The Audacious Round Up
Keep up with the Joel Gay Creative Fellows, Jet Toomer, Jesus Rodriguez, and Elspeth Michaels.
The October selection for the Audacious Book Club is Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi. Our conversation with Omolola takes place on October 26th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Register now! Our conversation with Elaine Castillo is now up!
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.
Debbie also has a new project, The Remarkable Life Deck, if you want to think through what the next decade of your life could look like. The cards are really beautiful and this is such a valuable exercise for looking ahead and taking stock of where you are. I don’t say that lightly. Normally, this isn’t my kind of thing but The Remarkable Life Deck is excellent.
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 AND back in stock.
I’m doing a “master of craft” talk on November 9th and you can register, now.
What is the possible future of male birth control?
I really enjoyed (for lack of a better word) this story about the rise and fall of Siegfried and Roy.
A short story collection I edited in my final year of curating the Flannery O’Connor Prize for UGA Press is now out. It’s called Light Skin Gone to Waste and it’s a collection of interlinked stories about a family living in the predominantly white town of Monroe, NY. Check out these reviews in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Publisher’s Weekly, Washington Post, and Bookpage.
There are many, many stories about James Corden and each one is… unflattering. Now, he is in some kind of thing with Balthazar. It’s pretty funny except that the targets of his entitlement work their asses off for a pittance and deserve so much better.
In case you think slavery was something that happened a long, long time ago….
The chess drama continues. And it’s just so strange.
Morgan Parker on Toni Morrison writing Jazz.
We’re headed back to Chucalisa! Season Three of P-Valley cometh.
I don’t think media loves anything more than analyzing media. Today’s inquiry, newsletters. Heh.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Kevin DeLéon inexplicably refuses to resign.
The DRIP on these elders.
John Jeremiah Sullivan reviews Cormac McCarthy’s new book(s) and it’s an excellent review of books that sound… interesting.
Parents in school districts are doing the absolute most. And the kinds of people who would torment a kid who just wanted to paint a mural and spread some joy, should be ashamed. And much more.
The Hollywood Reporter profiles Lupita N’yongo.
Audie Cornish’s new podcast from CNN audio will debut in November.
Excellent theatre critic Diep Tran is the new editor of Playbill.
Cindy Gallop loves being single and dating men in their twenties. God bless her for having that kind of patience.
Soon you can buy weed at Circle K. The future many people have yearned for is finally here.
There has been a lot of Broadway gossip lately. Sara Porkalob is starring in the 1776 revival and in an interview, she dared to say that not everything has gone well with regard to race and now people are ostracizing her. Diep Tran profiles Porkalob and offers a far more nuanced look at the artist and what she really thinks.
The woman who created Princess Leia’s look would like some acknowledgment.
There’s a new publication promising to do media differently.
Anna May Wong is going to be on the quarter!
An interview with Carly Rae Jepsen who has new album out.
L.A. Taco lists the eight best night markets in L.A.
A week in the life of someone who has a joint income of $895,000 per annum, with her husband.
Sometimes, I really wonder about the Internet. A woman posted on Twitter about how she enjoys a leisurely coffee in the morning with her husband and boy did it bring out a lot of bitterness. It is strange to see the small happinesses some people would like to deny others.
A black hole is acting up and… that movie doesn’t end well.
I have never liked AirBnB because hotels are great. And now people are seeing the light.
I am always fascinated by the music created for reality TV shows and Lifetime movies and so on and here’s a look at a woman who writes many of those songs.
A new short story from Lindsay Hunter.
Black Southern food is not killing us—a really great look at what this cuisine is and is not. And Black country music is not a fad.
Biden’s running again. Which of course he is. Who really believed he wouldn’t? Geriatric presidency is all the rage.
A review of Rob Delaney’s memoir A Heart That Works.
Michaela Cole covering Vogue. Stunning.
Rafia Zakaria writes about how feminism has to be more than encouraging women to be empowered in the bedroom or boardroom.
The NPR story about the mural made me so angry. That is not Christianity--I’m Jewish but I’m pretty sure Jesus did not ask anyone to bully teen artists. 😥
I agree that it's time for better male birth control options, but also concerned about leaving it to men. They came up with "stealthing," after all. And there are no consequences for lying about it. Hell, there are barely consequences for rape.