A tricky thing happens when you commit to a regular newsletter. You often feel torn between the commitment you’ve made to publish each week—and the conflicting need to spend long periods of time in “listening” mode.
I could write a long post about “listening mode,” but it would sort of defeat the purpose, no?
Instead, I’ll share what I’ve been reading and watching this month. One of my artistic goals for the year is to continue to take a deeply critical look at my own whiteness, gender, and privilege, and my list of recommended reading and viewing definitely reflects that.
It’s also just a list of damn good writers and thinkers.
Essays and criticism
Pendeja, You Ain’t Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake-Ass Social Justice Literature by Myriam Gurba
Book Publishing's New Brownface Problem by Porochista Khakpour
The Call is Coming From Inside the Becky by Sarah Elaine Smith
Dear White Women, by Martin Mandela Morrow
As a 28-year-old Latino, I’m shocked my new novel, Memoirs of a Middle-Aged White Lady, has been so poorly received by Carlos Greaves
Books
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum
Film and video
Canceling by ContraPoints
Maintaining Cultural Distinction in Spirituality by New Old Traditions
The (literal) cost of not believing survivors by Wagatwe Wanjuki
xoxoxox,
Sarah