The Many Voices Book Club Presents: You Can’t Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain

The Many Voices Book Club allows an intimate group of students to participate in a reading and discussion co-led by the Center for Student Involvement and a faculty or staff member with relevant experience and expertise. Each month, a different text by an author from a marginalized community is selected to uplift and center voices of color or voices from within the LGBTQ+ community.

Join us this February for a reading and discussion of You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson. A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson

Being a black woman in America means contending with old prejudices and fresh absurdities every day. Comedian Phoebe Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: she’s been unceremoniously relegated to the role of “the black friend,” as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she’s been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel (“isn’t that…white people music?”); she’s been called “uppity” for having an opinion in the workplace; she’s been followed around stores by security guards; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. the. time. Now, she’s ready to take these topics to the page—and she’s going to make you laugh as she’s doing it.

Using her trademark wit alongside pop-culture references galore, Robinson explores everything from why Lisa Bonet is “Queen. Bae. Jesus,” to breaking down the terrible nature of casting calls, to giving her less-than-traditional advice to the future female president, and demanding that the NFL clean up its act, all told in the same conversational voice that launched her podcast, 2 Dope Queens, to the top spot on iTunes. As personal as it is political, You Can’t Touch My Hair examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases with humor and heart, announcing Robinson as a writer on the rise.

Discussions will be held at the midway point and conclusion of the reading and will be co-facilitated by Chotsani Williams West, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Tommy Severin, Assistant Director of Student Involvement. Join us on February 10th and February 26th at 6:30pm!

The Center for Student Involvement is proud to provide a limited number of copies free of charge to students interested in participating. To reserve your copy or if you have any questions, please email multicultural@adelphi.edu.