AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our November selection is The Women’s Hotel by Daniel Lavery and he will join us on November 20th at the usual time. Registration is open!
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
I am thrilled by this Kirkus review of The Portable Feminist Reader. The Portable Feminist Reader is coming out on February 18th, 2025. Pre-orders are now open and it is always a huge help when you pre-order.
Debbie Millman has a new book, Love Letter to a Garden, and it will be published on April 15th, 2025. Also included in the book are 10 recipes by me—a mini cookbook if you will. Pre-orders are open!
Stand Your Ground is OUT NOW! Megan Pillow and I wrote a book called Do the Work. The Tenth Anniversary edition of Bad Feminist is available.
READING MATERIAL
The election happened. I’m pretty disgusted, especially when I look at the demographic breakdowns of who voted for whom. But I was happy interested to see the breakdown of 92% of Black women, 88% of Jewish women, 78% of Black men and 71% of Jewish men voted for Harris. Some people understood the assignment. And I don’t think the general public has any clue how “over it” Black women are feeling right now. You can only show up so many times for people who don’t seem interested in showing up for you.
The task ahead? Remaking America….
The media continues to be obsessed with Trump voters. Progressive policies did very well.
An Ohio cop said he wouldn’t help Democrats who called the police. Nothing to see here.
A number of Black people have been sent truly abhorrent text messages about becoming enslaved and picking cotton. What the fuck is wrong with people?
Qatar has bowed out of trying to mediate between Hamas and Israel.
In Korea, women are participating in the 4B movement.
I was interested in this story about a conservative Christian couple who learned that their son was gay, and had to do the work of reconciling their beliefs and loving their child.
United is ending its inflight magazine and thus, ushering in the end of an era. I have a particular fondness for Hemispheres. Several years ago, they commissioned me to interview Toni Morrison. We spoke on the phone. She knew who I was! It was amazing. Airline magazines also paid well. Alas.
Copyeditors matter so so much.
A conversation with A.M. Homes.
Tennis commentator Jon Wertheim has been suspended indefinitely after commenting on a tennis player’s appearance on a hot mic.
A fascinating scientific study about how human cells can store memories and more. This even bears out with organ transplants.
RIP Quincy Jones, musical genius, amazing giver of interviews, and a real one. I love returning to his Vulture interview but I am also a fan of his music.
RIP Dorothy Allison, one of my favorite authors of all time. RIP Judith Jamison.
Guess what? Standing desks aren’t really all that useful. My spirit has always known it.
A conversation between Dionne Brand and Saidiya Hartman.
In Afghanistan, women cyclists who have to contend with losing their rights while trying to pursue their passion and the right to be free.
As anyone teaching today can tell you, cheating is pretty ubiquitous on college campuses. It’s incredibly dispiriting. I honestly don’t know how to teach when students insist on using Chat GPT, and badly at that. I know they’re busy but that’s not new. College students have always been busy. The whole point of college is to learn and if you’re not interested in learning, it’s hard for teachers to do their jobs. Anyway… I am struggling with this and I know I’m not alone in that.
Sometimes, the medical establishment creates unnecessary panic that then becomes a cultural norm.
Home kitchens will soon be able to sell food in Los Angeles. This is great!
An interesting history of cookbooks and suffrage.
Raygun is retiring from breakdancing…
So…. given, well, everything, how are you doing? How are you processing the election results and the oddities of some of the results and what looms ahead with a second Trump presidency? And what, if anything, is bringing you some measure of joy?
Re the election, just a lot of uncertainty at work right now — I’m a federal employee in one of the targeted agencies. Feels very frantic since everyone is trying to get a lot done before Inauguration Day.
But overall, my general feeling with it is “god damn it, white people, really?”
Thanks for this.
I’m ready to try something different. As someone who came from a low-income/working class background but catapulted into the highly educated knowledge economy liberal category for all of my adult life so far (I’m 45), I have myself been growing ever more disenchanted with what I feel is a lack of curiosity, a lack of humility, and a lack of humanity among the people who surround me in my political and professional bubbles. My vote is one that Harris could take for granted and that was not going to change, but I want folks I know to open up to at least hearing that even some of us who would never ever vote for Donald Trump have real criticisms of not just the DNC/Party but of our fellow Democrats and how they are engaging in politics. So many complex, contested issues and ideas that are just not even discussable, so much elitism, so much reducing other humans to flat “kinds of people” and symbols of “systems”. No real, serious policy ideas that meet the huge changes that have happened with tech and the economy and climate. In my opinion, as just one lifelong Democrat (who has no plans to change that), I think we can go more (much more) progressive on policy and create a larger tent again but only if we start de-centering the highly educated liberals on the internet. Also, curses on the godforsaken digital information ecosystem.
Those are my feelings.