 How are you doing? It’s a question I’ve fielded a lot this week and I’ve struggled to answer it. I wrote a bit about this paralysis in an essay that’s directed towards well-meaning white friends who have bombarded me with texts this week. I get it. It can be hard to figure out how to be helpful; how to not succumb to hollow statements and meaningless gestures, as Michael Blackmon writes in his piece about the uselessness of so many celebrities and brands right now. There are some things you can do though. Get informed and read books about anti-racism, (though make sure you are actually doing the reading!) Reconsider sharing viral photos of police officers kneeling with protesters. Give to mutual aid funds. The list goes on and so does the fight.
Personal Essays  White People, Read This Before You Text Your Black Friends If you’re not black and you have black friends whom you are only reaching out to now, be thoughtful about how you do it.
I Hid My Transition For Years. I Regret It Now. "I came to understand that what I wanted was to be seen as my complete self — my gender, my race, my history — without being judged because of it." An excerpt from Fairest: A Memoir.
It’s past time for us to ditch the damsel narrative, admit our power, and stand up for racial justice.
How To Talk To Someone Going Through A Hard Time An excerpt from The Art of Showing Up: How to be There for Yourself and Your People by Rachel Wilkerson Miller.
Features  Zachary Ares / BuzzFeed News; Getty Images Drag Race Is Bigger Than Ever. Is That A Good Thing? As queer identity became mainstream and social media transformed reality TV celebrity, the onetime niche show became bigger than ever. But so have the criticisms.
I Toured A $43 Million Home With The Guy Who Made Selling Sunset Adam DiVello, one of the masterminds behind the shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, invited me on the set of his new Netflix series to show me how he makes reality TV gold.
I Don't Feel Like Buying Stuff Anymore Our economy is built on Americans of all class levels buying things. What happens when the ability — and desire — to do so goes away?
Books  An Essential Reading Guide For Fighting Racism From Audre Lorde's groundbreaking essays to Ibram X. Kendi's guide to being antiracist, these books are a great resource for understanding why people are protesting right now.
12 Black-Owned Bookstores You Can Support Right Now If you’re looking to read more black authors — and you should be! — you can support these black bookstores in the process.
29 Summer Books You Won't Be Able To Put Down From a Zadie Smith–approved debut to bestselling author Brit Bennett's second novel.
23 Phenomenal Young Adult Books By Black Authors From The First Half Of 2020 We're almost halfway through 2020, and one of the good things that has come from it are these YA books.
Five Classic Books We Couldn't Put Down From Paule Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones to Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
21 Exceptional And Unputdownable YA Books To Read During Pride Buy, borrow, or request these from your local library!
17 Summer Must-Reads For Fantasy Lovers Dragons, curses, enchanted fiddles, a Sherlock Holmes update with angels and demons — and much, much more.
Cultural Criticism  Eva Marie Uzcategui / Getty Images and abin Botsford / The Washington Post / Getty Images Stop Sharing Viral Photos Of Cops Kneeling With Protesters If you share pictures of police officers kneeling or hugging protesters, you’re not advancing the cause against police brutality; if anything, you’re impeding it.
A Lot Of Celebrities Are Being Useless Right Now Many statements from celebrities and brands about George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter protests feel like hollow attempts to be on the right side of history.
HBO’s On The Record Asks: Will You Believe The Black Women Of Hip-Hop? On the Record, the new HBO Max documentary about sexual assault allegations against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, is a powerful — and complicated — look at what’s at stake for black women who come forward with claims of sexual abuse.
Six Great TV Shows To Stream This Weekend From the latest season of Real Housewives of New York to Hulu’s new series The Great.
Rush Limbaugh’s "Breakfast Club" Interview Was A Stunt The conservative talk show host’s appearance on the popular radio program is just the latest sign that The Breakfast Club has lost its way.
The Uneven Return Of Old-School Lady Gaga Chromatica revives the Lady Gaga the world fell in love with. The results are uneven, but it’s good to have her back.
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