It’s Friday. If you’re reading this, you’ve survived another fucking week. I’m coping the same way I always do, by following the advice of the wonderful Celeste Pewter: I’ve adopted two Democratic Senate candidates as my own, and I plan to do an action for one of them each week, even if it’s something small. Bill Nelson’s seat in Florida is in a dead heat, and we have to hold the seats we have in the Senate (more Democrats than Republicans are up for reelection); and if y’all donate now, your donation will be double-matched, so you’re effectively donating $15…
Leave a CommentTag: Roxane Gay
I’d say that I am currently at peak excitement for The Last Jedi, but it’s impossible to say with any certainty. As we draw ever closer to Star Wars Day (the 15th but actually for me probably the 16th), I likely will grow ever more excited until I see the movie or explode, whichever comes first. So let’s start this week’s round-up with some Kelly Marie Tran news. Kelly Marie Tran in Buzzfeed. Kelly Marie Tran in EW. Kelly Marie Tran sorting Star Wars characters into Hogwarts houses, an activity she’s so pumped to do. And lest we forget, here’s…
8 CommentsI’m really tired this Friday. My week’s been fine, but I’m coming out of it feeling exhausted and discouraged, for no real reason I can identify. I wish my stupid period would start, as I guess that is maybe the reason I am feeling crummy. These are some links. Very good ones, I think! “Every comment allowed to pass, every rapist defended by friends and family and strangers, every man afraid of being falsely accused, creates a culture saying, ‘We have your back when you harm women.’” Natalie Degraffinried on how badly we need men to take on accountability for…
9 CommentsWell this has been a hell of a Congressional season, and one of my damn senators still hasn’t held a damn town hall. But at least we’re getting a short break. Roxane Gay on Confederate and why she doesn’t want it. I’m going to share this one quote because it’s really good: It is curious that time and again, when people create alternate histories, they are largely replicating a history we already know, and intimately. They are replicating histories where whiteness thrives and people of color remain oppressed. I’ll never not want to post links about Tom Stoppard and how…
5 CommentsOkay, I don’t actually have a link about Kenny, my favorite contestant on this season of The Bachelorette, but I will tell you that there is some racist shit going down on this season, and it is not fun to watch, it’s upsetting. ABC is a tire fire. What else is new. Roxane Gay’s series “World of Wakanda” was canceled — as usual, because Marvel calculates sales in the stupidest way possible and doesn’t give its new series and new authors the support they need and enough time to find their audience. Swapna Krishna discusses this nonsense. I still haven’t…
18 CommentsAlton Sterling was killed in Louisiana on Tuesday, July 5th. Roxane Gay talks about his life and his death. Rembert Browne on people who don’t want anyone not like them to exist at all. Ijeoma Olua on the tragedy in Dallas and how we should (and shouldn’t) respond to it. Ta-Nehisi Coates on the unbreakable link between violence by police officers and violence against them. In the wake of Black Lives Matter pulling out of the Pride parade in San Francisco due to increased police presence, some thoughts on the disconnect between the two major civil rights fights of our…
8 CommentsFranzen’s new book is out soon, and every joke the internet makes at its expense is music to my ears, yet also I sort of wonder if Franzen and his publisher and The Atlantic and The New Republic are pranking us. They must be, right? This can’t really be real? Anyway, for now let’s just enjoy making fun of Jonathan Franzen, as the founding fathers intended. Fantasy author NK Jemisin on disrupting the status quo. Note that the author of the interview refers to “stereotypical fantasy series like Lord of the Rings,” which is sort of insane because Lord of…
12 CommentsOh, have I mentioned I’m excited about Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown? WELL I AM. Here’s Zen Cho on writing three novels and throwing two of them out. Eliding the horrors of American slavery. The development of American English and the new London dialect that’s replacing Cockney. Literary blind spots from famous authors. Writing letters to trees. “I don’t see gender/color/difference” is bullshit, and let’s not ever forget it. An appreciation of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye, which recently (sob!) ended its run. What women write about when we write about the apocalypse. This article about Auroville is shocking because this…
4 CommentsI could not be more excited about the new Lifetime show UnREAL. “Now I’m going to do that racist thing where I touch your hair.” Saeed Jones on being black in the book world. A moderate voice on trigger warnings for the classics. And another piece on trigger warnings generally, which makes the point that it’s not about whether to teach this or that troubling text, but how. Brit Bennett of the Paris Review on Addy Walker and black dolls in American culture. No joke, y’all, I reread the Addy books recently and they are fucking brutal. Gender differences in…
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