Also.Also.Also: That’s *Grammy Nominated* Queer R&B, Rap Heartthrob Chika to You.

There’s a lot of awful things in the world, but I am so close to the long weekend that I can almost taste it. And right now, for me, that’s more than enough.


Queer as in F*ck You

Ahem, congratulations to my fantasy rap wife:

An EP, a Fenty runway, and a Grammy nomination! Next… our wedding? Who’s to say? Here’s a complete Grammys nominations list (Brandi Carlile also made the cut! As did Phoebe Bridgers Bisexual!)

In a Gentrifying Seattle, a Queer Activist Works to Blur Borders by Kristen Arnett (!!) for the New York Times

And a Roxane Gay double feature: Pandemic Dread Has Me Instagram-Shopping Nonstop along with We Owe One Another Student Loan Forgiveness

How Local Libraries Shaped Octavia Butler’s Life in Books

As Trans People Mark Deadliest Year on Record, Gloria Allen Fights for the Living

Nina Chanel Abney Imagines a Queer Black Utopia. The artist’s new body of work depicts life outside of the city, in a rural idyll free of the white gaze. (You know what this also reminds me of? Wild, Fat, Queer and Black: How I Became Free In The Mountains And Never Left by shea martin for us, Autostraddle!)

Pandemic or Not, the Risk of Black Queer Travel Is Real


Saw This, Thought of You

Well, I’m sorry. But this is a nightmare: New York Nightlife Never Stopped. It Just Moved Underground.

This has been bothering me for at least the last month: What the Hell Is Happening With Masks on Network TV?

Was Josh Hartnett a Millennial Gay Stepping-Stone? An Investigation. Inspired by Happiest Season, and related to many of your hearts.

Meet Shameika Stepney, Inspiration to Fiona Apple on Fetch the Bolt Cutters

How College Students Are Helping Each Other Survive. Student-led mutual aid networks have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help peers cover basic costs of living.

Read an Excerpt From What Big Teeth, a New Gothic YA Fantasy. From Rachel: “Is this gay? hard to say! but Jasika Nicole narrated the audiobook!”


Political Snacks

What’s Next for the #Resistance Now That They Don’t Have Trump to Kick Around Anymore?

Barack Obama’s Lesbian Aunt Sparked His Evolution on LGBTQ+ Rights. I mean, sure… I guess? This news didn’t much excite me, but I am enjoying the gay-adjacent tidbits that keep falling out of this 800-page book. #EtherealBisexualForever

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

5 Comments

  1. I’m relieved to see that article about masks on TV… the only current show I’ve been watching is Superstore, and I’ve been soooo confused. I mean, people may very well be inconsistent about mask wearing and precautions in Missouri, and the show definitely intentionally depicts some bad covid choices, but beyond the obvious, it’s hard to tell how the audience is supposed to see particular things.

    I don’t think I could handle watching a show just clearly out of touch, like featuring doctors. Cops and fire fighters didn’t wear masks for a long time though fwiw… maybe they still don’t, I just haven’t seen any up close for a while. I guess to be fair, the shows are trying to hit a very much moving target where standards are wildly different based on time, location, profession, etc. A lot of shows can barely even figure out progression of seasons and appropriate weather based on location. I really wonder how these decisions happen on set though.

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