The Foyer
Welcome home.
The
Living Room
A living record of Black culture, one story at a time.
NOW IN THE LIVING ROOM
CONVERSATION, CULTURE & MEMORY
This month, we’re returning to the conversations that changed us—the words that stayed, the art that gave us language, and the people who helped us see differently.
CURRENTLY
IN THE ROOM
OCTOBER 16 · THE BOOKSHELF
OFF THE SHELF
Look Again
Sometimes a passage sends us back to an image. Sometimes an image makes us reach for a book. October’s companion reading extends our Gordon Parks conversation, offering places to linger with the relationship between seeing a life and understanding it.
OCTOBER 14 · THE BOOKSHELF
CURATOR’S CORNER
L'aurelei D. on Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks understood that every story offers a perspective, but no single perspective tells the whole story. In this month's Curator's Corner, L'aurelei D. reflects on his legacy, the importance of seeing Black life beyond struggle, and how the stories we tell—and those we leave untold—shape the way we see one another.
OCTOBER 12 · THE BOOKSHELF
A SEAT ON THE SHELF 004
What Gordon Parks Saw
Gordon Parks paid attention to what a hurried glance could miss: the person inside a public story, the daily life behind a familiar assumption, the dignity that deserved more than passing notice. Through his photographs and writing, this month’s Seat on the Shelf considers how he changed the conversation by changing what people could see.
FROM THE EDITOR
October 2026
There are conversations I can no longer remember word for word.
I remember the kitchen, though. The light over the stove. Someone leaning against the counter while someone else finished a thought. I remember sitting in parked cars long after arriving where we were going. Phone calls that stretched past midnight. A sentence dropped casually into an ordinary day that followed me home.
The words blur.
What they changed does not.
EXPLORE THE ROOMS
There’s more than one way into The Living Room.
The Features
The people and stories that have taken a seat in The Living Room.
MEET THE PEOPLE →
The Bookshelf
For the books we read, recommend, and keep talking about.
BROWSE THE SHELVES →
The Record Player
For the songs that say what we couldn’t quite put into words.
PRESS PLAY →
The Archive
Everything we’ve put in the room, kept in one place.
ENTER THE ARCHIVE →
The Studio
Where The Living Room makes things with others.
ENTER THE STUDIO →