PTW Pick - Everything's Trash But It's Okay Review
2 Dope Not to Share
Written by: Angelica Little
Straight white males dominate comedy, just like many industries in the country. Phoebe Robinson is changing that with her unfiltered humor in her second book, Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay. The collection of personal essays centers on topics including the intersection of feminism, money management, interracial dating and monumental moments including a phone call and written blessing from Oprah and meeting Bono twice.
Humor and honesty blend seamlessly to read like a conversation with your favorite family member. Robinson’s been thousands of dollars in debt and graduated to living comfortably and debt-free. She’s had her fair share of dating woes. Men who text her about if she is mixed, only to disappear “can choke on the peacoat Rosa Parks wore when she told that white dude, ‘It’s gonna be a ‘no’ from me dawg.” She encourages readers to laugh at her pain and in return learn from her own mishaps.
As one half of the popular podcast “2 Dope Queens” and having a successful debut book in 2016, humor is no doubt a large factor in her storytelling. It holds a large value in the text but will take a backseat for more important statements. While reading the collection readers will nod their heads in agreement, ignore the public to laugh out loud or ponder a thought-provoking statement.
Though all different, the stories still flow into one another. Lessons from one segment may reappear to help deliver the message of another. In a segment where she recalls a sexual harassment incident, she informs the reader that it “is not designed to be temporary it’s intended to stay with you, keep you in line, never allow you to fully relax and be calm.” Not every story has such complex themes. During her first face-to-face encounter with Bono and he dropped to his knees and wrapped his legs around her, she “Crip Walked real quick to the Black Panther Wakanda afterlife” because it was one of the most monumental moments in her life. It is a mature comic’s recall of snapshots in her life that she is sharing with the world for laughs and reminders that we too can still smile while continuing to fight our own personal battles and struggles.
With the intimacy and vulnerability of a best friend and the transparency of a wiser sibling, Robinson delivers her stories for the young adults of today. A diverse audience including young millennials and the more sophisticated, educated and stable working man or woman can benefit from her hilarious musings. She encourages the black woman to never settle for less than her own worth, the feminist to broaden his or her inclusivity and for all of us to just let the interracial couple live their lives without our outward judgment. Readers will laugh and agree and pause and re-evaluate choices as she encourages them to find the light in even the darkest of places. And of course, the idea we should never give up on the pipe dreams of meeting and charming our favorite celebs more than once.
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