Da’Shaun L. Harrison has penned one of my favorite texts in the past five years. I have read it three times in nine months and I have become more and more delighted with the person that I become absorbing these words. In Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness, Harrison presents theoretical frameworks that compel us to meaningful action. I will tell you now and I will tell you for free: belief that compels me to meaningful action is exactly my shit. I am grateful, to my bones, for theory. Blessed are the workers who make the way clearer with their weighty, weighty words. I relish texts like this.

read the full essay (and join bookclub!) at ismatu.substack.com

Jazz songs of the episode:

Skylark x Wynton Marsalis

Abide With Me x Thelonious Monk Septet

Fools Rush In x Teddy Wilson (this is what was playing when my mom interrupted me)

My Romance x Gene Ammons (remastered by Rudy Van Gelder)

Confirmation - Take 3 / Master x Charlie Parker Quartet

Cup Bearers x Tommy Flanagan, George Mraz, and Elvin Jones

A Sleepin' Bee x Wynton Marsalis

Stomping At The Savory x Red Gardland, Paul Champers, Art Taylor

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