COVID19.CULTURE:
Janelle Monae: her new roles — on Amazon’s Homecoming and in the summer horror movie Antebellum are perfect for our unsettled moment [Yohana Desta]
🍑🍑🍑 is it safe to have sex right now? sexual + reproductive health resources guide [LOOM]
the undocumented restaurant workers who feed us are being forgotten: this is their struggle [Patricia Escárcega]
‘Bennett means everything to me’ — HBCUs have it even harder during the pandemic [Travis Loller]
how, sway? face masks went from necessity to personal style item overnight [Cam Wolf]
map: see which states are reopening and which are still shut down [the New York Times]
COVID-19 forcing us to fix racial health disparities: a convo with Dr. Clyde Yancy [Maya Dukmasova] ++ that’s Dr. Yancy ⤵️
due to the pandemic: Hamilton — the film — is coming to your screens in July, more than a year early ⤵️
what I want the woman behind the counter to know: remember this the next time you order takeout [Min Jin Lee]
so many precursors to this pandemic: so many professionals shouted down [Mike Davis] ⬇️
recent reads + looks + listens
Black Voices, MySpace, Insta — blackness has defined social media from the start: the rich history behind #BlackTwitter [David J. Dennis Jr.]
Kehlani: she gets real about social media and celebrity culture [Danielle Kwateng-Clark] 🔻
Insecure Episode 6 recap: when it’s all said and done, you can go back to the family member who always held you down [Danielle Young]
because we really needed it? why the music of Michael Jordan’s Last Dance hit so hard [Julian Kimble]
#BEAUTYHEADLINES: Beautycon update + NY Governor Andrew Cuomo says salons re-open in Phase 2 + Meagan Good addresses skin-bleaching allegations [Darian Harvin, Dyana Larios] ⤵
where are Meghan + Harry? enjoying Tyler Perry’s art collection [Erin Vanderhoof]
taking transit while Black. hiking while Black. jogging while Black: we exist in a painful reality where it took almost 3 months for Ahmaud Arbery’s killers to be arrested [Ariel Ward]
saxophonist Kamasi Washington: on writing a score worthy of Michelle Obama [David Browne]
[from Steven Kurutz] ⬇️
folks are saying: Sesame Street led to hip hop? [Patrick J. Sauer]
hip hop, of course: over the past six weeks, no leader in pop culture has evolved more rapidly, or radically [Jon Caramanica]
⤴️⤴️ it’s time to take California back from Joan Didion: the first lady of West Coast letters needs to share that honor with the Mexican diaspora [Myriam Gurba]
India has an increasingly global perspective on beauty: but does the patriarchy still loom large? [Elton Fernandez]
shouldn’t need to be said but: André Leon Talley is the star of his own memoir ⏬ [Rebecca Carroll]
Starz’ Vida: it’s a show on which a ‘sisterhood of latinx writers’ is thriving [Lyra Hale] ⤵️
forever legend: a living digital archive dedicated to Andre O’Neal Harrell [Syreeta Gates]
throwback reads + looks + listens
rap: is it finally ready to embrace its women? [Briana Younger, 2018]
am I my brothers keeper? is this the story that became 1991’s New Jack City? [Barry Michael Cooper, 1987] ⏬
when we used to go outside ⤵️
oh + also
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this is your newsletter. diverse work curated by a diverse team for a diverse readership during this wild era known as #quarantinelife. in this mix you see work from writers you know (and some you don’t). work from creators of color. from women writers. and LGBQTI creators. basically storytelling curated with the idea that the many segments of our multiverse are equally interesting and important.…after a long hiatus, we’re back. when we started this newsletter, way back when, one of our earliest issues was a #Ferguson special edition. this quarantine lockdown has us feeling a familiar fear and strength and commitment to a better future.
team HRDlist
Danyel Smith || Elliott Wilson || Darian Harvin
special thanks this issue to
and many others!