The Audacious Roundup
Greetings from the Greek Isles where I am on vacation (thus the pause in newsletters for the past two weeks). It is warm and beautiful here and sometimes it is very hot. There are many archaeological wonders that are also obstacle courses up large hills, with hundreds of stairs, slippery marble and other delights. I have learned a lot about Greek history. I have learned what a proper Greek salad is and is not. I will be sad when this vacation ends on Friday but grateful I got to take a couple weeks off. Meanwhile…. here is a massive round up from the past three weeks.
Keep up with the Joel Gay Creative Fellows, Jet Toomer, Jesus Rodriguez, and Elspeth Michaels.
The September selection for the Audacious Book Club is How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo. Our conversation with Elaine takes place on September 29th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Register now! If you missed our conversation with Kirstin Chen, author of Counterfeit, you can tune in to the recording.
The Audacity. is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber but especially a paid subscriber.
I am reading submissions to The Audacity’s Emerging Writer Series. Read the guidelines and submit your best writing. Submissions will be open until I have 24 essays.
Don’t Forget: Why Design Matters by Debbie Millman.
If you’re looking for a nice notebook, check out my new Draft Writing Journal from Baron Fig. It’s pretty swank if I do say so myself. (The first printing is sold out but more are on the way.)
I appeared on the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher. We talked to each other and then interviewed Ken Burns.
In this week’s Work Friend, advice on how to take an hour off a week for therapy, dealing with a hostile colleague who may or may not be homophobic, overthinking a colleague’s work life, and asking versus telling as a middle manager.
The FBI served the former president a search warrant and went a huntin’ for documents at Mar-a-Scammo. And we can read the redacted search warrant and see that the former president continues to try and scam the country.
RIP Olivia Newton John. She was so wonderful in so many movies but especially Grease and Two of a Kind, the latter of which does not seem to be streaming anywhere, which is a real oversight.
RIP Anne Heche, an always interesting actor who died too young.
P Valley creator Katori Hall on what and who Mercedes represents. And Doreen St. Felix writes about the show and what it does with spectacle.
Congratulations to Quinta Brunson who has an overall deal with Warner Bros.
Michelle Branch is leaving her cheating husband.
On Wendy Williams and her legacy.
Morgan Jerkins is starting a newsletter, Lorain.
A profile of Marcus Mumford.
Tevin Campbell, who can sing his ass off, has come out as gay. YAY GAY!
A pay by the hour hotel in Manhattan, clean and looking for a new owner.
Renaissance, Beyoncé at her curatorial best.
Min Jin Lee argues (correctly) that too much consolidation in publishing is only going to hurt writers, and especially those of us who are marginalized.
Disability activist Alice Wong needs our support.
Attending a musical festival in style.
Cracker Barrel aficionados are BIG MAD that the restaurant is serving some impossible breakfast meat that they are not required to consume.
The FAA is accepting public comments about the size of airplane seats. I’m sure we allll have something to say about that.
The Baltimore Beat is a new black-led publication out of, well, Baltimore. Check it out. They’re doing great reporting, already.
In These Times is hiring an executive editor and an audience engagement editor.
Baseball’s minor league players are joining a union and that’s great. Their working conditions are, largely, deplorable.
Ivana Trump’s last days were… a bit sad, really.
The lead singer of Arcade Fire has been accused of “sexual misconduct.” He says all the relationships were consensual. His wife is standing by him.
Aries Spears tried talking out the side of his face about Lizzo, at the height of hypocrisy, and really thought he was doing something. Y’all need to leave that woman alone. Before that, Kathy Hilton mistook Lizzo for Precious which is bizarre on many levels, for many reasons.
Tressie goes deep on Yellowstone which is, incidentally, one of my favorite shows despite what it stands for.
The rise of knotless braids. For one, they don’t take as long.
Mindy Kaling is happy!
It was a brilliant run but Serena Williams is retiring after this year’s U.S. Open.
Food & Wine’s best grilling tips from three decades of articles in the magazine.
By The Book with the wonderful writer James Hannaham. And here is a review of his new novel, Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta, which I hope to dive into this week.
There was a racism at BYU during a volleyball game and not one adult from either team tried to protect the young black woman who was being taunted with racial slurs for an entire match.
Speaking of racism, getting your home
while black is not really possible.
Here is one book’s journey from draft to book you can buy in an actual store!
Biden has finally revealed his plans for student loans and it’s not perfect but it will help the people who need it most and it is a good start to, hopefully, reforming the system. As he works through his To Do list, Biden is also moving to formalize DACA, which, it is about damn time.
HBO Discovery whatever is decimating what was a very good streaming service. They’ve killed the Batgirl project but will be doing some “secret screenings,” whatever that means.
Some music execs thought up an AI rapper and whew. It was a fucking mess so that’s not happening anymore.
Rich people in California are flouting water restrictions, because of course they are.
Lil Jared Trump wrote a terrible book but thankfully, we have Laura Miller to tell us just how bad it is. The New York Times also hated the book.
A profile of Olivia Wilde who has been in the news quite a lot lately.
Slim Pickins is the first black-owned outdoor gear store.
Ignore global warming at your own peril and, well, the rest of us, too.
A profile of fav Saeed Jones in Columbus Monthly.
Salman Rushdie was attacked at an event in upstate New York. It was brutal and shocking and other writers are concerned about safety, with good reason. Rushdie is, fortunately, recuperating.
Los Angeles chef Keith Corbin has a new book out, California Soul. His story is interesting, and I am looking forward to this book, too.
New short story by Laura Vandenberg.
A conversation with Manti Te’o, the football player who was catfished, and it became a national story, basically ruined his career, and he is still standing. The documentary on Netflix about his story is fascinating though it does not do enough to hold accountable the catfisher and the journalists who recklessly “broke” the story.
Newly released documents reveal some of what went down between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt before their split. It’s grim. Speaking of, Angelica Jade Bastièn writes about how Pitt is a master of crafting his image. Get to know her work. She is one of the finest cultural critics writing today
Dan Price, the (former) CEO who became famous for paying a minimum salary of $70,000, is not a good guy.
Fred Savage, also a bad man.
Soraya Nadia McDonald is here to help us make sense of Nope.
An interview with the luminous Debbie Millman. I am not biased. No I am not.
A24 has become something of a Brand. Is that a good thing?
HBO has a new, unlit show for us to squint at.
This report on racial disparities in how performance is evaluated at the Times is… so disheartening.
Prison labor, like every other aspect of incarceration, is inhumane.
A man convicted of sex crimes died by suicide in court as he awaited the verdict.
Ezra Miller has peeked out from wherever they have been skulking to apologize for their behavior as of late. Do they have a big movie coming out soon? Why yes!
Josh Gondelman writes about the time his father had amnesia.
Lawyers don’t want to represent Trump in his ongoing legal battles.
A conversation with She Hulk writer Jessica Gao.
An interview with Mary Gaitskill!
You can never trust what law enforcement will do with DNA, even when they take it from babies. SMH.
A photo essay about queer and trans beauty and desire.
A trailer for Tim Burton’s Wednesday which will air on Netflix.
Fifty years too late, the academy apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather.
Adam Neumann aka the WeWork guy has a new idea to disrupt housing or something and he has been given $350 million in venture capital. LOL. I mean, the jokes write themselves but it’s amazing how white men can fail upward at such an alarming pace.
A conversation with Adele.
A young Haitian man found a baby in the trash and is trying to adopt him.
It’s always a celebration when anyone can be their true self. Go Tevin!
While the FAA is at it let’s make the seat wider and add more leg rooms for those of us that are not average.
Climate change denial is like watching a derailed freight train coming your way and you’re stuck on the tacks unable to get out of the way because there’s NO way to go. We’re all gon’ pay for this. SMH!!
DACA: About damn time!!
It saddens me to read the Racial Disparities in Performance evaluation in 2022!!
As prison labor goes, what kind of skills does one acquire planting sweet potatoes, unpaid, and under conditions similar to slavery. You will just come out with more trauma and anger.
Fantastic issue, Roxane! A feast!!
There is so so much here... like three weeks' worth. But Winston tho.... the goodest puppy.