The Audacious Roundup
For the week of June 16th
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our June selection is Marsha by Tourmaline. We will have a live book club discussion with the author on June 24th at 8pm EST/5 am PST. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there. I’ve put together an Audacious Book Club storefront if you want to buy current or forthcoming book club titles. There is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
On June 25th, I will be in conversation with Rob Franklin, at the Harlem School of the Arts, about his debut novel Great Black Hope. Get your tickets now!
Thanks to you guys and other readers, The Portable Feminist Reader is a NYT bestseller! So thank you! And if you haven’t gotten a copy yet, there’s still time! (And there will always be time, it’s a book.) And check out Love Letter to a Garden, by Debbie Millman.
Book and project buying links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
READING MATERIAL
The challenges of getting food in Gaza.
Israel started bombing Iran and they have sent some bombs back and the conflict (what a word, conflict) is only intensifying. The U.S. isn’t sure what to do and the president keeps saying pretty stupid things that do not inspire confidence.
In NYC, it’s the final days of the mayoral primary. Does Mamdani have a chance? Probably not given that the establishment is backing Cuomo?!?!
As the regime continues its parade of cruelty, they have shut down and LGBTQ suicide hotline. (They’re also trying to bring… asbestos back?)
They are also resuming issuing student visas but first you have to let them see your social media.
In a matter of cause and effect, there are more children’s gun deaths in states that have relaxed gun laws.
The Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender affirming treatment for children. The party of small government sure does love butting into private business. If you are trans and looking to leave the U.S., here is some relevant information.
The president of, like, the United States, is starting a mobile phone company. The suckers who buy those janky, non-existent phones, deserve whatever is coming to them.
The political assassin in Minnesota was all about Christian nationalism. Murder is Christian, apparently.
Another day, another SpaceX “ship” exploding. They don’t seem… that good with all this blowing up they do. Aren’t they supposed to not blow up? I just want to be sure I understand this.
NYC comptroller/mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained outside of an immigration court. The regime cares not about laws.
More people are getting news from social media than TV and, well, it certainly shows.
Phallic rocket maker Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are getting married in Venice and they have basically bought the entire city for the affair but Venetians are planning to protest.
While it doesn’t take a study to bear this out, researchers conducted a study and found that ChatGPT absolutely makes you dumber.
Speaking of AI, I love Brevity Magazine, read it regularly, have been published in it, all the things. Imagine my surprise to read a post on their site about how writers can use AI! Writers, using AI is not writing. It will never be writing. Writing has been done for millennia with us simply using our minds and imaginations and putting in the work. It’s not a mystery. And if you’re looking for shortcuts, perhaps writing isn’t for you.
AI is not the future, no matter how much tech bros want to make it so.
In this unhinged piece, a writer suggests that we have no say over what happens to our dead bodies, especially if that body is carrying a fetus. If that’s the case, there should be no organ shortage because doctors will no longer need permission to harvest our organs.
What’s in a pen name?
In kind of surprise news, Jeanie Buss sold the Lakers to the guy who owns the Dodgers for $10 billion. Billionaires really do have way too much money.
The FDA has approved a new drug that all but eliminates the spread of HIV.
Some musicians share just how broken the healthcare system is. We already knew but there is always new evidence to bring forward.
Harvard was hella involved with the enslavement of Black people, so much so that they fired the guy they hired to uncover the information.
This week in sexual assault news, Tyler Perry is facing a $260 million lawsuit and Fat Joe is also being sued by a man, for similar reasons.
Karen Read, not guilty of murder.
From Merve Emre, a history of advice columns. Or, being nosy ain’t nothing new.
Here are seven myths about being a feminist writer on the internet, from Kate Manne.
Remember the Wing? Cute interiors, for sure. I liked the Wing but I also never had a bad experience there which is to say multiple things can be true at once. Anyway, Audrey Gelman, the founder, is opening hotels now. Interesting, etc. But I will also say that to proclaim you have no political stance is, in and of itself, a political stance.
Did you know tomatoes used to have a bad reputation? Who knew? Tomatoes are delicious so haters gonna hate. But anyway, we love tomatoes now, most of us.
Abusive men are using international law to take children from their mothers.
Book titles are often inspired by something interesting. For next month’s book club selection, Great Black Hope, the title was inspired, in part, by this 1995 profile of Colin Powell.
The Dodgers told Nezza not to sing the national anthem in Spanish but like a real G, she did.
An interesting piece on intuitive eating by way of foraging for mushrooms.
The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are getting a big raise but they were making $200 a game so the big raise is great but not enough. Have you seen those splits they land into? Jesus fucking christ.
New short fiction from Ottessa Moshfegh. A review of Ocean Vuong’s new novel that is… spicy. I don’t mind a pan or a very critical review. I’ve received 1.5 of those over the course of my career and while it hurts, you get over it, and it’s part of the publishing experience. You don’t want to be loved by everyone, anyway. There are some good points made in this review about Vuong’s prose writing, but it also seems like the reviewer doesn’t understand poetic license, or experimenting with language and form. He genuinely seems bewildered by unconventional approaches, if not angry. You have to review something on its own terms, not what you want it to be or what you prefer. Anyway, I’m curious what other people think about this particular review. Also, a review of Prince Faggot which I have seen and may write more about. It is really excellent.
Meet Michelle Kang, a billionaire who… wants to invest in women’s sport?
RIP Anne Burrell, who was only 55. I enjoyed her on Food Network. Also, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I read that she had a husband. Love is love! May her memory be a blessing.
The peacock chair: a Black icon.
I agree with you re: that review of Ocean’s latest. It definitely felt like a case of, “This writer’s style isn’t for you. That doesn’t make it a bad book.”
The AI piece by Allison K. Williams is extremely disturbing to me. I was very surprised to read her take. Oy. xo