Roxane Gay's 11 Favorite Things
"Hell is other people on airplanes — except for crying children, who are just expressing their feelings and that‘s healthy."
Hello! How is your week going? We are thrilled to feature one of our favorite writers,
. She’s been a major inspiration to us — and maybe you? — for so long. She’s the author of many books, including her fantastic memoir, Hunger; and she writes a smart, funny newsletter called The Audacity.But besides being a brilliant, incisive thinker, Roxane is also just fun. Her biggest hobby, for example, is cake decorating. “The cookbook Icing on the Cake has a recipe for a milk and cookies cake. It’s in the children’s chapter, which cracks me up, because I’m like, No, I'm totally an adult, but absolutely gonna make this cake. I made it for my friend Jackie Woodson’s birthday, and she still talks about it.”
Plus, there’s her social media feed. Five recent gems:
“The number of times I wish my dog had a cellphone so I can text him something is…. a lot.”
“New niece just dropped.”
“Michelle Obama just casually showing up and reminding us that she is still one of the single best speakers in the country.”
“This commercial for a Hallmark movie began ‘a family bed and breakfast under water.’ Say less! I am locked in!”
“I am so tired of people telling me I am intimidating. I am not. I have stuffed animals. I make up songs about my dog. I decorate cakes. I am super quiet. You just see a tall, large Black woman and get scared. Deal with that.”
So! Without further ado, Roxane shares 11 great things, including three book recommendations and the one thing she always brings on a plane…
Manifesto: My wife, Debbie, and I collaborated on a manifesto about love. I thought a lot about what actually makes our relationship work. What fuels the engine of our life together? Our 10 rules include ‘Delight in your partner’ and ‘When you argue, fight fair.’ I learned with Debbie how to let myself be loved, and how to love well in return.
Daily ritual: In L.A., my morning ritual is getting coffee at Starbucks with our dog, Maximus Torretto Blueberry Millman Gay (five names for a nine-pound dog!). An interviewer once gave me a hard time about admitting I go to such a basic coffee shop. But yes, me and hundreds of millions of people around the world! Also, they give Max a pup cup, and he loves it.
Recipe: My go-to dish is Melissa Clark’s chicken Milanese. The recipe suggests serving it with a tomato and mozzarella salad, but I like to zhuzh that up by adding cucumbers, soft herbs, fresh croutons, and my own vinaigrette.
Entertaining: We always serve wine from Brown Estate. It’s a Black-owned winery in Napa, and they make my favorite wines. I’m not a big drinker, but they have a fun red called Chaos Theory that is really worth a whirl.
Travel destination: It was my lifelong dream to visit Paris, and I went with Debbie several years ago. It absolutely met all of my expectations — and it’s not like we did anything earth shattering! We saw incredible art, and the café culture is lovely, no one is ever rushing you. It is just so delightful.
