This is the type of writing that gives me what I think of as “complete cellular-level stillness.” You know that feeling when you’re listening to, reading, or watching something completely extraordinary, and your entire body goes still? Maybe you have scalp tingles or you’re covered in goosebumps, but you are entirely focused on not missing a thing because it’s freaking incredible? That’s my experience with this book of essays. I’ve interviewed Dr. Cottom (Podcast Episode … Continue reading Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom →
Today I’m talking with two nifty academics, so get ready to maybe take notes. I’m talking with Tressie McMillan Cottom, PhD, sociology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Kelly Baker, PhD, who studies racist politics, sexism in the academy, white supremacy, and zombies. Both are writers, and both are major fans of paranormal romance. They snuck paranormal romances to read during grad school, they hid their love of romances, and dealt with being shunned and … Continue reading 318. Sharp Academics and Paranormal Romance: An Interview with Kelly Baker, PhD, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, PhD →
Welcome back, everyone! I am still in South Korea and tomorrow I will celebrate my thirty-fifth birthday! Wowza! I never thought I’d be experiencing such a trip in my lifetime, let alone for a bit of a milestone occasion. I am sure Sarah is steadily steering the S.S. Smart Bitch in my absence. Oh captain, my captain! Also, we’re in mid-April now! How did that happen? The spring always feels like it flies by. Maybe … Continue reading Links: Higher Ed, Little Golden Books, & More →
Welcome back, everyone! How are we all doing? I can’t stop thinking about this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Pizza Beans. We ate almost all of it in one go and have been mourning the loss of leftovers. Do y’all have any recent recipes that you’re loving? I’m also hoping we’re slowly sliding into fall soon in New England. I’m a sucker for “soup season” and big, oversized sweaters. … Sarah: I was the guest this … Continue reading Links: Podcasts, Reading Recs, & More →
Welcome back to Wednesday Links! I hope you all are doing well. Over the weekend, my partner and I visited a giant anime store and a disappointing aquarium. You win some; you lose some. We also suspect that our new upholstered headboard from Wayfair came to use with a few…friends already hitching a ride. So we’re dealing with that whole situation – wrapping our mattress in a plastic cover, steam cleaning everything, tossing furniture, etc. … Continue reading Links: Podcasts, Colleen Hoover, & More →
Welcome back to Wednesday Links! I’m still in Florida and let’s just say it isn’t going super well. My flight was also delayed by a giant man baby refusing to wear a mask and then cursing out a plane mostly full of families going to Disney. On the bright side, I did get a pretty sporty rental car and I went to Atlanta for the Georgia Aquarium to finally see their whale sharks. … In … Continue reading Links: Irish Music, a Writer’s Fellowship, & More →
To quote Kate, one of the hosts of What Would Danbury Do?, a podcast examining the Bridgerton world, the marketing for the Netflix Bridgerton show has been very subtle. It’s not as if it has it’s own hashtag icon, or that publications like Architectural Digest of all places covered it. Wait, no, it was everywhere and so many of you asked us about it. We were watching? Oh, yes. Over the holiday break we’ve been … Continue reading Bridgerton →
I’ve read most of this series, and it’s among my favorite comfort reads. I’ve mentioned this before, but I started reading this series in Japan, when jet lag would gift me with a hard wake-up at 3am and I’d have no ability to get back to sleep. My memories of these characters are indelibly mixed with being wrapped in a duvet, hiding under the covers so the light from my e-reader wouldn’t wake everyone up. … Continue reading A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber →
Today I’m chatting with Dr. Kelly J. Baker, who was also part of my episode with Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom last year. In this conversation, Kelly and I talk about her academic work studying white supremacy and the klan, and how history is never only in the past. But the core of this episode is talking about setting boundaries. Kelly and I have been having an ongoing casual email conversation about setting boundaries, especially within … Continue reading 353. Setting Boundaries and Getting Help: A Candid Conversation with Dr. Kelly J. Baker →
Time for another round of podcast episode recs! Typically when a podcast is recommended to me, I’m a little overwhelmed and not sure where to start. Even with my own, I did a “recommended favorites so you can start here” list at the top of the page. And, btw, if you’re looking for more romance-focused podcasts to try, I have a page collecting them at RomancePodcasts.com. So let’s talk podcast episodes that have been rocking … Continue reading Podcast Episode Recommendations – April 25, 2019 →
Smart, humorous, and strikingly original thoughts on race, beauty, money, and more—by one of today’s most intrepid public intellectuals Tressie McMillan Cottom, the writer, professor, and acclaimed author of Lower Ed, now brilliantly shifts gears from running regression analyses on college data to unleashing another identity: a purveyor of wit, wisdom—and of course Black Twitter snark—about all that is right and much that is so very wrong about this thing we call society. In the … Continue reading Thick: And Other Essays →
