Lift Every Voice and Sing, Pt. 2: Cate and Ianthe!
As promised, here is your Saturday installment of Black joy courtesy of Cate Young and Ianthe Metzger: cousins, friends, and July 2019 guest editors!
Cate Young’s Tweets of Joy
I LOVE THIS!!!
take a minute to vibe with this lovely fellow:
The anthem of summer (as sung by Johnniqua Charles):
I love when talented people pair statistical analysis with 4-part harmony:
This is the most beautiful thing and it makes me positively dizzy with happiness:
Ianthe Metzger’s Romance & Friendship Recs
I'm a huge reader, reading about 3 books a week, who's not afraid to admit her love of romance novels, so the first thing that came to mind for me was Black romance authors. Romance is one of the most popular literary genres, but as with every field/ industry, it's incredibly whitewashed (in terms of both protagonists and writers) but there are some awesome Black women breaking through and doing it right: Jasmine Guillory, Alyssa Cole, Alexa Martin, and Talia Hibbert to name a few. Jasmine and Talia also have books in their respective series coming out this month. I love the representation these authors bring to their work and how they show that Black women are strong, smart, funny, and desirable.
Also, I'm sure everyone you reach out to will probably mention Insecure. The show was so great this season and everything from the story, to the lighting, to the shot composition in episode 8, Lowkey Trying, was perfect and brought me such joy. It was a beautiful display of Black Love and two people finding each other again.
AND: two Black women have announced their candidacies for VA governor this month: Jennifer Caroll Foy and Jennifer McClellan. I live just outside DC in VA so this is particularly exciting for me and if either of them win, they would be the first Black woman governor in the country. Also, a few weeks ago, Marie Claire compiled a list of all the Black candidates running across the country which was incredible to see!
Speaking of political candidates and excellent romance novels— you can still win a copy of Jasmine Guillory’s Party of Two!
A pair of sisters as iconic as Alexa (lead of The Wedding Date) and her big sister Olivia (whose love story we finally get in Party of Two)
Party of Two follows ace lawyer Olivia Monroe as she very tentatively falls in love with someone she’d never imagined herself with: Max Powell, a hot shot junior Senator. If this sounds to you as delightful as it does to me (and Roxane Gay), just pop your email into our Handy Dandy Google Form by the end of the day this coming Thursday and could win a copy just in time to have the perfect the 4th of July weekend reading.
Two Bossy Dames is brought to you by:
And the profound affection and admiration between Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin in this video: