Discover more from The Audacity.
The May selection for the Audacious Book Club is Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwami Adjei-Brenyah. We will be in conversation with Nana on May 30th at 8 pm EST/5pm PST. That’s today! Registration is still open.
I am reading submissions to The Audacity’s Emerging Writer Series. Read the guidelines and submit your best writing. Submissions will be open until I have 24 essays.
Don’t Forget: Why Design Matters by Debbie Millman. Debbie also created The Remarkable Life Deck, if you want to think through what the next decade of your life could look like. The cards are really beautiful and this is such a valuable exercise for looking ahead and taking stock of where you are. I don’t say that lightly. Normally, this isn’t my kind of thing but The Remarkable Life Deck is excellent.
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.
Aww shucks. Chip and Joanna Gaines are just golly gee who us millionaires.
Speaking of millionaires, pretty much everyone is for sale.
Author Susan Straight made a map of 1,001 novels that help to define America.
Succession on HBO has come to an end. The show was good. The finale was well-done. The Roy children are all still billionaires. They literally can’t lose even when they lose.
Did you know some octopuses have made an underwater city?
Celine Dion has canceled the rest of her world tour as she deals with stiff person syndrome. Alas. May she recover, in her own time.
Can you believe Kissinger is still alive?
Why do rich people houses have so many bathrooms?
The Barbie trailer has been released. I don’t really care about the Barbie movie but I don’t begrudge it’s existence, either. Related: Margot Robbie is on the cover of Vogue.
“By the Book” with Brandon Taylor.
Here is the first chapter of Eliot Page’s memoir, Pageboy.
More on the utterly bizarre Horses restaurant drama.
Journalist Monique Judge spoke to the mother of the young Black man who was just trying to ride his Citibike.
Noted asshole Marjorie Taylor Green called for order in the House chamber and was laughed away.
Airlines and such keep asking Puerto Ricans (who are Americans) for their passports. This place can be so very embarrassing.
HBO Max, which will always be HBO Max, inexplicably decided to lump writers, directors, and producers under the credit of Creators. As you might imagine, it did not go over well.
Jonathan Majors took Meagan Good to Red Lobster with her family. I do not even know…
Ron DeSantis tried to announce his presidential aspirations on Twitter Spaces and it was, predictably, SO PREDICTABLY, a disaster.
Billy Joel’s house is for sale if you have many million dollars lying around.
Here are some summer reading recommendations.
RIP to Tina Turner, may she rest in power. I loved her music, so very much. She lived a difficult life and still, she found a way to not only survive, but thrive.
Feminist Press is hiring a Sales & Marketing coordinator.
Far right activists (?) pressured Target to remove LGBT merchandise from its stores, threatening violence. And, of course, Target caved.
Eleven people. A mere eleven people are responsible for 60% of book bans. People need hobbies.
Finally, some good news. Restaurants are getting rid of those annoying QR code menus.
The Idol which premieres next week, sounds silly. Just, silly. I am all for provocation and I am down with explicit adult stories. But sometimes, men just want to ejaculate all over the place and consider that narrative. And sometimes, they are given millions of dollars to do just that.
A famous historic battle.
Blue Ivy, mini superstar.
Sometimes, dads do the most.
Blockbuster has a few words for Netflix.
Oh, the hypocrisy. Or irony. Or something.
The children know. Oh my goodness, do they know. Dogs know, too.
What’s in your Notes app?
The Audacious Roundup
Will Aghajanian’s comment at Catbird Seat in Nashville that Hitler had some good ideas is sadly not at all unusual in Nashville. I lived there from 2017-2021 and my hairdresser who’s a metrosexual type, surfer, intellectual, from California, was a Bernie supporter when we got into a political conversation said the same thing- that Hitler had some good ideas. I had lived in NYC for 17 years and was horrified by Bryan’s comments, but it’s Nashville Barbie/ Redneck bougie Nazi-land in Nashville. So no one there would bat an eye at that comment.