How to slowly kill yourself and others in america?

Gawker published the essay, "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America" last year, three weeks after George Zimmerman told Sean Hannity that the shooting of Trayvon Martin "was all God's plan." As the jury deliberates in the State vs. George Zimmerman case, we are rerunning it. read more

Contributing editor Kiese Laymon is the author of the essay collection How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, of which this is an excerpt, and the novel, Long Division. He is an Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at Vassar College. read more

In the Author's Note at the beginning of How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon writes, "I wanted to shape the book in the form of some of my favorite albums. I thought of the essays as tracks. read more

And there is survival, despite the title of his new essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Laymon filters his stories through the black, male, Southern perspective in work that is stirring and fresh, literary but ultimately approachable. read more