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Week of 11/18/18


PUBLISHED: November 26, 2018

In an effort to better acquaint you, the reader, with the VQR staff, members of our team will share excerpts from our personal reading—The Best 200 Words I Read All Week. From fact to fiction, from comedic to tragic, we hope you find as much to admire in these selections as we do.

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1.

In New York and Los Angeles, certain men and boys wait in hourslong lines for streetwear, items like difficult-to-obtain Off-White Nikes or the newest Supreme crewnecks. Each year, like birds, they also fly home for Thanksgiving. Do they wear Virgil Abloh’s inventions back to St. Louis? Is a Supreme cross-body bag good enough for Grandma?

Complexcon, a sneakerhead convention held early this month in Long Beach, Calif., was the perfect place to find out: Do members of the streetwear flock wear their most prized possessions in front of their families?

“Definitely not,” said Dominique Fields, who insisted that he was “not a hypebeast” but admitted that his family knew that he was into “the latest and greatest.”

Social Media Manager Sydney Bradley
Excerpt from “What Do Sneakerheads Wear at Thanksgiving?” the New York Times, by Jonah Engel Bromwich

2.

Anybody white, tanned and wearing khaki who once had a pet antelope or a farm is a conservationist, one who is preserving Africa’s rich heritage. When interviewing him or her, do not ask how much funding they have; do not ask how much money they make off their game. Never ask how much they pay their employees.

Readers will be put off if you don’t mention the light in Africa. And sunsets, the African sunset is a must. It is always big and red. There is always a big sky. Wide empty spaces and game are critical—Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces. When writing about the plight of flora and fauna, make sure you mention that Africa is overpopulated. When your main character is in a desert or jungle living with indigenous peoples (anybody short) it is okay to mention that Africa has been severely depopulated by Aids and War (use caps).

You’ll also need a nightclub called Tropicana, where mercenaries, evil nouveau riche Africans and prostitutes and guerrillas and expats hang out

Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.

Editorial Intern Rachel Freeman
Excerpt from “How to Write About Africa,” Granta Magazine, by Binyavanga Wainaina

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