David Masciotra

4 days ago | unherd.com | David Masciotra

Ben ShapiroIntellectual Dark WebJoe RoganPodcastsPoliticsTrumpUS Every era has a class of leading intellectuals, those rare scholars who can break outside the cloister of academia to penetrate the public consciousness. In the mid-20th century, Europe had the existentialists, while America boasted luminaries such as Sontag and Vidal.

4 days ago | crimereads.com | David Masciotra

James Lee Burke is one of the most prolific authors in the United States. Averaging a book a year throughout his sixty-years in literature, he is also one of the most profound, riveting, and stylistically beautiful. His new novel, Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, acts as both a companion to his other work, exploring violence and the quest for justice through the lens of a courageous protagonist. It is also a departure, demonstrating that Burke is still full of surprises.

5 days ago | progressive.org | David Masciotra

Despite the increasingly somber political reality outside its doors, the lobby of the Brave Space Alliance in Chicago is all smiles as Sharmaine Canady holds court. Waiting for a package of food from BSA’s community pantry during a visit in March, she regales staff and volunteers about her plans to cook chicken noodle soup with turmeric to share with her dog that afternoon. The organization has been critical for Canady during a difficult time.

1 month ago | counterpunch.org | David Masciotra

Two songs have brought me to tears since the death of my friend, Alanna Ford. The first was a new song from Warren Haynes called “Real, Real Love.” Haynes took a partially composed lyric that his late friend, Gregg Allman, wrote, and crafted a beautiful and soulful full-length exploration of the purpose, meaning, and sadness that love ushers into our lives.

1 month ago | washingtonmonthly.com | David Masciotra

Donald Trump’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions; doctors who offer reproductive health services to women could go to prison; Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters; rogue police could break down citizens’ doors and bust into college dormitories in midnight raids; schoolchildren could not be taught evolution, Black history, or gay rights; writers, artists, and journalists would be censored at the whim of government; and the doors of the federal...