Author: Ben Lewellyn-Taylor
-
June Reads
My monthly reading average jumped in June, including two by activist and abolitionist Angela Y. Davis, both of which I covered in my anti-racist reading series. I started my MFA at Antioch University, where the residency was on Zoom for ten consecutive days. Instead of slowing me down, I was happy to sit with a…
-
half life (a 2020 playlist)
“Half of my whole life is gone,” Perfume Genius sings at the outset of his fifth album, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately. 2020 sometimes feels a bit like that, but I hope you’re safe, well, staying home when possible, learning antiracism, and putting it into daily reflection and practice. I wait until the end…
-
What to Read Next: Anti-Racism and Abolition
Since my last post on recommended books on racism, more Black Americans have been killed by and within racist institutions: Rayshard Brooks, Riah Milton, Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells, and Robert Fuller, among others, should be alive today. I am a firm believer that white people should educate ourselves and reach out to educate other white Americans,…
-
What to Read Next: Anti-Racism & Religion
As the nation reels from the most recent deaths brought on by white supremacist ideology in practice, many people are finding ways to use their time and resources to advocate for justice. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless other Black Americans should be alive today. Throughout my life and on this blog in…
-
May Reads
This month, I finally broke my five-book rule, in part because I read some shorter books and also because I found myself bouncing between longer books. If you’ve missed any of my past months, you can find them here: January, February, March, and April.
-
“Suburban Wars” in The Athenaeum Review
In my latest for the The Athenaeum Review, I looked at two titles in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series, short books on single albums. I had some fun collapsing the intellectual distance between Nine Inch Nails and Arcade Fire in writing about their albums, Pretty Hate Machine and The Suburbs, respectively. Daphne Carr’s book on Pretty Hate Machine lands in my…
-
April Reads
Whoever said we would have more time to read now did not anticipate how hard it would be to focus. Although sure to change in the summer, sticking to five books in April was only challenging in that I struggled to finish five, opting for some poetry at the end of the month to ease…
-
“No True West” on Bridge Eight
My essay, “No True West,” about the Man with No Name trilogy, has been published in Bridge Eight‘s Film and TV Conversations on their website. You can read it here.
-
March Reads
Since limiting my reading time in January, I thought more time at home in March might challenge that boundary, but I stuck with my commitment and only read five books this month. If you missed January and February, they’re still waiting for you. Bookstores could really use your support during the current closure, and indie…
-
Look for the Pigeons, Make Way for the Lilies
Almost as soon as we caught wind that we would be staying in our homes for the foreseeable future, we started wondering what masterpieces might become possible. The story quickly spread around the Internet that, while quarantined, Shakespeare wrote King Lear. Newton was working out the early seeds of calculus, which, thanks, I guess? The…
Ben Lewellyn-Taylor 