The Drip

Episode 49 -- The Brutal Beauty of Jesmyn Ward's LET US DESCEND

The Spoilers are back with the penultimate episode on their way toward the big 50! In this episode they heap praises upon Jesmyn Ward's latest triumph about a young, enslaved woman being led on a journey to the dark and deep of slavery's corrupt heart. They spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to understand this novel and what to do with its beauty and horror. In the end, they just follow Annis from the Carolinas to New Orleans on her harrowing journey and talk a lot about spirits, gods, love, and poetic brutality (a term they are not actually familiar with and do not use). Hope you enjoy it!

Episode 48: The Stories We Tell/Told/Are (Never) Told -- Shannon Gibney's THE GIRL I AM, WAS, AND NEVER WILL BE

The gang is back, you guys! It's been awhile, but we are back to discuss Shannon Gibney's amazing memoir of transracial adoption, family, and love. We've read a lot of books doing this show over the years, but you can be sure that we have never read one like this -- and it definitely shows in the episode. So come along with us again and take a wondrous ride through time. It's not technically a wormhole you'll go through, but we are going to take you back to a few months ago to when we first recorded this episode. And let me tell you, it's worth the wait!

Episode 47 -- A Plot-Full of BLACK CAKE: Charmaine Wilkerson Serves It Up Thick

The Spoilers are back with an episode about Charmaine Wilkerson's worthy novel, Black Cake -- just in time for the Hulu release of the series on November 1st. If you haven't read the book, all you have to do is listen to our episode and you'll be ready to watch whatever Oprah ends up doing for this adaptation. As for us, we have a lot to say about this sprawling novel. There's a lot we love and some things we don't, but one thing cannot be denied -- this book got us to thinking: love, family, secrets . . . oh man, those secrets! Don't miss this one, folks. You just might learn some some things you didn't know about the Spoilers, themselves!

Episode 46 --It May Be a Man’s World, But Esi’s Got a Car: Ama Ata Aidoo’s CHANGES

In this episode the Spoilers talk about Aidoo's wonderful novel, but as you might expect, they end up talking about patriarchy. And in particular they spend a lot of time talking about Esi and her car. You know, we don't always understand Esi (there are lots of questions), but in the end we all really love her and we all wish we were riding in that car with her wherever she wants to go. Don't miss this one. We can all go for a ride!

Episode 45 -- Trains, Pains, and Barnacles: Suzette Mayr’s THE SLEEPING CAR PORTER

In this, our 45th episode, the Spoilers are back with what they thought would be a frolicking, early summer show about Baxter, a Black Canadian aspiring dentist who works as a sleeping car porter on a cross-continent train in the late 1920s (surprise! it took a while to edit!). Paced like a marathoner in a Dodge Challenger, this novel is relentless in its depiction of racialized labor in a very close environment. Not all of us loved this book, but that always makes for an interesting conversation -- and you will get nothing less here, even though you had to wait for three months. Anticipation makes things even better they say . . .

Driplet #4 -- ”It Must Be the Gas”: A Journey Inside Todd’s Broken Brain

In this special Driplet, Anita gives Todd the chance to share his narrative of injury and recovery. After suffering a hemorrhagic stroke in February of 2020, Todd had to learn to read again while teaching a literature class, living away from his partner, and dealing with the fallout of a pandemic. In this funny, but personal episode, Anita and Todd explore the challenges of illness and recovery, and what it means when an injury manifests itself as an inability to read or remember names and faces. Eventually they weigh in on the ongoing debate over science of reading vs. reading recovery teaching pedagogy -- something Todd became obsessed with shortly after he learned to read again. You won't want to miss this chance to venture inside the illogical mind of one of the spoilers . . .

Episode 44 -- Profound Sentences: James Baldwin’s GIOVANNI’S ROOM

Did you know many Black writers including Zora Neale Hurston, Frank Yerby, and Lorraine Hansberry wrote works in which most or all of the characters were white? One of the best of these is James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. In this episode, we discuss Baldwin's classic second novel, with its tortured main character, David, an American marking time in Paris. While not a book with a propulsive plot, we were all three blown away by the writing. We also marveled at Baldwin's ability to render compelling, flawed, and believable white characters. Mostly, we were fascinated by the emotional and psychological predicament of David, a young man who is afraid to surrender to his feelings for another man, and why despite this fact, this book is almost always at the top of lists of the best queer novels ever written. Check this one out, you guys -- we think you'll like it. 

Episode 43 -- Hold the Pum Pum Jokes: Learning to Love Leone Ross’s POPISHO

Let's be honest -- when the Spoilers first started reading Leone Ross's Popisho, they were kind of confused. But as this lively conversation reveals, we came to really love this strange, original, endearing book. It never missed an opportunity to surprise and delight us. Take a listen to this episode to hear how we go from perplexity to wonder and happiness. Take our word for it -- this episode was made especially for you. 

Episode 42 -- A Touch of Grey: Attica Locke’s THE CUTTING SEASON

It's been a minute, but the Spoilers are back with another compelling book conversation -- this time about Attica's Locke's best-selling mystery. The novel takes place on a plantation, so you know we have to ground things with a little bit of history (Dr. Moten would have it no other way). As usual, we have a lot to say about this book. We offer some praise and some criticisms, but in the end we give a pretty positive take on what we all seem to think is a pretty solid read. The fact that we keep comparing it to Queen Sugar has to tell you something about how we end up feeling about Locke's novel. Check out the episode and see what you think. It's definitely work the listen.

Episode 41 -- Don’t Say It: Language, Teaching, and Community

In this special "bookless" episode (in which we actually talk about many books), the Spoilers take on the question of language use in the classroom -- specifically, what do we do as teachers when material we want to use with students contains offensive and/or hurtful language? We decided to discuss this subject, first, because Anita had been thinking about it a lot and wanted to see what we thought, but also because we all happened to be in the same town together for the first time in almost three years and we needed to talk about something! None of us were finished reading The Cutting Season, so we had to figure out what else we could discuss for the episode. We settled on this question, and it did not disappoint. Our conversation touches on multiple aspects of teaching and ends up providing insight into how each of us understands our role in the classroom (whatever kind of classroom it may be). We hope you enjoy it! (THIS EPISODE CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE.)