This week’s three publications to read are...

Samantha Irby, books/snacks/softcore

What’s it about? Witty commentary on books, food, life, and other amusements from the mind of comedian and author Samantha Irby.

Worth reading: “What do you like to read on the toilet?”

Key line: “that’s my number one goal with all of my work, to craft a piece of writing that a person can complete in a single trip to a public restroom. to me there is no higher compliment than ‘dude, i finished your whole book while i had the stomach flu’.”

Samantha’s credits: Author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Meaty, and New Year, Same Trash; bylines in The Rumpus, Jezebel, and more; former co-host of The Saturday Night Sex Show. 

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Grace Lavery, The Stage Mirror

What’s it about? Victorian literature, psychoanaltyic theory, academic gossip, trans femme style, and scurilous ribaldry.

Worth reading: “Seventy-one stories about being trans in school”

Key line: “The second conclusion flatly contradicts the commonly-held notion that institutions of higher education are places where teachers have been hammered into compliance by over-mighty Title IX offices and trans-affirming policies. On the contrary: almost all the trans people who wrote to me described the experience of being misgendered by their advisors as absolutely unremarkable and commonplace.”

Grace’s credits: Associate professor of English at UC Berkeley; author of Quaint, Exquisite: Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan; bylines in the LA Review of Books, Catapult, and many academic journals.  

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Jeremy Botter, Whizzered

What’s it about: Fearless, bullshit-free coverage of MMA.

Worth reading: “Weight cutting: the most revolting thing in MMA”

Key line: “Every sticky-fingered athletic commission official or doctor who deemed a sickly fighter healthy enough for a cage fight the next day should not just be summarily removed from their positions; they should also, at minimum, be used as an example of the sort of negligent, criminal behavior that is unacceptable in a sport where the margin between life and death is much thinner than anyone involved in it wants you to realize.”

Jeremy’s credits: Former senior writer at Bleacher Report, former combat writer for Houston Chronicle, former managing editor at FloSports. 

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