Today, Lena Waithe and I are going to discuss what The Wizard of Oz has meant to her through the years and explore how Dorothy’s story informs her own journey to the Emerald City - er, I mean Hollywood. In doing so, we’re also going to reveal how, like Dorothy, she found her way back to where she came from. Maybe I should tell you how I know Lena first. The one and only time we met in the flesh was at a meeting of the Writers Guild of America’s Committee of Black Writers.

Jess here! This week, I’m coming to you from somewhere in Indiana, tired but happy. Getting out on the road and speaking to students, teachers, and communities is both exhausting and incredibly invigorating, and this week I got to speak to a classroom of student writers, kids who are just learning about the basics of researching, writing, and even podcasting. There’s nothing I love more. When I’m in these classrooms, and especially when I’m talking to kids looking to change the world by writing for their school papers as they dream about breaking big stories like the Harvey Weinstein saga, I always recommend Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey’s essential text, Chasing the Truth: A Young Journalist’s Guide to Investigative Reporting.

The first week of culinary school is not spent in front of a stove.  The first week is spent learning how not cut your fingers off or send your classmates to the burn ward.  Your accomplishments include holding a knife like a chef and figuring out the correct angle to hone your knife on a steel.  You spend a lot of time learning your way around the various cuts of onion, carrot, and celery.

Franklyn Ajaye is the most underrated American comic. I back up this statement based on the strength of his comedy records contrasted with his lack of presence in the mass pop culture mind. He put out five records and had a career on television and in the movies that spans five decades. I’m listening to one of the records right now—Vagabond Jazz & the Abstract Truth—and it still sounds great 19 years after it came out.

Horror films aren’t as scary as they used to be. Genuine fear. It’s not their fault; how many actual things can a human be scared of? More importantly, does it hold up over decades? While a jump scare or scary experience can be found at the movies these days, it’s hard to find one as discomforting and long-lasting as A Nightmare on Elm Street. Think about it. Wes Craven’s legendary antagonist, Freddy Krueger, attacked teenagers in their dreams.