Intersectionally Yours
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I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé 
by Michael Arceneaux
Atria/37 Ink. 256 pages, $17.

MICHAEL ARCENEAUX, born in Houston to a family originally from Louisiana, is a self-described country boy. He was raised Catholic but by his twenties had stopped attending church, much to the chagrin of his devout mother. Arceneaux, who now lives in Harlem, is black and gay. Since graduating from college more than twenty years ago, he has made his living as a writer of essays that have appeared in print publications, social media, and now in his first book, in which he writes, often quite humorously, about his personal life. His take on what it means to be a gay, African-American ex-Catholic from Texas often defies expectations and forces readers to confront their comfortable but misguided assumptions on any number of topics. I Can’t Date Jesus can be both funny and unsettling.

Daniel A Burr, a frequent contributor, lives in Covington, KY.