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City Sounds: Eric Reads the Week #39

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! David and I still getting settled into our new kitchen. It's not really a kitchen yet; it's a room full of boxes with a stove. Our movers, in all of their infinite wisdom, packed our

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Everyday People: Eric Reads the Week, #38

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! If you think about it, Hello Dolly! is really just a musical about one woman's relationship with her favorite restaurant. Perhaps it's been a while since you saw the Barbra Streisand movie or the Bette

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Exuberance: Eric Reads the Week, #37

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Honey, this has probably been the longest, strangest week of my already long, strange life. On Monday, David and I woke up at a cabin on a lake (we went there voluntarily. Like on vacation. It's not

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Games: Eric Reads the Week, #36

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I have not won a single board game this weekend and, frankly, it feels like a justice issue. I think I like playing board games. I KNOW I don't like losing. Every time I play a board

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Ghosts: Eric Reads the Week, #35

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Four years ago this week, the blog Humans of New York posted this photo with the following caption: "Julia Child would have been 101 last week. I celebrate her birthday every year. This year I cooked some smoky

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Both Sides: Eric Reads the Week, #34

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! The morning I discovered I could order two brunches was probably the high point of my adult life. If Oprah ever asked me what my "Aha Moment" was I'd immediately answer "Ordering two brunches!

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Lift Off: Eric Reads the Week, #33

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! This week I took a break from my life to get in touch with my life. I spent the week in L.A. at the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat working on my playwriting. I used it as an opportunity

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Baby: Eric Reads the Week, #32

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I'm learning how to drive from an amiable septuagenarian named Nick. He really likes math, has the best reviews on Yelp and will frequently lean over and honk the horn for me if I'm being

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Reclaiming: Eric Reads the Week, #31

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I don't have a karaoke song and it's really stressing me out. Back in the day I used to go to this bar Sisters, which is and forever will be the best queer bar in

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Home: Eric Reads the Week, #30

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Yo, life comes at you fast! Months and months ago I started writing a half hour television pilot about a black guy who "reads" the news on a daytime talk show (me but in a higher tax

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Little Things: Eric Reads the Week, #29

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Well, the Emmy nominations came out and once again Smash was snubbed. How many years will we allow the Recording Academy or whoever gives out Emmys to disrespect us by refusing to bestow all of its awards on a

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Whodunit: Eric Reads the Week, #28

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I decided to read a murder mystery novel on the beach last week. That was my "Beach Read" because nothing says fun in the sun like the mysterious decapitation of a man with a lot of enemies

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Years: Eric Reads the Week #27

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! OMG this is early this week! I'm sorry to disrupt your schedule but we're going to the beach and I promised myself to not live on my phone the entire time. I don't

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Up: Eric Reads the Week, #26

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I'm writing this on a balcony! Actually that's not true anymore. Now I'm at the airport. But when I started this I was on a balcony. So, picture me there. On a balcony,

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Stages: Eric Reads the Week, #25

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I am one of the announcers of the Philadelphia Pride parade today! I was so nervous beforehand even though this is literally the most me thing I could think of. Saying pithy things into a microphone? Check. Not taking

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BFFs: Eric Reads the Week, #24

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Yesterday, our friends Jarrod and Stefan invited us to have a picnic in the park. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm also whining to my therapist about never being able to do. "Why am

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Awe: Eric Reads the Week, #23

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Honestly, I don't know why people aren't out in the streets screaming about how good Patricia Clarkson is in the new season of House of Cards. Every American should be running through their cul-de-sac or

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The Present: Eric Reads the Week, #22

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I am writing to you from the present! David finally convinced me to buy a new laptop after listening to me complain for months on end about how poorly my old laptop worked. It would take 20 minutes to

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Gallant: Eric Reads the Week, #21

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! BREAKING NEWS! Le Bae, Justin Trudeau looks absolutely damn giddy jogging by a group of oblivious teens on their way to prom. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here in America, shewk. First of all, how dare this man do

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Chaos: Eric Reads the Week, #20

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I think people who walk the wrong direction through an art exhibit are the epitome of chaotic evil. Like, who are these monsters? What banana republic did you grow up in? David and I went to the American Watercolors

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Industry: Eric Reads the Week, #19

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! My first paying job was a voiceover for an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Industry [http://www.thebmi.org/]. I was 10 and my favorite book was a paperback tome I'd purchased from a Scholastic book

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Incredulity: Eric Reads the Week, #18

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Years ago I got a postcard from my parents. It had Mount Rushmore on the front and on the back, in my mother's perfect cursive, it read "Spending your inheritance! XOXO" Hilarious. My family is

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Hope: Eric Reads the News, #17

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! "Do we like Chris Hayes?" my mother asks. It's 8:50 a.m. and I'm on the phone with my mom who has been happily telling me about her morning at a Walk/

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Reckoning: Eric Reads the Week, #16

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! So, David and I were in this Lyft in Washington D.C. yesterday. We spent a quick 24 hours in the nation's capital because I'd been invited down to meet Rep. Maxine Waters. Oh, this

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Virtuousity: Eric Reads the Week, #15

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Thrice this week I have gotten up at 5 in the morning to get on airplanes. This is paradoxical for me. On one hand, everything I have done in life has been an effort to never wake up at