Sometimes I wonder what my motivation is at this stage in my career. And it's this. Making sure small-minded men die mad about my inclusion. And propping the door open for as many smart and kind people as I can.

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

Direct hit on home. #capecod

Well, we are well and truly fucked. I’ve never seen numbers like that—95-100% of entire towns without power. I have a generator so I’m safe for now, but this is going to be rough, and I don’t think I’m totally bonkers to worry that Trump will withhold aid from a blue state. archive.is/pJhQH

The snow is doing some beautiful things

Let's try this again 👋 Hi Bluesky - I'm Massachusetts' Attorney General. You might know me from suing President Trump nearly 50 times, beating Uber and Lyft in court, or being the first woman of color elected to statewide office in MA. I officially left X today - help me find my MA people?

I can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.

People facing persistent harassment from neighbors, stalkers, or ex-employees currently have no legal recourse to stop it in NY. The CREEP Act, sponsored by Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember González-Rojas will offer protection before a situation escalates. Read more in my NY Daily News op-ed:

@cagoldberglaw.bsky.social , @RAINN, @Sen_Gounardes @Jessica González-Rojas and our invaluable coalition partners are announcing our renewed support to get #CREEPAct passed. Let's protect ALL stalking victims in NY! Learn more: cagoldberglaw.com/legislation.

Goodspeed Opera House reflecting across a melting Connecticut River. East Haddam, CT.

We don't get paid maternity leave because a bunch of pervert billionaires didn't like it We didn't get rape protection for the same reason Women's healthcare lags decades behind because pervert billionaires wanted to spend that money on stealing babies at the border

We often talk about the vulnerability of immigrants, but we should also remember that many of them are people who have survived brutal conditions in their home countries, including autocracy. In fighting to free themselves, they are also trying to turn this country into a freer place for us all

Never in a million years did I ever fathom when I resurrected the Epstein story in 2018 that it would lead to first arrest of a British Royal in four centuries. Not since King Charles I was arrested in 1647. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

My agent brings the wise, again 'it’s healthier, especially in this current market, not to assign any kind of moral or qualitative value to being traditionally published.' among other nuggets of great advice portobelloliterary.substack.com/p/so-your-bo...?

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee

"the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children"

If you like the look and feel (and let's be honest...the smell) of old books like I do, check out this collection of vintage books from the 1800's to the 1950's. 🤓 #ASPLibrary 🧪 📚 🔭 #Booksky 📚💙 www.asplibraryproject.com/blog/vintage

I propose to make universal the old policy of the Blackfriars conference at the American Shakespeare Center: If you do not end your paper on time, you will be forced to exit, pursued by a bear. Literally, a bear will come take your paper from you.

goals

Explaining the plot of Scooby-Doo to my daughter and realizing the central irony of the show is that the gang cruises around looking for magic and mysteries that never pan out, while the only truly supernatural element is the talking dog they all ignore.

This post from two years ago came into my notifications as someone just liked it. Clicked through and found that the piece I wrote has since been 'enhanced' with additional breathless and chatty text by an "SEO Content Copywriter", though it could equally have been done by ChatGPT.

I want to read the end of my book But writing it is soooo much effort 😩

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

i feel like this guy is my spiritual sibling

Virginia Giuffre's original draft (in the Epstein files) is way more engaging than the book that was eventually published. She is a hugely significant figure in U.S. history and I hope will be remembered with care and accuracy. flaminghydra.com/issue-500/

"If you don’t feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn’t very vital. If you don’t feel like you are writing somewhat over your head, why do it?" ~ John Irving

"It's not a horror show every second of the day. You have to get the kids to school and you have jobs and you go about your business. But in the background, there is fear. It's like sinking into quicksand." @karenpalmer.bsky.social on the creep of abuse & DIY witness protection for her family:

Pathetic

good owl

"More than 200" AI slop novels collectively selling "around 50,000 copies" proves that not one of them was actually good enough to create any organic interest. The entire business model is scamming people looking for something fun to read, thereby polluting the same waters where real books are sold.

I just finished edits on a novel where a minor character’s name changed half way through and another character was given two different addresses. This is very, very common and doesn’t reflect badly on the writer, who is great. Everyone needs an editor!

"I am here to be rude, because this is a rude technology, and it deserves a rude response."

“AI giant Anthropic ran a massive program called Project Panama where they spent tens of millions of dollars to hoover up used books, which they then sliced, scanned, and pulped.“ lithub.com/anthropic-di...

Great series of photographs from a 1911 zoology paper in which various types of flounder are put through their paces as regards camouflage ability, placed against bold and striking patterns (more than they’d experience in nature) — publicdomainreview.org/collection/f...

Just look at them!

THUS PASSES ANOTHER AGE OF THE EARTH www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

In a time of book bannings, AI, and decreased library funding, the best thing you can do to support books is be very, very loud about them. @mollytempleton.com on how we can help the authors we love:

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

Wondering if there are any two words in the English language better than “pizza party”

🔥 @rokhanna.bsky.social : “Today, I call on Congress to haul before the oversight committee every single person who emailed about going to Epstein’s island… the 🇺🇸 people are frustrated with the rich and powerful getting a different set of Justice.”

The Washington Post has only a single arts critic left - everyone else got fired today, along with all three arts editors. (There are still a couple of excellent arts reporters.) I was so upset I dusted off my blog to have my say: annemidgette.com/blog/f/a-req...

The suburban observers, heavily women, say they share a personality type. “Many of us have encountered bullies our entire lives...I think that turns you into somebody that, even if that bully is wearing full tactical gear, I'm not interested in laying down for you.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.

I woke up from a dream where It Happened and people were celebrating in the streets and I had to personally inform Zohran Mamdani that, due to an obscure bylaw, he was the President now, but only if he kept his shirt off. If you're wondering how my subconscious is handling all this.

FUN FACT I learned when I went to Minneapolis for AWP like 10 years ago: arts funding is written into the Minnesota State Constitution. Hence the number of small presses thriving there. Here's to arts communities and presses that amplify and share them broadly www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-fea...

people are seriously getting ready

Timely! 🙌🏻 Lizzy & The Triggermen sing Irving Berlin's anti-Hitler protest song 1941. 🎵 When they lay him 12 ft deep I'll be there to laugh not weep Satan thought up a plan Dressed as a man & since he began the world is Hell for you & me What a Heaven it will be When that man is dead & gone 🎵 💯

Hundreds of people spelled out the distress signal "SOS" on Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis on Friday, Jan. 30. 📷️ Provided by Jeff Schad

hey it turns out that growing up one of the reasons your parents were in bad moods was that they opened up the newspaper that morning and learned that another one of the people they had unwittingly included in their personal cosmology winked out