The Audacious Roundup
For the weeks of June 2nd and June 9th
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
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
I think we can all agree that there is just too much news.
ICE is menacing Los Angeles. The regime has sent in the National Guard without bothering to arrange any logistics for them in advance. The state of California sued to regain control of the California National Guard, which was successful, but then the Ninth Circuit issued a stay until a hearing on the 17th. There is a curfew for a one-square mile area, aka .2% of Los Angeles. Life, in general, is totally normal in LA for better and worse, but the media makes it seem like the apocalypse is taking place when in fact, people are living their lives and some amazing folks are protesting the fucked up reality that some of our neighbors are being kidnapped without due process. The marines are also hanging around and they’ve already detained someone, a Black man of course who was just minding his own business. P.S. all of this is very expensive.
Protest sometimes begets protest and now, protests are taking place across the country and beyond. Because the regime is incoherent, now Trump is like, maybe let’s chill on some of the ICE raids. The government was surveilling planned protests but jokes on them! Millions of people showed up across the country.
In Minneapolis, a political assassination. The terrorist, Vance Boelter, has been apprehended, alive of course. He murdered state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. State senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and injured but they are alive. The president hasn’t bothered to call and offer condolences or otherwise act presidential.
Meanwhile, Trump and Musty are fighting.
Gavin Newsom has been talking his shit to the president and while Newsom has some lousy politics, this is how elected democrats need to be conducting themselves.
Nobody likes Pete Hegseth.
The president had a sad, poorly attended military parade with creaking tanks and soldiers who couldn’t march in formation. You love to see it. Also, pretty sure he tried to hire seat fillers, but even if this is a joke, it COULD be true.
A Florida (of course) sheriff is threatening to kill protestors minding their legal business.
Journalist Terry Moran said something true and mildly impolite about Trump and ABC fired him.
There was a debate for NYC mayoral candidates. Mamdani had some things to say. He dogwalked Cuomo, basically.
Pope Leo is coming to Chicago.
A dispatch from a trans person in Texas.
Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a Kristy Noem press conference, in handcuffs for the crime of… asking questions.
RIP Edmund White, who gave us so much on the page. He really was a pioneer of gay literature. I did a couple events and other things with him and he was a delight. Here is some of his prose, just to whet your appetite. RIP Brian Wilson, a real genius. RIP Sly Stone, also a genius.
Trump has implemented a new travel ban that includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
In New Jersey, ICE detainees tried to break free. A few (un)lucky detainees did make an escape.
An Air India flight crashed as it was departing and there was only one survivor.
Another day, another Harvey Weinstein conviction on sexual assault.
Ms. Rachel, a real one.
A Buena Vista Social Club tiny desk concert!
Some notes on writing…
Luke Skywalker is embracing the force.
Women bodybuilders and the men who love and/or lust for them.
For some reason, Kenya’s long distance runners are dealing with all manner of catastrophe in their personal lives.
An excerpt from Molly Jong-Fast’s memoir How to Lose Your Mother. A conversation with Sufijan Stevens. A new profile of E. Jean Carroll. A profile of celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson. A profile of Amy Coney Barrett. A conversation with June Squibb. A profile of Diego Luna. A review of S.A. Cosby’s new novel that I can’t wait to dive into. A profile of Kara Young. A ridiculous profile of James Frey who is ridiculous but wrote one good book (Bright Shiny Morning). How long is this guy going to dine out on oh wah Oprah shamed me for doing something shameful? Jesus christ. (I don’t actually care that he lied in his memoir. Addicts lying is kind of part of the whole addiction thing.)
Coco Gauff won the French Open! She was spectacular. Her opponent, who lost, remains a sore loser.
A judge threw out Justin Baldoni’s nonsense lawsuit. And was pretty clear that it was indeed nonsense.
Greta Thunberg and several other activist tried to bring aid to Gaza, by boat. They were intercepted by Israel and Thunberg was promptly detained and deported.
At WWDC ‘25, Apple announced many new software-related things. Liquid Glass! Say it fast!
Men are in such crisis, Exhibit 33.
Why have “we” as a culture changed how we feel about Katy Perry? (LOL WE)
A writer (Caity Weaver) goes to Paris!
Lil Gibraltar has closed a deal with the EU to remedy some of the issues they were facing post-Brexit. Having been to Gibraltar fairly recently, I know this will come as a huge relief to the folks there.
Alas, Joann Fabrics! You deserved better.
The 2025 Women’s Prize winners have been announced.
Pretty sure this is an alien ship. The invasion begins.
On embracing discomfort in what we read.
Why do dads watch TV standing up? Josh Gondelman asking the important questions.
In NYC, bye bye broker fees!
Remembering the pink triangle that represented a critical movement.
The Times has two new restaurant critics.
New scammer story!
Waymo really wants people in LA to stop burning their cars. LOL.
Amazon canceled Etoile, which was EXCELLENT, my favorite show of the year thus far. We ride at dawn! Srsly this show is so good.
The Jewish Theological Seminary is starting a brief residency MFA program with an excellent faculty.
A Joan Jett concert from 1983.
A car with a baguette holder. There is still good in the world.
Re military parade: It’s not that the soldiers *couldn’t* march in formation, it’s that they deliberately chose not to. It was trolling at its finest!
So much to read thanks to you! Random notes.....on the back of the Pet Sounds (Beach Boys Brian Wilson) album cover is a quotation, "the smile that you send out, returns to you." It's true. I've tried it. Even on subways and buses. It works.
I graduated from NYU summa cum laude this May at the ripe age of 72 with a BA in Humanities/Creative Writing. (yes, I am bragging). I want to keep writing but I don't want to write a book, and even if by some miracle I was accepted into an MFA program, I don't want to take a spot from someone with more years ahead of them than behind. But I need/want to keep writing. Will start with your syllabus. Many of the authors you assigned, I also read over the past couple of years.
Which brings me to the 28 slightly rude notes on writing - many, many to choose from but this one fits me right now when he says, instead of asking, "Why should I, the reader, care about this?" he says:
"What I really want to know is: why do you care? You could have spent your time knitting a pair of mittens or petting your cat or eating a whole tube of Pringles. Why did you do this instead? What kind of sicko closes the YouTube tab and types 10,000 words into a Google doc?"
Why indeed. Thank you thank you thank you.