The Audacious Roundup
For the week of February 16th
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our February selection is The Age of Calamaties by Senaa Ahmad. We will have a live book club discussion with Senaa on February 25th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there.
For newcomers, there is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works. We’re partnering with the lovely people at Allstora for the Audacious Book Club. Now, you can sign up to have the monthly selections delivered to your doorstep each month! Otherwise, I’ve put together an Audacious Book Club storefront if you want to buy current or forthcoming book club titles.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
An awesome review of Sara Levine’s Hitch in The Wall Street Journal.
Book and project links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The Forgotten Occupation.
READING MATERIAL
The Supreme Court said that Trump doesn’t have the authority he thinks he does to create all these ridiculous tariffs. He doesn’t really care.
In The Guardian, an essay about why gender studies programs shutting down is tied to the Epstein files.
Kristy Noem is playing stupid games with TSA Precheck and Global Entry. May she win stupid prizes.
This one time, a comedian made an ICE deportation tip line and people snitched on friends, neighbors, and even kids. It’s a very sick country here, right now.
Is Purdue banning Chinese students?
Cybertrucks arent’ selling so well. Love this song.
Mark Zuckerberg continues to… be Mark Zuckerberg.
A slavery exhibit in Philadelphia has been restored after the Trump regime had it taken down in their futile bid to erase American memory.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his birthday for being a pedo. Peter Attia has finally stepped down from CBS News because he was friends with a pedo.
South Korea’s former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, will spend the rest of his life in prison for doing crimes.
The BAFTAs happened. Awards were won but also, John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s, said the N-word to Black people, three times over the course of the night, one of which was during the taped broadcast. The BBC chose not to edit it out though they did edit out a winner saying, “Free Palestine.”
In Mexico, violence after the head of one of the cartels was killed.
Anderson Cooper has left 60 Minutes after two decades of reporting for them.
A group of skiers in Tahoe died in an avalanche.
All about Will Lewis, the guy, who at Bezos’s behest, ruined The Washington Post.
Pilates culture may be a wee bit toxic.
Speaking of toxic, why is the media so obsessed with the Clavicular guy?
If you care about such things, there’s husb pill.
Nick Reiner has plead not guilty for killing his parents.
The Olympics are over. Interesting things happened. Alysa Liu won gold in women’s figure skating. The women’s hockey team won gold. Eileen Gu won multiple medals and deftly handled silly questions. Lindsey Vonn shares the extent of her injuries and how she almost lost her leg. There’s a cameraman who skates alongside skaters to get the best shots. The guy who “runs” the FBI basically had a frat party with the men’s hockey team. A very good dog had a moment of glory.
A profile of Harry Melling. Isaac Mizrahi’s Grub Street diet. A dispatch from San Francisco. A look at Heated Rivalry, the fandom, the fan fiction, and more. A conversation with Tony Gilroy, the creator of Andor. A profile of Tayari Jones. A conversation with Miss J.
A eulogy for The Washington Post’s book section. And another one.
The CEOs are getting younger!
Hershey’s is messing with the Reese’s recipe! Call Interpol! Send help! SOS!
Stop defending your shitty husbands and boyfriends.
Shia LeBouef, noted shitty boyfriend, was arrested in New Orleans.
There’s a real gem of a man in Austria who has twice now abandoned girlfriends on a mountain, leaving them to die.
As an antidote, lovely man Josh Gondelman writes about the pleasures of marriage.
Chefs reflect on the excellence that is jollof rice.
When book influencers choose what a publisher publishes.
A queer writer learns to two-step at a queer country bar. Fun story: I met one of my exes at gay country night at our local gay bar in Nebraska. Yee fucking haw. I can line dance like a mofo.
The allure of food diaries and what they tell us about people.
There’s an ANTM docuseries on Netflix and um… it’s certainly interesting but as someone who watched the show when it aired, very little surprised me. You could always see what the show was and wasn’t about. Also, Tyra doesn’t come off looking great.
The LA Times has shared its 2025 book prize finalists and honorees.
RIP Jesse Jackson, who led civil rights and did a lot of good in the world. RIP McSteamy, AKA Eric Dane. RIP Robert Duvall. RIP Willie Colón. RIP Frederick Wiseman.
Bad Bunny, bringing salsa back. Did it ever really leave?
For want of the perfect chocolate cupcake.
Baldwin for the Arts is accepting fellowship applications until April 18th!
I wouldn’t mind a sleepcation.
The women who serve dim sum.
THE RUMPUS WEEK IN REVIEW
Essays:
Neighborly by Mark Bessen
We Never Needed Each Other by Maggie Lam
Grief Makes Nothing Happen by Liza Katz Duncan
Poetry:
Casino by Christian Paulisich
Two Poems by Cate Lecurgus
Interviews:
An Interview with Silvian Moreno-Garcia by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
A Conversation with Ivonne Lamazares by Annell López