I Finally Bought Some Jordans
Essays
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Very good writers have an ability to make you understand what they're feeling. But the very best writers have an ability to make you understand what you're feeling. And that's where Michael Arceneaux sits, and that's what he does in this new book. It's like he's crawling around inside your head opening file cabinets and telling you what the gibberish you've scribbled on each page in each file means. What a great, fun read."—Shea Serrano, #1 New York Times bestselling author
New York Times bestselling author Michael Arceneaux returns with a hilarious collection of essays about making your voice heard in an increasingly noisy and chaotic world.
In his books I Can't Date Jesus and I Don't Want to Die Poor, Michael Arceneaux established himself as one of the most beloved and entertaining writers of his generation, touching upon such hot-button topics as race, class, sexuality, labor, debt, and, of course, paying homage to the power and wisdom of Beyoncé. In this collection, Arceneaux takes stock of how far he has traveled—and how much ground he still has to cover in this patriarchal, heteronormative society. He explores the opportunities afforded to Black creatives but also the doors that remain shut or ever-so-slightly ajar; the confounding challenges of dating in a time when social media has made everything both more accessible and more unreliable; and the allure of returning home while still pushing yourself to seek opportunity elsewhere.
I Finally Bought Some Jordans is both a corrective to, and a balm for, these troubling times, revealing a sharply funny and keen-eyed storyteller working at the height of his craft.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The distinctive voice of essayist Arceneaux (I Don't Want to Die Poor) enlivens his agile latest collection. "Please Unblock Me, Toni Braxton" discusses how Arceneaux's rising profile over the past several years has led to sometimes awkward interactions with such celebrities as Don Lemon and Kevin Hart, whom he's written critically about. "How It Feel Outside?" strikes a more soulful tone, meditating on how talking about such mundane topics as the weather allows Arceneaux to maintain his relationship with his alcoholic father and religious mother, whom he sometimes struggles to hold more personal conversations with because they remain reluctant to acknowledge that he's gay. In the standout "DMJ," Arceneaux uses an annoying neighbor who frequently woke him up after getting locked out of her apartment as a springboard to interrogate the complex relationships that result from living in cities, reporting that while he bonded with two neighbors on his Harlem block who "functioned like play-aunties," he was exhausted by the constant noise (first of neighbors fighting, then of sirens as the pandemic set in) and decided to move to California. Arceneaux's acerbic wit sizzles (to those who questioned why he relocated to wildfire-prone L.A., he responds, "At least I have a lovely view of a burning world"), and he balances the humor with heartfelt reflection. This packs a punch.