AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our March book club selection is Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. We will be in conversation with Tommy March 21st at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is now open. I hope you can join us!
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
I’m looking for interesting questions for my Work Friend column. If you have a burning professional query, please do reach out to workfriend@nytimes.com.
My essay series, Roxane Gay Presents, with Everand has launched. First up: Julia Turshen with Built For This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting. The second essay in this series is: You Are a Teen Mom: Instructions by Randa Jarrar.
If you’ve been waiting to read Not That Bad, the e-book is $1.99 for the month of March.
Megan Pillow and I wrote a little book about power called Do The Work: A Guide About Power and Creating Change. It will be out in June of this year. Pre-order, now!
Zaina Arafat asks how one can celebrate Ramadan while millions of people in Gaza starve. Artists believe the Brooklyn Museum and PEN America are staying silent on the war in Gaza. On keeping a cuisine alive when so many are dead.
Today is publication day for Michael Arcenaux’s I Finally Bought Some Jordans. He is an excellent, incisive writer. Check it out!
A proud wife moment! Debbie is always working on one project or another and once she gets into it, she really gets into it, working nonstop for weeks or months on end. Every time she finally shares what she’s working on, it’s something inexplicably cool like, I designed a plate for a NASA space probe. TRUE STORY! Debbie Millman, ladies and gents and other humans. Also, you can see Debbie at SXSW, in conversation with Adobe’s Brooke Hopper, about creativity and AI.
A review of Emily Raboteau’s new essay collection (next month’s book club pick), Lessons for Survival.
The Oscars happened. The ceremony started five minutes late because protestors in support of Palestine blocked traffic. And guess what? Protest is supposed to be disruptive! The Godzilla special effects team wore amazing shoes. The dog from Anatomy of a Fall was in attendance. Da’Vine Joy Randolph won, deservedly, and was radiant. Ryan Gosling was just Ken. When Jonathan Glazer accepted his award for Best Foreign Film for the extraordinary Zone of Interest, he was I think the only person to speak on the horrors taking place in Gaza.
You can watch the Oscar-winning The Last Repair Shop.
Across the pond, the royals are a fucking mess. Kate is still MIA and in their attempts to protect Will and obfuscate the truth, the royals are only stoking interest and conspiracy theories. Like, at first, whatever but now, what is really going on??? On Sunday, UK Mother’s Day, Kensington Palace released a family picture. The image is clearly heavily photoshopped and was so blatantly fake that several news agencies retracted the image. Then “Kate” said she likes to dabble in Photoshop which, girl. What?
The quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend. (Their quilts are stunning. I have one and love it so much.)
Relatedly, have you seen this quilt?
On the complicated relationship between Black women and their hairstylists.
What happens to our stories when we die?
Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Mitch McConnell, died trapped in her Tesla. Perhaps, regulation is a good thing when it comes to motor vehicles.
Natalie Portman is divorcing her cheating ass husband.
Greyhound bus stations are disappearing.
The State of the Union happened and Joe Biden was pretty fiery. It was a pretty great speech though he did make a few mistakes. For one, he referred to undocumented people as illegals which was just such an unforced error. Katie Britt gave the Republican rebuttal and it was a frightening mess. She did this weird teary, whispery thing while lying her ass off and otherwise fear-mongering. A MESS! Her debacle of a speech was absolute cannon fodder for Saturday Night Live and the show did not disappoint.
A profile of the president as he embarks on his last campaign.
Nikki Haley has dropped out of the presidential race, not that she was ever really in it. And looks like professional liar George Santos is… running again? The confidence is astonishing.
In France, abortion rights are now Constitutional.
Privacy is beyond dead. Carmakers are selling our data to insurance companies.
Jay Shetty, guru fraud.
In Brooklyn, the rise and fall of a restaurant group.
What do you mean when you say “I could eat”?
A conversation with the exceptional Isabella Rossellini.
HP is trying to rent people printers (and ink) for $36 a month. I would rather go back to using a quill and pen. You can generally buy a printer for like $99. Also, HP will be spying on your printing activity and have access to images of whatever you print. Who would do this??? Who is asking for this? Why is tech like this?
An outstanding, brutal review of RuPaul’s new memoir by Saeed Jones.
RIP Shafiqah Hudson. RIP Akira Toriyama.
Even the ultra wealthy need therapists, too.
On the realities of Hollywood money.
Rupert Murdoch is getting married for the fifth time. He’s like… almost 100! But okay.
A profile of the always excellent Kate Winslet. A profile of Miuccia Prada who also, I learned, created Miu Miu. A conversation with Reesa Teesa.
Clay from Love Is Blind? Let’s get into it.
Is there trouble in Queer Eye land?
In Flint, MI, residents still haven’t received any payments from the settlement fund.
Road and Track pulled this story about F1 by Kate Wagner. For better or worse, the internet archives pretty much everything.
Mediocre man sues for promotion. And they say affirmative action is dead…
From Aubrey Hirsch, an illustrated guide to IVF.
Some folks are trying out a new publishing model where they don’t pay advances and use freelancers and while I am sure there are good intentions behind this new adventure, most writers cannot afford to go without an advance and using contingent labor to make a profit isn’t… new.
What’s with all the famous woman book clubs?
Grace Loh Prasad offers a remembrance of her father, the translator.
Fat at the doctor’s office.
CBS is developing a new Black soap opera. Huzzah!
This story is bittersweet. Racism, man….
It has been seven years since this small wonder happened.
Bonus Book Recommendation:
Thank you so much for the effort you put into the Roundup each week. I always enjoy so many of the links. This week I am particularly happy to have read the Gee’s Bend article. Thanks!