A fan of Wonder Woman and librarians
By Amy Sutherland Globe Correspondent,Updated January 20, 2021, 7:21 p.m.
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Robert Jones Jr.AVARGAS
Robert Jones Jr.âs much anticipated debut novel, âThe Prophets,â tells the story of two Black enslaved men who fall in love on a cotton plantation in Antebellum Mississippi. Jones earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from Brooklyn College, and is the founder of the blog Son of Baldwin, which discusses race, sexuality, and gender. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband.
BOOKS: What are you reading currently?
JONES: âThe Secret Lives of Church Ladiesâ by Deesha Philyaw, a 2020 National Book Award finalist. Her short stories are about Black women and their relationship to the church. This is the kind of book I needed at this moment, when everything seems to be coming undone. This feels like a grandmaâs hug.
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The woman dubbed “Soho Karen,” captured on video attacking a Black child after falsely accusing him of stealing her phone.
Screenshot: @keyonharrold (Instagram)
Whenever Black people collectively and specifically speak to the realities of anti-Blackness, there is often outraged and offended backlash from people who would rather racism continue unabated and importantly unacknowledged as racism. Because to acknowledge racism would necessitate people who consider themselves decent to actively work at eradicating it, or at the very least, call it out when they see it.
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This is the context behind the journey of the word “Karen,” which firmly took its place in the national parlance in 2020 though the behavior which gave birth it has been documented since at least 1955, when Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, falsely accused Emmet Till of whistling at her and caused the 14-year-old Black child to be lynched by a mob.
By Damon Young
Dec. 30, 2020
Credit.Igor Bastidas
It’s funny how, in the 10th month of Covid, some of the things I miss most are things I hadn’t thought were missable. I miss the barbershop, for instance, for reasons that would be obvious if you saw me. I used to make weekly trips, but I haven’t been since March. I feel as if I look like a mashup of Frederick Douglass and Chewbacca’s neck. I’m pining for the pomp and circumstance in the process of the cut, the ceremony of the barber raising and snapping the cape before smoothing it on me and fastening it around my neck, the sting and lovely stank of peroxide applied to my fresh hairline and newly speck-free neck. And then the big reveal the moment when the artisan has finished and spins me in the chair to face the wall of mirrors and witness the masterwork.
For Ijeoma Oluo, Books and Bedtime Are a Perfect Combination
Credit.Jillian Tamaki
Dec. 24, 2020
“Lately, I’ve been able to find a few minutes to read in bed each night after my family has gone to sleep,” says the author of “Mediocre,” “and it’s been absolutely heavenly.”
What books are on your night stand?
Right now I have “Wow, No Thank You,” by Samantha Irby, and an early copy of “The Prophets,” by Robert Jones Jr., on my night stand. Oh, and I also have a copy of “What Wood Is That?: A Manual of Wood Identification,” by Herbert L. Edlin (I’ve taken to buying vintage furniture lately).