The Audacious Roundup
For the week of February 23rd
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our March selection will be Tell Me How You Eat: Food, Power and the Will to Live by Amber Husain. We will be in conversation with Amber on March 21st, at 1 pm EST/10 am PST. Registration is open. If you missed our conversation with Senaa Ahmad, you can enjoy it HERE.
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
Here is what Debbie and I will be up to at AWP. I hope to see some of you there!
The Forgotten Occupation is available for rent or purchase from your favorite video purveyor, including AppleTV.
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 president declared war on Iran, without congressional approval. The US and Israel are bombarding Iran and one of their bombs hit a girls school, killing at least 153 people. The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. No tears will be shed here but still, this kind of American intervention is terrible, dangerous, and costs innocent people their lives. Oh, and they are conducting this war from Mar a Lago. Sure that’s super secure.
Meanwhile, Polymarket is allowing people to bet on… war.
The state of the union happened. It was interminable, offensive, mendacious and unhinged.
Anthropic told the regime that they couldn’t use their AI for autonomous weapons because Claud couldn’t be trusted. Open AI was like, here, hold my beer! We’ll bring about armageddon!
Here’s something comforting: the DOD is using incel language.
Another day, another Columbia student taken into custody by ICE but plot twist: Mamdani got Trump to release her.
As you might imagine, RFK Jr’s first year as health secretary has been a disaster on many fronts. Also, he has a penchant for working out for the camera in jeans, using bad form.
Speaking of… they really are taking this protein thing too far.
At long last, Henrietta Lacks’s family has settled with Novartis.
I hate to share this with you but… bonesmashing is… a thing?
In the UK, Peter Mandelson was arrested for his Epstein-related misdeeds.
Bill Gates has apologized to his foundation for having affairs and palling around with Epstein. Hope he apologized to his family, too. Men. Smh.
Days before the primary, Kamala Harris has endorsed Jasmine Crockett.
A professor at Hunter College let some racism fly fly fly while on a Zoom call. Oops. The mute button is your friend.
The state of Kansas invalidated the driver’s licenses of trans people in the state. It’s such a senseless, cruel thing to do. I hope the courts will quickly address this and leave trans people to live in peace.
Some NYC cops were pelted with snowballs (LOL) during a snowball fight and are like, losing their shit about it. Actual snowflakes.
Taylor Sheridan, of the Yellowstone Sheridans, has written a book about how to survive prison though he hasn’t been to prison. Quelle imaginacion!
Grifters gonna grift. Candace Owens continues to spin the most elaborate conspiracy theories and audiences like it.
Looks like Paramount is going to acquire Warner Bros and CNN. Sure that’s going to go well. Netflix has dropped its bid.
A seasoned scam.
Flavor Flav, champion of women athletes? Yup! And he’s setting up a weekend in Vegas for the American hockey team that should be a lot of fun.
Have you heard about the alpine divorce? Just… what??!!
Sean Penn is always out there living life like it’s a video game.
AI will never be conscious or have a conscience, Michael Pollan reminds us. Why does this have to be said? And yet, it has to be said.
NYC has a new culture commissioner.
RIP legendary editor Ann Godoff. RIP Robert Carradine.
Scams targeting writers abound these days.
A sex worker in Nevada shares what men are looking for when they come to her.
Rom coms are back, baby! (Never left but I guess people are finally appreciating good things again.)
The Writers Guild West staff is on strike so they’ve canceled this year’s awards ceremony so writers don’t have to cross a picket line.
More women in their middle ages are being diagnosed with ADHD.
A conversation with Delroy Lindo. A conversation with Maggie Gyllenhaal. A profile of Nadiya Hussain, winner of the GBBO and excellent baker. A profile of Labiahead (excellent name). A conversation with Amber Husain, author of our March bookclub selection.
Here are this year’s NAACP Image Award winners.
The BBC and BAFTA are investigating why a racist slur made it onto air when they censored other things during the two hours between the live show and the broadcast.
NPR is hiring a correspondent!
Take a roadtrip with Loewe’s creative directors.
THE RUMPUS WEEK IN REVIEW
Essays:
Knott’s Berry Farm, 1996 by Jen Palmares Meadows
Eurotrash as Nonfiction by Faith Palermo
Fiction:
Transnational Dreaming In the Port of Hong Kong by Brian Ma
Cold Snap by Megan Nichols
Poetry:
On Drowning by Leticia Priebe Rocha
Two Poems by Jodi Balas
Two Poems by Eric Moyer
Reviews:
Jon Fosse and the Perils of Writing Without Intention by Nathanial Moore
Interviews:
A Conversation With Kim Samek by Katie Coleman
A Conversation with D.S. Waldman by Michael Chang
An Interview with Seán Hewitt by Rachel León