Show & Tell: Three Fifths, Baseball Playoffs, and Bad Faith Media.
Unstacked Digest for the week of September 30 - October 6
This is Show & Tell where I tell you some things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything else going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.
I want to start today by acknowledging it has been 365 days since October 7, 2023. There have been too many killed in the wake of those events and there is no end in sight to the violence. I don’t have anything smart to say that hasn’t been said, but I couldn’t let today go by without just marking the day. The violence and horrifying suffering the Palestinian people have been living with for the last year is a travesty.
There is no good transition here. It is moments like this I wish I was a real writer and not just a person who writes. Please forgive hard shift to your regularly scheduled jibber jabber.
I had a bit of a chaotic week. The Minis only had 2.5 days of school, so I was barely working, but I did manage to have a stellar even with Danzy Senna and Zach Stafford at my live show. I also planted a bunch of things in the garden (finally) and went to plenty of youth soccer. There was also a birthday party and a fall event for school. The best thing I did this week was celebrate the birth of Christian Dueñas, the editor of The Stacks, who is truly the best. When I say that I couldn’t make the show without the support of subscribers on Substack and Patreon, I really mean that. Without you all I wouldn’t be able to pay Christian and he makes the show infinitely better. He knows audio quality better than anyone and always edits out my worst takes. He is a joy and a such a talent. I really thank you all for making it possible to have the best ever on my team.
This Week on Unstacked
It was a lot of ranting in raving in last week’s Show & Tell.
Lots of really exciting books coming out this month. Here are the ones I feel the most excited about.
We’re reading a top tier novel in October on The Stacks. Join us.
I read 17 books in September, I ranked them all here for you.
Books I Read This Week
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win by Jessica Valenti
If you ever have to have any conversations with any conservative who is anti-aboriton, this is the book for you.
Container Gardening for Beginners: A Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Edible Flowers by Tammy Wylie
This was pretty useless for me. The book is mostly just general gardening information but nothing actually detailed enough to help me get started. I ended up skimming a lot of it because even I, a true beginner, knew most of what Wylie was talking about already.
Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith
A comic of short stories about a group of Black girlfriends in New York City. This book is so sweet and warm. It is a deep and caring depiction of Black women and their bonds. I totally swooned for the color work in this book. Pinks and purples abound. There were a few parts I caught myself smiling along as I read, especially the story about their group text. I did wish for a little more depth in both plot and character development. The chapters were more like snapshots than full stories.
How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom by Johanna Hedva
Johanna Hedva is a literary force. Their thinking and writing is exactly what I hope to read every single time I open any collection of cultural criticism. They are smart, funny, bold, surprising, and articulate the world in ways that would never occur to me (the essay in this book on wrestling is the perfect example). I had so many “ah-ha” moments about ableism while reading this book, but more than that I had so many “ah-ha” moments about what care is and can be. This is a book about possibility. It is also a book about kink and cocks and pain and hags. It is a text that I am so happy to have read and I know I will continue to reckon with it and Hedva’s words for a long time to come.
Fave of the week!
Housekeeping
Franklin Leonard, Hollywood executive and founder of The Black List came on the podcast this week to talk about The Black List’s expansion into fiction and how it all works. Plus we talked about math, I’m sorry.
This Wednesday in Los Angeles I am talking with Lena Waithe and Johanna Hedva about Hedva’s new books How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom. I hate to add to your TBR (no I do not) but this book is so so so good. The event is on October 9th at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood, tickets here.
I’ll be in San Francisco on October 19th for the Litquake book festival talking to friends of the pod Carvell Wallace and Morgan Parker, and National Book Award longlister Sam Sax. Get your tickets.
Things I Love…
Pop Culture
Thanks to Justine from 2 Black Girls 1 Rose I am now 5 episodes deep in season 7 of Love is Blind. I do not love this for me, but what I do love, is they managed to cast a man, Stephen, who didn’t know he was Black despite looking like this…
How, Sway?
He then proceeded to refer to himself as “three fifths Black” unironically. I am sorry, but this moment was the most shocking thing I have seen on TV since Stephen (no relation) slapped Irene on Real World: Seattle.
Also there is a truly horrible man named Leo who is so dreadful. He is rich and talks about money all the time in the most gross ways. He a is an art dealer and when he said that the woman he was speaking to asked in he liked Van Gogh and he responded with something along the lines of “Ughhh yes! I love Van Gogh. He’s my favorite”. BITCH WHAT? You are an actual art dealer and your favorite artist is Van Gogh? Please. If that is true, I need you to actually lie and be an elitist prick and tell me that you hate Van Gogh and you really love some Sweedish nun that does the most gorgeous multi-media finger paintings with her tongue or some shit. WHY BE AN ART DEALER IF YOU CAN’T FLEX ON US WITH A LOVE OF OBSCURE ART?
Anyway, Leo is off the show because he picked a hot chick who is revolted by the way he looks and the producers knew they would never make it to the altar. Turns out, love is not blind.