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White People Need Better Hobbies
Even as the pandemic has handcuffed so much of our activity, think for a moment of all the shit you still have planned for the next several days. A virtual yoga class you wish to take. A book you need to finish. A show you want to binge. A recipe you’re anxious to try. A…
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Meghan McCain's Face Is a Face
Meghan McCain’s face, captured here in a thousand-yard death stare while Brady-Brunched with her castmates on The View and Raphael Warnock, is not a bottle of Mylanta Maximum Strength Liquid Antacid/Anti-Gas Classic. Nor is it a pancake, a Cadillac Seville, a tent, a three-on-three basketball tournament trophy from the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Center, a poached…
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Why Pixar's Surprisingly Polarizing Soul Is So, Well, Surprisingly Polarizing
This morning, I began the celebration of my 42nd year on Earth with Esomeprazole (for acid reflux), Lisinopril (for blood pressure), a vitamin C pill, a vitamin D pill, and a zinc supplement. At some point today, I will drink a cup of bone broth. And maybe this evening I will eat a gluten-free slice…
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A Preview of an NBA Season That Shouldn't be Happening Because We're in a Raging Pandemic But I'm Still Watching Anyway and That Makes Me Complicit!
The NBA is back! On the same week that news broke of a more contagious strain of a virus that has killed millions of people! There’s no bubble this time either! Just planes and airports and buses and hotels like any other non-pandemic time! I am very excited for this season and I plan to…
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All I Want for Christmas Is Malcolm Gladwell's Masturbation Bible
Jerking off is good! It can relieve stress. It can pass time. It can induce sleep. It can even help you finish your tax returns. Jerking off in front of people without their permission is bad! And jerking off in front of people without their permission while you’re at work is worse! There doesn’t seem…
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The Baffling, Years-Long Beef Between Kyrie Irving and NBA Media, Explained
When it’s a sport’s offseason and an athlete’s name trends as often as Kyrie Irving’s does—well, an athlete not named LeBron James—it’s usually because of an injury, a trade, or perhaps even some legal issue. Kyrie, however, seems to always be in the news because of…a podcast and a couple of creatively punctuated pre-written statements…
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Euphoria and Colman Domingo Delivered the Best Phone Call Scene I've Ever Seen, and I Still Can't Get It Out of My Head
So, during my conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates earlier this week, he mentioned that he wants his work to “haunt” those who read it, where (paraphrasing) it sticks in their heads and they can’t extract it. I’ve had similar conversations with other writers—and others across the creative spectrum—and this feeling is universal among them. Us, I…
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A Short Blog About a Confused Dipshit in My Neighborhood With Trump Flags in Their Windows
In 2004, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh opened its doors on Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhood with a specific mission: to provide sanctuary to literary writers who were exiled and under threat of persecution. For two years we provide an exiled writer (and family) with a house, a stipend, and medical benefits, as well as a…
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20 Spoiler-Filled Questions After Finally Watching HBO's The Undoing
I watched HBO’s The Undoing, and I have questions. 1. Why would he try to burn the murder thing in a janky outdoor fire pit when the whole ass ocean is literally right there? 2. Do rich whites (“the wich”) just not have ceilings in their homes? 3. Is there a ceiling-less house level of…
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My Chaotic and COVID-Influenced 2020 Spotify Wrapped, Explained
Soooo… Yeah? Are we ready to talk about this list? I think so. I think I’m ready. Let’s start at the top, then. James Blake has pretty much cemented his status as the Blacks’ favorite contemporary white in music. This is true. The Blacks love James Blake, and I am a Black. I like him…