The Audacious Round Up

For the week of January 2nd

Jan 9

The January selection for the Audacious Book Club is Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor. We will be in conversation with Deepti on January 25th at 5 pm EST/2pm PST. Registration is now open! If you missed our conversation with Ava Homa, you can watch it now.

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 created 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.

And if you’re looking for some writing instruction, you might want to check out my Masterclass.

Writer Brooklyn White and her family suffered a house fire and lost all their belongings. Please help them rebuild!

In this week’s Work Friend column, I wrote about rethinking who we are in relationship to the work we do.

Blah blah blah poetry died or something but I’m certain poets did not know this as they are still poeming.

How seven writers spent their New Year’s Eve.

Here are 62 books by women of color you should put on your to-read list for 2023. There’s also a list of LGBTQ books to look forward to this spring. And from Vulture, 31 books to read. So many lists, so many books, so little time.

Supreme (court justice) Ketanji Brown Jackson is writing a memoir!

RIP Adam Rich, from Eight is Enough. He was 54.

Pasadena is getting a new bookstore that focuses on books from people of color!

El Presidente is headed to El Paso to visit the border for the first time as el presidente.

An incredible essay from Naomi Jackson on losing her mind and finding her way back to herself.

A writer, Susan Meachen, faked her own death and then resurrected herself and tried to make that seem like a totally reasonable thing.

Gay activist and designer Edwin Chiloba was murdered in Kenya and one of his friends is in custody. It is a real shame.

There’s

and well, do what you want but honestly you look perfect as you are. Leave your buccal fat or whatever it is alone.

Fraudster George Santos continues to be exactly who you think he is. And now he has piqued the interest of Brazilian authorities who have reopened a case against him.

Hakeem Jeffries made quite the speech in Congress after the Speaker vote debacle. The old white dudes were about to come to BLOWS over Matt Gaetz’s antics. Basically, this was a hostage situation and in the end McCarthy negotiated with terrorists which means he will be the most powerless Speaker in history. Congrats Kev!

Speaking of, it has been two years since the January 6th insurrection.

These houses encased in ice seem like something out of a movie but it happened!

At long last, De La Soul is FINALLY coming to streaming.

Hollywood diversity efforts have stalled. Because of course.

Interesting piece about Black women seeking more representation in the church.

The Dodgers have finally, finally cut ties with Trevor Bauer.

Looks like Matt Schlapp, the CPAC guy, is a predator.

Jen Shah, a real housewife in balmy Salt Lake City, is headed for the klink. In The Baffler, an interesting examination of real housewives, Shah, moving images and more.

Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in the early minutes of the Bills game with the Cincinnati Bengals. It was terrifying to witness. I can only imagine how his family and friends felt. After nine or so minutes of CPR he was resuscitated and rushed to the hospital and then the NFL was like, hey guys, get back on the field in five minutes and the coaches and players were like nah and an hour later, the NFL finally postponed the game. The good news is that Hamlin is recovering.

The leaks from Prince Harold’s book are juicy and I have that shit pre-ordered. I will be reading it as soon as it drops on my kindle and tomorrow, I am headed to a bookstore in the city to grab a physical copy.

Granta is hiring a new editor.

Sabri al Qurashi was released from Guantanamo and sent to Kazakhstan where he has no legal status. His life is… grim.

A profile of couple’s therapist Oma Guralnik. I love her show, tbh.

How the TikTok aesthetic has taken over.

A writer found some plus size alternatives to Bella Hadid’s ‘fits.

Get you some of the best paella in Los Angeles.

Dave Bautista is glad to be out of the Marvel universe. He’s ready for more challenging roles.

Zeitgeist, a San Francisco dive bar, has been around for four decades. And it’s still going.

A CD-Rom archive.