The Audacious Roundup
For the week of March 13th
The March selection for the Audacious Book Club is Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. We will be in conversation with Lamya on March 30th at 8 pm EST/5pm PST. Registration is now open!
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.
In this week’s Work Friend, too many nipples at work, how to frame a demotion on a resumé, leaving a job where your absence will be felt, and advocating for a promotion. Dig in!
Joel Gay Creative Fellow Jesus B. Rodriguez is joining the Washington Post as a political reporter with the Style section. Very excited to see what he does there.
Hand wringing about cancel culture is nothing new.
Matika Wilbur is trying to photograph every indigenous tribe in the U.S. and there is a great profile of her in The Times.
A conversation with Massa Gessen about trans rights.
Dobbs has disrupted many medical students’ educations. Among so many other travesties.
The Great British Baking Show has a new co-host and I for one am excited.
Ice Ice Matrix (via my wife Debbie who always sends me fun things to click click click).
In an Idaho town, a hospital is shuttering its labor and delivery ward. It’s so interesting to see what supposedly pro-life people have wrought by legislating people’s bodies.
The former president could be indicted next week, and it’s not a moment too soon.
A dancing machine. Let the rhythm move you!
RIP Lance Reddick, who elevated everything he was ever in. This is such a loss. He seemed like a wonderful man.
An interview with Law Roach about why he is retiring as a celebrity stylist.
MacDowell is hiring a finance director!
There have been some really bewildering, ridiculous and enraging AITAs lately!
I have a soft spot for Ben Affleck and this was a great interview in The Hollywood Reporter.
AI + Gmail seems like a disaster in the making.
As the 2024 race warms up, we’re going to start hearing more stories about the various candidates with odd eating habits, anger problems, etc.
A conversation with Zaya Wade.
Here’s the lineup for the 2023 Los Angeles Festival of Books.
A state legislator in Nebraska has been filibustering for three weeks to impede anti-trans legislation.
Recipes, unwritten and written, and the shape of our cooking lives.
A profile of Djimon Hounsou, who has had quite a difficult journey through Hollywood.
New essay from Saskia Vogel, “Beyond Deep Throat, Part 1.”
As the feminist media sphere shrinks, where are feminists supposed to publish their work?
On those stolen, unpublished manuscripts… the guy seems pretty harmless and his excuse is weirdly sweet.
What Andrew Tate means to young men.
Another day, another GOP politician doing one thing in public while lurking in the closet.
Beyond land acknowledgments.
A profile of Catherine Lacey.
“False Star,” a short story by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain.
Soraya McDonald goes hard on why we need a better alternative to the Oscars.
Zoe Whittall on dating a pathological liar.
Millennials are becoming middle-aged, and it may not look the way they expected.
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and then Signature Bank collapsed and it seems like that’s pretty bad! I don’t want to hear shit about student loan debt relief ever again because once again, banks (wealthy people, mostly) are being bailed out.
This profile of Kelly Link was so very charming.
Good news! Women can swim topless in Berlin.
The Oscars happened. The ceremony was way too long. There were some disappointments. There were some real triumphs. Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress, and congratulations to her; she stays fine. My friend Pamela was robbed.
What Michelle Yeoh taught a writer about motherhood.
This one time, an editor wrote a novel.
An interesting essay from Justin Chang about Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.
Over in the UK, a BBC sportscaster, Gary Lineker, was suspended for daring to share a moderate opinion but' it’s all okay now.
What happens when you grow up as one of those kids who make content out of your childhood?
Three women in Texas are being sued by the inseminator of a woman who they helped get abortion medication. It’s all so macabre but this is where we’ve been headed for some time now.
Nathan Englander on his relationship to Tom Cruise over the years.






I see Idaho made the roundup again (I live in Moscow, Idaho). It's been rough lately. Thank you for paying attention!
“A soft spot for Ben Affleck” makes you so endearing and mysterious