Introducing The Butter: Roxane Gay Is Coming To Stay With Us

by Mallory Ortberg · September 30, 2014

roxallory

You cannot possibly understand how bad I am at keeping news to myself, nor what a toll keeping this particular news took on my frail and mortal frame, but please share in my joy: Roxane Gay is coming to The Toast, where she will be running our very first vertical, The Butter. She’s officially starting on October 15th, and there will be plenty more details to come, but in the meantime please join me in dancing excitedly about the room.

What is a vertical, exactly? Oh, it’s a bit hard to describe — it’s part of our company, but it’s also its own thing. Think of it as the FX to our FOX. Wait, is FX owned by FOX? I ought to know this. You’ll be able to visit it here. If you were raised Christian, think of it as part of a Trinity; eternally begotten of the Toast, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Toast.

What will this particular vertical be like? WHATEVER ROXANE WANTS IT TO BE.

Would you care to be more specific? Roxane says it will “focus on cultural criticism and personal essays that make readers think and feel.”

I’ve never been on the Internet before. Who is Roxane Gay?

Roxane Gay’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK. She is also the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, Bad Feminist, and Hunger, forthcoming from Harper in 2016.

Both An Untamed State and Bad Feminist have made it onto the New York Times bestsellers list, incidentally. (She is too good for us. We know that. Believe me when I tell you that we know she is too good for us.)

You may follow her on Twitter here, if you do not already (I highly recommend it).

Can I pitch The Butter? Yes. But give us a minute. We’ll tell you how as The Butter launch approaches.

Gay-ish quotes from classic literature that sum up how Nicole and self feel about this news:

“Now we shan’t never be parted, sir. It’s finished.”
-Alec Scudder, Maurice

“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
-Ruth 1:15-17

“Okay, then, let’s not get caught. Let’s keep going.”
-Thelma, Thelma and Louise

“I saw no shadow of another parting from her.”
-Pip, Great Expectations

“But I’m a woman. I love you, I say. Whatever happen, whatever you do, I love you.”
–The Color Purple

“You’re just a bee charmer, Idgie Threadgoode. That’s what you are, a bee charmer. Go on, you old bee charmer, tell me a good tall tale.”
–Fried Green Tomatoes

“He is not to them what he is to me,” I thought: “he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine; – I am sure he is, – I feel akin to him, – I understand the language of his countenance and movements: though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him. […] I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered: – and yet, while I breathe and think I must love him.”
-Jane, Jane Eyre

“Look here Vita — throw over your man, and we’ll go to Hampton Court and dine on the river together and walk in the garden in the moonlight and come home late and have a bottle of wine and get tipsy, and I’ll tell you all the things I have in my head, millions, myriads — They won’t stir by day, only by dark on the river. Think of that. Throw over your man, I say, and come.”
-Virginia Woolf

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206 Comments

  2. NicoleCliffe +277

    i think this post discriminates against those of us who don’t have pictures of our faces resting on our hands

    FINALLY YELLS FROM ROOFTOPS: WE SOMEHOW CONVINCED ROXANE GAY TO BE OUR PARTNER

    1. anninyn +58

      I like those pictures because it looks like Mallory and Roxane are gazing at each other lovingly which really suits the new partnership.

      HOW DID YOU PERSUADE HER DO YOU HAVE MAGICAL TALKY POWERS?

    1. rkfire +26

      CELEBRATORY GIF PARTYYY
      [Maybe this is not appropriate to the quiet dignity that I think Roxane’s work exudes, but I am very excited about this!!]

  6. anninyn +88

    This is so exciting.

    AND I am also excited about the ‘other sites’ that will be part of the grand Misandrist mob of Toastsites and that are currently shrouded in mystery.

    Part of me wants one of them to be a fiction and review site – you know, fiction by women, about women, and female reviewers reviewing womens fiction. I have loved every single review and fiction piece The Toast has ever run and a dedicated site would be great.

    BUT I am not an INTERNET QUEEN and don’t know if that would actually work, so I shall merely await our inevitable ownership of the internet with quiet, vibrating joy.

    1. ramina +112

      I don’t know what it would be about but I really want to see The Marmalade and The Trademarked Hazelnut Spread.

        1. Beckie +26

          The Vegemite, please. I would hope that an Official Toast Stance is that Vegemite is the One True Yeast Spread.

      5. fireblargg +70

        The Jam (music recommendations, from [and I realize this is just TOO obvious, but…] Jia Tolentino).

    2. raqueue +20

      So many potential “other sites” that are so exciting. I would love one of them to be a Canadian cultural commentary site (to fill the current dearth in the Canadian blogosphere). “The Maple Syrup”? (or “The Maple Butter”)?

    3. jenavira +26

      I would just like to register my appreciation of the phrase “grand Misandrist mob.” It begs to be embroidered on the back of leather jackets.

    1. Sean_Sullivan +24

      !!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!:

      !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  16. safvn +40

    very very very very VERY EXCITING. Congratulations, y’all! And the BUTTER. Already my love for butter cannot be overstated; now it will have a dual meaning.

  17. summerestherson +72

    AW YISSSSS

    ALSO THANK YOU FOR NAMING THE HOLDING COMPANY MANDERLEY, INC. THAT IS FANTASTIC.

  18. msmuses +9

    I saw this on Twitter this morning on the bus and my jaw literally DROPPED and I GASPED AUDIBLY with thrill and joy. This is the best possible news. Congratulations to everyone!

  19. bgprincipessa +10

    I am beyond excited and a huge congratulations to all!!!

    I am also insatiably curious about why Twitter gave me a notification about “my contact” The Butter joining Twitter last night. Did anyone else get one of those? My Twitter account isn’t even connected to the email that I’ve used to email Nicole, so I do not get it. http://imgur.com/8gf3I2L

    1. NicoleCliffe +23

      I SAW THAT. We are not launching the social stuff yet, so just feel special and valued in some way.

      1. bgprincipessa +13

        I figured since I am its ONLY FOLLOWER. (update: no, there are 2 of us now!) It’s a complete mystery, but I will take the explanation that I am a special flower.

  23. anachronistique +88

    A true story from Sunday:

    I already bought a copy of Bad Feminist, but my sister’s birthday is coming up, so I wandered over to my favorite local bookstore in part for their anniversary party and in part to find her a copy. Once obtained, I squeezed over to the counter. And arrived at the same time as another woman ALSO CARRYING A COPY OF BAD FEMINIST.

    “YES!” she exclaimed. “Us bad feminists got to stick together!”

    And then we had cookies. It was a great day.

    Super excited for this, and congratulations to Nicole and Mallory and Nick and most especially to Roxane.

  26. gripyfish +18

    Firstly, HOORAY ROXANE, HOORAY THE BUTTER I cannot wait to see what glorious, wonderful things are in store!

    Secondly, that Virginia Woolf quote always makes me tear up in the most lovely and inexplicable of ways, and I almost always seem to encounter it while I’m at work (which is the place I usually cannot tear up in lovely and inexplicable ways).

    1. Gzortenplatz +4

      I second your response to the VW quote. Do you know this one? “These Sapphists love women; friendship is never untinged with amorosity.” This diary entry about Vita never fails to give me shivers.

  27. rebeccacloyd +4

    I’m SO beyond excited it’s possibly dangerous. Congrats to The Toast, Roxanne, everyone, and all of us because SHE’S ALMOST HERE and I cannot WAIT.

  28. Elizabeth +5

    This is the most exciting news I have had in a long time! Two things/people that I love coming together. Perfection

  36. estellefirefly +5

    I usually hate Tuesday mornings, but today I love them because this Tuesday morning I heard this wonderful news. I am so excited.

  38. ct330 +57

    ETA: Also, before my brain caught up with my eyes, I saw the picture and I was like YESSSS I WAS RIGHT! I CALLED IT! I WAS RIGHT TO SHIP MALLORY AND ROXANE. MALGAY IS REEEEEEAL.

    Which, well, not quite but almost and this is STILL BEYOND AMAZING. Ahh!

  40. CMS +9

    Fangirling all up in here. Sorry if that term is lame but I can be a Bad Feminist because Roxane told me it is okay.

    1. ct330 +3

      Tangent: Holy crap I did not realize ostriches were that big??? Is that a baby giraffe or are ostriches truly giraffe-sized?!!? Bc if so, that is terrifying.

      1. anninyn +8

        that is a baby giraffe

        Ostriches are very big, but a full sized giraffe would be taller than the tree they run past

      2. Either_Ada +8

        Big enough to race.

        Also, they are terrifying. At my aggie alma mater, there was an ostrich pen that abutted a sidewalk that was the shortest path from my lab to my remote place of work. The ostriches would all hang out right by the sidewalk and try to beak you as you passed. Also, this is the sound they make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7jC4hHHSQk

        1. ct330 +8

          I wanted to learn more things about ostriches but now I’ve found this:
          and this

          and I’m curled up weeping in fear.

          1. Unreadaethel +3

            Oh god the second one is so much worse than the first one. It’s got this uncanny valley body horror thing going on with the flopping.

  42. alicia +22

    My reactions, in order:

    1. Oh, so this is what Mallory couldn’t keep to herself. I guess Laura isn’t pregnant.
    2. Wait, whaaaat?
    3. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
    4. No! October 15 is more than TWO WEEKS from now!
    4. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    8. HotDoom +1

      AHHH MAAAAH GAAAH BERGIE! This is so awesome! I absolutely love the design and the elephant’s eyebrows! Yes yes YES!

    5. malloryelis +27

      honestly I would be very very very surprised if we ever had a music site because both Nicole and I feel like we write about music exactly as often as we want to, which is very nearly never.

      1. singstrix +28

        Sooo a traffic-related The Jam, then… (Perfect, yes, ALL YOUR MISANDRIST COMMUTING NEWS 😐 :|||||)

  50. neptunemars +6

    YAYYY!!!!!!

    Also, I love all of the reaction gifs. I don’t know how to put gifs into the comments, so I’m piggybacking on those in my mind!!!

  52. alittleimprobable +12

    I WILL ONLY BE CAPABLE OF COMMUNICATING VIA CAPS LOCK TODAY
    SORRY
    IT’S JUST THAT IT’S THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

  54. Canard +11

    This is cool! But doesn’t the Toast already “focus on cultural criticism and personal essays that make readers think and feel”? Is the thinking and feeling content going to go over there now?

  56. PaigePoo +19

    YES. I started reading Bad Feminist this weekend, and now this morning I get this amazing news?! At the same time that I’m eating a delicious greasy bacon, white cheddar, and egg on a pretzel roll from a food truck? WHAT OTHER MAGICAL THINGS CAN HAPPEN TODAY.

  58. Site_for_Soris +4

    I saw this news at 6 in the morning and scrambled over here to find a place to comment GLEEFULLY but there was none and then I had a commute and now I’m late to the party, but WHAT A PARTY IT WILL BE

  61. raqueue +12

    In all of my daydreams as to what would be The Toast’s first offshoot, I never pictured something quite as wonderful as THIS.

  65. silverandsnow +1

    This is the most awesomest excellent news ever! Congrats and can’t wait to see the new site 😀

  66. deleted9457019 +5

    Thank you for the immediate explanation of what a vertical is because I was uncertain.

    Best of luck, Ms Gay!

  67. heynightingale +11

    What a way to make a great site even more awesome.

    (I’m also happy that I finally get confirmation that The Toast is indeed in reference to a toast, as in bread, since the new vertical is named The Butter. “A willing foe, and sea room” has tricked me into believing that The Toast is, y’know, a toast, as in champagne and awkward speeches. Or maybe it’s both. Life is a rich tapestry and all that.)

    SO HAPPY. :DD

    2. Absotively +10

      If you want to stay unconfused, avoid looking too closely at that nice grey background pattern on the sides of the site.

  68. PonyAlong +8

    “La, la, la (sips morning coffee), la…..what’s this…link roundup as the first post? Must be something special, la, la, la (clicks)…la………………..OMG, WHAT………..ROXANE GAY……….!!!!!!!!!!

    Congratulations to all! Just when I thought this site couldn’t get any cooler, it drops WAY below freezing.

  69. turanga_leela +3

    I woke up to a pretty crappy day, what with the strep throat hitting our house and all, but now I am walking on sunshine!

    Welcome to the Toast Roxane! We love you! As if you hadn’t noticed yet.

    1. turanga_leela +3

      Oh! And Scandals of Classic Hollywood magically appeared on my Kindle. Not such a bad day after all!

  70. projectbeks +13

    Oh this is soooooo SOOOOOOO exciting and lovely!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY (I have nothing witty to add, sorry!)

  71. jenavira +5

    Already this morning I have gotten a surprise day off and found the flash drive which contains half of my life which I feared I had lost in Ikea, and this is the best news of the day. I shall use my day off tomorrow to amble down to the bookstore and buy a copy of Bad Feminist at last.

  72. miprisci +8

    Hahahaha whaaat. I am basically speechless with happiness for The Toast and also with fear, because I will almost certainly have to up my game around here. No more dick jokes for Emby; time to get read up on culture!

    1. RuncibleSpoon +9

      Nonsense! Where would we be without our gutter jokes? Weird, esoteric, awesome, gutter jokes? Not here, I say. Besides, Toast needs to stay crunchy. You can smooth things out over at The Butter.

    2. paperbgprincess +8

      I’m pretty sure Roxane would be down with a few well-placed dick jokes, based on her Outlander recaps at least.

    1. Gzortenplatz +1

      Of course I just went and did exactly that, and now I’m deeply, deeply sorry. Next time I’ll listen to you.

  90. LaughableWalrus +2

    I was about to go to sleep but now cannot because I am TOO EXCITED! But that is right and proper, for now I must train myself to never sleep again in order to give both The Toast and The Butter their due attention.

  91. spinsterly +3

    SO SO SO EXCITED. My weird personal goal to comment/participate more on The Toast will now include The Butter as well.

  92. elsamac +5

    My brain can’t decide whether to be more excited about Roxane Gay or about The Toast establishing verticals, so it’s apparently decided to be more excited about BOTH, which means it’s bouncing back and forth, ramping up to the kind of excitement a dog has upon seeing two squirrels or a child has before a special party and eeeeEEEEEEEEeee

  94. cooperativepress +3

    I was really excited about butter for a minute and thought you were about to establish food hegemony over thekitchn.com. Mmmm, butter.

  96. dakimel +13

    Like 2 days ago I was saying something effusive about Roxanne Gay and my husband asked, “Does she work for The Toast?” because he has been well-trained to ask that question whenever I’m effusive.

    And I was all, “No, but that would be amazing.”

    And it really, truly is.

  99. HotDoom +4

    I just made myself a piece of heavily buttered toast in honour of this glorious, amazing news. I can think of literally no one who would be a better addition to The Toast family than Roxane Gay. She’s wonderful! You’re wonderful! Everything here’s wonderful!

  100. amsfellowtraveler +2

    FREAKIN’ AMAZING NEWS! I did not think the Toast could be significantly improved, but YOU HAVE DONE IT.

  103. Goomaly +2

    Coincidentally, I am purchasing “Bad feminist” for my library RIGHT NOW.

    Literally, the library I work at. Not like my personal library.

  104. johnwthompson +2

    Congrats to Roxane Gay! A very smart choice for the masthead. Tho I gotta say that at first glance, while “The Butter” makes thematic sense as a name it feels like it lends a connotation to the content. Like it’s gonna make me feel sluggish and bloated. Maybe it will! Maybe it should. Maybe a good essay, plus syrup, should help you get your second wind after an all-nighter.

    Anyway, in the interest of fairness, I think it’s as good a day as any to link to Rgay’s kiiinda shitty and paternalistic position re: trigger warnings: http://therumpus.net/2012/08/the-illusion-of-safe… which makes me a bit concerned given the position of power she’s being hired to. But I know well enough it doesn’t matter

    1. malloryelis +9

      I am incapable of believing that anyone can read that shimmering, painful, truly-felt piece of Roxane’s and find it “paternalistic,” but I accept your congratulations nonetheless.

      Also, The Butter is a great name, and I’m not sure how writing can make anyone feel bloated.

      1. johnwthompson +1

        That it’s well and truly felt doesn’t mean it lacks the same essential position of any number of essays by dudes decrying the naivete and marginalizing censorship of hothouse flower women.

  111. RoseCamelia +3

    The Hyphen Butter! Many thanks to whomever is responsible for the hyphen. I have an unreasonably happy feeling when I see it. Probably from a year of conditioning, seeing it at The Hyphen Toast and all the joy it has brought.

  113. thisclimbingbean +1

    This is so very cool. I did see a tweet about this recently and was like, ‘huh?’ Now it all becomes clear!

  114. climbing bean

    This is so very cool. I did see a tweet about this recently and was like, 'huh?' Now it all becomes clear!

  115. TheDandyButch

    YESSSSSS.

    Can I suggest also

    “My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don’t talk of our separation again.”