Hello all, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! If you were a little surprised to see a notification pop up today, I can understand. Christmas festivities often involve pushed-back obligations and a weekend full of festivities. Many log off, spend time with friends or family, or spend a long, quiet weekend indulging in some…
Something strange happens between 11:59 PM and 12:00 AM on the night of Thanksgiving. Immediately, every brand and store in America becomes laser-focused on Christmas. Black Friday deals, Christmas trees in every window, holiday music blaring on loudspeakers. Any store you go in is packed. Invites to holiday parties, familial and work-related, jostle for our…
Some loves are born out of necessity. As one of four children in a one-car household, I walked everywhere I could: elementary, middle, and high school; my first job; friend’s houses; dates. It didn’t matter if it was a block away or across town, I’d meander through the streets of my city, dressed for work…
“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds. I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some have treated me as such. I am simply able to see any issue from both…
TeaReads has been up for nine months. I’ve written for this blog in snowstorms, in torrential rain, on sunny spring days, and on warm summer nights. The leaves are changing now, and the nights are getting longer. My morning walks require a coat to keep the chill out. Fall isn’t my favorite time of year,…
Gothic literature has been following the same tropes for centuries: old, dilapidated mansions filled with secrets; wealthy families fallen from grace; oil paintings illuminated by candelabra in a thunderstorm; young heroines, fleeing into the night in terror. Since the late eighteenth century, these tropes have been used time and time again to critique power, gender,…
About halfway through Americanah, we see the origin of Ifemelu’s blog, “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black”. She makes her first post and checks the stats a little later. Nine people have read it. She panics and takes the post down, editing and modifying it…
“In my peer education courses I was taught to say that I am a person with schizoaffective disorder. "Person-first language" suggests that there is a person in there somewhere without the delusion and the rambling and the catatonia.But what if there isn't? What happens if I see my disordered mind as a fundamental part of…
Nonfiction gets a bad rap. When we think of nonfiction, we think of textbooks, flowery essays, and dry biographies of famous dead people, all requiring knowledge of field-specific jargon or a dictionary to decipher. I’m guilty of perpetuating this stereotype; for years, when people asked me what I read, I told them I was game…
I finished On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous sitting in the passenger seat of my car. The tollway roared beneath me. Closing the book, I looked out over the empty land blurring past my window and said to my partner, “God damn. That was a book.” I couldn’t think of any other way to describe it…
Tea Reads 