cristian josé lopez (he/him/his)
@ihatepatriarchy
Los Angeles, CA 📍 prison abolitionist & intersectional feminist “Being an Other in America teaches you to imagine what cannot imagine you.” -Margo Jefferson, “Negroland”
“In The Not Quite Dark” is a phenomenal collection of stories. Compelling and poignant and funny and tender and layered and sincere. One of the most genuine portraits of my home of Los Angeles, its beauties and darknesses and weirdnesses and contradictions, the way I recognize my city.
happy birthday Toni. life doesn’t feel right without you here. and yet, we are thankful for you.
Generous, witty, unhinged, riveting, benevolent and thoughtfully sharp. “The Men Can’t Be Saved” is an enduring portrait of an advertising copywriter who can’t seem to let go of his job while reckoning with addiction, how his job drains him too much, and the ever-expanding definition of masculinity.
thank you Betye 💔🕊️ Betye Saar (July 30, 1926-July 26, 2026) 📸: Tracye Saar-Cavanaugh, 2025, courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California
I love “In West Mills” by De’Shawn Charles Winslow so much. A simply wonderful first novel. Heartfelt and funny and loving, compassionate and incredibly tender and compellingly queer. A beautiful friendship in the midst of a local Black small town where everyone’s business is never without dramedy.
Danzy Senna’s “New People” is a delight to read. Smart and irreverent and hysterical and insightful and compelling. A truthfully messy romcom about race, class, relationships, desire, racial ambiguity, and the tricky gray terrain between performance and authenticity.
I just started on this novel and already it is bitingly smart and hysterical AF. “New People” Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books, 2017)
“Everywhere You Don’t Belong” is an electrifying novel, and I mean that as the greatest compliment I can give. My goodness. Heartfelt and poignant and funny and caring and cinematic and unputdownable and incredibly tender. I will remember this book, and Claude McKay Love, forever and always.
“Stories From The Tenants Downstairs” by Sidik Fofana is superb American literature. The stories in this collection are compassionate and tender and heartfelt and funny and thoughtfully executed. Every human being that is currently alive and breathing should read this book.
A stunning novel. Sublime and smart, thoughtful and tender, fearless and beautifully written. A spectacular portrait of being a young person seeking self-love and self-respect in the current age of distorted images, advanced technology, and the unpredictable terrain that is social media.
happy heavenly 90th birthday to the fucking Black queer feminist G that is June Jordan 🤍🕊️💐
A heartfelt, tender, generous and deeply compassionate novel. 3 siblings, in 1970s California, figure out what to do for themselves and each other when their mother succumbs to a clinical deep depression. I love(d) and will remember the Aziz family through and through.
we do the best we can when dealing with our own shit just as much as we do the best when witnessing other people’s shit. this world is one cruel motherfucker. “Commitment”, Mona Simpson (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023)
I’m happy and proud to have read “An American Marriage” and “Silver Sparrow” by the inimitable @tayari.bsky.social 💛💛💛💛💛💛
thank you Marsha x Sylvia 💐❤️🔥⚧️🌈 📸: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, ca. 1989-1990. The Rudy Grillo Collection, Rudy Grillo / LGBT Community Center Archive.
A stunning collection of stories. Compassionate and tender, layered and sharp, and abundant in love & hope.
When one say “no-holds-barred”, “Sinking Bell” by Bojan Louis is exactly that. These stories of communities of folks not seen very often in literature are honest and unafraid, equals parts tenderness and grit, kindhearted and hopeful.
“Dearborn” is an outstanding collection of stories. Heartfelt and funny, compassionate and compelling, very tender and fully alive on the page. One of my favorite new collections. I haven’t felt in awe since Cristina Henríquez’s “The Book Of Unknown Americans”.
A stunner of a novel. Smart and entertaining and engaging and very funny and unputdownable and nuanced. A brilliant portrait of masculinity, messy love, friends/frenemies, and being a marginalized person in any field that doesn’t often recognize you due to its biases and lack of respect.
Queer as in practicing your right to vote, especially for those who are unable to, for those who you love and care wholeheartedly about, and for those whose lives & bodies were sacrificed for you to be able to vote & be. thinking of Palestine, undocumented immigrants, queer & trans people etc…
“First Love” is an unforgettable, gorgeous collection of essays. Smart and funny and unputdownable and very queer and deeply tender and simply fucking brilliant. I’d give this book to everyone who I consider a friend. and, on a more positive note, a great read for pride month. 🫂🌈
they do though 😄🤣🌈 original meme by Quinta Brunson
Anne Elizabeth Moore’s “Gentrifier” is smart and compassionate and tender and beautiful to read, nuanced and very funny and deeply insightful. A reckoning and an antidote to how we understand and engage in community and communion with each other.
A sublime book. Heartbreaking and heartfelt and funny and wise. Grief hurts, it also heals in mysterious ways. Being referred to as a deadname hurts, it also says much about those around you. It’s all up to you. The choice is yours.
at least do a better fucking job on the advertising, this is corny AF. and on a serious note, to those of you located in Los Angeles, we must not elect a former reality TV star turned political grifter, because he doesn’t care about marginalized folks, is doing this simply for money and power.
One of the realest and most amazingly honest portraits of being a young person & non-white millennial navigating change, and life itself, in the 21st century. Funny, tender, deeply insightful, richly observant, and truly heartfelt.
Tender and poignant and smart and funny. Beautifully written.