Still, an answer arrived on March 28, when @ajc.com posted a reel. As @afrosypaella.bsky.social writes: "Other than the fact that lemon pepper wings are served wet, and not with a dry rub as presented, the centering of white opinion and narrative framing is evidence of erasure." thefoodsection.com

The Food Section

Home to James Beard Award-winning independent journalism covering food and drink across the American South, published by Hanna Raskin

thefoodsection.com

Time was that food editors were in constant touch with their readers, but @afrosypaella.bsky.social couldn't even get an interview with @ajc.com's new hire when she wanted to ask: "How [will you] ensure Black eaters feel seen and heard in coverage?" thefoodsection.com/stacked-cove...

Stacked coverage - The Food Section

AJC’s new food editor gives TFS the runaround

thefoodsection.com

I’m so happy to see this article finally published! Thank you @afrosypaella.bsky.social for including me in this piece. It’s beautifully written and captures the the irony of being from Ohio where the history is rich and fraught. Thank you for being a witness ❤️

Nneka M. Okona 🇳🇬@afrosypaella.bsky.social · last yr.

I wrote this and put my soul into it bc it felt so deeply urgent. Thanks to @taralconley.com for speaking to me + adding her voice among many, many others as you can read. Will properly say more about this tmrw but am about to enjoy the rest of my holiday weekend & a glass of cava to celebrate! :)

Who preserves the homes of Black literary giants | Nneka M Okona

Who preserves the homes of Black literary giants | Nneka M Okona

Langston Hughes and Toni Morrison’s childhood homes remain unmarked – raising urgent questions about legacy and preservation

theguardian.com

I wrote this and put my soul into it bc it felt so deeply urgent. Thanks to @taralconley.com for speaking to me + adding her voice among many, many others as you can read. Will properly say more about this tmrw but am about to enjoy the rest of my holiday weekend & a glass of cava to celebrate! :)

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

Who preserves the homes of Black literary giants | Nneka M Okona

I'm going on a cruise next week that retails for $14K so I guess that? I'm not paying for this by the way. Travel journalist perks. :)

essencesimmone.blacksky.app@essencesimmone.blacksky.app · last yr.

What’s the most expensive place you’ve been? I’m talking about if you add the total of the flight, accommodations, transportation, and spending money. And what time of year did you go?

A lot of y'all are hellbent on being boring as fuck. Barely 30 and talking about your 7 p.m. bedtimes and not leaving the house after 1 p.m. I'll be 40 next year and am confused at this because I go to bed late and stay out late, too. Aging does not mean rotting at home.

Some of y’all noticed I’ve been uncharacteristically offline. This is why, and I remain on leave for a few weeks to handle a PTSD relapse. CJR was dogged in its pursuit of my story. Because of what I do and who I am, I felt that I had to answer their questions honestly. www.cjr.org/feature-2/we...

Journalists Attest to Experiences of Sexual Misconduct with Wesley Lowery

Lowery rose to prominence as a reporter and media thinker. Women in the industry say he engaged in sexual harassment and assault.

cjr.org

Some news: this piece was selected as one of the 20 *best* pieces of food and travel writing for 2024! So honored and excited. My first anthology! 🥹

Nneka M. Okona 🇳🇬@afrosypaella.bsky.social · 2y ago

Good afternoon. Happy Christmas week. For @theguardian.com, I wrote about mac & cheese, online debates on roux vs. no roux and its tangles with Black American generational loss + culinary ritual. 🧀 www.theguardian.com/culture/2024...

We’re thrilled to announce that Magical/Realism by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal has been nominated for the 35th Annual Reading the West Book Awards in the Memoir/Biography category! Now it’s your turn to vote by May 31st. Winners announced June 12, 2025.

We spent the Pornhub Awards with some of the site’s biggest stars to talk censorship, making money, and the popularity of trans porn—all while the site is blocked in more than a third of US states. www.wired.com/story/pornhu...

Your Favorite Porn Stars Are Sick of Being Censored. But They’re Not Going Away

We spent the Pornhub Awards with some of the site’s biggest stars to talk censorship, making money, and the popularity of trans porn—all while the site is blocked in more than a third of US states.

wired.com

Was gonna go out tonight but decided to stay home to make gumbo and drink wine.

a close up of a woman 's face with her eyes closed and her hair in a ponytail .

ALT: a close up of a woman 's face with her eyes closed and her hair in a ponytail .

media.tenor.com

I’m delighted to share that I was selected as one of @ijnr.bsky.social’s Environmental Justice grantees to write about ecological grief (e.g. climate grief) of Black communities in the South for @prismreports.org. Honored to do this work & filled with gratitude for being supported. Let’s get it! ⚡️💥

Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources@ijnr.bsky.social · last yr.

Congratulations to all 33 grantees of our 2025 field reporting grants! See the winning projects here: www.ijnr.org/2025-field-r...

It’s harder than it used to be but not hopeless. I think writers—especially those who work in media—are being called to do something different + not rely on traditional structures in the same way we used to as they’re *all* crumbling now. It’ll take creativity, innovation & grit to carry us forth.

Morgan Jerkins@mjerkins.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm gonna be honest: If you don't have a popular newsletter, a book under contract, or a staff job at a legacy publication, I don't know how a writer can make a living right now. So many outlets are gone and I've been holding this grief for quite some time.

The NYT isn't up for this moment because if you look at their history they've always missed the moment. As "the publication of record" it shouldn't exist. The American public deserves better.

Racism and misogynoir.

merritt@merrittk.com · last yr.

why do british people hate meghan markle so much

Our generation has a loooot to learn about actually being *in* community with folks. Being a host does not necessarily mean you do it all yourself nor pay for it all yourself either. It is a communal effort. With our parents it was always a shared effort despite how it appeared!

jas ❤️‍🔥@jasss.blacksky.app · last yr.

Yall hosting parties and make the guests bring stuff?

Seems like a lot of folk who identify as Type A have undiagnosed anxiety.

Harvard will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle its diversity programming and limit student protests in exchange for its federal funding, the university president announced www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Journalism has always been an enforcer & willing participant of white supremacy. Lynchings and other acts of racist hate + violence were promoted & published in newspapers remember. Let’s not forget this especially now.

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last yr.

America’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett, will stop publishing diversity data and has removed mentions of diversity from its corporate site

Self-deprecating takes on writing and being a writer just never hit for me. It’s not a tone I like or appreciate. A lot of you are miserable & insecure and bring those things into your creative practice droning on and on about how much you hate writing. Deeply uninteresting.

We really *need* more Black writers to write biographies of our Black figures. Doing some preliminary research on Duke Ellington for this essay I’m working on. And I’m struggling because what is written about him is so racist. Revelatory in some respects but racist.

here’s a curse word free version of “look it up” as requested by countless teachers and librarians 🥰😘

It’s the birthday of Billie Holiday, a survivor of abuse & an enemy of the state who was targeted by the FBI through her use of narcotics for bringing lynching to light, & died handcuffed to her hospital bed.

When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it's often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds out.

Most Americans want to read more books. We just don't.

When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it's often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll ...

npr.org

An unsecured database used by a generative AI app revealed prompts and tens of thousands of explicit images—including child abuse material and de-aged celebrities. The company deleted its websites after WIRED reached out.

An AI Image Generator’s Exposed Database Reveals What People Really Used It For

An unsecured database used by a generative AI app revealed prompts and tens of thousands of explicit images—some of which are likely illegal. The company deleted its websites after WIRED reached out.

wrd.cm

Music not good, dancing hasn’t been good in at least a decade, vocals have not further developed at all, etc.

The Luxe Libra@cutiecamille.bsky.social · last yr.

I need yall to release Chris Brown. The music is not that good for yall to still be going up for him.

Mused about Dr. King’s loneliness, isolation and depression as a result of the political trauma he faced on the 57th anniversary of his death. My latest essay for the black alone, a new creative project from me exploring Black loneliness. theblackalone.substack.com/p/the-lonely...

The Lonely Revolutionary

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Solitary Mountaintop

theblackalone.substack.com

The fact that Keisha Lance Bottoms wants to run for governor of Georgia in 2026 is a joke. Georgia deserves elected officials that give a damn about us and not being opportunistic scammers. Black representational politics has never and will never save us.

High maintenance, big bitch. Ask about me. 😭

Gaal Dornick@onthecountof3.bsky.social · last yr.

Are you really low maintenance?