Ashanté Reese

1 month ago | aliciakennedy.news | Ashanté Reese |Vitalik Buterin |Alicia Kennedy

The particularities of the mundane! We adore knowing how other humans do the dull tasks of daily life—and perhaps how they imbue them with a bit of novelty and joy. That’s why I started this semi-regular (perhaps quarterly) series where I talk to three writers in different cities around the world about how they get their groceries and their food lives in general. This time, I’ve added in writers who don’t focus on food to mix it up. These interviews are edited and condensed for length and clarity.

1 month ago | aliciakennedy.news | Ashanté Reese |Jade E. Davis |Alicia Kennedy

When I began this newsletter and was able to take it seriously, many people were sick and dying. This is a pattern in my life, and likely the lives of many others: Something terrible, whether personally or on a global scale, finally allows me the space or gives me the push to do something I’d already wanted to do. In the case of this newsletter, it was to write essays about things that were on my mind, especially about food.

1 month ago | aliciakennedy.news | Ashanté Reese |Alicia Kennedy

THIS SUNDAY at 10 a.m. EST, join me for a conversation with essayist, translator, and poet Carina del Valle Schorske—a New York Times Magazine contributing writer—on her work, the writing life, and language. Sign up here (free for paid subscribers, $10 for others) and you’ll receive a link to the Zoom by email on Sunday. Join us for morning coffee, afternoon tea, or an evening cocktail, depending on your time zone. The discount code is in the header.

1 month ago | aliciakennedy.news | Ashanté Reese |Rachel Cusk |Alicia Kennedy

I clicked my AirPod to pause an audiobook of Elite Capture by Olúfémi O. Táíwò so that I could hear the man in front of me on line for coffee speak. He was talking to me about my dog, Benny. “He’s well trained,” he said, as Benny allowed a woman with purple hair and purple clothes to pet him. One of those purple people, I had thought. I replied to the man with a smile, “Not really.

Jun 19, 2024 | oxfordamerican.org | Ashanté Reese

A Juneteenth pageant in Crockett, Texas. Photo courtesy Kristal Lipscomb, the author’s sister. Color treatment by Carter/Reddy If you were a Black girl in Crockett, Texas in the 1990s, you wanted to compete in the Juneteenth pageant. And if you didn’t want to, somebody wanted you to. I can’t say I ever wanted to compete. My mother has four daughters. None of us competed—some mixture of disinterest, concern for how much it might cost, and genuine shyness.