I’m often asked, “What are the publications and organizations and people you support?” So, in response, I’ve made up this set of lists, which I’ll add to as time goes on.
This is an updated repost of a piece I wrote two years ago. It is completely arbitrary in the sense that the lists are all about the people and places and books and publications I like. There is absolutely no scientific method to any of this, although the lists are alphabetised, so there’s that.
For more on what I’ve been up, please see “Winter Update: 2019.”
I’m often asked, “What are the publications and organizations and people you support?” So, in response, I’ve made up this set of lists, which I’ll add to as time goes on. I wanted to have something on hand that I could forward around whenever people ask me about which people and what orgs are doing good work. Plus, I wanted a way to support the amazing and radical activists and people I know who are also making amazing objects!
As to publications, you know, or should know my first rule: Don’t support places that don’t pay their writers, or whose writers tend to be academics with tenure or writers with cushy lives who think that writing is not labour but a Beautiful Vocation. If in doubt, ask very directly: “Do you pay your writers? On average, how much? How much do your editor and publisher make?” If they tell you that they have some system whereby tenured academics and well-off writers “donate” their rates so that others can get paid until they’re able to pay everyone, remember that this kind of payment scheme will usually mean that most of their writers will be writing for free. Also remember: this sort of system means that a publication can continue this practice for decades, and that it reduces left publishing to a philanthropy project (“Be kind! Throw our writers a buck or two!”)
Think about it: If you’re an editor or publisher who needs to get an issue out, and you’re short on money this quarter — whom will you choose to write for you? A writer who actually demands payment, the horror, or some Very Famous Left Professor with a nice office in a university who farts out a humdrum piece somewhere between laundry and walking the dog on a Saturday? Also, remember, most of the new “left” publications are run by younger wanna-be academics or writers who are too scared to actually edit work turned in by established academics who are “donating” their work (there’s a reason so much of what they publish is ponderous and in need of hacking down). The hierarchies of academic professionalisation have seeped in and saturated the world of left publishing, to its further detriment. Look back on the 2016 election year, and now try to recall which one of the more well-known left publications even got it right? Do you even, now, remember one single cogent and persuasive essay from that massive pool of sludge that was produced then?
The media entities I’m recommending are small in number because I’ve restricted myself to places I write at — so I know they pay well, on time, and are committed to work that isn’t just about discerning the most popular, click-baited position to take. But there are others, I’ve listed that are local to me, and still others, like Truthout and The Intercept, that I follow and like, so you should check them out as well.
The odd one here, for me, is Democracy Now (DN). Frankly, most days, I end up screaming at the screen: the host, Amy Goodman, is a celebrity fiend and, when confronted with anything to do with race and ethnicity, turns into a condescending Nice White Lady (her interview with Nathan Phillips was particularly cringe-inducing), their coverage is often too long and repetitious, they tend to over-emphasise climate issues, and they often sacrifice the principles of honest coverage in favour of hitting whatever happens to be the prog/lefty note of the day. To be fair, the last could be said of most of the left press these days. Still, DN is what I turn on most mornings as I make my bed and set about the day, and I do rely on it for at least the headlines on issues a large segment of the mainstream press doesn’t adequately cover. I give a few dollars about once a year. I feel the same way about Wikipedia: as far as I can tell, they don’t pay contributors (it’s apparently all volunteer-run), and run on donations. I need to dig more into that (here’s a short piece that outlines where their money comes from, but I can’t tell to whom it goes, exactly — “merchandise” seems a dubious way to pay editors) but in the meantime: I use them nearly every single day, so I feel compelled to give at least a tiny (I mean, really tiny) amount.
If you read mainstream publications like the New York Times or New Yorker regularly, please either subscribe to them or at least give them a donation every now and then. Or, if you can, find a friend with a subscription they can share. Your local library probably subscribes to many of the publications you’re interested in, and you can access them online as well with your membership. And remember: you can always call a publication directly to negotiate a lower price on the subscription. Publications care more about the numbers of subscribers than actual subscriptions because they care about their advertisers, and will work with you. Please don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’ve “liberated” an article from behind the paywall of a publication like Harper’s or the Times: if you want quality reporting and writing, understand that it has to be paid for. Investigative journalism in particular is time-consuming and expensive. Too many readers can’t distinguish between a personal blog and journalism. If you decide it’s not worth paying for that kind of work, don’t whine when newspapers like the Times keep devolving into blog-style style and fashion sites.
Which brings me to another aspect of reading — and paying for — writing, as readers: the relatively new tendency to furiously boycott a publication any time it publishes even one article that makes a reader angry. Again, remember: a newspaper or a magazine is not some in-house blog where you can find opinion after opinion that agrees with your own. If it’s doing its job right, it should piss you off or, at the very least, aggravate you because you’ve found a view or slice of life or politics that is nothing like your own. I’m always both bemused and amused when angry readers decide that one single article warrants cancelling an entire subscription.
I was fortunate to be raised in a household that could afford to pay for subscriptions to several publications, of various political stripes. So, growing up, I read Calcutta’s storied The Statesman, founded in 1875, which was a well-mannered, respectable publication. But I also read The Telegraph, founded in 1982, an upstart in the business, with a more audaciously left leaning style and substance (before you tweet at me about how wrong I am in all my summations: I haven’t kept up with either for nearly two decades now — so simmer down). The same was true of the magazines I read, ranging from India Today to my favourite film mags like Stardust.
The point is not that you should spend all your money on a lot of subscriptions, but that it might be helpful if you made a point of reading a range of political and cultural writing that does not sound exactly the way you sound amongst friends. Here’s an experiment: in the event of any national or international incident, look for “news” articles in at least five publications. You’ll find that all of them are exactly the same, using the same phrases even, replicated endlessly. And, more often than not, editors and writers will use endless streams of tweets as fillers. If readers have given up on the idea that a publication should have a unique, distinctive voice, why the hell should publications bother with little more than reproducing a standard Reuters bit, illustrated with tweets?
So, commit to supporting a publication in some way — do this for at least six months. If you decide at the end that you don’t care for it, move on. But make sure you actually know how to discern the quality of its work or, if you don’t like its political slant, that’s fine too. Whatever you decide, don’t have little hissy fits just because one writer here and there has something to say that you don’t agree with. The question should not be: “Do I agree with everything that’s published here?” but, rather, “Does this publication have integrity and follow the trajectories of thought, analysis, and reporting without constantly checking in with me to see if I agree?”
Support places where you regularly get information and/or analysis (including, ahem, certain writers you might read often) if you know they could do with that support or if that’s the model they use to produce writing. The point is: Support places and people whose work contributes to your own or to your thinking or helps you find out stuff you need to know.
If you think you can do without writing that’s not free to you, here’s another experiment. Read only the stuff that’s free for two weeks, making notes all the while about what you found especially illuminating, different, useful, enlightening, enlivening, even aggravating. At the end of that time, you’ll discover that simply consuming the free stuff — as in, unpaid work by writers and work that’s made freely available to you — will feel a lot like you’ve been on a diet of nothing but McDonald’s. Sure, you’ll probably have agreed with everything you read, and you’ll probably have a whole new set of nifty little memes to go with all those articles you read, but your brain will sag and heave, much like the stomach of someone consuming nothing but empty calories and grease.
The same is true of books. Good books, including fiction — which are assiduously written, researched, beautifully designed, and fact-checked, with indexes and bibliographies (people are paid, or should be paid well to produce these) take money and time: there is an entire economy of people and their different vocations that depend on books being paid for. Yes, giant publishing houses are exactly that, and their rapid consolidation is something we should all worry about. But none of that gives you an excuse to “liberate” a book and read it for nothing. If you can’t afford a book, it is more likely than not available at your local public library (and maybe consider that it’s time for you to drop your “cool” veneer and actually support your local libraries). Your not reading a book within the first week it’s out will not be the end of the world for you. But if you insist on purloining the books of writers who actually write for a living, you make it that much harder for them to earn money as writers. As with newspapers, don’t complain when all of writing, fiction and non-fiction, becomes predictable and boring — when readers think they are entitled to read for free, the quality of writing is bound to drop.
The only exceptions are academic press books and journals. There are some academic presses that also publish trade books and some journals that pay, so make sure you check on the imprint in particular but, otherwise, eh.
I will have more on all this — pieces titled “How to Read” and “How to Write” are forthcoming, as well as a piece on the economy of publishing, something which very few people actually understand but on which everyone has an opinion. But for now: below are the publications I recommend you look for and support, as well as a list of organisations worth supporting long-term — I’ve written for most of them. I’ve also included a few people whom I know, love, and trust and who make things that are beautiful or delicious or both.
BOOKS I LOVE, SOME OF WHICH I HAVEN’T READ, BUT STILL (AND WHICH WOULD MAKE GREAT GIFTS!)
Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion, edited by Ryan Conrad
I’m a co-founder of Against Equality, the queer radical editorial collective, and Ryan is the person who first originated the idea of a website archive of queer radical history in response to the burgeoning gay marriage movement. From there, after many calls from people to collect the collected work in print, we went on to publish three separate anthologies on gay marriage, hate crimes legislation, and inclusion in the military which eventually turned into this lovely anthology. It’s a must-read if you’re interested in queer histories that you won’t see anywhere else.
Bernard Pepperlin, by Cara Hoffman
Words cannot describe how much I love this wonderful, exhilarating, compassionate, lovely book. Well, okay, they can, and I’ll have my (possibly breathless) review of it soon. For now, please believe me when I tell you that this is the book you need to get everyone on your list, regardless of their age. It takes off from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and follows the adventures of The Dormouse as he escapes the Tea Party and looks for the girl in the blue dress. It isn’t at all derivative, which is hard to pull off because, well, come on, Lewis Carroll, and has a particularly surprising, wonderful, and very subtle twist.
Koh-I-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond, by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand
I love diamonds, I really do, and I’ve long nurtured a longing for the Kohinoor, one of the most famous jewels. This book is actually two years old, and I meant to write the review two years ago but, life. It occurred to me that this is a good time to re-introduce it (I’ll have a review up soon-ish). Koh-I-Noor is a short but really riveting account and, unlike most such histories, it’s written by two well-known scholars who are not the usual Orientalists trying to justify the horrors of Empire. This is also a sad history, but it’s one worth reading and gifting.
Sketchtasy, by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.
Here’s a story I like to tell, often: some years ago, a publicist for one of Mattilda’s books wrote me an email that began with the words, “I’m X, and I wondered if you’d like to review Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s latest…” I wrote back, “I didn’t read beyond your first few words because the answer is always yes.”
I have no idea how she does it, but Mattilda manages to turn out a book a year, it seems. And every one of them is explosively new and ground-breaking and exciting to read. So, although this is also one of my to-reads (and it has garnered excellent reviews everywhere), I don’t hesitate to recommend it because I know it won’t disappoint.
Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection, by Jacob Silverman.
A lot of books on social media are just crap: paranoid and, these days, more obsessed with bolstering the pointless claims of “Russian conspiracies” than with actually understanding how these brave and also scary new world actually works. Silverman’s work was published in 2015, but it needs to be looked at anew and is a refreshing — and exhaustively researched and well-written — corrective to the loonier work that’s out there now; it’s also a remarkably prescient book.
Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility, edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley and Johanna Burton.
I have this on my to-read list, and have looked through some of it and love it; this is a book that will become a must-read volume for years to come. I love and trust Eric Stanley as a friend and comrade, and anything he’s involved in (such as Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex) always becomes a classic. You can read a pdf of the introduction here; it’s a gorgeous book and fit for gift-giving as well.
We Are Data: Algorithms and the Making of Our Digital Selves, by John Cheney-Lippold.
Like Silverman’s work, this 2017 book runs counter to the usual paranoid blather and, instead, digs deep into, ah, well, the actual data about data. I’ve long held that the very notion of the algorithm is utter bullshit and this book affirms my view. It also expand and deepens our understanding of what “data” really is and does, and who controls it and how without relying on the usual mysterious-cabal-of-dark-strangers-in-foreign-lands theory. It’s an academic book, but worth reading (and the paperback is not hideously expensive). You can also listen to his presentation on the book here.
Why You Should Be a Socialist, by Nathan J. Robinson
It’s a book about why you should be a socialist, and it’s by Nathan J. Robinson. Yes, he’s my editor at Current Affairs, but that’s not the (slightly nepotistic) reason I recommend this book. I’m recommending it because I love anything and everything by Nathan, who is always funny and wise and knows how to write about complex issues in a way that more lefties should learn from. And, besides: it has a review from a manatee, no less. Said manatee writes: It is a political diatribe about the idiotic and eminently solvable social dysfunctions of a species whose existence is regrettable to all others. I can neither recommend nor condemn it, for it is of no earthly importance to me. There is, however, a picture of a seahorse on page 72, which gave me a fleeting burst of satisfaction.
If you don’t buy this book on the strength of that alone, are you even human?
PUBLICATIONS TO READ AND SUPPORT
When I wrote my first big piece for this magazine, on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, it was the first time a lefty publication wholeheartedly supported my integration of a critique of mainstream gay politics with an analysis of politics in general. Trust me when I tell you — and I will tell you more in another piece — that even today, where mainstream media outlets seem willing to at least make the shop-worn critique that gay politics can be “assimilationist,” most editors and publishers are still too either too scared of powerful gay interests to actually allow such work to go through or simply too caught up in their liberal hand-wringing (even if they are ostensibly left publications). The magazine has updated its format, and is consistently supportive of left writing and writers.
I’m an editor at large here so, of course, I’m going to tell you to support them. But besides the fact that they’ve published me, often, and that they’ve supported me consistently, even when a faction of the left turned particularly nasty and tried to get my work taken down on Facebook and even, outrageously for leftists, complained the piece should not have been published — even besides all that: the magazine is a thing of beauty and should be celebrated and supported. If you can, get a hard copy subscription — every issue is a gorgeous work of art, and every page bristles with tiny vignettes, quizzes, and even games, alongside the regular articles. It’s a fantastic combination of wit (I’m often laughing out loud) and serious analysis that you won’t find elsewhere.
They pay well and on time, and they’re committed to a workplace that’s free of exploitation, with a small but dedicated staff. And they feature news and analysis you won’t find elsewhere; it’s where I go first when I want a reliable and alternative news outlet on a part of the globe that regularly gets very little nuanced and accurate coverage.
This is a storied publication, first published in 1957, and has been home to writers like Albert Camus, Bertolt Brecht, Marguerite Duras, and Albert Camus. So imagine my surprise and amazement when its editor-in-chief Dale Peck contacted me about writing “A Manifesto.” That project — for which he kindly gave me infinite latitude, and which I’ll write about more soon — was literally life-changing for me. They also republished my Nanette piece and paid for that as well. ER is currently published by John Oakes. They’re working on getting all the older issues online and publishing print editions of select works. Read them online and support them if you can. They’re reworking the very idea of a “literary magazine.”
MR has been a socialist magazine long before it was fashionable to be such, and I’ve written for them a few times. I’ve always found them a deeply supportive and generous publication, and I admire their commitment to the long haul. As “socialism” becomes fashionable and hip, it’s worth remembering that there were some fighting the fight long before it became such. Please support them.
Independent voice on the south side of Chicago. Even if you don’t live here, it’s a necessary look at why we need excellent local coverage and local papers. Great snapshots of the gentrification battles going on here, and a great way to find out what’s going in the many neighbourhoods in the area.
One of the last true neighbourhood publications left, it’s an invaluable source of news and reporting in Hyde Park. HP is an odd, cranky, weird place (and I love-hate all that about it), and the Herald does a great job keeping up with all its oddness. Chicago is a city of neighbourhoods, and we’re lucky to have a newspaper that covers this one.
ORGANISATIONS AND PEOPLE I LOVE
Alex Poeter, Life and Career Coach and Nonprofit Consultant. Alex, along with Melissa S. and Mariame Kaba, was among those who generously came forward to help me and Gender JUST in a time of need, and we couldn’t have asked for a more organised, thorough, and thoughtful consultant. And I know I’m not alone in thinking that he’s among the finest human beings on this planet.
Founded and nurtured by people I personally know and love, this is a caring, thoughtful, and necessary organisation that “grew out of a critical gap in Chicago of programming for young women to get trained up in the radical political tradition of Black feminism, and to learn how to organize around the demand of abolition.” Please support them as they grow.
I knew of this organisation when it was still a dream of LaSaia Wade, one of Chicago’s most energetic and driven organisers. It’s unique in Chicago and the south side, as a “Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago,” and in my very own neighbourhood of Hyde Park. The popular myth (spun by a mostly white and racist mainstream gay world) is that the people of colour in general and Black people in particular are too homophobic and transphobic to support LGBTQ people in their midst, but the truth is that a racist city and a white-led gay power elite has been stingy with resources. BSA just opened its doors and could do with all our support.
When I got on the Champagne Sharks podcast, to talk about Jeremy Harris’s Slave Play, we ended up creating a two-parter. What I liked about them is that they were willing to take on a difficult subject, and related ones, and fully explore it from as many perspectives as possible. I also liked the fact that I got asked a lot of questions, that I wasn’t just asked to reiterate my usual talking points and left alone. Please support them.
I’ve written about CFS before, and you can read that piece here. They remain an excellent, excellent place to support, and have a commitment to youth and radical politics that is long-term and eschews easy, sexy solutions. They deserve all the support they can get.
Dakshina: Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company
I’ve yet to see a performance by the company, let me admit. But Daniel is the one who commissioned this piece, “Make Art! Change the World! Starve!: The Fallacy of Art as Social Justice – Part I.” His work in the dance world has earned praise from many quarters and, more importantly to me, he’s a tireless advocate for dancers and often and publicly pushes back against those who see them as expendable bodies. If you’re in DC or in the area, go see his shows and support him any way you can.
Helen Razer is my white, Australian twin. We were separated at birth, a few years apart (it’s a complicated story and the Best Minds of Science are still sorting through it all) and raised on different continents, but we think and act alike—and we inspire the same kinds of love, fear, and loathing, depending on whom you talk to. Helen is brilliant and outspoken, and reading her is like talking to a sibling who finishes your sentences. Like all independent and writers and thinkers, she struggles to make things happen — please support her.
The Nostalgia Trap Podcast, by David Parsons
I was featured on this a couple of times, and was delighted at David’s invitation because I’ve been a fan of this longform podcast for a while. David is doing what few will do, engage in complex, long-ranging conversations instead of soundbites, and he takes as long as he needs to take. You can listen to more in the archives; please support this project if you can — we need more of this kind of work out there.
I am, technically, homeless, and I’ve survived for the last few years by living in other people’s houses in exchange for services like housekeeping. Each time, thanks to the kindness of the homeowners, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to keep my animal companions with me: I’d have been utterly devastated if I’d been separated from them for even a day. Paws Between Homes is a brand-new Atlanta-based organisation that fosters the pets of people who have lost or are about to lose their homes until they find their feet again. I’ve only met Cole Thaler, its founder, online but I trust him completely (and I follow his various fostering adventures avidly — he specialises in pregnant/nursing dogs who have been abandoned and need shelter). The impact of losing animals, on people who face homelessness or housing instability, is enormous and is still to be fully understood, I think, because we tend to think of animals as easily replaceable. But without Toby and Frida to see me through my darkest times, I doubt I would have survived or at least survived with any semblance of sanity. Please support this organisation.
Plan A has had me on their podcast, to talk about representation and related matters, and I’ll be doing more with them in the future. Where most sites focused on Asian/American issues are the usual (which is to say: boring and predictable), they’re willing to talk about subjects and perspectives that won’t necessarily be aired elsewhere (I mean, hey, they had me on there, and most of the conventional Asian/American podcasts/outlets won’t touch me with a bargepole). And they’re a wonderful, solid, supportive crew of people, committed to treating writers well: trust me on that. Please support them.
This is the brainchild of the brilliant abolitionist and feminist Mariame Kaba (who is also among the founders of CFS!). Mariame has been a driving force behind many of the radical projects in Chicago, and she has now returned to her beloved hometown of New York — but her energy and influence lasts here. I wrote this piece on her as she got ready to leave Chicago, and I can assure you that she is someone you can and should support. Among other projects (see below!), Mariame is responsible for some of the most well-organised and riveting projects where researches and showcases vital parts of Black history that might otherwise languish out of sight.
Queer Cafeteria, Podcasters and all-round queer radical darlings
I met the lovely people at Queer Cafeteria — all six of them at the time — at my place for a podcast, and they are the most amazing radical queer punks around right now. They’re also behind FED UP! Fest, an annual event. You can read more about them here and follow or support them.
STUFF (FABULOUS) PEOPLE MAKE!
Kabags, bags and wallets by Mariame Kaba and sisters
I once asked Mariame how she got so much done and her answer was, “Insomnia.” Besides everything else she’s doing, Mariame has joined with her two sisters to produce this gorgeous line of bags and wallets — they’ll be introducing more items again in January (they had some lovely wallets, which have already sold out). You can be sure it’s all ethically produced, and judging from my feeds, people are delighted with them (I’m a messenger bag girl right now, but plan on getting one or more of these as soon as my life settles down to the point where I can use handbags).
Melissa S., knitwear on Etsy
Melissa is also a long-time Chicago resident now settled on the east coast, and she is, along with Mariame (who has more talents than I can name), one of the well-known knitters in the circles I travel in. She now has her own site, Atlantic Knits, on Etsy and the items are, as you can see, lovely.
Monica Trinidad, radical activist and artist
If you live and circulate in Chicago’s queer/radical circles, you’re bound to have seen Monica’s work. She’s been part of our visual imaginary for years, and is worth keeping an eye on and supporting whenever possible.
Sarah-Ji, photographer
As we know too well, too many movements are too busy doing the work of actual movement-building to document their work for posterity. Luckily for Chicago, we have Sarah-Ji, who shows up at hundreds of protests and actions and takes amazing photos of the work and responses to it. Please, of course, don’t use her images without permission (and pay), but do keep an eye on her work if you’re interested in radical political work in Chicago.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.
Image: Hibiscus, by Hiroshige, c. 1845