#75: Take It or Leave It
A monthly drop of things I love
Welcome to Take It or Leave It. Every month, sometimes a few times a month, Paid subscribers will receive a quick hit of things I’m loving. But this installment is free for everyone.
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Columbus, Ohio friends! Next Friday, I’m teaming up with
of to host Write Home: a reading event featuring emerging storytellers to write home about. Join us at Two Dollar Radio Headquarters on March 28th from 7-9 P.M. to hear selections from us, , , and Tomás Pacheco!Hey y’all, I hope you’re doing what you need to do to take care of you and your people. March has been a bit of a whirlwind.
Earlier this month, I traveled to Austin, Texas for the first time for South by Southwest (SXSW). It was a really dope experience. I got to go for work and had an opportunity to visit several different sessions and events.
My favorite moments include seeing Laila!, Hope Tala, and Brittany Spencer perform live, being in the audience for a recording of Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe’s podcast, meeting my homie Jayde for the first time IRL, and chatting about my newsletter with Roscoe Marketing’s Chad Howell.
Also, this month, I interviewed some of the folks who help make Chapman’s Eat Market one of Columbus, Ohio’s most interesting restaurants. The story is published in Stock & Barrel’s Spring 2025 issue:
I have some fun stuff in the works over the next few weeks and cant wait to share it with all of you. As always, I appreciate you making time for anything I write. Sending lots of love your way 🫶🏽
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Something I watched
Paradise on Hulu is some of the best TV I’ve watched in a long time. Elizabeth and I first planned to watch because we saw the cast included Nicole Brydon Bloom. We went to Elon with Bloom, and she was always super nice. No spoilers, but we didn’t realize how significant of a role she would play in the show. I also didn’t realize this show would actually be as good as people were hyping it up to be. But my jaw was on the floor every episode. Paradise is already confirmed for season two, and I can’t wait to see how they follow up this magnificent debut.
Also, I had to make a playlist for my boy Cal. RIP sweet prince 💔
Songs I played
“We can make grayscale, feel vibrant”
Black-and-white feels particularly en vogue after Saba and SASAMI’s new offerings. Both went with shades of gray in the artwork for their latest albums, but the music on these projects feels bright and exciting. Saba teamed up with No ID, whose legendary catalog is more expansive than I can detail here, while SASAMI partnered with former Vampire Weekend member and iconic producer Rostam Batmanglij. The features across both projects are fantastic, including Clairo on SASAMI’s “In Love With A Memory” and Raphael Sadiiq and Kelly Rowland on Saba’s “Crash.”
If you’re looking for some new music to add to your rotation, I absolutely recommend starting here.
A podcast I listened to
As noted at the top of this newsletter, I got to sit in the audience for the recording of this episode at SXSW. Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe sat down with Olympic track stars Nikki Hiltz and Gabby Thomas.
It was a wonderful conversation, and one quote I’m still holding onto is when Hiltz said, “I think sports can set the stage for what is possible.”
Last year, I wrote about how sports can be a conduit for care. Hiltz’s words felt in line with that sentiment. As I shared in that piece, the world many of us desire—a world free from oppression where everyone has what they need—requires us to see each other as part of the same team. We must be willing to fight for one another, stand up for each other, and put ourselves on the line for neighbors in need.
Sports give us an opportunity to see these models of care on display and even put our own solidarity into action. And in so many ways, women’s sports are leading the way.
Something I read
called this story from Justin Russo “one of the best things I've read all year,” and I have to agree. It’s really great sportswriting. I love when writers explore the interiority of athletes we love, and that’s what Russo does with 16-year NBA veteran Patty Mills. The Los Angeles Clippers guard takes us to Thursday Island where he learned to play basketball and shows us why he keeps returning to the game. Russo covers this story with care and reminds us that the “beauty of basketball is that it can be played anywhere, by anyone.”
Something that made me laugh
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Imagine Chipotle ever hitting like this 😩
Something I keep thinking about
Yesterday, I drove to Cincinnati to see my dear friend
. We hadn’t seen each other since last March, so I was so excited to catch up and watch him present at an academic conference.Robert is smart, but he’s also caring and open-hearted. Our time together reminded me that it’s worth it to maintain your capacity for care in a careless world.
To choose brotherhood, to choose loving friendships at a time such as this—at any time, really—is to embrace the tension. The beautiful in-between that comes with not conforming to the violence we’ve been handed and live beneath on a daily basis.
I struggle with calling it resistance as not to devalue what political resistance actually looks like, but care is contrary to the skepticism and lack of compassion we’re taught to meet people with.
Robert reminds me that love keeps the door open and joy is always welcome, even when dairy shouldn’t be.
Sincerely, someone still recovering from that burrito bowl 🙃
Paradise had me HOT. Mad at characters at the end. Some for the things they did, and others for the things they let slide too easy IMO... Great show though. Also 💀💀 with the playlist for Cal.
This week of yours!!! How full, how beautiful!