Hey y'all, Sam Sanders here. It's been a minute. If you're like me, you have probably gotten

to the point in this whole social distancing quarantine stay at home moment where you

feel like you're maybe out of things to watch and read. Well if that's you we are here

to help. We're gonna go back into the archives this week to recommend some stuff for you

to enjoy it with all this time you've got on your hands. First up a book written by an author

whose candor is so so refreshing especially now. Well I've already told your team this

but know that I'm incredibly hungover. That is Syed Jones. We spoke last year and I felt

like I knew Syed way before we talked because his Twitter feed is this poignant and hilarious

digital personal diary makes it feel like you're living his life with him. When we talked

last year Syed just put out his memoir it's called How We Fight for Our Lives and it's truly

unlike any memoir I have read in a while. It reads like poetry and it feels like a novel.

This book is all about Syed's unique life story growing up black and gay and Buddhist

in small town Texas and finding a way over time to love himself and be himself without shame.

The themes in here are universal grappling with desire forging a life for yourself while

still finding room in that life for the folks who raised you realizing your place in the

world. Syed and I talk frankly about all of that and we also graphically discuss sex, sexuality

and abuse. So parents this may not be the best conversation for kids. There's also some

sensitive and derogatory language in this episode involving a slur that we kept unbleaped.

Alright let's get to it Syed joined me last year for this conversation we began by talking

about a big move he had just made from New York City to Columbus, Ohio. Alright enjoy.

This has been one of the big topics of your Twitter feed in the last few months. You were

a long time New Yorker and a few months ago you said ah screw this I'm going to Ohio

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