Rough Drafts
Rough Drafts is a Black digital salon hosted by Maurice Rippel and Luke McGowan-Arnold. Maurice and Luke, classmates from their time at a small liberal arts college in the 2010s, reconnected after their respective odyssey in the early 2020s. Through their work facilitating writing groups and public events at a bookstore in Philadelphia, the idea for this podcast emerged, and in fact, was requested. Rough Drafts is exactly what it sounds like: ideas in their nascent stages, first impressions, best foot forward. The concept of each episode is simple: we bring a topic, present a question, or a works-in-progress; we do some research, then have a conversation (often with a guest who commits to reading, research and hot takes). The goal is to start a conversation, and commit to learning, growing, and building for the next draft.
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Episodes
Friday Oct 18, 2024
Friday Oct 18, 2024
The podcasts’ Founding Fathers started with the questions: what does it mean to be a man in the 21st century American context? And, how are these different types of masculinities being formed?
Perhaps apropos, they started with bell hooks. They reflect on the legacies of brothers, friends, and formative men in their lives. Critiques were had of Andrew Tate, Fresh and Fit, Kevin Samuels, and the (Black) Manosphere.
Sources:
Fast Facts: Title IX NCES: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=93
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/24/key-facts-about-public-school-teachers-in-the-u-s/
Understanding the (Black) Manosphere with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upt_ks61_70
“Schooling Black Males”, in We real cool: Black men and Masculinity https://theindigenist.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/we-real-cool_black-men-masculinity-by-bell-hooks.pdf
A Man among Other Men by Jordanna Motlon https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501762932/a-man-among-other-men/
References:
Driving with O.J Simpson by Harmony Holiday https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/07/19/driving-with-o-j-simpson/
Men are Lonely. We Explore Some Reasons Why, and What Can Be Done About It https://laist.com/news/kpcc-archive/how-to-la/men-are-lonely-we-explore-some-reasons-why-and-what-can-be-done-about-itWhat’s the Left’s Response to Andrew Tate? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mtFPwRR2kz1Z7Qe5ZgtZn44Dz-1eE08NnP2dGcvDKSk/edit?ouid=108479077797216976854&usp=docs_home&ths=true
Luke’s substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-148583471
Ezra Klein, “The Men–and Boys–are not Alright” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX2qQ2Smkbg