#zakiya young

[rafaelsilvasource]

RAFAEL SILVA with friends | July 2022

#rafael silva #photos #tagged on instagram #posts by others #july 2022 #zakiya young #doug peck #autumn armstrong

[antlerqueer]

"Nothing to say? 'Cause you had plenty to say with that picture."

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (2022). s01e07.

#faran bryant #corey bryant #Zakiya Young #Zaria Simone #[oc] #[original sin] #userliar #plledit #plldaily #pllos #pllosedit #abuse cw #wonderfulwoc #pocpopculture #popularculturesource #usertix #teendramaedit #userentertainments #dailyfictionalblackgirls #userladiesblr #usermegara #userkarin #userpayel #usertelevision #horrorwomensource #dailytvwomen #dailytvsource #userbbelcher

[filobooster]

dallas theatre center 2010 production clois my beloved

#art tag #superman #lois lane #clois #dc comics #zakiya young tysm for posting all clips you can on youtube #i love how clark got so nervous so fast when lois asked him out when will it be my turn

[cantsayidont]

Some recentish shows of note, or lack thereof:

COUNT ABDULLA: Charming comedy about a Pakistani doctor who gets turned into a vampire by a white vamp with a fetish for brown men, and the many complications that ensue. Not so much a horror story as a witty parable about the travails of being a person of color in Tory Britain today. (So, a horror story after all, then.) Jaime Winstone needs to dial it back, but the rest of the cast delights.

DEADLOCH: Snarky comedy-mystery by a well-known Australian comedy team, about mismatched cops investigating a gruesome murder in a small town. The mystery is clever; the payoff is blah; and despite the predominantly female, mostly LGBT cast, the humor is awfully reliant on misogynistic and homophobic cracks that frequently cross a line from "laughing with" to "laughing at."

HIJACK: Tense but very contrived seven-part thriller about the hijacking of a British airliner on a seven-hour-flight from Dubai to London, with passenger Idris Elba the wildcard. Gripping, but not terribly plausible, and the many false climaxes become exhausting, especially if you watch the episodes back to back.

THE LAZARUS PROJECT: Convoluted, sometimes clever, but very mean time travel saga, which alternates between distressingly bleak and blackly comedic (with the latter being both more interesting and more palatable); one assumes creator Joe Barton always has a browser tab open to the TV Tropes "Moral Event Horizon" page. Anjli Mohindra remains frustratingly under-utilized throughout.

THE MORNING SHOW: Big-budget, all-star TV news drama is all dressed up with nothing to say, undone at every turn by truly spineless whataboutism and a centrist world view so gormless it makes Aaron Sorkin seem like Alexander Berkman. Reese Witherspoon is pretty good as closeted bisexual cohost Bradley Jackson, but costar Jennifer Anniston's limited range becomes a problem, particularly as the quality of the scripts declines noticeably in later seasons. You could always just watch BROADCAST NEWS.

THE OTHER BLACK GIRL: Disjointed adaptation of the 2021 Zakiya Dalila Harris novel scores when it focus on the workplace drama of a young Black woman in a painfully white publishing company, but trips over its own feet in its attempts to also be a paranoid thriller, with plenty of bad vibes that never add up to a coherent sense of threat and a conspiracy plot that doesn't really make any sense.

THE PERIPHERAL: Misfired adaptation of the 2014 William Gibson novel is executive-produced by the same people as the recent WESTWORLD series and has the same problems: big ideas that don't translate into action and an infuriating tendency to consign characters of color to marginal or villainous roles. Worse, it eventually becomes clear that several more compelling characters have been sidelined in favor of the poor white trash leads (Chloë Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor), who are neither very interesting nor especially sympathetic.

WHO IS ERIN CARTER?: Kinetic but preposterous seven-part action thriller with Evin Ahmad as a suburban mom in Barcelona who is secretly an incredible badass with a shady past. Basically a violent Walter Mitty fantasy for soccer moms who love the JOHN WICK movies, with a showy supporting role for Denise Gough from ANDOR.

#teevee #count abdulla #deadloch #hijack #the lazarus project #the morning show #the peripheral #who is erin carter #idris elba #chloe grace moretz #jack reynor #reese witherspoon #jennifer aniston #evin ahmad #denise gough #anjli mohindra #the other black girl #the morning show is also guilty of using characters of color as props #which it acknowledges in S03 while continuing to do it

[cheshirelibrary]

Book recommendations from Your Favorite Authors.

[via The Washington Post]

We asked some of our favorite authors what they’re reading through the rest of this year. Their recommendations include fiction, graphic novels, memoirs, and more.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Recommended by Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts (out Oct. 4).

The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Recommended by Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl.

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park; translated by Anton Hur. Recommended by Mary H.K. Choi, author of Yolk and Emergency Contact.

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd. Recommended by Sabaa Tahir, author of All My Rage and the An Ember in the Ashes quartet.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. Recommended by Courtney Summers, author of Sadie.

Birds of California by Katie Cotugno. Recommended by Elissa Sussman, author of Funny You Should Ask.

Matrix by Lauren Groff. Recommended by Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club and the forthcoming companion novel A Scatter of Light (out Oct. 4).

...

Click through to see more titles.

#cheshire library #book recommendations #book recs #what to read #book list

[thoughtfulfangirling]

With October just about to a close, I feel like talking about the books I read over the month as I didn't have a particularly great time. It wasn't that the books were bad, they just weren't the kind of horror I was looking for, for October reads. If I wasn't reading them for the horror thrill, then I would like them very much and did enjoy quite a bit, but it wasn't hitting the itch hardly at all that I was looking to scratch this month.

Again! This doesn't mean these books are bad! And that's particularly why I want to talk about them, because it's super fascinating to me that I can simultaneously see how they are correctly categorized as horror (well… from my perspective which is not super literate in the horror genre) and yet not invoke that thrill of books like say even The Coldest Girl in Cold Town or something as perfectly horror as A Winter Haunting (none of what I read will be gore heavy if I can help it XD)

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez Okay, this is one that I think should have been just fantasy and not horror at all. It's a book about vampires. They feed on humans, but they don't kill them. Rather, the ones we follow don't. I think the last chapter could work as horror, but it didn't like, build up to the last chapter over time in a way that I think lets the rest of the book qualify as horror when it's just a book about a vampire going through the ages. I very much liked this book! I quite enjoyed a book that was about a vampire that read a lot like just a sort of, domestic going about life story. I mean, it's obviously not just like that, but a lot of it kind of is. Managing relationships, who we let in, how we keep growing, when we trust ourselves and grow in that trust, etc. I very much enjoyed, but I actually think this would make a better Spring book.

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould This worked for me! Not all of them failed to scratch the itch, and this was one of those. It is a young adult, which means that it didn't go as dark as other horror will, but it had a very good build of tension and mystery around scary supernatural stuff that had the protagonists feeling out of their depth and even, on occassion, clawing at each other (not literallly) in their distress at not being able to make sense of what is happening. Very good. Very spoopy.

Haunted Wisconsin by Beth Scott & Michael Norman I wanted to read this in October, and I'm glad I did. I never expect any sort of real thrill from nonfiction. It's a compilation of ghost stories, and as someone who enjoys ghost stories but has never been able to place myself in the feelings of real ghost presence (aka I don't have that sense of belief in ghosts which does NOT mean I do not believe others' experiences. I can't force myself to believe shit.) So there's no regret here, and they were very interesting, but no real horror thrill. If more of my fiction books had managed that aspect, it would be a disappointment to me at all that I spent so much time on this book.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris Only the last like, chapter or two felt like I was reading a horror book. I did go in knowing that it would go in that direction, and it did properly build to it by the end where it tracked and felt pretty earned, but if I hadn't known, I could have missed a lot of what makes this book a thriller/horror. There was a lot of anxiety but not so much thrill. I also don't think the ending works well without looking at it through a horror lens, so I do think it's properly placed in the genre, but for about 90% of the book, it didn't Feel horror.

The Ruins by Scott Smith Yeah this one was horror. Thru and thru. Hahaha. It was a summer horror though, which was a little sad to me. In some books that aren't seasonal, I can still sort of picture it taking place during the season in which I'm reading it, but this took place primarily outside in hot, humid heat. No pretending that's taking place in any sort of autumn XD

Fledgling by Octavia Butler This one also falls into a similar situation for me as The Gilda Stories. It read more like a fantasy featuring vampires. It had more horror elements than The Gilda Stories, particularly thru the first two thirds of the book. But the last section was a trial (which was really interesting! And I enjoyed reading very much!) And that just didn't feel horror. I see why it's in the genre, and enough horror-like stuff happens that it seems it deserves it, but it didn't do much to give me that horror thrill. Very good read! Wish I'd have read it a different time of the year.

Vampire Forensics by Mark Collins Jenkins This is in the same category as Haunted Wisconsin almost down to a T. This had a little bit more going for it due to talking at length about decomposition and the way people reacted to corpses when decomposition wasn't thoroughly understood. There's something grotesque but also uncannily relatable about how people would react to the viscera they would see during the decomp process.

The Vampyre; A Tale by John Polidori Victorian novella? Okay this was pretty good with setting a gothic eerie atmosphere… at times. But it was such a short story that only really small sections could be put in those settings. Still, a good October read!

Sorrowland by Rivers Soloman I am 81% through this. This has more horror in it than Fledgling or Gilda Stories, but reads also very similiarly. Things will be mundane, and then they'll be horror! Then things will be mundane (in terms of horror stuff) for a while, and then it's horrorish again! I also fully realize it's required for the story that's being told, but they stripped the mystery away a little too much for it to have that really horror thrill instead of the sort of fantasy quest feeling. The fact that we're only seeing the horror happen to one person and we understand why and how it's happening strips a lot of the thrill away even while it definitely has strong horror elements. I suppose it could go harder from here on out, but it's ramping up to feel much more like a revenge quest from here and while that can be scary, one of the hallmarks imo to horror is the lack of ability to do anything about the horror (until perhaps like the last moment or in a very intangible way) and that just doesn't feel especially present here (unless we're talking like on systemic levels but that kind of circles right around to the fantasy/sci-fi genre WHICH ARE GOOD GENRES but yeah)

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy Listening to this on the It Will Happen Here podcast with the spouse (he's a huge fan of the Robert Evans podcasts) and that is absolutely hitting the spots. Uliksi is a fantastic monster, and Danielle is so perfectly out of her depth both in terms of what is happening with him and in terms of his history/the community that summoned him. Excited to finish this up.

This is Halloween by James Moore. A++ This is perfect. Chef's Kiss. I'm glad I'll be finishing up the month with this. I am 73% through this one. It's a series of short stories with an emphasis of occurring during October/Autumn and it's just fingerlicking good as that's EXACTLY what I love most to read this time of year. I could read a whole novel(la) about the Beldam Woods creatures. So far he did three stories in that universe or whatever, and they all super hit the spot for me. Those monsters were so neat and yet different and just yeah. Big fan.

Some of these will eventually get added to my spoopy reading list, but definitely not all of them. Not because they're not horror, but because I just don't know that I really recommend them for the season. Ah well.

#tf reads #October reading #2023 reads #books #I don't think I really disliked ANY of them #Fledgeling had such an interesting world and characters and culture etc #big fan! #just... not right now XD #tfgoc #I do suspect that for some of them the horror doesn't work for me because of my conceptions about horror as a genre #which again! #Is tentative at best

[ausetkmt]

Before “The Other Black Girl” had even hit bookshelves in 2021, Hulu had already snapped up the rights to bring Zakiya Dalila Harris’s fictional thriller to the small screen. Praised as a timely reckoning of thelargely White publishing industry, “The Other Black Girl” was touted as an heir to “The Devil Wears Prada” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” Two years later, Hulu’s adaptation has arrived, keeping the spirit of Harris’s debut novel — and the well-deserved buzz around it — firmly intact.

The show introduces Nella Rogers (Sinclair Daniel), an ambitious editorial assistant at the fictional Wagner Books, where she is the only Black staffer. We quickly learn that the publishing househas only ever had one Black editor in its decades-long history. Taking in the drab executive portraits that line Wagner’s lobby, Nella’s eyes inevitably drift to the only Black face on the wall: Kendra Rae Phillips.

Kendra Rae looms large as the editor who championed and nurtured Nella’s favorite book, “Burning Heart.” Paradoxically, the groundbreaking 1983 novel — by Kendra Rae’s childhood friend Diana Gordon — helped put Wagner and its eponymous founder/editor in chief, Richard (Eric McCormack of “Will & Grace” fame), on the map. But four decades later, that legacy is wearing thin. So Nella is almost too excited when Hazel-May McCall (“Riverdale’s” Ashleigh Murray) appears one day in the cubicle adjacent to hers.

As Nella tries to discern whether she can trust Hazel, she starts feeling as if she’s being followed and receives notes advising her to “LEAVE WAGNER NOW.” Hazel seems oddly cozy with Richard, and seems to effortlessly get along with Wagner’s editors, including Nella’s boss, Vera (“Scandal’s” Bellamy Young).

With help from her boyfriend, Owen (“Weeds” alum Hunter Parrish), and BFF, Malaika (Brittany Adebumola), Nella keeps careful — even paranoid — tabs on Hazel, investigating what she fears could be a dangerous corporate conspiracy. Though the series veers into vaguely supernatural territory, the challenging tête-à-tête at the center of “The Other Black Girl” is very real. Nella is relieved to see another Black face at Wagner, but she’s also wary of sabotage. As the saying goes, “All skinfolk ain’t kinfolk,” a variation of a quote attributed to Zora Neale Hurston.

Like Peele’s feature debut, “The Other Black Girl” punctuates its thrills with social commentary — casting racism as the story’s Big Bad. The hairs on your neck might stand up after seeing Nella run confused through Wagner’s dimly lit office after hours, hearing menacing voices, but any sighting of Nella’s try-hard colleague Sophie (Kate Owens) sets off a similar, if slightly less urgent, level of alarm. If you know, you know the type: shows up at your desk to discuss anything vaguely Black — hip-hop, Beyoncé visuals, the latest Telfar drop; uses words and phrases she probably shouldn’t; and offers only the most performative displays of allyship for her BIPOC (and it’s always BIPOC) colleagues.

The plot can get a bit unwieldy throughout the course of its 10 episodes, and there are some tone issues (forgivable for a series that straddles drama, comedy and thriller), but the show is as timely as its source material in the wake of a so-called racial reckoning that, among other discourse, brought to light the inequities that Black and other employees of color face at predominantly White companies.

“The Other Black Girl” might sound triggering for those who know the experience of being Black in a predominantly White office or industry. But the show is clever in its sendup of those homogenous environments and never feels like an outsider’s guide to tokenism. In one early scene, a White editor breezily notes that “Hazel mentors underprivileged studentsup in Harlem.” “We use the term opportunity-challenged,” Hazel says without missing a beat. “Our job is to embolden them beyond their circumstances.” It’s not inconsequential that there are Black women at the helm of the series: Harris, who adapted her own novel for television; executive producer Rashida Jones, who co-wrote the first episode with the author, and Jordan Reddout, who served as showrunner alongside her longtime writing partner, Gus Hickey.

The realities of being Black at work haven’t been widely explored on television. Notable exceptions include Issa Rae’s “Insecure,” in which Rae’s protagonist struggles through her aimless underemployment at a nonprofit geared toward Black and Latino youth. “The Other Black Girl” is about publishing, but Hollywood doesn’t go unchecked in a story that centers Black women and offers multiple Black actresses dynamic lead roles. When Garcelle Beauvais (known for memorable turns on “NYPD Blue” and “The Jamie Foxx Show”) shows up as the Diana Gordon, you get the sense that she has more to do here than in most of the other unscripted roles she’s held since breaking out in the late 1980s.

“The Other Black Girl” reflects a workplace culture that quietly tolerates discrimination. The show comes as some corporations that stumbled over themselves to hop on the diversity-and-inclusion train have quietly let go of the executives they hired to hold them accountable. Black women still work in environments where they are told to be confident (but not too confident) and that consistently undervalue their talent, expertise and financial worth. “The Other Black Girl” zeroes in on the absurdity of it all, but also the complexities.

#‘The Other Black Girl’ examines horror of being Black in a White workplace #Black and working #white supremacy #workplace culture

[fearsmagazine]

"The Other Black Girl" Hulu Series | Trailer, Poster & Images

Nella, an editorial assistant, is tired of being the only Black girl at her company, so she’s excited when Hazel is hired. But as Hazel’s star begins to rise, Nella spirals out and discovers something sinister is going on at the company.

(L-R) Sinclair Daniel and Ashleigh Murray in season one of THE OTHER BLACK GIRL. Photo Courtesy of Hulu.

THE OTHER BLACK GIRL features Sinclair Daniel, Ashleigh Murray, Brittany Adebumola, Hunter Parrish, Bellamy Young, Eric McCormack, and Garcelle Beauvais.

(L-R)  Sinclair Daniel, Brittany Adebumola, and Hunter Parrish in season one of THE OTHER BLACK GIRL. Photo Courtesy of Hulu.

Based on Zakiya Dalila Harris’ best-selling novel, The Other Black Girl is executive produced by Rashida Jones, Adam Fishbach, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Jordan Reddout, Gus Hickey, Tara Duncan, and Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. Jordan Reddout and Gus Hickey also serve as co-showrunners. "The Other Black Girl" is a Hulu original from Onyx Collective.

#youtube #hulu #theotherblackgirl #zakiya dalila harris #onyx collective #trailer #poster #images #thriller #paranoia

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/portfolio/just-read-it-reviews-the-other-black-girl-by-zakiya-dalila-harris/

Just Read It: reviews The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Posted May 1, 2023 With guest Katana Redbird, host Caroline Miller reviews the book The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris. Two young Black women compete for promotion at a New York City publishing house, but what’s at stake isn’t what the central character expects.   Or click here to watch it on YouTube.

[jacki24x7-d-f-casting-blog-1]

Christa Snyder played by Zakiya Young

Angie Snyder played by Kristian Mosley

Inese Clanton played by Maiara Walsh

Fergus ‘Gus’ Clanton played by Ben Cook

#zakiyayoung #kristianmosley #maiarawalsh #bencook

[brucekanes]

Matt Cavenaugh as Clark Kent and  Zakiya Young as Lois Lane in It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman (2010, Dallas Theater Centre)

#lois lane #clark kent / superman #dc comics #zakiya young #matt cavenaugh #i really wish i could find a whole recording of this somewhere! #fvp

[dcwomenofcolor]

Black History Month → Zakiya Young as Lois Lane

In the 2010 revival of “It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman” by the Dallas Theater Center (June 18-July 25), the career-driven Lois Lane is played by Zakiya Young.

“Not only was I thrilled to be playing the lead female role opposite such talented actors, but I was the first black actress to ever play Lois Lane in a Superman project — in theater, TV or film! The role was such a challenge not only because Lois Lane is such an icon, but the show had some pretty significant changes as well.” 

– [Featured Artist In Action: Zakiya Young]

“I got an e-mail from my agent saying I had gotten an audition for the project. I was like, ‘Um, okay…but I’m black.’ ”

But the casting announcement had indicated it would be “colorblind”, so audition she did. And she nailed it, Kevin Moriarty (Dallas Theater Center artistic director) says.

Could it strike folks as out of the ordinary that Superman and Lois Lane are about to be an interracial couple? Sure, says Young, but look at the big picture. “Superman is an alien from Krypton,” she laughs. “I mean, we’re asking audience members to believe a man can fly. If we do our job and draw people into this dreamworld, it isn’t going to matter.”

– [DTC Artistic Director Talks Superman Musical]

And interview clips by Young:

Getting into musicals

About Lois

Life tips

#black history month #lois lane #zakiya young #it's a bird it's a plane it's superman #musical

[thefreeblackwomanslibrary]

2021 TFBWL Reading Challenge Wrap Up!! 📚📚📚🎉🎉🎉🎉🍾🍾🍾

Shout to all my book buddies all over the world who took part in this year’s Reading Challenge for The Free Black Women’s Library.

Our goal was to read at least 20 books of varying genres and subject matter written by Black women or Black non binary folks in one year. I read 30!! 😮

I’m seriously impressed with myself!!

I know being part of a Reading Club and having a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress throughout the year definitely helped.

After three years of doing this challenge, I think this is my most successful reading year yet.

I read a total of 40 books in 2021 and I actually enjoyed most of them. Almost all except one tbh.

Posted here are the books I read for the challenge specifically. 🖤📚

The ones with * are books we read in TFBWL Reading Club, the ones with ^ were my audio reads.

1.A vintage Black Feminist or Womanist text (published before 2000): SISTERS OF THE YAM by bell hooks

2. A contemporary Black Feminist or Womanist text (published between 2000 & now): UNDROWNED by Alexis Pauline Gumbs*

3. LGBTQ author and/or content - fiction: GILDA STORIES by Jewelle Gomez

4.LGBTQ author and/or content - nonfiction: DEAR SENTHURAN by Akwaeke Emezi

5. A book by a revolutionary, community activist, political organizer, or abolitionist: UNBOUND by Tarana Burke

6. A book on self-care, health, lifestyle strategy, or personal development: THE GAME OWES YOU by Addie Citchens

7. A romance or erotic novel: LOVE IN COLOR by Bolu Babalola*

8. A book that centers relationships between women: THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris*

9. A young adult or middle schooler’s novel: CLAP WHEN YOU LAND by Elizabeth Acevedo

10. An award-winning novel and/or classic: PASSING by Nella Larsen

11. A debut or famous author’s first: WHEN THE RECKONING COMES by LaTanya McQueen

12. Any book by Octavia Butler: KINDRED

13. Any book by Toni Morrison: PLAYING IN THE DARK/WHITENESS & THE LITERARY IMAGINATION

14. A book by a Caribbean author: PRAISESONG FOR THE WIDOW by Paule Marshall

15. A book by an African author: WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT by Flora Nwapa

16. A book that classifies as Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, or Fantasy: SHALLOW WATERS by Anita Kopacz

17. A book on Spirituality, Religion, Faith or Ritual: HAPPINESS BECOMES YOU by Tina Turner

18. A book with a name in the title: LIBERTIE By Kaitlyn Greenidge*

19. A book with a one-word title: SORROWLAND by Rivers Solomon*

20. A book that was published within the past year: LUSTER by Raven Leilani

21. A graphic novel or series of comic books: WAKE/THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF WOMEN-LED SLAVE REVOLTS by Rebecca Hall

22. A memoir or autobiography: SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER by Ashley C. Ford*

23. A book where characters speak Patois, Creole, Geechee, or AAVE: FRYING PLANTAIN by Zalika Reid-Benta

24. A collection of poetry, short stories, essays or prose: TOO MUCH MIDNIGHT by Krista Franklin

25. A book on Body Politics, Trauma, Autonomy or Acceptance: FEARING THE BLACK BODY/THE RACIAL ORIGINS OF FAT PHOBIA by Sabrina Strings

26. A book on Migration, Travel, Location or Place - fiction or nonfiction: MULES AND MEN by Zora Neale Hurston

27. A book on Disability or Neurodivergence - fiction or nonfiction: Black Madness/Mad Blackness by Theri Alyce Pickens

28. History, Historical Fiction or Slave Narrative: WAYWARD LIVES/BEAUTIFUL EXPERIMENTS by Saidiya Hartman

29. A book that takes place in your hometown: SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by Tia Williams

30. A book on parenting or child advocacy: CAUL BABY by Morgan Jerkins

I will be posting more about my faves of the year on my Patreon

#freeblackwomenslibrary #blackwomanbibliophile #books #blackbooks #booklover #TFBWL

[uswntpoc]

Did you know the first ever drafted player in the NWSL was a black woman!

As the NWSL moves into Year 10, it only feels right to put some respect on the name of the first player drafted in the league’s history.

Zakiya Bywaters played as a forward and a midfielder in the NWSL from 2013-15 after a standout college career.

Born in Las Vegas, Bywaters established herself while playing for club powerhouse SoCal Blues, winning four state championships before joining UCLA.

As a Bruin, Bywaters made the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in 2009. Her senior year, she led the Pac-12 in goals, points and game-winning goals.

She also featured as a member of the USWNT U-20 squad at the 2010 U-20 World Cup, and won the 2010 Concacaf Championship with that group.

After garnering attention in college, Bywaters became the first draft pick in NWSL history, being chosen No. 1 by the Chicago Red Stars in 2013.

She was credited for her “great combination of technique and pace” and was called into a full USWNT camp after her selection.

She appeared to have a bright future in the league, but Bywaters struggled with injuries throughout her career. Her most consistent season was in 2014, when she made 19 appearances for the club.

But after hip surgery in 2015, her professional career never recovered, officially ending in 2016.

For years, Bywaters hasn’t gotten the recognition she deserves as a cornerstone of NWSL history, suffering through the growing pains of a young league that is still reckoning with its past.

When Bywaters was drafted, the league's minimum annual salary was $6,000. With the new CBA, that number will be $35,000.

As the Players Association has acknowledged, the progress players are making now stands on the shoulders of those who came before them.

An earned legacy: Bywaters might not have had the NWSL career she envisioned when drafted, but she should never be forgotten as an important part of the league’s history.

From Claire Watkins, Just Women's Sports

📸: Martin Rose/Getty Images

#i didnt know this #so i thought i'd share #zakiya bywaters #nwsl #bhm

[richincolor]

2021 Anthologies

YA short story and non-fiction anthologies are being published more and more and as I teacher I am here for it. With the call for more diverse texts in classrooms, anthologies provide a perfect bite sized work of literature that can be digested in one class setting. Here are but a few of the anthologies that came out in 2021.

Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark. A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks… A first meeting. Long-time friends. Bitter exes. And maybe the beginning of something new. When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed by Saracia Fennell (editor)

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, writers from across the Latinx diaspora interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about this rich and diverse community. From immigration to sexuality, music to language, and more, these personal essays and poems are essential additions to the cultural conversation, sure to inspire hope and spark dialogue. Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed features bestselling and award-winning authors as well as new, up-and-coming voices, including: Elizabeth Acevedo Cristina Arreola Ingrid Rojas Contreras Naima Coster Natasha Diaz Kahlil Haywood Zakiya Jamal Janel Martinez Jasminne Mendez Meg Medina Mark Oshiro Julian Randall Lilliam Rivera Ibi Zoboi

Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat by Cassandra Newbould (Editor)

An intersectional, feminist YA anthology from some of today's most exciting voices across a span of genres, all celebrating body diversity and fat acceptance through short stories.

Fat girls and boys and nonbinary teens are: friends who lift each other up, heroes who rescue themselves, big bodies in space, intellects taking up space, and bodies looking and feeling beautiful. They express themselves through fashion, sports and other physical pursuits, through food, and music, and art. They are flirting and falling in love. They are loving to themselves and one another. With stories that feature fat main characters starring in a multitude of stories and genres, and written by authors who live these lives too, this is truly a unique collection that shows fat young people the representation they deserve.

With a foreword by Aubry Gordon, creator of Your Fat Friend, and with stories by:

Nafiza Azad, Chris Baron, Sheena Boekweg, Linda Camacho, Kelly deVos, Alex Gino, Claire Kann, amanda lovelace, Hillary Monahan, Cassandra Newbould, Francina Simone, Rebecca Sky, Monique Gray Smith, Renée Watson, Catherine Adel West, Jennifer Yen 

Living Beyond Borders: Stories About Growing Up Mexican in American by Margarita Longoria (Editor)

Twenty stand-alone short stories, essays, poems, and more from celebrated and award-winning authors make up this YA anthology that explores the Mexican American experience. With works by Francisco X. Stork, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, David Bowles, Rubén Degollado, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Diana López, Xavier Garza, Trinidad Gonzales, Alex Temblador, Aida Salazar, Lupe Ruiz-Flores, Sylvia Sanchez Garza, Dominic Carrillo, Angela Cervantes, Carolyn Dee Flores, René Saldaña Jr., Laura Perez, Justine Narro, Daniel García Ordáz, and Anna Meriano.

In this mixed-media collection of short stories, personal essays, poetry, and comics, this celebrated group of authors share the borders they have crossed, the struggles they have pushed through, and the two cultures they continue to navigate as Mexican American.

Living Beyond Borders is at once an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and hopeful love letter from the Mexican American community to today’s young readers.

#weneeddiversebooks #Anthologies

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update

howdy gang, catch me posting this on the very last possible day of October when I'm truly unable to put it off any longer. another fucking hectic month has hampered my reading, and I'm worried about whether or not I'll hit my prestigious goal of 69 books by the end of the year, but at least I didn't have any DNFs like last month.

I'm also excited to be kicking off No Nonfiction November, when I'll be focusing solely on knocking fiction titles off my TBR. I may keep that up well past the end of November, honestly - I love to learn, but it can also make learning feel like a chore at times, and I think I need to unplug from that for a bit.

so - what have I been reading?

Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal (Heather Widdows, 2018) - I was inspired to seek this out by a couple of video essays that I've already recommended: Khadija Mbowe's "Instagram Face" and Philosophy Tube's "Food, Beauty, Mind." I won't pretend that I didn't struggle at times with the density of Widdows' philosophy-rooted approach - I struggled with my single philosophy gen ed in college, and it has a way of making my mind glaze right over. but I personally found it worth the perseverance, because the ideas Widdows presents are fascinating. she eschews redundant and reductionist debates about whether or not current beauty standards (makeup, hair, fashion, weight loss, exercise, diet, and so on) are ~feminist~ and asks much more probing questions: what does it mean that the amount of money, time, and effort required for a woman to be perceived as beautiful or even acceptable are quantifiably increasing? how do we grapple with the implications of increasingly narrow ideals across the globe, fueled by Western constructions of beauty? to what degree is anyone able to consensually engage in beauty norms, and how possible is resistance? I'm particularly interested in the way Widdows engages with previous generations' work on beauty (Bartky, for instance), and how she builds on their work while also pointing out where it falls short - for instance, many foundational second wave feminist texts on beauty standards can no longer neatly map onto a world where the internet and edited images have such powerful sway over our conceptions of beauty and self. Widdows acknowledges often that one book alone isn't enough to explore every nuance of this issue and I hope to see more from her diving deeper in the future, because her passion is evident and it's a topic that benefits greatly from her thoroughly modern reframing.

The Other Black Girl (Zakiya Delila Harris, 2021) - the mark of a good read is that you find yourself wishing you were reading it when you aren't, and I often found myself longing to have The Other Black Girl back in my hands. a fast-paced debut novel, TOBG follows a young woman named Nella who's the sole Black employee in her prestigious New York publishing company until a new woman named Hazel is hired, and which point Nella promptly begins receiving anonymous messages urging her to leave the office. the story takes some thriller-like twists and turns that I truly could never have seen coming, and builds up thick tension throughout. while the climax and resolution feel a little lacking to me, the prologue managed to send a shiver down my spine nonetheless. I'll be genuinely shocked if this doesn't get optioned for a movie or Hulu original series within the year, if it's not already.

Rewriting the Rules: An Integrative Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships (Meg-John Barker, 2013) - alright everybody, this has officially solidified it: I am a die-hard Meg-John Barker stan. I read Rewriting the Rules as part of my slow but steady quest to read through all the sex books on my TBR and figure out which ones are actually worth recommending to other people, and I'm not exaggerating at all when I say this is the 101 I would love to give to every person in any kind of relationship. it's the best kind of sex book, by which I mean it's absolutely unconcerned by what people do with their dingdongs and focuses instead on how people talk to each other about their dingdongs. Barker guides the reader on a quest to gently examine and deconstruct their ideas about almost every aspect of relationships - communication, commitment, break-ups, boundaries, monogamy, and more! - and build those ideas back up from scratch with an emphasis on meeting their personal needs. Barker (a psychotherapist who specializes in sex and gender) talks briefly about how so many people they speak with are so focused on seeming "normal" in their relationships that they don't even think about what they'd actually enjoy, which resonated with me in a HUGE way and made me think of quite a few anonymous questions I've received over the years. consider this one absolutely sex witch approved, 11/10.

Midnight Sun (Stephenie Meyer, 2020) - listen: there's absolutely no point being disappointed in me, because I feel no shame. Twilight is who I am. this is the skin of a killer, Bella. anyway, how's the book? if you find Twilight Saga's melodrama engrossingly funny like I do, you'll probably love it. for those not in the know, Midnight Sun isn't a new story but retells the events of Twilight from Edward's perspective, and if you thought Twilight was ponderously slow and light on plot then you ain't seen nothing yet. Midnight Sun is somewhere around 100 pages longer, likely because of Edward's tendency to go off on lengthy, page-eating tangents about a.) things that happened several decades ago b.) the thoughts of humans around him, and how much he hates almost everyone around him because of their unbearably vapid thoughts c.) something that he's observing in ungodly detail thanks to his freakishly enhanced vampire senses d.) his own self-loathing or e.) some combination of the above. and I enjoyed this? god, yes. there's nothing I love like the lengthy and protracted ponderings of a really miserable little wretch, and a splash of the supernatural only sweetens the deal. now, having engaged in the obligatory dunking, I have to say that Meyer actually does bring some interesting new shit to the plate here: this is the first time the reader really gets to see the Cullen family alone, not filtered through Bella's POV and watering themselves down for human company, and it really hits home how absolutely alien and inhuman they are when they're away from prying eyes. they're loveable but deeply and profoundly weird, in really interesting and enjoyable ways. Meyer fills in some of the most notable gaps in Bella's personality through Edward's obsession with learning about her, and so the readers gets to learn about Bella's favorite books, movies, and candies. there's a sweetly weird little scene where it's revealed that Edward is responsible for the relationship between two minor characters, because he wanted to thank a normal human teenager named Angela for being kind to Bella by helping her get back together with the boy she likes. also, there's a rock solid gag about how Alice has apparently told Edward that the way people watch tv will shortly change drastically, the kind of joke you can only get when writers revisit a book they wrote in the early 2000s almost two decades after the fact. in conclusion: Twilight is trash but so I am, and we were made for each other.

what am I reading now?

Folklorn (Angela Mi Young Hur, 2021) - this is one of those rare gems that I didn't discover through internet word of mouth but rather spotted on a shelf at work and decided I should nab. Hur's writing is wandering without ever feeling lost, conveying her protagonist's racing thoughts and turbulent past with language that is alternately poetic and harsh, acidic lyrics recounting the suffering of generations of Korean women and the folktales that haunt them. I'm barely 100 pages deep, just finding a foothold in the story, and delighted to read more.

what do I have on hold at the library

Iron Widow (Xiran Jay Zhao, 2021) - still!!!! oh my god please please please please please I'm second on the waitlist and I want it so bad

books I might read for No Nonfiction November in no particular order at all:

Long Division (Kiese Laymon)

Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers)

Empire of Gold (S.A. Chakraborty)

My Heart is a Chainsaw (Stephen Graham Jones)

Once More Upon a Time (Roshani Chokshi)

Docile (K.M. Sparza)

#bookblr #reading updates