best 💧 bottle + the n-word + misty's slippers

+ the heavy knowledge of your staggering abilities

Hi from Southern California. Your new once-a-week HRDlist format is evolving, and I’m loving doing it. Once a week: you receive ridiculously relevant reccos. Cultural curation for your information. This week? There’s some stuff bout Black people and Agatha Christie. And why I can’t watch Girls5Eva. There’s a link to an emotional, necessary conversation with Regina King. There’s an essay about the long journey from being young Lew Alcindor — who was called a “ni*ga,” mid-game, by his high-school coach — to being the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I share my forever water-”bottle.” There’s even a small plea I have for YOU about my upcoming travels. Plus the wild green parrots of Los Angeles. And ballerina Misty Copeland on pointe in Cuba. A tiny bit about “Dad TV,” “Millennial,” “Zoomer,” and “Boomer.” And (heading into wedding season) a soulful, romantic, yearning, loving, all-girl playlist including artists from Aaliyah to Tamia to Amel to SZA to Gladys to Donna to Chaka to Selena to Sade to Ella Fitzgerald to Ella Mai. Enjoy. I have a feeling that this letter finds you thriving. And if not? I’m sending strength and joy your way. Send me some, too. This is a season of change.

the sound of music.

Sam McKinniss, Star Spangled Banner (Whitney) (detail), 2017, oil and acrylic on canvas, 9 × 12".

1. …it’s easy to imagine Whitney Houston feeling heavy with the knowledge of her staggering ability. This essay, about celebrity as muse, has me in my feelings.

   [more, after the jump]