The Audacious Roundup
For the week of February 2nd
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. If you missed our conversation with Sara Levine, it is now online.
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
For The New York Times, I wrote about how we cannot compromise on what we believe and who we are, as we fight Trump and his lunacy.
There will be a screening of The Forgotten Occupation, a documentary I exec produced, on February 20th at the Brooklyn Children’s museum. Tickets here!
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 Bad Bunny concert was absolutely wonderful, layered with nuance, gorgeously, brilliantly political, and most of all, it was entertaining. Even though he sometimes mumbles (to my old ass ears), he is so charismatic and talented. And also DTMF was a great album. Also, Ricky Martin still has it, could get it, and always will.
Trump, an avowed racist, posted a video of the Obamas as apes. Disgusting, predictable. We’re days away from a hard “er.” At first, the White House dismissed concerns. Then they said it was a “staffer.” Then the video was deleted. Then Trump was like, hell yes I posted the video and refused to apologize. Anyway, it’s racism! It was always the racism! But this time it was so bad that even Tim Scott was like, goddamn! That was racist! Meanwhile, the bible warned us about this.
Are the cultural institutions in D.C. going to survive Trump? Not optimistic on this front.
ICE continues to menace Minneapolis and the good people of Minneapolis and Minnesota more broadly continue to stand against fascism. Renee Good’s wife spoke and highlighted that Renee wasn’t the first nor will she be the last person murdered by ICE.
A judge has temporarily stayed the end of TPS protection for Haitians.
On AOC’s ongoing political evolution.
The Melania documentary received scathing reviews.
Mike Tyson, registered sex offender, wants us to know he hates fat people and so does our government. Thanks for sharing, Mike!
Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi was sentenced to another seven years in prison in Iran.
A profile of Nancy Mace, still terrible.
The Washington Post which I’m not sure is even a newspaper anymore, has laid off a third of its staff. Martin Weil worked there for sixty years, and was still laid off.
Bitcoin’s value is falling.
Peleton is also doing mass layoffs and so are many other companies.
There are millions more Epstein files that have been released and a bizarre coalition of men, across all walks of life, appear in them. The common denominator? Well. We already knew that.
In L.A., Nithya Raman is running for mayor. This is interesting!
New York, a frozen tundra.
Ring has basically created a massive surveillance system that a lot of us unwittingly (or not) opted into. During the Bad Bunny concert, they aired a commercial about how they can find missing pets with their network but like, we all know law enforcement is going to be using that system and already are. (See: ICE)
The Winter Olympics have started. The athletes are athleting. But… picture it. You work your whole life, train, push your limits and win an Olympic medal. And then, because it’s shoddily made, it breaks when you jump up and down while wearing it! The Haitian Olympic uniforms are amazing and the IOC made them remove imagery of Toussaint L’Ouverture because it was “political.” J.D. Vance was, rightfully, booed. Lindsey Vonn was competing with a torn ACL, and had a truly horrific crash, was airlifted to a hospital and underwent surgery for a broken leg. A lot of armchair skiers are second guessing her decision to compete but… elite athletes often compete while dealing with injury, right or wrong. As an aside, when the winter Olympics come around, I always think of Surya Bonaly, a GOAT. The “Quad God” was not the first person to do a flip and land on one skate. Put some RESPECT ON HER NAME!
When a woman is killed, it’s the husband/boyfriend/lover! Most of the time!
Savannah Guthrie’s mom Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped (?) from her home in Arizona and is being held for ransom (?) but a lot of the details are sketchy and at least publicly, there doesn’t seem to be any proof of life. It’s really horrible, all around.
In New Mexico, Timothy Busfield has been indicted on sexual abuse charges.
When in doubt, bake your own birthday cake.
A Doberman pinscher won the Westminster Dog Show.
Linda Holmes offers some thoughts on Season 2 of The Pitt.
In Pearland, TX, a Hindu temple, and much more.
Audiences are not interested in AI entertainment. It’s dumb! We don’t care!
Those self-driving cars aren’t so self-driving. There’s always a human being, somewhere, behind these technologies that are purportedly autonomous.
Nonfiction book sales are struggling. Why oh why?
I don’t really watch daytime television but Kelly Clarkson is ending her show. Alas.
This was an interesting look at how Amazon packages travel from warehouse to doorstep.
Who is allowed to smell bad? This is a fascinating question because, well, we know why.
This was a weird piece about a scammer who “writes” books using AI, condescends to romance readers, and sells her schlock to other people who also want to not write but make a little bit of money by putting nonsense into the world.
Speaking of scammers, these predatory loan companies are offering small business owners terrible loans with terrible terms.
There’s an excellent conversation with Durand Bernarr in Hammer & Hope.
Minute Maid is discontinuing frozen juice concentrate. The end of an era.
For your delectation, a compendium of slang.
THE RUMPUS WEEK IN REVIEW
Essays:
My Personal Essay by Katy Ryan
A Hollow Kingdom All My Own by Quinn Que
Mouth and Muscle by Olivia Waite
Poetry:
South Carolina Instructional Materials Uniform Parent Complaint Form by Danielle DeTiberius
On Arriving At My Partner’s Place to Meet His Mother by Ugochukwu Damian Okpara
Rushing Toward the Horizon of My Body and How I Became Razor by Rebecca Cook
Given Limits Exist, Streets, Oblivion by Chelsea Dingman
Reviews:
You Can’t Go Home Again: The Displacement and Grief in Aracelis Girmay’s “Green of All Heads” by Laura LeMoon
Enduring “The Long Walk” by Michael Washburn
Interviews:
A Conversation with Belle Burden by Charlotte Fleming
A Conversation with Aaron Burch by Barrett Bowlin
Thank you for calling out Surya Bonaly! She was awesome. I love figure skating, but I can't watch it anymore because listening to Tara Lipinski is like listening to fingernails on a blackboard.