Novel Ideas

If there was ever a conversation to be had about how I don't enjoy being overworked and prioritizing a job over my physical and mental health, this is it. And Ann Petry does a phenomenal job with her short story that highlights the way race, gender and class impacts our ability to effectively deal with the consequences that emerge from considerations not offered by our society.

In today's episode, Nella Larsen's "Passing" offers an opportunity to explore the legacy behind being called an "Oreo", modern presentations of Blackfishing, and what does it mean to balance the influences of Whiteness and Blackness through this story about two mixed-race women living with the privileges and disadvantages of being Black and looking White.

In this week's episode, Amiri Baraka's "Dutchman" opens up a conversation about racial politics between Black men, White women and the American mythos that establishes a sordid violence between this pairing. Addressing uses of religious/spiritual/mythological allusions to highlight the tradition established within the racial hierarchy, I guess it's only inevitable to see the impending doom arriving at the onset of Lula setting her sights on Clay.

Join Elijah as he works through fear with Simon Holt's "The Devouring" and how one can conquer or be conquered by fear. Filled with too many chuckles on the dark subject, carrying CliffNotes' legacy and finding hope in the restlessness, listen in for a spooky discussion on why you should also never pick up a random journal filled with its own kind of demons.