My first exposure to Coates was Between The World And Me, which I remember as the book where I got to just live in the mind and gut of a super-smart black dad (Coates) for a couple hundred beautifully-written, heart-wrenching pages. I vividly remember a scene that takes place on an IMAX escalator where a fight breaks out between Coates and a white woman. You can really feel the hate going in both directions. It's violent, dark and deep. But also useless. And, tragically, inevitability. Heavy shit. But alas, it is a good thing, every now and again, to think long and hard about racism, which is why Coates' writing is such a gift to the world.
Until reading this article, I didn't know that Coates was also such a legendary blogger. I only knew him as the budding literary icon with a strong endorsement from Toni Morrison, God. Very cool.
For almost a decade, we've been watching an overall decline in the quality of online discussion. As a society, we keep making excuses for why it's happening, but we shouldn't. We should just do better and be better, and we deserve better tools to help us get there. This article is a piece of history - a reminder that in 2015 there was still a tiny bit of optimism that we might somehow fix the comment section. That view is now starting to feel quaint given the downright hellishness of the current media landscape.
Readup is one of very few organizations that has been on the job, hard, and hasn't given up. We aim to solve all the problems, hook, line, and sinker: top quality content (Coates, for example; h/t Queen Alexa), real community, and ethical, transparent moderation and article curation. A new and better way for Readers and Writers to connect, directly. This made me think of us Readuppers ;)
the regulars started to really get to know each other, and develop their own shorthand, nicknames, and inside jokes.
Spectacular.
My first exposure to Coates was Between The World And Me, which I remember as the book where I got to just live in the mind and gut of a super-smart black dad (Coates) for a couple hundred beautifully-written, heart-wrenching pages. I vividly remember a scene that takes place on an IMAX escalator where a fight breaks out between Coates and a white woman. You can really feel the hate going in both directions. It's violent, dark and deep. But also useless. And, tragically, inevitability. Heavy shit. But alas, it is a good thing, every now and again, to think long and hard about racism, which is why Coates' writing is such a gift to the world.
Until reading this article, I didn't know that Coates was also such a legendary blogger. I only knew him as the budding literary icon with a strong endorsement from Toni Morrison, God. Very cool.
For almost a decade, we've been watching an overall decline in the quality of online discussion. As a society, we keep making excuses for why it's happening, but we shouldn't. We should just do better and be better, and we deserve better tools to help us get there. This article is a piece of history - a reminder that in 2015 there was still a tiny bit of optimism that we might somehow fix the comment section. That view is now starting to feel quaint given the downright hellishness of the current media landscape.
Readup is one of very few organizations that has been on the job, hard, and hasn't given up. We aim to solve all the problems, hook, line, and sinker: top quality content (Coates, for example; h/t Queen Alexa), real community, and ethical, transparent moderation and article curation. A new and better way for Readers and Writers to connect, directly. This made me think of us Readuppers ;)
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