AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our April book club selection is Lessons for Survival by Emily Raboteau. We will be in conversation with Emily on April 30th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is now open. I hope you can join us!
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
L.A. Taco is in great need of your financial support to keep publishing. They’re a great local news outlet and if you’re in L.A. or care about local journalism, do help if you can. More here.
I wrote an essay about the power, reach, and frustrations of open letters.
New work friend with questions about a retiree who still pops in to gossip, a condescending colleague who projects her own insecurities, calendar sharing inequality and a boss who lies about… Wordle.
If you have a burning professional query, please do reach out to workfriend@nytimes.com.
June 7-9, I will be participating in The Loft’s 50th anniversary weekend, with intensive classes, a conversation with me and three Roxane Gay Books authors, and agent/editor consultations and pitches. Minneapolis is quite lovely in June.
My essay series, Roxane Gay Presents, with Everand has launched. First up: Julia Turshen with Built For This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting and in this video, you will learn about the queer powerlifting club she started. The second essay in this series is: You Are a Teen Mom: Instructions by Randa Jarrar. You can learn more about Randa in this video. The third essay in this series is My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living by Gabrielle Bellot. Coming soon, Good Girls by Elaine Castillo.
Megan Pillow and I wrote a little book about power called Do The Work: A Guide About Power and Creating Change. It will be out in June of this year. Pre-order, now!
READING MATERIAL
It has been 189 days since the beginning of the current war in Gaza. The bombings and fighting continue. Aid into Gaza remains inadequate and slow as people continue to be starved. Ramadan came to an end but Eid was not nearly a celebratory occasion in Palestine. As conditions worsen, so does disease. Over in Germany, of all places, a Palestinian conference was shut down. And over here, a group of activists is not letting Biden raise campaign funds without protest.
At Rutgers, the Center for Islamic Life was vandalized, on Eid.
In Haiti, a transitional council has been established to figure out the way forward from the current hellscape buuuuut this is a council formed by the U.S. so its effectiveness is… doubtful. The healthcare system in Haiti has largely collapsed and this is particularly dangerous for pregnant women. The violence continues. Foreign Policy hosted a conversation about Haiti this past week and included my favorite Haitian journalist, Jacqueline Charles. I found it interesting. As usual, white politicians panicked and decided that a bunch of Haitians would flood the U.S. but we are not a stupid people. They get CNN on the island and know Ron “Puddin’ Cup” DeSantis is a petty little tyrant who doesn’t care about anything or anyone. Anyway, it was all political conjecture shaped by racism and xenophobia. But let’s say a bunch of Haitians found seaworthy vessels to transport them the 700 miles to the U.S….. So what? Truly, so the fuck what? This country is abundant beyond imagining. It’s all pretty grim, particularly because, in general, the world does not care about Haiti. Ever. And even saying that, I know there are lots of places around the world, mired in crisis right now, that also, rightly, feel the same way.
In Sydney, Australia, a mass stabbing.
The major news networks are begging the presidential candidates to debate so people will watch their channels. I’m not sure what a debate between these particular candidates will accomplish (Groundhog’s Day) but it is election season, I suppose.
Murderer and domestic abuser O.J. Simpson, who was unrepentant until the end, died. May he rot in whatever lies beneath hell.
A conversation with Sheila Sundar. A review of an essay collection. A profile of Alan Ritchson. A profile of Lorraine O’Grady.
Julia Turshen on the Pride Podcast, talking about her essay “Built For This,” powerlifting, body image, and much more.
This year’s #1000 Words of Summer launches on June 1st with an in-person event in New York but there will also be a livestream.
How does Alison Roman not have a show on Food Network yet? This YouTube video looks better than most of their shows. Maybe I answered my own question.
A literary power throuple has a baby.
Some new frescoes were found in Pompeii.
A well-curated record collection…. and yes, it’s on a commerce-related website but Wrensilva products are gorgeous, at least.
Really, though, what are bay leaves about?
Congratulations to the 2024 Guggenheim Fellows!
More “woke” panic among white male journalists. Shocking.
The Golden Bachelor and his bride of three months are getting divorced.
Mother Jones is hiring a podcast producer.
Goddard College is closing which is a shame.
Lenny Kravitz works out in leather pants and, you know, I respect it.
The rape kit backlog in North Carolina has been cleared.
The NCAA women’s basketball championship happened. Dawn Staley and the South Carolina team won and had an undefeated season which in basketball, is simply incredible. I guess the men played too but that’s none of my business.
Alexander Chee writes about the object of his desire in The Yale Review.
An SOS actually worked for three stranded people.
The woman who sold Ashley Biden’s diary to the press is going to spend a month in prison and then a couple months on house arrest.
A social history of NYC by way of its restaurants.
In Michigan, Jennifer and James Crumbley have been sentenced to a decade in prison because their son committed a school shooting.
Across the pond, a young Black woman, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, has been cast as Juliet in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet. Predictably, people have lost their shit and harassed and tormented this poor woman. Over a fictional character. Heaven forbid a Black women be the object of someone’s affection. Anyway, hundreds of Black actors and actresses have signed an open letter in support of Francesca.
ART.
The healthcare in Louisiana’s prisons is abominable, like the living conditions in those prisons.
Jonathan Majors will avoid prison and, instead, basically has to do a year of therapy. We’ll see how that goes.
Have you noticed that car insurance keeps getting more and more expensive?
Don Lemon got married.
Rihanna, interviewed in Interview.
The Vatican, still on their bullshit, this time, with regard to the trans community.
Morgan Wallen, arrested again. A day ending in Y.
It took twenty minutes after the lil earthquake in NYC for the city to alert its residents.
New hotel idea…. asylums!