Our November book club selection is The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis. We will be in conversation with Ayana on November 30th, and registration is open.
In this week’s work friend, not feeling the holiday spirit, working with a racist when management won’t address the problem, the need for affirmation, how much notice to give for an impending retirement and a disinterest in reciprocity after a colleague’s lackluster assistance. And Opinions is a top nonfiction audiobook of 2023.
Why Lindsay Hunter loves true crime. Here is an interview with Lindsay in the Chicago Review of Books. And the 92Y event with Lindsay Hunter and I has found a new venue. It will now be held at the SVA Theatre, same date November 14th at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30. And don’t forget to buy your copy of Hot Springs Drive.
Isaac Chotiner speaks with “settler” Daniella Weiss about her extreme ideas about the reach of Israel. It’s a really well done interview that is eye-opening in how openly Weiss espouses truly toxic ideologies.
In what seems like a bad precedent, Columbia University has suspended two student groups for the rest of the year, because they didn’t follow university rules during protests but it seems like it’s much more than that.
A sobering interview with a nurse who recently left Gaza.
A woman in NYC threw hot coffee at a man wearing a Palestinian scarf and his toddler. As I’ve been asking so often lately, what in the ever loving fuck are we doing?
A deep dive into the collapse of 92Y’s literary series.
It is still hard to make a living as a writer.
A prize for emerging writers.
Man bedecked in jewels, sitting on a solid gold throne, tires to talk about the cost of living.
Panda backsies, I guess.
A profile of DJ Khaled. I find him intriguing in that he doesn’t really make music and yet, here he is. I have one of his doormats. It has the word THEY in a circle with a slash mark over the word. It is at my front door. And I laugh every single time I look at it.
The SAG/AFTRA strike has finally come to an end. And the new deal is, we’re told, a good one.
Acorn and tree, Gloria Estefan edition.
Keke Palmer has sole custody of her son and a restraining order against Darius Jackson who is exactly who most of us knew he was after he shamed her in public for how she dressed.
Howard has created the first HBCU figure skating team! Coached by Surya Bonaly!
This is… Missy Elliott’s mom. B! D! C!
Eric Adams’s legal troubles continue. His phones have been seized. You love to see it and I also would love to know what lurks on his camera roll.
Some baseball bigwigs got sick. A literal news story.
Free gun with braces! America!
Nathan Woodyard, the police officer who arrested Elijah McClain, which ultimately led to McClain’s death, was acquitted of reckless manslaughter despite being guilty.
What happens when pregnancy is criminalized.
Another year, another election cycle. Andy Beshear was re-elected as governor of Kentucky. In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin’s strategy of stoking the so-called culture wars isn’t working out, as the Democrats take over the legislature. Mississippi is stll doing the most when it comes to voter suppression and as an aside when I am typing out Mississippi I still spell out in my head like we learned as kids. In Ohio, abortion rights were enshrined and marijuana was legalized. Voters EVERYWHERE continue to remind conservatives that when abortion access and bodily autonomy are on the ballot, we will WIN.
The Republican 2024 hopefuls had another pointless debate. Tim Scott manifested a “girlfriend,” and Ron DeSantis still has lifts in his boots and can’t walk in them.
Joe Manchin, on his lifelong crusade to fuck the Democrats every single chance he gets is not running for reelection.
Always say it like you mean it.
Don’t look back, bruh! (Look back!)
This trailer for the documentary American Symphony, looks incredible and I cannot wait to partake of its beauty.
New Danez Smith on the horizon and I, for one, cannot wait!
She’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
New short fiction from S.A. Cosby.
A guy in California did a murder and then hired day laborers to like…dispose of the body and for a while, the cops couldn’t be bothered to check it out when they were notified.
Boston University has completed an audit of Ibram X. Kendi’s anti-racism center and no issues or malfeasance have been found.
Jezebel has been shuttered. Truly, it is the end of an era.
USA Today hired a Taylor Swift reporter. She is her own beat. But the reporter is a stan, and as such, it is doubtful that he will engage critically with her work and career. A shame, given the many actual journalists who could do interesting things with this beat.
The dictionary knows things.
Franklin Leonard with some modest proposals on fixing Hollywood.
WeWork filed for bankruptcy. To be honest, I thought they had already done that long ago.
Patrick Dempsey is People Magazine’s sexiest man alive this year and I do not disagree.
I don’t know why but I really enjoy Nick Jonas, the best Jonas brother.
Truly thought WeWork went bankrupt like 4 years ago. I don’t know how this is just now happening.
The whole Eric Adams story feels like extra salt in the wounds cause NY could’ve had Maya Wiley- an accomplished civil rights attorney/ activist/ progressive sweet natured badass and instead they got this morally bankrupt guy.