Awesomely Luvvie is coming to Detroit on Saturday
Blogger, humorist, pop culture critic and now, New York Times bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi is coming to Detroit on Saturday to do what she says she does best: talk about the stuff everyone else is thinking but afraid to say.
That means hitting on topics like people who post every element of their relationships and subsequent breakups on Facebook, giving the rest of us a digital soap opera that rivals any of the afternoon stories you might have watched with your grandmother; sex tapes and the idea of being famous for the sake of being famous; the overwhelming whiteness of the feminist movement; using too many hashtags; racism and how, she writes, the "United States of America was built on the backs of Black and brown people, and it stands on our necks" and lots more.
In a telephone conversation with the Free Press, Ajayi (pronounced ah-JAH-yee) said the point of her book of essays — "I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual" (Holt Paperbacks, $17) — is to figure out how to do better.
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"I would like people to feel like leaving the world better than they found it is an obligation,'' she said. "The world would be much better if we all felt it was our job to be of service. I just feel like it's strange to just want to serve yourself. To want to just live for you is kind of super selfish because your kids or the people you love ... it's also our obligation to insure that they don't have to struggle all the time, they don't have to live in a world where things are falling apart all the time. If you have the power to stop it ... even things going down to how we treat each other."
Ajayi is 31. She's been blogging for 13 years — check it out: awesomelyluvvie.com — and says, "I was just writing because I like to write." Her voice is fresh, her style approachable, her content compelling and current, her observations right on the mark and powerful.
Plus, she's funny. She writes: "In case this is 2050 and you're just picking up this book because it is a modern classic, please know that there was a time before we put the pound sign (#) in front of everything."
And lest you think she's only judging others, rest assured, she's judging herself, too. For example, she calls herself out for always being late — Chicagoan by way of Nigeria, she says tardiness is part of Nigerian culture.
Also, she is such a huge fan of Shonda Rhimes — the genius behind "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal" — that she refers to her as her Fairy Baemother.
The more you read, the more you'll be convinced you and Ajayi should and will be best friends.
Ajayi is scheduled to appear from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. For more information or to make a reservation: go to detroitpubliclibrary.org and follow the prompts.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com or 313-222-6842.