Accountability is the greatest form of love. . . . A few days ago, a former fellow teacher made a tone-deaf statement regarding the murder of George Floyd and the concept of police accountability on Facebook. I saw it and…
RM220
“Now that the Times-Picayune and the weekly newspapers have cut all but the most perfunctory book coverage, Room 220 is the only place to find serious (and also irreverent) discussion of literature in New Orleans.” — New York Review of Books
Obligation
The first time we fucked was at the back of the red barn on the Meyers’ property. His cock had a mean 30-degree angle and no amount of warming up could get a woman ready for such brutality against the…
Police Blotter
Today is normal. I wake up to red badges of notification on a screen. Each morning, I allot the five minutes after my eyes open to scrolling them. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. WhatsApp. Slack. Gmail. Tumblr. I hate the sight of…
Room 220 Syllabus: Supplemental Reading
1. Silencing the Past (20th anniversary edition) MICHEL-ROLPH TROUILLOT Foreword by Hazel V. Carby A modern classic about power and the making of history, with a new foreword by a prominent scholar “Placing the West’s failure to acknowledge the most successful slave…
Hanging Out Here: Editor’s Round-Up
Here are a few of my favorite things on the internet and hard copy this week. Timely new stories, a dig through our archive, and some classics. A Conversation with Jericho Brown by Skye Jackson from French Quarter Journal Fresh…
The Art of Mecca Burke
Shine.Jake.Felix (Watercolor and ink on paper.) “These are three parts of an ongoing portrait series whose purpose is to celebrate the local LGBTQ community.” Must Be Jelly (Cuz Jam Don’t Shake Like that) (Watercolor and ink on paper) “Thighs are…
A Red Moment Alone: I took out my own IUD
Hey, guess what I did today? I had a nice lunch with my mom, went to the grocery store, and removed my Mirena IUD in my dad’s bathroom with my own hands! A big Wednesday for me! Why would anyone…
Big Mama Yaga’s
Joke was, we relocated to Texas cause Katrina flooded us outta New Orleans. Then, of course, Harvey took possession over half the state, losin me my husband Vernon. One side of the Gulf to the opposite; I wonder why we…
Sight & Sound ((I.) March)
The cadaver dogs downstairs are barking. As though making a sound will fix anything—any of this—I tell me, reflected in glass— Curdling a self into an imagined resuscitation of some politics is a joke not worth telling for no one…