The Audacious Roundup

For the week of September 4th

Our September book club selection is Witness by Jamel Brinkley. We will be in conversation with Jamel on September 22nd at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is open.

If you’re looking for a nice notebook, check out my Draft Writing Journal from Baron Fig. It’s pretty swank if I do say so myself. To accompany my Draft Writing Journal, there is now a pen! It’s beautiful and satisfying to hold. And if you’re looking for some writing instruction, you might want to check out my Masterclass. Debbie Millman’s Remarkable Life Deck is a useful tool for taking stock and looking forward.

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Debbie and I are taking her incredible podcast, Design Matters, on the road. We will be co-hosting live episodes in Brooklyn (September 18th), Boston (September 19th), Washington D.C. (September 20th) and Philadelphia (September 21st). You can BUY TICKETS HERE! And even if you can’t make it, it would be a huge help if you could spread the good word to your friends and frenemies in those cities! In New York, we will be in conversation with brilliant comedian Roy Wood Jr. and co-creator of Radio Lab Jad Abumrad. Then we’ll head up to Boston to talk with bestselling author Celeste Ng. In D.C., we’re talking to the woman with her finger on the pulse of all things tech, Kara Swisher and last but never least, we will be talking with the one and only, journalist extraordinaire, Audie Cornish in Philadelphia.

In this week’s Work Friend, a lying co-worker, inappropriate workwear, covering for a colleague in need, and more.

In Morocco, a devastating earthquake has taken thousands of lives.

There’s a new issue of Hammer and Hope.

Fifty years on, where is hip hop?

Anne Helen Peterson tried to live like a #tradwife for a week. The results were… interesting.

There’s an Ed Ruscha exhibition at MOMA if you’re in NYC.

Elon Musty and Grimes have welcomed a third child and… you won’t believe the kid’s name. And here’s a chapter from the forthcoming biography, Musty.

Black churches in Florida are going to teach Black history no matter how much DeSantis tries to ignore reality. Speaking of that pudding eater, his campaign did a stupid ad on Twitter inviting people to sign his birthday card, and, well, it went about as well as you’d expect.

Luis Rubiales has finally resigned as the head of Spanish football. SMH.

The effects of CTE on people who played football as children.

In an absolutely thrilling U.S. Open final, Coco Gauff beat Sabalenka in three sets! And she told her haters to suck it, but classy like. On the whole, Coco seems like a lovely young woman.

The University of Iowa is hiring a fiction writer for their undergrad creative writing program.

Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for rape. Many of his famous friends wrote letters in his defense and, well, that kicked up some dust on some of their dirty deeds. After significant backlash, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologized but… man, it looked kind of ridiculous.

A profile of a (white) family “torn apart” after the father was part of the January 6th insurrectionists. The whole thing is wild and that’s all I will say about that.

Meanwhile, Enrique Tarrio, who seemingly forgot that he is brown, has been sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. He’ll remember now, I reckon.

Who among us…

Two white teenagers tried to drown a black child who was, purportedly, their friend. One of the miscreants called the drowning boy George Floyd. There were witnesses. And now, one of them is being charged with a felony. Clearly, the racists aren’t dying out. They’re creating a new generation.

In gerontocracy news, Nancy Pelosi is going to run for office again next year. Of course she is.

Larenz Tate, still fine.

How a writer had to reimagine herself and her relationship to her craft after she could no longer write manually.

Ava Duvernay was the first African American woman to enter a film into the competition at the Venice Film Festival. In 2023!

An excellent, very short story by Amy Cipolla Barnes.

A conversation about the podcast Great Grief and creating space for Black women’s grief.

The manhunt in Pennsylvania for a murderous dude who basically crabwalked up a wall and out of the prison, continues!

Warner Bros paused most of their overall deals but Greg Berlanti has committed $500,000 to the relief fund despite that shady move by the studio.

Joe Jonas’s PR team continues to try and make Sophie Turner look bad but they’re doing such a lousy job that now many of us are convinced that he did something reallll bad to try to smear his soon-to-be ex.

Looks like Jimmy Fallon is not great behind the scenes. Is every successful, famous person terrible?

A deep dive on the troublesome blurb industrial complex. I will say, though, that blurbs do help sell books and I only blurb books I really enjoy and am comfortable attaching my name to. Also, I read the books I blurb.

A conversation with John Milas, author of The Militia House.

Gym Jordan tried to interfere in D.A. Fani Willis’s work to indict Trump and friends, and whew, she sent him a fairly eviscerating letter. As a reminder, though, she is not a hero. She is doing her job, one that regularly incarcerates Black people at disproportionate rates, in unspeakable conditions.

That young woman with the stolen Tabis? You can hear from her in Vogue!

Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalized abortion.

The U.S. remains wildly inconsistent in their foreign policy, deporting Haitians back to Haiti, which they say is too dangerous

Some guy named Zach Bryan was arrested in Oklahoma.

An oral history of one of my favorite shows, The Amazing Race, season one.

A conversation with Myriam Gurba.

Guys, let’s just be honest about it: he is talented, I’m sure, but Drake is a very odd duck and sometimes does things that seem serial killer adjacent.

Rotten Tomatoes is… rotten.

A profile of the one and only dream hampton. And as a refresher, here is her profile of Jay-Z.

Air BnB is mostly now banned in NYC as the city enacts new restrictions.

Rockstars are bringing their kids on stage. I think it’s sweet.

A conversation with Halle Bailey.

Heh. Workers plowed through the Great Wall of China to make a shortcut. Relatable, tbh.

New poem from Ada Limon in The New Yorker.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour is absolutely a breathtaking experience. On her 42nd birthday, she had lots of gratitude to share with the audience.

Extreme heat has many risks including to schizophrenics.

Bring back 90’s legal thrillers!

A review of the new Apple series, The Changeling based on Victor LaValle’s novel!

A Delta flight had to return to ATL after a passenger had diarrhea all over the plane. Bless that poor person. I hope they are doing okay now. It could happen to anyone. I have all the empathy in the world for them.

Hmmm. P. Diddy reverted publishing rights to the Bad Boy artists and songwriters. Curious. Good, but curious.