The Audacious Roundup

For the week of December 16th, 23rd and 30th

AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS

Our January selection is Private Rites by Julia Amrfield. We will have a live book club discussion with the author on January 26th at 2 pm EST/11 am PST. Please note that this is a different time from our usual discussions because the author lives abroad. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there.

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THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW

The Audacious Book Club Short Story Contest Winners

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PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS

Bitter Southerner included my essay about Tik Tok, The New Pornographers, as one of their best pieces of the year.

Opinions is out in paperback. The Portable Feminist Reader is coming out in 2025. Pre-orders are now open and it is always a huge help when you pre-order. 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.

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!

You can watch the powerful documentary Survivor Made online for free if you need it to be or for a modest fee if you can swing it.

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READING MATERIAL

For the holidays this year, me and Debbie, my parents, and my brother and his wife, took our third trip together. In one year! I am writing this from below the equator off the coast of Peru, in mildly choppy seas, fresh off a vigorous round of Bingo and an even more intense trivia game.

I’ve noticed a lot of newsletters posting about their year in posting. I’m not sure if I’m going to do that, but we shall see in the coming weeks. I do know I won’t be looking up the most and least popular posts and whatnot. I kind of don’t care.

The story of Layan Albaz, a Palestinian young woman who lost her legs and had to come to the U.S. for treatment and rehab.

In Gaza, a baby died from the cold and this was not the first such tragic and absolutely preventable death.

Some foundations are withdrawing funding from groups who “dare” to speak up in support of Gaza and the ongoing war.

Given the state of the world, people in Sudan worry, understandably, that their plight is being forgotten.

In shocking news, the MAGA coalition is fracturing. Why? Immigration, but probably not in the way you imagine.

Ann Telnaes, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, has quit The Washington Post because they tried to censor her work.

In a harbinger of things to come, most likely, net neutrality may well be a thing of the past. The higher courts keep staying on their bullshit.

Trump’s appeal in the E. Jean Carroll case has been denied. And he’s going to be sentenced in New York, soon. And somehow, he is still president!

A man and military veteran drove a car into a crowd in New Orleans killing 15 people and injuring many others. In Las Vegas, a man and military veteran, detonated a cybertruck (yes, one of those cybertrucks) in front of the Trump hotel. At first, authorities wondered if there was a connection between the attacks but it seems like the men were acting alone (ish). The new year, off to a… start.

Gisele Pelicot is, indeed, a face of courage.

WhatsApp, beloved by Haitians (and many other cultures), is also a vital tool in conflict zones.

Meta weirdly created AI profiles even though they have, like, billions of users. Outcry was swift so now they’re trying to undo the unnecessary mess they made.

Tech CEOs and other assorted billionaires are giving Trump money and kissing his ass.

The ethics report on Matt Gaetz is out. He is exactly who you think he is.

A man infiltrated a militia and it was quite an experience.

Biden gave out some bling.

The ocean holds many things including some old legos that once fell off a cargo ship.

The year 2024 in photography, according to the AP.

Bluesky is finally having to develop some moderation policies. Also, BlackSky rises!

The youths are treating Starbucks like Venmo.

This country’s shames are so very many and they include the what happened at Indian boarding schools designed to eradicate Indians in as many ways as possible.

Rachel Aviv wrote a really interesting, haunting essay about Alice Munro and her silence and inaction and neglect of her daughter Andrea, who was sexually abused by Munro’s husband Gerry. The number of people who failed this woman… my goodness. Each piece I read about this story is more damning than the previous one. In Foreign Policy, a lament for the Munro Canadian women never really knew.

If you enjoy crossword puzzles, you are a cruciverbalist. Just wanted to share that.

Dirty martinis are getting dirtier. Why? Let’s investigate!

On embracing potlucks.

Daniel Stern is sculpting and growing tangerines. Sounds like a dream. I guess he isn’t home alone. Heh.

AI is a problem for many reasons, not the least of which is the staggering environmental cost it exacts. Of course, tech bros care nothing for the environment so we’ll see how we survive the apocalypse, I guess.

Along those lines, Open AI is crying about how they just can’t make billions unless they steal!

Wired created a copyright case tracker as we continue to grapple with AI and it’s implementation in our lives.

If you’ve ever wondered about the history of hot-rodding, here Rachel Kushner goes long on the subject.

In Texas, newborns are being abandoned which is “unsettling” people there. What could have precipitated such a turn of events? Hmmm.

Not to be outdone, ICE deported a woman and her children, two of whom were newborn twins and American citizens.

Professional organizers know our secrets! I’ve actually hired one a couple times and it’s really great until they leave and you’re supposed to maintain the systems they’ve created.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/07/19/driving-with-o-j-simpson/?mc_cid=32fffa539c&mc_eid=b01d967101

Cybertrucks are polarizing because they are ugly and either you have taste or you own a cybertruck.

In Montenegro, a mass shooting and because they are not the U.S., they are already considering a gun ban.

Looks like it was no picnic working for Diddy which will come as a surprise to exactly no one.

Recipe testing as part of an industrial design curriculum! This is really a neat pedagogical approach.

An appreciation of great ensemble acting.

Paleontologist fight!!!

Books about evangelicals are always being published, but what are these books not telling us?

Some ways to be proactive with regard to book banning. Every effort counts!

Yes, Siri and Alexa and them are all listening in on your lives.

In New York, pregnant people must now be afforded paid medical leave while pregnant.

RIP Jocelyne Wildenstein.

RIP Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100. He was widely venerated and condolences have been many and effusive. His presidency and post-presidency were accomplished. His funeral will be held on January 9th, but there will be several days of mourning.

Here, Carter writes about home.

A review of the remarkable film Nickel Boys.

French doctors support gender affirming care, as they and everyone, everywhere should.

Wahhhhh. Some people don’t like the way MacKenzie Scott gives away her billions.

The Aspen Words festival is accepting nominations for an Emerging Writers Fellowship.

Are the statistics we rely on in gender and reading discourse accurate? Probably not!

Katz’s Deli will finally be ADA compliant.

More public bathrooms in New York City! YES! Power to the peeing people.

Five people have been indicted in Liam Payne’s death.

There are some really damning allegations against Brian Jordan Alvarez.

A thoughtful essay on how gun culture in the Black South is not the same as gun culture in the rest of America.

Black women in Philly come together regularly to sew menstrual pads for women and girls in Africa!

What Hamilton Nolan learned from publishing his first book.

The New York Times investigated claims that Justin Baldoni and his PR firm were deliberately smearing Blake Lively and turns out, they absolutely were! Her complaint is quite eye-opening. In retaliation, Justin Baldoni is suing the New York Times etc for reporting on his misdeeds.

A woman has been keeping a journal she composes via embroidery, for the past four years and change. People are so creative.

Writing may be a tough career but ghostwriting is pretty lucrative!

New nightmare! Getting left behind by your cruise ship!

We watched Black Doves on Netflix and it is a delight. Vanity Fair agrees!

A look at the casting of the new Broadway revival of Gypsy.

New short fiction from Catherine Lacey and Brandon Taylor and a sex memoir from Edmund White and an essay from Melissa Febos.

Some books to look forward to in 2025.

Ketanji Brown Jackson got to perform in a Broadway show! Dreams do come true.

Beyoncé served, yet again. As a reminder, Cowboy Carter is all hits no skips.

Here are all the new (old) works that have entered the public domain.