung, the artist who painted Michelle Obama’s whitehouse portrait.
The talented Yvonne Conza interviews Jonathan Escoffery about this debut collection If I Survive You.
Here is a lovely profile of Jasmine Guillory as she releases her latest novel, Drunk in Love.
The latest installment of Voices of Disability is now live with essays about disability as a part of everyday life.
Politico is hiring for their West Wing Playbook.
MEN….
Preparing for Beyoncé’s tour by any means necessary.
Neptune, girl, you’re looking gooooood.
Renowned scammer continues to scam.
Speaking of scams, someone tried to pass off a fake artwork. Intrigue ensued.
Speaking of scams, there is some DRAMA going down in the chess world.
“The corn kid,” whose name is Tariq, is thriving.
The Griffin poetry prize is going to merge the two prizes into one and it is a bad decision.
We are surveilled in all kinds of ways. And it’s disturbing as hell.
Bisexual representation.
Roger Federer is retiring after an illustrious tennis career.
New taco stand in LA to check out.
Fifty great restaurants to enjoy.
Saeed Jones’s Alive at the End of the World is available now. He is a brilliant writer so check out the book.
RIP Hilary Mantel.
Constance Wu has a new memoir out and in it she details how she survived a Twitter conflagration (among other things) in 2019. Turns out, there was more to the story (as there often is).
Elijah McClain, who was killed by Denver police, died because he was injected with Ketamine.
Stephen King reviews the new Celeste Ng.
Going deep on Nigeria’s cybersecurity problem.
What it means to be a young, black, queer artist right now.
New fiction from Amber Sparks and Kristen Arnett.
Eric Adams is full of mostly ridiculous ideas.
DeSantis tried to pull off a craven, cynical political stunt, sending a group of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. It didn’t really go as he planned but that’s not really something he cares about. I’m not sure what it says that politicians are now literally willing to use human beings as pawns but it’s not good.
Men are having surgery to be taller.
The lengths schools will go to to avoid being inclusive…
(see what I did there?)
Blah blah blah Ted Lasso drama nonstory.
Yeezy, not a big reader. Shocking.
Hans Christian Anderson was a bad house guest back in the day.
A review of The Woman King, which I loved. And Soraya McDonald also reviewed the film. And a look at the Dahomey warriors depicted in the film.
Ezra Miller seems real messy. Why they keep getting chances, I’ll never know. Oh. Wait. I think we have a clue…
Brett Favre, trash.
A profile of YiYum Li.
The founder of Patagonia has given his shares in the company to a nonprofit trust in support of fighting global warming.
A review of Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer, a forthcoming book club selection.
The Emmys happened. There were winners.
Leslie Jamison on choosing your own adventure.
Emma Straub remembers her beloved father, Peter Straub.
Benjamin Dryer on his obsession with perfection.
The tweets you curated for the round up are GOLDEN. Some need to be inscribed on impermeable surfaces. And I am excited for Less is Lost, I loved Less. All the things we need to know, thank you!
Haiti will not rest from 'unrest" until we learn our history: embrace our past/heritage, question our present and chart our own future. We have let the international community run the country for centuries because the thieves (corrupt government, oligarchs) who benefit from letting them crush our necks with their knees do not know poverty. They live well. The poor's voice is no longer audible it seems.
The unrest in Haiti seems insurmountable, yet it's quite simple. We need a REVOLUTION to get our freedom back once again. We need a voice to emerge from the mass. We need a Gran Toya, a Dessalines, a leader!!