AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our February book club selection is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. We will be in conversation with Kaveh on February 27th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is now open. I hope you can join us!
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
Aubrey Hirsch on where the battle from reproductive freedom stands in the new year.
An announcement about Roxane Gay Presents.
PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL NEWS
And Then He Sang a Lullaby, the first title from Roxane Gay Books, is a finalist in the Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author category of the NAACP Image Awards. I am so happy for Kayode and fingers crossed!
On Tuesday, January 30th, at Cooper Union, I will be on a panel about book bans in America, moderated by Wesley Morris. The event is free and open to the public.
On February 13th, Debbie Millman and I will join Meg Wolitzer, Suzzy Roche, Lucy Wainright Roche, Evie Shockley, and Negin Farsad for an evening of “Everything But Dancing.” Think variety show! Tickets are still available!
READING MATERIAL
It’s awards season and the Oscar nominations are out! People have gone a bit off the deep end about some of the omissions. I might have some thoughts about that.
Netflix is entering a partnership with the WWE which is… interesting.
A look at Emily Nagoski’s work and new book, Coming Together which is on my nightstand.
The artists for the 2024 Whitney Biennial have been released. I’m looking forward to the show!
Chronic wife embarrasser Bill Ackman is speaking at TED and several fellows have resigned in protest. It’s wild to watch TED undermine themselves in this way. And it isn’t denying free speech to say that someone like Ackman doesn’t have an inalienable right to speak on a global platform with wide influence.
Palm Springs is capping short term rentals in many neighborhoods and it’s now driving housing prices down because most people were buying houses in a wave of speculation to make money on AirBnB.
As you might expect, there have been tens of thousands of rape-related pregnancies since Roe was overturned.
A profile of Ali Krieger, post-retirement.
Trump keeps having his ass handed to him by Roberta Kaplan. It’s so satisfying to witness. And also, he lost a second defamation case to E. Jean Carroll and he has to pay her $83.3 million.
A look into the turmoil at U Penn.
WFMU in Hudson Valley, NY is hiring a music director. Seems like an amazing job.
In Houston, prosecutors are learning the hard way that people don’t want to punish people for giving food to the unhoused. And there has been a significant rise in the homeless population.
The idiots running the House are trying to impeach the head of Homeland Security with absolutely no evidence. Embarrassing, as always. For them.
Also embarrassing, Pelosi wants the FBI to investigate Gaza protests because what is the Constitution but an ancient piece of paper, anyway?
An interesting history of Black activists and Palestine.
The things activists warn us about always come true. In Utah, an angry parent kept accusing a young girl of being trans. She isn’t, of course.
In Kenya, women are marching in protest of femicide.
Last year, I had the strangest, funniest interview with a claymation puppet. And now, that is part of a new show on Peacock called In the Know.
Billionaires cannot save the world and they sure won’t save journalism.
Bottled water has too many plastic particles. Everything is pretty bad for us.
A woman pressured to work through illness at Walmart died on the job. Her name was Janikka Perry. It’s such a tragic thing, being worked to death.
An end to self-checkout? I hope so!
Garth Greenwell on how to become a better stylist. Prose stylist, that is.
An investigation into misdeeds at The Abbey, a popular bar in Los Angeles.
This one time, a woman spent 500 days in a cave and then tried to convince everyone that it was an awesome experience. There were bugs down there and frankly, that’s all I need to know about that.
Cameroon is rolling out a mass malaria vaccine. This is a big deal in global health.
The largest cruise ship in the world is ugly but also an environmental catastrophe.
Ummm… Elon Musk went to Auschwitz?
Did you know the White House has a pharmacy? And during Trump’s presidency, it was a bit of a pill mill!
I went to Henrietta’s this past weekend. It’s one of my favorite places. Great music. Go Go dancers! Lesbians! Anyway. I noticed that the girlies were all wearing like 90s fashion. It suited them well but also it was disconcerting. Everything old is new again. Also, Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show.
There’s a thing going on with Nicki Minaj. I don’t fully understand it. Nor do I understand why people choose to mock Megan THEE Stallion for being shot with actual bullets by a rapping leprechaun. It’s violent abuse! Protect her!
Monkey Man, directed by and starring Dev Patel! Produced by Jordan Peele. I cannot wait. It looks incredible.
Murderer Carl Andre finally died. RIP Ana Mendieta.
The state of Alabama is trying out some new ways of killing people. Barbaric assholes.
A couple chauffeurs stole $34 MILLION from their employer and he basically didn’t notice. Innocent, I say!
The nose fell off a Boeing jet which is just not at all reassuring.
People are getting cancer younger and doctors don’t really know why. And a profile of Cecile Richards, living with brain cancer.
Developers want to build the tallest building in the U.S. in… Oklahoma City. Sure. Okay.
New poem by Jericho Brown.
New COVID variant just dropped.
How they made that creepy ice corpse thing in the new season of True Detective. The show is excellent.
Parul Sehgal on twins. (And much more.)
A profile of Issa Rae, still endlessly interesting.
Interesting essay on Russia.
Anne Hathaway, not a scab!
I'm heartbroken at Janikka Perry's death at Walmart at age 38. This is UNACCEPTABLE that people have to work to death. How do I go back and support that damn store in my community? How do people get away with treating the poorest amongst us as if their lives do NOT matter??? And they get away with it!!
I am begrudgingly going on my first cruise this summer. I feel, it will be my first and last.